Chris Braithwaite: Mariner, Renegade, & Castaway

by Christian Hogsbjerg

Overview

Chris Braithwaite (aka Chris Jones ) was a black Barbadian seafarer who became a leading organiser of colonial seafarers in inter-war Britain. He played a critical role in the Pan-Africanist and wider anti-colonial movement alongside figures such as C.L.R. James and George Padmore. Christian H gsbjerg recovers Braithwaite s long overlooked life as a black radical and political trade-unionist, and suggests his determined struggle for working class unity in the face of racism and austerity retains relevance for us today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780990641865
Publisher:	Tatendrang Training
Publication date:	07/01/2017
Pages:	100
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Christian H gsbjerg is a historian based in the United Kingdom. He is the author of C.L.R. James in Imperial Britain (Duke University Press, 2014) and the co-author of Toussaint Louverture: A Black Jacobin in the Age of Revolutions (Pluto, 2017). He is the editor of a special edition of C.L.R. James s 1934 play about the Haitian Revolution, Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History (Duke University Press, 2013) and a new edition of James s pioneering anti-Stalinist history World Revolution, 1917-1936: The Rise and Fall of the Communist International (Duke University Press, 2017). He has also co-edited two volumes, The Black Jacobins Reader (Duke University Press, 2017) and Celebrating C.L.R. James in Hackney, London (Redwords, 2015). He is a member of the Socialist History Society, the Society for Caribbean Studies, and the editorial board of International Socialism.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 9

Introduction 11

Black Barbadian Mariner 16

From Mariner to Renegade 25

Revolutionary Renegade - Chris Braithwaite becomes Chris Jones 32

The Colonial Seamen's Association 50

The War Years 73

Castaway on the Black and Red Atlantic 81

Appendices

A Selected Writings of Chris Braithwaite 86

B Obituaries 96

C Appeal 99

Editorial Reviews

Through his scrupulous research of the compelling life and times of Chris Braithwaite, Christian H gsbjerg has uncovered the vital contribution of a pioneering black activist and anti-colonial stalwart. Braithwaite s brave achievement should be on the curriculum of all our schools. Chris Searle, Race & Class

Scrupulously referenced and with appendices of selected writings by Braithwaite, and some rare photos of him, this short publication will be of interest to students and researchers of twentieth century imperial and labour history, particularly maritime history. H gsbjerg s study keeps anti-imperialist activism, often marginalized in the historiography, firmly in the historical eye. It also reminds us that anti-racist and anti-capitalist struggles embraced by pioneering activists such as Chris Braithwaite are ongoing and unfinished.

Barbara Bush, Labour History Review

Christian H gsbjerg s biography from below of West Indian seaman Chris Braithwaite opens a portal onto an dynamic Black and Red Atlantic world of work and politics. Here is an excellent contribution to a people s history of the sea.

Marcus Rediker, author of The Amistad Rebellion

From the Publisher