LECTURE No. 10. Monopolization

1. Monopolization of the economy

In all branches of industry, a great anarchy was created by the emergence of a huge number of capitalist enterprises. A special role was played by private railways, which, with an increase or decrease in tariffs, as well as changes in the location of the railway network, had a very serious impact on production. Enterprises began to group against competitors, attracting railways to the agreement, and then banks to finance ongoing activities. Gradually, agreements began to cover industrial areas and entire industries. This is how industrial monopolies arose.

One of the first monopolies was the oil trust "Standard Oil", which was created in 1872 in the USA by J. Rockefeller on the basis of an agreement between several merged oil companies and railways regarding tariffs for the transportation of oil. It happened during a period of major decline in production. Therefore, without difficulty, Rockefeller managed to buy up most of the production capacity of the American oil refining industry. When the Standard Oil trust began to take over other enterprises, it accounted for no more than 10-20%, and a few years later - already 90% of the still uncomplicated oil refining (for kerosene for lighting) in the country. Similar phenomena began to occur in some other industries: homogeneous enterprises or companies, most often under the threat of bankruptcy or pressure from the strongest among them, united in trusts, losing commercial, industrial, and often legal independence - all this was concentrated in the board of the trust or parent company.

Enterprises of the same industry entered into an agreement - a cartel, while maintaining legal and industrial independence, regulating the volume of production, sales of products, hiring labor, terms of sale, prices, etc. If enterprises lost only commercial independence, then a single sales and supply office (syndicate) was formed , which regulated the purchase of raw materials and the sale of finished products (this type of monopoly prevailed in Russia). Finally, monopolies arose in the form of concerns, uniting companies of various branches of production, banks, trade, etc. under a single control. In the concerns, there was a fused industrial-commercial-banking capital, which received the name of financial capital.

The economic role of the state has increased dramatically, which gives grounds to speak of state-monopoly capitalism as a certain type of economic development in a number of countries. The death of small and medium-sized businesses in the XX century. did not happen, since small and medium-sized production and exchange can coexist with the largest corporations: they are indispensable in meeting the basic daily needs of a person.

The movement of the economy has dramatically changed its pace. In the late XIX - early XX centuries. The highest rates of economic development were shown by the young capitalist states - the USA and Germany, which took the first and second places in the world in terms of the level of production development and left France and England behind (Table 2).

Table 2. Share of a number of countries in world industrial production (%)

At the turn of the century, the center of the world economy shifted from Europe to North America.

2. Making the USA the first industrialized country in the world

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. the base of rapid industrial growth in the United States (ensuring complete freedom of economic activity as a result of the civil war, large raw material resources, the absence of obsolete equipment, etc.) was supplemented by a huge influx of labor.

Before World War I, 2/3 of the US gross national product came from industry and construction (mainly railroads). By the 1902th century Four transcontinental railway lines had already been built. In the structure of industrial production itself, shifts manifested themselves, first of all, in higher rates of development of heavy industry. At the beginning of the 23th century. in America - for the first time in the history of world economic development - the share of heavy industry in total industrial output was exceeded (other countries achieved this only before the Second World War). But the structure of heavy industry also changed quite seriously - new industries brought to life by scientific and technological progress appeared and began to develop rapidly - automobile, oil, aluminum, rubber, electrical engineering, etc. The first two played a special role. With the spread of electricity, the lighting function of kerosene was greatly reduced, but the demand for petroleum products increased: the growing demand for gasoline more than compensated for the decline in kerosene production. The reason was the rapid growth of the automobile industry: in 6, when only 1 thousand cars were on American roads, gasoline sales amounted to only about 0,11 million barrels (1912 barrel - 1 tons). And already in 20,3, when the American vehicle fleet exceeded 2 million cars, the demand for gasoline amounted to XNUMX million barrels; after another XNUMX years, more gasoline was sold in the country than kerosene. The automobile, like no other technical device, changed not only the life of the American population, making it extremely mobile, but also decisively influenced the structure of industry, securing the leading place for oil refining (vehicle fleet infrastructure) (regardless of where crude oil is extracted and where it comes from). ).

The development of mass serial production in American industry has led to the emergence of modern methods of rational organization of production, primarily the flow method - production moves from raw materials to finished products, never turning back. In this case, the assembly of components and assemblies on the conveyor plays a special role.

The most typical form of monopolization in the United States has become the trusting of enterprises, which brings tangible benefits. Thanks to its monopoly position in the oil industry, Standard Oil's income over the first 20 years of its existence increased from 8 to 57,5 million dollars. In the 1880-1890s. The largest trusts appeared in the electrical, lead textile, rubber, and leather industries. As well as tobacco, sugar and other industries, transport and communications. A particularly important association was the Steel Trust created by J. Morgan in 1901, which monopolized 43% of iron production and 66% of steel production in the United States. At the beginning of the 800th century. in the USA there were more than 5 trusts, uniting over 7 thousand enterprises with a capital of over XNUMX billion dollars.

Two financial-industrial groups received the greatest importance: Morgan and Rockefeller. The first, formed by the method of banking investments in industry, controlled the Steel Trust, General Electric, the International Carvester agricultural engineering association, the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, etc.

Under a law passed by the US Congress (1890), any association in the form of a trust or in any other form, aimed at restricting production and trade, was declared illegal. Naturally, the monopolies put up fierce resistance, and often workers' associations—trade unions—were subjected to prosecution instead of trusts. Nevertheless, a number of particularly large monopolies, including Standard Oil, were forced to split into several smaller associations.

3. Germany is the second industrial power in the world

The most important factor in the economic recovery was the completion of the state unification of the entire country through the formation of the German Empire under the auspices of Prussia. Instead of a feudal-fragmented country, a great power emerged with a population of more than 40 million. This was preceded by the victory in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the subsequent robbery of France: the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine, a large iron ore basin. And also an indemnity of 5 billion francs. The combination of the iron ore of Alsace and Lorraine with the coal of the Rhineland made it possible to create a powerful fuel and metallurgical base for German industry, and French billions became an important source of investment in industry.

State orders for armaments played a significant role. Intensive railway construction also led to the growth of heavy industry (the length of the railway network increased by more than 1870 times in 1910-33).

In the last third of the XIX century. industry began to play a major role in the country's economic system. At the beginning of the XX century. 43% of the population was already employed there against 29% employed in agriculture. In the 1860-1870s. Germany overtook France in industrial production, and at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. England was left behind.

Light and food industries developed much more slowly than heavy industry. In these sectors, Germany lagged behind not only England and the USA, but also France in some types of products, mainly due to lower effective demand in the domestic market (unlike France, few tourists visited Germany).

The process of monopolization in Germany took place mainly not on the basis of trusts, as in America, but on the basis of cartels and syndicates - agreements between firms on product prices, sources of raw materials, markets, etc. Before the First World War, about 600 monopoly organizations.

The volume of German foreign trade for 1870-1913. grew by about three times. The value of finished goods accounted for more than 70% of German exports; German products - 50% of the world export of electrical goods.

High incomes allowed the German bourgeoisie to significantly raise the wages of skilled workers (approximately 5 million people) At the beginning of the 1800th century. the average annual salary of a skilled German worker (approximately 53 marks) was 2% of the annual income of the average entrepreneur (5-45 hired workers) and 25% of the income of the average official, and the salary of the workers of the control apparatus in production (the “labor aristocracy”) was inferior to the income of the small entrepreneur and for the average official by only 30-XNUMX%. By the beginning of the XNUMXth century. The West, due to the rapid development of production, became noticeably richer, so labor became more expensive. As a result, the most radical Russian Marxists created a theory of a revolutionary breakthrough of the capitalist system not in the most developed countries, as the founders of Marxism believed, but in the weakest link of this chain - Russia.

Unlike Western countries, the labor force in Russia was still relatively cheap. After the First World War, this theory was put into practice by the Bolshevik Party in Russia, which brought untold disaster to the country.

4. Loss of industrial championship by England

If in 1870 England produced about half of the three main types of industrial products on the then world market - iron, coal and cotton fabrics, then in 1913 it provided only 22% of the world coal production, smelted 13% of the world's iron, consumed 23% of the world's cotton . World trade policy has changed: more and more countries began to move away from the policy of free trade and returned to protectionism, protecting their industry from the competition of British goods.

The branches of heavy industry, new to England, developed at the fastest pace - electrical, steel, chemical, overtaking traditional industries. For example, for 1870-1913. pig iron production increased by 1,7 times, while steel smelting - by 38 (but in the USA and Germany steel smelting has already caught up with pig iron, and in England this production was still significantly inferior).

The only traditional branch of heavy industry, which was both re-equipped and showed steady growth rates, was shipbuilding.

British capitalism was based on the colonial empire. The English colonies compensated British capital for the shortcomings of industrial development. In exporting capital, England left America and Germany far behind.

Due to large imports of raw materials and foodstuffs, England's foreign trade balance was constantly passive, but the balance of payments, including all types of settlements with other parties, was invariably active, thanks to increasing "invisible income" (interest on capital, freight, maritime trade insurance, etc.). d.).

England, preparing for the inevitable clash with Germany, at the beginning of the XNUMXth century. began to implement a huge program of naval construction (on the principle of two ships for every new German one), which took up to half of the state budget expenditures.

5. The economic backwardness of France

For France at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries. German and American rates of industrial development were unattainable - the narrowness of the raw material base affected.

For 1870-1913 the volume of American industrial production increased 13 times, German - almost 7 times, and French - only 3 times.

At the end of the 11th century. The leading sector of the French economy, agriculture, entered a period of chronic crisis. Having the opportunity, rare for that time, to fully satisfy its needs for bread, France ranked only 280th in Europe in terms of agricultural productivity. Surpassing Germany in sown areas by 1913 thousand hectares, France harvested 25 million quintals less grain in 1. In terms of the number of livestock per XNUMX hectare of land, France was inferior to Germany, England, Belgium, Denmark and other countries.

The concentration of French industry was much slower than in the USA, Germany and England, but the rate of concentration and centralization of banks in France exceeded those in other countries. French finance capital was built around banks, not industrial monopolies. The French bank became its main center. The 200 largest shareholders of a French bank made up the elite of the country's financial oligarchy.

The French bank presented a unique case of the concentration of financial capital on a national scale (there were two largest groups in the USA - Morgan and Rockefeller).

By the end of the XIX century. the center of interests of the French financial capital was the ship-usurious activity abroad. For 1880-1913 in France, industrial production approximately tripled, and the export of French capital more than quadrupled. Although it was England, not France, who exported the most capital, it was she who played the role of world usurer. English capital represented mainly industrial investments, while French capital represented loans to foreign states. Although France in the XIX - early XX centuries. took possession of large colonies in Africa, Southeast Asia, Oceania and created an empire 3 times larger than the metropolis in territory, French finance capital, cashing in mainly on the exploitation of debtor countries, was not interested in the production use of the colonies. Therefore, the colonies in the economy of France played a much smaller role than in the economy of England. Usury was the main source of income, and France, whose economic potential was much inferior to Germany, maintained an army almost equal in number to the German one.

6. Strengthening of monopolies due to the downsizing of medium-sized enterprises

One of the global problems of economic theory is the problem of the minimum effective size of an enterprise. According to economic theory, positive and negative effects of growth in the scale of production are considered, referring to the first of them:

1) specialization of labor;

2) specialization of managerial personnel;

3) efficient use of capital;

4) the possibility of producing by-products, and secondly, a temporary decrease in the effectiveness of managerial control.

New orders brought additional profit, which self-supporting enterprises directed to the development of not only technical bases, but also social infrastructure - the construction of sports grounds, recreation centers, children's health camps, and sanatoriums. As a result, successful enterprises, the number of which was constantly growing (for example, in industry - 84% in 1980 and 91% in 1988; construction and installation organizations - 69% and 92%; state farms - 44% and 94%, respectively; communications enterprises - 90% and 97%; consumer services enterprises - 73% and 83%; supply and consumer services enterprises - 74% and 79% became even more powerful and more modern).

Late 1980s - early 1990s were marked by the desire to increase the quality of commodity producers and the elimination of monopolies. To a greater extent, it is naive - the economic idea of ​​competition has turned into the practice of creating small enterprises, which in itself would be good if it were not done at the expense of downsizing of medium enterprises; and this was a mistake far greater in scope and social consequences than the amalgamation of individual commodity producers into collective farms instead of the creation of industrial agricultural enterprises along with small ones.

Medium-sized enterprises have become "building blocks" not only for the creation of small enterprises, but also for the further strengthening of monopolies.

So, only in 1995, three leading enterprises of the industry increased their share in the total industrial output of the industry:

1) in the electric power industry - 1,67 times (from 9,6% in 1994 to 16,0% in 1995);

2) in the forestry, woodworking and pulp and paper industries - by 1,53 times (from 8,8% to 13,5%);

3) in the chemical industry - by 1,21 times (from 9,8% to 11,9%);

4) in light industry - by 1,23 times (from 3,1% to 3,8%);

5) in the fuel industry - by 1,12 times (from 13,3% to 14,9%);

6) in mechanical engineering and metalworking - by 1,15 times (from 13,0% to 15,0%);

7) in ferrous metallurgy - by 1,06 times (from 30,8% to 32,5%);

8) in non-ferrous metallurgy - by 1,06 times (from 31,6% to 31,8%).

Only in two sectors (the building materials industry and the food industry) did the share of the top three enterprises decrease, while in the building materials industry the share of enterprises' revenge remained unchanged (5,7%), which less than once confirms the inconsistency of the idea of ​​demonopolization of the Russian economy.

7. Dismantling: a socially oriented model of taxation

One of the axioms of market theory says: for enterprises (organizations, individual entrepreneurs, institutions, etc.) taxes are additional costs; therefore, from the point of view of the enterprise, such a taxation system is optimal, which allows satisfying all its reasonable needs, that is, it makes it possible to develop technically, solve social issues, etc.

If the taxation system does not satisfy this requirement, then the enterprise either ceases its activities or transfers a part of its business into the shadows. From the government's point of view, such a taxation system is optimal, which allows you to have a deficit-free budget.

The taxation system, which simultaneously satisfies both the interests of the state budget and enterprises, is socially oriented.

The mechanism for setting the rate and distributing profits was as follows. Enterprises independently calculated the amount of profit left at their disposal for all purposes provided for by law:

1) replenishment of working capital;

2) capital investments, technical and organizational development;

3) repayment of long-term loans in banks and payment of interest on the loan;

4) maintenance of social infrastructure;

5) financial incentives.

The remaining part of the profit was to be transferred to the budget in the form of the sum of two components: payment for funds and the so-called "free balance of profit."

The free balance of profit was far from "free": it is a "directive" indicator, that is, it was subject to mandatory implementation, like the payment for funds. The excess profit was deducted to the enterprise (according to increased standards), and the balances were transferred to the budget.

Today in Russia there are more than 50 taxes, targeted fees and deductions, each of which solves only one specific task, as evidenced by their names: a targeted fee for the maintenance of law enforcement agencies; contribution to the pension fund; tax on the maintenance of the housing stock and objects of the social and cultural sphere; road user tax; advertising tax; vehicle owner tax; tax on the purchase of motor vehicles, etc.

It is obvious that the whole diversity of life cannot be squeezed into the framework of not only 50 taxes, but 500 taxes.

This explains why taxes are getting bigger and bigger. But this does not answer the question of how, having different taxable bases and rates, it is possible to pre-calculate taxes as costs, that is, to make sure that the amount of costs and taxes under no circumstances exceeds the funds earned by the enterprise.

So far this problem has not been resolved.

Author: Shcherbina L.V.

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