Rahcel Holmes On Eleanor Marx

Rachel Holmes’s sensational biography of Eleanor Marx – daughter of Karl – has spearheaded a re-evaluation of a major but overlooked figure in British socialism and early feminism. Visionary, firebrand and a transformative force in 19th-century politics, Eleanor Marx (1855–98) was the first to translate Madame Bovary into English, the first woman to lead the dock workers’ and gas workers’ trades unions, and a tireless advocate of her father and his work.
Rachel Holmes talks about this fascinating and multi-faceted figure, and the experience of retelling a story that has captured the imagination in a new era of political upheaval.