James Heartfield (born 1961) is a British lecturer and historian.
Life Heartfield has written books on the history of the British Empire, including The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (2016) and The Blood-Stained Poppy: A critique of the politics of commemoration (2019). Heartfield has written for ArtReview, Blueprint, Spiked Online, and the Times Education Supplement. His Ph.D. thesis, completed under the supervision of David Chandler at the University of Westminster in 2010, was published as The European Union and the End of Politics, in 2013. Our Doctoral Research Programme, University of Westminster
In May 2006, with Julia Svetlichnaja, he interviewed the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko. Heartfield worked as a vaccinator during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Politics Heartfield is a former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and was previously a writer for their magazine Living Marxism.See Heartfield, 'The Tyranny of Identity Politics', in Spiked (magazine) 25 January 2008, https://www.spiked-online.com/2008/01/25/the-tyranny-of-identity-politics/, and also,'Articles from Living Marxism online' on Heartfield's website http://heartfield.org/lm.htm In 2002 he helped set up the Audacity campaign for more house-building. He has written in favour of Israel's right to independence.Israel: an anti-colonial triumph https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/03/30/israel-an-anti-colonial-triumph/ Heartfield stood as a candidate for the Brexit Party in the 2019 European Parliament election for Yorkshire and the Humber but did not gain a seat. Heartfield justified his standing as the Brexit Party being "the only serious party willing to champion the cause of democracy in the European elections" and stating that "The Brexit Party is not a racist party."
Personal life
He lives in north London and is married with two daughters.James Heartfield's homepage for 16 September 2017
Publications Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, (with Cronain O'Kelly) London, Archway Books, 2026 Britain's Empires: A History, 1600–2020 London, Anthem Press, 2022 The Blood-Stained Poppy: A critique of the politics of commemoration London, Zer0 Books, 2019 The Equal Opportunities Revolution London, Repeater Books, 2017 The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society London Hurst Books/Oxford University Press, 2016Reviews of The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society: Katie Donington, History: The Journal of the Historical Association, Richard R. Follett, History: Reviews of New Books, Kevin Grant, The Journal of African History, Richard Huzzey, Victorian Studies, , Reinhart Kößler, Peripherie, Alex Middleton, The English Historical Review, J. R. Oldfield, Journal of British Studies, Dorothy V. Smith, Africa Today, , Who's Afraid of the Easter Rising? (with Kevin Rooney), London Zer0, Books, 2015 The European Union and the End of Politics London, Zer0 Books, 2013Review of The European Union and the End of Politics: Alexandru Drăgulin, Journal of Ethnophilosophical Questions and Global Ethics, British Workers & the US Civil War London, Reverspective, 2013Review of British Workers & the US Civil War: John Asimakopoulos, Theory in Action, Unpatriotic History of the Second World War London, Zer0 Books, 2012Review of Unpatriotic History of the Second World War: John Newsinger, Review 31, The Aborigines' Protection Society: Humanitarian Imperialism in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, South Africa, and the Congo, 1836–1909 Hurst (London), and Columbia University Press (New York), 2011Reviews of The Aborigines' Protection Society: Samuel Furphy, Aboriginal History, Susan Hinely, Human Rights Review, Douglas A. Lorimer, Victorian Studies, , Jane Samson, The Journal of Pacific History, , Caroline Shaw, Journal of Human Rights, Rachel Standfield, H-Net Reviews, Green Capitalism: manufacturing scarcity in an age of abundance, Openmute, 2008Review of Green Capitalism: Nathan Coombs, Marx & Philosophy Review of Books, Let's Build! Why we need Five Million Homes in the next 10 Years (Audacity, 2006) Escape the Creative Ghetto, with Chris Powell, NESTA, 2006 Creativity Gap Blueprint, 2005 The "Death of the Subject" Explained Sheffield Hallam University Press, 2002Review of The "Death of the Subject" Explained: Munira Mirza, International Journal of Cultural Policy, Great Expectations: the creative industries in the New Economy London, Design Agenda, 2000 Need and Desire in the Post-material Economy Sheffield Hallam University Press, 1998 Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age co-editor with Ian Abley, London, John Wiley, 2002.
References
External links James Heartfield's home page Telegraph article on Litvinenko