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The return of anti-monopoly politics?
Opposition to the mega-companies that dominate industry cannot be left to the political centre — the labour movement could build a a powerful coalition around the cause. But beware, warns ZOLTAN ZIGEDY, this is still not anti-capitalism

ECONOMIC MONOPOLIES — enterprises or groups of enterprises that overwhelmingly reign over a specific economic sector — have been the target of reformers and revolutionaries since their widespread notice in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Many keen observers in the most advanced capitalist countries of the late 1800s perceived the development of a tier of capitalist firms in various industries that rose to dominate those industries. Through rapid expansion, ruthless competition, absorption and consolidation, a few capitalists or corporations acquired a majority share of markets and the lion’s share of profits.

A classic US example of the process of monopolisation was the creation of the Rockefeller oil monopoly, Standard Oil. Like an uncontrollable wildfire, Standard Oil devoured competitors, both horizontally — in oil extraction — and vertically — in the shipping, refining and selling of the final product. Eventually, Standard Oil was on the verge of completely controlling the petroleum industry in the US.

Anti-monopoly today

  • The strength to curb workers’ actions, strikes.
  • The ability to raise prices to compensate for wage and benefit gains.
  • Capital sufficient to employ labour-saving technology and reduce employment and wages.
  • The power to relocate work to the lowest-paying regions or countries.
  • The political weight (state monopoly capitalism) to influence government, to extract concessions, to reduce taxes, to extort government funding and government support against the interests of labour.
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