New Books in Critical Theory Matt Myers, "The Halted March of the European Left: The Working Class in Britain, France, and Italy, 1968-1989" (Oxford UP, 2025)
Sep 30, 2025
Matt Myers, a Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Oxford, dives into the intriguing landscape of European left politics from 1968 to 1989. He argues that the 1970s were a dynamic period, countering common narratives of decline. Myers dissects how left parties marginalized emerging worker groups and shifted focus towards polling and professionalized messaging. Automation's effects on workplace power are explored, as well as the failures of unions to support immigrant-led strikes, revealing a complex tale of social movements, challenges, and the potential for renewed class politics today.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
1970s Were Contested, Not Doomed
- The 1970s were more open and dynamic for the European left than standard narratives suggest.
- Subjective choices and conflicts, not just structural change, shaped the decade's political outcomes.
Hobsbawm's Halted March Reconsidered
- Eric Hobsbawm argued the forward march of labour had halted due to structural changes like deindustrialization and social divisions.
- Myers finds this retrospective view understates the active expansion and dynamism within the working class in the 1970s.
Margins Fueled, Not Fractured, The Movement
- New entrants (women, migrants, white-collar) energized unions and strikes in the early 1970s rather than fragmenting class politics.
- The sense of fragmentation often emerged later after political disempowerment of those groups.
