The main form of ruling-class organization in Australia is the company; a fact so familiar, so mundane, that it is often overlooked. News about companies is generally tucked away in the ‘business section’ of the press, where it is fated to be read only by capitalists and left-wing academics. We have studies of company ownership and financial performance from Wheelwright and Sheridan; but there are not half a dozen decent histories of Australian businesses, and not one good up-to-date analysis of the internal structure and politics of any major firm. The contrast to the attention historians and political scientists have given to parties, parliaments and unions is remarkable. Yet it is in companies that the daily life of capitalism occurs – power exercised, profit extracted, accumulation made possible. A serious analysis of a capitalist social order must be grounded in a knowledge of its chief organizations.

As already mentioned, there are about 200,000 companies in Australia. Most of course are small, being modest-size businesses, or paper entities created for the purposes of share dealings and tax evasion. Though this chapter will be focussing on the few largest, it is worth reflecting a moment on the importance of small companies to the system. They carry out, in aggregate, a large slice of actual production; even in manufacturing, it has been estimated, plants employing less than 100 people account for about 40% of total output.