ABSTRACT
Americans practice association on a grand scale; but association among Americans is conceived very differently than in Germany: it does not have the purpose of directly satisfying economic ends; it does not disturb individual activity; it does not have rules or militaristic customs. The economic power at the disposal of the state is limited. In comparing American history with that of old Germany, the authors are less surprised at the facts that occur under their eyes. This comparison leads not only to regard the American phenomena as no longer the terminus ad quem of capitalist economics, but to think that they could very well be only an accident in a development that would remain true to Marx's general concept. The entire Marxist conception of the emancipation of labor relies on the hypotheses of the "stages of capitalism. The intervention of the state in the economic field has been largely responsible for the development of usury capitalism.
