CAPITAL, AND WHAT IT IS.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 73, 2 August 1912, Page 12

CAPITAL, AND WHAT IT IS.

FITZGERALD'S EXPOSITION

"The Story of a Capitalist' 1 was the j title of Mr. H. M. Fitzgerald's lecture 1 in Wellington last Sunday week. The "hero"' of the story was Victor Va'l -j do Mar, whose ancestor had been H knighted by William of Normandy. Left H through the "riotous living" of his H patent with but a beggarly pittance of j £20,000, the young fellow had tried _j thrift, and next industry, in order to re-establish the fortunes of his ancient .j house, but had failed to add to his H wealth. He had then exchanged -i £18,000 for machinery and equipment -i for a boot factory, and, by exploiting j tho labor-power of tho workers, had rapidly accumulated immense riches. The object of tho lecture was to demon- | s'.rate that there was not an ounce of capital but was produced by labor-power - or the brain, brawn, and nerve of those who worked. In other words, capital was wealth used for exploitation. Every worker worked that the man who worked him might get a profit. The profit wns only possible because the worker had been separated from the land and other means of life, and consequently had to hire himself to others. Tn his analysis of capital the lecturc-r showed that only when tilings were used to produce profit did they function as capital. Further, capital must expand in order to exist. Out of an average eight-hours' labor the worker earned his subsistence in three hours. The, five hours went to the making of "surplus value." Mr. Fitzgerald explained the nature of "surplus value " p.nd other terminology of Marxian political economy.