London Socialist Historians Newsletter Winter 2022/23
The London Socialist Newsletter has been delayed in appearance due to a number of issues behind our direct control! (as well as capitalism obviously). The lead article is below. I will post other items (all of which are complete) as time allows
Tories Culture Wars threaten ‘British History’
At the Tory Conference in early October 2022, Andrea Jenkyns, reportedly a Tory Minister who covers higher education, criticised teaching of critical race theory, anti-British history and social Marxism.
Despite intensive social media investigation no one seemed quite sure what ‘social Marxism’ is. As a term it has been used by hard right US politicians to cover what they consider ‘woke’ views, an equally vague category. It is possible that Ms Jenkyns meant, as several media reported, sociological Marxism. Those familiar with the work of Tom Bottomore will know that it is a less than revolutionary subject.
Ms Jenkins did not define what she meant by anti-British history either but this Culture War has been running long enough for a broad meaning to be grasped.
The last but one Prime Minister Boris Johnson criticised some on the left who he claimed wanted to cancel aspects of British history. By contrast he proclaimed that he wanted all of British history to be told. Like so much else that Johnson said it was a lie.
The history in contention is that which focuses on Britain’s imperial past and present and the racism that was at the centre of it. Such history is inconvenient at best to the Tories and their efforts to promote a 2020s version of ‘our island story’.
The matter does not exist just at the level of culture wars rhetoric either. At Goldsmiths College in London, once a beacon of liberal humanities, a sustained effort to turn it into a business University, has seen history and history lecturers significantly downgraded. The UCU has fought the matter all the way and achieved some success.
The battleground has now shifted to Birkbeck College were a similar destruction of liberal arts and humanities is planned
The Tory Culture Wars message is clear: socialist history and socialist historians are not wanted on voyage.
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The Business University: Solidarity with the UCU
It’s over 50 years since E P Thompson edited Warwick University Ltd about the origins of the business university. In 2022 the concept is a commonplace.
You thought Universities are about a liberal education and learning? They are in fact about profit. The higher education sector as a whole makes many millions of pounds each year. Vice Chancellors are paid salaries of hundreds of thousands of pounds, although what for remains obscure.
In recent years, the pay of academics has seen real cuts against inflation. Many are employed on far less than secure contracts, and the final salary pension scheme has also seen, largely unjustified, cuts.
Faced with this the University and College Union has balloted for action on both pay and pensions. They have managed, despite the restrictions of Tory employment law, to get successful national results in both areas. Union activists are now looking at industrial strategies for early 2023.
It is more than time for University employers to think again on pay and pensions. If not push will come to shove and the UCU and its members as always will have the support and solidarity of the London Socialist Historians Group
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Teaching Global History & the marketing of history
The historian Simon Sebag Montefiore has called for there to be less teaching of English history and a focus on history from across the world (Times 1st November). He argued at the Petworth Literary Festival that teaching about the history of the British Empire, whether seen as good or bad, is not as important as understanding the histories of people from across the world. He noted for example that the Great African War which took place in the Congo between 1998 and 2003 which involved nine countries and saw five million dead was hardly known about in Britain.
Dominic Sandbrook has put a counter argument that there were few teaching materials available for the kind of history Sebag Montefiore is calling for. Further given that school history lessons were brief the key thing was to attract pupils and ensure they got good results.
Sandbrook emphasises the role that the market plays in history education but one wonders if teaching the real history of the British Empire would not fulfil much of Sebag Montefiore’s call for global history. There are surely texts available to do that, even if they are not on the approved reading list of Tory Central Office.
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Historians say graffiti on Thatcher statue was ‘living history’
The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, has said that ‘Tories Out’ graffiti which was added to a statue of Margaret Thatcher in Grantham towards the end of 2022 represented not vandalism but a living history.
Statues have become part of a Tory Culture War with Ministers determined to defend those of slave traders and colonialists.
The statue of Thatcher in her town of Grantham has been and continues to be controversial. However the ‘Tories Out’ slogan was painted on the plinth and did not impact the figure of the late Tory leader. Rather it gave a sense that while Mrs Thatcher had much support as Prime Minister she also generated a large amount of opposition.
London Socialist Historians Group convenor Dr Keith Flett said, just as Margaret Thatcher was a controversial and contested politician it seems reasonable that a statue of her should also have the same status. She was certainly venerated by some but many others she was hated. That is an historical reality that should be reflected.
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