In Britain, the series reached a new minimum in 1938 (73 percent), while in Italy the wage share saw its lowest level in 1942– 1944 (41 percent). 2 Th is working measure of exploitation does not consider “unproductive labor,” i.e., all the work of domestic servants and the like which in those years was a signifi cant part of the labor force in both countries. In principle the wages of unproductive labor ought to be added into the measure of surplus value; thus our working measure understates the rate of exploitation. In Britain, the rate of exploitation increased from 0.29 in 1921 to 0.36 in 1929. In Italy, in 1918 the rate of exploitation was 0.82 and in 1928 it was 1.25.

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 1731