Part 6: Wages 

Chap 19: Transformation of the Value of Labor-Power into Wages 
Wages appear as the price of labor- a certain amount of money paid for a certain quantity of labor.  

But the value of a commodity is the “objective form of the social labor expended in its production”. And the quantity of that value is measured by the quantity of labor contained in it. But, Marx says, this leads to the absurd tautology that the value of a 12 hour work day is determined by the 12 working hours contained in it.  

Labor must exist even before it is sold as a commodity. But if it were endowed with independent existence, it would be a commodity and not labor. In fact, it’s not labor that directly confronts the possessor of money on the commodity market, it is the worker. But as soon as his labor begins, it is no longer his and can no longer be sold by him. Labor is the substance, but has no value itself. 

Marx repeats the previous assertions that whatever the necessary amount labor to reproduce the worker is the necessary labor, and any labor above that is the surplus value, cheated from the laborer, and done for the benefit of the capitalist.  

Chap 20: Time-Wages 
Wages take many forms. The transformation in the value of labor-power into wages is based on the laws outlined in chap 17. Marx, in this chapter, discusses how the valuation is broken up into various time units of day, week or hour. The basic point is that by pricing wages, the capitalist hides what is necessary labor- enough for the worker to reproduce the commodity, and what is surplus labor, which represents time the worker is being cheated to labor for the benefit of the capitalist. In the old corvee system, where serfs would work part time on the master’s land, and part time on their own, at least it was openly seen. But capitalism hides the fact by stating a wage that the worker will earn, as if it is all for him. 

Chap 21: Piece-Wages 
Piece wage is nothing more than a calculation converted from the time wage to the average value of what it would take to produce the commodity per piece. Marx does mention that under this type of work, supervision is rendered superfluous, since laborers will work as fast as possible to get paid more in less time. 

Chap 22: National Difference in Wages 
Marx discusses the corrosive effect capitalist England has had on surrounding nations.