x PrefaCe
groups, attacks on people for their sexual orientation, harassment of cultural
non-nonconformists like hippies or Goths, fierce assaults on those with a dif-
ferent political ideology, especially people considered “radicals,” or Socialists,
or Communists, and those cannot be ignored. All of these conflicts emerge
out of the need for those in power to maintain their position in charge of
political and economic decisions, and thus their influence over American soci-
ety.
For our purposes, the ruling class includes the people who organize and
control the political economy, and thus society, the “small minority” men-
tioned above. They have power. That power in usually used to increase their
influence and wealth, often at the expense of “the people.” Hence the
title, America from Lincoln to Trump —and it is not by coincidence that
“Power” appears before people. The story of U.S. history, especially from
the Civil War-Reconstruction period to the present, is that of a struggle
between power and people, with power almost always coming out on top,
but people protesting and rebelling on frequent occasions and for various
reasons, and at times making changes happen. While there are many
stories within this concept of power and people, the roles of workers,
Blacks, women and other groups that were outside of power stand out.
And their struggle to get a larger share of the economic wealth they
created as workers, to attain rights that others, especially Whites, had
simply by virtue of being born, to seek political protection, as with Civil
or Gay rights, to gain cultural acceptance for those who did not conform to
the majority’s social ideas, to have a life free from repression, is a major
part of that story.
This text argues that the most important idea in studying U.S. history
from the Civil War to the present is the idea of class power. When
those in power—the ruling class, the Capitalists, the elite, the “haves,”
whatever you choose to call them—decide on a certain policy, they will
put it into effect. If there is opposition, they will use the many strategies at
their disposal—eco-nomic power, state violence, the courts, culture—to
overcome any protest and create the policies they desire. And if and when
change does occur, it does so because that ruling class has determined that
reform will either not harm its interests or, often and even better, contribute
to such interests, meaning the creation of even more power and wealth.
Another fundamental idea behind this examination of U.S. history based
on the idea of power is that business and the government work closely
togeth-