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Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones by Carole Boyce Davies
curryandcommunism's review
3.0
I read some iffy reviews before deciding to dive into this one but decided to give it a shot anyways. In the end, my thoughts on the book are pretty similar to many of those reviews. This book doesn't exactly work as a straight biography, doesn't exactly work as a "political biography" (in the spirit of something like Black Bolshevik by Haywood or Du Bois' multiple biographies), and doesn't exactly work as an explanation of Claudia's worldview or ideology.
I am no stranger to academic literature and to academic analysis of historical communist thinkers, but personally found this book to be pretty lacking in terms of applicability to my own self-education and strengthening of my own ideology, and think it works more as a purely academic analysis of Claudia than as any sort of educational material for people seeking political understanding.
If you are going to read this I'd highly recommend having at least some knowledge of black feminist history and black feminist critiques of the white American feminist movement prior to the 1980s, and at least a basic knowledge of Marxism-Leninism. I went in with both and decided to jump ship about a third of the way through, but you may be able to get something out of it. I also attempted to listen to this at audiobook while at work and think you might get a bit more out of it with a print copy and lots of skimming.
I may return to it one day, but have decided to shelve it for now in favor of more pressing readings. Davies apparently has a collection of Claudia's writings that I will be purchasing instead and that will probably give me more of what I'm looking for.
I am no stranger to academic literature and to academic analysis of historical communist thinkers, but personally found this book to be pretty lacking in terms of applicability to my own self-education and strengthening of my own ideology, and think it works more as a purely academic analysis of Claudia than as any sort of educational material for people seeking political understanding.
If you are going to read this I'd highly recommend having at least some knowledge of black feminist history and black feminist critiques of the white American feminist movement prior to the 1980s, and at least a basic knowledge of Marxism-Leninism. I went in with both and decided to jump ship about a third of the way through, but you may be able to get something out of it. I also attempted to listen to this at audiobook while at work and think you might get a bit more out of it with a print copy and lots of skimming.
I may return to it one day, but have decided to shelve it for now in favor of more pressing readings. Davies apparently has a collection of Claudia's writings that I will be purchasing instead and that will probably give me more of what I'm looking for.
kevin_shepherd's review
4.0
“The only Black woman among communists tried in the United States, sentenced for crimes against the state, incarcerated, and then deported, Claudia Jones seems to have simply disappeared from major consideration in a range of histories… How could someone who had lived in the United States from the age of eight, who had been so central to Black and communist political organizing throughout the 1930s and 1940s, up to the mid-1950s, simply disappear?”
McCarthyism: the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of treason and subversion, especially when related to socialism, anarchism, and communism. Usually accomplished in a public forum for purposes of propaganda.
Chances are good, especially if you’re a white American and a product of American public schools, that you have never heard mention of Claudia Jones and her contributions to the anti-imperialist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. That’s because the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), verifiable by their own documentation, waged an effective campaign to erase her from our collective consciousness. In Jones’ case, her crimes were her ideas and her ideas were deemed too dangerous for public consumption.
“As a negro woman communist of West Indian descent, I was a thorn in their side in my opposition to Jim Crow racist discrimination against sixteen million Negro Americans in the United States, in my work to redress these grievances, for unity of workers, for women’s rights, and for my general political activity urging the American people to help by their struggles to change the present foreign and domestic policy of the United States.” ~CJ
Carole Boyce Davies’ Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones is much more of an assessment than a description. If you read biographies simply because you want to be entertained, this is not your book. This is a high caliber, university level dissertation. Stay focused and take notes.
“The fine talk about the free flow and exchange of ideas internationally, and about freedom of speech in the U.S. rings false when placed against the desperate attempt to deport me because of my political views. I am proud of my political views because I learned them in American schools. The traditions of democratic struggle exemplified by Franklin, Lincoln, Jefferson, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth are the ideas that inspired me and my views. Why are they so frightened by the political view of one negro woman?” ~Claudia Jones, 1955
“This rediscovery of Claudia Jones, the individual subject, reinstates a radical Black female intellectual-activist position into a range of African diaspora, left history, and Black feminist debates.” ~Carole Boyce Davies, 2007
McCarthyism: the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of treason and subversion, especially when related to socialism, anarchism, and communism. Usually accomplished in a public forum for purposes of propaganda.
Chances are good, especially if you’re a white American and a product of American public schools, that you have never heard mention of Claudia Jones and her contributions to the anti-imperialist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. That’s because the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), verifiable by their own documentation, waged an effective campaign to erase her from our collective consciousness. In Jones’ case, her crimes were her ideas and her ideas were deemed too dangerous for public consumption.
“As a negro woman communist of West Indian descent, I was a thorn in their side in my opposition to Jim Crow racist discrimination against sixteen million Negro Americans in the United States, in my work to redress these grievances, for unity of workers, for women’s rights, and for my general political activity urging the American people to help by their struggles to change the present foreign and domestic policy of the United States.” ~CJ
Carole Boyce Davies’ Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones is much more of an assessment than a description. If you read biographies simply because you want to be entertained, this is not your book. This is a high caliber, university level dissertation. Stay focused and take notes.
“The fine talk about the free flow and exchange of ideas internationally, and about freedom of speech in the U.S. rings false when placed against the desperate attempt to deport me because of my political views. I am proud of my political views because I learned them in American schools. The traditions of democratic struggle exemplified by Franklin, Lincoln, Jefferson, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth are the ideas that inspired me and my views. Why are they so frightened by the political view of one negro woman?” ~Claudia Jones, 1955
“This rediscovery of Claudia Jones, the individual subject, reinstates a radical Black female intellectual-activist position into a range of African diaspora, left history, and Black feminist debates.” ~Carole Boyce Davies, 2007
sydthebeesknee's review
5.0
I thought this was excellent. From this book, I've gained a lot of respect for Claudia Jones as a theorist, journalist, poet, and cultural worker. I also took away that Jones should really be regarded as a foundational [Black] feminist thinker. She was so ahead of her time in her writings and analyses.
jiujensu's review
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I highly recommend Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones, especially if you have left leaning feminist anti-racist, anti-capitalist anti-imperialist politics. If the black power, civil rights and labor movements, anti-war protests, and women's rights advocates inspire you, this is a perfect fit. It also gives insight into the red scare, which it seems, is much needed - the discourse isn't much different now as in her time.
As a black communist woman, she was a symbol for much of what the US tried/tries to erase. Since the US Communist Party was criminalized, an 807 page FBI file was compiled, and she was imprisoned and deported for her beliefs and writings. She wrote about peace and equal rights and so was an enemy of the state.
My favorite quote summing up the case against her:
The publication of her ideas was what constituted her criminal offense. Now that the material is all available to us, we can see that in its use of "literary evidence," the state's case rested on literary misinterpretation, flawed and biased analyses, and deliberately superficial critical reading.
As a black communist woman, she was a symbol for much of what the US tried/tries to erase. Since the US Communist Party was criminalized, an 807 page FBI file was compiled, and she was imprisoned and deported for her beliefs and writings. She wrote about peace and equal rights and so was an enemy of the state.
My favorite quote summing up the case against her:
The publication of her ideas was what constituted her criminal offense. Now that the material is all available to us, we can see that in its use of "literary evidence," the state's case rested on literary misinterpretation, flawed and biased analyses, and deliberately superficial critical reading.
seeceeread's review against another edition
3.75
𝗟𝗘𝗙𝗧 𝗼𝗳 𝗞𝗔𝗥𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗫 : 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗝𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 x Carole Boyce Davies, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘺 Malaika Cooper (2007)
💭 "Claudia Jones' best contribution to Black feminist thought is her theorizing of the super exploitation of the Black woman. Black women — as workers, as Negroes, as women — were the most oppressed stratum of the whole population."
Davies shows how Jones' political life mirrored the position of her gravestone — to the left of Marx. By reviewing Jones' vanguard efforts, the author hopes to return Jones to a rightful status in the Americas, with recognition and respect. Readers learn of Jones' writing for Communist Party USA, often on "the woman question," and especially her pushing the party to address racism and compounding forces against working Black women. Her column became the basis of a McCarthy era case against Jones, for which she was incarcerated and ultimately deported. We get excerpts of Jones' poetry while locked up, a review of her organizing to establish Caribbean political presence through a London carnival, ideological links (or tensions) between Jones and contemporaries, especially Ida B Wells and CLR James, and quotes from her federal files: "Paradoxically, the FBI becomes Claudia Jones' amanuensis." Embedded throughout is headier discussion about leftist traditions, and state power leveraged against African diaspora.
I like Davies' work to contextualize. With a political life nearly a century old, it's helpful to revisit Claudia's conditions. Davies sometimes wandered too far afield for my taste, with lengthy asides on philosophical questions that didn’t feel necessary to appreciate Jones. She repeats Claudia's words often, adding new layers of analysis each time. I wonder if different organization could have led to less repetition. Overall, I'm glad I read this and place it alongside books like 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗱𝗮 𝗕. 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀, 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲, and 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲 — essential for concrete examples of admirable, righteous Black women who inspire and inform.
💭 "Claudia Jones' best contribution to Black feminist thought is her theorizing of the super exploitation of the Black woman. Black women — as workers, as Negroes, as women — were the most oppressed stratum of the whole population."
Davies shows how Jones' political life mirrored the position of her gravestone — to the left of Marx. By reviewing Jones' vanguard efforts, the author hopes to return Jones to a rightful status in the Americas, with recognition and respect. Readers learn of Jones' writing for Communist Party USA, often on "the woman question," and especially her pushing the party to address racism and compounding forces against working Black women. Her column became the basis of a McCarthy era case against Jones, for which she was incarcerated and ultimately deported. We get excerpts of Jones' poetry while locked up, a review of her organizing to establish Caribbean political presence through a London carnival, ideological links (or tensions) between Jones and contemporaries, especially Ida B Wells and CLR James, and quotes from her federal files: "Paradoxically, the FBI becomes Claudia Jones' amanuensis." Embedded throughout is headier discussion about leftist traditions, and state power leveraged against African diaspora.
I like Davies' work to contextualize. With a political life nearly a century old, it's helpful to revisit Claudia's conditions. Davies sometimes wandered too far afield for my taste, with lengthy asides on philosophical questions that didn’t feel necessary to appreciate Jones. She repeats Claudia's words often, adding new layers of analysis each time. I wonder if different organization could have led to less repetition. Overall, I'm glad I read this and place it alongside books like 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗱𝗮 𝗕. 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀, 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲, and 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗿𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲 — essential for concrete examples of admirable, righteous Black women who inspire and inform.
ignatz_maria's review
informative
medium-paced
jones is fascinating but it almost feel like the wealth of material exceeds the book. the text often lacks direction and is repetitive (davies quotes one passage from the same source on the notting hill riots 3-4 separate times, twice in one chapter!) and seems more focused on situating jones in contemporary debates than her own context. so yes worth reading but maybe better to start with davies’ collection of jones’ writings in beyond containment
historicalmaterialgirl's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
This book is more a biography of Jone's ideas, with a few personal details thrown in, than an actual biography. There are something very useful and insightful points about how Marxism-Leninism can apply to the conditions of Black women, and the US government's use of deportation and incarceration to enforce capitalist ideology, especially as anti-immigration, anti-Black and anti-communist laws conflux. That being said, there are a lot of tangents, repetition and parts that I personally did not find useful or interesting, especially regarding poetry lmao