ABSTRACT
MARX’S economic interpretion of history may be judged in two ways. One way is to subject it to detailed scrutiny and relate it to the evidence of historical and statistical research. This has been done a number of times and it is not my purpose to repeat the examination here. Let it suffice to say that when historical materialism is judged by such scientific tests as are applicable (prediction, ability to explain and fit the facts, and practical success) the theory emerges pretty badly damaged. Its substantial thesis, that is to say, is untenable, although a residue of insights and partial truths doubtless remains: a residue which affects the work of every historian and social scientist and has already been incorporated into the main stream of Western thought.
