IV CAPITAL THE MOTHER OF LABOUR 187 



On the contrary, capital and labour are, 

 necessarily, close allies ; capital is never a product 

 of human labour alone ; it exists apart from 

 human labour ; it is the necessary antecedent of 

 labour ; and it furnishes the materials on which 

 labour is employed. The only indispensable form 

 of capital vital capital cannot be produced by 

 human labour. All that man can do is to favour 

 its formation by the real producers. There is no 

 intrinsic relation between the amount of labour 

 bestowed on an article and its value in exchange. 

 The claim of labour to the total result of operations 

 which are rendered possible only by capital is 

 simply an a priori iniquity. 



