Reading Time of Production Capital vol. 2

[Dominicana_1965]

A peculiar illustration of the divergence of the production time from the working time is furnished by the American manufacture of shoe-lasts. In this case a considerable portion of the unproductive costs arises from having to hold the timber at least eighteen months before it is dry enough to work, so as to prevent subsequent warping. During this time the wood does not pass through any other labour-process. The period of turnover of the invested capital is therefore not determined solely by the time required for the manufacture of the lasts but also by the time during which it lies unproductive in the shape of drying wood. It stays 18 months in the process of production before it can enter into the labour-process proper. This example shows at the same time that the times of turnover of different parts of the aggregate circulating capital may differ in consequence of conditions which do not arise within the sphere of circulation but owe their origin to the production process.

Can someone please break this down to me.
Is he saying that Capital is added even when the product is going through production time?

[ComradeRed]

Unfortunately I lost my volumes 2 and 3 of Capital in my move to Northern California :(

Can you give a chapter (and if applicable section) where you got this quote from? I'll have to look it up online to see the context.

[Dominicana_1965]

Originally posted by [email protected] 10, 2007 08:13 pm
Unfortunately I lost my volumes 2 and 3 of Capital in my move to Northern California :(

Can you give a chapter (and if applicable section) where you got this quote from? I'll have to look it up online to see the context.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1885-c2/ch13.htm

[ComradeRed]

Originally posted by Marx+--> (Marx)A peculiar illustration of the divergence of the production time from the working time is furnished by the American manufacture of shoe-lasts.[/b] A shoe-last (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/shoe-last) is what shoe makers used to approximate the foot when making shoes, to make sure the shoe would fit.

It's usually made out of wood.


In this case a considerable portion of the unproductive costs arises from having to hold the timber at least eighteen months before it is dry enough to work, so as to prevent subsequent warping. During this time the wood does not pass through any other labour-process. So this "shoe-last" takes: 18 monthes to dry the wood + time to make the last.

During this 18 month period, it just sits there and dries out. Nothing special is happening.


The period of turnover of the invested capital is therefore not determined solely by the time required for the manufacture of the lasts but also by the time during which it lies unproductive in the shape of drying wood. The turn over of capital (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1885-c2/ch07.htm) is defined as:

Marx
We have seen that the entire time of turnover of a given capital is equal to the sum of its time of circulation and its time of production. It is the period of time from the moment of the advance of capital-value in a definite form to the return of the functioning capital-value in the same form.--emphasis added.

So for this shoe-lasts, the turnover of the invested capital is not determined by how long it takes a readied-piece of wood to beome a shoe-last.

Instead, it also needs to take into account the time it takes the wood to dry out (the 18 monthes).


This example shows at the same time that the times of turnover of different parts of the aggregate circulating capital may differ in consequence of conditions which do not arise within the sphere of circulation but owe their origin to the production process. This seems self-explanatory I think.

[Rawthentic]

ComradeRed, what city in California do you live in? I live in Salinas, near Monterey Bay.