The proportions of supporters, opponents, and the rest at a critical moment in labor history that Carrol hypothesizes are similar to the estimated proportions of patriots, loyalists, and others during the American Revolution:
***** Figures on public opinion in the Revolution are obviously mere guesswork, but John Adams estimated that one third of the colonials were Loyalists; probably another third were neutral, apathetic, or opportunistic. The Loyalists were strongest in the far southern colonies-Georgia and the Carolinas-and in the Middle Atlantic colonies, especially New York and Pennsylvania. In those places particularly the fighting became bitter civil war with raids and reprisals. <http://www.bartleby.com/65/lo/Loyalist.html> *****
***** In 1776, there were 500,000 blacks within a total American population of 2.5 million. About 5,000 blacks, the majority of them slaves, fought on the American side, about one-sixth of the total military. At least twice that number joined up on the British side, although the exact number is not known. <http://www.lihistory.com/4/hs422a.htm> *****
***** The thirteen states proclaiming their independence in 1776 possessed a total population of about two and a half million people, but not all the males of military age were part of the military potential. About 20 percent were Negro slaves who except under special circumstances were not eligible for service, though Negroes did serve in the Revolution and not in segregated units. Perhaps one-third of the "politically active" Americans remained loyal to the British Government. As in any society there were also the apathetic and indifferent who swayed with the tide. The genuine patriots still provided a far larger potential of military manpower than the British could possibly transport and supply across the Atlantic, but most of the men of military age were farmers who married young and immediately started large families. Whatever their patriotic sentiments, few were ready to undertake long terms of military service, fearing that if they did their farms and families at home would suffer. Accustomed to the tradition of short-term militia service under local commanders, they infinitely preferred it to long-term service in the Continental Army. <http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/AMH/AMH-03.htm> *****
According to one estimate, at least one half of the militia enrolled during the Revolution, and one third of all Continentals, deserted (Allen Bowman, _The Morale of the American Revolutionary Army_, Washington, D.C., 1943, pp. 70-72, quoted in Arthur J. Alexander, "Desertion and Its Punishment in Revolutionary Virginia," _William and Mary Quarterly_, 3rd. Ser., Vol. 3, No. 3. [Jul., 1946], p. 383).
Based upon the experience of the American Revolution:
The Critical Mass on the left = (the population - the too young or too ill to become politically active) x 0.18 -- Yoshie
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