Signs of capitalism in the 19th century. The concept, signs and stages of development of capitalism. Dates, causes and consequences of the emergence of capitalism

From the height of the rich historical experience of many countries, four main types of capitalism can be distinguished (Fig. 1.11). Of these, as already noted, the most unsightly initial capitalism - a period of spontaneous formation of a market system and the so-called "initial accumulation of capital" (Smith), in which the funds necessary for starting a business are concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of the most energetic people capable of entrepreneurship. It is here that the redistribution of property, the enrichment of some people at the expense of others, the sharp stratification of society, the mass of abuses and lawlessness (the seizure of someone else's or common property, deceit, inhumanity and violence, actions on the principle of "grab and run away", super-exploitation of hired labor, predatory attitude to the nature of the crime, etc.). No wonder the patriarch of American industrial business Henry Ford (1863–1947) once confessed that he could account for every dollar he earned except first million.

In pioneer countries capitalism (England, Holland, USA, etc.), the initial period lasted for many decades (mainly in the 16th-19th centuries), until, finally, the main part of the property found owners and production was adjusted, until the people themselves got tired of " lawlessness", did not calm down and did not develop legislative rules for civilized life.

In Russia this period, through the efforts of the communists, was divided into two severe "series". The first began in the middle of the 19th century (especially rapidly after the abolition of serfdom in 1861). Here, too, as Dostoevsky writes, "pernicious newcomers crazed by their own power" burst into the economy, shouting in a wild voice to all of Russia: "Get out of the way, I'm coming!"

At the same time, the writer noted with alarm that the whole society had become worse. "Something is in the air full of materialism and skepticism ... as if some kind of dope ... the itch of debauchery ... the people's admiration for money, before the power of the golden bag ... The adoration of gratuitous gain, pleasure without labor began; everyone deceit, all villainy is committed in cold blood; they kill in order to take at least a ruble out of their pocket" (15-13:34,35).

Thus, the negative effect of the growing "debauchery" in society during the transition to capitalist freedom is a ubiquitous phenomenon. Self-centered and "impudently self-satisfied" businessmen (Dostoevsky) are usually not inclined to philosophical reflection and do not immediately realize that smarter, safer and more productive act not by deceit and violence, but on the principles of civilized partnership, mutual benefit and, therefore, within the law.

“He who obeys the law is wise,” the Bible says. “Not obeying the law, you are with the evil ones,” and they are insignificant and will certainly be punished (6-Pr 28:7,4; 6:14,15). The second "series" of Russia's transition to the market at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries clearly confirms this. Predatory capitalists, instead of fair competition, destroy each other. So God, in the words of Luther, "beats one villain with another" (10-366).

The remaining three types of capitalism are distinguished depending on in whose hands the main levers of economic and political power are concentrated and what form of this power in society is bureaucracy, oligarchy or democracy (let us return to Fig. 1.11).

So, bureaucratic capitalism (or state capitalism) assumes that the state controls the economy and other spheres of public life, i.e. first of all his bureaucracy, numerous tribe of officials. Hence, excessive interference of state bodies in the activities of citizens (strict control, all kinds of checks and registrations, the need to obtain permits for everything, etc.), bureaucratic arbitrariness, corruption, collusion of bureaucrats with criminals, large and / or illegal businesses, is inevitable,

Rice. 1.11.

the flourishing of the "shadow economy" and the high criminalization of society, the low standard of living of the majority of the population against the background of the super-wealth of corrupt officials and the top business.

In particular, shadow economy - it is an economic sector covering such types illegal activities like (1) underground production associated with violation of technological, labor protection, environmental and other requirements (for example, "black employment" - hiring an employee without registration in the state, and therefore without pension contributions, without possible claims, etc.); (2) hidden entrepreneurship (or "work for yourself", without state registration), aimed at evading taxes and "interfering" rules; (3) activities related to illegal production, drug trafficking, corruption, etc. According to various estimates, the share of such a "malignant" economy in Russia in the late 1990s reached 40-50% of GDP.

A somewhat similar picture is given by oligarchic capitalism. The economy and power here are in the hands of a narrow group of so-called " oligarchs "- the largest bankers, stock speculators, industrial, trade, newspaper and television magnates, etc. At the same time, the top leaders of the state apparatus, political parties, the media (media) can be bought by oligarchs and work for them. From the criminalized tops, crime circles diverges in society, for biblical wisdom correctly says: "If vicious people are in power, then sin will be everywhere" (6 Pr 29:16). those who serve them "fat" and live in clover.

In contrast to this democratic capitalism (also called civilized or people's capitalism) is possible only under conditions mature and genuine democracy, when the people themselves elect and control power in society and when the rights and freedoms of the individual are guaranteed. Here it works effectively. diverse, social market economy (free competitive market + social guarantees for all citizens), there is a wide entrepreneurship, a huge mass of medium and small businesses.

At the same time, there are few poor and super-rich people in the country, life is regulated by well-functioning and respected laws, and the state protects owners from bandits and extortion by bureaucrats.

The largest share (60-80%) in such a democratic society is occupied by middle class - its main intellectual and creative force (hence the term "two-thirds society"). It covers representatives of a wide variety of professions: scientists, writers, artists, priests, teachers, doctors, lawyers, medium and small entrepreneurs, highly skilled workers, etc.

Usually these are people with a good education, secure jobs, relatively high incomes and a modern lifestyle. They are professional, work hard, own property (land, houses, cars, securities), which means economically and politically independent. Their life credo: the well-being of a person is determined by his personal efforts - diligence, education, energy, enterprise. It is not for nothing that a representative of the middle class in the West is often called in English self made man [self-made man] - a self-made man who succeeded on his own.

Of course, real life is "smarter" and "rougher" than any smooth schemes. Everything in it can be intricately intertwined. Yes, in Russia At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, elements of the initial, bureaucratic, oligarchic "capitalisms" were intricately woven together. People's capitalism, it seems, is still far away. Hence the social tension. When there is a lot of poverty and lack of rights in a society, Aristotle noted, it "is inevitably overcrowded with hostile people" (29-2,410).

However, what determines this or that specific image of society? A number of researchers [in particular, American economists and sociologists Torsteyi Veblen (1857–1929) and John Kenneth Galbraith (born in 1908)1 believe that, first of all, his most important institutions, or institutions. Hence the name of the theoretical direction founded by Vsblen - institutionalism.

Social institutions in general (from lat. institutum - Establishment, institution) are certain institutions (traditions, norms, rules, organizational forms) historically established in society that regulate the life of people together. For example, love, marriage, family, motherhood ( family institutions) business, market, money, bank, exchange ( economic institutions), state, army, court, parties ( political institutions); science, education, religion, moral standards ( spiritual institutions).

It is social institutions that “create and educate peoples” (Chadaev), therefore, from their forms and content, from their rooting, legislative and organizational design in a given country ( institutionalization), the progress of society largely depends on the timely replacement of rapidly aging institutions with new ones. The more well-established and perfect social institutions, the higher their humane, moral, democratic and legal level, the less conflict and more successful society is in its development.

For economy of paramount importance are such institutions as the family, diligence, property, household, law, taxes, goods, money, the market, corporations, trade unions, etc., and most importantly, as we will see below, state.

• Industrial (from lat. industria - diligence, activity) - industrial (industry - the same as industry).
• Materialism (from Latin materialis - material) - (1) in philosophy - a worldview that takes matter, objective reality (and not its subjective reflection in the human mind) as the basis of everything that exists; (2) *narrow practical attitude to reality, excessive pragmatism.
• Skepticism (from the Greek skeptikos - considering, investigating) - (1) and philosophy - a position of doubt in the possibility of knowing reality; (2) critical, distrustful attitude towards something.
• Civilized (from lat. civilis - civil) - (1) located at the level of a given civilization; (2) legal, cultural, enlightened, humane.
• Partnership (from English, partner, French partenaire - partner, associate) - cooperation between people in any activity based on mutual understanding and trust, respect for each other's interests and mutual concessions, responsibility and obligation to comply with contractual terms.
• Bureaucracy (from French bureau - bureau, office + Greek kratos - power, domination; literally: domination of the office) - (1) a form of power with the dominance of officials in society; (2) the government officials themselves, especially the leadership. Bureaucracy - bureaucracy, red tape, disregard for the essence of the matter and the substitution of its formalities (certificates, reports, meetings). Bureaucrat - (1) a representative of the bureaucracy; (2) one who is prone to bureaucracy, to "playing with the bureaucratic correspondence of pieces of paper", "chinodral" (Lenin).
• Corruption (from lat. corruptio - damage, bribery) - bribery; corrupt officials; bribery, embezzlement and other abuses of official position to obtain unjustified advantages for themselves. Criminalization (from Latin criminalis - criminal) - (1) increased crime in society; (2) the penetration of criminal (criminal) elements anywhere, the subordination of someone or something to the influence of the underworld.
• Tycoon (from Latin magnatus - a rich, noble person) - a representative of big business, an influential person (in the economy, politics, media, etc.).
• Credo (from the Lag. credo - I believe) views, beliefs, the foundations of the world view.
• Corporation (from Latin corporatio - association) - (1) joint-stock company; (2) an association of persons, organizations or firms based on the commonality of their professional or estate interests (for example, a corporation of bankers).

The conditions for the emergence of capitalism in Russia (an economic system based on private property and freedom of enterprise) developed only in the second half of the 19th century. As in other countries, it did not appear out of nowhere. Signs of the birth of a completely new system can be traced back to the era of Peter the Great, when, for example, in the Demidov Ural mines, in addition to serfs, civilian workers also worked.

However, no capitalism was possible in Russia as long as the enslaved peasantry existed in a huge and poorly developed country. The liberation of the villagers from the slave position in relation to the landlords became the main signal for the beginning of new economic relations.

End of feudalism

Russian serfdom was abolished by Emperor Alexander II in 1861. The Former Peasantry Was a Class The transition to capitalism in the countryside could take place only after the stratification of the rural inhabitants into the bourgeoisie (kulaks) and the proletariat (labor labourers). This process was natural, it took place in all countries. However, capitalism in Russia and all the processes accompanying its emergence had many peculiar features. In the countryside, they were to preserve the rural community.

According to the manifesto of Alexander II, the peasants were declared legally free and received the rights to own property, engage in crafts and trade, conclude deals, etc. Nevertheless, the transition to a new society could not take place overnight. Therefore, following the reform of 1861, communities began to appear in the villages, the basis for the functioning of which was communal land ownership. The team monitored the equal division into individual plots and the three-field system of arable land, in which one part of it was sown with winter crops, the second with spring crops, and the third was left fallow.

Peasant stratification

The community leveled the peasants and hindered capitalism in Russia, although it could not stop it. Some of the villagers became poor. One-horse peasants became such a layer (two horses were required for a full-fledged economy). These rural proletarians subsisted by earning money on the side. The community did not let such peasants go to the city and did not allow them to sell allotments that formally belonged to them. Free de jure status did not correspond to de facto status.

In the 1860s, when Russia embarked on the path of capitalist development, the community delayed this evolution due to its adherence to traditional farming. Peasants within the collective did not need to take the initiative and take risks for their own enterprise and desire to improve agriculture. Compliance with the norm was acceptable and important to conservative villagers. In this, the then Russian peasants were very different from the Western ones, who had long ago become entrepreneurial farmers with their own commodity economy and marketing of products. For the most part, the native villagers were collectivists, which is why the revolutionary ideas of socialism spread so easily among them.

Agrarian capitalism

After 1861, the landed estates began to reorganize to market methods. As in the case of the peasants, the process of gradual stratification started in this milieu. Even many inert and inert landlords had to learn from their own experience what capitalism is. The definition of the history of this term necessarily includes a mention of freelance labor. However, in practice, such a configuration was only a cherished goal, and not the original state of affairs. At first, after the reform, the farms of the landowners depended on the work of the peasants, who took rented land in exchange for their labor.

Capitalism in Russia took root gradually. The newly liberated peasants, who were going to work with their former owners, worked with their implements and livestock. Thus, the landlords were not yet capitalists in the full sense of the word, since they did not invest their own capital in production. The then working off can be considered a continuation of the dying feudal relations.

The agricultural development of capitalism in Russia consisted in the transition from archaic natural to more efficient commodity production. However, the old feudal features can also be noted in this process. The peasants of the new era sold only part of their products, consuming the rest on their own. Capitalist marketability suggested the opposite. All products had to be sold, while the peasant family in this case bought their own food with funds from their own profits. Nevertheless, already in its first decade, the development of capitalism in Russia led to an increase in demand for dairy products and fresh vegetables in cities. Around them, new complexes of private gardening and animal husbandry began to form.

Industrial Revolution

An important result, which led to the emergence of capitalism in Russia, was that it engulfed the country. It was fueled by the gradual stratification of the peasant community. Handicraft production and handicraft production developed.

For feudalism, handicraft was a characteristic form of industry. Having become mass in the new economic and social conditions, it turned into a trade intermediaries that connected consumers of goods and producers. These buyers exploited the handicraftsmen and lived off the trading profits. It was they who gradually formed a layer of industrial entrepreneurs.

In the 1860s, when Russia embarked on the path of capitalist development, the first stage of capitalist relations began - cooperation. At the same time, the process of a difficult transition to wage labor began in the branches of large-scale industry, where for a long time only cheap and disenfranchised serf labor was used. The modernization of production was complicated by the disinterest of the owners. Industrialists paid their workers low wages. Poor working conditions noticeably radicalized the proletariat.

Joint stock companies

In total, capitalism in Russia in the 19th century experienced several waves of rapid industrial growth. One of them was in the 1890s. In that decade, the gradual improvement of economic organization and the development of production techniques led to a significant growth of the market. Industrial capitalism entered a new developed phase, which was embodied by numerous joint-stock companies. The economic growth figures of the late 19th century speak for themselves. In the 1890s industrial output has doubled.

Any capitalism is going through a crisis when it degenerates into monopoly capitalism with bloated corporations owning a certain economic area. In imperial Russia, this did not happen to the full extent, including thanks to versatile foreign investments. Especially a lot of foreign money flowed into transport, metallurgy, oil and coal industries. It was at the end of the 19th century that foreigners switched to direct investment, while previously they preferred loans. Such contributions were explained by greater profits and the desire of merchants to earn money.

Export and import

Russia, without becoming advanced, did not have time to start the mass export of its own capital before the revolution. The domestic economy, on the contrary, willingly accepted injections from more developed countries. Just at this time, "surplus capital" accumulated in Europe, which were looking for their own application in promising foreign markets.

There were simply no conditions for the export of Russian capital. Numerous feudal survivals, vast colonial outskirts, and a relatively unimportant development of production prevented him. If the capital was exported, it was mainly to the eastern countries. This was done in the form of production or in the form of loans. Significant funds settled in Manchuria and China (about 750 million rubles in total). Transport was a popular area for them. About 600 million rubles were invested in the Chinese Eastern Railway.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Russian industrial production was already the fifth largest in the world. At the same time, the domestic economy was the first in terms of growth. The beginning of capitalism in Russia was left behind, now the country was hastily catching up with the most advanced competitors. The empire also occupied a leading position in terms of concentration of production. Its large enterprises were places of work for more than half of the entire proletariat.

Specific traits

The key features of capitalism in Russia can be described in a few paragraphs. The monarchy was the country of the young market. Industrialization began here later than in other European countries. As a result, a significant part of industrial enterprises was built quite recently. These facilities are equipped with the most modern technology. Basically, such enterprises belonged to large joint-stock companies. In the West, the situation remained exactly the opposite. European enterprises were smaller and their equipment less perfect.

With significant foreign investment, the initial period of capitalism in Russia was distinguished by the triumph of domestic, and not foreign, products. It was simply unprofitable to import foreign goods, but investing money was considered a profitable business. Therefore, in the 1890s. citizens of other states in Russia owned about a third of the share capital.

A serious impetus to the development of private industry was given by the construction of the Great Siberian Railway from European Russia to the Pacific Ocean. This project was state-owned, but the raw materials for it were purchased from entrepreneurs. The Trans-Siberian Railway provided many manufacturers with orders for coal, metal and steam locomotives for years to come. On the example of the highway, one can trace how the formation of capitalism in Russia created a sales market for various sectors of the economy.

domestic market

As production grew, so did the market. The main items of Russian exports were sugar and oil (Russia provided about half of the world's oil production). Cars were imported in bulk. The share of imported cotton decreased (the domestic economy began to focus on its Central Asian raw materials).

The formation of the internal national market took place in conditions when labor power became the most important commodity. The new distribution of income turned out to be in favor of industry and cities, but it infringed on the interests of the countryside. Therefore, the backlog of agricultural areas in socio-economic development in comparison with industrial areas followed. This pattern was characteristic of many young capitalist countries.

The same railways contributed to the development of the domestic market. In 1861-1885. 24 thousand kilometers of tracks were built, which amounted to about a third of the length of the tracks on the eve of the First World War. Moscow became the central transport hub. It was she who connected all regions of a huge country. Of course, such a status could not but accelerate the economic development of the second city of the Russian Empire. The improvement of communication routes facilitated the connection between the outskirts and the center. New interregional trade relations arose.

It is significant that throughout the second half of the 19th century, bread production remained approximately at the same level, while industry developed everywhere and increased the volume of output. Another unpleasant trend was the anarchy in railroad tariffs. Their reform took place in 1889. The government is in charge of regulating tariffs. The new order greatly helped the development of the capitalist economy and the internal market.

contradictions

In the 1880s Monopoly capitalism began to take shape in Russia. Its first shoots appeared in the railway industry. In 1882, the Union of Rail Manufacturers appeared, and in 1884, the Union of Rail Fastener Manufacturers and the Union of Bridge Building Plants.

The industrial bourgeoisie was formed. Its ranks included large merchants, former tax-farmers, tenants of estates. Many of them received financial incentives from the government. Merchants were actively involved in capitalist entrepreneurship. The Jewish bourgeoisie was formed. Because of the Pale of Settlement, some outlying provinces of the southern and western strip of European Russia were overflowing with merchant capital.

In 1860 the government founded the State Bank. It became the foundation of a young credit system, without which the history of capitalism in Russia cannot be imagined. It stimulated the accumulation of funds from entrepreneurs. However, there were circumstances that seriously hindered the increase in capital. In the 1860s Russia survived the "cotton famine", economic crises occurred in 1873 and 1882. But even these fluctuations could not stop the accumulation.

Encouraging the development of capitalism and industry in the country, the state inevitably embarked on the path of mercantilism and protectionism. Engels compared Russia at the end of the 19th century with the France of the era of Louis XIV, where the protection of the interests of domestic producers also created all the conditions for the growth of manufactories.

Formation of the proletariat

Any in Russia would not make any sense if a full-fledged working class had not been generated in the country. The impetus for its appearance was the industrial revolution of the 1850-1880s. The proletariat is the class of a mature capitalist society. Its emergence was the most important event in the social life of the Russian Empire. The birth of the working masses changed the entire socio-political agenda of a huge country.

The Russian transition from feudalism to capitalism, and consequently the emergence of the proletariat, were swift and radical processes. In their specificity, there were other unique features that arose due to the preservation of the remnants of the former society, landownership and the protective policy of the tsarist government.

In the period from 1865 to 1980, the increase in the proletariat in the factory sector of the economy was 65%, in the mining sector - 107%, in the railway - an incredible 686%. At the end of the 19th century, there were about 10 million workers in the country. Without analyzing the process of formation of a new class, it is impossible to understand what capitalism is. The historical definition gives us a dry formulation, but behind the laconic words and figures stood the fate of millions and millions of people who completely changed their way of life. Labor migration of huge masses has led to a significant increase in the urban population.

Workers existed in Russia before the industrial revolution. These were serfs who worked at manufactories, the most famous of which were the Ural enterprises. Nevertheless, the liberated peasants became the main source of growth for the new proletariat. The process of class transformation was often painful. The peasants, who had become impoverished and lost their horses, became workers. The most extensive departure from the village was observed in the central provinces: Yaroslavl, Moscow, Vladimir, Tver. This process affected the southern steppe regions least of all. Also, there was a small retreat in Belarus and Lithuania, although it was there that agrarian overpopulation was observed. Another paradox was that people from the outskirts, and not from the nearest provinces, sought to industrial centers. Many features of the formation of the proletariat in the country were noted by Vladimir Lenin in his works. "The Development of Capitalism in Russia", dedicated to this topic, hit the press in 1899.

The low wages of the proletarians were especially characteristic of small-scale industry. It was there that the most merciless exploitation of workers was traced. The proletarians tried to change these difficult conditions with the help of difficult retraining. Peasants engaged in small-scale crafts became distant otkhodniks. Transitional economic forms of activity were widespread among them.

modern capitalism

The domestic stages of capitalism associated with the tsarist era can today be regarded only as something remote and infinitely cut off from the modern country. The reason for this was the October Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks who came to power began to build socialism and communism. Capitalism with its private property and freedom of enterprise is a thing of the past.

The revival of the market economy became possible only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The transition from planned production to capitalist production was abrupt, and its main embodiment was the liberal reforms of the 1990s. It was they who built the economic foundations of the modern Russian Federation.

The transition to the market was announced at the end of 1991. In December, the resulting hyperinflation was carried out. At the same time, voucher privatization began, which was necessary to transfer state property into private hands. In January 1992, the Free Trade Ordinance was issued, opening up new business opportunities. The Soviet ruble was soon abolished, and the Russian national currency went through a default, a collapse in the exchange rate, and a denomination. Through the storms of the 1990s, the country built a new capitalism. It is in his conditions that modern Russian society lives.

As the relations of capitalist exploitation become the dominant type of production relations and the pre-capitalist forms of the superstructure are replaced by bourgeois political, legal, ideological and other social institutions, capitalism turns into a socio-economic formation that includes the capitalist mode of production and its corresponding superstructure. Capitalism goes through several stages in its development, but its most characteristic features remain essentially unchanged. Capitalism is characterized by antagonistic contradictions. The main contradiction of capitalism between the social character of production and the private capitalist form of appropriation of its results gives rise to anarchy of production, unemployment, economic crises, an irreconcilable struggle between the main classes of capitalist society - the proletariat and the bourgeoisie - and causes the historical doom of the capitalist system.

At the monopoly stage of capitalism, the exploitation of labor by financial capital leads to a redistribution in favor of the monopolies of a part of the total surplus value that falls to the share of the non-monopoly bourgeoisie and the necessary product of hired workers through the mechanism of monopoly prices.

The exploitation of labor by capital is supplemented by the exploitation of the overwhelming majority of mankind - the peoples of colonial and semi-colonial countries. From this it follows that the collapse of capitalism occurs as a result of two processes: 1) the revolutionary struggle of the working class for socialism and 2) the national liberation struggle of the peoples enslaved by imperialism.

Substantial changes are taking place in the size and composition of the working class. The proportion of unskilled workers is decreasing and the proportion of trained workers is increasing. A stratum of worker-technicians appears, operating complex machines, a stratum of clerical and commercial workers. With the growth of technological progress, the expansion of the service sector and the growth of the bureaucracy, the state apparatus significantly increases the number and proportion of employees.

Major changes are also taking place in the middle strata of the population. The number of peasant farmers in the developed capitalist countries is declining absolutely. The layer of urban small-scale producers is being eroded and ruined, unable to withstand competition with big capital. Small traders are becoming more and more dependent on wholesale and retail trade monopolies. The expansion of the sphere of capitalist exploitation to ever new sections of the population makes them an objective ally of the working class in the anti-monopoly struggle.

In the era of imperialism, the contradictions between the imperialist states are sharply aggravated. These contradictions are based on the law discovered by Lenin of the uneven economic and political development of capitalism, which causes a constant change in the balance of forces between individual countries. This unevenness inevitably gave rise to world wars, caused by the struggle for markets, sources of raw materials, areas for capital investment, for the redivision of the world.

In the process of its development, monopoly capitalism develops into state-monopoly capitalism (SMC). The objective basis on which this development takes place is the concentration of production and the centralization of capital in the hands of the monopolies, leading to an all-round growth in the socialization of production. There are large corporations, initially on a national, and then on a transnational basis. These gigantic economic complexes are managed from one center. The plannedness carried out in them comes into conflict with spontaneous market relations. There is a need and a need to adapt the functioning of the market to the interests of all monopoly capital as a whole. On this basis, the process of "... connecting the gigantic force of capitalism with the gigantic force of the state into one mechanism takes place ...". State-monopoly capitalism is characterized by the merging of the financial oligarchy with the bureaucratic elite, the strengthening of the role of the state in all areas of public life, the growth of the public sector in the economy and the intensification of policies aimed at mitigating the socio-economic contradictions of capitalism. Imperialism, especially at the state-monopoly stage, means a deep crisis of bourgeois democracy, an intensification of reactionary tendencies and the role of violence in domestic and foreign policy. It is inseparable from the growth of militarism and military spending, the arms race and the tendency to unleash aggressive wars.

The bourgeois state, which has relative independence in the MMC system, actively intervenes in the process of reproduction, taking into its own hands, depending on specific historical conditions, individual enterprises and entire industries, carrying out all kinds of measures to regulate important areas of economic life. Regulatory measures of the bourgeois state, the nationalization of individual sectors of the economy are carried out in the interests of the financial oligarchy. The bourgeois state is compelled to reckon with the balance of class and political forces in the country. Therefore, in a number of cases, it resorts to broad social maneuvers, resorts to reforms designed to alleviate the sharpness of class contradictions, and infringes on the interests of individual monopolies, proceeding from the general task of strengthening capitalism as a whole. The most complete form of the MMC, expressing the last degree of socialization possible under capitalism, is the transfer of enterprises into state ownership.

An important form of manifestation of the MMC is public finance, and primarily the state budget, the huge growth of which is directly related to wars and militarization, the swelling of the state bureaucracy, and the strengthening of entrepreneurial and credit activities of the state. In the field of relations between labor and capital, state regulation covers a wide range of social measures, the main goal of which is to preserve the "class peace". These include the policy of "full employment", training and retraining of the workforce, social insurance, social security, government regulation of health and education, income distribution. At the end of the 20th century Environmental protection has also become a sphere of state activity. Most of these measures are carried out as a result of the class struggle and the pressure of democratic forces. But modern bourgeois economists pass off the MMC as a system that allegedly does not contain the contradictions inherent in capitalism and is a step towards a society that implements social justice. The reformists are trying to prove that state intervention, allegedly narrowing the base of economic power of finance capital, opens up an evolutionary path for the transformation of capitalism into socialism. However, the scientific and technological revolution, which increased the intensification of production, the competitive struggle between monopolies, economic crises, rising unemployment, and inflation refute the myth that modern capitalism is able to get rid of crises.

type of society based on private property and market economy. In various currents of social thought, it is defined as a system of free enterprise, a stage in the development of an industrial society, and the modern stage of capitalism is defined as a "mixed economy", "post-industrial society", "information society", etc.; in Marxism, capitalism is a socio-economic formation based on private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of wage labor by capital.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

CAPITALISM

from lat. capitale - interest-bearing money) - a type of society based on private property and a market economy.

The word "capitalism" was introduced into the public consciousness by K. Marx, the author of the famous "Capital". Marxists define capitalism as a socio-economic formation that, having reached maturity, will create the prerequisites for the emergence of communism. M. Weber sees in capitalism the embodiment in practice of the ethical ideas of German and English Protestants. Many researchers characterize capitalism as an "open society", "industrial society", "post-industrial", "information", "post-information"...

If for the communists capitalism is just the prehistory of mankind, then for the liberal F. Fukuyama it is its end. In the countries of the "third world", living according to completely capitalist economic laws, capitalism, however, is perceived as an absolute evil and a synonym for neo-colonialism. Still arguing about what capitalism really is? A society of class inequality and merciless exploitation, or, on the contrary, a society of general welfare and equal opportunities? A historically transient stage in world history, or simply a way of thinking (“capitalist spirit”) and life?

A variety of points of view on the nature of this specific model of the world order does not negate what is its generic feature: capitalism is total commodity production, where a commodity is defined as a product of labor produced not for one's own consumption, but for sale. This determines all the other attributes and characteristics of capitalism: both the dominance of private property (and its sacralization), and the mechanism for obtaining surplus value described in detail by K. Marx in Capital, and the exploitation of hired labor, and the associated alienation of a person from the results of his labor , and a democratic state that consolidates this order, and an ideology that justifies the existing state of affairs.

The production of goods and profit is the main goal of the capitalist economy, the meaning of its existence. Under capitalism, literally everything is a commodity - down to those who produce them and who consume them: people, ideas, social institutions, and moral principles. Even formed over thousands of years, long before the emergence of the bourgeois world order, religious canons in a market society were sold under the hammer and "capitalized" - as, for example, the Protestants did. Their relationship with God (as, indeed, with the Jews) is formalized in the form of a trade agreement, where the parties bear mutual obligations.

This nature of capitalism was convincingly revealed by K. Marx and F. Engels: “The need for ever-increasing sales of products is driving the bourgeoisie around the globe. Everywhere it must infiltrate, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere. Nowhere before the emergence of capitalism - neither in antiquity, nor in the Middle Ages in Europe, nor in the economies of Eastern civilizations (India, China, the Islamic world) - did production have an exclusively commodity character characteristic of capitalism. And it manifested itself from the moment of the birth of a new economic order, when in the XIII-XIV centuries. in the communal cities of Northern Italy (Lombardy - hence the name of the now widespread financial institution), the first institutions of a market economy arose - the prototypes of modern banks.

Numerous merchants, due to the riskiness of their trade, needed other methods of settlement when conducting trade operations, rather than in cash or by barter (goods for goods). In those days, a wide variety of coins were in circulation, and without a special class of people who could quickly navigate the exchange rate, trading operations would simply be impossible.

It was money changers and usurers who gave merchants money to buy goods, and became the first bankers. They not only issued loans, but took money for safekeeping, transferred customer funds through their agents to other cities and countries. Then there were written promissory notes - bills of exchange, and a kind of securities market arose.

All this was of great importance for the development of the economy. First, the creation of a financial structure based on cashless payments significantly reduced the risks of merchants and made them less dependent on the arbitrariness of kings, feudal lords, robbers and pirates. This, of course, contributed to the expansion of the geography of trade. Secondly, money itself began to gradually turn into a commodity, and finance became a special, independent type of economic activity.

Many merchants, money changers, usurers accumulated significant funds, which, in modern terms, they invested in production. But the shop system that existed at that time, with its strict regulation, was clearly not adapted to this. It came into conflict with the interests of the growing financial and usurious capital and was actually doomed.

Entrepreneurial merchants bought raw materials from peasants and distributed them to artisans for processing. Thus, the foundations of the future manufactory were laid, which at the first stage of its formation was dispersed: the producers lived in different cities and villages, and the owner had to travel and collect the manufactured products. This method of cooperation did not yet have the character of mass production characteristic of capitalism, since there was no division of labor. But a start had been made: artisans gradually began to turn into hired workers, which required the abolition of serfdom and other forms of feudal dependence.

The merchant class itself has also changed significantly. The economic interests of the class demanded new forms of its self-organization. Guilds, built on the basis of the guild principle, gave way to trading companies. Initially, they were not numerous and often consisted exclusively of relatives.

But with the beginning of the era of great geographical discoveries, the situation changed radically, and the role of trading companies increased dramatically. They became the main engine of world trade and, in turn, initiated the process of discovering new lands and financed expeditions to the New World, Africa, South and Southeast Asia. It is no coincidence that it was in England, where, starting from the 16th century. the largest and richest companies operated - East India, Guinea, Levantine, Moscow - capitalism began to develop rapidly. These companies provided ideal conditions for the export of English goods throughout the world, which gave a powerful incentive to the development of industrial production in the country.

The archaic guild structure was not able to provide sufficient volume for export deliveries. Manufactory appears, the main feature of which is the division of labor. Now each employee was no longer engaged in the production of a product from beginning to end, but performed part of the work or only one labor operation at all. This dramatically increased productivity. The products of individual artisans were of higher quality, bearing the imprint of the individual craftsmanship of the master. But, of course, more expensive, because their production required a lot of time. Manufactory, on the other hand, made it possible to produce albeit lower quality, but much cheaper goods and, most importantly, in large quantities to satisfy the growing demand. But even it was not able to meet the ever-increasing needs of the external and internal markets, since the same primitive technical means of the times of the workshops were used.

The truly revolutionary changes began with the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. A number of inventions: the creation of a steam engine, combing and multi-spindle spinning machines, as well as the use of coal instead of charcoal in metallurgy, the emergence of new vehicles - a steam engine, a steamboat, etc., made it possible to greatly increase production efficiency. It was at this time that the foundations of that economic and social structure were formed, which, with significant changes, in a modified form, still exists today, determining the development of the entire world economy.

The industrial revolution, which completed the formation of the capitalist system, led to serious changes not only in the economy, but also in the social class structure of society. The bourgeoisie finally took shape, clearly aware of its interests and defending them in the struggle against the nobility. A class of wage-workers also arose. Its formation in the country of classical capitalism - England - was dramatic.

The final formation of capitalism was preceded by a period of primitive accumulation of capital. After all, for the organization of machine production, it is necessary, in addition to significant material resources (which the British bourgeois, who got rich on trade with the colonies, had at their disposal), and the presence of free hands.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. in England, the landowners everywhere drove the peasant tenants off the land. It became more profitable for landlords to breed sheep on it, because the demand for wool for textile manufactories increased sharply. Homeless, landless, possessing nothing but their own hands, yesterday's peasants went to manufactories and factories, turning into proletarians.

In the era of early capitalism, they, like ancient slaves or serfs, were subjected to merciless exploitation, and their standard of living was just as low.

The bourgeois state with all its might defended the "freedom" of even the most tramp, enshrined it in the laws; it is ready to defend the rights and freedoms of all citizens without exception by any means, even to fight for them. Because only a free man can freely sell his labor power. Master and worker are equally equal and free. But the latter cannot offer any other commodity on the market than his labor. And since the worker does not have the means of production - machinery, equipment, his labor in itself is too cheap to feed him. He can live only by offering his labor power to the owner of the tools of labor. Naturally, the terms of the deal are dictated to him by the capitalist. The worker may or may not accept them - he is a free man. The same as the owner, who has the right to purchase his services or refuse them.

The difference between the proletarian and the slave is that, as F. Engels wrote, “the slave is sold once and for all, the proletarian must sell himself daily and hourly. Each individual slave is the property of a certain master, and, already due to the interest of the latter, the existence of the slave is ensured, no matter how miserable it may be. The individual proletarian is the property of the entire bourgeois class. The slave stands outside competition, the proletarian is in the conditions of competition and feels all its fluctuations.

In modern conditions, of course, there is no longer the main dichotomy of the era of classical capitalism "bourgeoisie - proletariat". The current capitalism in its post-industrial, informational version has blurred the boundaries separating classes and strata, has changed the outlines of social space. Today, workers in developed countries are co-owners of the enterprises in which they work, and bear little resemblance to the dispossessed proletarians of the 19th century. In terms of income, they are included in the "middle class" and do not think about any class struggle in order to destroy the source of exploitation - private property. But neither property relations per se (a powerful state, "socialist" sector operates in the economies of Western states), nor the degree of development of democratic institutions are capable of changing the capitalist nature of the current world order - a society of total commodity production.

Due to globalization and the international division of labor, developed countries have become the focus of the bourgeoisie and highly qualified personnel, while the proletariat has moved to China, Latin America, Africa, and India. Thanks to another institution of capitalism - the stock market, workers in developed countries themselves became owners of shares in enterprises, while in third world countries the conditions for the existence of workers resemble the dawn of capitalism.

Modern capitalism is characterized by the growing role of transnational corporations (TNCs), globalization and internationalization of economic life, interstate regulation of the economy. This was reflected in the emergence of special organizations: the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, etc.

In Russia, after 70 years of the dominance of socialist economic methods, the return to capitalism began in the era of perestroika and continued into the 1990s. The “building of a just capitalist society”, that is, a return to the ways of managing a hundred years ago, was accompanied by predatory privatization, a bloody redistribution of property, complete lawlessness and arbitrariness.

There is a lot of controversy about the prospects of capitalism. But basically 2 approaches are fighting: either capitalism is something natural and eternal, or it will give way to a completely different type of society and become a kind of “preceding stage”, just as capitalism itself was once replaced by feudalism, which was considered “natural”, eternal and “based on divine laws.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

An alternative to feudalism as a form of management did not appear immediately. And even emerging from the soil of decaying feudalism, the capitalist organization of production was used for a long time in a limited way and brought little income. Moreover, the unevenness manifested itself territorially - the countries gradually entered a new stage of economic development.

Each country had its own incentives to promote change. The petrels of capitalism (England and Holland) differed from other countries in their geography, which determined the extensive development of trade in these countries. The events of the era of transition from feudalism to capitalism dictated new conditions for economic development. The great geographical discoveries and the emergence of the world market associated with them, the "price revolution" also associated with the colonies, the introduction of completely new technologies into production - all this could not but serve as prerequisites for the widespread introduction of a new mode of production. In this way it became capitalist.

Starting point of capitalism

The starting point of capitalism, many researchers consider the initial accumulation of capital - namely, the process of taking the means of production from small producers, the accumulation of large sums of money in the hands of merchants, usurers, farmers, craftsmen.

Then, in the leading countries of Europe (England, Holland), a simple capitalist cooperation arose - the future prototype of manufactory production. That, in turn, having given the economy a big boost, having gone through many transformations, turned into a capitalist factory.

All this economic evolution was accompanied by a sharply increased role of England, which to this day plays an important role in its economy. But then - in the 14-16 centuries, during the formation of capitalism, English wool provided the world's cloth-making. All changes in England took place more intensively, including the initial accumulation of capital.

Dutch economic development was given a strong impetus mainly by the geographical conditions of the country. The economy of the marginal Dutch lands was based on maritime trade, as well as the personal freedom of the peasants - which was specific to Europe. Only in the 18th century, the absence of factory production as a new and progressive form of capitalist production, coupled with the endless wars waged by Holland, pushed this economic maritime power back. England became a full-fledged world leader, in which the bourgeois revolution of 1642-1660 became a powerful impetus for capitalism.

The active development of foreign trade, the spread of banks - all this served to accelerate the development of capitalism in England. The situation of the peasants, suitable conditions for the free development of trade - these are the main reasons for the primacy of England in comparison with France, where the peasants were stratified (which slowed down and complicated their dispossession of land, like the peasantry of England), and the bourgeoisie is passive.

Germany, which at that time was in the form of many principalities, suffered economic losses due to the Thirteen Years' War and the increased exploitation of the peasants by the feudal lords.

Thus, one can come to the conclusion that the genesis of capitalism would not have been possible without the process of disintegration of feudalism. This process, as we see, is not simultaneous, it differs in different countries. The development of capitalism in each individual country took place under the influence of economic, social and geographical conditions, and each time with some specific features.

Pre-monopoly capitalism with the dominance of free competition reached its highest point of development by the 1960s and 1970s. During the last third of the 19th century, the transition from pre-monopoly capitalism to monopoly capitalism took place. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, monopoly capitalism finally took shape.

monopoly capitalism, or imperialism, there is the highest and last stage of capitalism, the main distinguishing feature of which is the replacement of free competition by the domination of monopolies.

The transition from pre-monopoly capitalism to monopoly capitalism - imperialism - was prepared by the entire process of development of the productive forces and production relations of bourgeois society.

The last third of the 19th century was marked by major technical shifts, the growth of industry and its concentration. In metallurgy, new methods of steel smelting (Bessemer, Tomasov, open-hearth) have been widely used. The rapid spread of new types of engines - dynamo, internal combustion engine, steam turbine, electric motor - accelerated the development of industry and transport. Advances in science and technology opened up the possibility of producing electrical energy on a mass scale at thermal and then at large hydroelectric power stations. The use of electrical energy led to the creation of a number of new branches of the chemical industry, metallurgy of non-ferrous and light metals. The use of chemical methods in many industries has expanded. The improvement of internal combustion engines contributed to the emergence of road transport, and then aviation.

As early as the middle of the 19th century, light industry occupied a predominant place in the industry of the capitalist countries. Numerous enterprises of relatively small size belonged to individual owners, the proportion of joint-stock companies was relatively small. The economic crisis of 1873 brought many such enterprises to ruin and gave a strong impetus to the concentration and centralization of capital. The predominant role in the industry of the main capitalist countries began to be played by heavy industry, primarily metallurgy and machine building, as well as mining, the development of which required enormous capital. The widespread use of joint-stock companies further strengthened the centralization of capital.

The volume of world industrial output tripled between 1870 and 1900. World steel production increased from 0.5 million tons in 1870 to 28 million tons in 1900, and world pig iron production from 12.2 million tons to 40.7 million tons. The development of energy, metallurgy and chemistry led to an increase in world coal production (from 218 million tons in 1870 to 769 million tons in 1900) and oil (from 0.8 million tons to 20 million tons). The growth of industrial production was closely linked with the development of rail transport. In 1835, 10 years after the construction of the first railway, there were 2.4 thousand kilometers of railway tracks all over the world, in 1870 - over 200 thousand, and in 1900 - 790 thousand kilometers. Sea routes began to be served by large ships driven by steam engines and internal combustion engines.

During the nineteenth century, the capitalist mode of production spread rapidly throughout the globe. Back in the early 70s of the last century, the oldest bourgeois country - England - produced more fabrics, smelted more iron, mined more coal than the United States of America, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and Japan combined. England held the primacy in world industrial production and an undivided monopoly on the world market. By the end of the 19th century, the situation had changed dramatically. The young capitalist countries have developed large-scale industries of their own. In terms of industrial production, the United States of America ranked first in the world, and Germany ranked first in Europe. Despite the obstacles created by the thoroughly rotten tsarist regime, Russia quickly followed the path of industrial development. As a result of the industrial growth of the young capitalist countries, England lost its industrial primacy and monopoly position on the world market.

As the transition to imperialism proceeded, the contradictions between the productive forces and the production relations of capitalism began to take on ever more acute forms. The subordination of production to the predatory aims of the capitalists' pursuit of the highest profit has created numerous obstacles to the development of productive forces and technical progress. Economic crises of overproduction began to recur more frequently, their destructive power increased, and the army of the unemployed grew. Along with the growth of poverty and deprivation of the working masses of town and countryside, there was an unprecedented increase in wealth concentrated in the hands of a handful of exploiters. The aggravation of irreconcilable class contradictions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat led to the intensification of the economic and political struggle of the working class.

During the period of transition to imperialism, the major capitalist powers of Europe and America seized vast colonial possessions by force and deceit. A small handful of capitalistically developed countries have turned the majority of the world's population into colonial slaves who hate their oppressors and fight against them. Colonial conquests have greatly expanded the field of capitalist exploitation; the degree of exploitation of the working masses steadily increased. The extreme aggravation of the contradictions of capitalism has found expression in the devastating imperialist wars that take away many human lives and destroy enormous material values.

The historical merit of the Marxist study of imperialism as the highest and at the same time the last stage in the development of capitalism, as the eve of the socialist revolution of the proletariat, belongs to VI Lenin. In his classic work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism and in a number of other works written mainly during the First World War, Lenin summed up the development of world capitalism in the half century since the publication of Marx's Capital. Relying on the laws of the emergence, development and decline of capitalism discovered by Marx and Engels, Lenin gave an exhaustive scientific analysis of the economic and political essence of imperialism, its laws and insoluble contradictions.

According to Lenin's classical definition, the main economic features of imperialism are as follows: “1) the concentration of production and capital, which has reached such a high stage of development that it has created monopolies that play a decisive role in economic life; 2) the merging of banking capital with industrial capital and the creation, on the basis of this "financial capital", of a financial oligarchy; 3) the export of capital, in contrast to the export of goods, is of particular importance; 4) international monopoly alliances of capitalists are formed, dividing the world, and 5) the territorial division of the land by the major capitalist powers is completed” .

Concentration of production and monopoly. Monopolies and competition.

In the pre-monopoly period, under the dominance of free competition, the operation of the law of concentration and centralization of capital inevitably led to the victory of large and large enterprises, in comparison with which small and medium-sized enterprises play an increasingly subordinate role. In turn, the concentration of production prepared the transition from the rule of free competition to the rule of monopolies.

V Germany in enterprises with more than 50 employees in 1882, 22% of all workers and employees were concentrated, in 1895 - 30, in 1907 - 37, in 1925 - 47.2, in 1939 - 49, 9%. The share of the largest enterprises (with more than a thousand employees) in the entire industry grew from 1907 to 1925: in terms of the number of employees - from 9.6 to 13.3%, in terms of engine power - from 32 to 41.1%.

V United States of America in 1904, the largest enterprises with production worth a million dollars or more accounted for 0.9% of the total number of enterprises; 25.6% of the total number of workers were employed at these enterprises, and they provided 38% of the total gross industrial output. In 1909, the largest enterprises, accounting for 1.1% of the total number of enterprises, had 30.5% of all employed workers and provided 43.8% of the total gross industrial output. In 1939, the largest enterprises, accounting for 5.2% of the total number of enterprises, concentrated 55% of all employed workers and 67.5% of the total industrial output.

The industry was highly concentrated Russia. In Russia in 1879, large enterprises (with more than 100 workers) accounted for 4.4% of all enterprises and concentrated 54.8% of the total production. In 1903, 76.6% of all industrial workers were concentrated in large enterprises, and they provided the overwhelming majority of industrial output.

The concentration of production proceeds most rapidly in heavy industry and in the new branches of industry (chemical, electrical engineering, automotive, etc.), lagging behind in light industry, in which there are many small and medium-sized enterprises in all capitalist countries.

One of the forms of concentration of production is combination, that is, the combination in one enterprise of different types of production, which are either successive stages of processing raw materials (for example, metallurgical plants that combine ore mining, iron and steel smelting, production of rolled products), or playing an auxiliary role one in relation to the other (for example, the use of production waste). The combination gives large enterprises an even greater advantage in the competition.

At a certain stage of its development, the concentration of production leads close to monopoly. Large enterprises require huge masses of profits in order to withstand the fierce competition with the same giants and be able to further expand production, and high profits are ensured only by monopoly dominance in the market. On the other hand, it is easier for a few dozen giant enterprises to come to an agreement among themselves than for hundreds and thousands of small enterprises. Thus, free competition is replaced by monopoly. This is what economic essence of imperialism.

Monopoly is an agreement, alliance or association of capitalists who have concentrated in their hands the production and marketing of a significant part of the products of one or several industries in order to establish high prices for goods and obtain monopoly high profits.

The simplest forms of monopoly are short-term sales price agreements. They have various names: conventions, corners, rings, etc. More developed forms of monopoly are cartels, syndicates, trusts and concerns. Cartel there is a monopolistic union, the participants of which agree on the terms of sale, terms of payment, divide sales markets among themselves, determine the quantity of goods produced, and set prices. The quantity of goods that each of the cartel members has the right to produce and sell is called quota; for violation of the quota, a fine is paid to the cashier of the cartel. Syndicate there is a monopoly organization in which the sale of goods and sometimes the purchase of raw materials are carried out by a common office. Trust is a monopoly in which the ownership of all enterprises is combined, and their owners have become shareholders who receive a profit according to the number of shares or shares they own. At the head of the trust is the board, which manages all production, marketing of products and finances of formerly independent enterprises. Trusts are often included in larger unions - concerns. Concern there is an amalgamation of a number of enterprises in various branches of industry, trading firms, banks, transport and insurance companies on the basis of a common financial dependence on a certain group of the largest capitalists.

The monopolies occupy commanding heights in the economies of the capitalist countries. They embraced heavy industry, as well as many branches of light industry, railway and water transport, banks, domestic and foreign trade, and established their oppression over agriculture.

In ferrous metallurgy United States of America eight monopolies dominate, which in 1952 controlled 84% of the country's total steel production capacity; of these, the two largest - the American Steel Trust and the Bethlehem Steel Corporation - had 51% of the total production capacity. The oldest monopoly in the United States is the oil trust Standard Oil. There are three major companies in the automotive industry: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The electrical industry is dominated by two firms: General Electric and Westinghouse. The chemical industry is controlled by the Dupont de Nemours concern, and the aluminum industry by the Mellon concern.

V England The role of monopolistic associations increased especially after the First World War, when cartels arose in the textile and coal industries, in ferrous metallurgy, and in a number of new branches of industry. The English Chemical Trust controls about nine-tenths of all basic chemicals, about two-fifths of dyes, and almost all of the country's nitrogen production. He is closely connected with the most important branches of British industry, and especially with military concerns.

V Germany cartels have become widespread since the end of the last century. Between the two world wars, the country's economy was dominated by the Steel Trust ("Vereinigte Stalwerke"), which had about 200 thousand workers and employees, the Chemical Trust ("Interessen Gemeinschaft Farbenindustry") with 100 thousand workers and employees, the monopoly of the coal industry, the cannon concern Krupp, electrical concerns "General Electricity Company" and "Siemens".

In France, v Japan and even in small countries like Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, monopolistic organizations occupy commanding heights in industry.

V Russia the big monopolies primarily embraced the main branches of heavy industry. The syndicate "Prodamet" (an association for the sale of products of metallurgical enterprises), which arose in 1902, controlled the sale of more than four-fifths of ferrous metal. In 1904, the Prodvagon syndicate was organized, which almost completely monopolized the production and sale of wagons. The same syndicate united locomotive factories. The syndicate "Produgol" was created in 1904 by the largest coal enterprises of the Donbass, owned by Franco-Belgian capital; it covered three-quarters of all coal production in the Donbass.

Bourgeois economists, trying to embellish modern capitalism, assert that the spread of monopolies leads to a cure in the bourgeois system of such evils as competition, anarchy of production, and crises. In fact, not only is imperialism unable to eliminate competition, anarchy in production, and crises, but it sharpens all the contradictions of capitalism even more.

Lenin pointed out that imperialism cannot rebuild capitalism from top to bottom. With the dominant role of monopolies in all capitalist countries, numerous medium and small enterprises and masses of small producers—peasants and artisans—are preserved.

The monopoly that is being created in certain branches of industry intensifies the chaotic nature of capitalist production as a whole. Not only is competition not eliminated, but it is taking even more acute forms.

First, the competition never stops inside monopolies. Members of syndicates and cartels fight among themselves for the most profitable markets, for a large share (quota) of production and sales. In trusts and concerns there is a struggle for leading positions, for controlling blocks of shares, for the distribution of profits.

Secondly, there is competition between monopolies: both between the monopolies of the same industry, and between the monopolies of different industries supplying goods to each other (for example, steel and automobile trusts) or producing goods that can replace each other (coal, oil, electricity). Given the limited capacity of the domestic market, the monopolies that produce consumer goods are waging a fierce struggle for the sale of their goods.

Third, there is competition between monopolies and non-monopolized enterprises. Monopolized industries are in a privileged position in relation to other industries. The monopolies take every measure to stifle "foreign", "wild" enterprises that do not belong to monopoly associations.

“Monopolies, growing out of free competition, do not eliminate it, but exist above it and next to it, thereby giving rise to a number of especially sharp and sharp contradictions, frictions, conflicts.” The dominance of monopolies gives the competitive struggle a particularly destructive and predatory character. Monopolies use all possible methods of direct violence, bribery and blackmail, resort to complex financial fraud.

The dominance of monopolies means a further deepening of the basic contradiction of capitalism - the contradiction between the social character of production and the private capitalist form of appropriation, as a result of which crises become even more devastating.

Concentration and monopolies in banking. The new role of banks.

The idea of ​​the real strength and significance of modern monopolies cannot be sufficiently complete without taking into account the role of banks. In banking, as in industry, there is a concentration of capital and a transition from free competition to monopoly. Initially, banks served mainly as intermediaries in payments. With the development of capitalism, the activities of banks as merchants of capital expanded. The accumulation of capital and the concentration of production in industry have led to the concentration of huge free funds in banks, looking for a profitable application. The share of large banks in the total mass of banking turnover has been steadily growing.

During the 33 years before the First World War (1880-1913), the growth in deposits in the banking systems of the four largest capitalist states - the United States of America, Germany, England and France - alone amounted to 127 billion marks. Since then, the growth of deposits has been even faster; in a period twice as short, from 1913 to 1928, deposits in these countries increased by 183 billion marks.

V United States of America the top 20 banks accounted for 15% in 1900, 19% in 1929, 27% in 1939, and 29% in 1952 of total deposits in all US banks. V England the sum of the balance sheets of the five largest banks was in 1900 - 28% in 1916 - 37, in 1929 - 73 and in 1952 - 79% of the total balances of all English depository banks. In France the share of six deposit banks in 1952 accounted for 66% of the total amount of deposits in all French banks. V Germany on the eve of the First World War, about half of the amount of deposits available in all German banks was concentrated in large Berlin banks, and in 1929-1932. - two-thirds.

Concentration in banking, as in industry, leads to monopoly. The largest banks, through the purchase of shares, the provision of credit, etc., subjugate the small ones. Having seized a monopoly position, large banks conclude agreements among themselves on the division of spheres of influence. Monopoly unions of banks are formed. Each such union commands dozens and sometimes hundreds of smaller banks, which actually become branches of large ones. Through a developed network of branches, large banks collect funds from many enterprises in their cash desks. Almost the entire money capital of the capitalist class and the savings of other sections of the population fall into the hands of small groups of bank tycoons.

The concentration of industry and the formation of banking monopolies lead to a significant change in the relationship between banks and industry. With the increase in the size of enterprises, large, long-term loans extended by banks to industrial capitalists become increasingly important. The growth in the mass of deposits at the disposal of banks opens up wide possibilities for such a long-term investment of bank funds in industry. The most common form of investing bank money in industry is the purchase of shares in various enterprises. Banks contribute to the formation of joint-stock enterprises by taking over the reorganization of the enterprises of individual capitalists into joint-stock companies and the creation of new joint-stock companies (foundation). The sale and purchase of shares are increasingly carried out with / through banks.

From modest intermediaries, banks are turning into all-powerful money market monopolists. The interests of banks and industrial enterprises are intertwined ever more closely. When a bank finances several large enterprises in a certain industry, it is interested in a monopoly agreement between them and promotes such an agreement. In this way, banks greatly intensify and accelerate the process of concentration of capital and the formation of monopolies.

Financial capital and financial oligarchy.

As a result of the fact that banks become co-owners of industrial, commercial, transport enterprises, acquiring their shares and bonds, and industrial monopolies, in turn, own shares of banks associated with them, there is an interweaving of monopoly banking and industrial capital, a new type of capital arises - finance capital. financial capital there is the fused capital of banking and industrial monopolies. The era of imperialism is the era of finance capital.

Defining financial capital, Lenin emphasized three most important points: “Concentration of production; the monopolies that grow out of it; the merging or merging of banks with industry - this is the history of the emergence of finance capital and the content of this concept.

The merging of banking capital with industrial capital is clearly manifested in the personal union of the leaders of banking and industrial monopolies. The same persons head the largest monopoly associations in banking, industry, trade and other branches of the capitalist economy.

V Germany before the First World War, the six largest Berlin banks had their proteges as directors in 344 industrial enterprises and as members of the boards - in another 407, and in total - in 751 companies. On the other hand, the governing bodies of these six banks included 51 major industrialists. In the future, this personal union was further developed. In 1932, the governing bodies of the three main Berlin banks included 70 of the largest representatives of industry. V United States of America in 1950, a narrow group of 400 industrialists and bankers held one third of the 3,705 directorships in the 250 largest corporations (joint stock companies) that owned 42% of the country's total capital.

In every capitalist country, small handfuls of the biggest bankers and monopolist industrialists hold in their hands all the vital branches of the economy, disposing of the overwhelming mass of social wealth. The management of the capitalist monopolies inevitably becomes the domination of financial oligarchy(The Greek word "oligarchy" literally means "rule by a few"). Imperialism is characterized by the omnipotence of the monopoly trusts and syndicates, the banks and the financial oligarchy in the industrial countries.

The domination of the financial oligarchy in the economic field is carried out primarily through the so-called "participation system". It consists in the fact that a large financial businessman or a group of businessmen holds in his hands the main joint-stock company (“mother company”), which heads the concern; this company, in turn, owning controlling stakes, dominates the “subsidiaries” dependent on it; they manage in a similar way in "grandchildren societies", etc. Through this system, financial tycoons get the opportunity to dispose of huge amounts of foreign capital.

With the help of a widely ramified system of participation, the eight largest US financial groups - Morgan, Rockefeller, Kuhn-Loeb, Mellon, DuPont, Chicago, Cleveland and Boston - dominate the entire economy of the country. Morgan's sphere of influence by 1948 covered banks and corporations with a total capital of 55 billion dollars, Rockefeller - 26.7 billion, Du Pont - 6.5 billion, Mellon - 6 billion dollars.

The financial oligarchy, which enjoys a virtual monopoly, receives huge and ever-growing masses of profits from the foundation (that is, the creation of joint-stock companies), from the issuance of shares and bonds, from the placement of state loans, from profitable state orders. Financial capital, concentrated in a few hands, collects ever-increasing tribute from society.

The export of capital.

For pre-monopoly capitalism, with the dominance of free competition, the export of goods. For imperialist capitalism, with the domination of monopolies, the export of capital.

On the threshold of the 20th century, in the richest countries, where the accumulation of capital reached enormous proportions, there was a huge "surplus of capital".

Capital is "surplus" mainly for two reasons. First, the miserable standard of living of the masses puts up obstacles to the further growth of production. Secondly, the lag of agriculture behind industry and, in general, the uneven development of various sectors of the economy is becoming more and more intensified. If capitalism could raise agriculture, raise the standard of living of the working masses, then there could be no question of any "surplus of capital". But then capitalism would not be capitalism, for both the uneven development and the semi-starvation standard of living of the masses of the population are the fundamental conditions and prerequisites for this mode of production. The surplus of capital in the capitalist developed countries is thus of a relative nature. “The need for the export of capital is created by the fact that in a few countries capitalism is “overripe”, and capital lacks (given the underdevelopment of agriculture and the poverty of the masses) the field for “profitable” premises.

In pursuit of maximum profit, "surplus" capital rushes abroad. Capital is exported mainly to backward countries, where capital is scarce, wages are low, raw materials are cheap, and the price of land is comparatively low. In these countries, monopoly capital has the opportunity to receive, and indeed receives, huge profits.

Along with the backward countries, capital is also exported to the industrialized countries. This occurs during a period of particularly rapid development of such countries, which calls for an influx of capital from outside (for example, the United States before the First World War), or in a situation of weakening caused by the war (Germany after the First World War, Western European capitalist countries after the Second World War ).

The export of capital takes place in two main forms: in the form of loan capital and in the form of productive capital. The export of loan capital takes place in the provision of loans to governments, cities, banks of other countries. The export of productive capital is carried out through the creation of industrial enterprises abroad, concessions, the construction of railways, and also by buying up for a pittance already existing enterprises in countries that have weakened (for example, as a result of war).

Bourgeois economists and politicians portray the export of capital as "aid" and "benefits" allegedly rendered by developed capitalist countries to backward peoples. In fact, the export of capital, while accelerating the development of capitalist relations in backward countries, at the same time leads to the all-round enslavement and plunder of these countries by foreign monopolies. The export of capital is closely connected with the growth of the export of goods. Foreign monopolies seize markets and sources of raw materials in debtor countries. Thus, the export of capital is one of the foundations of a system of imperialist oppression in which a few rich usurer countries exploit most of the world. The world has been divided into a handful of usurer states and a vast majority of debtor states.

The export of capital has serious consequences for the countries exporting capital. These countries, on the one hand, increase their wealth and strengthen their positions in the world market. They receive from outside a constant influx of surplus value in the form of interest on loans or profits from foreign enterprises. On the other hand, often there is a stagnation in the own industrial development of the country exporting capital. One of the important results of the export of capital is the growth of rivalry between the powers, the struggle for the most profitable areas for the investment of capital.

Before the First World War, the main exporting countries were England, France and Germany. Their investments abroad amounted to 175 - 200 billion francs: England - 75 - 100 billion, France - 60 billion, Germany - 44 billion francs. The export of capital from the United States has not yet played a major role, amounting to less than 10 billion francs.

After the war of 1914-1918 there have been major changes in world capital exports. Germany lost its capital abroad. The foreign investments of England and France were significantly reduced, and the export of capital from the United States increased greatly. In 1929, the United States almost equaled Britain in terms of the size of its foreign investments. After the Second World War, the export of capital from the United States increased even more.

The economic division of the world between the unions of capitalists. international monopolies.

As the export of capital grows, as foreign ties expand and the "spheres of influence" of the largest monopolies expand, conditions are created for dividing the world market between them. International monopolies are formed.

International monopolies are agreements between the largest monopolies of various countries on the division of markets, price policy, and the size of production. The formation of international monopolies signifies a new stage in the concentration of production and capital, incomparably higher than the previous ones.

Defenders of international monopolies try to present them as an instrument of peace, asserting that international agreements between the monopolists can peacefully settle the contradictions that arise between imperialist groups and countries. Such statements have nothing to do with reality. In fact, the economic division of the world by international monopolies takes place depending on the strength of the parties, while the strength of individual monopoly groups varies. Each of them is incessantly fighting to increase its share, to expand the sphere of monopoly exploitation. Changes in the balance of power inevitably entail an intensification of the struggle for the redistribution of markets, an aggravation of contradictions between various groups and the states supporting them. The international agreements of the monopolists are notable for their fragility and conceal the source of inevitable conflicts.

International monopolies began to emerge in the 60s-80s of the 19th century. By the end of the last century, their total number did not exceed 40. On the eve of the First World War, there were about 100 international cartels throughout the world, and before the Second World War, their number exceeded 300.

Even before the First World War, the oil market was actually divided between the American trust Standard Oil, which was in the hands of Rockefeller, and the Royal-Dutch-Shell concern, with the predominant influence of British capital. The market for electrical products was divided between two monopolistic firms: the German General Electric Company and the American General Electric Corporation, controlled by the Morgan group.

International monopolistic agreements even covered such areas as the production of weapons. The largest arms manufacturers - Armstrong-Vickers in England, Schneider-Creusot in France, Krupp in Germany, Bofors in Sweden - have been linked together by many threads for a long time.

The international monopolies played a big role in the preparations for the Second World War. The largest monopolies of the United States, Britain and France, bound by cartel agreements with German trusts, inspired and directed the policy of the ruling circles of these countries, the policy of encouraging and inciting Hitlerite aggression, which led to war.

Completion of the territorial division of the world between the great powers and the struggle for its redistribution.

Along with and in connection with the economic division of the world between capitalist alliances, there is a territorial division of the world between bourgeois states, a struggle for colonies, a struggle to seize foreign lands.

colonies are called countries deprived of state independence and constituting the possessions of the imperialist metropolitan states. In the epoch of imperialism, there are also various types of dependent countries - semi-colonies. semi-colonies These are countries that are formally independent, but in reality are politically and economically dependent on the imperialist states.

The defenders of the bourgeoisie portray imperialist rule over the colonies as a "civilizing mission" supposedly aimed at leading the backward peoples onto the path of progress and independent development. In fact, imperialism dooms colonial and dependent countries to economic backwardness, and hundreds of millions of the population of these countries to unprecedented oppression and bondage, lack of rights and poverty, hunger and ignorance. The seizure of the colonies by the imperialist powers leads to an unprecedented intensification of national oppression and racial discrimination. According to Lenin, capitalism, from being a liberator of nations, as it was during the period of struggle against feudalism, at the stage of imperialism has turned into a monstrous oppressor of nations. Imperialism is a worldwide system of financial enslavement and colonial oppression by a handful of capitalist developed countries of the gigantic majority of the world's population.

Back in the middle of the 18th century, England enslaved India - a country with the richest natural resources and a population that is many times larger than the population of the metropolis. In the middle of the 19th century, the United States of America seized vast territories from neighboring Mexico, and in the following decades established its dominance over a number of countries in Latin America.

In the 60s and 70s of the last century, the colonial possessions of European countries still occupied a relatively small part of overseas lands. In 1876, only one tenth of the territory of Africa was occupied by the colonies of European countries. About half of the Asian continent and the islands of the Pacific Ocean (Polynesia) have not yet been captured by the capitalist states.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the map of the world underwent fundamental changes. Following the oldest colonial power, England, all the developed capitalist countries embarked on the path of territorial conquest. France by the end of the 19th century had become a major colonial power with possessions of 3.7 million square miles. Germany captured a million square miles of territory with 14.7 million people, Belgium - 900 thousand square miles with 30 million people, the United States captured the most important stronghold in the Pacific Ocean - the Philippine Islands, as well as Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Hawaiian Islands, the island Samoa, established their actual dominance over a number of countries in Central and South America.

From 1876 to 1914, the so-called "great powers" seized about 25 million square kilometers of territory, which is one and a half times the area of ​​the metropolitan countries. A number of countries were placed in conditions of semi-colonial dependence on imperialist states: China, with a population of almost one-fourth of all mankind, as well as Turkey and Persia (Iran). By the beginning of the First World War, more than half of humanity was under the rule of the colonial powers.

The imperialists establish and maintain their power over the colonies through methods of deceit and violence, using the superiority of their military technology. The history of colonial policy is a continuous chain of wars of conquest and punitive expeditions against enslaved peoples, as well as bloody conflicts between countries that own colonies. Lenin called the war of the United States against Spain in 1898 the first war of the imperialist type, which marked the beginning of the era of imperialist wars. The uprising of the Filipino people against the invaders was brutally crushed by American troops.

England, which created the largest colonial empire, for more than two centuries waged uninterrupted wars of extermination against the population of the occupied countries of Asia and Africa. The history of colonial seizures by Germany, France, Japan, Italy and other countries is full of cruelties.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the division of the world was completed. The colonial policy of the capitalist countries led to the seizure of all lands not occupied by the imperialists. There are no more “free” lands left, a situation has been created in which each new seizure involves taking the territory from its owner. The completion of the division of the world has put on the queue the struggle for it. redistribution. The struggle for the redistribution of an already divided world is one of the main distinguishing features of monopoly capitalism. This struggle eventually turns into a struggle for world domination and inevitably leads to imperialist wars on a world scale.

Imperialist wars and the arms race bring enormous hardships to the peoples of all capitalist countries and cost millions of human lives. At the same time, wars and the militarization of the economy are a source of income for the monopolies, giving them especially high profits.

Basic economic law of monopoly capitalism.

As already mentioned, the economic essence of imperialism lies in the replacement of free competition by the domination of monopolies. Monopolies, setting monopoly prices, set as their goal, according to Lenin's definition, obtaining monopoly high profits, which significantly exceed the average profit. The obtaining of high monopoly profits by the monopolies follows from the very essence of imperialism and is ensured by the unprecedented intensification of the exploitation by the monopolies of the working class, the robbery of the peasantry and other small commodity producers, the export of capital to backward countries and the draining of all the vital juices from these countries, colonial conquests, imperialist wars, which are a golden mine for monopolies. In the works of Lenin, devoted to the disclosure of the economic and political essence of imperialism, the initial propositions of the basic economic law of modern capitalism are given. Based on these initial propositions of Lenin, Stalin formulated the basic economic law of modern capitalism.

The main features and requirements of the basic economic law of monopoly capitalism are as follows: “ensuring the maximum capitalist profit by exploiting, ruining and impoverishing the majority of the population of a given country, by enslaving and systematically robbing the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries, and finally, by wars and the militarization of the national economy used to ensure the highest profits ".

Thus, the basic economic law of capitalism - the law of surplus value - in the period of imperialism receives its further development and concretization. Whereas under pre-monopoly capitalism the dominance of free competition led to an equalization of the rate of profit of individual capitalists, under imperialism the monopolies ensure for themselves a monopolistically high, maximum profit. It is the maximum profit that is the engine of monopoly capitalism.

The objective conditions for obtaining maximum profits are created by the establishment of the dominance of monopolies in certain branches of production. At the stage of imperialism, the concentration and centralization of capital reach its highest degree. Because of this, the expansion of production requires huge capital investments. On the other hand, during the period of monopoly capitalism, a fierce competitive struggle unfolds between gigantic enterprises. In this struggle, the strongest monopolies win, having the largest capitals and receiving the maximum profits.

Due to the maximum profits, the monopolies are able to carry out expanded reproduction and ensure their dominance in the capitalist world. The pursuit of maximum profit by the monopolies leads to an extreme aggravation of all the contradictions of capitalism.

The general basis of the maximum profit of the capitalist monopolies, as of all capitalist profit, is the surplus value squeezed out of the workers by exploiting them in the process of production. The exploitation of the working class is increased by the monopolies to an extreme degree. Through the use of all kinds of sweatshop systems of organizing and remunerating labor, an uninterrupted, debilitating intensification of labor is achieved, which means, first of all, a huge increase in the rate and mass of surplus value squeezed out of the workers. Further, the intensification of labor leads to the fact that many workers are redundant and fall into the ranks of the army of unemployed, deprived of any hope of returning to the production process. All workers are also thrown out of enterprises, for whom excessive acceleration of production processes is unbearable.

In the USA, the rate of surplus value in the mining and manufacturing industries, calculated on the basis of official data, was 145% in 1889, 165% in 1919, 210% in 1929, and 220% in 1939. Thus, in 40 years the rate of surplus-value has increased l> 1/2 times.

At the same time, real wages are steadily declining as a result of the rising cost of living. Rising prices for livelihoods, the increasing burden of the tax burden and inflation further reduce the real earnings of the worker. In the era of imperialism, the gap between the wages of the worker and the value of his labor power increases enormously. This signifies an even more drastic effect of the general law of capitalist accumulation, which causes the relative and absolute impoverishment of the proletariat. The growth of exploitation of the working class in the process of production is complemented by the robbery of the working people as consumers; the workers have to overpay large sums to the monopolies, which charge high monopoly prices for the goods they produce and sell.

Under conditions of monopoly capitalism, goods produced by the monopolies are no longer sold at production prices, but at much higher—monopoly—prices.

Monopoly price equals production costs plus maximum profit, which is much higher than the average rate of profit; the monopoly price is higher than the price of production and, as a rule, exceeds the cost of goods. At the same time, the monopoly price, as Marx pointed out, cannot destroy the boundaries determined by the cost of goods. The high level of monopoly prices does not change the total amount of value produced in the world capitalist economy and surplus value: what the monopolies gain, the workers, small producers, and the population of dependent countries lose. One of the sources of maximum profit that monopolies receive is the redistribution of surplus value, as a result of which non-monopolized enterprises often do not even gain an average profit. By maintaining prices at a high level that exceeds the cost of goods, the monopolies appropriate to themselves the results of increased labor productivity and lower production costs. Thus they levy ever-increasing tribute on the population.

The customs policy of the bourgeois states is an important instrument of monopolistic inflation of prices. In the era of free competition, high customs duties were resorted to mainly by weaker countries. whose industry needed protection from foreign competition. In the epoch of imperialism, on the contrary, high tariffs serve as a means for the monopolies to attack, to fight for the capture of new markets. High duties help maintain monopoly prices within the country.

In order to conquer new foreign markets, monopolies widely use dumping- sale. goods abroad at bargain prices, well below domestic market prices, and often even below production costs. Expansion of sales abroad in the form of dumping makes it possible to maintain high prices within the country without reducing production, and the losses caused by junk exports are covered by rising prices in the domestic market. After this external market has been conquered and assigned to the monopolies, they go over to selling goods at high monopoly prices.

The exploitation of the bulk of the peasantry by the monopolies is expressed primarily in the fact that the domination of the monopolies gives rise to a growing discrepancy between the level of prices for agricultural products and industrial goods (the so-called "scissors" of prices): while selling goods at artificially inflated prices, the monopolies at the same time buy the peasants have the products of their farms at extremely low prices. Being a tool for draining funds from agriculture, monopoly prices retard its development. One of the strongest levers for the ruin of peasant farms is the development of mortgage credit. The monopolies entangle the peasants in debts and then appropriate their land and property for next to nothing.

The purchase by the monopolies of the products of the peasant economy at extremely low prices does not at all mean that the urban consumer enjoys cheap foodstuffs. Between the peasant and the urban consumer are intermediaries - merchants united in monopoly organizations that ruin the peasants and rob the urban consumers.

“Capitalism,” wrote M. Thorez in his work “The Policy of the Communist Party in the Countryside,” managed to turn small peasant property - parcels, on which peasants sometimes work 14-16 hours a day - not into a means of subsistence and prosperity for working peasants, but as a tool for their exploitation and enslavement. Through mortgages, through the machinations of financial pirates, through high taxes and extortions, high rents, and especially through competition from large landowners - capitalists, the bourgeoisie ruins the middle and small peasants.

Further, the source of the maximum profits of the monopolies is the enslavement and plunder of the economically backward and dependent countries by the bourgeoisie of the imperialist states. The systematic plunder of the colonies and other backward countries, the transformation of a number of independent countries into dependent countries, are an inalienable feature of monopoly capitalism. Imperialism cannot live and develop without a continuous influx of tribute from the foreign countries it plunders.

The monopolies receive huge profits primarily from their investment in colonial and dependent countries. These revenues are the result of the most cruel and inhuman exploitation of the working masses of the colonial world. Monopolies profit through unequal exchange, that is, by selling their goods in colonial and dependent countries at prices far exceeding their value, and buying up goods produced in these countries at exorbitantly low prices that do not cover their value. Along with this, the monopolies receive high profits from the colonies in transport, insurance, and banking operations.

Finally, wars and the militarization of the economy are a source of profit for the monopolies. Wars enormously enrich the magnates of finance capital, and in the intervals between wars, the monopolies strive to maintain a high level of their profits through an unbridled arms race. Wars and the militarization of the economy bring rich military orders to the monopolists, paid for by the treasury at inflated prices, and an abundant stream of loans and subsidies from the state budget. Enterprises working for the war are placed in exceptionally advantageous conditions with regard to the supply of raw materials, production materials and labor force. All labor laws are abolished, workers are declared mobilized, and strikes are prohibited. All this makes it possible for the capitalists to raise the degree of exploitation to the extreme by bringing the intensity of labor to the highest limits. At the same time, the standard of living of the working masses is steadily declining due to rising taxes, the high cost of living, the rationing system for distributing food and other basic necessities.

Thus, the militarization of the capitalist economy, both in war and in peacetime, means a sharp increase in the exploitation of the working masses in the interests of increasing the maximum profits of the monopolies.

The basic economic law of modern capitalism, determining the entire course of development of capitalism at its imperialist stage, makes it possible to understand and explain the inevitability of the growth and aggravation of the insoluble contradictions inherent in it.

SUMMARY

1. Imperialism, or monopoly capitalism, is the highest and last stage in the development of the capitalist mode of production. The transition from pre-monopoly capitalism to monopoly capitalism took place during the last third of the 19th century. Imperialism finally took shape by the beginning of the 20th century.

2. The main economic features of imperialism are: 1) the concentration of production and capital, which has reached such a high level of development that it has created monopolies that play a decisive role in economic life; 2) the merging of banking capital with industrial capital and the formation on this basis of finance capital, of a financial oligarchy; 3) the export of capital, in contrast to the export of goods, is of particular importance; 4) international monopoly unions of capitalists are formed, dividing the world among themselves; 5) the territorial division of the land by the major imperialist powers has been completed. The completion of the economic division of the world leads to a struggle for its redivision, which inevitably gives rise to imperialist wars on a world scale.

3. The basic economic law of monopoly capitalism consists in securing maximum capitalist profits by exploiting, ruining and impoverishing the majority of the population of a given country, by enslaving and systematically plundering the peoples of other countries, especially backward countries, and finally, by wars and the militarization of the national economy.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. In life, one often hears the concept of capitalism. There were times when this word frightened and tried to overthrow the capitalist system.

Today, developed capitalist countries, whose inhabitants can earn a lot and spend well, are called as an example of a high level of economic development.

Is capitalism good or bad? How was this social system formed and what signs does it have? Let's figure it out.

Capitalism - what is it

Capitalism is an economic system of production and distribution of goods, which is based on the predominance of private property, freedom of entrepreneurial activity and the legal equality of citizens.

The owners of the factors of production - land, labor - are engaged in the creation of goods and services.

The desire to get rich and get a good income pushes people to create their own business that meets the needs of certain groups of society, as well as their own capabilities and interests.

Main signs of capitalism:

1. free trade;
2. private property;
3. orientation in economic activity to profit;
4. division of labor;
5. the formation of the main classes - the workers and the bourgeoisie.

1. Dutch - 1566-1609.
2. English (ADB) - 1640-1660.
3. French (VFBR) - 1789-1799.
4. The War of Independence of the British colonies in America - 1775-1783.

Only after the victory of the revolutionary forces did capitalist relations gain a firm foothold in the countries of the West. In the 19th century, Europe went through an industrial revolution, as a result of which the bulk of goods began to be manufactured in factories and plants.

Society moved into the industrial age, and capitalism, in pursuit of superprofits, began to turn into imperialism.

capitalist relations

In the world of capitalism everything is based on freedom. An entrepreneur who wants to create a production decides for himself what to produce and what resources to use for this. The consumer is free to choose the product according to his preferences.

The capitalist cannot do without hired labor, so he invites free workers to himself, using forms of economic coercion in the form of wages and material incentives.

As a result, there capitalist relations based on the following factors:

1. private ownership of the means of production (land, raw materials, equipment);
2. the use of hired workers, labor power turns into a commodity;
3. developed system of division of labor;

The nature of capitalist relations is influenced by the degree. They are based on rivalry between producers who use economic instruments to increase competitiveness, such as product quality or lower prices.

During the transition to, when many large companies appear ( , ) that control a significant part of the market, the state becomes an active participant in capitalist relations.

Capitalism is not perfect. It is prone to crises, does not promise economic equality, and creates a competitive society in which the majority of people inevitably lose.

But this system gives a chance everyone to use their knowledge and abilities for a decent life through the creation of economic interest in production activities.

You can learn more about capitalism in this video. Marx was a genius, but his predictions were pushed back a century due to a number of circumstances (see the video that ends the article about them):

The main law of capitalism and its main problem

this is a society for the strong where the weak let him blame himself. The main thing in such a system is to think only about your own good and step on the heads. Otherwise, you will be swept to the sidelines.

Man is neither friend nor brother in this society. He is a competitor for a place in the sun, which is not enough for everyone. The main quality of a person in such a society is. It pushes a person to do what he does not need, but is necessary for the capitalist. Of course, this is all somewhat exaggerated, but if you break all the masks, then it will be just that.

But even if we disregard the fact that the capitalist system is not aimed at the benefit of people, but only holds a carrot on a string in front of each of them, after which people obediently run, pushing with their elbows, then this system is still doomed to decline. Simply by definition.

Now the moment is coming when practically the whole world can be considered capitalist (living in a market system). In this world, there is no longer anyone to rob (peasants, backward countries) and it becomes a closed system.

There is nowhere to take money from outside, and the capitalist system in its purest form not operational. There will be nowhere to take profits. Without robbery in a closed capitalist system, there is no money left for profit. In fact, this is what is happening right now. The process is long, but, unfortunately, inevitable.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site

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Capitalism is an independent economic system based on private ownership of the main means of production and the supremacy of the free market. The defining feature of capitalism is such economic relations that involve the use by the owners of the means of production of hired labor. Capitalist relations arise with the appearance of the bourgeoisie and a large group of free people who are forced to sell their labor power.

The social and economic relations that arise under the capitalist mode of production are usually divided into several comparatively independent types. A distinction is made between capitalism of free competition, in which the main role in the regulation of economic activity is played by healthy rivalry between producers who use economic means to increase the competitiveness of their products.

This form of capitalist relations was replaced at the end of the 19th century by monopoly capitalism, in which the regulator is not so much the mechanisms of the free market, but individual large corporations, often merged with the state. In some cases, the state assumes the main role, becoming the owner of the means of production, hiring labor and distributing the results of economic activity.

Sometimes economists distinguish oligarchic capitalism, in which the market and free competition are placed under the control of antitrust structures created by the state. An example is the capitalist relations inherent in modern American society.

Features of capitalist relations

The essential features of capitalist relations include the presence of not only private property, but also an extremely developed division of labor. Capitalism is a high level of socialization of production and a period of domination of commodity-money relations. Labor power under capitalism becomes a commodity like many other things. The basis of the social structure under capitalism is made up of two antagonistic classes: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

In a society organized according to the principles of capitalism, the economy is built on the basis of market relations, for the regulation of which a special pricing policy is used. The distribution of resources and material goods created by production under capitalism is under the influence of market mechanisms and is determined by the amount of capital, that is, the funds invested in production.

Capitalism, which is governed by market relations alone, is almost never and nowhere found in its pure form. Almost everywhere it is subject to control and certain influence by the state. Since the formation of capitalist relations in society, there has been a struggle between supporters and opponents of state intervention in capitalist relations.

Based on private property and market economy. In various currents of social thought, capitalism is defined as a system of free enterprise, a stage in the development of an industrial society. At the end of the 20th century, capitalism entered a phase of development, which is called the "mixed economy", "post-industrial society", "information society". In Marxism, capitalism is seen as a class society based on private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of wage labor by capital; capitalism has replaced feudalism and must precede socialism, the first stage of communism.

The main features of capitalism are: the dominance of commodity-money relations and private ownership of the means of production, the presence of a developed social division of labor, the transformation of labor power into a commodity. In its development, capitalism passes through a number of stages, but its characteristic features remain unchanged. The emergence of capitalism was prepared by the social division of labor and the development of a commodity economy in the womb of feudalism. Developed capitalism was preceded by a period of primitive accumulation of capital. Capitalism arose in the cities of Italy (trade) and the Netherlands (manufacture) in the 14th and 15th centuries, and began to establish itself in Europe from the 16th century. The transformation of labor power into a commodity and the means of production into capital signified the transition from simple commodity production to capitalist production. The primitive accumulation of capital was at the same time a process of expanding the domestic market. Peasants and artisans, who previously existed on their own farms, turned into hired workers and were forced to live by selling their labor power, buying the necessary consumer goods. The means of production were converted into capital, and an internal market for the means of production needed to resume and expand the production of goods was created. The great geographical discoveries (mid-15th - mid-17th centuries) and the capture of colonies (15-18th centuries) provided European countries with sources of capital accumulation (export of precious metals from the occupied countries, income from trade, slave trade) and led to the growth of international economic ties. The development of commodity production and exchange, accompanied by the differentiation of commodity producers, served as the basis for the further development of capitalism. Many Western historians and economists (for example, Max Weber) note the great role that the Reformation of the 16th century played in the development of capitalism, especially the Protestant work ethic.
The beginning of capitalist production was simple capitalist cooperation - the joint labor of people performing individual production operations under the control of the capitalist. The gradual strengthening of the economic and political positions of the bourgeoisie prepared the conditions for revolutions in the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century, in England in the middle of the 17th century, and in France at the end of the 18th century. A major step in the development of productive forces was made with the advent of manufactory in the middle of the 16th century. By the middle of the 18th century, the development of capitalism in the advanced countries of Western Europe ran into a narrow technical base. The transition from manufactory to the factory system was carried out during the industrial revolution, which began in Great Britain in the second half of the 18th century and ended by the middle of the 19th century. The invention of the steam engine led to a number of machines. The growing demand for machines and mechanisms led to a change in the technical base of mechanical engineering and a transition to the production of machines by machines. The emergence of the factory system meant the establishment of capitalism as the dominant mode of production, the creation of a corresponding material and technical base. The transition to the machine stage of production contributed to the development of productive forces, the emergence of new industries and the involvement of new resources in the economic turnover, the rapid growth of the population of cities and the activation of foreign economic relations.

Genesis of capitalism

The basic laws governing the development of capitalism are characteristic of all countries. However, different states had their own characteristics of the genesis of capitalism. Under capitalism, the mechanism of market competition encourages the entrepreneur to make a profit: constantly increase capital and improve production. This contributes to the dynamic development of productive forces, science and technology. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, industrial and banking corporations arose in the developed countries of the West, financial capital acquired an important role, market competition began to be supplemented by mechanisms of state regulation of the economy. As a result, a stable social structure emerged, in which, along with large owners and hired workers, the middle class began to occupy a significant place.
The classical path of development of capitalism (initial accumulation of capital, simple cooperation, manufactory production, factory) is typical for a limited number of Western European countries, mainly for Great Britain and the Netherlands. In Britain, the industrial revolution was completed earlier, and the factory system of industry arose. The growth of industrial production was accompanied by the proletarianization of a significant part of the population, regularly recurring (since 1825) cyclical crises of overproduction. Great Britain became a classic country of parliamentarism, the labor movement was born here. By the middle of the 19th century, Great Britain had achieved world industrial, commercial, and financial hegemony. The theoretical analysis of the capitalist mode of production given by K. Marx was based mainly on British material.
The formation of capitalist relations in France was complicated by the stability of the absolutist state, the relative strength of the social positions of the nobility and small peasant economy. An important role in the formation of the bourgeois class was played by the system of paying off taxes and public debts, and later by the protectionist policy of the government in relation to the emerging manufacturing industry. The revolution took place in France almost a century and a half later than in England, and the process of primitive accumulation stretched over three centuries. The Great French Revolution, having eliminated absolutism, simultaneously led to the abolition of the remnants of feudalism in the countryside and the establishment of a system of small peasant landownership. The introduction of machines into production began in France in the 1830s, in the 1850s and 1860s it turned into an industrialized state. A feature of French capitalism was the growth of loan capital, based on the exploitation of the colonies and profitable credit operations abroad.
The USA and Germany embarked on the path of capitalist development later than England, but by the end of the 19th century they were among the advanced countries. A major role in the development of American capitalism was played by the development of free land by farmers in the west of the country. This process determined the so-called American path of development of capitalism in agriculture. The rapid development of American capitalism after the Civil War of 1861-1865 led to the fact that by 1894 the United States took first place in the world in terms of industrial output.
In Germany, the system of serfdom was abolished by the supreme power. The redemption of feudal obligations gave the landowners the capital they needed to turn the Junker estates into capitalist farms using wage labor. This created the prerequisites for the so-called Prussian path of development of capitalism in agriculture. The unification of the German states into a single customs union accelerated the development of industrial capital. A major role in the industrial upsurge in the middle of the 19th century in Germany was played by railways, which contributed to the economic and political unification of the country and the growth of heavy industry. The political unification of Germany and the military indemnity received by it after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 stimulated the further development of the country. In the 1870s, there was a process of creating new and re-equipping old industries based on the latest achievements of science and technology. Taking advantage of the technical achievements of Great Britain, Germany was able to catch up with France in terms of economic development by 1870, and by the end of the 19th century, come closer to Great Britain. In the East, capitalism was most developed in Japan. Within three decades of the revolution of 1867-1868, Japan had become an industrial capitalist power.
Capitalism in Russia began to develop in the 1830s and 1840s, when the mass introduction of machines in industry began, and in agriculture after the abolition of serfdom in 1861. The development of capitalist relations, along with the growth of industrial production, proceeded at a rapid pace, punctuated by periods of crises and depressions. As a result of the October Revolution of 1917, capitalist relations in Russia were destroyed.
A characteristic element of developing capitalism was colonialism (imperialism). Developed capitalist states created colonial empires, trade with colonies and developing countries was often non-equivalent. The desire to redistribute the colonies was one of the causes of the First World War, which led to the aggravation of social contradictions in the capitalist countries and to the socialist revolution in Russia. The blow to the capitalist system was the global economic crisis of the late 1920s and early 1930s, which required the urgent introduction of measures of state regulation of the economy and social protection introduced in the United States by the government of F. D. Roosevelt as part of the "New Deal". In the UK, the principle of the "welfare state" (Welfare State), that is, the "welfare state" was adopted, which is obliged to provide a certain level of well-being for all citizens.
After the Second World War, a number of countries entered the camp of socialism. The second half of the 20th century was marked by the rivalry of two socio-economic formations - socialist and capitalist. In the 1950s-1960s, the era of the scientific and technological revolution began in developed countries, as a result of which the industrial society was transformed into a post-industrial society into a post-industrial one, the structure of labor resources changed, the share of physical labor decreased, the importance of mental highly skilled and creative labor increased, the share of the service sector in gross product began to prevail over industry. Life refuted a number of Marxist dogmas, in particular, the aggravation of the class struggle as capitalism developed, the role of the proletariat as the gravedigger of capitalism. In the second half of the 20th century, a socially oriented market economy and parliamentary democracy ensured an increase in the standard of living and culture of the population of Western countries, the mitigation of social contradictions and the development of a legal mechanism for their resolution. To eliminate the negative aspects of capitalist development, short-term (anti-cyclical, anti-inflationary) and long-term (macroeconomic) state regulation is used; sectoral and regional programs (plans) that are indicative, recommendatory in nature; direct (legislative and administrative acts) and indirect regulation (taxes, state budget expenditures, depreciation policy).
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the world socialist system collapsed, and the former socialist countries began to develop along the capitalist path. The globalization of the world economy has created conditions for the involvement of underdeveloped countries in the world economy, ensured resource savings, and stimulated further progress in science and technology. With the growth of internationalization of economic life, the strengthening of transnational corporations, regional and world economic integration, interstate regulation of the economy have developed, which is reflected in the emergence of special organizations: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Union.