There is an indifference on the part of the substance [Stoff] towards the form, which develops out of merely objectified labour time, in whose objective existence labour has become merely the vanished, external form of its natural substance, existing merely in the external form of the substantial [das Stoffliche] (e.g. the form of the table for wood, or the form of the cylinder for iron); [65] no immanent law of reproduction maintains this form in the way in which the tree, for example, maintains its form as a tree (wood maintains itself in the specific form of the tree because this form is a form of the wood; while the form of the table is accidental for wood, and not the intrinsic form of its substance); it exists only as a form external to the substance, or it exists only as a substance [stofflich].
Ang may-ari ng lakas-paggawa, imbes na makapagbenta ng mga produkto na kanyang ginamitan ng sariling paggawa, ay kailangang maoobligang ibenta bilang kalakal ang mismong lakas-paggawa na matatagpuan lang sa kanyang buhay na katawan dahil wala siyang pag-aaring kagamitan sa produksyon. Para ang isang tao ay makapagtinda ng mga kalakal bukod sa kanyang lakas-paggawa, kailangang mayroon siyang kagamitan sa paggawa gaya ng hilaw na materyales, instrumento sa paggawa, atbp.