(1) Circulation and exchange value deriving from circulation, the presupposition of capital

In order to develop the concept of capital we need to start with value; specifically with exchange value (i.e. commodities) in circulation. We cannot start directly from labour; it is too far away from the result, with too many intermediate steps. (“It is […] as impossible to make the transition directly from labour to capital as it is to go from the different human races directly to the banker, or from nature to the steam engine.”

In money (“as such”), exchange value can acquire a form independent of circulation, and insofar as it does acquire this form (money independent of circulation) it—says Marx—is capital. “That money is the first form in which exchange value proceeds to the character of capital” is “a historical fact”.

More (pdf, 75 KB): The Chapter on Capital Part 3: Capital and Circulation (pp. 261-263)