Lenina Rosenweg
4th September 2010, 16:49
CLR James was an important but under recognized revolutionary figure, in my opinion. He was a cricket player and sports announcer from Trinidad. He went to England in the early 30s I believe. He was briefly connected with the CPGB but then he became a Trotskyist.He wrote "World Revolution" which was basically about the degeneration of the Comintern. It was a masterful Trotskyist analysis although it also personally slammed Trotsky himself for not "being a man" and standing up for himself.
James was active in the US SWP for a time. He met Trotsky in Mexico and discussed the African-American struggle in the US. Trotsky felt the black struggle was extremely important but admitted he didn't know much about it (he actually thought black Americans had their own language, which except for the Gullah people is obviously not true).Interestingly Trotsky himself seemed to advocate black nationalism while his comrades took the "orthodox Trotskyist" view of a united struggle.
He wrote the "Black Jacobins" about Toussaint L'overture and the Haitian Revolution which is a masterpiece.
After WWII James in collaboration w/Raya Dunskayava, Grace and James Lee Boggs (both important and fascinating people) developed a theory of state capitalism. His "Forest-Johnson Tendency" bounced between the Shachtmanites and the SWP for a while.He sharply criticized the opportunism and degeneration of the FI and people like Mandel and Pablo.
James eventually moved towards a type of syndicalism. His "Facing Reality" group was an influence on DRUM and on the French Socialism or Barbarism group.
CLR James seems to have been one of the few Marxists to actively like sports and pop culture.He thought that is the best way to reach the working class. In his old age he would spend all day in his London flat watching football, soap operas and game shows, to the surprise of his visiting comrades.
Post-modernists have used and abused him. In his writings that I've read he comes off as a fiery revolutionary.
He's fallen in between the cracks. Many Trots feel a bit uncomfortable with him, ML don't know what to make of him.
Anyway what do people think of James? I don't agree w/everything he said or did but he seems like a real hero.
James was active in the US SWP for a time. He met Trotsky in Mexico and discussed the African-American struggle in the US. Trotsky felt the black struggle was extremely important but admitted he didn't know much about it (he actually thought black Americans had their own language, which except for the Gullah people is obviously not true).Interestingly Trotsky himself seemed to advocate black nationalism while his comrades took the "orthodox Trotskyist" view of a united struggle.
He wrote the "Black Jacobins" about Toussaint L'overture and the Haitian Revolution which is a masterpiece.
After WWII James in collaboration w/Raya Dunskayava, Grace and James Lee Boggs (both important and fascinating people) developed a theory of state capitalism. His "Forest-Johnson Tendency" bounced between the Shachtmanites and the SWP for a while.He sharply criticized the opportunism and degeneration of the FI and people like Mandel and Pablo.
James eventually moved towards a type of syndicalism. His "Facing Reality" group was an influence on DRUM and on the French Socialism or Barbarism group.
CLR James seems to have been one of the few Marxists to actively like sports and pop culture.He thought that is the best way to reach the working class. In his old age he would spend all day in his London flat watching football, soap operas and game shows, to the surprise of his visiting comrades.
Post-modernists have used and abused him. In his writings that I've read he comes off as a fiery revolutionary.
He's fallen in between the cracks. Many Trots feel a bit uncomfortable with him, ML don't know what to make of him.
Anyway what do people think of James? I don't agree w/everything he said or did but he seems like a real hero.