Brian Manning – The Far Left in the English Revolution, 1640 to 1660
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Brian Manning – The Far Left in the English Revolution, 1640 to 1660
[Bookmarks 1999] buy new or used at abebooks.co.uk If you use this link to purchase this item breviary stuff will receive 5% commission All historical studies begin with the framing of questions to be addressed to the evidence left by the past: questions which in the process of research will be revised or abandoned, and will give rise to further or often unexpected questions. In the case of this book the questions arise from hypotheses formulated in Marxist historiography, because those are relevent to 'history from below' and focus on the 'poor', especially the wage workers, and those who claimed to speak for them. At the time of the English Revolution it was common to make a tripartite division of society into the gentry, the 'middling sort' and 'the poor'. The first and second of these categories have occupied the attentions of historians — the first much more than the second — in assessing the causes and course of the revolution, but the third has been largely neglected. It is the intention of this book to make a preliminary attempt to remedy this omission. The first chapter considers the economic setting and the growth of the wage earning class in the context of developing capitalism. The second chapter analyses the ideological setting, especially the important role of religion. The Levellers provided much of the philosophy and programme of radicalism, to which the millenarian Fifth Monarchists and the Quakers added important elements. Such radicalism may be described as being on the 'left' of the revolution, being more radical than the Presbyterians, Independents and Republicans who dominated the revolution. But the focus of thsi book is upon those who stood further to the left than the leaderships of the Levellers, Fifth Monarchists and Quakers. The 'far left' in the English Revolution is defined in terms of ideas, which sought to promote a shift in the revolution towards establishing and economic equality, and in terms of practice, which involved taking more militant action than the established leaders, in order to achieve some of the aims of the far left, but also of the left in general. The latter is the subject of chapter three. Attention is concentrated on those who attempted to speak for the poor and the more depreived sections of society. Questions arise about how far they reflected attitudes and aspirations of the poor, who remain almost entirely silent in the sources. Questions also arise about cultural differences between dominant and subordinate classes, and about obstacles to revolutionay action by the poor. The third chapter deals with two attempts at armed insurection arising from the radical or left milieu of the 1650s, and at the same time puts the focus on two individual revolutionaries who emerged from the ranks of plebians. The poor generally did rise in revolt against the republican governments established by the revolution. But viewing the period from below brings with it analysis of the formation of classes, the appearance of class conflicts, and explanation of the course which the revolution eventually took. It is also the purpose of this book to consider aspects of Marxist historiography that relate to its themes, and to place the English Revolution in the history of struggles for social justice. Contents
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