22. This country has no medieval past marked by formal class distinctions such as serf, lord, etc., and associated oppression and exploitation); its population, aside from slaves, has been almost entirely made up of voluntary, often eager, immigrants who almost always left a very harsh life behind; the ethnic, religious, and other diversities have made for an ever-changing sea of linguistic and cultural confusions and conflicts with associated difficulties of communication and the ability to perceive common interests.

(A story within a note: About 1950, I was teaching a class in unionism to a group of sugar refinery workers in the San Francisco area. The workers were either Italian, Mexican, or Portuguese in recent background. Whenever a discussion would emerge, the workers would insult and make fun of each other for their respective linguistic inadequacies, evenly shared among them. They spent so much time scorning each other in that way [and other ways], they never did get around to finding the strength to fight against what was a very tough company. Divide and conquer may have started in Rome, but it didn’t end there.)

And, to add only one more and very important factor to the many others that have allowed U.S. workers to be too relaxed about their own interests: the economic development of U.S. capitalism was by far the most successful of all in terms of consumption levels – especially as this century moved on – at least until the 1970s. And by the time real wages began to fall, as they did from 1973 until the present, the workers had only their hopes to help them.