The British Marxist Historians w/ Harvey J. Kaye

On this edition of Parallax Views, historian and sociologist Prof. Harvey J. Kaye returns to discuss the new edition of his 1984 book The British Marxist Historians. In said book, Prof. Kaye delved into how E.P. Thompson, Maurice Dobb, Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawn, and Rodney Hilton offered material analyses on a variety of historical matters that challenged conventional notions held by many other historians. In doing so they also took a heterodox approach to Marxism. In this conversation we explore the contributions of the British Marxist Historians and the ways in which they offered an innovative "history from the bottom up" approach to understanding the past.

Harvey and I discuss:

- Eric Hobsbawn's defense of the Luddites, the radical machine breakers who jobs were lost in the industrial age

- The value of the English Marxist historians today and addressing criticisms that Marxism's usefulness as a form of analysis has dried up

- Kaye's thoughts on and criticism of the work of The People's History of the United States historian Howard Zinn

- The role Anthony Giddens, a founder of the "Third Way" political position, in the publication of The British Marxist Historians

- Neoliberalism, class struggle, the working class, the ruling class, the base/superstructures discourse, and Marxist analysis of history

- And much, much more!