The Reproduction-Process of Capital

Abstract

“A society, regardless of its form, can no more cease to produce than it can cease to consume. When viewed as a connected whole and as flowing on with incessant renewal, every social process of production is a process of reproduction” (Capital, I, p. 531). In capitalist society, production continues because of the uninterrupted motion of capital. We cannot, however, simply or automatically assume the non-interruption of capitalist production. Instead, we must establish its commodity-economic necessity in the light of the circulation-process of capital, which was studied in the previous chapter. Among other theories elaborated in that chapter, the one on the ”circulation of surplus value” is of particular relevance here. The fact that it is based on the circuit of commodity-capital alerted us to the need for a comprehensive theory of the reproduction-process of capital.