A Portrait of Sir Lewis Namier as a Young Socialist

Abstract

Sir Lewis Namier is known for his much-professed conservatism and his ardent admiration for the English aristocracy and élite society. This article calls attention to the little-known fact that Namier was a socialist with revolutionary enthusiasms in his earlier years. A detailed study of Namier’s memos and reports, written for the Foreign Office and Cabinet during the first world war in his capacity as Polish expert, uncovers Namier’s socialist commitment, Marxist assumptions on the nature of nationality conflict in Central and Eastern Europe, and enthusiasm for the Bolshevik revolution. Namier’s socialist beliefs can be traced to his upbringing in Galicia, the Austrian part of what was formerly Poland. Like the Austro-Marxists, Namier believed that the nationality conflicts in Central and Eastern Europe were in reality class conflicts. His support for national self-determination during the first world war was based on the assumption that national autonomy or independence would lead to a fairer social order. Namier discovered, however, that the nationality conflict in Central and Eastern Europe raged more fiercely than ever in the new post-war order. He was especially disillusioned to discover rampant nationalism and antisemitism even in the ranks of socialists. Despite his disenchantment with socialism, however, socialist assumptions continued to inform his politics and history throughout his life.