73

are as much annihilated as reproduced .in the neutral

product 4* o f labour:
T h e whole process appears therefore as productive consumption, i.e. as
consumption which a id s neither in nothing nor in the mere subjectificadon o f the objective, but is itself again posited as an object. T h e con
sumption is not a simple consum ptionofthe m aterial, but a consumption
o f consumption itself; in the supersession o f the material it is the
supersession o f this supersession and hence the positing o f the same.
T he F O R M A T IV E [this word is written in capitals in M arxs text,
A .S .] activity consumes the object and consumes itself, but it only con
sumes the given form o f the object, in order to give it a new objective
form , and it consumes itself only in its subjective form as activity. It
consumes the objective character o f the object (its indifference towards
the form) and the subjective character o f the activity. It forms the one,
while m aterializing the other. However, as a product the result o f the
process o f production is a use-value.**

A ll materials o f nature appropriated through labour are

use-values. But not all use-values are appropriated, i.e.
humanly mediated, materials o f nature. A ir, water and so
on, are furnished without human intervention, just like the
rest o f nature. T heir useful character for men does not
depend on labour. T he means o f labour, the instrument o f
production, is in general a thing or a complex o f things
which the labourer interposes between him self and the
object o f his labour, and which serves to conduct his
activity to that object.47 T h e instrument o f production is
itself already a use-value, a 'combination o f natural sub
stances with human labour .4* A s, however, the labourprocess originally only takes place between man and the
earth, the 'universal object 4* o f labour, there always enter
into it means o f production which are not themselves
products, and therefore do not present any combination o f
natural substances and human action, although the whole
o f nature only takes on significance in the particular historical
framework o f social processes. These means o f production
bring forth use-values without at the same time bringing
forth exchange values.
A ll labour begins by 'separating things from their
immediate connection with the environment, 40 by felling
timber or by extracting ores from their veins. M ost o f the
objects o f labour men deal with are however already