Claudia Jones

   "Happy birthday, Claudia." 

   "Thank you, Karl. It's sweet of you to remember, let's see, how old would I be now ?" 

   "Well, Claudia, you were born in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad in 1915 so you would be..." 

   "It hardly matters, Karl. Lets try to work out how long I have been lying here, next to you, my hero, as was my wish, in London's Highgate Cemetery." 

   "Not as long as me. You know what my monument says, Karl Marx, 1818 - 1883, so I have been here for over a hundred years, and, from the viewpoint of the next life, I had the advantage, no, the privilege, of watching you live your life. I often wondered how our lives would have been different if I had been born a hundred years later and then met you." 

   "Oh, Karl, you old romantic, you're embarrassing me !" 

   "I'm sorry, my dear, but you must admit we had quite a lot in common. We were both idealists, revolutionaries even. We both wanted to change the world, and we both thought that we could do so by political means. " 

   "Well, Karl, you, with your book, "Das Kapital", were the most influential person in the last two hundred years, and I was a Communist, too." 

   "Yes, and I'm glad you were, when you were in the U.S.A. But why did you move to the U.S.A. ?"

   "There was no future in Trinidad. The world cocoa price had collapsed and the island's economy was in ruins. My parents wanted me to have a good education, so we all moved to New York. I was fortunate with my junior high school."

   "Yes, while you were there you won the Theodore Roosevelt Award for Good Citizenship. But you liked writing and after leaving school you wrote a column called "Claudia Comments" for a Harlem journal. In 1936 you joined the Young Communist League. Is that when you changed your name to Claudia Jones ?"

   "Well, I was born Claudia Vera Cumberbatch, but when I joined the American Communist Party I adopted the name Jones for 'self-protective disinformation.'"

   "You continued writing and in 1937 you joined the editorial staff of the Daily Worker, rising by 1938 to become editor of the Weekly Review. In 1941 you had become the National Director of the Young Communist League. You were imprisoned four times by the US government. In prison you called on the United Nations to 'investigate the manner in which immigrants in the United States are being treated by the United States Government. If we can be denied all rights and incarcerated in concentration camps, then trade unionists are next; then the Negro people, the Jewish people, all foreign-born, and progressives who love peace and cherish freedom will face bestiality and the torment of fascism. Our fate is the fate of American democracy. Our fight is the fight of all opponents of fascist barbarism, of all who abhor war and desire peace.'" 

   "Quite a statement." 

   "The conditions for Black people were so awful." 

   "Yes, and, Claudia, you had edited the Communist Youth Magazine for many years. You had used that to show the racial intolerance of White Americans towards their Black brothers, and sisters, and you did much good there. I was proud of you." 

   "I joined the Communist Party because I saw that it was opposed to the exploitation of Black people, and also I thought that, paradoxically, your ideas - Marxism, rather than the un-Godly Communism which later developed from it, were nearer to Christianity than Capitalism." 

   "Ah, Claudia, you mention another great revolutionary, Jesus Christ. Certainly his idea of "love your enemies" is about the most radical idea of all time. And like him, I saw all men as brothers, as you saw all Black and White people as equals." 

   "But I often think that I failed. Look at the state of Black people today. We're still second class citizens, even in England, which is probably the most liberal country in the world." 

   "Yes, Claudia, England is probably still the most liberal country, and that's why I came to live and work here, and maybe also why you came here." 

   "I came to England in 1955 because my old country, the one with the Statue of Liberty, had kicked me out because I dared to say that Black people were equal to White people. I could see that things were better, here, in England, and certainly the trade unions were better organised to support Black people." 

   "Yes, Claudia, and you were active in campaigns to defend the Black community during the riots against them in 1958, and also protesting against the racist killing of Kelso Cochrane. You were one of the founders of the West Indian Workers and Students Association, and in 1958 you founded the Afro-Asian Caribbean News." 

   "And don't forget the Black newspaper, the West Indian Gazette, a newspaper for the West Indian community in Britain which campaigned for justice for Black people in Britain." 

   "Yes, Claudia, but it is such a pity that you didn't have good health, and that after a few years in England, in 1964, you died. If you had been able to continue your work, I'm sure that by now you would have been recognised as a great social reformer, and knighted by the Queen, or whatever they do for ladies." 

   "Oh, Karl, you're such a sweetie !" 

   "But, it's true. You see, the difference between us is that I wanted revolution, and I think you did at first, but in the end you had a better way. You found that the peaceful protest method, as used by people like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, was more powerful. You started the West Indian Carnival in 1959, and now it has become the Notting Hill Carnival, the biggest street party in Europe. Look at how much good publicity this has given Black people, and it can only increase and get better. My work became Communism, which is now dead, but your work is still alive. Your work shows the world the richness of Black culture, and it is helping Black people to greatness at last. If there were a contest between us, then, it is you, Claudia Jones, who is the winner." 

   "Oh, thank you, Karl. What a lovely birthday present."