History from Below
Preparatory Reading Analysis
One of the main reasons why historians find it difficult to get a clear picture of working class attitudes from the sources is that working class people deliberately kept their communications secret. Such was the hostility between the classes at the time that two separate cultures had established themselves and magistrate found it very difficult to get any sort of information out of the working classes. As a result the judicial records which historians have to rely upon heavily are full of examples of working class activity seen by middle class informants in the most damaging light possible, often based on gossip or hearsay.
This passage shows Thompson not only describing the situation at the time he is writing about but also looking at the implications of the history for the sources it has left behind. It reflects an important theme in Thompson’s writing, a demand that we look beyond the superficial image, often derived from hostile middle class testimony, and understand working class activity in its own terms. Thus, the ambiguity or lack of reliable written sources about the working class is not a reflection of their lack of education, still less their lack of intelligence, but the exact opposite: the result of a canny policy of silence which was very prudent in the circumstances of the time. Thompson brings out very effectively the sense of the different classes inhabiting two different worlds, with very little understanding between them. The imagery comparing the magistrates and their men to Pizzarro’s men (Pizzarro was the sixteenth century Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca empire in Peru) on their fruitless quest for gold is striking and effective. The second paragraph works particularly well because Thompson cites a strong of examples to illustrate his basic point, that the Home Office papers, where spies’ and magistrates’ reports ended up, are heavily based on misinterpretation or third-hand gossip. The overall impression from the passage is of a working class which shows much greater wisdom and maturity in looking to its own protection than is shown by the magistrates and the middle class employers who were so desperately seeking discreditable information about it.
Source:https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/prospective-undergrads/virtual-classroom/secondary-source-exercises/sources-people/thompson/thompson-commentary
This passage shows Thompson not only describing the situation at the time he is writing about but also looking at the implications of the history for the sources it has left behind. It reflects an important theme in Thompson’s writing, a demand that we look beyond the superficial image, often derived from hostile middle class testimony, and understand working class activity in its own terms. Thus, the ambiguity or lack of reliable written sources about the working class is not a reflection of their lack of education, still less their lack of intelligence, but the exact opposite: the result of a canny policy of silence which was very prudent in the circumstances of the time. Thompson brings out very effectively the sense of the different classes inhabiting two different worlds, with very little understanding between them. The imagery comparing the magistrates and their men to Pizzarro’s men (Pizzarro was the sixteenth century Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca empire in Peru) on their fruitless quest for gold is striking and effective. The second paragraph works particularly well because Thompson cites a strong of examples to illustrate his basic point, that the Home Office papers, where spies’ and magistrates’ reports ended up, are heavily based on misinterpretation or third-hand gossip. The overall impression from the passage is of a working class which shows much greater wisdom and maturity in looking to its own protection than is shown by the magistrates and the middle class employers who were so desperately seeking discreditable information about it.
Source:https://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/prospective-undergrads/virtual-classroom/secondary-source-exercises/sources-people/thompson/thompson-commentary
