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taking such steps to enable us not only to break with the old, taking the reins of production out of the hands of capitalists, but to create a new standard of relations. That is why the nationalisation of industry must begin with large enterprises, namely, in the first place with the so-called syndicates.
What is syndicated industry (industries united in syndicates)? Syndicates are huge industrial combines. When capitalist owners of various enterprises see that it is not worth their while to compete for each others clients, and that it is far more profitable to form a close union for the purpose of jointly fleecing the public, they organise syndicates or still closer combiner of manufacturers, namely—trusts. When promoters are not united in such unions, each one tries to bring down the prices of his rival: each one wishes to win over his competitor's client, and this can only be done if he sells goods cheaper, thus ultimately ruining his rival, who is unable to withstand the competition. This sort of struggle between the rich manufacturers invariably leads to the ruin of the smaller man: the big sharks of capitalism and the richest manufacturers come out victorious. Let us now suppose that in some one branch of industry (say the metallurgic) three or four big firms remain. If one of them is stronger it carries on the struggle until the rest are ruined. But supposing that their powers are approximately the same, then it is evident that a mutual struggle is fruitless: it will result in the exhaustion of all the rivals to an equal extent. In such cases we generally see an attempt to come to an understanding; they organise a union of these enterprises and make an agreement not to sell their goods below a fixed price; they distribute the orders among themselves, or appoint one firm to do business in one part of the country and another firm in another; in a word, they amicably divide the market between themselves. As the firms united into a syndicate usually supply much more than half the products required for a given area, that means that the syndicate dominates over the market, and that the directors of the syndicates can fix very high prices and fleece their buyers like sheep. But once they join a union it is natural that they are compelled to form a joint board of management for the formerly separate enterprises and to keep a strict account of all the goods produced, to organise the distribution of orders, in a word, they are compelled to organise production. Not for the people, not for the sake of the buyer's advantage. Oh, no! Only for their own profits and gains, and for tho sake of over-
