The re-emergence of interest in social history owes much to the work of a specific generation of British Marxist historians, including EP Thompson and Christopher Hill. The Making of the English Working Class, by EP Thompson, was one of the most influential historical texts of the second half of the 20th century[][]. Published in 1963, this book was an influential, crucial and enriching text that broadened the conception of working class history. By referencing popular culture such as religion, festivals and beggars, as well as including traditional elements such as unions and real wages, Thompson was able to escape the old Marxist assumptions of historical materialism that propelled to modern relevance. His rejection of elements of Marx's historical materialism was forged during his break with Stalinism and his exit from the Communist Party of Great Britain. Thompson claimed that his abandonment of orthodox historical materialism was due to its malleability, which made it "a bad and dangerous model, since Stalin used it not as an image of changing men in society but as a mechanical model" . His stories, with a general overview of the deficiencies of orthodox Marxist theory, rejected three fundamental Marxist concepts: the primacy of economics.