HERE AND NOW
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lectuals would begin their entry into practical politics. This coalition
would remain a major force in American life during the next three or
so decades. When
all
or most of its component parts could be held
together, formally or informally, and it could command the practical
issues and/or moral appeals to win a good cut of the middle-class vote,
this coalition could often win elections on a national scale and in
many industrialized states. When there were group defections, victory
went to the Right. In general one can say that this coalition was most
successful whenever it managed to link strong economic interests with
moral urgencies, the politics of pressure with the traditions of Amer–
ican liberalism and populism. I believe that this lesson still holds,
despite sharply changed circumstances.
What specific forms did this coalition take? It could be one or
more of the following:
a bloc of organizations and movements cooperating for a
legislative or electoral end;
a long-range concurrence in electoral behavior, so that
certain expectations could reasonably be inferred - e.g.,
that even
if
we do not have self-conscious classes or disci–
plined publics there are at least certain fundamental recog–
nitions of common interest;
intermittent activization of class and interest groups when
aroused by specific issues - e.g., "right to work" laws, Negro
rights, etc.;
various electoral and political arrangements within and
across the political parties.
Now one way of looking upon recent American politics is to
conclude that in recent years the liberal-left coalition has gradually
disintegrated and with the Vietnam war, seems virtually to have come
to an end.
There are plenty of signs. The electoral blocs seem to function
with less assurance and predictability than ten or twenty years ago.
Workers reaching a measure of affluence are less likely to follow the
signals of their union leadership; they may veer off into middle-class
styles or lapse into racialism. Still, when certain issues are clearly
drawn along class lines, as for example during the last presidential
