Hobsbawn, Eric J. (1983 [1959]) Primitive rebels. Studies on the archaic forms of the social movements in the centuries XIX and XX

Abstract

The classic book Rebeldes primitivos, studies on archaic forms of social movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, written by Eric J. Hobsbawm and published in 1959, exposes concrete cases in which certain poor people, often peasants, workers, laborers or unemployed, those who are mistreated reduced or segregated by people and / or wealthy groups, powerful or linked to the State, decide to unite to fight and rebel against the owners of the land and the means of production with the intention of improving their living conditions. According to the author, these rebels are primitive for being "prepolitical", that is, because they are unable to clearly and forcefully express their political positions and for lacking an organization, an ideology and a program that explicitly evidences their discontent, aspirations, needs and your class consciousness At the same time, attention is drawn to an approach that deserves to be revised and that consists of the fact that a large part of the groups mentioned in the book are social movements made up of people who live in rural areas. Hobsbawm points out that he would not expect to find so many traces of primitivism in certain social groups belonging to the universe of cities, of industry, and linked to modern capitalism.