Book Review
The Great Rebellion-1642-1660. Professor Ivan Roots, Billing &Sons Ltd., London, 1966
There isno question that for those Western political activists today who look to past social movements as a guide to action that the French Revolution is the logical point of reference. That classical revolution, as more than one political commentator has pointed out, still two hundred plus years later has something to say to us. Moreover the main gains derived from that revolution are still in need of completion in many parts of the world. Not taking anything away from the importance of the French Revolution and its lessons, I would here like to argue for, since the book under review, The Great Rebellion-1642-1660, details the earlier English Revolution, a kind of “great rebellion” exception to the French example. And the basis for that exception is nothing more (although not less either) than having grown up in New England with its myriad historical references to the old mother country and the struggle of the Puritans and others to create some new social order so that I am keenly aware of the debt that the French Revolution (and the American as well) to the that earlier explosion of struggle to find a new way of organizing society.
After reading Professor Roots’, an acknowledged authority on the parliamentary struggles in mid-17th century England, now old time narration of the events (and others in the field from Trevor-Roper to Christopher Hill) I am more confirmed in my opinion. Professor Roots takes pains to explore the various tendencies from arch-monarchist to “fifth monarchists” who were contending for power during this period. Although by the cast of his narration Professor Roots appears more than a little shocked by the thought that the plebeian (meaning everybody from the emerging bourgeois urban types to the yeoman who defended the parliamentary order through it all) masses of that time could upend the king and the kingdom. But aside from his various off-hand remarks he presents a very well-written and fast moving narrative of the events that make up the period of the English Revolution proper. This is done by looking at the various contending power centers (royalist, great landowners, rising and declining, the Scots and the other nationalist movements, religious orders, urban bourgeois types, army cadre, etc.) their reaction to events and, in the end, the movements, while it was not pre-ordained that Charles II would reclaim the throne, that made that possible. The good Professor, other than in passing, does not like Professor Hill dwell on underbelly of the revolution, on those groupings like the Levellers, Diggers, Fifth Monarchists, shakers, quakers, ranters, ravers and what not who make this such a historically colorful time.
As Professor Roots noted Charles I made every possible mistake in the book in dealing with his political opponents, his religious opponents, and even some of his quasi-supporters. Of course this trait is common when revolution is in the air but probably more that later times Charles seemed to go out of his way to alienate anybody who did not buy into his version of “divine right of kings.” And in the end he paid for that fault with his head. Along the way there were various political, but more importantly military turning points, which spelled his demise. The most important was the parliamentary New Model Army which emerged when things were stalemated. That army in concentrated form expressed both the new “democratic” spirit that animated the plebes and put forth many new leaders who would also make their mark in civilian society, notably Oliver Cromwell who rise to Lord Protector was almost totally as a result of his military prowess in using that army and as a lever in the political struggles in the republican period.
The most interesting part of Professor Roots book is his study of the various pro-parliamentary groupings, military and civilian, in the republican period when everyone was trying to get some combination that would make governing in a non-monarchial society possible. That mighty task had many ups and downs from the bright days of the Levellers and army agitators to the very close to dictatorial rule by Cromwell. However, in the end, the republican project was not sustainable at that time. Nevertheless the issue of parliamentary primacy was decisively established. That is the major lesson we take from the English Revolution. To get a better idea of the ins and outs of that struggle at the governmental level read Professor Roots important basic book.
No comments:
Post a Comment