What Marx Forgot

Abstract

Eric Hobsbawm is one of the great historians of the past century. His books and essays are beautifully written, full of stimulating insights, and able to capture the big patterns and tragic flow of events. Many of his works are justly considered classics, particularly his tetralogy on the "long" nineteenth and "short" twentieth centuries (The Age of Revolution, The Age of Capital, The Age of Empire, and The Age of Extremes). Hobsbawm is also one of the premier Marxist intellectuals of the past century—something that has been a source of disappointment and even anger to many. Hobsbawm's long-standing membership in the British Communist Party and his belated, tepid criticism of the Soviet Union have marred his reputation and called his judgment into question. Yet these two aspects of Hobsbawm's mind are harder to separate than non-Marxist fans of his histories would like, because it is Marxist methods and arguments that provide the armature upon which the clarity, consistency, and force of his writings are constructed.