Yes, but it becomes a little bit more complex when we discuss the
distinction between [constant] fixed and "fluid" capital in Vol. 2 of
_Capital_.
For instance, consider the following, from Ch. 8 , on the subject of
labour expended on the repair of fixed capital:
"The fixed capital however requires also a positive expenditure of
labour for its maintenance in good repair. The machinery must be cleaned
from time to time. It is a question here of additional labour without
which the machinery becomes useless, of merely warding off the noxious
influences of the elements, which are inseparable from the process of
production; hence it is a question of keeping the machinery literally in
working order. It goes without saying that the normal durability of fixed
capital is calculated on the supposition that all the conditions under
which it can perform its functions normally during that time are
fulfilled, just as we assume, in placing a man's life at 30 years on the
average, that he will wash himself. It is here not a question of
replacing the labour contained in the machine, but of constant additional
labour made necessary by its use. It is not a question of labour
performed by the machine, but of labour spent on it, of labour in which
it is not an agent of production but raw material. The capital expended
for this labour must be classed as circulating capital, although it does
not enter into the labour-process proper to which the product owes its
existence. This labour must be continually expended in production, hence
its value must be continually replaced by that of the product. The
capital invested in it belongs in that part of circulating capital which
has to cover the unproductive costs and is to be distributed over the
produced values according to an annual average calculation."
So: is labour that is expended on the repair of constant fixed capital to
be classified as part of [constant] circulating capital or part of
variable capital? Furthermore, how can labour be "classed" as [constant]
circulating capital? What then of the difference between "dead" and
"living" labour?
Jerry
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