The employed capital is here equal to the capital advanced for 5 weeks, multiplied by the number of periods of turnover per year. The capital employed during the year is 500 times 10, or £5,000. The capital advanced during the year is 5,000/10, or £5,00. Indeed, although the £500are always re-employed, the sum advanced every 5 weeks never exceeds these same £500. On the other hand in case of capital B only £500are employed during 5 weeks and advanced for these 5 weeks. But as the period of turnover in this case is 50 weeks, the capital employed in one year is equal to the capital advanced for 50 weeks and not to that advanced for every 5 weeks. The annually produced quantity of surplus-value, given the rate of surplus-value, is however commensurate with the capital employed during the year, not with the capital advanced during the year. Hence it is not larger for this capital of £5,000, which is turned over once a year, than it is for the capital of £500, which is turned over ten times a year. And it is so big only because the capital turned over once a year is itself ten times larger than the capital turned over ten times a year.
The variable capital turned over during one year -- hence the portion of the annual product, or of the annual expenditure equal to that portion -- is the variable capital actually employed, productively consumed, during that year. It follows therefore that if the variable capital A turned over annually and the variable capital B turned over annually are equal and the employed under equal conditions of self-expansion, so that the rate of surplus-value is the same for both of them, then the quantity of surplus-value produced annually must likewise be the same for both of them.
Hence the rate of surplus-value calculated for a year must also be the same, since the amounts of capital employed are the same, so far as the rate is expressed by quantity of surplus-value produced annually ------------------------------------------- variable capital turned over annually.Or, expressed generally: Whatever the relative magnitude of the turned-over variable capitals, the rate of the surplus-value produced by them in the course of the year is determined by the rate of surplus-value at which the respective capitals have worked in average periods (say, the average of a week or day).
This is the only consequence of the laws of production of surplus-value and of the determination of the rate of surplus-value.
Let us see further what is expressed by the ratio Capital turned over annually ---------------------------- capital advanced(taking into account, as we have said before, only the variable capital).
The division shows the number of turnovers made by the capital advanced in one year.
In the case of capital A we have:
£5,000 of capital turned over annually -------------------------------------- £500 of capital advancedIn the case of capital B we have:
£5,000 of capital turned over annually -------------------------------------- £5,000 of capital advancedIn both ratios the numerator expressed the advanced capital multiplied by the number of turnovers; in the case of A, 500 times 10; in the case of B, 5,000 times 1. Or it may be multiplied by the inverted time of turnover calculated for one year. The time of turnover for A is 1/10of a year; the inverted time of turnover is 10/1 years; hence 500 times 10/1, or 5,000. In the case of B, 5,000 times 1/1, or 5,000. The denominator expresses the turned-over capital multiplied by the inverted number of turnovers; in the case of A, 5,000 times 1/10; in the case of B, 5,000times 1/1.
The respective quantities of labour (the sum of the paid and unpaid labour), which are set in motion by the two variable capitals turned over annually, are equal in this case, because the turned-over capitals themselves are equal and their rates of self-expansion are likewise equal.
The ratio of variable capital turned over annually to the variable capital advanced indicates 1) the ratio of the capital to be advanced to the variable capital employed during a definite working period. If the number of turnovers is 10, as in the case of A, and the year assumed to have 50 weeks, then the period of turnover is 5 weeks. For these 5 weeks variable capital must be advanced and the capital advanced for 5 weeks must be 5 times as large as the variable capital employed during one week.
That is to say, only one-fifth of the advanced capital (in this case £500)can be employed in the course of one week. On the other hand, in the case of capital B, where the number of turnovers is 11/, the time of turnover is 1 year, or 50 weeks. The ratio of the advanced capital to the capital employed weekly is therefore 50:1. If matters were the same for B as they are for A, then B would have to invest £1,000 per week instead of £100. 2) It follows that Be has employed ten times as much capital (£5,000) as A to set in motion the same quantity of variable capital and hence -- the rate of surplus-value being given -- of labour (paid and unpaid), and thus to produce also the same quantity of surplus-value during the year. The real rate of surplus-value expresses nothing but the ratio of the variable capital employed during a definite period to the surplus-value produced in the same time; or the quantity of unpaid labour set in motion by the variable capital employed during this time. It has absolutely nothing to do with that portion of the variable capital which is advanced during the time in which it is not employed. Hence it has likewise nothing to do with the ratio between that portion of capital which is advanced during a definite period of time and that portion which is employed during the same period of time -- a ratio that is modified and differentiated for different capitals by the turnover period.