ABSTRACT
Different kinds of empire building exert different impacts on the labor force, class politics, and anti-imperialist movements. A corollary to this is that the diverse structures of labor and their socio-political expressions have significantly different impacts on the process of empire building. The public policy of the new empire operates through economic directives to the client states, political blackmail, economic threats to European and Asian allies, and military and covert actions against recalcitrant independent states. In Latin America, the United State empire was built through surrogate military generals, one-party authoritarians, and international financial institutions. Understanding socio-economic processes is crucial to interpreting class formation under the United State empire. Empire building based on neo-liberal policies and military intervention has had a profoundly negative effect on the working class, labor legislation, and trade union organization. Probably the most devastating impact of empire building has been on the rural labor force, particularly peasants, small farmers, subsistence farmers, rural laborers, and indigenous communities.
