Marxism and History

The first of the new Theory and History series, Matt Perry's punchy andaccessible volume examines Marxism's enormous impact on the way historians approach their subject. Perry offers both a concise introduction to the Marxist view of history and Marxism historical writing, and a guide to its relevance to students' own work.

Matt Perry has taught at the University of Sunderland since 1995.

Acknowledgements

viii

Introduction

1

(2)

The basics of Marxism

3

(1)

Three generations of Marxist history

4

(4)

Conclusion

8

(1)

The Wide Panorama of Marxist History

9

(20)

Old and new history

9

(4)

The long and the short of it

13

(2)

Revolutions

15

(3)

Concepts and theory

18

(2)

Distortions of Marxism

20

(2)

Stalinism and Marxist history

22

(5)

Conclusion

27

(2)

Marx and Engels's Conception of History

29

(18)

Introduction

29

(1)

History and the Enlightenment

30

(2)

Can human history be scientific?

32

(2)

The distinctiveness of human labour

34

(1)

The forces of production

35

(1)

The social relations of production

36

(1)

The clash between the forces and relations of production

37

(2)

Base and superstructure

39

(3)

The role of the individual in history

42

(1)

Class and history

43

(3)

Conclusion

46

(1)

The Historical Writings of Marx and Engels

47

(18)

Marx's The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

48

(4)

Engels's Peasant War in Germany

52

(5)

Capital, volume I

57

(3)

Engels's Letters on Historical Materialism

60

(4)

Conclusion

64

(1)

The Second Generation and the Philosophy and Writing of History

65

(23)

Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution

66

(6)

Gramsci's contribution: hegemony, folklore and anthropology

72

(2)

Gramsci on hegemony and popular consciousness

74

(4)

Lukac's History and Class Consciousness

78

(1)

Reification and bourgeois history

79

(5)

The possibilities of Marxist history

84

(2)

Conclusion

86

(2)

`Rescuing the Poor Stockinger': History from Below

88

(20)

Communist Party Historians' Group (1946-56)

89

(5)

Christopher Hill

94

(1)

England's bourgeois revolution

94

(2)

`The revolt within the revolution'

96

(3)

E.P. Thompson

99

(3)

Eighteenth-century English culture

102

(2)

Thompson's wider impact

104

(3)

Conclusion

107

(1)

Marxism, Structuralism and Humanism

108

(21)

Structuralism and Marxist history

109

(3)

Thompson's critique of structuralism

112

(8)

Evaluations I: base and superstructure

120

(4)

Evaluations II: science

124

(2)

Evaluations III: class

126

(1)

Conclusion

127

(2)

Marxism and Postmodernism in History

129

(26)

What is Postmodernism?

130

(2)

The postmodern gauntlet

132

(1)

The postmodern method

133

(3)

Postmodern knowledge

136

(3)

Writing postmodern history

139

(1)

Marxism and postmodernism

140

(1)

The Marxist Critique of idealism

140

(1)

Marxism and language

141

(2)

Marxism and knowledge

143

(3)

The Marxist critique of postmodernism

146

(5)

Conclusions: totalities, opposites and praxis

151

(4)

Conclusion

155

(5)

Glossary

160

(11)

Notes

171

(17)

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Summary

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