CLAUDIA JONES has been claimed by different organisations and individuals and even the British state, which used her image on a postage stamp. 

The stamp read: “Claudia Jones, Feminist, Political Activist, Journalist.” 

She was indeed all of those but she was also a fighter against racism, colonialism, imperialism, for unity of a multiracial working class and, above all, a communist. 

A new book sets out the life and struggles of Jones and her many “firsts,” becoming a national leader of a political organisation at an early age. 

The book explains her political theory and how it changed through her life, includes much information for those who are new to Jones’s work or who want to visit it in greater detail. 

In particular it highlights her struggle to escape the draconian laws and racist prison regime that eventually led to her forcible removal to Britain.

She was a member of the Communist Party of the USA from 1936 until her deportation to Britain in 1955. 

On her arrival she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, of which she remained a member until her premature death in 1964. 

Jones was a unique, brilliant woman, who became a leader and mentor for many throughout the world. 

At her funeral, the ANC’s message read: “World Liberation Loss. The death of Claudia Jones has deprived liberation fighters all over the world of one of the most dynamic and most militant fighters.

“It is difficult to think of anyone in recent years who has remained so incorruptible in spite of the insidious influences of artificial independence. 

“Claudia as we knew her belonged to the forefront of the struggle against imperialism, colonialism and fascism.” 

In Britain, veteran Caribbean communists Billy Strachan, Trevor Carter and Cleston Taylor recognised Jones as having a greater understanding of race and class than themselves and a greater vision. 

International Brigader and communist Tony Gilbert, who worked with her, stated: “There was no other black personality in Britain at that time who spoke so knowledgeably on trade unionism, she spoke at countless meetings. 

“She was tireless, constantly speaking and organising, despite illness.”

Jones came to the US as a child from Trinidad and experienced atrocious housing conditions. 

Despite a loving family who worked hard to raise her, the damp conditions led to her suffering a year in hospital as a teenager, battling tuberculosis, “the workers’ disease.” 

TB resulted in continual hospitalisation through her life, which was further worsened by the poor treatment she received in prison prior to her deportation.

Her deportation came about because of the refusal of the authorities to allow her to adopt US citizenship. 

Parallels with the Windrush scandal and the racist laws of the current government are obvious. 

Jones’s final message in the US read: “The special kind of reaction in its racist immigration laws directed especially against West Indians from whose proud heritage I spring and also against Asiatic people is the shame of America.”

Alongside other outstanding African-American female communists, she developed the theory of triple oppression under capitalism experienced as black, women and working class. 

She wrote: “Our party was the first to demonstrate to white women and the whole working class that the triply oppressed status of negro women is a barometer of the status of all women and that the fight for the full economic, political and social equality of the negro woman is in the vital self-interest of white workers, in the vital interest of the fight to realise equality for all women.”

Among her female black mentors in the Communist Party were a remarkable generation of black women communists. 

Alone of all political forces in the US, the Communist Party sought out the experience and political wisdom of black women and actively promoted them to senior responsibilty, right to the top of the organisation. 

Women such as Maude White Katz, who went to study in Moscow in the 1920s and became a union organiser and journal editor on her return, and Williana Burroughs, sacked from her teaching job for demanding decent lunches for her students. 

Burroughs went to the Soviet Union and broadcast on the radio there throughout World War II. 

Louise Thompson Patterson travelled to Spain as a journalist during the Spanish civil war. 

Jones also worked alongside such outstanding younger black communist women as Esther Cooper Jackson who later edited Freedomways journal, Augusta Strong, a leading member of  civil rights organisations and the brilliant dramatist Lorraine Hansberry.  

Jones in turn was a role model for Charlene Mitchell who in 1968 was communist candidate for president, the first time an African-American woman stood for that position. 

Mitchell, currently in her 90th year, visited Jones in London in 1960 and she went on to become the mentor of another black communist woman who twice stood as vice-presidential candidate for the CPUSA, Angela Davis.

Jones’s greatest achievements in Britain were the creation of the annual Caribbean Carnival in 1959, celebrating the talents, culture and unity of people despite racism and  founding and editing the West Indian Gazette. 

Her skill and unique personality as leader and mentor attracted many young people, like Caribbean communist Winston Pinder, who worked with her and regularly sold the paper and Donald Hinds, a Jamaican bus worker who, encouraged by her, went on to become a teacher, lecturer and writer. 

The paper featured black British, Caribbean and African news. It supported the Soviet Union, China and Cuba and gave total support to liberation movements. 

As the anti-racist struggle took shape, the Gazette was renamed the West Indian Gazette & Afro-Asian-Caribbean News.
  
The writings of Claudia Jones are available in books and online and are as relevant today as they were when they were written.

I urge you to seek them out. Researching and writing The Political Life and Times of Claudia Jones has been an inspiration and we need to treasure her deeds and her memory. 

Morning Star readers are invited to attend the online book launch today, Tuesday December 1, at 7pm. Speakers: author David Horsley (CP), past director of the Notting Hill Carnival Dr Claire Holder, and campaigners Windrush barrister Jacqueline McKenzie and freelance author Angela Cobbinah. Chair: Luke Daniels, president of Caribbean Labour Solidarity, with a special message from veteran activist Winston Pinder. Organised by CP Anti-Racism, Anti-Fascism Commission (ARAF).

You can register for the event at: mstar.link/2HVwUlu.