labor-power

Note that labor-power expended is how we get labor.

A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2010

Note that labor-power expended is how we get labor.

skzbrust: Capital Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 1 Section 2 Post 4 skzbrust 2010

Labor-power is the ability to labor – when labor-power is expended, it becomes labor.

skzbrust: Capital Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 1 Section 2 Post 3 skzbrust 2010

Labor-power is the ability to labor – when labor-power is expended, it becomes labor.

A Bland and Deadly Courtesy skzbrust 2010

To get an idea of what Marx means by labor-power, it is useful to consider the difference between potential and kinetic energy.

skzbrust: Capital Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 1 Section 2 Post 3 skzbrust 2010

Viewed in this light, the scab who gives more labor-power for a certain price than his fellows is not so generous after all.

THE SCAB 2010

They give their labor-power for about the minimum possible price.

THE SCAB 2010

No whim of the spirit, no burgeoning of the heart, leads him to give more of his labor-power than they for a certain sum.

THE SCAB 2010

Just as the peaceful country-dweller calls the sea-rover a "pirate," and the stout burgher calls the man who breaks into his strong-box a "robber," so the selfish laborer applies the opprobrious epithet "scab" to the laborer who takes from him food and shelter by being more generous in the disposal of his labor-power.

THE SCAB 2010

So far, what we have read is little more than what has been discovered by earlier political economists (albeit expressed with exceptional clarity and precision); the important distinction between labor and labor-power constitutes one of the most important discoveries by Marx.

skzbrust: Capital Volume 1 Part 1 Chapter 1 Section 2 Post 3 skzbrust 2010