marxist views of history

8/12/2019 Marxist Views of History

1/8

By Sabine and Helen


2/8

Influence of Marxism on

historiography The recognition of the importance of economic history; the way the

wealth of a community is produced and how this affects thestructure of that community.

Recognition of the role of the economic classes in historical

development. Recognition of the social origins of human thinking and ideology. Relativism in the approach of historians; Most modern historians

now recognise that moral standards change as society changes. Modern sense of the unity of history;

historians would recognise that history should not be sectioned offin to fragments but that all these different aspects of life areconnected.

Marxism has contributed to modern scientific history; itscientifically analyses the class struggle.


3/8

Main points of Marxist

historiography Emphasis on class and class struggle and conflict;

Marx indentified 3 classes in a bourgeois society under theheadings:

1. Capital

2. Landed property

3. Wage Labour

Emphasis on the wage labouring class which has led to

Marxist historiography being described as history frombelow.

Marxist historians believe that class struggle is of decisiveimportance in determining social change in the past.


4/8

Main points of Marxist

historiography Emphasis on economics and economic constraints;

The economic aspect is crucial in the explanation of this type ofhistoriography;

Marxist historians put particular emphasis on the idea of a politicaleconomy and the effect that this has on the different social classesand their relations to each other.

The anatomy of a civil society has to be sought in politicaleconomy.Karl Marx

Economics of a society condition the general process of social,political and intellectual life.

it is not the consciousness of men that determines theirexistence but their social existence that determines theirconsciousness. Marx


5/8

Marxist Historians (Watch out!) Eric Hobsbawm

Maurice Dobb

Rodney Hilton Christopher Hill

EP Thompson


6/8

Assessment of Marxist

historiography Criticism has been levelled at Marxist historians for placing too much

emphasis on resistance and rebellion, to the extent that do not acknowledgethe more conservative practices and social and political actions of the lowerclasses.

Marxist historiography has been important in influencing historical study as ithas pointed out the need to study long term social change and recognise theimpact of class struggle. However there has been criticism of some aspects ofMarxist historiography, such as the evaluation of the English Civil War and theFrench revolution as being bourgeois revolutions. In fact, even other Marxisthistorians have argued that the effect of the transformation of the Englishlanded classes was the transition to agrarian capitalism. In the case of the

French revolution, many historians declined to accept the view that it resultedin a decisive change in French economic development. In the face of thecriticism, many Marxists have re interpreted these events, e.g. Hill argues theCivil War was a bourgeois revolution because its outcome establishedconditions necessary for capitalism, rather than because the revolutionaries

were led by the bourgeois.


7/8

Assessment Continued Marxism has also been criticised for its equation of social

being with class position, as wealth is not the only factorthat may lead to social exclusion, others being race and

gender. Marxists have explained patriarchy as deriving fromthe mode of production in society, not as an autonomousform of social inequality, which non- Marxists often argueagainst.

However, there can be no doubt that Marxist

historiography has greatly influenced historical study byhighlighting the need to study long term economic andsocial change and by switching the focus of historical studyfrom the elites to the masses as history from below.


8/8

Discussion Questions To what extent is Marxist historiography useful in

writing history?

What problems (if any) arise from analysing historyfrom a Marxist viewpoint?

What has the impact of Marxist historiography beenon history itself?

marxist views of history

Documents