Marxism and Historical Practice: Interventions and Appreciations. Volume II

376 Pages·2015·1.39 MB·English

by  Bryan D. Palmer

MarxismandHistoricalPractice
VolumeII
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
SébastienBudgen(Paris)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
volume99
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm
Marxism and Historical Practice
InterventionsandAppreciations
volume ii
By
BryanD.Palmer
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Palmer,BryanD.,author.
[Essays.Selections]
Marxismandhistoricalpractice/byBryanD.Palmer.
volumescm.–(Historicalmaterialismbookseries;volume98)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Contents:VolumeI.Interpretiveessaysonclassformationandclassstruggle–VolumeII.Interventions
andAppreciations.
ISBN978-90-04-24385-9(vol.1:hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-29722-7(vol.2:hardback:alk.
paper)–ISBN978-90-04-30183-2(2vol.set:hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-24386-6(e-book:alk.
paper)
1.Workingclass–Canada–History.2.Labor–Canada–History.3.Labormovement–Canada–History.4.
Socialconflict–Canada–History.5.Socialconflict–UnitedStates–History.6.Communism–Canada–History.
7.Communism–UnitedStates–History.8.Marxianhistoriography.I.Title.
HD8106.5.P3472015
335.4'11–dc23
2015025689
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isbn978-90-04-29722-7(hardback,volume99)
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∵

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
part 1
TheoreticalandHistoriographicInterventions
IntroductiontoPart1 9
1 CriticalTheory,HistoricalMaterialismandtheOstensibleEndof
Marxism:ThePovertyofTheoryRevisited 13
2 HistoricalMaterialismandtheWritingofCanadianHistory:
ADialecticalView 44
3 WritingaboutCanadianWorkers:AHistoriographicOverview 69
part 2
ReelHistory:CommentontheCinematic
IntroductiontoPart2 99
4 NightintheCapitalist,ColdWarCity:NoirandtheCulturalPoliticsof
Darkness 103
5 TheHandsThatBuiltAmerica:AClass-PoliticsAppreciationof
MartinScorsese’sGangsofNewYork 123
6 SugarMan’sSweetKiss:TheArtistFormerly,andNowAgain,Known
asRodriguez 153
viii contents
part 3
Historiography:TheRevolutionaryLeft
IntroductiontoPart3 173
7 RethinkingtheHistoriographyofUnitedStatesCommunism:
QuestioningAmericanRadicalism 177
8 BeforeBraverman:HarryFrankelandtheAmericanWorkers’
Movement 215
9 ThePersonal,thePolitical,andPermanentRevolution:ErnestMandel
andtheConflictedLegaciesofTrotskyism 228
part 4
Appreciations
IntroductiontoPart4 247
10 Hobsbawm’sHistory:MetropolitanMarxismandAnalytic
Breadth 250
11 Hobsbawm’sPolitics:TheForwardMarchofthePopularFront
Halted 261
12 JamesPatrickCannon:RevolutionaryContinuityandClass-Struggle
PoliticsintheUnitedStates,1890–1974 272
13 ParadoxandtheThompson‘SchoolofAwkwardness’ 294
References 315
Index 361
Acknowledgements
Permission to republish material that first appeared elsewhere is gratefully
acknowledged.IamindebtedtothescholarlyjournalsLabour/LeTravail,for-
merlyknownasLabour/LeTravailleur,HistoireSociale/SocialHistory,TheRe-
view of Radical Political Economics, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, International
ReviewofSocialHistory,OnlineJournaloftheCanadianHistoricalAssociation,
LeftHistory, HistoricalMaterialism, AmericanCommunistHistory; to the left-
wingpublicationsAgainsttheCurrentandMonthlyReview;andtothepublish-
ersMcGill-Queen’sUniversityPress,OxfordUniversityPress,Verso,Academic
Press,MerlinPress,EscuelaNacionaldeAntopolígiaeHistoria,JacaBook,and
ManchesterUniversityPress.Intheorderinwhichtheyappearinthisvolume
ofMarxismandHistoricalPracticespecificpermissionstoreprintareasfollows:
Palmer,BryanD.1993,‘CriticalTheory,HistoricalMaterialism,andtheOstensibleEnd
ofMarxism:ThePovertyofTheoryRevisited’,InternationalReviewofSocialHistory,
38(August),Partii,133–62.
2006,‘HistoricalMaterialismandtheWritingofCanadianHistory:ADialect-
icalView’,OnlineJournaloftheCanadianHistoricalAssociation,NewSeries,17,33–
60.
2010,‘Canada’,inHistoriesofLabour:NationalandInternationalPerspectives,
editedbyJoanAllen,AlanCampbellandJohnMcIlroy,Pontypool,Wales:Merlin
Press,196–230.Publishedhereunderthetitle‘WritingaboutCanadianWorkers:A
HistoriographicOverview’.
1997,‘NightintheCapitalist,ColdWarCity:NoirandtheCulturalPoliticsof
Darkness’,LeftHistory,5,57–76.
2003,‘TheHandsthatBuiltAmerica:AClass-PoliticsAppreciationofMartin
Scorcese’sTheGangsofNewYork’,HistoricalMaterialism,11,317–45.
2013,‘ALifeBeyondImagination:TheArtistFormerly,andAgain,Knownas
Rodriguez’,AgainsttheCurrent,162,31–35,44.Publishedhereinanadaptedformas
‘SugarMan’sSweetKiss:TheArtistFormerly,andNowAgain,KnownasRodriguez’.
2003,‘RethinkingtheHistoriographyofUnitedStatesCommunism’,American
CommunistHistory,2,139–73.
1999,‘BeforeBraverman:HarryFrankelandtheAmericanWorkers’Movement’,
MonthlyReview,50,33–46.
2010,‘ThePersonal,thePolitical,andPermanentRevolution:ErnestMandel
andtheConflictedLegaciesofTrotskyism’,InternationalReviewofSocialHistory,55,
117–32.
2006,‘MarxismoMetropolitanoyAmplitudAnalitcaenlahistoriadeHobs-
x acknowledgements
bawm’,inLosHistoriadoresyLaHistoriaparaelSigoxxi:HomenajeaEricJ.Hobs-
bawm,editedbyGumersindoVeraHernandezandJoséPatoja,MexicoCity:Escuela
NacionaldeAntropolígiaeHistoria,145–58.Publishedhereunderthetitle‘Hobs-
bawm’sHistory:MetropolitanMarxismandAnalyticBreadth’.
2006,‘LaspoliticasdeHobsbawm:sehadetnindolamarchahaciaadelantedel
FrentePopular’,inLosHistorioadoresyLaHistoriaparaelSigoxxi:HomenajeaEric
J.Hobsbawm,editedbyGumersindoVeraHernandezandJoséPatoja,MexicoCity:
EscuelaNacionaldeAntropolígaeHistoria,93–104.Publishedhereunderthetitle
‘Hobsbawm’sPolitics:TheForwardMarchofthePopularFrontHalted’.
2013, ‘James Patrick Cannon: Revolutionary Continuity and Class Struggle
PoliticsintheUnitedStates,1890–1974’,originallypublishedinItalianinTheOther
TwentiethCentury:HereticalCommunismandCriticalThinking,editedbyMichele
deGregorio,Milan:JacaBook.
2013,‘ParadoxandtheThompson“SchoolofAwkwardness”’,inE.P.Thompson
andEnglishRadicalism,editedbyRogerFieldhouseandRichardTaylor,Manchester:
ManchesterUniversityPress,205–28.