sists in his failure to appreciate and develop the strong point of his argument—the development of corporations. The fact, however, that Bernstein and the rest of the Revisionists failed to present it properly makes the phenomenon none the less real.
The Marxian analysis of the capitalist system and his deductions as to the laws of its development proceed upon the assumption of the absolute reign of the principle of competition. It was on the basis of that assumption that he declared that during the progress of capitalist development "one capitalist kills off ten," thereby centralizing all wealth in the hands of a steadily diminishing number of persons, eliminating the middle classes and leaving society divided into two classes only: capitalists and workingmen. But what if competition should be abolished or checked? What if the capitalists, large and small, should decide not to compete any more with each other, or to restrict the area and intensity of such competition, and divide profits amicably instead of fighting with each other over their division, so as to avoid the necessity of killing each other off? Evidently the result would be the arrest of the processes described by Marx in the event of the entire abolition of competition, and a retarding of those processes in the event of its mere checking. This is just what must happen owing to the development of corporations. The supplanting of individual enterprise by that of corporate is merely an attempt to avoid the results of competition, if not altogether abolish it. The effectual abolition of competition by the so-called Trusts, which are merely the logical result of the ordinary corporation-enterprise, is notorious and, practically, undisputed. But it is not only the Trust that interferes with competition. The primary, nay, the only purpose of a legitimate corporation is to blunt the edge of competition. It is designed either to nullify or suspend the baneful effects of past competition, or to prevent or diminish its ravages in the future. There can be only two legitimate reasons for organizing corporations. Either to
