The Crisis of Theory: E. P. Thompson, the New Left and Postwar British Politics PDF
Preview The Crisis of Theory: E. P. Thompson, the New Left and Postwar British Politics
The crisis of theory Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 1 22/01/2011 16:52 Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 2 22/01/2011 16:52 The crisis of theory EP Thompson, the New Left and postwar British politics SCOTT HAMILTON Manchester University Press Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Macmillan Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 3 22/01/2011 16:52 Copyright © Scott Hamilton 2011 The right of Scott Hamilton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed exclusively in Canada by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 978 0 7190 8435 5 hardback First published 2011 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Typeset in Minion with Rotis Sans display by Koinonia, Manchester Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 4 22/01/2011 16:52 ‘Qui est-ce?’ – Louis Althusser, after being shown a copy of The Poverty of Theory and Other Essays Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 5 22/01/2011 16:52 Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 6 22/01/2011 16:52 Contents Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 Part I From the 1930s to the Cold War 1 The making of EP Thompson: family, anti-fascism and the 1930s 11 Part II New Left, old problems 2 Yesterday the struggle: ‘Outside the Whale’ and the fight for the 1930s 49 3 A peculiar classic 93 4 Getting out of the tent 133 Part III Crisis and creativity 5 The road to St Paul’s 155 6 The eagle and the bustard: EP Thompson and Louis Althusser 184 7 ‘Mountainous inconsistency’: EP Thompson, Marx and ‘The Poverty of Theory’ 196 8 ‘Don’t Tread on Me’: the other side of Thompson’s critique 218 9 Between Zhdanov and Bloomsbury: the poetry and poetics of EP Thompson 227 Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 7 22/01/2011 16:52 Part IV Making peace 10 After St Paul’s: EP Thompson’s late work 249 Conclusion: the last Muggletonian Marxist: EP Thompson’s paradoxical triumph 268 Select bibliography 278 Index 291 viii Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 8 22/01/2011 16:52 Acknowledgements A book cannot be written without intellectual excitement, and I would like to thank colleagues and friends like Mike Beggs, Gerry Cottrell, Mark Derby, Ben Hamblin, Jack Ross, Andrew McCully, Sae-Young Park, Tony Fala, Penny Hayes, Dave Bedggood, Justin Taua and many others for taking the trouble to argue with me over cups of coffee or handles of beer. Special thanks are due to Ian Carter, the long-suffering supervisor of the PhD thesis from which this book is descended. My research trip to Britain in 2005 was crucial to the shaping of this book. I would like to thank the late great John Saville for encouraging me to explore the papers he gave to the archives of the Brynmor Jones Library in the majestic city of Hull. Dorothy Thompson deserves thanks for hosting me and for the answers she has continued to provide to my long-winded questions. Raymond Challinor and Peter Linebaugh also answered questions generously. Kirsty McCully was a great support during the trip to Britain. My brother and my parents have, as usual, been helpful in innumerable ways. Last but not least, I would like to thank my partner Cerian Wagstaff for the tireless support she has offered me over the past couple of years. This book is dedicated to her. ‘To cross a field, sometimes that’s not easy.’ – Kendrick Smithyman Hamilton_CrisisTheory.indd 9 22/01/2011 16:52
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