The Crisis of Theory: E. P. Thompson, the New Left and Postwar British Politics

305 Pages·2011·2.59 MB·English

by  Scott Hamilton

The crisis of theory
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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
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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
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‘Qui est-ce?’
– Louis Althusser, after being shown a copy
of The Poverty of Theory and Other Essays
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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
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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
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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
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