For the first time in the history of our country, we have the material basis to liquidate racism. The process of accomplishing this is chaotic and confusing -, as are all processes in transition. The economic foundation of society is changing. The new one, based in electronics, has the potential to provide for all people, regardless of identity. Yet, it is people that make history. They do so on the basis of ideas, their understanding of what is right, and their ideology. What is ideology? It is a system of views and ideas, which express and define relationships between people and reality from the point of view of one class or another. The new class of the poor holds within itself the force necessary to overturn the capitalist system, but without an ideology which expresses and reflects its interests, an ideology upon which it can act, that potential will inevitably be

These ideas did not appear out of thin air. As we have seen, they have a history and had a material foundation. They reflected and sustained a period of time when the capitalist system was expanding. Unlike today, it was then in the economic interests of the ruling class to restructure the system to accommodate demands in a limited way and to offer minimal support and services to a labor force which served the cyclical swings of the capitalist economy. Millions benefited from this social contract - which was no illusion. The illusion was that the ruling class provided these things for any reason other than the master feeds the slave or the driver waters the mule.

Many brave and sincere people oppose racism. It is essential to do so, and every day of our lives should be spent standing against racism and its effects. Yet, to make a real change, it is not enough to simply oppose something. New ideas must be introduced and adopted that replace the old understandings, the old way of looking at things. It is the same with the ideas of race and racism. They must be replaced as ideas in society with new ideas. Today, unity of the new class of the poor united around distribution based on need is the only ideology, which reflects the reality of material conditions, and the potential of the new technology. It is the only ideology, which truly expresses the interests and aspirations of the majority of the world as they struggle for their immediate needs.

Even in the embryonic beginnings of the social struggle today we can see the effects that the economic and social crisis is having on people's thinking. With the changes in the material life of society have come the changes to the social institutions, to the social relationships. Ideas, which have given shape and form to society, are being called into question. The old social institutions can't function the way they once did, and people's understanding of their place in the world and their relation to society has been turned upside down. Indeed, it is the collision of these "old ideas" with the rapid destruction of the world the American people have known which is causing their frustration

Some topics in this essay:
, World White, ruling class, material conditions, people's thinking, black people, material base ideological, racism material base, class poor, social institutions, economic foundation, capitalist system, base ideological, history country,