1. The working day: form determination The length of the working day is not constant: It is «capable of being determined, but in and for itself indeterminate». (p. 341) – Why? Minimal limit of the working day = necessary labour time The maximum limit of the working day can vary within certain limits: The «boundless thirst for surplus labour» (p. 345) does not arise from the individual greed of the capitalist. It follows the logic of the capitalist mode of production, which imposes itself by means of the pressure of competition.  the physical limits of the resilience of the labourers;  the moral limits for the satisfaction of their mental and social needs. necessary labour time: value of labour powersurplus labour time: surplus value total length of the working day If surplus labour time = 0there is no capitalism, since no exploitation occurs.

2. The working day: behaviour The capitalist invokes the law of commodity exchange, his guaranteed right to use the use value of the purchased commodity labour power for as long as he likes. The worker also invokes the law of commodity exchange and with it the careful handling of the only thing he possesses, his labour power, which he also has to sell as a commodity in the future. … The nature of commodity exchange itself imposes no limit to the working day […] Between equal rights, force decides. (p. 344)

3. The working day: history The changed material mode of production and the correspondingly changed social relations of the producers, first gave rise to outrages without measure, and then called forth, in opposition to this, social control […]. For «protection» against the serpent of their agonies, the workers have to put their heads together and, as a class, compel the passing of a law […], by which they can be prevented from selling themselves and their families into slavery and death by voluntary contract with capital. (pp. 411–12, 416) Before capital was «bound by the chains of legal regulations» (p. 353), limitless overwork and the continuous extension of the working day were not exceptional: «Capital was celebrating its orgies». (p. 390)