According to Karl Marx, there is a clear distinction between labor and labor-power in economics. "Labor" refers to the actual activity or effort of producing goods or services (what Marx called use-values). Neoclassical economists sometimes refer to this as "labor services." On the other hand, "labor-power" (or "laboring power") refers to a person's ability to work, his or her muscle-power and brain-power. In some ways, this concept is similar to that of "human capital."
Under capitalism, according to Marx, labor-power is a commodity – it is sold and bought on the market. A worker tries to sell his or her labor-power to an employer, in exchange for a wage or salary. If successful (the only alternative being unemployment), this exchange involves submitting to the authority of the capitalist for a specific period of time. During that time, the worker does actual labor, producing goods and services. The capitalist can then sell these and realize a profit – what Marx called surplus value – since the wages paid to the workers are lower than the value of the goods or services they produce for the capitalist.
Selling the commoditylabourpower in the 21st century is as promising as the sale of stagecoaches has proved to be in the 20th century.
The imposition of labour on all members of society is nothing but the generalisation of a life in bondage; and the modern worship of labour is merely the quasi-religious transfiguration of the actual social conditions.
Labour administration turns out to be a coercive system that has always organised social apartheid and seeks in vain to banish the crisis by means of democratic state slavery.
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