Dr. William Pelz presents: A People’s History of Modern Europe

Join Open University of the Left on Saturday June 18 at 2:30 pm at the Lincoln Park Public Library 1150 W. Fullerton Ave. (corner Racine) Chicago, free parking, (Red Line: Fullerton)


Open University of the Left welcomes back Dr. William Pelz. From the monarchical terror of the Middle Ages to the mangled Europe of the twenty-first century, A People’s History of Modern Europe tracks the history of the continent through the deeds of those whom mainstream history tries to forget. Europe provided the perfect conditions for a great number of political revolutions from below.


The German peasant wars of Thomas Muntzer, the Bourgeois revolutions of the eighteenth century, the rise of the industrial worker in England, the turbulent journey of the Russian Soviets, the role of the European working class throughout the Cold War, the student protests in 1968 and through to the present day where we continue to fight to forge an alternative to the barbaric economic system. With a focus on the role of women, we sweep away the tired platitudes of the privileged and provide an opportunity to see our history differently.


William Pelz is the Director of the Institute of Working Class History in Chicago and a Professor of History at Elgin Community College. His recent works include Wilhelm Liebknecht and German Social Democracy (Haymarket Books, 2016), Karl Marx: A World to Win (Pearson, 2012) and Against Capitalism: The European Left on the March (Peter Lang Publishing, 2007).


(A People’s History of Modern Europe) — “Presents a challenging alternative to the conventional narratives of European history, putting the sufferings and the resistance of working women (often written out of history) and men at the centre of the story.” – Ian Birchall, author of The Spectre of Babeuf.


All prior video programs are viewable on our archive YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/OpenUnivoftheLeft/

All Open University of the Left programs are free and are open to all.