A century after his birth, EP Thompson’s empathy with those facing scorn and condescension is more relevant than ever. The first paragraph starts: “The working class did not rise like the sun at an appointed time. It was present at its own making.”
Labor historian E.P. Thompson is perhaps best known for his monumental and path-breaking work, The Making of the English Working Class. The collected essays reviewed here, many either out-of-print or difficult to obtain, were written between 1955 and 1963. They show Thompson as also a dedicated educator of workers, a sharp polemicist, a skilled political theorist and a tireless agitator for peace, against nuclear weapons and for a rebirth of the socialist project.
In late 1946 a group of historians, friends and members of the Communist Party started regularly meeting in Marx’s House in London. By means of discussion papers, presentations, and conferences it was sought to alter the way the British people perceived their own history.
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