ABSTRACT
Marxism has always borne an ambiguous relationship to the theory of 'separation of ownership and control', arguing that Karl Marx was the first to theorize such a separation, but objecting strongly to the connotations which have been placed on it by non-Marxists. Whereas Marx is concerned to show the disintegration of capitalism, contemporary Marxism's main retort to managerialism is to show capitalism to be alive and kicking. Moreover, the suggestion that corporate capitalism signals embryonic socialism denies the fact that socialist transformation depends upon the creation of definite political conditions which will not 'follow on' from the development of the productive forces in a certain direction. Marx's treatment of the joint-stock company (JSC) is inseparable from the general perspective of historical materialism. His view of the transition process between capitalism and socialism is inherent in the contradictory structure of the capitalist mode of production (CMP).
