E. P. Thompson was a well-known British historian, socialist, and peace activist of the twentieth century, most famous for his historical work The Making of the English Working Class. Thompson was born into an educated family in Oxford, England, in 1924. His father was a Methodist missionary, and his mother was a scholar. His childhood was marked by the death of his elder brother, Frank Thompson, a British officer who died in World War II. This personal tragedy significantly influenced Thompson's later political activism, driving his support of left-wing movements and his fight for social justice.

Thompson was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he became fascinated with Marxism and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain. Alongside historians such as Christopher Hill and Eric Hobsbawm, Thompson helped form the Communist Party Historians' Group. However, disillusioned by Stalinism, especially after the Soviet crushing of the Hungarian uprising in 1956, Thompson left the CPGB and became a key figure in the British New Left. His historical works and political activism sought to reform Marxism into a more humanistic ideology.

Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class, published in 1963, revolutionized social history by emphasizing "history from below," focusing on ordinary people’s lives and experiences. He redefined the concept of class, emphasizing that it was not a static system but a process shaped by shared experiences and the agency of the working class. Beyond his academic work, Thompson was a vocal advocate for peace, especially during the 1980s, when he became a prominent figure in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Today, Thompson’s ideas about class consciousness, social justice, and historical methodology remain highly influential. His work continues to be referenced by historians and political scientists worldwide.