James Boggs (May 27, 1919 – July 22, 1993) was an American political activist, auto worker and author. He was married to philosopher activist

Grace Lee Boggs Grace Lee Boggs (June 27, 1915 – October 5, 2015) was an American author, social activist, philosopher, and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. In th ...

for forty years until his death.

Biography

Born in 1919 in

Marion Junction, Alabama Marion Junction, also known as Bridges, is an unincorporated community in Dallas County, Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama ...

,Ward, Stephen M. (editor)
''Pages from a Black Radical's Notebook: A James Boggs Reader''
Wayne State University Press, 2011. Boggs was an African-American activist, perhaps best known for authoring ''The American Revolution: Pages from a Negro Worker's Notebook'' in 1963. He was also an auto worker at Chrysler from 1940 until 1968. Boggs was active in the revolutionary left organization,

Correspondence Publishing Committee Correspondence Publishing Committee was a radical left organization led by C. L. R. James and Martin Glaberman that existed in the United States from approximately 1951 until it split in 1962. History The Correspondence Publishing Committee has ...

, from around the time it left the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

movement in the early 1950s. The group was advised by

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989),Fraser, C. Gerald, ''The New York Times'', 2 June 1989. who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist and Marxist. His works are in ...

, who was at that time exiled in Britain. In 1955, James Boggs became the editor of their bi-monthly publication, called ''Correspondence.'' When Correspondence Publishing Committee suffered a split in 1955, led by

Raya Dunayevskaya Raya Dunayevskaya (born Raya Shpigel, ; May 1, 1910 - June 9, 1987), later Rae Spiegel, also known by the pseudonym Freddie Forest, was the American founder of the philosophy of Marxist humanism in the United States. At one time Leon Trotsky's s ...

, and lost nearly half its membership, James and Grace Lee Boggs remained loyal to Correspondence Publishing Committee. However, in 1962, Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs led a split themselves, taking control over Correspondence Publishing Committee and breaking with C. L. R. James. Afterwards, Boggs continued publication of ''Correspondence'' independently for a couple of years. James Boggs expressed the reasons for the 1962 split in his 1963 book, ''The American Revolution: Pages from a Negro Worker's Notebook''.Ward, Stephen M.
An Ending and a Beginning: James Boggs, C. L. R. James, and The American Revolution
. Souls 13.3 (2011): 279-302. doi: 10.1080/10999949.2011.601695 In later years, he would play an influential role in the radical wing of the civil rights movement and interacted with many of the most important civil rights activists of the day including

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

Ossie Davis Raiford Chatman "Ossie" Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an American actor, director, writer, and activist. He was married to Ruby Dee, with whom he frequently performed, until his death. He and his wife were named to the NAACP ...

and many others. In 1979 James Boggs and partner

contributed to the founding of National Organization for an American Revolution (NOAR). Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs, who were married from 1953 until his death in 1993, built what

Ibram X. Kendi Ibram Xolani Kendi (born Ibram Henry Rogers, August 13, 1982) is an American author, professor, Anti-racism, anti-racist activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in America. In July 2020, he assumed the position of director of th ...

called "a durable partnership that was at once marital, intellectual, and political. It was a genuine partnership of equals, remarkable not only for its unique pairing or for its longevity, but also for its capacity to continually generate theoretical reflection and modes of activist engagement."Ibram X. Kendi
"In Love And Struggle: A New Book On James And Grace Lee Boggs"
AAIHA, November 15, 2016.

Works

(New York:

Monthly Review Press The ''Monthly Review'', established in 1949, is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. The publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States. History Establishment Following ...

, 1963). * ''Book Manifesto for a Black revolutionary party'' (Philadelphia, Pacesetters Pub. House, 1969). * ''Racism and the Class Struggle: Further Pages from a Black Worker's Notebook'' (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970). * ''Lenin Today; Eight essays on the hundredth anniversary of Lenin's birth'' (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1970). (with

Paul Sweezy Paul Marlor Sweezy (April 10, 1910 – February 27, 2004) was a Marxist economist, political activist, publisher, and founding editor of the long-running magazine ''Monthly Review''. He is best remembered for his contributions to economic theory ...

and

Harry Magdoff Harry Samuel Magdoff (August 21, 1913 – January 1, 2006) was a prominent American socialist commentator. He held several administrative positions in government during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and later became co-editor of the M ...

) * ''The awesome responsibilities of revolutionary leadership'' (Detroit, Mich: Committee for Political Development, 1970). (with Grace Lee Boggs) * ''But what about the workers?'' (Detroit: Advocators, 1973). (with

James Hocker James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

) * ''Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century'' (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1974). (with Grace Lee Boggs) * ''Issues in race and ethnic relations: theory, research, and action'' (Itasca, Ill: F. E. Peacock Publishers, 1977). (with

Jack Rothman Jack Rothman (born 1927) is an American sociologist and social worker. He is best known for his work in community organizing within the field of social work. He has authored some 25 books and monographs and lectured extensively on social problem ...

) * ''Conversations in Maine: exploring our nation's future'' (Boston:

South End Press South End Press was a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, Juliet Schor, among others, in Boston's South End. It published books written by political activi ...

, 1978). (with Grace Lee Boggs,

Freddy Paine Freddy or Freddie may refer to: Entertainment *Freddy (comic strip), a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1955 to 1980 * Freddie (Cromartie), a character from the Japanese manga series''Cromartie High School'' *Freddie (dance), a short-lived 196 ...

and

Lyman Paine George Lyman Paine Jr. (November 16, 1901 – July 1, 1978), was an American architect and radical left activist. He is known for his work with the Correspondence Publishing Committee with his second wife Frances Drake Paine, and was closely ...

)
''Towards a new concept of citizenship''
(Detroit: National Organization for an American Revolution, 1979). * ''Liberation or Revolution?'' (Detroit: National Organization for an American Revolution, 1980). * ''These are the times that try our souls: the questions we have yet to ask ourselves'' (Detroit: National Organization for an American Revolution, 1981).(with Grace Lee Boggs and James Hocker) * ''Historical development of our social forces'' (Detroit: National Organization for an American Revolution, 1982) "Cadre Training School, Dec. 1-5, 1982." * ''Our American Reality'' (Detroit: National Organization for an American Revolution, 1982) "Cadre Training School, Dec. 1-5, 1982." * ''The urgent plea: a call for Black leadership'' (Philadelphia: National Organization for an American Revolution, 1985). * ''What can we be that our children see?'' (Detroit: New Life Publishers, 1994).

References

Paul Buhle Paul Merlyn Buhle (born September 27, 1944) is a (retired) Senior Lecturer at Brown University, author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of ...

, "An Asian-American Tale" ''Monthly Review'' (January 1999), pp. 47–50. *

, ''Living for Change: An Autobiography'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998). *

Kent Worcester Kent Worcester (born 1959) is an American political scientist, historian, and songwriter. His work deals with popular culture, intellectual history, trade unions, and social democracy. He has written extensively on comics and graphic novels and w ...

, ''C.L.R. James: A Political Biography'' (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996). * Elaine Latzman Moon, ''Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes: An Oral History of Detroit's African American Community'' (Detroit: Wayne State University Press), p. 156.

External links

The Boggs Center Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boggs, James 1919 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American writers People from Dallas County, Alabama Activists for African-American civil rights Activists from Alabama Alabama socialists American socialists American Marxists African-American Marxists Michigan socialists Writers from Alabama

Biography

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links