In essence, associations— whether naturally evolved or created — 
have hitherto existed for economic ends, but these ends have been 
concealed and buried beneath ideological matters of secondary 
importance. The ancient polis,*” the medieval town or guild, the 
feudal confederacy of landowning nobility—all had secondary 
ideological aims which they hallowed and which in the case of the 
patrician body of consanguinity and the guild arose from the 
memories, traditions and models of gentile society no less than in: 
that of the ancient polis. The capitalist commercial companies are 
the first to be wholly rational and objective—but vulgar. The 
association of the future will combine the rationality of the latter 
with the old ones’ concern for the social welfare of all, and thus 
fulfil its purpose.