Labour History and Labour

Abstract

The tasks confronting socialist historians remain manifold. Practically denied the history of their own class throughout the school system, an example par excellence of bourgeois social and cultural domination, the working-class is raised, suffering from what can be termed 'historical amnesia'. This has obvious political ramifications as it not accidentally handicaps the development of class and political consciousness. Given all this, one task of the socialist historian should be to co-operate with working-class activists and others in mutually sharing knowledge and experience with a view to discovering identity and overcoming the retarding effects of 'historical amnesia'. The following is an account of one such attempt. No claim will be made for this being a blueprint to follow, or indeed for its being the only way that history can be used in developing political and class awareness. Nevertheless, it may illustrate one positive role for the socialist historian. In Blackburn there exists a WEA branch run entirely by working-class members, some of whom are shop stewards, others active in the local Labour Party. This branch was formed five years ago by a small group of shop-stewards after they had attended a course on the Tory Industrial Relations Act at the local Technical College. In their own words, they found the informal teaching methods used by the course tutor, Clive Edwards (who subsequently encouraged the formation of the branch) a revelation.' This was not surprising, as all or most of their education was confined to secondary modern schools at a time when authoritarian and teacher-centred learning methods remained practically unchallenged. The net result of this experience was an avowed distaste for 'education', however perceived; and consequently, cultural repression another instance of bourgeois control. As the tutor responsible for this branch, I was asked, after giving a course on 'Social Problems', to give one on 'History'. However, instead of my being the sole tutor, it was agreed that a number of speakers should participate and that I would co-ordinate and integrate the course. Besides fulfilling the declared wishes of the branch, this provided the opportunity to involve several sympathetic speakers with a group of working-class adults. The eager and enthusiastic manner in which those who were approached responded, clearly demonstrated how important and rare an occasion they felt this to be. Furthermore and this was crucial to the success of the course this arrangement allowed non academic 'worker-historians' to take part. By inviting a number of these, two goals could be achieved. Firstly, 'worker-historians' with similar backgrounds to the branch members could help shatter the myths and mystique propagated about academic scholarship, which again culminate in repressing the political and cultural advancement of the mass of the people. Secondly, there could be no finer way to illustrate the link between knowledge and political awareness and consciousness, as all the 'worker-historians' who were to participate had lifelong records of class activity.