George Rudé
Encyclopedia
George Rudé was a British
Marxist
historian
, specializing in the French Revolution
and "history from below," especially the importance of crowds in history.
, Norway
, the son of Jens Essendrop Rude, a Norwegian engineer, and Amy Geraldine Elliot, an English woman educated in Germany, Rude spent his early years in Norway. After World War I
, his family moved to England where he was educated at Shrewsbury School
and Trinity College, Cambridge
. A specialist in modern languages, he taught at Stowe
and St. Paul's schools. In 1932 Rudė visited the Soviet Union
and joined the British Communist Party three years later. During World War II
he served in the London Fire Service.
After the war, he returned to St. Paul's but in 1949 was forced to leave because of his politics. Turning to history, he received his doctorate at the University of London
in 1950 for a thesis on crowd action during the French Revolution. Unable to attain a university post because of his political leanings, he taught modern languages in English secondary schools while publishing. His first book, The Crowd in the French Revolution, soon became a classic.
In 1960 Rudė moved to Australia where he taught at the University of Adelaide
. During his "exile" down under, he published a series of works on Revolutionary and Australian history. After a year spent teaching as the first holder of the Chair of History at the University of Stirling
in Scotland and another at Flinders University
in Adelaide
, he moved to Sir George Williams University in Montreal
, Canada, in 1970.
After retiring, Rudė returned to England, eventually dying in hospital at Battle
on January 8, 1993. His widow Doreen placed his ashes in the garden behind their home in Rye
. A tall, handsome and athletic man, he always retained the manners of an English gentleman as well as his left-wing sympathies.
After completing university, Rudé took a trip to the Soviet Union with friends. When he returned he was a “committed Communist and anti-Fascist”, despite his family’s fairly conservative political views.
In 1935 he joined the British Communist Party. This new drive in communism awoke in Rudé an interest in history in which he pursued during the 1930s and 1940s attending London University part time. During this time he taught at the preparatory schools of Stowe and St Paul’s. When the war broke out he joined the London Fire Service where he extinguished fires caused by German bombs.
George Rudé was actively involved with the Communist party, an affiliation which caused him many hardships during his life. In 1949, he was relieved of his duties at St Paul’s for the activities of the political party which he was affiliated with. He accepted teaching positions at Sir Walter St John’s School and later at Holloway Comprehensive School. Rudé, making his new academic focus history, and with very little to back his research in Paris of revolutionary France, became a leading British historian of the French Revolution. Rudé contributed to the “history from below” view of history, which is history from the view of the oppressed. He focused especially on those who participated in the riots and rebellions. After writing an article about rioters during the French Revolution, he was awarded the esteemed Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society
in 1956. Rudé wrote and was featured in a number of journals and created a scholarly name for himself under the wing of his mentor, Georges Lefebvre
.
Despite earning his PhD in History 1961, it was nearly impossible for him to acquire a teaching position at the collegiate level. Many believe this was due to his thesis advisor, (Alfred Cobban
, a political conservative), blocking any chances Rudé may have had at getting an appointment at a University. Feeling shunned George Rudé began looking to opportunities abroad.
In 1958 Rudé applied for a position at the University of Tasmania
, but the university prevaricated because he was a communist. Rudé did, however find work in Australia. In 1959 he was appointed senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide
, in his wife Doreen's home town. He took the opportunity of his time in Australia, to research 19th century British and Irish political prisoners transported to Australia
as convict
s. This later resulted in a major work, Protest and Punishment: The Story of Social and Political Protesters Transported to Australia, 1788-1868.
It was later revealed that Rudé, like most prominent communists in Australia, was put under surveillance by the government's domestic security agency, ASIO
. However, they found little of interest to record. One agent noted: "history books of which he is the author and reports of his class work at schools in England all show that he is objective in his approach to his teaching subject and has not let his own personal politics intrude in any way."
Rudé accepted an offer of a foundation chair of history, at the new University of Stirling
, in Scotland, during 1967. However he fell out with the university administration and returned to Adelaide in 1969, as professor of history at Flinders University
.
In late 1970, Rudé and his wife moved to Montreal
, Canada
, where he taught at George Williams University
(later Concordia University) until he retired in 1987. He also founded the Inter-University Center for European Studies. Rudé was also a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo
, Columbia University
in New York and the college of William and Mary
in Virginia. Rudé was not able to work an extensive amount in his latter years of his life due to deteriorating health since the early 1970s and had a brain tumor removed in 1983. George Rudé died in January, 1993.
and various situations throughout Europe, mostly France and Great Britain, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Rudé utilizes the method of reporting and analyzing history from the “bottom up,” focusing on the people, not the leaders and elites. George Rudé’s most notable works include The Crowd in the French Revolution, The Crowd in History, Revolutionary Europe: 1783-1815, Ideology and Popular Protest, Paris and London in the Eighteenth Century, Debate on Europe: 1815-1850 and Captain Swing
: A Social History of the great English Agricultural Uprising of 1830 (co-authored by Eric Hobsbawn).
One of Rudé’s most influential works is The Crowd in History, focusing on the revolutionary peoples of France and Great Britain. Rudé analyzes the impact and importance of the French political revolution and the British industrial revolution and the transition within both societies. In addition, he evaluates the classifications of these crowds in history to examine the causes and effects of each revolution.
In The Crowd in the French Revolution, George Rudé examines the historically neglected crowd of the French Revolution. He explains that the Revolution was not only political but more importantly a social upheaval in which the common Frenchmen played a tremendous role in the course and outcome of the Revolution. Most significantly, Rudé analyzes the French crowds in great depth to understand their composition and force on history.
The focus of Revolutionary Europe: 1783-1815 breaks from Rudé’s usual focus of history “from below.” In Revolutionary Europe, Rudé portrays France and Europe before, during and after the French Revolution. He examines the significance of the Revolution in context to the rest of the European world. The broader focus of this work was a shift from his crowd studies, which would continue in his later works.
George Rudé’s Paris and London in the 18th Century explains the popular protests and revolts of Paris and London during the 18th century. Rudé compares and contrasts the time, place, social, political and economic factors of Paris and London. He examines the pre-industrial stages and the turbulent events that occurred in both European capitals. While this work is not predominately a history from the “bottom up,” Rudé does incorporate the impact of each class in Paris and London during the the18th century events.
In Ideology and Popular Protest, Rudé defines the theory behind the ideology of protest beginning with its origins in Marx and Engels. He explains his theory of ideology through various situations in pre-industrial Europe. Rudé also utilizes his explained ideology in the event of the English protests of the 18th and early 19th century and the development of the English industrial society, and closing with the possibly implications of industry on society.
Rudé, in Debate on Europe: 1815-1850, attempts to utilize the views and interpretations of other historians to argue the significant period of the first half of the 19th century. He examines the rise of national powers, the impacts of the Industrial Revolution, differences of political opinions and the various revolutions throughout Europe during this period. In addition, Rudé inserts his own argument based on the impressive and extraordinary change in Europe during this era as well as inferring at what point this change began.
Captain Swing: A Social History of the great English Agricultural Uprising of 1830 is a prime example of George Rudé’s focus on history “from below” and the examination of common people. In Captain Swing, Rudé examines the people of the 1830 agricultural uprising and the impacts of these events. The entire focus of this work is on the crowd and their history, revealing a historical interpretation of history from the “bottom up.”
of thought, Rudé strove to cast off the idea that history was not only about nation-states and the men who ruled them. Accompanying Rudé in this shift was the ‘new left’, which according to Mark Gilderhus these liberal historians, “showed the feasibility of doing history while incorporating attitudes and viewpoints other than those associated with white male elites”. Though Rudé was not part of this movement directly, he was firmly inside their ideas and helped to promote them. He believed, along with the ‘new left’ that it was the neglected people who could be used to reshape the face of history. Historian James Friguglietti comments that Rudé’s work, “displayed sympathy for the lower classes, whether laborers or convicted criminals”. By focusing on lower classes Rudé hoped to create a new understanding of histories major events.
Rudé’s communist ties shaped his way of perceiving history and opened him up to the idea of looking at the history of protesters. Revolutions were transforming events, and Rudé sought to bring light to why someone would join in such an endeavor. Marxist theory believes that everyone’s primary motives for acting are always linked with their material need. Using this frame of reference Rudé places it on the people of the French Revolution and created specific faces in the crowds. He sought to dismantle the myth that the crowd in the revolution is seen as a great evil mass of people bent on destruction of order. As Rudé paints it, “those who took to the streets were ordinary, sober citizens, not half-crazed animals, not criminals”. By taking such a view the history of the French revolution was transformed. Common people were suddenly being taken as important historical actors in their own context.
In the decades that Rudé was writing, his new way of looking at history fit well into the social scene. It was the age of liberation, as the oppressive systems that segregated classes, genders, and races were being torn down. People were in need of a new history that included all aspects of society. Writing “history from below,” brought in those forgotten yet not unimportant members of history into the narrative. Rudé did this by showing the common people in the revolutions and protests as key players who actively sought to change history. By focusing on such groups, historians have, “inspired new debates over the roles of class, gender, and race in accounting for human divisions and inequalities." In helping bring a voice to prisoners and protesters, George Rudé contributed significantly to the study of history.
Rudé is not without his detractors. From the start, his severely Marxist view of history banned him from teaching in Great Britain, and brought him severe criticism. The main criticism that continues on after his death was that after developing his initial thesis of the crowd in history, he continued using that model in every case to prove his point. This Marxist mode of thinking rapidly lost credibility after the fall of the Soviet Union and with it much of Rudé’s work as well. Overall his contributions to social history and the understanding of protests greatly enhanced how historians look at the past and its actors.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, specializing in the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and "history from below," especially the importance of crowds in history.
Summary
Born in OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, the son of Jens Essendrop Rude, a Norwegian engineer, and Amy Geraldine Elliot, an English woman educated in Germany, Rude spent his early years in Norway. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, his family moved to England where he was educated at Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...
and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. A specialist in modern languages, he taught at Stowe
Stowe School
Stowe School is an independent school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. It was founded on 11 May 1923 by J. F. Roxburgh, initially with 99 male pupils. It is a member of the Rugby Group and Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group...
and St. Paul's schools. In 1932 Rudė visited the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and joined the British Communist Party three years later. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served in the London Fire Service.
After the war, he returned to St. Paul's but in 1949 was forced to leave because of his politics. Turning to history, he received his doctorate at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
in 1950 for a thesis on crowd action during the French Revolution. Unable to attain a university post because of his political leanings, he taught modern languages in English secondary schools while publishing. His first book, The Crowd in the French Revolution, soon became a classic.
In 1960 Rudė moved to Australia where he taught at the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
. During his "exile" down under, he published a series of works on Revolutionary and Australian history. After a year spent teaching as the first holder of the Chair of History at the University of Stirling
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...
in Scotland and another at Flinders University
Flinders University
Flinders University, , is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.The university has established a reputation as a leading research...
in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, he moved to Sir George Williams University in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada, in 1970.
After retiring, Rudė returned to England, eventually dying in hospital at Battle
Battle, East Sussex
Battle is a small town and civil parish in the local government district of Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south southeast of London, east of Brighton and east of the county town of Lewes...
on January 8, 1993. His widow Doreen placed his ashes in the garden behind their home in Rye
Rye, East Sussex
Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede...
. A tall, handsome and athletic man, he always retained the manners of an English gentleman as well as his left-wing sympathies.
Intro
The twentieth century stands as the flowering for history as it developed into a more inclusive and reasonable discipline. George Rudé led the charge to incorporate new ways of looking at history with his writing of “history from below.” Through his life and works he developed a strong career that helped shape history as we know it today.Life
George Rudé was born in Norway in February 1910. His family moved to England in 1919 where he went through to public school system at Shrewsbury School on a scholarship. George later went on to Trinity College, Cambridge where he graduated and received a degree in modern languages in 1931.After completing university, Rudé took a trip to the Soviet Union with friends. When he returned he was a “committed Communist and anti-Fascist”, despite his family’s fairly conservative political views.
In 1935 he joined the British Communist Party. This new drive in communism awoke in Rudé an interest in history in which he pursued during the 1930s and 1940s attending London University part time. During this time he taught at the preparatory schools of Stowe and St Paul’s. When the war broke out he joined the London Fire Service where he extinguished fires caused by German bombs.
George Rudé was actively involved with the Communist party, an affiliation which caused him many hardships during his life. In 1949, he was relieved of his duties at St Paul’s for the activities of the political party which he was affiliated with. He accepted teaching positions at Sir Walter St John’s School and later at Holloway Comprehensive School. Rudé, making his new academic focus history, and with very little to back his research in Paris of revolutionary France, became a leading British historian of the French Revolution. Rudé contributed to the “history from below” view of history, which is history from the view of the oppressed. He focused especially on those who participated in the riots and rebellions. After writing an article about rioters during the French Revolution, he was awarded the esteemed Alexander Prize by the Royal Historical Society
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
in 1956. Rudé wrote and was featured in a number of journals and created a scholarly name for himself under the wing of his mentor, Georges Lefebvre
Georges Lefebvre
Georges Lefebvre was a French historian, best known for his work on the French Revolution and peasant life. He coined the term "history from below", which was later popularised by the British Marxist Historians...
.
Despite earning his PhD in History 1961, it was nearly impossible for him to acquire a teaching position at the collegiate level. Many believe this was due to his thesis advisor, (Alfred Cobban
Alfred Cobban
Alfred Cobban was a Professor of French History at University College, London, who along with prominent French historian Francois Furet held a 'Revisionist' view of the French Revolution.-Biography:...
, a political conservative), blocking any chances Rudé may have had at getting an appointment at a University. Feeling shunned George Rudé began looking to opportunities abroad.
In 1958 Rudé applied for a position at the University of Tasmania
University of Tasmania
The University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia...
, but the university prevaricated because he was a communist. Rudé did, however find work in Australia. In 1959 he was appointed senior lecturer at the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
, in his wife Doreen's home town. He took the opportunity of his time in Australia, to research 19th century British and Irish political prisoners transported to Australia
Convicts in Australia
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their...
as convict
Convict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
s. This later resulted in a major work, Protest and Punishment: The Story of Social and Political Protesters Transported to Australia, 1788-1868.
It was later revealed that Rudé, like most prominent communists in Australia, was put under surveillance by the government's domestic security agency, ASIO
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and...
. However, they found little of interest to record. One agent noted: "history books of which he is the author and reports of his class work at schools in England all show that he is objective in his approach to his teaching subject and has not let his own personal politics intrude in any way."
Rudé accepted an offer of a foundation chair of history, at the new University of Stirling
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...
, in Scotland, during 1967. However he fell out with the university administration and returned to Adelaide in 1969, as professor of history at Flinders University
Flinders University
Flinders University, , is a public university in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of navigator Matthew Flinders, who explored and surveyed the South Australian coastline in the early 19th century.The university has established a reputation as a leading research...
.
In late 1970, Rudé and his wife moved to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, where he taught at George Williams University
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
(later Concordia University) until he retired in 1987. He also founded the Inter-University Center for European Studies. Rudé was also a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York and the college of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in Virginia. Rudé was not able to work an extensive amount in his latter years of his life due to deteriorating health since the early 1970s and had a brain tumor removed in 1983. George Rudé died in January, 1993.
Works
George Rudé’s literary achievements focused predominately on the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and various situations throughout Europe, mostly France and Great Britain, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Rudé utilizes the method of reporting and analyzing history from the “bottom up,” focusing on the people, not the leaders and elites. George Rudé’s most notable works include The Crowd in the French Revolution, The Crowd in History, Revolutionary Europe: 1783-1815, Ideology and Popular Protest, Paris and London in the Eighteenth Century, Debate on Europe: 1815-1850 and Captain Swing
Captain Swing
Captain Swing was the name appended to some of the threatening letters during the rural English Swing Riots of 1830, when labourers rioted over the introduction of new threshing machines and the loss of their livelihoods...
: A Social History of the great English Agricultural Uprising of 1830 (co-authored by Eric Hobsbawn).
One of Rudé’s most influential works is The Crowd in History, focusing on the revolutionary peoples of France and Great Britain. Rudé analyzes the impact and importance of the French political revolution and the British industrial revolution and the transition within both societies. In addition, he evaluates the classifications of these crowds in history to examine the causes and effects of each revolution.
In The Crowd in the French Revolution, George Rudé examines the historically neglected crowd of the French Revolution. He explains that the Revolution was not only political but more importantly a social upheaval in which the common Frenchmen played a tremendous role in the course and outcome of the Revolution. Most significantly, Rudé analyzes the French crowds in great depth to understand their composition and force on history.
The focus of Revolutionary Europe: 1783-1815 breaks from Rudé’s usual focus of history “from below.” In Revolutionary Europe, Rudé portrays France and Europe before, during and after the French Revolution. He examines the significance of the Revolution in context to the rest of the European world. The broader focus of this work was a shift from his crowd studies, which would continue in his later works.
George Rudé’s Paris and London in the 18th Century explains the popular protests and revolts of Paris and London during the 18th century. Rudé compares and contrasts the time, place, social, political and economic factors of Paris and London. He examines the pre-industrial stages and the turbulent events that occurred in both European capitals. While this work is not predominately a history from the “bottom up,” Rudé does incorporate the impact of each class in Paris and London during the the18th century events.
In Ideology and Popular Protest, Rudé defines the theory behind the ideology of protest beginning with its origins in Marx and Engels. He explains his theory of ideology through various situations in pre-industrial Europe. Rudé also utilizes his explained ideology in the event of the English protests of the 18th and early 19th century and the development of the English industrial society, and closing with the possibly implications of industry on society.
Rudé, in Debate on Europe: 1815-1850, attempts to utilize the views and interpretations of other historians to argue the significant period of the first half of the 19th century. He examines the rise of national powers, the impacts of the Industrial Revolution, differences of political opinions and the various revolutions throughout Europe during this period. In addition, Rudé inserts his own argument based on the impressive and extraordinary change in Europe during this era as well as inferring at what point this change began.
Captain Swing: A Social History of the great English Agricultural Uprising of 1830 is a prime example of George Rudé’s focus on history “from below” and the examination of common people. In Captain Swing, Rudé examines the people of the 1830 agricultural uprising and the impacts of these events. The entire focus of this work is on the crowd and their history, revealing a historical interpretation of history from the “bottom up.”
Influence
George Rudé’s influence was his emphasis and development of “history from below.” Following the new Annales SchoolAnnales School
The Annales School is a group of historians associated with a style of historiography developed by French historians in the 20th century. It is named after its scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale, which remains the main source of scholarship, along with many books and...
of thought, Rudé strove to cast off the idea that history was not only about nation-states and the men who ruled them. Accompanying Rudé in this shift was the ‘new left’, which according to Mark Gilderhus these liberal historians, “showed the feasibility of doing history while incorporating attitudes and viewpoints other than those associated with white male elites”. Though Rudé was not part of this movement directly, he was firmly inside their ideas and helped to promote them. He believed, along with the ‘new left’ that it was the neglected people who could be used to reshape the face of history. Historian James Friguglietti comments that Rudé’s work, “displayed sympathy for the lower classes, whether laborers or convicted criminals”. By focusing on lower classes Rudé hoped to create a new understanding of histories major events.
Rudé’s communist ties shaped his way of perceiving history and opened him up to the idea of looking at the history of protesters. Revolutions were transforming events, and Rudé sought to bring light to why someone would join in such an endeavor. Marxist theory believes that everyone’s primary motives for acting are always linked with their material need. Using this frame of reference Rudé places it on the people of the French Revolution and created specific faces in the crowds. He sought to dismantle the myth that the crowd in the revolution is seen as a great evil mass of people bent on destruction of order. As Rudé paints it, “those who took to the streets were ordinary, sober citizens, not half-crazed animals, not criminals”. By taking such a view the history of the French revolution was transformed. Common people were suddenly being taken as important historical actors in their own context.
In the decades that Rudé was writing, his new way of looking at history fit well into the social scene. It was the age of liberation, as the oppressive systems that segregated classes, genders, and races were being torn down. People were in need of a new history that included all aspects of society. Writing “history from below,” brought in those forgotten yet not unimportant members of history into the narrative. Rudé did this by showing the common people in the revolutions and protests as key players who actively sought to change history. By focusing on such groups, historians have, “inspired new debates over the roles of class, gender, and race in accounting for human divisions and inequalities." In helping bring a voice to prisoners and protesters, George Rudé contributed significantly to the study of history.
Rudé is not without his detractors. From the start, his severely Marxist view of history banned him from teaching in Great Britain, and brought him severe criticism. The main criticism that continues on after his death was that after developing his initial thesis of the crowd in history, he continued using that model in every case to prove his point. This Marxist mode of thinking rapidly lost credibility after the fall of the Soviet Union and with it much of Rudé’s work as well. Overall his contributions to social history and the understanding of protests greatly enhanced how historians look at the past and its actors.
Books
- Revolutionary Europe, 1783-1815 ISBN 0631221905
- The French Revolution ISBN 1857991265
- The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730-1848 ISBN 1897959478
- Protest and Punishment: Story of the Social and Political Protesters Transported to Australia, 1788-1868 ISBN 0198224303
- Crime and Victim: Crime and Society in Early Nineteenth-century England ISBN 0198226462
- Ideology and Popular Protest ISBN 0853155143
- Hanoverian London, 1714-1808 ISBN 075093333X
- Europe in the 18th Century: Aristocracy and the Bourgeois Challenge ISBN 1842120921
- Captain Swing: A Social History of the great English Agricultural Uprising of 1830 (with E. J. Hobsbawm) ISBN 0140551530
- Wilkes and Liberty London: Lawrence & Wishart 1983 ISBN 0853155798
- foreword to Does Education Matter? by Brian Simon ISBN 0853156352
- Robespierre: Portrait of a Revolutionary Democrat. London: Collins 1975 ISBN 0 00 216708 5
- Debate on Europe, 1815-1850. Harper & Row 1972 ISBN 0061317020
- Interpretations of the French Revolution. Published for the Historical Association by Routledge and Keegan Paul 1961
- The French Revolution: Its Causes, Its History and Its Legacy After 200 Years. Grove Press 1994 ISBN 0802132723 / 0-8021-3272-3
See also
- Historiography of the French Revolution