Communist Party Historians Group Article Index for
Communist Party
Website Links For
Communist Party
 

Information About

Communist Party Historians Group




In keeping with their standing positions, many of the members carried out their projects from Adult Education institutions, rather than the academy. In 1952 several of the members founded the influential Social History Journal '' Past And Present ''.

__TOC__


NOTABLE MEMBERS



AIMS AND METHODS


In their work we can read two definite aims: (1) to seek out a popular Revolutionary Tradition that could inspire contemporary activists; and yet (2) to apply a Marxist Economic Model which placed an emphasis on social conditions rather than supposed " Great Men ". This dualism was represented by Marx and Engels' dictum that "men make their own history, but they do not do so in conditions of their own choosing," which is regularly paraphrased in CPHG members' texts.

Revisiting and reinstating popular agency in the Narrative of British history required great originality and determination in the research process, to draw out marginal voices from texts in which they were barely mentioned or active, and their techniques influenced both Feminist Historians and the Subaltern Studies Group , who also faced the challenges of writing the histories of marginalised groups.


DECLINE


The group fell apart in 1956 as the Hungarian Uprising , Krushchev 's Secret Speech , and several other factors precipitated something of a Sea Change in international Marxist opinion. Many figures went on to become prominent in the New Left , especially Samuel, Saville and Thompson.