CHAPTER VIII THE DEATH OF THE GUILDS 116 1. Their suppression in the different countries of Europe. They become the victims of: (_a_) "great" commerce and "great" industry; (_b_) the law of the reduction of effort; (_c_) science; (_d_) fashion; (_e_) new economic theories.--2. Action against them in England, France, and other European countries.--3. Survivals, and attempts to restore the Guilds. AUTHOR'S BIBLIOGRAPHY 137 EDITOR'S BIBLIOGRAPHY 140 INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION It is a curious gap in our economic literature that no simple introductory study of Mediaeval Guilds has yet been published in England. The subject is, of course, dealt with in passing in every text-book of economic history, and there have been several admirable studies of particular aspects of Mediaeval Guild organization, particularly of the period of its decay; but no one has yet attempted to write a short account of the system as a whole, such as might serve as a text-book for those who desire to get a general knowledge of the industrial system of the Middle Ages. This is all the more remarkable, because to an increasing extent in recent years men's thoughts have turned back to the Mediaeval Guilds in their search for solutions of present-day industrial problems. Nor is this tendency entirely new, though it has recently assumed a new form. The earlier Trade Unions often sought to establish their direct descent from the Guilds of the Middle Ages: one of the most ambitious projects of the Owenite period in British Trade Unionism was the "Builders' Guild" of 1834; and, a generation later, William Morris, and to a less extent John Ruskin, constantly strove to carry men's minds back to the industrial order which passed away with the first beginnings of modern capitalism. Moreover, in our own times, an even more determined attempt is being made to apply the lessons of the Middle Ages to modern industrial problems. Mr. A. J. Penty's _The Restoration of the Guild System_, published in 1907, began this movement, which was then taken up and transformed into the constructive theory of National Guilds, first by Mr. A. R. Orage and Mr. S. G. Hobson in the _New Age_, and later by the writers and speakers of the National Guilds League. A substantial literature, all of which assumes at least a general acquaintance with mediaeval conditions, has grown up around this movement; but so far no National Guildsman has attempted to write the history of the Mediaeval Guilds, or even to explain at all clearly their relation to the system which he sets out to advocate.