C.L.R. James

A STIRRING GRAPHIC NOVEL OF THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION The end of slavery started in what was then San Domingo. In 1791, the enslaved people of themost prized French sugar plantation colony revolted against their masters. For over twelveyears, against a backdrop of the French Revolution, they fought an epic black liberation strugglefor control of the island. Theirs was the first and only successful slave revolution. It was thecreation of Haiti as a nation, the first independent black republic outside of Africa, and aninternational inspiration to the persecuted and enslaved. This is the impassioned andbeautifully drawn story of the Haitian Revolution and its incredible leader: ToussaintLouverture. The text of this graphic novel is a play by C. L. R. James that opened in London in 1936 with PaulRobeson in the title role. For the first time, black actors appeared on the British stage in a workby a black playwright. The script had been lost for almost seventy years when a draft copy wasdiscovered among James’s archives. Now this extraordinary drama has been reimagined byartists Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjee.

The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History

Toussaint Louverture

The only novel from the world-renowned writer C.L.R. James - this extraordinary, big-hearted exploration of class was the first novel by a black West Indian to be published in the UK 'A novel written nearly a hundred years ago that brings the past alive with such charm, vitality and humour.' Bernardine Evaristo, from the Introduction 'As he walked home he looked up at the myriads of stars, shining in the moonlight. Did people live there? And if they did, what sort of life did they live?' It is the 1920s in the Trinidadian capital, and Haynes' world has been upended. His mother has passed away, and his carefully mapped-out future of gleaming opportunity has disappeared with her. Unable to afford his former life, he finds himself moving into Minty Alley - a bustling barrack yard teeming with energy and a spectacular cast of characters. In this sliver of West Indian working-class society, outrageous love affairs and passionate arguments are a daily fixture, and Haynes begins to slip from curious observer to the heart of the action. Minty Alley is a gloriously observed portrayal of class, community and the ways in which we are all inherently connected. An undisputed modern classic, this is an exceptional story told by one of the twentieth century's greatest Caribbean thinkers. Selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation.

Black Britain: Writing Back

Minty Alley

“Marxists envisage a total change in the basic structure of human relations. With that change our problems will not be solved overnight, but we will be able to tackle them with confidence. Such are the difficulties, contradictions, and antagonisms; and in the solution of them society moves forward and men and women feel they have a role in the development of their social surroundings. It is in this movement that we have the possibility of a good life.” —C.L.R. James, from Modern Politics This volume provides a brilliant and accessible summation of the ideas of left Marxist giant C.L.R. James. Originally delivered in 1960 as a series of lectures in his native Trinidad, these writings powerfully display his wide-ranging erudition and enduring relevance. From his analysis of revolutionary history (from the Athenian City-States through the English Revolution, Russian Revolution, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956), to the role of literature, art, and culture in society (from Charlie Chaplin to Pablo Picasso, via Camus and Eisenstein), to an interrogation of the ideas and philosophy of such thinkers as Rousseau, Lenin, and Trotsky, this is a magnificent tour de force from a critically engaged thinker at the height of his powers. An essential introduction to a body of work as necessary and illuminating for this century as it proved for the last.

Modern Politics

Grace Lee Boggs

Raya Dunayevskaya

Over sixty years ago, C.L.R. James and a small circle of collaborators making up the radical left Johnson-Forest Tendency reached the conclusion that there was no true socialist society existing anywhere in the world. Written in collaboration with Raya Dunayevskaya and Grace Lee Boggs, this is another pioneering critique of Lenin and Trotsky, and reclamation of Marx, from the West Indian scholar and activist, C.L.R. James. Originally published in 1950, this definitive edition includes the original preface from Martin Glaberman to the third edition, C.L.R. James’ original introductions to three previous editions and a new introduction from James’ biographer Paul Buhle.

Hao Wang

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