COMMUNISM in Britain has had many key black activists since the founding of the party in 1920.
Much of this black communist tradition in the party has gone uncelebrated and is only now being rediscovered and revived.
This isn’t just because of a desire to demonstrate some kind of “right on” stance by the party. There is simply no need to do that.
The Communist Party has a genuine tradition of engagement with anti-racist movements and fighting racism wherever we see it.
It’s a recognition that, if we want to know and celebrate our history as a party, then it needs to be all of our history and not just select segments of it.
Two of the most inspirational figures of any colour I have learned of in my years of involvement in politics both happened to be black women communists involved in the British movement.
Most people will have heard of the great Claudia Jones — now buried to the left of Karl Marx in London’s historic Highgate Cemetery.
The founding editor of the pioneering black newspaper the West Indian Gazette and one of the founders of the Notting Hill Carnival, Jones was a great community organiser who understood exactly how to link theory and practice.
The other, perhaps less well known, is Dorothy Kuya, based at various times on the front lines of Liverpool Eight and Tottenham.
I met Kuya several times during the 1980s and she was one of the most inspirational figures I ever had the honour to meet. It wasn’t until sometime later that I even learned she was a communist.
She didn’t need to trumpet which party she belonged to — she demonstrated it.
Figures like Kuya and Jones are dotted all over the country — just getting on with the work of organising and campaigning against racism.
Whilst Kuya and Jones made a significant contribution to the anti-racist movement, neither ever allowed themselves to be ghettoised — to be just seen as black communists.
Of course, they were black and brought their own life experiences to bear but they also contributed on a much wider basis to the work of the party.
But where they saw shortcomings from comrades within the party, neither were afraid to call it out in the most forthright terms.
The handing over of a Communist Party card does not automatically wipe away any prejudices that may exist and I am proud to belong to a party that recognises that.
While the Labour Party flounders around in a cesspit of its own making on anti-black racism and even attacks the first black woman MP — who has been subjected to unimaginable racist vitriol — genuine and principled anti-racism is needed now more than ever.
The Communist Party congress this weekend will acknowledge the need for the party to be proud of our achievements but also to be self-critical where necessary.
But we start from the foundations of the Communist Party being unapologetic about our fight against racism and fascism and not having this be dependent on what focus groups or opinion polls tell us might be popular.
The party congress will have several key debates on how we can be more effective in the fight against racism and fascism, including making sure that we link our anti-racist theories to practices designed to make a difference.
We believe our support for broad-based initiatives to combat racism, working with trade unions, the TUC anti-racist network, Stand Up to Racism, Hope Not Hate, the Liberation Movement, migrants’ organisations and others, is critical.
The black community has been subjected to far too many fine words over the years and it is long past the time for real change.
We have also committed to working with comrades in the Indian Workers Association (GB), the Bangladeshi Workers Council, Caribbean Labour Solidarity and Jewish Voice for Labour in building a much-needed mass campaign for anti-racist immigration and nationality laws.
We also know that we will need to do much more to stand with the Gypsy, Roma and traveller sisters and brothers against the terrible levels of discrimination they face.
In the same way, we know the importance of building a united front against anti-semitism and Islamophobia and building unity for socialism between those and every community.
We realise that to move forward we also need to work to right the wrongs of the past.
That is why we have already committed to working with those engaged in the fight for reparations for the capture, transportation and enslavement of Africans and also for the colonialism that followed.
We are committed to listening to the voices of those who have already been engaged in this work for many years because we know that we do not have all the answers. But our voices will be arguing for reparative justice to be carried out on a class basis.
The major corporations and unbelievably wealthy individuals who benefited the most from the enslavement of Africans must be the ones to make reparations. The working class should not be the ones to pay the price for the brutal transatlantic trade and enslavement of Africans.
The fight against racism will be a centrepiece of this weekend’s party congress, but we know we have much to do to bring communist principles to bear to break the back of the capitalism that is holding back black and white communities across Britain.
We know that the building of a united front between black and white people will, in the end, be decisive in defeating capitalism and creating a communist society.
Come and join the Communist Party of Britain and help us to break the same old tired half-hearted attempts to fight racism. We need a new society. It’s time for communism in Britain.