Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones

341 Pages·2008·6.04 MB·English

by  Carole Boyce Davies

The
PoliTical
life of
Black
communisT
L e f t o f K a r L M a r x
Claudia
Jones
Carole Boyce Davies
LEFT OF KARL MARX

THE
POLITICAL
LIFE OF
LEFT OF KARL MARX
BLACK
COMMUNIST
CLAUDIA
JONES
Carole Boyce Davies
Duke University Press Durham and London 2007
∫ 2008 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
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Designed by Heather Hensley
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Preface xiii
Chronology xxiii
Introduction. Recovering the Radical Black Female Subject:
Anti-Imperialism, Feminism, and Activism 1
1. Women’s Rights/Workers’ Rights/Anti-Imperialism:
Challenging the Superexploitation of Black Working-Class Women 29
2. From ‘‘Half the World’’ to the Whole World: Journalism
as Black Transnational Political Practice 69
3. Prison Blues: Literary Activism and a Poetry of Resistance 99
4. Deportation: The Other Politics of Diaspora, or ‘‘What is
an ocean between us? We know how to build bridges.’’ 131
5. Carnival and Diaspora: Caribbean Community, Happiness,
and Activism 167
6. Piece Work/Peace Work: Self-Construction versus State
Repression 191
Notes 239
Bibliography 275
Index 295

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project owes everything to the spiritual guidance of Claudia Jones
herself with signs too many to identify. At every step of the way, she made
her presence felt in ways so remarkable that only conversations with friends
who understand the blurring that exists between the worlds which we inhabit
could appreciate. The many anecdotes that surround this narrative are best
left to that realm of Caribbean realism that we share over good food and
drinks, wakes, and assorted rituals.
Diane Langford, the erstwhile guardian of the Claudia Jones papers, is
owed a special debt of gratitude for her trust in me and her confidence that I
was the person she was waiting for and that Claudia’s papers would be safe
with me. Diane has become a wonderful friend, supportive reader, and source
of encouragement from across the Atlantic, providing at times surprising
photos, letters, and other bits of information. Ricky Cambridge, a trusted
comrade and Claudia’s last assistant, came into my life at a particular time in
this project, as though he were sent by Claudia herself to help guide me to her
papers in Hampstead, to reassure Diane that all of this was going to be in
good hands, to escort me through some of her ideas, to cross-check informa-
tion and be good ‘‘keeping company’’ through numerous pleasurable hours of
sharing. Janice Shinebourne has been an important link in all of the London
processes. Also, in London, thanks are also due to several former friends and
colleagues of Claudia Jones with whom I had interviews and conversations at
various times. These include Ranjana Ash, Pansy Jeffries, the now deceased
Billy Strachan, and John La Rose of New Beacon Books, Jessica and Eric
Huntley of Bogle L’Ouverture Publishing, and Donald Hinds. Buzz Johnson
is acknowledged for initially pointing me in the direction of this project.
Numerous libraries and librarians deserve acknowledgment: In London,
the library at Race and Class and the Brixton Public Library; in New York, the
Schomburg Research Library and Cultural Center, especially Diane Lachata-
nere and Howard Dodson; the Librarians at the University of the West In-
dies, St. Augustine, especially Margaret Rouse-Jones; the owtu Library in
San Fernando, Trinidad, the librarians at the Herskovits Library at North-
western University; and the professional and competent support of Steve
Switzer at Florida International University.
At Northwestern University, Dean Eric Sundquist and the African Ameri-
can Studies Department under the leadership of Sandra Richards and the
African Studies Program under the leadership of Jane Guyer are gratefully
acknowledged for the Herskovits Professorship 2000–2001, during which
time I was able to advance this project considerably. Students in my graduate
class there were always interested in the advancement of this project, and
some provided assistance in the photocopying of documents. The Herskovits
Library at Northwestern University provided old copies of the Daily Worker
which provided invaluable documents on and by Claudia Jones and which I
devoured. My research assistant at Northwestern, Laura, did an amazing job
of photocopying and scanning materials from the Claudia Jones collection.
Paul Lane of Photo/digital Imaging, Evanston, did a very professional job of
reproducing some images used in this book. Reesom Haile, poet laureate of
Eritrea, now chanting poetry in another realm, passed through my world like
a flash of lightning but communicated his love of words and people from
which I learned immensely.
At the Centre for Gender and Development Studies, University of the
West Indies, St. Augustine, thanks are due to Rhoda Reddock for providing
me with the space and congeniality in which to work. Her support staff helped
with the assembling of the Guide to the Claudia Jones papers. Dr. Bridget
Bereton has also been very supportive of this project. Thanks are also due to
the Fulbright Foundation for a research fellowship from March to July 2002,
which allowed me to complete the Trinidad portion of the research, the
archival work in searching for Claudia Jones’s birth certificate and her birth-
place home in Belmont, Trinidad. Special thanks to John Donaldson Jr., for
a useful lead that made this happen more efficiently. The chapter ‘‘Prison
Blues’’ was completed in Trinidad during my period at the Centre and pre-
sented at the Caribbean Studies Association that year (Claudia May in the
viii Acknowledgments
audience provided helpful affirmation). My brother Joseph A. Boyce and his
wife, Marie, my cousins Margaret George and Isaac Thomas, my old Howard
flatmate and friend, Ken Forde, and Yvonne Corbin of my Nigeria and Bra-
silia days, are acknowledged for helpful comments and questions at the semi-
nar at the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at which I presented
some of this work.
In Binghamton, Kelvin Santiago-Valles and Gladys Jiménez-Muñoz pro-
vided material on the Puerto Rican independence movement as well as their
consistent friendship and support of this project. Chapters from this project
were presented to a variety of audiences of wonderfully engaged students and
faculty at the following universities: Spelman College (at the invitation of
Beverly Guy-Sheftall); Michigan State University; suny Buffalo (at the invita-
tion of Misani [Alexis] De Veaux, Monica Jardine and Women’s Studies); the
Coloniality Reading Group at Binghamton University; Syracuse University;
Caribbean Feminisms Workshop at uwi, Cave Hill; suny Stonybrook; Vassar
College; Oberlin College (at the invitation of Meredith Gadsby); the African
Diaspora Conference in Ottawa Canada (at the invitation of Leslie Sanders
and Rinaldo Walcott); the Caribbean Transnationalism Conference at the
University of South Bank, London (at the invitation of Harry Goulbourne);
Cornell University (at the invitation of Elizabeth De Loughrey); the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin, Madison (at the invitation of Stanlie James for the Black
Feminism Graduate Seminars); the African Literature Association Annual
Conference at the new Alexandria Library in Egypt; and the 2004 African
Diaspora Research Conference at the Sorbonne in Paris. At these presenta-
tions, many members of the audience suggested leads, many of which I could
never follow but for which I thank them. If I have neglected to identify
anybody, it is not intentional.
At Florida International University, Associate Dean Joyce Peterson pro-
vided very early references about Elizabeth Gurley Flynn from a book she
was reading by Rosalyn Fraad Baxandall. Rosalyn Fraad Baxandall herself has
been very supportive of this project. The African-New World Studies Pro-
gram at fiu which I directed from 1997–2000 and 2001 to 2006 and a variety
of graduate and work-study students provided the institutional framework for
this work to advance. Program coordinators Lillie McPhee and Rosa Hen-
riquez have been wonderful people to have on one’s team and helpful in
various ways in this project.
Acknowledgments ix