what-is-marxism-all-about-by-fist

Exploitation &
Surplus Value
Human labor is a commodity — a thing of value. It is also a
value that, when used, creates value. It is from the labor of the
worker that the owner derives profit. If a worker is slated to
work eight hours, a small percentage of that time is spent covering
the cost of the worker’s wage. The rest of the time is unpaid
labor — surplus labor — and it is from this that the owner gains
extra or surplus value.
All that extra time, the worker gets nothing and the owner
reaps all the benefits. The owners do everything necessary to
increase the flow of profit: they fire workers, while expecting
those who remain to increase productivity; they decrease benefits;
they set workers in competition with one another, a process
which drives down wages. All these things cause misery for the
workers but are designed to increase profit. That profit is split
between the owners and the high-end managers, but none goes
to the workers who create it.
Exploitation & Surplus Value 7