G. E. M. de Ste. Croix

G. E. M. de Ste. Croix FBA
Born	Geoffrey Ernest Maurice de Ste. Croix 8 February 1910 Portuguese Macau
Died	5 February 2000(2000-02-05)(aged 89) Oxford,England
Academic background
Education	Clifton College
Alma mater	University College, London
Academic work
Discipline	Ancient History
Sub-discipline	Peloponnesian War Delian League Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire historical materialism
Institutions	London School of Economics Birkbeck College New College, Oxford
Notable students	Robin Lane Fox Robert Parker Nicholas Richardson
Notable works	The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World(1981)

Geoffrey Ernest Maurice de Ste. Croix,FBA(/dəseɪntˈkrɔɪ/;8 February 1910 – 5 February 2000), known informally asCroicks,was a British historian who specialised in examiningAncient Greecefrom aMarxistperspective. He was Fellow and Tutor in Ancient History atNew College, Oxford,from 1953 to 1977, where he taught scholars includingRobin Lane Fox,Robert ParkerandNicholas Richardson.

Early life

Ste. Croix (Sainte Croix) was born on 8 February 1910 inPortuguese Macau,and baptised inSt John's Cathedral, Hong Kong.His parents were also born in China to British expatriates. His father, Ernest Henry de Ste Croix, who died when he was four, was an official in theChinese Customs.TheirHuguenotancestors fled toJerseyduring the time ofLouis XIV.His mother, Florence Annie (néeMacGowan), was the daughter of a Protestant missionary: she was a firm believer inBritish Israelism.Herfundamentalist Protestantbeliefs were ever present in his childhood: he would become a firm atheist.

After his father's death in 1914, Florence emigrated with her only child to the United Kingdom.Ste Croix was educated atClifton College,then an all-boysprivate schoolinBristol,England.There, he became proficient in Latin and Greek, and a talented tennis player.He won the under-16 South of England championship, and would go on to compete atWimbledonin 1930, 1931, and 1932.He had once defeatedFred Perryin a minor tournament.

Career

Legal career

He left school at the age of 15 and became anarticled clerkinWorthing,West Sussex, England. This allowed him to train for a legal career without a degree in law, and he was admitted as asolicitorin 1932. He practised in Worthing and then in London, until he was called up for war service in 1940.

During this time Ste. Croix became interested in politics. Though he had had, according to himself, received a "thoroughlyright-wingupbringing ",he was drawn to theleft.He visited Russia in 1935 or 1936 as a member of theCommunist Party of Great Britainbut moved away from the party after theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact.He would later join theLabour Party.

Military service

In 1940, Ste. Croix was called up for military service in theSecond World War.On 18 July 1941, he was commissioned in theRoyal Air Force(RAF) as anacting pilot officer(on probation) with seniority from 12 June 1941.He was regraded as apilot officer(on probation) on 18 September 1941.His commission was confirmed on 18 July 1942, and he was promoted toflying officeron 18 September 1942 with seniority in that rank from 12 August 1942.His job in the RAF was to interpret enemy radar signals to ascertain the location and destination of their aircraft.He served most of the War in the Middle East, stationed atIsmailia,Alexandria,andCyrenaica:in Egypt he had the opportunity to expand his knowledge ofancient languages.An atheist, he fought for, and was eventually allowed, exemption from the required Sunday services.

Academic career

In 1946, having been demobbed from the RAF, Ste. Croix matriculated intoUniversity College, London(UCL) to study ancient history: he preferred London overOxbridge,because it offered a history course coveringc.3000BC to the death ofHeracliusin AD641, notclassics(with its focus on language and philosophy).His main tutor wasA. H. M. Jones,the college's new chair of the Ancient History, who remained an influencing figure on Ste. Croix's work beyond his graduation.He graduated from University College, London with afirst-classBachelor of Arts(BA) degree in 1949.He was awarded aDoctor of Letters(DLitt) degree by theUniversity of Oxfordin 1978.

In 1950, Ste. Croix was appointedassistant lecturerin ancient economic history at theLondon School of Economics.He also taught atBirkbeck Collegeand UCL.He struggled to attract students to his courses and was embarrassed to be a lecturer in "a subject which no one was required or wished to study".In 1953, he was electedfellowand tutor in ancient history atNew College, Oxford:he lived at Oxford for the rest of his life. Due to a long-standing agreement with C. E. Stevens, he ledtutorialsin Greek history for classicists from New College andMagdalen College, Oxford:Stevens, in return, taught Roman history.In 1964, he attempted to convince his college to become the first of Oxford's all-male colleges to accept women: he failed, but helped change attitudes through the university.Turning his hand to college administration, he served as Senior Tutor for a number of years.He also held a university lectureship, and gave lecture series in Greek History and topics such as slavery, finance, and food supply.He gave the J. H. Gray lectures at theUniversity of Cambridgefor the 1972/73 academic year:these lectures developed intoThe Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World(1981).He retired from full-time academia in 1977 and was appointedEmeritus Fellow:the college elected him an Honorary Fellow in 1985.

In 1972, Ste. Croix was elected aFellow of the British Academy(FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.He was awarded theDeutscher Memorial Prizefor 1982.

Personal life

In 1932, Ste. Croix married Lucile. Together they had one daughter (died 1964). The couple divorced in 1959. That year, he married Margaret Knight. He had two sons from his second marriage.

Ste. Croix died on 5 February 2000 in Oxford, England.

Work

De Ste. Croix used this picture (The Potato Eatersby Van Gogh, 1885) as thefrontispiecefor his bookThe Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World

Within the circles of classical scholarship, Ste. Croix—as an exponent of aMarxistepistemologicalapproach—was frequently involved in debate with SirMoses Finley,an advocate ofWeberiansocietal analysis. The two often exchanged letters and their disagreements were always civil.

Ste. Croix is best known for his booksThe Origins of the Peloponnesian War(1972) andThe Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World: from the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests(1981). He was also a noted contributor on the issue of Christian persecution between the reigns of the Roman EmperorsTrajanandDiocletian.Of particular note in this regard are the articles written by Ste. Croix andA. N. Sherwin-White,each challenging the opinions of the other. There were four in total, displaying the light-hearted banter evident also in Ste. Croix's correspondence with Moses Finley.

The Character of the Athenian Empire(1954)

Ste. Croix's influential articleThe Character of the Athenian Empire,which first appeared inHistoria: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte(1954, 3, pp. 1–41), provoked a fresh debate about the nature of theDelian Leagueand theAthenian Empirewhich continues to this day. The article was based on a paperThe Alleged Unpopularity of the Athenian Empiredelivered to the London Classical Association on 14 June 1950.

The Origins of the Peloponnesian War(1972)

The Origins of the Peloponnesian Warmade several major contributions to scholarship on the subject of thePeloponnesian WarbetweenSpartaandAthens,the major one being a reinterpretation of theMegarian Decree,passed by theAthenian Ekklesiain 432 BC. Most scholarship hitherto had considered the decree to involve economic sanctions by excluding theMegarianstate and Megarian traders from access to ports throughout the Athenian Empire. Ste. Croix instead interpreted it as a religious sanction (drawing an analogy with theSpartandemand, in response to the Megarian Decree and other Athenian policies, forAthensto expel some religiously-tainted citizens). Ste. Croix maintained that the sanction was exercised not to hurt the Megarians, which it could not do because of the nature of trade and economics in the ancient world, but on religious grounds, which were felt to be genuine by the Athenians. His argument has not achieved general acceptance among historians.

Ernst Badianseverely judged Ste. Croix's book for his "obsessive hatred of Sparta". In his opinion, the book was "written to prove that Sparta bears almost sole responsibility for the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War".

The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World(1981)

Main article:The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World

The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek Worldwas an attempt to establish the validity of ahistorical materialistanalysis of the ancient Greek and Roman world. It covers the period roughly from Greek pre-classical times to the Arab conquest. Part one addresses fundamental topics. After an expository plan chapter II (Class, Exploitation, and Class Struggle) begins with an apologia of Ste. Croix's understanding of basic classical Marxist theory (§ IThe nature of class society) and some specific terms (§ II"Class', 'exploitation', and 'the class struggle' defined). The remainder of Part One is a detailed analysis of these concepts applied to the Ancient Greek World (Chs. IIIProperty and the Propertiedand IVForms of Exploitation in the Ancient Greek World, and the Small Independent Producer).

Part II contains the historical analysis per se and begins (Ch. VThe Class Struggle in Greek History on the Political Plane) with an exposition of how the economic processes addressed in part I lead to a gradual but complete eradication of Greekdemocracyby the middle of the Romanprincipate.The remaining chapters (VIRome the Suzerain,VIIThe Class Struggle on the Ideological Plane,and VIII"The Decline and Fall" of the Roman Empire: an Explanation) focus primarily on Rome and put forth the thesis that it was the increasing dependence on slave labor and diminishment of what would be considered in a modern context the middle classes that was the actual cause of the collapse. There is also a lengthy discussion of the significance of the mode by whichsurplus valueis generated. Ste. Croix makes the point that themode of surplus extractionis not necessarily the same as themode of productionengaged in by a majority of the population. Specifically, that while a relatively small portion of the work force were slaves, Rome under the principate nonetheless became essentially a slave society.

Selected publications

• "The character of the Athenian empire" inHistoria: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte,1954, 3, pp. 1–41.
• "Greek And Roman Accounting" 1956.
• The Origins of the Peloponnesian War.London: Duckworth, 1972.
• Early Christian attitudes to property and slavery.Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975.
• The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World: From the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests.London, Duckworth, 1981.

Further reading

• Ernst Badian,"Agis III: Revisions and Reflections", in Ian Worthington (editor),Ventures into Greek History [Second Australian Symposium on Ancient Macedonian Studies held at the University of Melbourne in July 1991, dedicated to Professor Nicholas Hammond],Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994.ISBN9780198149286
• Cartledge, P.A. and Harvey, F.D. (eds) (1985)Crux: Essays Presented to G.E.M. de Ste. Croix on his 75th Birthday.London: Duckworth in association with Imprint Academic.

External links

• ObituaryinThe Guardian(UK)Archived here.
• Obituaryin theWeekly Worker(UK)
• Obituary from the World Socialist Web Site.
• "G.E.M. de Ste Croix: A lifelong empathy with the oppressed".International Committee of the Fourth International.21 March 2000.Retrieved6 October2016.
• World Socialist Web Site: An exchange on G.E.M. de Ste. Croix.
• RootsWeb (genealogical information)