62 SOCIAL SCIENTIST
be introduced by other competing capitalists on the same or on a larger scale. The utilization of new machines will become so general that the capitalists find themselves in the same position relative to one another as before the initial switch-over to the new technique. At this stage the rivalry among the capitalists will lead to a new cost of production on the basis of which the same game will begin again. There will be more use of machinery and more division of labour. The exploitation of machinery and division of labour will be made on a still larger scale. Marx writes, "We see how in this way the mode of production and the means of production are continually transformed, revolutionized, how the division of labour is necessarily followed by greater division of labour, the application of machinery, v^ork on a larger scale by work on a still larger scale".5
Thus capitalist production is a dynamic process in which better machinery and improved techniques are adopted over time. But Samuelson holds that given a constant real wage, capitalists will introduce a new invention if it raises the rate of profit and if it does not, then there will be no incentive to adopt the invention. This may be valid only in the short run. But in the long run, adoption of new technology becomes unavoidable for all the capitalists. If some of the capitalists fail to adopt the new technology, they will lag behind those who have already adopted it. Capitalists with new technology will be more efficient and stronger than those with the old technology. Ultimately the latter will be driven to the wall.
Why Profit Rate Tends to Fall
The foregoing discussion shows the dialectical process which leads to continuous technological changes, a serious omission in Samuelson's criticism casting serious doubts on the internal consistency of Marx's analysis. It is unfortunate that King blindly supports Samuelson's narrow mechanistic approach to Marx's theory of technical change.
With the introduction of better machinery and improved techniques over time, labour becomes more productive and the same number of labourers transform more materials and machinery into commodities than before. Under such circumstances, the proportion of constant capital in total capital rises. Of course, while the variable constituent of the total capital falls relatively to the constant part, it may rise absolutely through time.
In the process of capital accumulation an increase in the quantity of variable capital involves an increase in the demand for labour power. Consequently under the impact of accumulation, there would be a tendency for wages to rise. Marx says:
Under special stimulus to enrichment, such as the opening of new markets, or of new spheres for the outlay of capital in consequence of newly developed social wants, &c., the scale of accumulation may be suddenly extended .. the requirements of accumulating qapital may exceed the increase of labour-power or of the number of