CLR James (1901 - 1989)

Fri Jan 04, 1901

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CLR James, born on this day in 1901, was a Trinidadian historian and journalist whose works include “The Black Jacobins”, a history of the Haitian Revolution, and “World Revolution”, detailing the rise and fall of the Communist International.

Born in Trinidad, James later moved to England to assist his friend, the West Indian cricketer Learie Constantine, with his autobiography. In 1933, he moved to London and begin organizing with Trotskyists. In the next few years, James wrote some of his most notable works, including both “World Revolution” and “The Black Jacobins”.

In 1939, James visited Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, México. The two disagreed on the “Negro Question”; Trotsky saw the Trotskyist Party as providing leadership to the black community in a relationship similar to the Bolsheviks and ethnic minorities in Russia, while James suggested that the self-organized struggle of African-Americans would lead to a broader radical social movement.

“When history is written as it ought to be written, it is the moderation and long patience of the masses at which men will wonder, not their ferocity.”

- CLR James

  • AllNewTypeFace
    2·
    3 days ago

    The library in Dalston (a mostly gentrified historically Afro-Caribbean neighbourhood of London) is named after him