History is important for all university students, no matter what subject they are taking
Or what their opinion about the study of it may be. We are living in a world where students too happily subscribe to the theory that the past has no relevance in the modern world of the IT age. Others are encouraged, however assiduously, by teachers who want them to enter the so called “hard” sciences .
However, the past is more relevant today then it has ever been. If we take the Russian revolution as an example, we can begin to understand history’s importance and, more importantly, who has written it?
Once the communists had taken over they began to re-write history. The Tsar has been cruel and corrupt and indifferent in the fate of the proletariat. All the woes of the Soviet were blamed on the west and capitalism. Lenin was perfect and could do no wrong; Stalin inherited his “perfectionism” and was portrayed by the spin doctors of the time as an avuncular figure. “Uncle Joe”, was the nickname the Americans had for him for crying out load. This, a man responsible for genocide that is disputed to this day as how many tens millions he killed.
Fast forward to the 1980’s. the Berlin wall comes down. Gorbachev, Yeltsin. Why did this happen? Because the Russian people began to doubt their own history. The emergence of globalisation and writes like Solzhenitsyn led to the Russian people questioning their own history. The status quo of the soviet is no longer, ever statues of Lenin and Stalin are pulled down and the regional geographic map is redrawn. This is one example of the importance of history. One is significance; the other is truth (which did not bother Titus Livius).
Historians define significance along with consensus of their peers.
Today’s students are better informed and discerning that any other generation previously. More politically aware, media-savant and thanks to the internet, impossible to have the “wool pulled over their eyes” We have the same concerns since time immemorial, war famine and political uncertainty. They want the truth an by studying history they will discover this.
Today’s student feel passionately about Iraq as those in the sixties felt about Vietnam; compare today’s financial markets turmoil with that of the great depression, without studying history we will keep making the same mistakes. Students have a natural tendency to “want to change the world”, by studying history they can.
Every university subject is affected by history. No student or don can deny this, only by studying its respective history can the subject be improved and expounded upon. I will conclude with some quotes from the American historical association, Courtesy Peter N. Stearns that he qualifies point by point, with its own qualifying paragraph:
“History helps understand people and societies”
“Helps us understand change and how the society we live in came to be”
“History contributes to moral understanding”
“History is useful in the world of work” and more
A student of History will gain invaluable skills, an ability to access evidence and conflicting interpretations. They will be able to distinguish between self-serving and objective statements from politicians, learn how to process data to come to an objective and realistic conclusion and to be able to gain vital analytical skills to learn to access the realms of human experience
“History should be studied because it is essential to individuals and to society, and because it harbours beauty.”
Peter N. Stearns American History association
“During the past half-century there has been an immense accumulation of historical material, but only a fraction of this has been made readily available to the majority of those who study and teach history” David C. Douglas M.A F.B.A. general editor English Historical Documents Quote taken from volume I
Edited by Dorothy Whitelock M.A., Litt.D, F.S.A. Vice principal of St.Hilda’s college, Oxford. (1955) Eyre and Spottiswoode
BIBLIOGRAPHY for MARXIST THEORIES and CONCEPTS by Anthony Lehal
Marx, K ; Engels, F. Collected works volume 34 (1861-1864)
Institute of Marxism-Leninism Moscow
International publishers New York
Laurence and Wisehart London (1994)
Mclellan, D. Karl Marx selected writngs
Oxford University Press second edition (2000)
Morrison, K MARX,DURKHEIM, WEBER
Formations of modern social thought, second edition
London, Sage publications (2007)
Polanyi, K “The great transformation” The Political and Economic Origins of
Time. (1750-1920) Boston Beacon Press, (1994)
Price, R.F. Marx and education in late capitalism.
Croom and Helm. New South Wales (1986)
Russel, J. Marx-Engels dictionary
Harvester Press Brighton Sussex (1981)
