Culture、Class And Class Liberation

E.P.Thompson(Edward Palmer Thompson)is a famous Marxist and historian in modern times.Thompson devoted himself to the study of the current situation of British society and tried to find a way from history to solve these problems.Finally,he formed the theory of "Cultural Materialism”.In essence,Thompson’s theory of cultural materialism is to re-examine the position of culture in the development of society and history.Before that,culture has been studied for a long time by the British academia.Thompson is also through the study of culture,seeking the way of the localization of Marxism in Britain.The traditional research paradigm of "culture-civilization" in Britain has had a profound impact on politics and society.E.P.Thompson is committed to seeking a Marxist development way from the local research tradition.He is different from scholars who have accepted the results of Marxist research in continental Europe.He argued with Perry Anderson and others who insisted on Althusser’s thought for many times.Anderson and his colleagues raised a series of questions about the development of Marxism in Britain,these questions constituted the "Anderson-Nairn" thesis,which raised profound questions to English Marxists.From 1958 to 1961,Raymond Williams,the famous British Marxist cultural critic,published "Culture and Society","Culture is ordinary","The Long Revolution" and other books,which had a significant impact on Thompson.Then Thompson published a lengthy review of the long revolution in two issues of the magazine “New Left Review”.Thompson expressed his views on culture,and he developed Williams’ concept of culture as "the whole way of life" into "the whole way of struggle”.In these discussions,Thompson affirmed Williams’ cultural concept,but he emphasized the importance of practice and struggle in Marx’s theoretical tradition.In 1963,Thompson published a long historical masterpiece " The Making of the English Working Class ".In this book,Thompson used the research method of historical materialism to examine the formation process of the English working class in the industrial revolution of the 19 th century in detail,as well as their role in promoting the historical process.The reaffirmation of the concept of class and culture,the theoretical investigation of human subjective status and subjective initiative made Thompson discover the role of culture in the awakening of class consciousness,which led to the class liberation of the working class.The realization of class liberation through culture is one of the core viewpoints discussed by Thompson’s Cultural MaterialismThe localization of Marxism is a common problem faced by Marxists all over the world.The cultural materialism of E.P.Thompson provides a rigorous research paradigm,which can also be used for reference by our country.We should seek valuable essence in traditional culture and combine it with excellent foreign culture.This has always been the inclusive characteristic of our culture and the insistence of the localization of Marxism in China.As an old saying goes,“Chou was an ancient state,but King Wen could adhere to the mandate of renovation by Heaven” We need to base on traditional culture and absorb excellent foreign cultures,so as to create a new culture that can promote the better development of our country,which should be the responsibility of our contemporary people.