Just Finished Reading: The Road Not Taken – How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution 1381-1926 by Frank McLynn (FP: 2012)

It’s an oddity of European political history that Britain has never experienced a revolution (I’m ignoring – as does the author – the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688 which was nothing of the sort). We’ve come close though, more than once. The author concentrates on the major ‘near misses’ from the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 to the General Strike of 1926 showing the background to each event, how it unfolded and, most importantly, why each outbreak of revolutionary fervour failed to produce the expected revolutionary outcome.

I think the first thing that surprised me was the fact that I knew of the very earliest would-be revolutionaries partially from previous reading but also from some of my earliest school history lessons. I wonder if the teacher who taught me about Wat Tyler and Jack Cade also taught me to lionise Hereward. After all this was the late 60’s and early 70’s and I’m sure that there must have been some teachers in working class Comprehensive schools with left-leaning and revolutionary ideas themselves! The early examples – the 1381 revolt and the later Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 – where interesting enough but my interest solidified when the book reached the 17th century Civil Wars (something I need far greater knowledge of) and the eruption of various radical political ideas such as the Levellers and, of course, the Diggers both of whom tried the patience of Cromwell’s Commonwealth to breaking point and beyond. I was particularly interested in John Lilburne (who I’ve only really ‘met’ fictionally before now) who, yet again, I’m going to have to read up on a great deal more!). Of course the Commonwealth, also known as the Interregnum, is the only (brief) period where England was a republic – hence my abiding interest. After the chaos of the latter half of the 17th century we enter into the political mess of the 18th with the Jacobite menace and the uprising of 1745. This is (again) something I had heard of in passing but had no real knowledge of – no longer! I had no idea that the Jacobite’s (supporters of the previous James Stewart dynasty) where around for so long and that they posed such a threat to the house of Hanover then in power. On then to the turbulent 19th century – I had no idea that the last 3 centuries had so much civil unrest – with the advent of the Chartists who campaigned and agitated for the increase in voting rights for all adult males – such myopia when the rights of women were concerned seems to have been part of most so-called radical political agendas with a few notable exceptions. Lastly was a detailed (and honestly fascinating) analysis of the 9 day wonder of the 1926 General Strike. I’d read about this event before in a book written for its 50th anniversary (in 1976) which failed to address exactly why the Unions collapsed so early. Well, now I know! Needless to say it involved duplicity, incompetence and self-serving. But that’s another event I need to read up about!

Overall I was very impressed by this book. I think it’s pretty clear that the author is a left-leaning historian but that was never really in doubt. This is something I don’t mind. Wearing your political bias on your sleeve is far more appreciated than trying to hide it and failing. But the author was not shy from attacking the motivations (or indeed competence) of the Left throughout the book pointing out mistakes, missed opportunities and much else besides. I found myself chuckling more than once at his pointed references to character flaws all around. More than ably written with style, gusto and deep knowledge this was a delight from beginning to end. Despite covering a lot of ground in a little over 500 pages there is a lot of detail and analysis here that will leave you wondering of might have been’s and what if’s. Highly recommended for the student of revolutionary political history.