ABSTRACT
In detail, the development of the organization prior to the appearance of modern capitalism proceeded in the following way. The lord was forced by the union of the mine workers to renounce interference in operations. The miners (Gewerken) forbade his officials to enter the shafts and only the members of the association had rights of control over each other. After the mine workers had come into possession not only of the means of production but also of the raw material, there began a process of differentiation within the working class in the mining industry, and the disintegration which called forth capitalism. The increased capital requirement led to the result, first, that only the propertied associates remained miners with full mining privileges, and second, that new grants were made more and more exclusively to persons who could show command over capital. Thus a purely capitalistic interest was able to make its way into the human group of the mining community.
