Edward Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class appeared in 1963 and has become one of the most influential history texts of the twentieth century. It is still in print fifty years on, having survived challenges from Marxist, feminist and postmodern historians. This day conference celebrates Thompson’s classic, and considers its reception, its critics, and why it endures.
Speakers will include the broadcaster Stuart Maconie and Professor Adrian Randall from University of Birmingham.
The conference will also include displays from the Working Class Movement Library and the Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the People’s History Museum.
Location: People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3ER
For more information as it emerges, see the People’s History Museum Conference Website.
Rosemary Feurer is Professor of History at Northern Illinois University. She is the author of Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950 and other books and public history projects. She is working on The Illinois Mine Wars, 1860-1940 and a new biography of Mary Harris “Mother” Jones.
