Today In Labor History April 7, 1804: Haitian general, Toussaint Louverture died on this day. He was one of the most prominent members of the Haitian revolution for independence from France. The slave revolt against the French began in 1791 with the call by Dutty Boukman, a vodou priest. Encouraged by the French and American revolutions. Louverture led 100,000 enslaved Haitians in revolt, winning their freedom in 1793. In 1804, Haiti became first free black republic in the world. The U.S. refused to recognize Haiti for the next 70 and France extracted millions in restitution, destroying any hope of ever moving out of deep poverty. Louverture was betrayed in the end and died in prison. For a fantastic history of the Haitian Revolution, read “The Black Jacobins,” by C.L.R.James.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #toussaintlouverture #haiti #revolution #slavery #racism #boukman #vodou #revolt #independence #BlackMastadon #prison #BlackJacobins #CLRJames #book #writer #author #nonfiction @bookstadon

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1901, #Marxist author #CLRJames was born in #Trinidad. Known for books on the #HaitianRevolution and #PanAfrican revolt, here is one of his on #DirectDemocracy, since so many people falsely believe Marxism requires #bureaucracy.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/works/1956/06/every-cook.htm

A Microcosm of the World: C.L.R. James, interviewed by Stuart Hall, introduction by Phoebe Braithwaite: The complete, unaired 1976 BBC interview:

"In May 1976, the Jamaican-born cultural theorist Stuart Hall sat down in the BBC’s studios in West London to interview the Trinidadian-born intellectual C.L.R. James."

#StuartHall #Academic #Africa #Blacks #BlackFedi #BlackMastodon #Books #PhoebeBraithwaite #CLRJames

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/12/21/a-microcosm-of-the-world-clr-james-stuart-hall/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2024-12-21_Braithwaite-Hall-James-1&fbclid=IwY2xjawHT4U1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHel7dkSbTaw9nCMYjcpLsQCFfrYjMWfIbL8Dz7tCyDsah4DqPy1ZELwRVg_aem_n7TWu7ih_N78ES6TJmGVzQ

C L R James foresaw the crisis of US liberal democracy | Aeon Essays…

In late 1949, the West Indian intellectual C L R James sat down in his residence in Compton, California and, in a burst of creative energy, composed what turned out to be a frightfully prophetic analysis of the historical fate of democracy in the United States... Aeon essays #politicalphilosophy #clrjames #trinidadian #unitedstates #politics #democracy #history

https://formuchdeliberation.wordpress.com/2024/08/29/c-l-r-james-foresaw-the-crisis-of-us-liberal-democracy-aeon-essays/

Today in Labor History August 22, 1791: Encouraged by the French and American revolutions, Toussaint Louverture led over 100,000 Haitian slaves in a revolt against the French. They were ultimately successful, making Haiti the first black republic in the world. The US refused recognition of Haiti until 1865, as a result of pressure from Southern slaveholders. The French demanded $21 billion In today’s dollars) in reparations for the losses to the former slaveholders, in exchange for peace and recognition of Haiti as an independent nation. The debt was financed through French banks and the U.S. bank, Citibank. The Haitians finally paid it off in 1947. However, the huge interest payments for their independence debt, and the debt incurred through the corruption of the Duvalier dynasty, have made Haiti one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere. Prior to independence, Haiti was the richest and most productive of all of Europe’s colonies.

The best book I’ve read on the Haitian Revolution is “The Black Jacobins,” by Trinidadian socialist C.L.R. James. Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier explores the revolution in his novel, “The Kingdom of This World” (1949). You can read more about Toussaint Louverture and the slave uprising in Madison Smartt Bell’s trilogy called “All Souls' Rising” (1995) and Isabel Allende’s 2010 novel, “Island Beneath the Sea.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #haiti #Revolution #jacobins #toussaintlouverture #slavery #colonialism #books #CLRJames #novel #fiction #author #writer #isabelallende #BlackMastadon @bookstadon

Packend geschildert, klassenanalytisch klug und ein Korrektiv eurozentrischer Geschichtsschreibung, das Schwarze Geschichte sichtbar macht: C.L.R. James' »Die schwarzen Jakobiner« zur Haitianischen Revolution, die in der Nacht zum 23. August 1791 begann. Der einzige erfolgreiche Aufstand in der modernen Geschichte, in der versklavte Menschen aus eigener Kraft ihre Freiheit und Unabhängigkeit erkämpften. Must-Read: https://dietzberlin.de/produkt/c-l-r-james-die-schwarzen-jakobiner

#clrjames #haitianischerevolution

Today in Labor History May 19, 1989: Trinidadian Marxist historian and journalist C.L.R. James died. James was the author of The Black Jacobins (1938), Breaking a Boundary (1963), numerous articles and essays on class and race antagonism, West Indian self-determination, cricket, Marxism, & aesthetics. In 1933, he published the pamphlet The Case for West-Indian Self Government. He was a champion of Pan-Africanism and a member of the Friends of Ethiopia, an organization opposed to fascism and the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. He also wrote a play about the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History. Paul Robeson starred in the 1936 British production.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #CLRJames #marxism #trinidad #westindies #haiti #revolution #history #books #author #writing #BlackMastadon @bookstadon