![]() ![]() For the rest of the world, it’s a fascinating study of changing ideas and action. If you live in England, you should read it because there’s no telling who’s been thrown in your village pond (sadly, you can’t rely on the index). History is more often intent on writing them off as either thick or doomed, their defeat inevitable in a world where the policies of the powerful are presented as the outcome of natural laws (sound familiar?) By showing the social, economic and mental landscape in which they lived and struggled, he helps us understand them. Thompson aims to rescue the working class men and women he writes about ‘from the enormous condescension of posterity’ (p.13). But it’s well written and rescued from being just an academic study by the spirit in which it’s done. The Making of the English Working Class is a monster, over 900 pages. These two books take a big view of working-class history from below, writing down struggles and movements that are usually written off. ![]() London’s Past Tense have shown how radical local history can be brought to life. We can learn from people who’ve lived where we live and worked at the same jobs, as well as people we think we have nothing or everything in common with. Anarchist history is fascinating, to me anyway, but you can’t just read about people who share your ideas. ![]()
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