Marxist historiography
Encyclopedia
Marxist or historical materialist
historiography is a school of historiography
influenced by Marxism
. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography are the centrality of social class
and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes.
Marxist historiography has made contributions to the history of the working class
, oppressed nationalities, and the methodology
of history from below
. The chief problematic aspect of Marxist historiography has been an argument on the nature of history as determined or dialectical; this can also be stated as the relative importance of subjective
and objective
factors in creating outcomes.
Marxist history is generally deterministic
, in that it posits a direction of history, towards an end state of history as classless human society. Marxist historiography, that is, the writing of Marxist history in line with the given historiographical principles, is generally seen as a tool.
Historians who use Marxist methodology, but disagree with the mainstream of Marxism, often describe themselves as marxist historians (with a lowercase M). Methods from Marxist historiography, such as class analysis, can be divorced from the liberatory intent of Marxist historiography; such practitioners often refer to their work as marxian or Marxian.
in terms of emerging capitalist classes. The German Peasants War is overdetermined
and lacks a rigorous engagement with archival sources. It does however indicate the Marxist interest in history from below
and class analysis, and it attempts a dialectical analysis.
Marx's most important works on social and political history include The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, The Communist Manifesto
, and The German Ideology
.
Engels' short treatise The Condition of the Working Class in Manchester England (1870s) was salient in creating the socialist impetus in British politics from then on, e.g. the Fabians.
, as the government requested overdetermined historical writing. Soviet historians tended to avoid contemporary history (history after 1905) where possible and effort was predominantly directed at premodern history. As history was considered to be a politicised academic discipline, historians limited their creative output to avoid prosecution.
Notable histories include the Short Course History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik
), published in the 1930s, which was written in order to justify the nature of Bolshevik party life under Joseph Stalin
.
, and K. N. Panikkar
.
One debate in Indian history that relates to a historical materialist schema is on the nature of feudalism
in India. D.D. Kosambi in the 1960s outlined the idea of "feudalism from below and feudalism from above". This element of his feudalism thesis was rejected by R.S. Sharma in his monograph Indian Feudalism
(2005).
(CPGB) formed in 1946. They shared a common interest in "history from below" and class structure in early capitalist society. While some members of the group (most notably Christopher Hill
and E. P. Thompson
) left the CPGB after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
, the common points of British Marxist historiography continued in their works. They placed a great emphasis on the subjective determination of history. E. P. Thompson famously engaged Althusser in The Poverty of Theory, arguing that Althusser's theory overdetermined history, and left no space for historical revolt by the oppressed.
Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class
is one of the works commonly associated with this group. Eric Hobsbawm
's Bandits is another example of this group's work.
C.L.R. James was also a great pioneer of the 'history from below' approach. Living in Britain when he wrote his most notable work The Black Jacobins
(1938), he was an anti-Stalinist
Marxist and so outside of the CPGB.
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
historiography is a school of historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
influenced by Marxism
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...
. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography are the centrality of social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes.
Marxist historiography has made contributions to the history of the working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
, oppressed nationalities, and the methodology
Methodology
Methodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with specificcomponents such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools . It can be defined also as follows:...
of history from below
History From Below
History From Below is the follow-up album to 2008's critically acclaimed Ode to Sunshine by San Diego's Delta Spirit. The album was released on June 8, 2010.The band began streaming "White Table" on its website, http://www.deltaspirit.net, on May 6....
. The chief problematic aspect of Marxist historiography has been an argument on the nature of history as determined or dialectical; this can also be stated as the relative importance of subjective
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
and objective
Objectivity (journalism)
Parent article: Journalism ethics and standardsObjectivity is a significant principle of journalistic professionalism. Journalistic objectivity can refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship, but most often encompasses all of these qualities.- Definitions :In the context...
factors in creating outcomes.
Marxist history is generally deterministic
Determinism
Determinism is the general philosophical thesis that states that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen. There are many versions of this thesis. Each of them rests upon various alleged connections, and interdependencies of things and...
, in that it posits a direction of history, towards an end state of history as classless human society. Marxist historiography, that is, the writing of Marxist history in line with the given historiographical principles, is generally seen as a tool.
Historians who use Marxist methodology, but disagree with the mainstream of Marxism, often describe themselves as marxist historians (with a lowercase M). Methods from Marxist historiography, such as class analysis, can be divorced from the liberatory intent of Marxist historiography; such practitioners often refer to their work as marxian or Marxian.
Marx and Engels
Frederick Engels's most important historical contribution was Der deutsche Bauernkrieg (The German Peasants War), which analysed social warfare in early Protestant GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in terms of emerging capitalist classes. The German Peasants War is overdetermined
Overdetermined
Overdetermined may refer to:* Overdetermined systems in various branches of mathematics* Overdetermination in various fields of psychology or analytical thought...
and lacks a rigorous engagement with archival sources. It does however indicate the Marxist interest in history from below
History From Below
History From Below is the follow-up album to 2008's critically acclaimed Ode to Sunshine by San Diego's Delta Spirit. The album was released on June 8, 2010.The band began streaming "White Table" on its website, http://www.deltaspirit.net, on May 6....
and class analysis, and it attempts a dialectical analysis.
Marx's most important works on social and political history include The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party is a short 1848 publication written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has since been recognized as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the...
, and The German Ideology
The German Ideology
The German Ideology is a book written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels did not find a publisher. However, the work was later retrieved and published for the first time in 1932 by David Riazanov through the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow...
.
Engels' short treatise The Condition of the Working Class in Manchester England (1870s) was salient in creating the socialist impetus in British politics from then on, e.g. the Fabians.
Marxist historiography in the Soviet Union
Marxist historiography suffered in the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, as the government requested overdetermined historical writing. Soviet historians tended to avoid contemporary history (history after 1905) where possible and effort was predominantly directed at premodern history. As history was considered to be a politicised academic discipline, historians limited their creative output to avoid prosecution.
Notable histories include the Short Course History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
), published in the 1930s, which was written in order to justify the nature of Bolshevik party life under Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
.
Marxist historiography in India
In India, the main representatives of Marxist historiography are R.S. Sharma, Irfan HabibIrfan Habib
Irfan Habib is an Indian Marxist historian, a former Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research and a Padma Bhushan awardee. He is a Professor Emeritus at Aligarh Muslim University. He has served in the Indian History Congress for many years. Irfan Habib and R.S...
, and K. N. Panikkar
K. N. Panikkar
K. N. Panikkar is an Indian historian, associated with the "Marxist school" of historiography.Panikkar was Professor of Modern Indian History at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University . Prior to joining JNU, he taught at University of Delhi. In 2001, he was appointed as the...
.
One debate in Indian history that relates to a historical materialist schema is on the nature of feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
in India. D.D. Kosambi in the 1960s outlined the idea of "feudalism from below and feudalism from above". This element of his feudalism thesis was rejected by R.S. Sharma in his monograph Indian Feudalism
Indian Feudalism
Indian Feudalism is a book by Indian professor Ram Sharan Sharma. The book analyses the practice of land grants, which became considerable in the Gupta period and widespread in the post-Gupta period...
(2005).
The Communist Party Historians Group in Britain
A circle of historians inside the Communist Party of Great BritainCommunist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
(CPGB) formed in 1946. They shared a common interest in "history from below" and class structure in early capitalist society. While some members of the group (most notably Christopher Hill
Christopher Hill (historian)
John Edward Christopher Hill , usually known simply as Christopher Hill, was an English Marxist historian and author of textbooks....
and E. P. Thompson
E. P. Thompson
Edward Palmer Thompson was a British historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is probably best known today for his historical work on the British radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in particular The Making of the English Working Class...
) left the CPGB after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
, the common points of British Marxist historiography continued in their works. They placed a great emphasis on the subjective determination of history. E. P. Thompson famously engaged Althusser in The Poverty of Theory, arguing that Althusser's theory overdetermined history, and left no space for historical revolt by the oppressed.
Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class
The Making of the English Working Class
The Making of the English Working Class is an influential and pivotal work of English social history, written by E. P. Thompson, a notable 'New Left' historian; it was published in 1963 by Victor Gollancz Ltd, and later republished at Pelican, becoming an early Open University Set Book...
is one of the works commonly associated with this group. Eric Hobsbawm
Eric Hobsbawm
Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...
's Bandits is another example of this group's work.
C.L.R. James was also a great pioneer of the 'history from below' approach. Living in Britain when he wrote his most notable work The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution , by Afro-Trinidadian writer C. L. R. James , is a history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution...
(1938), he was an anti-Stalinist
Anti-Stalinist left
The anti-Stalinist left is an element of left-wing politics that is critical of Joseph Stalin's policies and the political system that developed in the Soviet Union under his rule...
Marxist and so outside of the CPGB.
See also
- AlltagsgeschichteAlltagsgeschichteAlltagsgeschichte is a form of microhistory that was particularly prevalent amongst German historians during the 1980s. It was founded by historians Alf Luedtke and Hans Medick....
- CleometricsCleometricsCleometrics is a method of historical inquiry. Pioneered by Marxist historiographers, cleometric history draws on records of comprehensive, primarily numeric, data. -Background:...
- History from belowHistory From BelowHistory From Below is the follow-up album to 2008's critically acclaimed Ode to Sunshine by San Diego's Delta Spirit. The album was released on June 8, 2010.The band began streaming "White Table" on its website, http://www.deltaspirit.net, on May 6....
- Mode of productionMode of productionIn the writings of Karl Marx and the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production is a specific combination of:...