La lotta di classe in America

“At about the same time, Marx was taking a somewhat different approach. “Bourgeois society in the United States”, he was writing, “has not yet developed far enough to make the class struggle obvious” (Marx letter, March 5, 1852); but he also expected that American industry would grow at so enormous a rate that the United States would be transformed into a major force in the world market, delivering heavy blows against English imperial domination. Now, if one cares to, it is possible to reconcile Engels’ approach with that of Marx. Engels was thinking tactically, about the problems of building a movement, while Marx was thinking historically, about events anticipated but not yet encountered. Marx was asking why the social consequences of the rise of capitalism, such as an intensified class struggle, had not yet appeared in the United States – even though, according to his theory, these consequences were inevitable” [Irving Howe, Socialism and America, 1985]