Social History- Webber

Houses of History: Social History

 Social history or new social history is the field of history that focuses on the lived experience of the past. The field grew exponentially in the mid 19th century but primarily in the 1960s and 1970s.[1] New social history which came grew together in the 1960s in the United Kingdom as well as the U.S and Canada many of the ideas derivative of the French annales school of history. The idea of new social history is the idea of studying an entire society.[2] Old social history in contrary was created to oppose mainstream history and try to put the historical point of view in the eyes of the people instead of the elite and leaders of nations. [3] New Social history is the most referred form in recent use. The studies became widespread after the publication of E.P Thompson’s “The Making of the English Working Class” the book shows the development of the working class in England from 1780-1832. The time span covered emphasizes the growing consciousness of the working class in England; they began to disassociate themselves with the greater state and instead moving in their own greater interests. [4] E.P Thompson commonly identified as a Marxist historian and he widely expanded Social History and socialism through his written work as well as his work as a leader of the peace movement during the Cold War.

E. P Thompson’s “The Making of the English Working Class” is one of the most influential historical writings in the second half of the 20th century as well as one of the most cited pieces of text by other historians. The book created a wider meaning to the class system in the U.K, especially the working class. Thompson’s work in this book touched on the working class becoming its own political being. The class being the lowest of the low in the period and working in horrible conditions with little rights. The conditions in which they worked normalized up until the point of 1830, when in Thompson’s eyes the class formed its own political identity and began to create upheaval regarding their human rights and economic structure. [5] Thompson looked to create a wider narrative for the working class in England which was much overlooked by other theorists of the time with the growth of English democratic capitalism. The Making creates the narrative for the artisans and shows their day-to-day lives and the struggles that they faced. The Making brings the prime example of the development of a group of people and how they can band together to create change politically in a system where they have not been represented in a fair manner. 

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E.P Thompson in his younger life was a tank troop leader in Africa and Italy during World War two. After Thompson’s tenure in the English military, he attended Corpus Christi College in Cambridge and that is where he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1946. [6] As turmoil grew within the communist party and the Soviet Union invaded Hungary E.P Thompson and many others made the decision to leave the communist party all together. The direction in which the party was headed did not align with Thompson’s views as a “socialist humanist.”  Thompson then sought out to create a journal in which explained some of the new ideas regarding Marxism, Communism, democratic and labor movement ideas. This was called “the New Reasoner” launched in 1957 and then later merged into the publication with the New Left review. The “New Reasoner” was the foundation of the New Left. The New Left was a group of leftist dissident Marxists that were advocates for the disarmament of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 60s formed during the cold war divide.[7] Even before leaving the Communist party, Thompson was a strong member of the Communist-supported peace movement, which was anti-nuclear bomb and pro peace. Thompson felt that the cold war was a major fracture in the world and creating peace and healing was just as important as the removal of nuclear missiles. Thompson became a forefront advocate for the disarmament of nuclear weaponry he gave many strong speeches regarding Britain’s involvement in NATO and his quote “NATO out of Britain, and Britain out of NATO.” Large crowds gathered in protest in British involvement in the Cold war and the push for a nuclear free Europe. E.P Thompson was never one to be quiet when it came to the involvement of nuclear weapons and the social movements against them. [8]

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This short documentary includes firsthand interviews regarding E.P Thompson’s influences, his early work including the “The Making of the English Working Class,” as well as his involvement in the New Left and the peace movement against the Cold War. The visual and description of this large peace group rallying against potential nuclear war has its own social history that E. P Thompson was directly involved in.  

Bibliography

[1] Diplomatic dropped from 5% to 3%, economic history from 7% to 5%, and cultural history grew from 14% to 16%. Based on full-time professors in US history departments. Stephen H. Haber, David M. Kennedy, and Stephen D. Krasner, “Brothers under the Skin: Diplomatic History and International Relations,” International Security, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Summer, 1997), pp. 34-43 at p. 4 2 

[2] jürgen Kocka, Industrial Culture and Bourgeois Society: Business, Labor, and Bureaucracy in Modern Germany, 1800-1918 (New York: Berghahn Books, 1999), pp 275-97, at p. 276 

[3] G. M. Trevelyan (1973). “Introduction”. English Social History: A Survey of Six Centuries from Chaucer to Queen Victoria. Book Club Associates

[4] Thompson, Edward Palmer (1980) [1963]. The Making of the English Working Class. Toronto: Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 958

[5] Green, Anna, and Kathleen Troup. 2016. The Houses of History a Critical Reader in History and Theory. Manchester Manchester University Press. Pg. 39

[6] Griffin, Emma (6 March 2013). “EP Thompson: the unconventional historian”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.

[7] Fieldhouse, Roger; Taylor, Richard, eds. (2014). E. P. Thompson and English Radicalism. Manchester: Manchester U.P. 

[8] “Rear Window: A Life of Dissent – The Life and Work of E. P. Thompson.” TeleSUR English. January 13, 2016. Video, https://youtu.be/eirT8D28bTk.

[9] “E. P Thompson (1924-1993)” Believable Politics. E P Thompson (1924-1993) – Believable Politics