Too Much Theory, Too Much Ideology

Forty years ago, the historian E.P. Thompson transformed our understanding of British history and politics with his groundbreaking The Making of the English Working Class. With an eloquence and mastery of colourful detail that is still captivating, Thompson made social history come alive, and brought into our world a range of people and issues that had been buried and forgotten.

Rebels, Reds, Radicals: Rethinking Canada’s Left History, by Queen’s historian Ian McKay, is described as the introduction to Realms of Freedom, a “forthcoming multi-volume history of socialism and radicalism in Canada.”

The contrast with Thompson, in style and approach, is striking. Thompson is more about people, less about ideology. McKay’s approach starts with theory, sometimes quite complex theory at that, and in this introductory volume goes back and forth through time picking moments and movements that seem to sustain the...