Making the Revolution Global: Black Radicalism and the British Socialist Movement Before Decolonisation - Hardcover

by Theo Williams (Author)

How black radicals reshaped the British left

Making the Revolution Global shows how black radicals transformed socialist politics in Britain in the years before decolonisation. African and Caribbean activist-intellectuals, such as Amy Ashwood Garvey, C.L.R. James, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah and George Padmore, came to Britain during the 1930s and 1940s and intervened in debates about capitalism, imperialism, fascism and war.

They consistently argued that any path towards international socialism must have colonial liberation at its heart. Although their ideas were met with opposition from many on the British Left, they convinced significant sections of the movement of the revolutionary potential of colonised peoples.

By centring the entanglements between black radicals and the wider British socialist movement, Theo Williams casts new light on responses to the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the 1945 Fifth Pan-African Congress, and a wealth of other events and phenomena. In doing so, he showcases a revolutionary tradition that, as illustrated by the global Black Lives Matter demonstrations of 2020, is still relevant today.

Author Biography

Theo Williams is a lecturer in twentieth-century British history at Durham University, UK. He specialises in the histories of anticolonialism and black radical politics. He co-organised the conference Anti-racism in Britain: Histories and Trajectories (2021) and has written for publications including African Studies Review, History Workshop Online, Libération, Modern Intellectual History, Review of African Political Economy and Twentieth Century British History.