In this intellectual history, Minkah Makalani reveals how early-twentieth-century black radicals organized an international movement centered on ending racial oppression, colonialism, class exploitation, and global white supremacy. Focused primarily on two organizations, the Harlem-based African Blood Brotherhood, whose members became the first black Communists in the United States, and the International African Service Bureau, the major black anticolonial group in 1930s London, In the Cause of Freedom examines the ideas, initiatives, and networks of interwar black radicals, as well as how they communicated across continents.

Through a detailed analysis of black radical periodicals and extensive research in U.S., English, Dutch, and Soviet archives, Makalani explores how black radicals thought about race; understood the ties between African diasporic, Asian, and international workers' struggles; theorized the connections between colonialism and racial oppression; and confronted the limitations of international leftist organizations. Considering black radicals of Harlem and London together for the first time, In the Cause of Freedom reorients the story of blacks and Communism from questions of autonomy and the Kremlin's reach to show the emergence of radical black internationalism separate from, and independent of, the white Left.

About the Author
Minkah Makalani is assistant professor of history at Rutgers University.

Reviews
An invaluable source for those researching the development of black radicalism during the interwar years." - Journal of Caribbean History

"An intriguing, detailed, study. . . . A substantial achievement." - American Historical Review



Book Information
ISBN 9781469617527
Author Minkah Makalani
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint The University of North Carolina Press
Publisher The University of North Carolina Press
Weight(grams) 444g