Labour power “set free ”is a concept that appears many times but is rarely studied in Capital. Based on the historical conditions at that time, Marx expounded the first two labour power “set free ” in Capital. In the first “set free”, labour becomes a commodity and lost its subjectivity and in the second migration, the labour is crowded out by the machine and lost the combination object. Under the contemporary digital labour conditions, the triple “set free” of labour power has occurred, which must be deeply explored based on the logic of Capital. In the triple “set free”, workers unconsciously joined the process of digital production, and lost the form of employment relationship between labour and capital. The triple “set free ” of labour power uncovers the exploitation of workers by digital platforms and reveals the value of workers’ digital unpaid labour. The triple “set free ” accumulation of labour power has worsened the situation of the proletariat. We must further explore the social mechanism of its occurrence.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:Chinese Journal of Political Economics.2023.No.1.