Table Of ContentDarcus Howe
Also available from Bloomsbury
Identity in the Shadow of Slavery, edited by Paul E. Lovejoy
Never Been a Time: The 1917 Race Riot That Sparked the
Civil Rights Movement, Harper Barnes
Darcus Howe
A Political Biography
Robin Bunce and Paul Field
LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY
Bloomsbury Academic
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First published 2014
© Robin Bunce and Paul Field, 2014
This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No
Derivatives Licence. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only,
provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher. For permission
to publish commercial versions please contact Bloomsbury Academic.
Robin Bunce and Paul Field have asserted their right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or
refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be
accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-8496-6495-0
ePDF: 978-1-8496-6650-3
ePub: 978-1-8496-6651-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
In memory of C. L. R. James
vi
Contents
Authors’ Preface viii
Introduction – ‘Darcus Howe is a West Indian’ 1
1 Son of a Preacher Man 11
2 ‘Dabbling with Revolution’: Black Power Comes to Britain 27
3 Know Yourself 43
4 Cause for Concern 51
5 ‘Darcus Howe is not a Comedian’ 59
6 Revolution in Trinidad: ‘Seize Power and Send for James’ 71
7 A Resting Place in Babylon: Frank Crichlow and the Mangrove 93
8 Demonstration 105
9 Clampdown 111
10 55 Days at the Old Bailey 119
11 Towards Racial Justice 137
12 Race Today: ‘Come What May we are Here to Stay’ 153
13 Ten Years on Bail: ‘Darcus Outta Jail’ 171
14 ‘Thirteen Dead and Nothing Said’ 187
15 Insurrection 203
16 Carnival: Revolutionaries Don’t Wear Glitter 217
17 Playing Devil’s Advocate 225
18 Slave Nation 243
19 Fight to the Finish 253
Bibliography 267
Index 285
Authors’ Preface
Writing this book has involved many wonderful experiences. Hours in archives
are, of course, the historian’s delight, and we thank the staff at the National
Archives, the Institute of Race Relations, the George Padmore Institute, the
British Library, the Colindale Newspaper Archive, Warwick University Library,
Cambridge University Library, the Butler Library at the Columbia University
and the archives of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of Trinidad and Tobago, to
name but a few. We have spent many hours being entertained by our interviewees.
Early on in the project, we had the good fortune to spend an afternoon with
Farrukh Dhondy. ‘I expect you want me to tell you all the scandal,’ was his opener.
We earnestly assured him that we were writing a serious political piece, adding
that we couldn’t believe that there would be enough scandal to fill a single page.
‘There’s enough to fill seven volumes!’, he retorted.
One of the stranger experiences, only obliquely related to the project, was an
Equality and Diversity training session that one of us was compelled to attend
in the summer of 2011. Two trainers explained the workings of the Single
Equality Act aided by Post-it notes, highlighters and a hundred PowerPoint
slides. The tenor of the event is best illustrated by the following exchange. One
of the delegates, clearly concerned to get everything right, queried, ‘I was born
in New Zealand and my husband’s half Indian, so I’m never sure which box
to tick for our son when I’m filling out forms.’ One of the trainers took up the
question. ‘Your son’, she asked, ‘does he tan easily?’. ‘Yes’, replied the bemused
delegate. ‘Then he can tick the box that says “Lucky.” ’ This book is not written
in that spirit.
Of the many people who have helped and supported us in this project, the
following deserve a special mention:
Ian Macdonald QC, Michael Mansfield QC, Baroness Ross Howells, Alan
Hayling, Bill Bowring, John Howe, Lenin Woolford, David Abdullah, David
Waddell, Deryck Murray, Liz Davies, Sami Savonius-Wroth, Katherine Butler
Schofield, Mike Marqusee, Paul Alcala, Raffique Shah, Tariq Ali, Russell Proffitt,
staff at the Oilfield Workers Trade Union of Trinidad and Tobago, especially
Nicki Johnson and Maurisa Gordon-Thomas, Selma James, Knowlton Crichlow,
Authors’ Preface ix
Amandla Crichlow, Barbara Beese, A. Sivanandan, Linton Kwesi Johnson,
Max Farrar, Linda Bellos, Margaret Busby, Clare Short, Dotun Adebayo, Sarah
White, Farrukh Dhondy, Nirpal Dhaliwal, Trevor Phillips, Narinder Minhas,
Marques Toliver, Barry Cox, Caroline Coon, Harry Goulbourne, Lincoln
Crawford and especially Darcus Howe, who spent many hours discussing his life
with us. Thank you also to Robert Hill, Richard Small, Joe Street, Anne-Marie
Angelo, Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, Anthony Gifford, Dr Vince Hines, Derek
Humphry, James Whitfield, Winston Trew, Simon Woolley, Kimberly Springer,
David Austin and Krishnendu Majumdar. We also thank the master and fellows
of St Edmund’s College Cambridge and the president and fellows of Homerton
College Cambridge for their support during this project.
We owe a great debt to the expertise of Michael Ryan and Alix Ross at the
University of Columbia’s Butler Library as well as Jenny Bourne at the Institute
of Race Relations Archive and Sarah Garrod at the George Padmore Institute.
Thank you to Harry Carr for his editorial work, to Laura Williams, Barry Hart,
Grishma Fredric and Farzad Zadeh for their comments on the manuscript and
to Mark Richardson and Caroline Wintersgill at Bloomsbury.
We are particularly indebted to Leila Hassan and Priyamvada Gopal. Leila’s
vivid memory and insights into events over a 40-year period have been invaluable
to us, as has her support, friendship and encouragement in writing the book.
Priya Gopal took time out of her own teaching, writing and research schedule to
generously read and wisely comment on the whole manuscript for which we are
extremely grateful. Finally, we would like to thank our respective partners, Lucy
and Maggie, and our children, India, Max and Mia. Without their love, support
and patience, we could not have written this book.
