Red International and Black Caribbean

Although a number of notable works on early twentieth-century black radicals in New York and the Caribbean have been written, it is rare to find a history of Communism that combines U.S., Caribbean, and Latin American perspectives.As such, Margaret Stevens's Red International and Black Caribbean is a welcome contribution to the field.Drawing together Mexico, the Caribbean, and New York in what could be considered an extended Caribbean, it weaves together an original narrative focused on matters of race and on figures often occluded from mainstream histories of Communism, Socialism, and trade unionism.In particular, it is informed by an approach that has special currency in historical research to tell history from the ground up-or, as Stevens puts it in the introduction, to refute "the revisionist tendency to theorize twentieth-century black radicalism as a 'tradition' of 'great men'" (p.3).The claim is a bold one and for the most part she holds up her end of the bargain.Hence, she includes letters from readers in various periodicals (including an ex-marine and Caribbean UNIA members such as Herman Thompson), the relatively obscure Virgin Islands journalist Romeo L. Dougherty, and other lesser-known figures in leftist spheres.In this respect, Stevens's work sits alongside histories of the Caribbean and Caribbean diaspora that critique the "great men" tradition, such as Lara Putnam's Radical Moves (2013) and Lorna Chessum's From Immigrants to Ethnic Minority (2000).Stevens's trans-American framework presents a broad network across the continent, extending from New York to Panama.We get a sense of submerged histories within and between organizations and individuals: the African Blood Brotherhood's outposts in Colón, Panama, and San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic; connections between trade unionists such as Sandalio Junco in Cuba with Communist organizations such as the American Negro Labor Congress and All-American Anti-Imperialist League (AAAIL) in Mexico and the United States; dialogue between leaders of the Communist (Workers) Party of America (CPUSA) such as Charles Emil Ruthenberg and non-U.S.advocates of Communism such as Navares Sager in Puerto Rico and Mexican AAAIL General Secretary Manuel Gómez.Stevens's vast canvas may on occasions lead readers to long for more on the particular associations between Communist party members and sympathetic, nonaffiliated fellow travelers.What emerges from her history more often than not is the somewhat highhanded approach to nationalist movements in tropical America by the Com

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