Reactionary Tendencies in the Ruling Class

This chapter looks at the response of the ruling class to an organic crisis in the United States. With an aim to understand the character of the unfreedom and class rule, the chapter examines the class struggle 'from above'. It describes the Trump administration as a resemblance of Gramsci's description of a Caesarian response to an 'organic crisis', a protracted event which comes about when 'the forces in conflict balance each other in a catastrophic manner', leaving space for a third party to intervene. This chapter demonstrates that there is an intense class war in the United States. Using the term 'organic crisis', Gramsci described a conjecture where a prolonged crisis hinders the relatively effective management of contradictions, while concurrently the maturation of these contradictions makes it exceedingly difficult to defend them. In moments of an organic crisis, factions ramp up their contests to a degree that could be considered an escalation of intra-elite competition. The chapter examines several interlinked events to trace some of the front lines in the escalation of intra-elite competition. As the ruling class's influence traverses all aspects of American society, the consequences of escalating intra-elite competition can be seen in most places. The chapter focuses on the linkages between finance and formal contestations of power. It argues that some analysts simplify the primary lines of division in contemporary class warfare.