This provides a tool to visualize schemes of simple reproduction introduced in Chapter 20 of Capital Volume 2. They show the progression of four elements of departments I and II.

Here is an example for Department I

It means that capitalists in I have $10 in cash (💰), $20 in means of production (🪨) and $40 of finished products (🛢). Workers have $30 (💪). The finished product in this department are means of production. Note that $ is used when the value represents actual money instead of a commodity (constant capital or product).

Department II is similar

💰, 🪨 and 💪 represent the same than in I. What changes is the final product. In II the finished products are means of consumption represented with 🍲.

On top of the page you can select values for constant capital (c), variable capital (v) and surplus(s) for both departments. The default values are the ones used in the book.

The lower window shows the state of both departments side by side. The first row shows a state ready for production for both departments.

The idea in the scheme is to go through a series of transactions between these departments and arrive to a point in which production can happen.

Transactions should be typed in the text area. Each line is a transaction. A transaction always starts with the transaction code, which consists of one or two letters, followed optionally by the amount of the transaction and then a space with a comment (which is also optional).

For all transaction codes the case of the first letter shows the department that performs the transaction. Upper case means I. Lower case means II.

Given the initial state you have to start with production. There are three transactions for production

• P : Department I produces
• p : Department II produces
• Pp or Pp : Both departments produce. Shorthand for doing it in one line instead of two.

The following are valid production transactions

There are 6 other transactions. All of them consists of two letters. The first letter corresponds to the buyer which can either be the capitalists or the workers. The second letter is what is being bought. Which can either be means of production (sold by Department I) or means of consumption (sold by Department II).

The verb 'advance' is used when means of production are bought while 'consume' is used when means of consumption are bought. Thus the second letter should be either 'a' or 'c' depending on whether means of production or consumption are being bought.

The 6 transaction codes are

• Wc : Workers from Department I consume
• wc : Workers form Department II consume
• Cc : Capitalist from Department I consume
• cc : Capitalists from Department II consume
• Ca : Capitalists from Department I advance
• ca : Capitalists from Department II advance

These transactions can be followed by a number between parenthesis stating the amount of the transaction. If it is not provided all the money the buyer has is used.

Examples of valid transactions:

I hope you find it helpful.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome