On October 1, noted British historian Eric Hobsbawm died at the Royal Free Hospital in London of pneumonia arising from complications of leukemia. He was 95.

A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, he wrote extensively on the modern history of Europe and the world, notably on the rise of industrial capitalism, nationalism, and the socialist movement. He taught at Birkbeck College in London from 1947 to 1982 and held the post of visiting professor in the political science department at the New School for Social Research in New York City from 1984 to 1997.

The World Socialist Web Site will publish a more detailed assessment of Professor Hobsbawm’s career, but we are first reposting a lecture by David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the WSWS, entitled “Leon Trotsky and the Fate of Socialism in the Twentieth Century,” delivered as a reply to Professor Hobsbawm’s 1998 book On History.