ABSTRACT
Just as the surplus value of the individual capital in each particular sphere of production is the measure of the absolute magnitude of the profit – in so far as this is merely a converted form of surplus value – so is the total surplus value (Gesammtmehrwerth) produced by the total capital (Gesammtcapital), hence the whole of the class of capitalists, the absolute measure of the total profit of the total capital, whereby profit should be understood to include all forms of surplus value, such as rent, interest, etc. [ ... ] It is therefore the absolute magnitude of value (and therefore the absolute surplus produce, amount of commodities) which the capitalist class can divide up among its members under various headings. The empirical, or average, profit can therefore be nothing other than the distribution of that total profit (and the total surplus value represented by it or the representation of the total surplus labour) among the individual capitals in each particular sphere of production, in equal proportions [ ... ] The agency through which this calculation is performed is the competition (Concurrenz) of capitals with each other.
