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35 reviews for:
Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones
Carole Boyce Davies
4.23 AVERAGE
35 reviews for:
Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones
Carole Boyce Davies
4.23 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
๐๐๐๐ง ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ซ : ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ x Carole Boyce Davies, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ Malaika Cooper (2007)
๐ญ "Claudia Jones' best contribution to Black feminist thought is her theorizing of the super exploitation of the Black woman. Black women โ as workers, as Negroes, as women โ were the most oppressed stratum of the whole population."
Davies shows how Jones' political life mirrored the position of her gravestone โ 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 didnโt 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 ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐. ๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐น๐, ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ, and ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ โ essential for concrete examples of admirable, righteous Black women who inspire and inform.
๐ญ "Claudia Jones' best contribution to Black feminist thought is her theorizing of the super exploitation of the Black woman. Black women โ as workers, as Negroes, as women โ were the most oppressed stratum of the whole population."
Davies shows how Jones' political life mirrored the position of her gravestone โ 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 didnโt 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 ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐. ๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐น๐, ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ, and ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ โ essential for concrete examples of admirable, righteous Black women who inspire and inform.
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 daviesโ collection of jonesโ writings in beyond containment
informative
reflective
slow-paced
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
informative
slow-paced
This is an important piece of work for those interested in decolonial Marxism. Marx was a white, cishetero man of immense economic privilege. While Marxism is a commonly understood term, the philosophy is unfairly attributed to Marx himself, and Engles.
Claudia Jones is a prime example of the vast quantity of labor that Black, Indigenous, and other melanated humans have done to develop the philosophy commonly understood as Marxism - and to actually ACTION it. Quantifiably much more than any white Eurocentric cishet man ever has. I really appreciated the insights into Claudiaโs life. The writing was spot on. The historical storytelling hit all the right notes. This book really made me think about my own approach to the study of Marxism. Highly recommend, if youโre interested in the topic.
Claudia Jones is a prime example of the vast quantity of labor that Black, Indigenous, and other melanated humans have done to develop the philosophy commonly understood as Marxism - and to actually ACTION it. Quantifiably much more than any white Eurocentric cishet man ever has. I really appreciated the insights into Claudiaโs life. The writing was spot on. The historical storytelling hit all the right notes. This book really made me think about my own approach to the study of Marxism. Highly recommend, if youโre interested in the topic.
Amazing description of Claudia Jones's life. However, I think the context is missing in my cases.
SUPER interesting approach to an intellectual history
informative
medium-paced
Claudia Jones is truly such an inspiring person in how her actions directly reflected her politics and she did so seemingly flawlessly, one of the first to recognize some of the major talking points regarding black women, communism, feminism, imperialism, white feminism, etc, but the last brought up in a conversation, sadly, proving her right. for anyone interested in feminism, internationalism, anti-imperialism, african/caribbean diaspora, activism and organizing, communism, or marxist-leninism please read this, itโs something so special and inspiring