CLR James: A Boundary that broke down barriers

C.L.R. James

by Selma James, The Mail & Guardian

Fifty years ago, after a March in the United Kingdom as cold as the one just gone, my husband CLR James's semiautobiographical Beyond a Boundary appeared as the cricket season opened. Reviews were favourable but none even approached the incomparable (and antiracist) John Arlott's in Wisden, "the cricketers' Bible".

C.L.R. James: A Revolutionary Vision for the 20th Century

by Anna Grimshaw, Marxists Internet Archive

C.L.R. James died in May 1989. His death coincided with the explosion of popular forces across China and eastern Europe which shook some of the most oppressive political regimes in human history. These momentous events, calling into question the structure of the modern world order, throw into sharp relief the life and work of one of this century’s most outstanding figures. For James was pre-eminently a man of the twentieth century. His legacy reflects the scope and diversity of his life’s work, the unique conditions of particular times and places; and yet at its core lies a vision of humanity which is universal and integrated, progressive and profound.