ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the role of different social groups in the formation of nations and in both the leadership and the membership of national movements. The classical Marxist linking of classes with a specific function in the process of production has much to commend it. ‘Feudal’ and ‘feudalism’ should be used in the specialised sense in which medieval historians use them. The American nation was new in one other important respect: in its absorption of a flood of immigrants of different languages and traditions. Nevertheless, even if the nationalists came to power with the support only of minorities, these were bigger than rival minorities, and certainly bigger than those who consciously preferred the colonial rulers. Situations have inevitably arisen in which class interests and national interests have pulled in different directions. Sometimes the most prosperous or powerful class has felt a greater common interest with the foreign government than with the national movement.
