Black Bolshevik : autobiography of an Afro-American Communist

A child of slaves, Harry Haywood became a pioneer theorist of Black Power and a leader of the communist movement in the thirties. Black Bolshevik is a dramatic and personal narrative of fifty years of the Black struggle and the American left, including first-hand accounts of the Chicago race riot of 1919, the defense of the Scotsboro Boys, organizing sharecroppers in the South, and the Spanish Civil War. Author of the classic 'Negro Liberation,' member of the Communist Party's Politburo and head of its Negro department in the thirties, Haywood was expelled as a dissident in the fifties. Amiri Baraka called this a 'powerful political journal... The sweep of history and event contained in this book will fascinate any serious reader.' Enfant d'esclaves, Harry Haywood est devenu un théoricien pionnier de Black Power et un leader du mouvement communiste dans les années trente. Black Bolchevik est un récit dramatique et personnel de cinquante ans de lutte entre les Noirs et la gauche américaine, comprenant des récits de première main de l'émeute raciale de Chicago de 1919, de la défense des Scotsboro Boys, de l'organisation de métayers dans le Sud et de la Guerre. Auteur du classique 'Negro Liberation', membre du Politburo du Parti communiste et chef de son département des Nègres dans les années trente, Haywood fut expulsé comme dissident dans les années cinquante. Amiri Baraka a qualifié cette publication de '' journal politique puissant... Le survol de l'histoire et des événements contenus dans ce livre fascinera tous les lecteurs sérieux. Black Bolshevik is an autobiography of Harry Haywood, the son of former slaves who became a leading member of the Communist Party USA and a pioneering theoretician on the Afro-American struggle. The author's first-hand accounts of the Chicago race riot of 1919, the Scottsboro Boys' defense, communist work in the South, the Spanish Civil War, the battle against the revisionist betrayal of the Party, and other history-shaping events are must reading for all who are interested in Black history and the working class struggle. "Harry Haywood is one of the modern pioneers in the Black liberation struggle. Harry Haywood's name ranks in the early movement of the Black struggle along with the names of Dr. W.E.B. DoBois, Paul Robeson ..." — Robert F. Williams, author of Negroes With Guns and former President of NAACP, Monroe, North Carolina chapter "This is the first extensive autobiography of a Black member of the African Communist Party...This book needs to be read for the lessons it teaches for today." — John Henrik Clarke, Professor of African History, Hunter College "Harry Haywood's autobiography is indispensable for students of the history of the Communist Party and of Afro-American radicalism." — Mark Naison, Assistant Professor of Afro-American Studies, Fordham University "Black Bolshevik is the powerful story of one Black man's search for answers...from growing up in Omaha, to Minnesota, to Chicago, to Harlem, to France and World War I, to Africa, to Moscow, and back to Harlem USA...Struggling every step of the way, this is not merely a search for answers for 'self,' but answers for all oppressed people whom Franz Fanon has called 'the wretched of the earth.' " — John Oliver Killens Black Bolshevik is the autobiography of Harry Haywood, the son of former slaves who became a leading member of the Communist Part USA and a pioneering theoretician on the Afro-American struggle. The authors first-hand accounts of the Chicago race riot of 1919, the Scottsboro Boys defense, communist work in the South, the Spanish Civil War, the battle against the revisionist betrayal of the Party, and other history-shaping events are must reading for all who are interested in Black history and the working class struggle.