logical ways via class struggles. What exists today is simply the result of the natural evolutions of these timeless
and universal ways of interacting, with their own cultural flavors thrown in. For example, the roles of the ministers
who helped the monarchies evolved into the roles of prime ministers and other ministers that now exist in almost
all countries (though in the United States they are called “secretaries”).
Over time, these systems have evolved and varied in logical ways as a result of struggles for wealth and power. For
example, in England around 1200 there was a wealth and power struggle that evolved gradually at first and then
abruptly into a civil war between the nobility and the monarchy, which is how these shifts tend to evolve—i.e.,
gradually at first and then abruptly. Like most of these, the fight was over money and the power to determine who
got how much money. The monarchy under King John wanted to get more tax money and the nobles wanted to
give less tax money. They disagreed over how much say the nobles should have on the matter, so they had a civil
war. The nobles won and gained more power to set the rules, which led to what they first called a “council,” which
soon became the first parliament, which evolved into the parliament that the English have today. The peace treaty
that formalized this deal into law is called the Magna Carta. Like most laws, this one didn’t matter much relative to
power so another civil war broke out in which the nobles (one class) and the monarchy (another class) again fought
over wealth and power. In 1225 they wrote up a new Magna Carta that those with power got to interpret and
enforce. Then the fighting picked up a few decades later. In that war, the nobles cut off tax payments to the
monarchy, which forced the monarchy (then Henry III) to give in to the nobles’ demands. These struggles went on
constantly, leading the orders to evolve.
Fast forward to the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries and one can see that there were big changes in the sources of
wealth, at first because of global exploration and colonialism (starting with the Portuguese and the Spaniards) and
later because of the invention of capitalism (i.e., stocks and bonds) and labor-saving machines that fueled the
Industrial Revolutions (particularly helping the Dutch and then the British) that made those who profited from
these sources of wealth more powerful—i.e., the shifts in wealth and power over these centuries were from a) land-
owning nobles (who then had the wealth) and monarchies (who then had the political power) to b) capitalists (who
in the later period had the wealth) and elected representatives or autocratic government leaders (who in the later
period had the political power). Almost all countries made these shifts—some peacefully but most painfully.
For example, in France for most of the 17th and 18th centuries, the king ruled in a balance of power arrangement
with three other classes: 1) the clergy, 2) the nobility, and 3) the commoners. There were representatives of these
groups that voted. The first two, which accounted for only 2% of the population, had more votes or eventually the
same amount of votes as the commoners, who made up 98% of the population. They called this three-class-based
internal order that negotiated for power the ancien régime (which means “old order”). Then practically overnight it
changed in a revolutionary way via the French Revolution, which began on May 5, 1789, when the third class—the
commoners—had enough of that system, overthrew all the others, and took the power for itself. In most countries
around the world at the time, the same basic ruling order prevailed—i.e., the monarchy and nobles, who accounted
for a very small percentage of the population and had most of the wealth, ruled until, all of sudden, there was a
civil war/revolution that led the old order to be replaced by a very different new ruling order.
Though the ruling orders for managing these class struggles (i.e., the internal orders) were and are different in
different countries, they evolved similarly across countries. For example, they evolved both gradually (through
reforms) and abruptly (through civil wars/revolutions) and evolved into those orders that now exist in all countries.
I expect they will continue to evolve gradually and abruptly to produce new domestic orders. While the classes
who have wealth and political power change, the processes that produce these changes have remained pretty much
the same through time right up to today. They occur through struggles that lead to both a) peaceful reforms through
negotiations and b) violent reforms via civil wars and revolutions. The peaceful reforms tend to come earlier in the
cycle and the violent civil wars and revolutionary reforms tend to come later in the cycle for logical reasons that
we will delve into later.
I cannot overstate the importance of class struggles relative to individual struggles. We, especially those in the
United States, which is a “melting pot,” tend to think more of individual struggles and not give adequate attention
to class struggles. I didn’t fully realize its importance until I did my extensive study of history. My studying of
history has led me to see it in a way that I hope I can convey.
In all countries throughout time (though in varying degrees) people have been typecast and placed within
“classes” either because they have chosen to be with people like them or because others outside that group have