The American people are not imperialists. They are proud of their country, jealous of her honor, willing to make sacrifices for their dear ones. They are to-day where the plain folk of Egypt, Rome, France and England were before the will to power gripped the ruling classes of those countries.
Far different is the position of the American plutocracy. As a ruling class the plutocracy feels the necessity of preserving and enlarging its privileges. Recently called into a position of leadership, untrained and in a sense unprepared, it nevertheless understands that its claim to consideration depends upon its ability to do what the ruling classes of Egypt, Rome, France and England have done—to build an empire.
Almost unconsciously, out of the necessities of the period, has come the structure of the American Empire. In essence it is an empire, although the plain people do not know it, and even the members of the plutocracy are in many instances unaware of its true character. Yet here, in a land dedicated to liberty and settled by men and women who sought to escape from the savage struggles of empire-ridden Europe, the foundations and the superstructure of empire appear.
1. The people of the United States have conquered and now hold possession of approximately three million square miles of continental territory that has been won by armed force from Great Britain, Mexico, Spain, and the American Indians. (The entire area of Europe is only 3,800,000 square miles.)
2. The people of the United States have conquered and now hold under their sway subject people who have enjoyed no opportunity for self-determination. A whole race—the African Negroes—was captured in its native land, transported to America and there sold into slavery. The inhabitants of the Philippine Islands were conquered by the armed forces of the United States and still are subject people.
3. The United States had developed a plutocracy—a property holding class, that is, to all intents and purposes, the imperialist class—controlling and directing public policy.
4. This plutocratic class is exploiting continental United States and its dependencies. After years of savage internal strife, it has developed a high degree of class consciousness, and led by its bankers, it is taking the fat of the land. The plutocrats, who have made the country their United States, are at the present moment busy disposing of their surplus in foreign countries. As they build their industrial empires, they broaden and deepen their power.
Thus is the round of imperialism complete. Here are the conquered territory, subject people, an imperial ruling class, and the exploitation, by this class, of the lands and peoples that come within the scope of their power. These are the attributes of empire—the characteristics that have appeared, in one form or another, through the great empires of the past and of the present day. Differing in their forms, they remain similar in the principles that they represent. They are imperialism.