The reason for the emergence of monopoly organization: after 1870, with the great progress of science and technology, the rapid development of industrial production, especially the rise of heavy industry, so that the scale of enterprises is getting bigger and bigger. The scale of the enterprise is getting bigger and bigger, the required capital is also more and more, so the joint-stock company this has long been the emergence of the pooling of capital management began to be widely developed. With the development of the joint-stock company, capital and production were rapidly centralized. In addition, the fierce competition of capitalism accelerated the process of big capital devouring small capital. The concentration of production gave rise to the creation of monopolistic organizations. As early as the 1860s and early 1970s, individual monopoly organizations began to appear in the advanced capitalist countries of Europe and the U.S. The economic crisis of 1873 put many small and medium-sized enterprises out of business, which further pushed forward the concentration of production, and so monopoly organizations developed in greater numbers. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, monopoly organizations had developed universally in all advanced capitalist countries and had become the basis of all economic life.
Expression in various countries: Due to the different socio-economic and historical conditions in various countries, the degree and form of development of monopoly organizations also differed.
1. The United States: the monopoly organization in the United States mainly takes the form of trust, which is closely related to the high degree of concentration of industrial production in the United States. Many enterprises in the United States were established on the basis of adopting the latest technology at that time, and the scale was large at the beginning of the venture. They had an advantage in competition and quickly crowded out the technologically backward small and medium-sized enterprises and centralized production in their own hands. In order to monopolize the sales market and strengthen the competitiveness of a few large enterprises in the same sector, they further formed "trusts" in the form of mergers and established their monopoly. 1904, there were about 1,900 large enterprises with an output value of more than one million US dollars, which accounted for 0.9% of the total number of enterprises, and the number of workers owned by them accounted for 25.6% of the total number of workers. workers 25.6% of the total number of workers, and their output accounted for 38% of the total value of production. The first trust to appear in the United States was Rockefeller's Mobil Oil Company, established in 1879, which held 90% of the nation's oil at the time of its establishment and was one of the largest monopolies in the U.S. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, monopoly organizations developed further in the United States. By 1904, there were 318 industrial trusts in the U.S.***, owning 40% of the capitalization of all process industries. Every important branch of industry in the United States had been monopolized by one or two or a few large trusts.
2. Germany: the degree of development of monopolistic organizations is second only to that of the United States. Because Germany retains a large number of feudal remnants in the countryside, the domestic market is small, it is a late capitalist country in the expansion of foreign markets and face fierce competition, so the solution to the problem of sales market is very urgent. Although Germany has also formed many large enterprises on the basis of production concentration, there are still a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises. These conditions, make in the product sales monopoly joint "cartel" become the most common form of monopoly organization in Germany. 1857 Germany appeared the first cartel, to 1870 increased to 6. 1873 after the outbreak of the economic crisis, the cartel rapid increase, in 1879 there have been 14, in 1890, surged to 210. jumped to 210. During the highs of the late 19th century and the crisis of 1900-1903, there was further growth of monopolistic organizations. By 1905, the number of cartels had grown to 385, with monopolies in coal mining, metallurgy, electricity, chemistry, food, and other industrial sectors. At the beginning of the 20th century, the cartels began to develop into advanced forms - syndicates with unified marketing organizations. At the same time, a few giant trusts and konzerns appeared in some of the main sectors of production. Thus, at the beginning of the twentieth century monopolistic organization had become the basis of the whole economic life of Germany. in 1907 the large firms with more than 50 workers accounted for only 0.9 per cent of the total number of firms, while they possessed 39.4 per cent of the total number of workers, and accounted for as much as 75.3 per cent of the steam horse power and 77.2 per cent of the electricity in possession. Much of the heavy industry and transport in particular was often dominated by one or two monopolistic organizations. in 1910 the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate produced more than half of the country's coal. The German Steel Union and the Iron Union monopolized 98 per cent of the national iron and steel production. The electrical industry was essentially controlled by two syndicates, the General Electric Company and the Siemens Company, and the shipping industry was concentrated in the hands of the Hamburg-America Company and the Norddeutscher Lines.
3. Britain: due to the slow pace of economic development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the dominant textile industry and other old industrial sectors, the concentration of production is low, as well as the possession of large colonies for the bourgeoisie to bring high profits and other factors, the process of monopolization is relatively slow, the degree of development of monopoly organizations than the United States and Germany are lower. As far as the form of monopolistic organization is concerned, since Britain pursues a policy of free trade, it is less likely to practise joint syndicates and cartels in sales. Its monopoly organizations are generally formed after intense competition, by the merger and reorganization of a number of large enterprises into large joint-stock companies, and a series of merger and acquisition activities on the production of the joint. Monopoly organization in the development of various industrial sectors is uneven, in heavy industry, especially in the emerging industries, the development of faster, the degree of monopoly is also higher, and began to appear cross-sectoral monopoly joint ventures; in light industry, especially in the cotton spinning and weaving of these two sectors have not yet even formed monopoly organization. But in the production of more concentrated cotton thread and dyeing and finishing industry also appeared in the monopoly organization; in order to resist the dumping of the United States Tobacco Company, Britain's tobacco companies also in 1900 merged into the Imperial Tobacco Company.
4. France: France's transition to the monopoly stage, the development of industrial production is also relatively slow. France has a large proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises, the degree of concentration of industrial production is relatively low, and thus in the development of monopoly organization speed and degree than the United States and Germany. At the same time, it also did not form a more prominent form of monopoly organization, cartels, syndicates and trusts have developed in France. Monopolistic organization in France took place first in the heavy industrial sector, especially in the metallurgical industry and in sectors closely related to it.
5. Russia: Although Russian capitalism started late, it began to enter the monopoly stage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Russia, syndicates became the main form of monopoly organization. This is because the important industrial enterprises are generally in the hands of foreign capitalists in different countries, and it is difficult for them to join together to form a trust in production; and the government's policy of mass ordering and protection of tariffs has made the struggle of capitalists for orders and the domestic market extremely fierce. So they formed syndicates to regulate the conflicts between them. As early as the 1880s, a group of monopoly syndicates appeared in Russia. But the widespread development of monopoly organizations came after the crisis of 1900-1903.
6. Japan: Although Japan's level of economic development is much lower than that of the advanced countries of Europe and America, its modern industry has been manipulated from the very beginning in the hands of a few privileged capitals, which have received special protection and support from the government. This kind of privileged capital originally engaged in a wide range of commercial, financial, transportation, industrial production and other sectors of activity, and later they are in foreign wars of aggression and colonial plunder in the expansion, will soon be transformed into monopoly capital. Most of them took the form of Kantsei, whose main representatives were Mitsui, Mitsubishi and other zaibatsu.
While industrial production was concentrated and monopolized, the concentration and monopolization of banking capital also reached a high degree. With the concentration and monopoly of bank capital, they controlled the operation of industry and commerce in the whole society, and on this basis began to integrate with industrial capital to form the so-called "financial capital". In the relatively young capitalist countries of the United States and Germany, the process of financial capital formation is most obvious. In these countries, with the second industrial revolution appeared many new industrial sectors, some capitalists lack of funds to establish such enterprises, so bank loans become an important source of their needs, which prompted the combination of bank capital and industrial capital. For example, the United States Morgan and Rockefeller two major banking groups not only ruled the entire banking industry in the United States, or hundreds of industrial enterprises owned by the giant.
Impact: monopoly organization as the monopoly of production and market economic association, will inevitably bring stagnation and corruption, but as a high degree of socialization of the mega-enterprises or conglomerates, its emergence is conducive to the development of productive forces.
1. The emergence of monopoly organization is the result of the development of the productive forces, and its emergence promotes the further development of the productive forces. Monopoly is formed in competition. Since the labor productivity of large enterprises is much higher, it is inevitable that those who win in competition are large enterprises with good equipment and good management. Their development into a monopoly organization leads to a further expansion of the size of the enterprise, which will naturally be conducive to a further increase in labor productivity. At the same time, it socializes the process of technological invention and improvement. The conditions that well-financed monopolistic organizations can provide enable scientific and technological research to be carried out on a larger scale and in a more organized and planned manner, so that new results can be obtained and applied to production. All this created conditions for the further development of the productive forces.
2. It is a partial adjustment of the capitalist relations of production to the development of the productive forces. As a result of the tremendous development of the productive forces of society as a result of the second industrial revolution, the growth of industrial products temporarily exceeded the growth of market demand, and as a result led to a generalized decline in prices and profits as well as to more frequent, deeper and longer-lasting economic crises. Therefore, in order to escape from the crisis, the large domestic producers of the same industrial sector joined together in a "trust", i.e. a union whose purpose was to regulate production, to define the total amount that should be produced, to distribute it among themselves, and to impose pre-determined selling prices.
3. Higher forms of monopolistic organization, such as trusts and konzerns, have more favorable conditions for improving business management, lowering costs, improving quality, and increasing labor productivity. Through the enterprise merger and greatly enlarged after the scale, in the production and management can produce some superiority as follows: after the enterprise merger has a large number of means of production, it is possible to use the most advantageous location of the factory and the most efficient machinery and equipment for production; large-scale production can be carried out in a more effective division of labor, the implementation of the production of different factories to specialize in the production, and at the same time, it can also make by-products more fully utilized; when a trust has many factories producing the same product, it is possible, by careful comparison of the factories, to discover methods of production which are both economical and efficient; by the consolidation of many firms it is possible to eliminate duplicated high-paying positions in order to cut down on administrative expenses and to obtain the most talented technical specialists and business administrators; and if the trusts are further vertically united they will not only control production but also raw material resources and business management. control of production, but also control of raw material resources and processing as well as the marketing of products, the operation of the firms can be further improved, resulting in greater economic efficiency.
4. Monopoly capitalism is a new stage of development in which capitalism begins to mature economically. Monopoly does not mean the complete exclusion of competition on the world market; competition remains a powerful driving force in the development of production. The formation and development of monopolistic organizations not only did not slow down the pace of economic development, but on the contrary accelerated it. at the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States of America and Germany, where monopolistic organizations had developed to a high degree, had the fastest pace of economic development, with the average annual rates of industrial production at 4.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively. The relatively slow Britain and France were also at 1.4% and 3.3% respectively.
While monopoly organizations have the positive side of promoting production development, they also have their negative side:
1. Monopoly organizations monopolize the market, monopoly prices, and are bound to lower the standard of living of the general public. Therefore, the formation of monopoly organizations means strengthening the plunder of the working people.
2. The formation of monopoly capital is the result of the devouring of small production by large production, which is full of violence, fraud and all kinds of vile and ugly methods.
3. The formation of monopoly organizations is inevitably accompanied by the emergence of the profit-taking class, which enjoys excessive profits and high interest income by investing abroad and lending money to foreign countries (e.g., French loans to Russia), thus becoming a class of idle parasites.
4. The monopoly organization promoted colonial expansion. It not only continued to expand the market for the sale of commodities and the supply of raw materials, but also demanded the expansion of the export of capital, so there was a frenzy to divide up the world, and more countries and regions were colonized and semi-colonized.
5. Monopoly capital is the root cause of war. The colonial expansion of the monopoly capitalist countries inevitably leads to hegemony among them and inevitably leads to war. The First World War is a clear example.
Comprehensive enough?