A New Notion: Two Works by C.L.R. James: Every Cook Can Govern/The Invading Socialist Society

by C.L.R. James, Noel Ignatiev (Introduction)

C.L.R. James was a leading figure in the independence movement in the West Indies, and the black and working-class movements in both Britain and the United States. As a major contributor to Marxist and revolutionary theory, his project was to discover, document, and elaborate the aspects of working-class activity that constitute the revolution in today’s world. In this volume, Noel Ignatiev, author of How the Irish Became White , provides an extensive introduction to James’ life and thought, before presenting two critical works that together illustrate the tremendous breadth and depth of James’ worldview. “The Invading Socialist Society,” for James the fundamental document of his political tendency, shows clearly the power of James’ political acumen and its relevance in today’s world with a clarity of analysis that anticipated future events to a remarkable extent. “Every Cook Can Govern,” is a short and eminently readable piece counterpoising direct with representative democracy, and getting to the heart of how we should relate to one another. Together these two works represent the principal themes that run through James’s implacable hostility toward all “condescending saviors” of the working class, and undying faith in the power of ordinary people to build a new world.

Genres: History, Politics, Theory, Philosophy

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

C. L. R. James (1901–1989), a Trinidadian historian, political activist, and writer, is the author of The Black Jacobins, an influential study of the Haitian Revolution and the classic book on sport and culture, Beyond a Boundary. His play Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History was recently discovered in the archives and published Duke University Press.

Reviews

[Robert Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of a pair of James's essays that connect only through his focus on what might be called participatory democracy. The first essay is a polemic against a pair of opponents in his Workers Party days, and is largely dated. The essay debates how to understand the world system at the current moment, and challenges the interpretations of Schachtman and someone else. James interpretation is very optimistic and sees a great deal of revolutionary potential, despite the mirroring increase in state capitalist control in both the Soviet Union and the United States. He then critiques his opponents for continuing to be caught in the earlier logic of Stalinism and refusing to see the revolutionary potential of the present, which is tied in to a complete overthrow of the system. It's of interest for the emphasis on democratic control, but most of the debate is irrelevant at this point. The second essay is a sort of celebration of the democratic experiment in ancient Greece, and attempts to use that celebration as a call for a more substantial democracy.

[Ravi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the poor reviews on this site, the Every Cook Can Govern essay in particular warrants attention for anyone interested in James' conception of democracy. The leading essay, The Invading Socialist Society (a reference to a remark by Engels), is of course a piece from 1947 but surprisingly ages well, compared to the writings of Germain and Shachtman. James remains an innovative thinker of the 20th century whose writings deserve careful re-reading. A minor quibble: I do think the co-authorship by Raya Dunayevskaya of the longer text, The Invading Socialist Society should have been more clearly acknowledged on the cover. We owe thanks to Noel Ignatiev for putting together this collection and making these two essays available for a new generation.

[C. Varn · Rating 4 out of 5]

These two essays almost require significant historical contextualization to even be remotely relevant; however, if one is interested in the development of James' shift from Trotskyism to Marxist-Humanism and his critique of early theories by Max Schachtman as well as endorsements of something between participatory democracy and council communism. Still this essay is dated and will only seem tangentially relevant to a lot of modern Marxists. The second is an interesting, if selective, understanding of ancient Greek democracy--selective in that it underplays who little of the Athenian population was citizens and idealizes in some key ways the Greek polis. Nonetheless it is push against anti-democratic tendencies in all traditions on the left.

[Dante · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly weird trot analysis that doesn't hold up... Every Cook Can Govern has some neat stuff about Ancient Greece.

[Matthew Antosh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given this book from a friend with the promise that it would put me and my newborn to sleep. It did not disappoint.

The first section of this, 'the invading socialist society' was such a prodding, dull piece. There was no reference point for all the names and acronyms that mean nothing anymore to anyone which made it impossible to really understand. There IS some salvageable ideas; I think the most important is C.L.R. James and his comrades break with the mythology of "defend the degenerated workers state!" which, in modern times is the underlining reason for Trotskyists knee-jerk defense of any dictatorial regime that says its 'anti-imperialist'. At the same time They arguing against the Shachtman-tendency that supported any and all U.S. intervention on the grounds that the USSR was worse (Shachtman being the ideological foundation of the neo-conservative movement).

The second piece, ' Every cook can govern' is far better. I really enjoyed the introduction, and the connection between the kind of revolutionary movements in Eastern Europe in the '60s-70s-80s to Athenian democracy. I sort of wish that he would have went and described other Greek city-states as contrast to Athens. I think that, if 'every cook can govern' was translated into a graphic novel, it would be the perfect radial answer to the militaristic and fascistic fawning over Sparta in '300'. It's just too short.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love CLR James but i have to say my feelings about this book can be summed up with one word: "meh". Are you curious how the Johnson-Forrest Tendancy saw the world in 1947? Then this is the book for you. Otherwise, I would say look elswhere. The highlight of this book is when James calls the Trotskyists "the comedians of the vanguard party". That made me giggle. Even the shorter piece "Every Cook Can Govern" isn't a punchy defense of worker's self-management but a look at Athenian democracy and it's implications for democratizing social administration. Again, it's good, but it's not what I was hoping for. I would hate for a new generation of folks discovering James to have this be their first read.

[Khalifa Said]

I don't care how others may judge it, but I confess that this is the worst book I have read this year. I even wonder who I bought and read it in the first place. I didn't enjoy nor understand while flipping the pages of the books.

There are many ways that I can tell myself that the book I currently read is not good. One of this is the incessant desire to finish it and the failure to grab the main points presented. I cannot out-rightly tell you not read this book, you can do that at your peril.