gles for Negro rights, we have always had to bear in mind that we are a minority, representing one-tenth of the population, and that therefore we are unable to change society by ourselves alone. In order to reach our goal, we need allies. These we can find only among the white population, among thoae who have the same general interests and the same enemies that we have. The story of our first emancipation-from chattel slaveryprovides a memorable example of how such an alliance was successfully achieved. Lessonsof the Civil War The Negro people were ready for the Civil War long before it broke out; they amply showed their readiness to fight against slavery by the insurrections they made in the South, by the organ• ization of the Underground Railway and by the support they gave the Abolition movement. While these struggles stimulated anti-slavery sentiment and helped to prepare the way for the "irrepressible conflict," the final victory against slavery could not be achieved until a considerable section of the white population was drawn actively into the fight on our side. That process was hastened and made inevitable by the fact that American society before the Civil War was divided into different classes, with different economic and political interests and aims. Despite differences between them, however, the rising capitalist class, the working class in the cities and the farmers all had a stake in a common fight against the slaveholding class, which held political dominance in Washington as well as in the South and wanted to extend slavery and limit the democratic rights of the whole country. This split in the white population made it possible for the Negroes to secure an alliance with the other antislavery elements, who organized a new and radical party, the Republicans, which came to power in Washington a short six years after it was launched. When the slaveholders answered the Republican victory with an armed rebellion, the anti-slavery alliance sent the slave system crashing down to extinction. Today America is just as sharply divided by clan etrug• gles as it was on the eve of the Civil War, and it ill heading for struggle• just as fundamental, and change• just ae radical, as those that took place in the middle of the 19th century. 5 Biblioteca Gino Bianco
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