Eric Hobsbawm’s Labour in the Great City appeared in New Left Review in 1987. He traced the rise of working class and labour politics in some of the world’s great cities. His focus was on London but New York, Paris and other cities got a mention.
His view was that the classic male working class that had formed the political core of social democratic politics in the great cities was by the late 1980s no longer a real force. Rather he saw a workforce where women and ethnic minorities were stronger but these were not united in his view in terms of class politics.
It was no doubt an offshoot of his Forward March of Labour Halted thesis but it also failed to understand what a changing working class looks like.
The graphic at the top is from the Financial Times (5th November 2026) and details how New York voted in the Mid-Term elections.
The Mayor of New York is a democratic socialist and DSA candidates had considerable success across New York. The Great City can still provide the basis for socialist politics provided the realities of the working class as it is in 2026 not 1926 is addressed.
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