Brian Simon and the Struggle for Education

This is the first full-length study of the life and career of Brian Simon (1915-2002), leading Marxist intellectual and historian of education in twentieth-century Britain. Using documentary sources that have only recently become publicly available, it reveals the remarkably broad range of Simon’s life as student, soldier and school teacher, Communist Party activist, and educational academic, campaigner and reformer. In a sympathetic biography that yet retains critical distance, the authors analyse Simon’s contribution to Marxism and the Communist Party. They explore the influence of both on his work as a historian of education and trace the significance of his Marxist beliefs, political associations and historical approach to the cause of educational reform. In so doing, they consider the full nature and limitations of Simon’s achievements in his struggle for education. Unlike many Marxist scholars he remained loyal to the Communist Party in the 1950s, which damaged his reputation as a public intellectual. Nevertheless, his support for comprehensive education helped to promote egalitarian educational reforms in Britain, although he was later unable to provide sufficient resistance to the 1988 Education Reform Act and to a decline in the position of the comprehensive schools.

In all this, the significance of Simon’s family, and especially his relationship with his wife Joan is to the fore. Joan and Brian forged a formidable 60-year partnership, in politics and the Communist Party as well as in life, that lasted until Brian’s death in January 2002.

Praise for Brian Simon and the Struggle for Education

‘A very interesting book for historians of education and the best overall work about the thought and work of Brian Simon.’
Historia y Memoria de la Educación

‘9 chapters and two series of beautiful photos which at once plunges us into the dichotomous world of Simon´s life.’
British Journal of Educational Studies

‘Brian Simon comes across as a fascinatingly complex character in this biography, born into wealth and privilege but tirelessly campaigning for an egalitarian and democratic society. A loyal party man, toeing the party line in public as he followed its vagaries, but working within the party to undermine its authoritarian, anti-intellectual tendencies. Insisting on democratic centralism but opening spaces for the autonomous work of intellectuals and cultural producers. A brilliant historian, attentive to the long term and to the unintended consequences of political projects, pushing for democratic reform of educational provision, then forced to fight the rearguard action against Tory populist reaction. This book makes for a rewarding read.’
Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation

‘addresses Simon’s personal life through the lens of his politics – an elision that sets it apart from much contemporary biography’
History of Education