Thompson and Hobsbawm facing Marxist Historiography Dilemmas: Conception of History, Theoretical Strategy and Political Proposal

Abstract

The paper examines, from a comparative perspective, the work of the two most well known British Marxist historians, Eric J. Hobsbawm and Edward P. Thompson. Taking into account their respective stance on some of the dilemmas and problems of historical interpretation (structural determination-human agency, history from below-history from above, role of the social classes or the culture), the essay reflects on their different appropriation of Marxism in general and of Gramci’s influence in particular. It also addresses their discrepancies regarding the political implementation of History, from the self-attributed radical realism of Hobsbawm to the romantic utopianism that has been ascribed to Thompson. Admitting the relative pertinence of such polarizations, which are result of old quandaries within Marxism, the paper also highlights the common ground between these two authors, as well as those viewpoints that, in practice, reduce or diminish their differences, both in the historiographical and the political areas.