In small‑scale commodity production, Jalee explains the formula CMC: you sell a commodity (C) to get money (M) so you can buy another commodity (C) that you actually need. This is how small producers live. they make something, sell it, and use the money to meet their needs. The goal is use, not profit. In contrast, MCM’ describes capitalist production. Here, someone starts with money (M), buys commodities (C), usually labor power and raw materials, and ends with more money (M). The key is the prime mark (M). It means the capitalist ends with more money than they started with. That “extra” is surplus value, the profit created by workers. Jalee calls M‑C‑M the general formula of capital because it shows that the purpose of capitalist production is not to satisfy needs, but to increase money.

Jalee explains that money becomes capital only when it is used to buy labor power, because labor power can create more value than it costs. Workers are paid for only part of the day and thats for the time needed to reproduce their wage, but they work longer than that. The extra hours they work, which Jalee calls surplus labor, create value that the capitalist keeps as profit. This is how surplus value is extracted. Because capitalists continuously use money to buy labor power and take the surplus created by workers, their money grows and they remain wealthy as a class. Workers, who do not own the means of production, must keep selling their labor power, which keeps them dependent. Buying labor power, extracting surplus labor, and turning it into surplus value is what transforms money into capital and keeps the capitalist class in power.