4 ‘The instinct for hero worship works blindly’: English radical democrats and the problem of memorialization

Abstract

ABSTRACT Poole’s essay explores a number of historical precedents for today’s debates concerning statuary memorialization. Early-nineteenth-century radicals shared many of the same discussions and tactics that feature in modern controversies over memorial statuary, especially concerning ways of countering the triumphalism and elitism of commemorative projects. The difficulties associated in particular with memorializing progressive causes and subaltern heroes produced responses as varied and unsatisfactory in the nineteenth century as they do today, just as the need to generate and maintain commemorative consensus often produces anodyne and uninspiring memorials.