It need hardly be said that large-scale production enjoys an additional advantage, in the matter of credit. If a great entrepreneur has urgent need of money, he can get it. Banks will always lend money to a “solid” firm at a comparatively low rate of interest. But hardly anyone will give credit to the small producer. If he can borrow at all, exorbitant interest will be demanded. Thus the small producer readily falls into the hands of the usurer.
All these advantages attaching to large-scale enterprise explain why small-scale production must invariably succumb in capitalist society. Large-scale capital crushes the small producer, takes away his customers, and ruins him, so that he drops into the ranks of the proletariat or becomes a tramp. In many cases, of course, the small master continues to cling to life. He fights desperately, puts his own hand to the work, forces his workers and his family to labour with all their strength; but in the end he is compelled to give up his place to the great capitalist. In many instances, one who seems to be an independent master is in truth entirely dependent on large-scale capital, works for it, and cannot take a single step without its permission. The small producer is frequently in the toils of the money-lender. Ostensibly independent, he really works for this spider. Or he is a dependent of the purchaser of his commodities. In other cases he is a dependent of the shop for which he works. In the last instance, though apparently independent, he has really become a wage worker in the service of the capitalist who owns the large shop. It may happen that the capitalist provides him with raw materials, and sometimes with tools as well; in Russia many of those engaged in home industry are in this position. In such cases it is perfectly clear that the home worker has become a satellite of capital. Another form of subordination to capital is that in which small repairing workshops are grouped around a large undertaking, so that they are, as it were, mere screws in the wall of the big building. Their independence is only apparent. We sometimes see that small masters, independent artisans, home workers, traders, or petty capitalists, when they have been driven