Absolute Surplus Value, surplus value produced by an absolute increase in working hours, which is a way of intensifying the exploitation of workers by capitalists. The creation of absolute surplus value is the universal basis of capitalist exploitation. It prevailed in the early stages of capitalist development, prior to the age of large-scale machine production. A condition for the creation of absolute surplus value is extention of the working day beyond the necessary working time, i. e., beyond the time during which a worker produces the equivalent of the value of his labour power. Minimum limits to working hours cannot be established for the existence of capitalism is impossible without surplus labour, and production and appropriation of surplus value. The maximum limits to working hours are established, first, by the physical limits to labour power and, second, by social factors (the need to satisfy intellectual and social requirements). In the initial stages of capitalist development (14th to mid-18th cent.), working day reached 16-18 hours a day. As the working class grew in numbers and became better- organised, it began an active struggle for a shorter working day. A gradual legislative restriction of working hours followed. Under modern capitalism, the bourgeoisie seeks to extract absolute surplus value by imposing overtime work, but mostly by raising the labour intensity above its average level. With an increase in the intensity of labour, the amount of labour per unit of working time also increases, so the worker spends more energy creating greater value and greater surplus value. There is, therefore, an absolute increase in the amount of labour appropriated by the bourgeoisie without payment, which, in fact, is a disguised lengthening of the working day.