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T H E POLI T I C A L L I F E O F B L A C K C OMMUNIS T LEFT O F K A R L M A R X C L A U D I A JONES Carole Boyce Davies LEFT OF KARL MARX THE POLITICAL LIFE OF BLACK LEFT OF KARL MARX COMMUNIST CLAUDIA JONES Carole Boyce Davies Duke University Press Durham and London 2007 ∫ 2008 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper $ Designed by Heather Hensley Typeset in Adobe Janson by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book. 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 his project owes everything to the spiritual guidance of Claudia Jones Therself 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 A variety of other friends and colleagues have provided quick leads and directions that advanced this project substantially. These include Lydia Lind- sey, Gerald Horne, Donna Weir-Soley, Buzz Johnson, Cecil Gutzmore, Win- ston James, Sharon Harley, Robert Hill, Rosemari Mealy, Sam Anderson, Geri Allen, Ulla Taylor, Tony Bogues, Michael Hanchard, Winston James, Brian Meeks, John McClendon, Rupert Lewis, Greg Thomas, and Linda Carty. Colin Palmer organized a Symposium at the Schomburg which pro- vided one of the earliest fora on Claudia Jones and presented a range of figures who knew her such as Howard ‘‘Stretch’’ Johnson, Jan Carew, and George Lamming. A number of colleagues who read the manuscript at its various stages and offered detailed suggestions are specially thanked, particularly Monica Jar- dine, Gerald Horne, Ricky Cambridge, Greg Thomas, John McClendon, Babacar M’bow, Rhoda Reddock, and George Lamming. Readers at Duke University Press and my editor Reynolds Smith are also acknowledged for their responses to this work and understanding the significance of this project. The Sister Scholars—Women of Color Research Group from the Univer- sity of Maryland—are acknowledged for providing the context in which to do this kind of work, particularly from the example of other colleagues like Elsa Barkley Brown doing her own work on Maggie Lena Walker, and Francille Rusann Wilson doing work on Sadie T. M. Alexander. Sharon Harley in particular is identified for friendship and leadership and amazing collegiality. John McClendon, my colleague from graduate school at Howard Univer- sity’s African Studies and Research Program, has been a steady traveling companion and supporter of this project throughout its history and is recog- nized here for his allied work on CLR James and on other left activist schol- ars.

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