Cultural Marxism in Postwar Britain: History, the New Left, and the Origins of Cultural Studies

by Dennis Dworkin

In this intellectual history of British cultural Marxism, Dennis Dworkin explores one of the most influential bodies of contemporary thought. Tracing its development from beginnings in postwar Britain, through its various transformations in the 1960s and 1970s, to the emergence of British cultural studies at Birmingham, and up to the advent of Thatcherism, Dworkin shows this history to be one of a coherent intellectual tradition, a tradition that represents an implicit and explicit theoretical effort to resolve the crisis of the postwar British Left.
Limited to neither a single discipline nor a particular intellectual figure, this book comprehensively views British cultural Marxism in terms of the dialogue between historians and the originators of cultural studies and in its relationship to the new left and feminist movements. From the contributions of Eric Hobsbawm, Christopher Hill, Rodney Hilton, Sheila Rowbotham, Catherine Hall, and E. P. Thompson to those of Perry Anderson, Barbara Taylor, Raymond Williams, Dick Hebdige, and Stuart Hall, Dworkin examines the debates over issues of culture and society, structure and agency, experience and ideology, and theory and practice. The rise, demise, and reorganization of journals such as The Reasoner , The New Reasoner , Universities and Left Review , New Left Review , Past and Present , are also part of the history told in this volume. In every instance, the focus of Dworkin’s attention is the intellectual work seen in its political context. Cultural Marxism in Postwar Britain captures the excitement and commitment that more than one generation of historians, literary critics, art historians, philosophers, and cultural theorists have felt about an unorthodox and critical tradition of Marxist theory.

Genres: Politics, Cultural, History, Cultural Studies, Theory, Economics, Philosophy

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Ffiona · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Roots Of British Cultural Marxism ~ Author Believes It Made A Valuable Contribution To The Nation.

This book helps you understand how Marxism managed to get it's foot in the door. By reading between the lines you can unmask the process these cultural theorists and their backers, used on the population. The oppression archetype was massively amplified by these radicals and our society was destabilised-it remains fragmented.

Group Mind theory says that what happens at the conscious level is determined by what takes place at the subconscious group mind level. Britons were convinced they were involved in a participative humanitarian endeavour when in reality they had been subjected to a manipulative grooming process via ingenious propaganda techniques. Nearly all of the intellectual and artistic movements of the 20th century were inspired by thinkers who were financed by central bankers - some of them worked for Soviet Intelligence.

Cultural theory is Leftist criticism of the culture we live in.Cultural theorists interpret the traditional and the normative as oppressive,as something that should be constantly analyzed opposed and challenged.Academics in this field counter the idea that a nation's culture is whole (homogenised) as they prefer it to be ever changing with lots of diversity.This is in line with the Marxist concept of 'repressive toleration',which is a tolerance for movements from the left, but intolerance for movements from the right.

The author focuses on the work of the following academic intellectuals.
Rodney Hilton - communist historian
Shelia Rowbotham - communist feminist
Catherine Hall - feminist historian
EP Thompson - communist historian
Stuart Hall - Marxist writer
Christopher Hill - communist,lifelong radical
Perry Anderson - editor of the New Left Review
Barbara Taylor - feminist historian
Raymond Williams - Marxist writer
Dick Hebridge - Marxist professor
Eric Hobsbawm - Marxist historian

All of these people had something important in common,they were mostly all secular humanists who promoted causes which championed the right to self-determination, for example, freedom of choice regarding sexual relationships & reproduction (abortions) etc, and they were deeply infatuated with Karl Marx. They were probably well meaning individuals and some of their theorising was quite noble,it had some genuine worth,however Marxism was their opium.They idolized a man who made it his mission to get rid of God [quote] "The Prussian political philosophers from Leibnitz to Hegel have laboured to dethrone God, and if I dethrone God I also dethrone the king who reigns by the grace of God."

The author of this textbook is a Left wing academic who has a very positive (naive) view of Cultural Marxism. It is obvious he feels the critical theory that came out of the Frankfurt school and it's subsequent application to our British culture (the Utopian spell it cast) was something valuable.He does not acknowledge it resulted in a deliberate subversion of the existing social order which people would probably have rejected if it had been made overt. The British people would have never knowingly adopted communism but under the banner of 'equality' they unwittingly did adopt it. They were able to twist reality, under the guise of broadening our horizons.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. A great scholarly historical look at a topic that should be of great interest to Marxists and to people on the left in general in the English speaking world who are familiar with any of the major political and intellectual developments of the last forty years or so.