Signs of Crisis, Fin-de-Siècle Doldrums, of Middle Age?

Abstract

The New Labor History has, unexpectedly but inevitably, become middleaged. The mirror shows the same basic form, though more capacious and less taut than before. But the energy level is definitely lower; some of the enthusiasm is gone; newer, younger groups on the street have more “élan and purpose,” and are more fired up and politically engaged. There's pride in past achievements, of course, and plenty of consolation that the stuff now being turned out is better than ever.But the air contains a whiff of panic, an infectious sense that the best days are gone. Even the “oldfashioned” history, once so disdained, now seems to have redeeming points. Like Lord Melbourne in his dotage, labor historians wish they could be as sure of anything as they once were of everything. Marxism down the tubes, class stripped of its explanatory force, Lefebvre's French Revolution gathering dust, E. P. Thompson under attack. Where will it all end? Some blame an excess of theory for making the mind spin and the stomach queasy; they prescribe a strong dose of exercise in the archives. Others have begun to pin their hopes on the state or counsel premature retreat into institutions.