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An alterfactual methodological approach to labour history : the case of the British miners' strike 1984-5

Darlington, RR

Authors



Abstract

In recent years, a small number of the so-called ‘counterfactual’ or ‘what-if’ historical books, which ask us to imagine what would have happened if events in the past had turned out differently than they did, have been published. They have stimulated an important, albeit not entirely new, methodological debate about issues and questions which are (or should be) of central relevance to the work of labor historians, and which such labor historians need to engage with and contribute towards. This brief discussion article attempts to do this by presenting one particular Marxist viewpoint, with the hope and expectation that others (hopefully supportive but possibly critical of the argument presented here) will follow. In the process, it examines the past use (and abuse) of the counterfactual within historical analysis, presents an argument for the validity of a refined and renamed ‘alterfactual’ approach and examines the use of such an alterfactual approach to the British miners' strike of 1984–1985.

Citation

Darlington, R. (2014). An alterfactual methodological approach to labour history : the case of the British miners' strike 1984-5. Labor History, 55(2), https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2014.884862

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Mar 1, 2014
Deposit Date Apr 4, 2014
Journal Labor History
Print ISSN 0023-656X
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 55
Issue 2
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2014.884862
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0023656X.2014.884862
Related Public URLs http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0023656X.asp