The London Revolution 1640 – 1643
Class Struggles in 17th Century England
by Michael Sturza
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Pub Date Mar 30 2022 | Archive Date Apr 06 2022
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Description
"The London Revolution 1640 – 1643: Class Struggles in 17th Century England chronicles England’s history through the revolution in 1641 – 1642, which toppled the feudal political system, and its aftermath. It explores how the growing capitalist economy fundamentally conflicted with decaying feudal society, causing tensions and dislocations that affected all social classes in the early modern period. In contrast with most other works, this book posits that the fundamental driving force of the revolution was the militant Puritan movement supported by the class of petty-bourgeois artisan craftworkers, instead of the moderate gentry in the House of Commons.
The London Revolution 1640 – 1643 further traces the detrimental effects of the political alliance between the free-trade Atlantic merchants and the gentry for the revolution. Despite the conservative and contradictory nature of the English bourgeois revolution, the experience in London is the original source for democratic ideas that were codified in the 1689 Bill of Rights and the U.S. Bill of Rights a century later.
Taken in its entirety, The London Revolution 1640 – 1643 refutes the virulent attacks on Marxist social class analysis spearheaded by revisionist historians who would rather write the concept of revolution out of history."
Advance Praise
"“Feisty, fearless and fascinating: this book spotlights London’s revolutionary upheavals at the start of Britain’s seventeenth-century Civil War; it shows how London’s revolutionary role has been too often downplayed; and it explains its long-term significance for later generations. Michael Sturza will provoke many debates – and a good thing too!”
— Penelope J. Corfield, emeritus Prof. London University; Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK); and President of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
“Michael Sturza brings the London Revolution 1640-1643 to life — a welcome tonic for tough times. …one is reminded of the complexities of social change and the essential role of class struggle… 17th century England has much to teach us relevant to the 21st century. Sturza is a vital addition to the canon. An excellent reader for students and the general public alike.”
— Marvin Surkin, specialist in comparative urban politics and social change and co-author of Detroit: I Do Mind Dying
“A passionate, Marxist analysis exploring the role of structural and socio-economic problems in radicalizing people on the eve of the English civil war. Combing high and low politics, Sturza stresses the importance of class conflict and reminds us just how revolutionary the English revolution was.”
— Tim Harris, editor of Studies in Early Modern Cultural, Political and Social History series and The European Legacy journal
“A richly detailed and documented contribution! Michael Sturza not only refutes…conservative revisionist historians…but provides significant evidence of how organized and militant social forces…played a decisive role in the end of British feudalism. …Sturza demonstrates the value and efficacy of historical materialism for understanding the…dimensions of social change and revolution.”
— Burton Lee Artz, director of the Center for Global Studies at Purdue University Northwest
“The London Revolution opens critically important new ground for understanding the English Revolution as a bottom up bourgeois revolution. Sturza picks up where Christopher Hill left off.”
— Robert Ovetz, editor of Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics, Objectives and author of When Workers Shot Back: Class Conflict from 1877 to 1921
Complete commentary available at themadduckcoalition.org."
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781956389036 |
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Featured Reviews
Angela M, Reviewer
This book offers a comprehensive and detailed account on the causes that led to the 1640 London Revolution.
Through Class differences, capitalism, religion, monarchy and parliament relations, we get an insight of the slowly emerging internal and external conflicts of the city.
Each chapter begins with a quote and we get so many references from other works for those who want to further their knowledge.
It shows that the author put a great effort into searching and combining the sources of this historical work.
Louise G, Reviewer
For those interested in class history or British history, this is a wonderful find. It offers deep insights into a specific period, which has not been covered extensively in many traditional historical accounts. Careful research is evident and I found myself delving into the source material to find out more. I wonder how many readers will find themselves analysing what lessons society has and has not learned since the events covered in this book.
Kat D, Reviewer
thank you to BooksGoSocial for providing me with an ARC through NetGalley!
Admittedly, I am not a scholar and was not familiar with the events that are covered in this book. That being said, I am a lifelong learner and was thrilled to get the chance to read this incredibly well researched book and learn more about the times.
As I was reading, I couldn’t help thinking about and making comparisons to current events and conversations that are happing in the US. You know what they say, history repeats itself.
It did take me a bit of time to read this book solely because it took me a few rereads of passages to fully get the scope of events. Overall, incredibly well written, full of research, well supported points, and a fairly easy to navigate text. Definitely recommend to anyone interesting in learning more about class structures, the degree to which politics and economics are entwined, and just how influential this period of revolution in London was and continues to be.
LADY R, Reviewer
This was a great history book. I read it all in one day. I learnt so much and it was explained well. It was so interesting that there was so many ever changing ways of classing people. I especially found it interesting learning about the children of Lords especially if the only living child was a female. It was a quite shocking read in some places. It really opened my eyes to how bad the systems were back in history. It was rather shocking learning about lands and rent paid or not paid in some cases. This history was split into smallish chapters each looking at a specific point. I thought it was great that after each the references were there. Although if your using text to speech like me you would need to stop and start it unless you like references.
I thought the author did a brilliant job at getting his points across in a really interesting well researched way.
Many thanks to the author and publishers for creating this great history book.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones,Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-london-revolution-1643-1643-by-michael-sturza-independent-author-4-stars either under my name or ladyreading365
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