ABSTRACT
There is undoubtedly a link between the new forms of concentrative development in industry and cartels or trusts. If we look into economic history we find that the forms of modern development of industrial capitalism are not quite without precedent. It may be useful to bear in mind that it was by no means the factory system of the epoch of the great inventions which was the first form of modern industrial capitalist organization. In reviewing the forms of industrial organization of that epoch, of a transition from a form of organization which was based mainly upon the financial preponderance of industrial capitalists, to a form of technical or productive preponderance. The transition from the first form to the second, from the capitalist domination over the handicrafts or gilds to the factory system, meant nothing else than the lessening of the financial power of the capitalist in favour of his direct domination over production.
