A study of the Historian Eric Hobsbawm Dodoo A HISTORIAN OF WORLD SOCIETY: A STUDY OF THE HISTORIAN ERIC HOBSBAWM AND A CRITIQUE OF HIS AGE OF CAPITAL V. Dodoo Department of History and Political Studies Faculty of Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana ABSTRACT Professor Eric Hobsbawm may be described as a professional Marxist historian. The subjects he writes about include labour, artisans, peasants and the working class or, in short, the “forgotten majority” in the society. He regards himself as a historian of society and he practises dynamic his- tory which is the interpretation of society with a view to changing it for the better. He has suggested that the pre-condition for history must be the existence of a total unit or system and has, accord- ingly, argued that world history – which he has undertaken in Age of Capital is only possible after 1848 when it became possible to think of the world as one unified economy. Keywords : world history, world society, capital, working class INTRODUCTION into Hobsbawm’s practice of history. There are This paper is not an attempt to do a biography of seven sections . I – IV constitute part one while V Eric John Hobsbawm. It is an effort to under- – VII make up the second part. I is the introduc- stand him as a historian. He has written exten- tion, II discuses his profession, III examines his sively and I do not propose to look at all his approach to doing history while IV is a survey of works. I will limit myself to a few of them, es- his books. V begins the critique of Age of Capi- pecially, Age of Capital . tal , VI discusses the structure of the book and The paper is divided into two parts. In the first VII is the conclusion. part, I will attempt to understand the thought of When confronted with the problem of finding a the man, since it is not possible to understand the suitable theme for a symposium to be held in hon- historian without understanding the man who our of Eric Hobsbawm at the time of his retire- writes such history. In the second part, I will ment as professor of Economic and Social His- undertake a critique of Age of Capital with a tory at Birkberk College, Pat Thane, Geoffrey view to finding out how it serves as a window Crossick and Roderick Floud decided on 102 Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 28, No. 2, August, 2008 A study of the Historian Eric Hobsbawm Dodoo “Capitalism and Its Pre-Capitalist Heritage”. In maiden issue of Past and Present he (together the opinion of these three, the dominant theme in with John Morris) condemns the method of Fisher all Hobsbawm’s writings is the dialectical rela- in the following words: tionship between the two phenomena: “…what … The view of H.A.L. Fisher that history is revolutionarised or what is adapted or rejected is merely one damned thing after another from the older societies in the transition to full is … unwarrantable … To believe with industrial capitalism; the process by which these writers and others that the pattern we within certain limits, the pre-capitalist heritage find in the past is merely the subjective one shapes and informs economic, social, political we put into it from the present, is in effect, and cultural change among all social groups and to deny that it can be scientific in any real within the society as a whole (Thane et al., sense (Hobsbawm and Morris, 1952). 1984). For a scholar described as generally shy of po- Hobsbawm wrote about peasants, labour, the lemics, such a punch, by any definition, cannot be working class and about capital so, without said to be a soft one. However, in my view there question, this is an accurate assessment of him is an explanation for this. The Marxist apparatus and undoubtedly, much of what will appear in for studying history does not permit skirmishes this paper will go towards substantiating it. with the issues studied. Rather it enables funda- Nevertheless, I was not particularly satisfied to mental analysis and, depending on the orientation employ that theme for my take off. I wanted of the individual, it can permit a passionate iden- something more personal, a trait unique to the tification with the subject of study. Hobsbawm individual to predispose him to produce works writes about the culture of peasants, village arti- with that theme. Fortunately, Hobsbawm himself sans and labourers and Eugene Genovese points supplied it. In the preface to volume I of History out that “… some of his angriest writings con- of Marxism, he quotes from Marx to serve as a cern their oppression, the indignities to which guide for the construction of that history. they have been subjected [by industrial capital- …the philosophers have hitherto only ism] and the courage and resourcefulness with interpreted the world, the point, how- which they have fought back (Thane et al., 1984). ever, is to change it (Hobsbawm, Thus while it is true that generally, he would 1982). avoid polemics, he would not remain silent over historians whose method amounts to acceptance What is the use of explanation if it has no influ- of whatever happens as given, normal and final. ence on the future of the society it seeks to ex- This should explain his strong reaction to the pub- plain? Theory without practice is empty and lication of “The Stages Theses of Economic practice without a theoretical foundation is dead, Growth” by W.W. Rostow’s (Baran and Hobs- the two are inseparable. This approach of study- bawm, 1961). Together with Baran, he gives ing society with the view to changing it for the Rostow a lecture on historical materialism: better is made possible for historians by histori- The historical materialist considers human cal materialism and it is this methodology which actions and motivations to be complex animates the history which Hobsbawm writes. results of the dialectical interaction of When the matter is put this way, it is easier to biotic and social processes, the latter con- appreciate Hobsbawm’s lack of sympathy for tinually propelled by the dynamism of the historians who engage in “superficial rationalisa- forces and the relations of production as tions” and “for whom the irrational or the provi- well as by the ideological evolutions de- dential is the only thing of consequence in the riving from them and influencing them in conception of the past”. In an introduction to the turn. Journal of Science and Technology, Vol. 28, No. 2, August, 2008 103 A study of the Historian Eric Hobsbawm Dodoo In other words on the question of Marxist ap- ble journals which deal with his subject around proach to the study of history, an apparatus the world. Apart from Economic History Review which enables Hobsbawm to fight the battles for (London) and Past and Present (London) where the non-privileged in the society, he will not he was a regular contributor, he has published in negotiate. Kyklos (Geneva), Monthly Review (New York), History and Theory (New York), Anarchi e Anar- Hobsbawm does not appreciate the Fabian type of gradualism for the realisation of society’s chia nel Mondo Contemporaneo (Turin) among goals. He would prefer to apply a catalyst “after others. In 1982 when he retired as professor of Economic and Social History at the Birkbeck interpretation of the world” to speed up the proc- College, two symposia were held in his honour. ess of change. Hence his fascination with The papers presented at these symposia were sub- Engel’s prediction of the rebirth of socialism in sequently published as: Pat Thane, Geoffrey England quoted in Labour’s Turning Point : … Crossick and Roderick Floud, ed., The Power of It [i.e., cessation of English domination of the Past and Raphael Samuel and Gareth Stedman the Atlantic staples trade] will do one great Jones, ed., Culture, Ideology and Politics . thing; it will break the last link which still Whether he is writing as an expert on fields like binds the English working-class to the Eng- lish middle class. This link was their com- eighteenth to twentieth century Europe mon working of a national monopoly. That (especially Britain and France) or as a “participant observer” as in the essays in Revolu- monopoly once destroyed, the British tionaries , Hobsbawm always attracts a lively de- working-class will be compelled to take in bate which in itself is a useful measure of his con- hand its own interest, its own salvation, and to make an end of the wages system. Let tributions to his discipline and his profession. For us hope it will not wait until then instance, his excursions into peasantry in Brazil (in Primitive Rebels ) stirred up a strong reaction (Hobsbawm, 1984). from a local PhD. student, Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz (1965). Undaunted and ready to accept II: HIS PROFESSION criticism, Hobsbawm did some more research and Hobsbawm has written extensively. In 1948 his firs book, Labour’s Turning Point , came out to published his findings in Bandits . His Karl Marx be followed in 1959 by Primitive Rebels . Dur- Memorial Lecture of 1978 was so thought- provoking that it stimulated a heated debate ing the next decade, he produced six books: Age within the Left in Britain for a long time, the ex- of Revolution (1962), Labouring Men (1964), changes enough for the content of one book, The Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations (1964), Forward March of Labour Halted . His most Industry and Empire (1968), Bandits (1969) and together with George Rude, Captain Swing in widely read book is claimed to be Age of Revolu- 1969.