Abstract
The paper first describes the understanding of the protection of competition towards the end of the 19th and in the first three decades of the 20th century which was different from the current conception. It then discusses the opinions of an outstanding Czechoslovak liberal economist and politician, Karel Engliš (1880-1961), on competition.
Engliš defined the individualism and solidarism economic systems in theoretical terms, as well as the relation of the state to competition. He explained the attitude of the contemporary science of economics to syndicates and cartels.