Financial institutions, mainly banks, with the development of the economy occupy the status of co-owners of industrial enterprises, trade, transport and others by acquiring shares and bonds. Owners of enterprises, in turn, acquire shares and bonds of banks that are directly related to them. This leads to the formation of an interweaving of capitalist and industrial capital. As a result, a new type of capital appears - financial.
The interweaving of capital - the formation of personal unions
The interweaving of banking and industrial capital leads to the formation of personal ties between the owners of industrial monopolies and the founders of banks. Some individuals dominate the largest monopolistic industrial enterprises, banking institutions, and other companies from the branches of the capitalist economy. The phenomenon was called "financial oligarchy." This is not an isolated situation in any country. The scale of interweaving of material assets is international in nature.
Oligarchy in the world
The financial oligarchy is a phenomenon that is clearly manifested in many countries of the world. Consider Germany, in which, on the eve of World War I, 6 banks had representatives in senior positions in 344 companies from the industrial sector, 407 representatives in the government, and 751 representatives in the public sector. The number of managing banks included at least 51 industrialists. Union has flourished for a long time. The US financial oligarchy had a different format. A narrow group of four hundred people, which included industrialists and bankers, occupied about 705 leading posts in 250 companies, which owned 42% of the country's total capital.
In each of the capitalist countries, all vital branches of the economy and the overwhelming amount of social wealth are controlled by the union of influential bankers and industrialists. The management of the capitalist monopoly is the financial oligarchy. This is not an exact definition, but in the literal translation the phrase is interpreted as "the rule of the few."
The financial oligarchy is a widespread and characteristic phenomenon in most countries of the world, including Russia. Due to the fact that Russian capital is the youngest of all European capital, he was forced to use the help of foreign capital in pre-revolutionary times. Foreign loans are actively used today both as a subsidy and in the format of assistance to private production. Russia's interest in loans made the state attractive for Western European groups. Thus, the country's financial oligarchy is concentrated for the most part abroad and works closely with foreign capitalists.
The situation in the economy
The dominance of a few is reflected in all sectors of the state, including the economy. A financial oligarchy, the definition of which depends on the direction of its influence, is reflected in the economy in the format of a “participation system” in the economy. The essence is based on the possession of a group of people by the main joint-stock company that heads the concern. The same company, having controlling stakes in its possession , has power over the “subsidiaries”, which also have their own wards. The financial oligarchy and the methods of its rule allow financial tycoons to manage huge amounts of other people's money.
The formation of the oligarchy
In the USA, the oligarchy includes 8 financial groups, in England, the reins of power belong to several hundred people, in France they manage 200 famous families, in Italy - a little less than 150. The financial oligarchy is a complex management structure, the formation of which is of great importance. Strengthening the structure is facilitated by industry unions and cultural associations, membership in orders and all kinds of clubs. The integrity of an ideological society makes it possible to extend power from the sphere of production to the superstructure. It is social life that submits to such subjective associations as the financial oligarchy. The importance is attached even to such moments as the education of technical personnel and the cultivation of the intelligentsia.
Public acceptance
To adopt a narrow government apparatus, society forms an artificial public opinion using popular media. A peculiar psychological base is being formed, which subordinates entire states to the rule of the elite. The political ruling class maintains its authority through ideological influence. This is not only the media mentioned above, schools have an impact on society, and help in everyday life. Thus, people who hold leadership positions, but do not support revolutionary sentiments, automatically become a link in the ruling apparatus.
The financial oligarchy is a large-scale phenomenon
The financial oligarchy is actively using the principles of de facto monopoly, while receiving huge and constantly increasing revenues from the organization of joint-stock companies, from the issue of shares with bonds, from the provision of state loans and large-scale government orders. Concentrated in the strongest hands, financial capital constantly levies tribute to the public and is to some extent the tip of the monopoly bourgeoisie.
Forms of managing world society
The financial and industrial elite exercises constant control over decision-making not only in the field of economic policy, but also in the social sphere. It coalesces into a single whole the economic power of monopolies and state bourgeois power. State and monopoly regulation programs are designed to eliminate conflicts in capitalism and, as a result, serve the interests of powerful people.
One of the few phenomena in the world that swept all countries simultaneously is the financial oligarchy. What is this, it will be possible to understand if you evaluate the scale of its impact on world society. The elite, in whose hands all the country's fixed capital is concentrated, actively carries out the internationalization of any activity and strengthens integration processes, systematically develops international industrial and banking monopolies. This forms the emergence of international financial groups. This strengthens the interweaving of interests of oligarchs from around the world, which contributes to the formation of an incredibly strong government.
Changes in the structure of the oligarchy in the process of evolution
The financial oligarchy in Russia, in America, in other countries of the world changes over time with the development of state-monopoly capitalism and as a result of the evolution of the format of capitalist property. Even during the periods of the predominance of imperialism, the oligarchy of the financial industry was built primarily on the basis of the institution of the family and dynasty. As an example, Rockefeller and Dupont, Mellon and Peugeot groups, and others. Concentration of production and an increase in the volume of fictitious capital in combination with competition between monopoly unions brought to the fore the regional principle of the formation and strengthening of the position of the oligarchy. A strengthening trend was observed in the post-war period of 1939–1945. Here the following financial groups came to dominant positions in the world: Chicago and California, Boston and Bavarian, and others. Against the backdrop of growing competition already in the 50–70s. the family-dynastic principle of the formation of financial groups is being revived and activated. Example: Getty and Khanty empire, Thurn and Taxis, Kühlmann-Stum. During this time period, the introduction of the world's largest managers into the structure of the financial oligarchy was recorded. The dominance of the financial oligarchy has aggravated and continues to aggravate the contradictions not only between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, but also conflicts between developing states and developed ones.