On Thursday, July 1st, THIS IS FOREVER Event and Discussion Series will be hosting Noel Ignatiev for a presentation and discussion of C.L.R. James’ classic essays “Every Cook Can Govern” and “The Invading Socialist Society.” Both essays can be found with an introduction by Noel in the recently published “A New Notion” (PM Press, 2010).
Portraying C. L. R. James as a leading figure in the independence movement in the West Indies and in the black and working-class movements in both Britain and the United States, this volume provides an extensive introduction to James’s life and thought before presenting two critical works that illustrate the tremendous breadth and depth of his worldview. Both long-out-of-print pamphlets display James’s contributions to Marxist and revolutionary theory as he documents and elaborates on the aspects of working-class activity that constitute the revolution in today’s world. Fully encapsulating James’s thoughts on democracy and workers’ emancipation, these essential works represent the principal themes that run through James’s life: implacable hostility toward all “condescending saviors” of the working class and an underlying faith in the power of ordinary people to build a new world.
The event will be at Bluestockings Bookstore at 7PM.
Discussion to follow.
Noel Ignatiev is a teacher at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the editor of Lesson of the Hour: Wendell Phillips on Abolition and Strategy, the co-editor of Race Traitor and the author of How the Irish Became White. He lives in Boston.