CHAPTER 6

GENERAL SOCIAL LABOUR

PART 5

The Mixed Industrial Establishments

Our observations concerning the remuneration factor, or factor of individual consumption (FIC) rest on the basis that the productive industrial establishments are fully capable of carrying out their own reproduction, whilst the investment needs (input) of the GSU (public) establishments are borne by the labour-power of the productive establishments. It was for this reason that we devised our formula L - (Pu + Cu) as expressing the quantity of labour-hours available for individual consumption. As further development towards the higher stage of communism takes place, however, this formula must undergo modification, since there must inevitably come into operation many economic establishments which produce in part for individual consumption, but also in part in order to satisfy the needs of the further development of socialised production towards communism. Consider, for instance, the example of the electricity power stations. Light and heat are required to satisfy the needs of individual domestic consumers, but the product, electricity, is also consumed as light and power in the form of a raw material for industry, to satisfy further production. Should society have reached a sufficiently mature stage of its development in both productive and social respects as to make the adoption of an uncompensated supply of electricity for individual needs possible, then with the achievement of this step a new type of economic establishment will have come into being, one which belongs in part to the sphere of productive establishments and in part to that of GSU (public) establishments. These we term Mixed Industrial Establishments. The further the process of socialisation of distribution develops, the greater is the role played by this type of mixed establishment.

It is self-evident that this development must make its effects felt both in the system of the industrial control budget as also in the determination of the value of FIC. For the purposes of drawing up the system of accounting control the mixed type of industrial establishment must be classified under the heading of one or the other of the two main types: productive or GSU (public). However, under which precisely of these two it is placed is in itself unimportant; for the purposes of accounting control all mixed establishments can be grouped either with the productive or with the GSU establishments; it is also possible to place some under one group and others under the other, as may be found expedient. The system of control budgeting thus forms no hindrance to the flexibility of production and distribution. We will consider first the case in which a mixed industrial establishment has been grouped with the productive establishments, in order to ascertain the consequences this has for the determination of the value of FIC.

In its role as a fully-productive establishment, under the previous system all the kilowatt hours supplied by our electricity generating station were credited to it in the exchange account, and hence it was fully capable of carrying out its own reproduction. With the conversion to "uncompensated individual supply", however, a debit quantity arises in the exchange account which is exactly equivalent to the amount of individual consumption . Those labour-hours which the electricity generating station is required to supply for individual consumption of light, heat and power must therefore be restored to it out of the total quantity of FIC. This debit represents a charge against the total GSU budget and is thus met out of FIC. If we now add together all the debits arising from operations of the mixed establishments, we then arrive at the general or total debits which likewise have to be met out of FIC. Representing this general debit quantity with the letter D, we obtain the following formula:

FIC = L - ( Pu + Cu) - D
L + Lu

Let us now consider the electricity works in its function as a GSU (public) establishment. The GSU establishments have no income and their reproduction needs therefore represent a total charge against the labour-power of the productive establishments. The mixed industrial establishment however receives by way of its supply of means of production or raw materials to other establishments, a credit amount in the exchange account. That is to say, it is partially capable of carrying out its own reproduction; its total consumption of (Pu + Cu) + Lu is not charged against the labour-power of the productive establishments, because it is able to some extent to satisfy its own requirements in means of production and raw materials. If now we apply the letter G (Gain) to represent that portion which arises out of its own reproduction, then there arises as a charge against the labour-power of each productive establishment only (pu + cu) + Lu - g. If now we relate that to the totality of all mixed establishments, then the amount which must be supplied out of FIC is represented by (Pu + Cu) + Lu - G. Thus finally we obtain the formula:

FIC = L - ( Pu + Cu) + G
L + Lu

As the third and final example which will arise out of the actual operation of the accounting control budget, there now remains the task of classifying, for purposes of the control budget, the one type of mixed establishment under the heading of the productive establishments and the other under that of the GSU (public) establishments. Here the mixed-productive establishments have a charge to make against the GSU budget in the amount of D (Debit) labour-hours, whilst the GSU establishments restored to the productive establishments those labour-hours represented by G (Gain). As a charge against FIC there thus remains D - G. The factor of individual consumption thus becomes:

FIC = L - ( Pu + Cu) - (D - G )
L + Lu

(The above formula represents a simplified form. If it is necessary to carry out further mathematical investigations into problems associated with the accounting control budget, it will be necessary to express G and D in terms of (P + C), an operation which can be carried out without any difficulty).

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