labour power

== English == === Alternative forms === labor power (US) labour-power, labor-power (US) === Etymology === Calque of German Arbeitskraft. === Noun === labour power (uncountable) (Marxism) The capacity to do work (as opposed to labour, the physical act of working) which becomes a commodity under capitalism. ==== Translations ==== === References === Ben Fine; Alfredo Saad-Filho (2010), “Commodity Production”, in Marx's Capital, 5th edition, Pluto Press, →ISBN, pages 19–21: “To distinguish the workers themselves from their ability or capacity to work, Marx called the latter labour power, and its performance or application labour. […] The most important distinguishing feature of capitalism is that labour power becomes a commodity.” Karl Marx (1887), “The Buying and Selling of Labour-Power”, in Friedrich Engels, editor, Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production‎[1], volume I, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, & Co., pages 145, 149: