Research On The Problem Of Machine Production In Das Kapital

In the preface to the first edition of Das Kapital,Marx said,"What I want to study in this book is the capitalist mode of production and the relations of production and exchange that are compatible with it." Marx’s research on machine production did not only stay in the exposition of the huge production function of machine,but based on the perspective of capitalist production relations,put machine into the real process of capitalist wealth production,to investigate the changes of machine as the means of labor itself,the direct impact on workers,and the alienation of labor process.In Marx’s view,the machine should be distinguished from the capitalist application of the machine.It is not the machine itself that enslaves labor,but the capitalist mode of production using the machine.This paper takes machine production as an important research content in the text of Das Kapital.From the perspective of productive forces and production relations,this paper analyzes the simple elements of the labor process of machine production dialectically,and then reveals the essence of the capitalist application of machine.From hand tools to tool machines,then to machines and automatic machine system,the means of labor is constantly evolving,and the corresponding production methods are also constantly changing.Machine production is different from the previous production of hand tools,it innovates the working principle of the means of labor.The introduction of the engine and transmission mechanism into the labor process makes the production get rid of the limited manpower,the invention of tool machine instead of human hands to directly grasp the object of labor to achieve the transcendence of manual labor,machine system has become the "industrial perpetual motion machine".After overthrowing the old technical basis,machine production changed the original subordinate relationship between the means of labor,the object of labor and the laborer,and the means of labor represented by the machine began to be independent,reconstructing the previous labor process.For capital,the emergence of the machine is no accident,it is to meet the inevitable requirement of capital appreciation productivity progress.As the condensation of science and technology and human wisdom,the promoting effect of machine on productivity is reflected in the factors of production,production efficiency and production scale.The development and application of science and technology such as mechanical mechanics and chemical physics have become the production factors of capital together with labor and means of production.The contraction of labor time and the extension of the scope of labor force caused by machine production have changed the time scale and quantitative relationship of production,making the types of production increasingly rich and the quantity increasingly sufficient,and realizing the improvement of production efficiency.Use "machines manufacturing",make large cargo transportation networks continue to open,the scale of production expanding in penetration natural and social restrictions.With a real material force,machine production has achieved revolutionary changes in productivity.The relations of production include the relations of all parties involved in production.Capitalists use machines extensively in production and reproduce their control of subjective labor conditions by virtue of the possession of such objective labor conditions.Labor and labor conditions are completely separated,so workers lose any material to realize their own value and can neither enjoy social wealth nor create social wealth independently.The opposition between capitalists and workers is further intensified.The changes of specific labor caused by machine production directly affect the existence of labor owners.The isolation and dispersion in the production process make the original solidarity and cooperation among workers constantly weakened and evolved into the mutual competition and conflict in obtaining labor opportunities,and the relationship between workers is further alienated.The profit-seeking nature of capital drives the continuous alliance between capitalists,and the social propertyowning class works together to exploit the proletariat.However,this alliance is not permanent.Once it comes to the possession and distribution of relative surplus value,the cooperation between capitalists will inevitably lead to brutal competition.Under the capitalist mode of production,this kind of rule takes the property right of capital as the whole content,and the personified capital controls the whole process of production movement.Therefore,the criticism of the capitalist application of machines should not turn to the criticism of the machine itself.The machine itself does not bring the original sin of capitalist exploitation.Only by dialectically analyzing both sides of machine production,can it be clear that the change of production purpose promotes the development of the mode of production,and the development of the mode of production needs specific relations of production to adapt to it.Only by starting from the production purpose and mode of the application of machines can we see the internal logic between the humanization of things and the materialization of people,and finally realize the comprehensive criticism of the capitalist application of machine production.