Claudia Jones Feminism

Davies political biography of Claudia Jones, Left of Karl Marx reflects on the the intersections between radical left history in politics and feminism in the 20th century. It introduces Claudia Jones as one of the renowned activist during that time as she used her own political radicalization and leadership to emulate the theories and metaphors of Karl Marx. This biography plays a significant role in contributing a piece of writing in regards to Black communist woman, and the influence of McCarthyism in eliminating their existence. Furthermore, it depicts Marxist feminism which focuses on “investigating and explaining the ways in which woman are oppressed through systems of capitalism and private property, while woman’s liberation can be achieved
This article debated against Earl Browder and his opinion that black communists should be in the communist working class or a separate category with a larger capitalist struggle but she challenged his rights on “self-determination.” Furthermore, it confronted many theories about radicalism, anti-capitalism, and black nationalism. She stated that “Browder’s line on self-determination was based on a pious hope that the struggle for full economic, social, and political equality for the Negro people would be ‘legislated’ somehow (56 Boyce Davies).” This directly related to Marxist principles because his dictionary of ‘Marxist thought’ explained how all socialist should use this principal of self-determination with a goal of socialism to unite nations and merge all people’s families, and that it would never emerge if people weren’t given an opportunity to pave their own
The crucial part of her theory was how she combined essential issues like the oppression of the working class, African American woman in the anti-capitalist movement, discrimination and black nationalism to gain equality. This was a Marxist feminist approach because Karl Marx believed that fascism seeks to destroy people by radically opposing them within the framework of national self-assertion and autonomy. Jones used this idea and turned it around by incorporating her radical thoughts to create a positive result instead of more oppression. In conclusion Davies biography on Claudia Jones helps readers see Jones’s contribution to Black studied and Woman Gender studied. Her influence from Marxists feminist theory impacted her fight in the social justice movement for woman. We see examples of this theory in her struggle to change the communist party, and in one of her acclaimed articles, On the Right to Self-Determination for the Negro People in the Black Belt. Moreover she uses techniques from Marx’s theory and adapts them to create her own sense of radicalism through the fascist triple K