ABSTRACT
The disintegration of the guilds, which took place after the close of the middle Ages, proceeded along several lines: certain craftsmen within the guilds rose to the position of merchant and capitalist-employer of home workers and the guilds might become dependent upon the exporters. The other lines are where the raw material was very costly and its importation demanded considerable capital, the guilds became dependent upon the importers and one guild might rise at the expense of another. Only in the beginnings of the industry could the household or tribal unit peddle its own products. The textile industry became the main seat of the domestic system. The pre-capitalistic domestic industry of the west did not develop uniformly, out of the craft organization. Typically, the stages in the growth of the domestic system are the following: a purely factual buying monopoly of the factor in relation to the craft worker and control of the production process.
