Luciana Buchala

The capitalist system is characterized by the absolute subordination of work with

regard to capital. Marx has studied this feature at his book The Capital, where the
subordination of work can just be understood at the observation of the continuous
reproduction movement of the capital. The amplified reproduction of capital has as
counterpart that subordination in two ways: it guarantees the permanent reproduction of the
capitalist relations of production and is capable of regulating wages and the work market.
At first, in the continuity of production process, the separation between workers and
means of production, before just a star point of capitalist production, become a result
constantly renewed. On one side, workers get out of production process at the same way
they have got in, in the manner that they must to sell again their work power for living.
Capital just gives to work class the means of subsistence, which is transformed in new
exploitable work power. On the other side, production process allows the expansion of
capital, which capacitates the capitalist to buy more work power.
The second aspect of the subordination of work is the capacity of the own
accumulation process to regulate wages and work market. What makes this possible is the
continuous introduction of technical innovation, which follows the accumulation process.
Those innovations provoke the reduction of demand for workers and, as consequence, an
exceeding worker population is created. This means that there is a permanent stock of
workers available for the variable capital needs. Thus, the wages movements are
determined by expansion and contraction of this contingency of available workers, which is
a result of periodical changes at industrial cycle.
In conclusion, the intensification of accumulation process has as counterpart the
greater precariousness of workers existence condition. In this way, this feature reveals the
antagonist character of capitalist system.