The mutual revelations of past and present

Ahead of a talk to the Socialist History Society tomorrow, Professor Paul Preston explores the impact of contemporary politics on historical investigation with reference to his writings on Spain.

There is a mantra recited by professional historians to the effect that all history is contemporary history.  Its origin is widely attributed to the Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce on the basis of an essay on historiography published in 1912 with the evocatively prophetic title Storia, cronaca e false storie which could reasonably be translated either as ‘History, News and False Stories’ or as ‘History, Chronicles of the Present and Made-up Stories’. 

The celebrated aphorism reflects the truism that all analysis and interpretation of the past is almost invariably passed through a filter of the individual historian’s ethical and political response to events of the day. I would certainly accept that this applies to most of my own work on Spanish history from the 1870s to the present day. 

In fact, Croce’s dictum applies not only to writing and research by historians irrespective of the period researched.  It is also valid when applied to works of theatre, fictional literature, opera, sculpture, visual arts or cinema.  

Examples abound right across the creative arts.  Commentators on Shakespeare’s eight English history plays about the period between 1396 and 1485 frequently note that they reflect an effort to legitimize the monarchy established in 1485 by the alleged usurper Henry Tudor.  English historical fiction, from that of Sir Walter Scott, via those of Benjamin Disraeli and Charles Dickens, right up to the more recent work of Hilary Mantel, interpret their subjects with the political and ethical values of the period in which they were actually written. 

This is even more true of operas with historical subjects from Russia – including those by Mussorgsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev – from France – including those by Berlioz, Meyerbeer or Massenet. The most dramatic example comes from Italy. Giuseppe Verdi’s works written between 1840 and 1860, such as Nabucco, I Lombardi, Ernani, Attila or Un ballo in Maschera, reflected his commitment to the cause of Italian unification against Austrian tyranny. 

However, the cliché about the relationship between past and present, between historical writing and contemporary values, is not just valuable in assessing works of history. It works both ways, as is demonstrated frequently by the bitter polemics stimulated when once admired cultural icons are reassessed in terms of contemporary values as racist and/or misogynistic and then passionately defended. 

Barely a day goes by without our being reminded of the value of a knowledge of history in assessing contemporary politics.  That politicians tend not to welcome reminders of historical precedents was underlined almost exactly a year ago by Gary Lineker.  He drew widespread vitriol for his response on social media to claims by the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, in justification of her plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel on small boats, that the UK is being “overwhelmed”.  He responded: “There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European counties.  This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s.” He was subject to waves of abuse and accused of breaching the BBC’s impartiality rules. 

Leaving aside the obvious absurdity that impartiality requires equal treatment of the rapist and the raped, the oppressor and the oppressed, the criticism directed at Lineker reflected the discomfort felt by most politicians on being reminded of how history can supply abundant evidence to expose errors of judgement or the hidden agenda underlying their rhetoric.  And it is not as if there were not plenty of famous aphorisms to warn them.  In 1852, Karl Marx stated: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”  In 1905, the Spanish philosopher Jorge Santayana declared that “Aquellos que no pueden recordar el pasado están condenados a repetirlo”, a phrase that can be rendered as “nations that are ignorant of their history are doomed to repeat it.”

In my book, A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874–2018 (London: William Collins, 2020), I make an explicit acknowledgement of the influence of contemporary politics on investigation of the past.  For instance, during the years that I was researching and writing the book, I lived, on a daily basis, under the shadow of the Brexit process in Britain. It was a painful experience to have to witness the combination of lies, governmental ineptitude and corruption that have undermined the welfare state, brought public services to their knees and bitterly divided a nation once regarded as a beacon of calm.  The book made no attempt to suggest that Spain is unique in terms of corruption or governmental incompetence.  There are other European nations for which, at various historical moments, similar interpretations might be valid. 

My next book, Architects of Terror: Paranoia, Conspiracy and Anti-Semitism in Franco’s Spain (London: William Collins, 2023), broadly speaking, was about how fake news contributed to the coming of a civil war.  Needless to say, a further element of contemporary relevance was the centrality of the theme of antisemitism.  Moreover, my most recent book, ‘Perfidious Albion’ – Britain and the Spanish Civil War (London: The Clapton Press, 2024) is not without evidence of the validity of Croce’s thesis. 

The book’s title reflects the three chapters that deal with the hypocrisy and prejudice of British foreign policy towards the Spanish Republic.  The insulting epithet dates back to the thirteenth century but was popularised in France as a result of British opposition to the French Revolution. 

It is a commonplace of thinking about the Spanish conflict that Franco’s victory was the result of the aid that he received from Hitler and Mussolini and the alleged betrayal of the Republic by Stalin.  My book tries to demonstrate that Franco also owed much to the way in which the British policy of Non-Intervention was far from neutral.  Denounced by Jawaharlal Nehru as “the supreme farce of our time”, it favoured Franco and the Axis Powers and severely weakened the capacity of the democratic Republic to defend itself. 

Proclaimed Non-Intervention did nothing to inhibit the continued supply of military aid from the Axis powers to Franco’s rebels, nor to prevent the crucial participation of the crack high-tech German Condor legion with the latest aircraft and artillery, as well as around 80,000 Italian troops, and high proportions of the Italian navy and air force.  

In fact, Conservative policy was deeply damaging to its proclaimed interests.  It was in sharp contrast to the realism and courage of those who could see that a failure to defend the Republic would ensure that the Fascist threat to Madrid would inevitably be unleashed next on Paris and London.  It was manifested in the humanitarian efforts of the Aid Spain Movement, in the participation of British volunteers in the International Brigades and in the invaluable contribution of many British doctors and nurses to the Republican medical services. 

It is not necessary to look far to find contemporary parallels with the damage done to the national interest by the adoption of policy based on high-sounding but partisan rhetoric.  Both the proclaimed economic benefits of Brexit and those of the anti-immigrant ‘hostile environment’ policy give renewed relevance to the axioms of Marx, Santayana and Croce.

Paul Preston is School Professor for the Department of International History, at the London School of Economics. He is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Spanish Civil War and the author of numerous books on modern Spain, the Spanish Republic, the war and its aftermath.

On 28th March, at 6.30pm, Paul Preston will speak to the Socialist History Society about his latest book ‘Perfidious Albion’ – Britain and the Spanish Civil War. All welcome, register free here.