Why should capitalism monopolize! ! !

Monopoly capitalism, that is, imperialism, is the highest stage of capitalist development. It was formed at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, on the basis of the further development of the contradiction between capitalist productive forces and production relations, and in the process of accelerating the concentration of production and capital.

/kloc-the development and concentration of capitalist production in the last 30 years of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

1873 the world economic crisis marks the beginning of the transition of the capitalist system from free competition to monopoly. /kloc-the technological revolution in the last 30 years of the 0/9th century and its huge economic development centered on heavy industry laid a material foundation for the transition to monopoly capitalism. During this period, led by the invention and use of electric power, a series of new technologies and equipment such as Thomas steelmaking, steam turbine, internal combustion engine, steam drill, cutting machine, generator, motor, long-distance power transmission, electric light, tram, telephone, radio and extraction of ammonia, benzene and artificial dyes from coking coal were born. The application and popularization of these new technologies and equipment have accelerated the development of the original heavy industries (metallurgy, coal mining, machinery manufacturing, etc.). ), and caused the establishment and rise of a series of emerging heavy industries and chemical industries (electric power, electrical appliances, chemistry, petroleum, automobile and aircraft manufacturing, etc.). ), which promoted the rapid growth of industrial production.

The world industrial output only increased by 1 times in the 20 years from 1850 to 1870, by 2.2 times in the 30 years from 1870 to 1900, and by 60 times before the 20th century. The rapid development of heavy industry has greatly changed the industrial structure of capitalist countries. /kloc-at the end of 0/9, the United States, Britain, Germany and other countries became industrial countries with heavy industry as the mainstay. The rapid development of industry, especially heavy industry, has further deepened the contradiction between the inherent productive sociality of capitalism and the private possession of capitalists, thus making the economic crisis of overproduction more frequent, profound and lasting.

After the 1970s, five economic crises broke out in the capitalist world: 1873, 1882, 1890, 1900, 1907. The interval between crises has been shortened from the previous average of 10 years to about 7 years. The frequent and deepening of the crisis has accelerated the bankruptcy of small and medium-sized enterprises, intensified the merger activities of enterprises and intensified the competition among enterprises, thus promoting the concentration of production and capital. At the same time, with the development of heavy industry, the scale of enterprises is getting bigger and bigger, more and more funds are needed, and it is more and more difficult for wholly-owned enterprises to operate, thus promoting the great development of joint-stock companies. /kloc-in the second half of the 0/9th century, the climax of establishing joint-stock companies appeared in all capitalist countries. The number of newly established joint-stock companies in Britain is125 in 89315,15 in 897184. This has also accelerated the trend of production and capital concentration. By the beginning of the 20th century, the concentration of production and capital in developed capitalist countries had reached an alarming level. 1904 In the United States, there were about 1900 large enterprises whose output value exceeded1000000 dollars, accounting for 0.9% of the total number of enterprises, and their employees accounted for 25.6% of the total number of employees, and their output value accounted for 38% of the gross national product. 1907 large enterprises in Germany account for 0.9% of the total number of enterprises, steam power and electricity account for more than 3/4 of the country, and employ 39.4% of the country's workers, while metallurgy and machine building account for 97.5% and 84.7% respectively.

Domestic rule establishes monopoly capital, and the concentration of production and capital to a certain scale will inevitably lead to monopoly, and a monopoly organization composed of agreements or alliances between large enterprises will inevitably appear. The development of monopoly organizations has a development process from less to more and from small to large. This process can be roughly divided into three basic periods:

The first period was 65438+ 1960s and 1970s. At this time, free competition capitalism reached its peak, and monopoly organizations began to appear, but it was only in its infancy. For example, in the 1960s, a monopoly organization named Poole appeared in American industry, mining industry and railway industry. They conclude short-term agreements between enterprises, stipulate the same price, allocate turnover and divide the sales market. 1857 The first cartel appeared in Germany, and it increased to six in 1870.

The second period, from 65438 to 0873, after the serious economic crisis broke out, to the 1980s. During this period, the continuous economic crisis further strengthened the concentration of production and capital, and monopoly organizations were widely developed. 1882, the first trust appeared in the United States, that is, J.D. Rockefeller's Mobil Oil Trust (1839 ~ 1937), and then in the 1980s, trust organizations appeared in oil exploration, wine making, sugar making, matches, tobacco, slaughter, coal mining and other industries. In Germany, there were 14 cartels in 1879, and the number of 1890 soared to 2 10. Monopoly organizations have also appeared in Britain, France and other countries. But at this time, monopoly organizations have not yet dominated, and monopoly agreements are often temporary and unstable.

The third period is 65438+the end of 2009 and the beginning of the 20th century. During this period, due to the alternating effect of industrial boom and economic crisis, the concentration of capital and production was greatly accelerated, and monopoly organizations increased sharply, spreading to major industrial sectors, and combining with bank monopoly, financial capital and financial oligarchy were formed. Monopoly has become the foundation of all economic life, and monopoly capital has established a dominant position in all major capitalist countries. Take the United States as an example: by 1904, there were 3 18 industrial trusts in the United States, of which 236 were established after 1898, accounting for 5/6 of the total capital. This 3 18 industrial trust swallowed up 5300 industrial enterprises, accounting for 40% of the total processing industry capital. Of these trusts, 26 control over 80% of the production of their respective departments, 57 control over 60% of the production of their respective departments, and 78 control over 50% of the production of their respective departments. With the rapid concentration and monopoly of industry, the banking industry has also developed rapidly to concentration and monopoly, and financial capital combining bank capital and industrial capital has emerged. 190 1 year, the banking giant J.P. Morgan (1837 ~ 19 13) organized the American steel company, and the oil tycoon Rockefeller took control of Citibank in the 1990s of 19. Financial capital dominates the industrial and commercial enterprises of the whole society and the activities of the whole national economy through long-term loans to industry and commerce, the sale of stocks and bonds and direct investment in industry and commerce. At the beginning of the 20th century, the rule of financial capital was established in the United States. Their representatives are Morgan, Rockefeller, Kuhn Loeb, Mellon, DuPont, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and other eight consortia and 60 families. Financial capital also manipulates the government, controls the whole political life of the country, and decides the internal and external policies of the country.

The formation of the capitalist world economic system and the domination of financial capital and financial oligarchs at home have intensified political and economic contradictions, strengthened the external expansion of monopoly capital, and made capitalism develop into a world system.

Capital export is an important means of imperialist countries' external expansion and an important basis for financial capital exploitation and world domination. Capital export existed before capitalism entered the monopoly stage, but it was of special significance only in the monopoly stage. At this time, a few wealthy capitalist countries have formed a large number of "surplus" capital due to the exploitation and plunder of their own and foreign people by monopoly capital and the control of production and market. At the same time, the development of capitalism has involved many backward countries in the capitalist world market, where they have the conditions for investment. According to the statistics of German economist J. Kuchinsky (1904 ~), in 1875, the foreign investment of Britain, France, Germany and the United States was 35 billion marks, but in 19 13, it increased to159 billion marks, an increase. Britain and France are two major capital exporting countries, and the capital output in 19 13 reached 75 billion marks and 36 billion marks respectively. Britain is also the earliest capital exporter. In 1855, it had foreign investment of10 billion marks. However, the regions and ways of capital export between the two countries are different. Most of British capital is exported to colonies and semi-colonies, and a large part takes the form of production capital, that is, direct investment. Most of French capital is invested in Europe (mainly Russia), mainly in the form of loan capital, that is, indirect investment. Germany's foreign investment started late, only 2 billion marks in 1875, but it reached 35 billion marks in 19 13, which was close to the level of France. Half of its investment is in Europe, and the rest is mainly distributed in South America, Asia and Africa. During this period, the United States is expanding to the western territory, with vast domestic investment sites and small capital output, reaching 19 13 to 1300 million marks. As for Russia and Japan, after the beginning of the 20th century, they also exported a small amount of capital, mainly to China. Imperialist investment in Asian, African and Latin American countries has enabled the capitalist mode of production to develop there, but it has also made these countries vassals of agricultural raw materials in imperialist countries.

With the formation of monopoly rule and the expansion of capital output, the largest monopoly organizations in various countries have launched a worldwide competition for raw material producing areas, commodity markets and investment places. On the one hand, monopoly organizations in various countries try their best to use state power to implement high tariff policies, establish tariff barriers, restrict the import of foreign goods, and maintain domestic monopoly prices; On the other hand, we use the dumping policy to break through the tariff barriers of other countries, export a large number of goods to foreign countries and occupy foreign markets. In order to avoid giving way to each other in competition, monopoly organizations in various countries often change their ways of struggle, seek temporary compromises and form international monopoly alliances. * * * * * The international monopoly alliances that divide the world economically, exploit and plunder people of all countries in the world mainly take the form of international cartels, that is, monopoly enterprises of all countries sign agreements to divide the market, set prices and set commodity sales. , or * * * a unified sales organization. The earliest international cartels are the salt cartel established by 1867, the international soda cartel and alkali cartel established by 1872 and the international railway cartel established by 1884. By 19 13, there are 1 16 international cartels with formal agreements in the world, which are distributed in industries such as coal, steel, transportation, chemistry, textiles, ceramics, paper pulp, earthwork and electrical equipment. In addition, a large number of "gentlemen's agreements" have not been formally signed. (See International Monopoly Organization (before World War II))

While the international monopoly alliance carved up the world economically, the imperialist countries also formed various alliances politically, carved up the world from the territory and launched a fierce colonial struggle. The occupation and plunder of the colonies began as early as primitive accumulation of capital's time. Since then, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, France and Russia have successively embarked on the road of colonial plunder. By 1876, the colonial area of Britain, Russia and France alone reached 40.4 million square kilometers. 19 After the 1970s, with the transition from liberal capitalism to monopoly capitalism, the struggle of imperialist countries to carve up world territory reached a feverish level. From 1876 to 19 14, six imperialist countries, including Britain, Russia, France, Germany, the United States and Japan, occupied nearly 25 million square kilometers of territory, making the colonial territory in the world reach 65 million square kilometers. Britain, Russia and France occupied the most colonies, 1.9 14 years. The colonial territories of these three countries are 33.5 million square kilometers, 1.74 million square kilometers and 1.06 million square kilometers respectively. 19 At the end of the 20th century, Africa was the main region contested by imperialist powers, followed by West Asia and East Asia. By 19 10, 90.4% of Africa's land area, 56.6% of Asia's land area, 27.2% of America's land area and 0/00% of Oceania's land area were all colonized by the great powers. In addition, many countries in Asia and Latin America have become semi-colonial or dependent countries of imperialism. In this way, the world map has basically been carved up, and capitalism has covered the whole world, forming a world capitalist system. In this system, there are a few imperialist countries that exploit and oppress colonies and semi-colonies on the one hand, and colonies and semi-colonies that account for the majority of the world's population on the other. They are an important foundation for the survival and development of imperialism. The unbalanced development of economic strength among the great powers and the division of world territory eventually led to the world war broke out by imperialism in 19 14.

Characteristics of Imperialism 19 At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the characteristics of imperialism put forward by Lenin in his book "Imperialism is the Highest Stage of Capitalism" have been shown in all imperialist countries. However, due to the differences of social and economic conditions and historical conditions in different countries, the characteristics of imperialism are very different in forms of expression and degree of development.

America is an empire of trust. Trust is the most common form of American monopoly organization, and it is a higher level monopoly organization than cartel and syndicate. The enterprises participating in the trust have completely lost their independence in production and commerce, and have been United into a huge enterprise, which is managed by the board of directors. All capitalists become shareholders of the trust and receive dividends and bonuses according to their shares. By the beginning of the 20th century, all important industrial sectors in the United States were generally monopolized by one or two or several big trusts, forming the so-called "kings" of various departments. Such as Ford, the automobile king, Rockefeller, the oil king, Morgan, the steel king, etc. The world-famous American steel companies Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, Dupont, General Electric, American Tobacco and AT&T were all formed in the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, the major trusts controlled the production of various departments, with oil accounting for 95%, steel accounting for 66%, chemical accounting for 865,438+0%, metal industry accounting for 77%, aluminum industry accounting for 85%, sugar industry and tobacco industry accounting for 80%. Trust has become the dominant force in American economic life and has mastered the economic lifeline of the country.

The reason why the United States has become a trust empire and a typical country with the most developed monopoly capital is inseparable from the characteristics of its social and economic development. There is no deep-rooted feudal system in American history, with a vast domestic market and abundant natural resources; The United States is a new capitalist country, getting rid of the old fixed capital and making full use of foreign advanced technological achievements, a large amount of funds and a large number of immigrant labor. These conditions enabled the United States to successfully make full use of the achievements of the technological revolution in the 1970s from 65438 to 2009. At the beginning, many large enterprises were established on the basis of the latest technology, which laid the foundation for the high concentration and monopoly of American industrial production.

Germany is a brave bourgeois imperialism. 1848 After the failure of the bourgeois revolution and the compromise between the bourgeoisie and the landlord class, Germany developed capitalist economy and entered the stage of monopoly capitalism. Yongke landlord class has a deep-rooted tradition of feudalism and militarism and has always played an important role in Germany's political and economic life. This situation has brought great influence to the formation and development of German monopoly capitalism.

/kloc-In the second half of the 0/9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, although Germany's economy developed rapidly and the concentration of industrial production and capital was relatively high, its monopoly organizations generally took the form of low-level cartels. Enterprises participating in the cartel still maintain operational independence in production and sales, and only divide the sales market according to the agreement, determine commodity output and set standard prices. 19 1 1 year, there are 550 ~ 600 cartels in Germany, which are widely distributed in a series of departments such as coal mine, metallurgy, electric power, chemistry, textile, leather, glass, brick and tile, pottery and food. Cartel has become the most common form of monopoly organization in Germany, which is inseparable from the widespread existence of feudal remnants in the German economy. It is both capitalist and feudal for the landlords and monopoly capital to unite to exploit the working people. Workers' wages are low, people's purchasing power is low, the domestic market is narrow, and the struggle for the market is extremely fierce, thus promoting the development of cartels that divide the market and set prices. At the same time, the existence of feudal forces and the tradition of feudal guilds have a great influence on the economy. There are a large number of small enterprises coexisting with a few large enterprises in industry, and their technical level is uneven. This has caused difficulties to the development of joint trust in production, and cartels are the easiest to organize a large number of enterprises with different technical conditions.

The combination of the Yongke landlord class and the monopoly bourgeoisie makes German imperialism particularly aggressive. In order to divert people's attention and compete with British and French imperialism for "territory under the sun", the German landlord bourgeoisie actively participated in the struggle to carve up and re-carve up the world, and first embarked on the road of monopoly capitalism by military countries.

Britain is colonial imperialism. Britain is the first country to embark on the capitalist road and realize the industrial revolution. It is the most powerful capitalist country and "world factory" in the stage of free competition capitalism. However, after entering the stage of monopoly capitalism, its economic development slowed down relatively, the speed and degree of industrial production concentration, the number of monopoly organizations and the degree of economic dominance were lower than those of the United States and Germany, and the establishment of monopoly organizations was later than that of the United States and Germany 10 ~ 15 years. The great development of British monopoly organizations was in the 1990s of 19. By the beginning of the 20th century, although most departments had different forms of monopoly organizations, some old industrial sectors, such as textiles, coal and iron smelting, were still in a state of decentralized operation, which was related to Britain's slow economic development and heavy burden on the old industrial sectors, as well as its laissez-faire and loose trade policies.

But in terms of capital export and dividing up the world from territory, Britain is very prominent. Colonies played a decisive role in the development of British monopoly capitalism. From the beginning of17th century to the middle of19th century, Britain gradually established a huge colonial system, and later acquired a large number of overseas colonies. By 19 14, the British colonial area was 33.5 million square kilometers, accounting for14 of the global area,12 of the total colonial area of imperialist countries, and more than 1 1 times the area of the British mainland; It has a colonial population of 393.5 million, more than eight times that of Britain. While occupying a large number of foreign territories, Britain also exported a large amount of capital. By 19 13, Britain's total foreign investment had reached 4 billion pounds, equivalent to14 of Britain's national wealth, accounting for half of the foreign investment of imperialist countries. More than half of Britain's capital export is invested in colonial and semi-colonial countries. The largest monopoly organization in Britain also emerged in the field of monopolizing the production and sales of colonial raw materials. For example, the monopoly company De Beers Mining Company established in South Africa, Anglo-Dutch Shell Oil Company established by Anglo-Dutch Capital in 1907, and Anglo-Iranian Oil Company established in 1909. The income of British foreign investment not only exceeds the income of foreign trade, but also exceeds the income of industry. Britain has become a typical colonial empire and a food-hungry country.

France is usury imperialism. The development of monopoly capitalism in France is basically similar to that in Britain. During the transition to imperialism, its industrial development was relatively slow, its concentration was far less than that of the United States and Germany, and its monopoly degree was relatively low. Before the First World War, France's industrial population was still less than its agricultural population, and it was basically an agricultural and industrial country. In industry, heavy industry is not very developed, light industry characterized by fashion and luxury goods is dominant, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises exist widely in industry.

France, like Britain, also holds a large number of colonies and export capital. 19 14 France has a colony with an area of 10.6 million square kilometers and a population of 55.5 million. In terms of area, it ranks third after Britain and Russia; In terms of population, it ranks second only to Britain. In 1869, the total capital output of France was 100 billion francs, which increased to 30 billion francs in 1900, and surged to 60 billion francs in 19 13, which greatly exceeded the total domestic investment in the same period and became a capital exporter second only to Britain. Most of France's foreign investment is borrowed capital, that is, public debt, rather than investment in industrial enterprises. More than 60% of French investment is concentrated in European countries, of which Russia is the largest, followed by Turkey, Austria-Hungary, Spain and Belgium. The huge interest income brought by the massive export of loan capital has strengthened the decadent parasitism of France. On the eve of World War I, there were as many as 2 million rentiers in France, including their families, accounting for more than 1/8 of the national population.

Russia and Japan, they are feudal imperialism militarily. Among the major imperialist countries, Russia and Japan are very similar in basic aspects. The bourgeois revolutions in these two countries were carried out in top-down reforms, so they retained strong feudal forces politically and economically. The landlord class and the bourgeoisie jointly dictatorship, and take the form of extreme authoritarian regime; They all entered the stage of monopoly capitalism under the historical condition that the capitalist economy did not develop much, and they all relied on developed capitalist countries in Europe and America economically. Therefore, at the end of 65438+2009 and the beginning of the 20th century, although Russia and Japan also established the rule of monopoly capital, feudal relations generally existed in domestic social relations, which were far lower than those in the United States and Western Europe in terms of industrial technology and development level. Most of the equipment is imported, and there is almost no machine manufacturing industry. In monopoly organizations, Russia generally adopts the form of syndicate. The enterprises participating in the syndicate have lost their independence in business, and the sales of goods and the purchase of raw materials are completely handled by the head office, but they still retain their independence in production. The emergence of this kind of monopoly organization, which only unites in business, is related to the great differences in economy and technology among various regions and departments in Russia, and also to the fact that the widespread feudal relations have made the domestic market problem very acute. In Japan, as the highest form of monopoly organization, "chaebol" is more feudal.

Russian and Japanese imperialism has not only strong feudalism, but also strong military aggression. The domestic class contradictions and economic contradictions in these two backward imperialist countries are extremely acute. The autocratic regime has established a huge military force. On the one hand, it suppressed the people militarily at home, on the other hand, it invaded abroad crazily and seized foreign markets and colonies, so as to divert people's attention and ease domestic contradictions.