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E. P. Thompson and the Making of the New Left: Essays and Polemics
E. P. Thompson is a towering fi gure in the fi eld of labor history,
best known for his monumental and path-breaking work, The
Making of the English Working Class. But as this collection shows,
Thompson was much more than a he was a dedicated
educator of workers, a brilliant polemicist, a skilled political theorist,
and a tireless agitator for peace, against nuclear weapons,
and for a rebirth of the socialist project.
The essays in this book, many of which are either out-of-print or
diffi cult to obtain, were written between 1955 and 1963 during
one of the most fertile periods of Thompson’s intellectual and
political life, when he wrote his two great works, The Making of
the English Working Class and William Romantic to Revolutionary.
They reveal Thompson’s insistence on the vitality of a
humanistic and democratic socialism along with the value of utopian
thinking in radical politics. Throughout, Thompson struggles
to open a space independent of offi cial Communist Parties and
reformist Social Democratic Parties, opposing them with a vision of
socialism built from the bottom up. Editor Cal Winslow, who studied
with Thompson, provides context for the essays in a detailed
introduction and reminds us why this eloquent and inspiring voice
remains so relevant to us today.
best known for his monumental and path-breaking work, The
Making of the English Working Class. But as this collection shows,
Thompson was much more than a he was a dedicated
educator of workers, a brilliant polemicist, a skilled political theorist,
and a tireless agitator for peace, against nuclear weapons,
and for a rebirth of the socialist project.
The essays in this book, many of which are either out-of-print or
diffi cult to obtain, were written between 1955 and 1963 during
one of the most fertile periods of Thompson’s intellectual and
political life, when he wrote his two great works, The Making of
the English Working Class and William Romantic to Revolutionary.
They reveal Thompson’s insistence on the vitality of a
humanistic and democratic socialism along with the value of utopian
thinking in radical politics. Throughout, Thompson struggles
to open a space independent of offi cial Communist Parties and
reformist Social Democratic Parties, opposing them with a vision of
socialism built from the bottom up. Editor Cal Winslow, who studied
with Thompson, provides context for the essays in a detailed
introduction and reminds us why this eloquent and inspiring voice
remains so relevant to us today.
- GenresEssaysHistoryPhilosophy
Paperback
First published May 1, 2014
About the author
E.P. Thompson
84 books236 followersEdward Palmer Thompson was an English historian, writer, marxist and peace campaigner. He is probably best known today for his historical work on the radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in particular The Making of the English Working Class (1963). He also published influential biographies of William Morris (1955) and (posthumously) William Blake (1993) and was a prolific journalist and essayist. He also published the novel The Sykaos Papers and a collection of poetry.
Thompson was one of the principal intellectuals of the Communist Party in Great Britain. Although he left the party in 1956 over the Soviet invasion of Hungary, he nevertheless remained a "historian in the Marxist tradition," calling for a rebellion against Stalinism as a prerequisite for the restoration of communists' "confidence in our own revolutionary perspectives". Thompson played a key role in the first New Left in Britain in the late 1950s. He was a vociferous left-wing socialist critic of the Labour governments of 1964–70 and 1974–79, and during the 1980s, he was the leading intellectual light of the movement against nuclear weapons in Europe.
Thompson was one of the principal intellectuals of the Communist Party in Great Britain. Although he left the party in 1956 over the Soviet invasion of Hungary, he nevertheless remained a "historian in the Marxist tradition," calling for a rebellion against Stalinism as a prerequisite for the restoration of communists' "confidence in our own revolutionary perspectives". Thompson played a key role in the first New Left in Britain in the late 1950s. He was a vociferous left-wing socialist critic of the Labour governments of 1964–70 and 1974–79, and during the 1980s, he was the leading intellectual light of the movement against nuclear weapons in Europe.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 5, 2022
Edward Palmer Thompson was an English historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner.
He is best known today for his books on radical movements in particular The Making of the English Working Class.
This collection of his work helped revive left-wing / socialist politics in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s and includes essays on the communism of William Morris and about those socialists whose work helped create the Labour Party such as Tom Maguire.
EP Thompson doesn't spare from criticism such well-known political figures as Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke.
He is best known today for his books on radical movements in particular The Making of the English Working Class.
This collection of his work helped revive left-wing / socialist politics in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s and includes essays on the communism of William Morris and about those socialists whose work helped create the Labour Party such as Tom Maguire.
EP Thompson doesn't spare from criticism such well-known political figures as Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke.
March 18, 2024
This is a book of polemics. They are of their time. And while the battles that were so fierce at that historic moment have cooled and been forgotten, the shape and structure of Thompson's arguments are worth the price of admission.
No one uses the word 'lament' like Thompson. Similarly, no one uses the word 'struggle' like Thompson. He stands - buffeted the critiques - and takes up the fight. His sentence construction and vocabulary remain inspiration. His pithy turns of phrase are magisterial and brilliant.
The fights within the far left through the late 1950s and 1960s seem completely disconnected from the battles within identity politics. But when reading these essays, we see the loss of elegant and robust arguments, carefully constructed and elegantly expressed.
No one uses the word 'lament' like Thompson. Similarly, no one uses the word 'struggle' like Thompson. He stands - buffeted the critiques - and takes up the fight. His sentence construction and vocabulary remain inspiration. His pithy turns of phrase are magisterial and brilliant.
The fights within the far left through the late 1950s and 1960s seem completely disconnected from the battles within identity politics. But when reading these essays, we see the loss of elegant and robust arguments, carefully constructed and elegantly expressed.
January 25, 2021
Excellent introduction in the work of Thompson and the first new left.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews