Communist Party Historians Group
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The Communist Party Historians' Group (CPHG) was a subdivision of the
Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
(CPGB) that formed a highly influential cluster of
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
Marxist historians. The Historians' Group developed
social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...
, which was popularised in the 1960s with "history from below" approach described by E. P. Thompson. During the heyday of the Historians' Group, from 1946 until 1956, notable members included Thompson, Christopher Hill,
Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...
, Raphael Samuel, as well as non-academics like A. L. Morton and Brian Pearce. The Historians' Group arose at the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in the 1930s under the encouragement of the economist Maurice Dobb.


Aims and methods

In their work we can read two definite aims: # to seek out a popular revolutionary tradition that could inspire contemporary activists; and yet # to apply a Marxist economic approach which placed an emphasis on social conditions rather than supposed " Great Men". This dualism was represented by
Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and
Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...
of British history required originality and determination in the research process, to draw out marginal voices from texts in which they were barely mentioned or active. The techniques influenced both feminist historians and the Subaltern Studies Group, writing the histories of marginalised groups.


Heyday (1939–1956)

Although the Historians' Group did not officially exist until 1946, it began informally before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The most consequential achievement of the Historians' Group as a result of this period was the development of
social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...
, a field of history that gained prominence in the 1960s with the publication of Thompson's
The Making of the English Working Class ''The Making of the English Working Class'' is a work of English social history written by E. P. Thompson, a New Left historian. It was first published in 1963 by Victor Gollancz Ltd, and republished in revised form in 1968 by Pelican, after ...
. Although Thompson's Marxism waned over the course of his career and he would eventually distance himself from structural Marxism, underlying
social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...
("history from below") is
historical materialism Historical materialism is Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx located historical change in the rise of Class society, class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. Karl Marx stated that Productive forces, techno ...
.E. P. Thompson, “History from Below,” Times Literary Supplement, 7 April 1966, 279 In 1952 several of the members founded the influential
social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...
journal '' Past and Present''. Another major journal, the History Workshop Journal, also arose from the Historians' Group.


Post-Hungarian Uprising (1956–1991)

The group had been losing members during the Cold War, but lost many more prominent members due to events that shook the Global Communist movement in 1956. First was
Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
's Secret Speech, which stunned many diehards and led to discussions in parties around the world about the crimes of Stalin. Instead of this leading to loosening up of the system in the Eastern Bloc it helped trigger the Hungarian Uprising, the brutality of the Soviet invasion disgusted a great many party members who abandoned hope in peaceful reform. The year 1956 thus had several key factors that precipitated something of a sea change in international Marxist opinion. Many figures went on to become prominent in the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...
, especially Samuel, Saville and Thompson. Others stayed in the party, most notably
Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...
, who remained in the group, which in 1956 launched a quarterly monograph series "Our History". As the CP History Group, it continued until the CPGB's dissolution at the end of 1991, and even managed to increase its membership and output of publications at a time when the CPGB itself was in terminal decline.


Socialist History Society (1991–present)

In early 1992 it reconstituted itself as the Socialist History Society (SHS), and made full membership available to anybody regardless of party affiliation. The SHS now publishes a twice-yearly journal ''Socialist History'' and a series of
monographs A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...
called "Occasional Papers".


Notable members

* Maurice Dobb * Christopher Hill * Rodney Hilton * Charles Hobday *
Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his tetralogy about what he called the "long 19th century" (''Th ...
* Victor Kiernan * Sam Lilley * Stephen Finney Mason * A. L. Morton *
George Rudé George Frederick Elliot Rudé (8 February 1910 – 8 January 1993) was a British Marxist historian, specializing in the French Revolution and " history from below", especially the importance of crowds in history.George Rudé (1964). ''The Crow ...
* Raphael Samuel * John Saville *
Dorothy Thompson Dorothy Celene Thompson (July 9, 1893 – January 30, 1961) was an American journalist and radio broadcaster. She was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany, in 1934, and was one of the few women news commentators broadc ...
* E. P. Thompson * Dona Torr


Bibliography

*Ashman, Sam. “Communist Party Historians’ Group”, in John Rees (ed.), ''Essays on Historical Materialism'', London: Bookmarks, 1998, pp. 145–59. *Crossley, James, ''A. L. Morton and the Radical Tradition'', London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, pp. 159–257 *Hobsbawm, Eric. ''The Historians’ Group of the Communist Party'', Verso Books, 9 June 2023, https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/the-historians-group-of-the-communist-party. *Kaye, Harvey J., ''The British Marxist Historians: an introductory analysis'', Cambridge: Polity Press, 1984. *Parker, David. “The Communist Party Historians’ Group”, ''Socialist History'' 12 (1997), pp. 33–58. *Schwarz, Bill. “'The People' in History: The Communist Party Historians Group 1946–56,” in Richard Johnson et al, ''Making Histories: Studies in History Writing and Politics'', London: Hutchinson, 1982, pp. 44–95


References


External links


Socialist History Society
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