The leading force in the building of a new society will be the working class, that body of people who make up the majority of the labor force, and who produce, distribute and maintain the country’s wealth and provide the necessary services that allow society to function. However, there are other sections of the labor force who, because of their different relationship to the means of production, are not in the working class, but may ally themselves with the working class. The largest of these groups is the petit bourgeoisie, made up of small businesspeople, professionals, intellectuals, managers of large enterprises, and people in similar positions. This class is between the working class and the ruling class, and thus is subject to pressure from those classes. Many individuals and certain segments of the petit bourgeoisie will, at various times, ally themselves with the working class, but in the long run, the petit bourgeoisie will take reactionary positions. Similarly, the lumpen – those who subsist on the margins of society through criminal and hustling-type activities, will waver in their class allegiences. If given firm leadership by the working class, some elements of the lumpen will fight with the working class, but, because of its extremely unstable position, the lumpen is also susceptible to being used by the ruling class as shock troops against the working class.
But the working class will find its strongest allies among sectors of society that cut across class lines – sectors that, because of their oppressed position in capitalist America, must fight for Socialism if they are to lay the foundations for their own liberation. The two largest and most important of these sectors are women and minority people. Still a third sector that will at times ally with the working class are the small farmers. However, they, too, will vacillate because the individuality that is inherent in small farming will be used by the ruling class to split off this class from the leadership of the working class. Other such sectors include students and youth, aged people, gay people, and progressive elements in the armed forces. All these people will find their leadership in the working class.