Exploitation Thresholds: Upholding the Imperial Mode of Living Through Unequal Exchange

Capitalism depends on a positive rate of surplus value: excess labour provided by workers relative to that embodied in their consumption. Yet a “labour aristocracy” escapes this by receiving more than it contributes, yielding a negative rate. Unequal exchange enables this by redistributing surplus value not only between regions and classes, but also between net providers and receivers within the working class. In 2022, the centre net imported 639 billion labour hours, enabling a −42% surplus rate. However, 31% of the centre’s workers remain exploited, with rates reaching +316% in the bottom decile. Of global surplus, 63% is appropriated by capital and 37% by the labour aristocracy—comprising 69% of the centre’s workforce and 6% of the semi-periphery’s, but none in the periphery, where surplus rates reach +37,183% in the bottom decile. Anti-imperialist movements must therefore recognize these complex patterns of appropriation by both capital and segments of labour.