Revolutionaries; contemporary essays

Recent years have seen a remarkable growth of interest in revolution and social upheaval, Marxism and other ideologies of the left, and the movements inspired by them. As a Marxist of long standing Professor E. J. Hobsbawm, one of the most distinguished historians of our day, has been much involved in the discussion of these topics. In this volume he has collected a series of essays and lectures written over the last decade. The book covers a wide range of connected subjects: the history of communist parties, particularly those of Europe; anarchism, its history and recent revival; the history and present prospects of Marxist thought; guerrilla war and the role of the military in the modern world; and some problems of insurrection, violence and revolution. In his final chapter Professor Hobsbawm examines the role of the intellectual in the class struggle, and the forces and ideals which go to make a revolutionary. In a discussion which is both dispassionate and autobiographical, he draws together many of the themes in preceding chapters, and sets out with force and clarity the great dilemmas which continue to face the communist intellectual in today's world.