Editing Constant capital

'''Constant capital''' is the value expended on raw materials, instruments of labor, or in general, the [[means of production]], that is required to produce a commodity.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=[[Karl Marx]]|year=1867|title=[[Capital, vol. I]]|chapter=VIII: Constant and variable capital|quote=That part of capital then, which is represented by the means of production, by the raw material, auxiliary material and the instruments of labour does not, in the process of production, undergo any quantitative alteration of value. I therefore call it the constant part of capital, or, more shortly, constant capital.|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch08.htm}}</ref> It is one of two components of [[capital]], the other being [[variable capital]] which is the wages paid to obtain the labour power required to produce the commodity.<ref>''Encyclopedia of Marxism'', "Variable and constant capital" https://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/v/a.htm</ref>

Karl Marx used the terms "constant" and "variable" to denote the two kinds of capital because, according to the [[labor theory of value]], it is only the labour component of capital which creates new value during the production process; the value of the material inputs is passed on unchanged.<ref name=":0" /> The value invested in labour power is thus variable in the sense that it "expands" during production.  It is also variable in the sense that the amount of expansion (the [[rate of surplus value]]) is not fixed but contingent on the struggle between workers and employers over wages and working conditions.