David Priestland

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David Priestland is a British historian. He teaches modern history at the University of Oxford and is Fellow of St Edmund Hall. [1]

Contents

Career

Priestland's research focuses on the history of the Soviet Union and the development of communism and neoliberalism. [2] He is an occasional political and cultural commentator for The Guardian and New Statesman . [3] [4] In 2013, Priestland published a book Merchant, Soldier, Sage: A History of the World in Three Castes, which focuses mainly on a power struggle between three castes fighting for domination within society. Priestland's main argument is that humanity has shifted from societies oriented towards a warrior-class, through periods of sage dominance into a modern hegemony of merchants, which has culminated in dominance by businesspeople and billionaire entrepreneurs. [5] In the book, Priestland's voice is mostly critical of global capitalism, which has attracted some notable criticism from other academics. [6] [7]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

Aristocracy is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats.

A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste.

The Maratha caste is composed of 96 clans, originally formed in the earlier centuries from the amalgamation of families from the peasant (Kunbi), shepherd (Dhangar), blacksmith (Lohar), carpenter (Sutar), Bhandari, Thakar and Koli castes in Maharashtra. Many of them took to military service in the 16th century for the Deccan sultanates or the Mughals. Later in the 17th and 18th centuries, they served in the armies of the Maratha Empire, founded by Shivaji, a Maratha Kunbi by caste. Many Marathas were granted hereditary fiefs by the Sultanates, and Mughals for their service.

Rajput, also called Thakur, is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Rajput covers various patrilineal clans historically associated with warriorhood: several clans claim Rajput status, although not all claims are universally accepted. According to modern scholars, almost all Rajput clans originated from peasant or pastoral communities.

Varṇa, in the context of Hinduism, refers to a social class within a hierarchical traditional Hindu society. The ideology is epitomized in texts like Manusmriti, which describes and ranks four varnas, and prescribes their occupations, requirements and duties, or Dharma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khatri</span> Caste in South Asia

Khatri is a caste originating from the Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the Indian subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantile professions such as banking and trade. They were the dominant commercial and financial administration class of late-medieval India. Some in Punjab often belonged to hereditary agriculturalist land-holding lineages, while others were engaged in artisanal occupations.

Bhatia is a group of people and a caste found in Punjab, Sindh and Gujarat. Traditionally, they have been a trading and merchant community. The Bhatias primarily live in Northwestern India and Pakistan. The Bhatias, Lohanas and Khatris were similar communities and were known to intermarry. The Bhatias recruit Saraswat Brahmins as priests.

The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core principles of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least nominally in Marxism, a theory and method conceived by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels during the 19th century. Marxism subsequently gained a widespread following across much of Europe, and throughout the late 1800s its militant supporters were instrumental in a number of unsuccessful revolutions on that continent. During the same era, there was also a proliferation of communist parties which rejected armed revolution, but embraced the Marxist ideal of collective property and a classless society.

Lohana are a trading or mercantile jāti mostly in India and also in Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arora</span> Community in India

Arora is a community of Punjab, comprising both Hindus and Sikhs. The name is derived from their native place Aror. In 712, the Arora people left Aror and started to settle in the cities of Punjab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramachandra Guha</span> Indian historian and writer

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhadralok</span> Social class in colonial Bengal

Bhadralok is Bengali for the new class of 'gentlefolk' who arose during British rule in India in the Bengal region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent.

Bania is a mercantile caste mainly from the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, with strong diasporic communities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and other northern states. Traditionally, the main occupations of the community are merchants, bankers, money-lenders, and owners of commercial enterprises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Marxist communism</span> Overview of communist-oriented ideologies and practices prior to the works of Karl Marx

While Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels defined communism as a political movement, there were already similar ideas in the past which one could call communist experiments. Marx himself saw primitive communism as the original hunter-gatherer state of humankind. Marx theorized that only after humanity was capable of producing surplus did private property develop.

Marathi Brahmins are communities native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. They are classified into mainly three sub-divisions based on their places of origin, "Desh", "Karad" and "Konkan". The Brahmin subcastes that come under Maharashtra Brahmins include Deshastha, Chitpavan (Konkanastha), Saraswat, Karhade, and Devrukhe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bengali Kayastha</span> Bengali Hindu of the Kayastha caste

Bengali Kayastha, is a Bengali Hindu caste originated from the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, and is one of the main subgroups of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of scribes, administrators, ministers and record-keepers; the Kayasthas in Bengal, along with Brahmins and Baidyas, are regarded among the three traditional higher castes that comprise the "upper layer of Hindu society." During the British Raj, the Bhadraloks of Bengal were drawn primarily, but not exclusively, from these three castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.

World communism, also known as global communism or international communism, is a form of communism placing emphasis on an international scope rather than being individual communist states. The long-term goal of world communism is an unlimited worldwide communist society that is classless, moneyless, stateless, and nonviolent, which may be achieved through an intermediate-term goal of either a voluntary association of sovereign states as a global alliance, or a world government as a single worldwide state.

Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput community living in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. They traditionally formed part of the feudal elite in Bihari society. Rajputs were pressed with the Zamindari abolition and Bhoodan movement in post-independence India; along with other Forward Castes, they lost their significant position in Bihar's agrarian society, leading to the rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Communism has been a part of French politics since the early 20th century at the latest. It has been described as "an enduring presence on the French political scene" for most of the 20th century.

References

  1. "Professor David Priestland". St Edmund Hall . Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  2. "Professor David Priestland". University of Oxford . Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  3. "David Priestland". The Guardian . Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  4. "Writer: David Priestland". New Statesman . Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  5. Priestland, David (30 August 2012). Merchant, Soldier, Sage: A New History of Power. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN   978-0-14-197082-0.
  6. "Priestland contends perpetual power struggle in Merchant, Soldier, Sage". The National. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  7. Timmins, Adam. "review of Merchant Soldier Sage".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)