The Role of the Individual in History

Most textbooks and documentaries would like us to believe that all historical progress is the product of ‘Great Men and Women’ with ‘Great Ideas’, in which the masses are merely the passive recipients of charismatic, determined, and resolute individuals. Marxism is opposed to this unscientific approach.Many academic critics attempt to paint Marxism as being rigid and mechanical, accusing the theories of scientific socialism of being ‘economically deterministic’. Yet Marx never denied the importance of human agency in determining the course of history. Indeed, ‘history’, Marx stressed, is not some mystical force. There is no ‘destiny’ or ‘fate’.History is made by people. But we need to uncover the dialectical relationship between the individual (the subjective) and the great forces (the objective) that govern the movement of society and see the individual’s role in its historical context.This presentation, given by Holly Quilty, was recorded live in Montreal on April 10, 2026.Recommended readings:Adam Booth - The individual and the Marxist view of history Rob Sewell - The Decisive Role of the Individual in HistoryG.V. Plekhanov - On the Role of the Individual in HistoryJoin the Revolutionary Communist Party