34 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



less than the demand for the replacement of capital- 

 ism by collectivism supported by the enormous 

 voting power of organized labour, capital has had to 

 face round to meet problems which bring into the 

 front rank of the conflict the most fundamental 

 issues connected with our civilization. 



As the spirit of the world fight has gradually 

 enveloped the whole range of the complex activities 

 of the West, the position of capital in relation to the 

 social emotion has assumed features of great in- 

 terest. One of the most striking developments of 

 the age has been the colossal concentration of 

 wealth. Relentlessly driven from two sides to- 

 wards concentration, from without by labour and 

 from within by the nature of modern enterprise, 

 capital has become aggregated into immense 

 organizations worked on the basis of joint-stock 

 companies. It has been a peculiar and inherent 

 feature of these aggregations that they have tended 

 through causes which they have been quite unable 

 to control to bring capital profoundly and on a world- 

 wide scale into conflict with the social emotion. 



As the leaders of labour with the gathering 

 instinct of the fight strong upon them have sensed 

 the omens of the time in the West, the antagonism 

 to capital has grown rapidly. In almost every part 

 of the civilized world it has deepened in intensity 



