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A review by curryandcommunism
Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones by Carole Boyce Davies
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.