CLR James
The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution [1938]
London: Penguin, 2001

We turn to revolution. In his introduction, historian James Walvin writes,

‘Here then is an epic story… The Black Jacobins is not simply a pioneering book which has been overtaken by subsequent scholarship. Rather, it remains a starting point and an intellectual inspiration, written by a man whose words, always worth heeding, deal with issues which are both universal and contemporary. Here then is a book which is, at once, both a discrete historical study and an entrée to a wider (and continuing) debate.’ pp. 10-11.

Schedule

The group met to discuss reading this book between February to April 2021
Page numbers in this schedule refer to the 2001 Penguin edition.

3 February, prefatory material (pp. vii–xx); Prologue (pp. 3–4); Chapter 1, ‘The Property’ (pp. 5–21); and Chapter 2, ‘The Owners’ (pp. 22–49).

17 February, Chapter 3, ‘Parliament and Property’ (pp. 50–68); Chapter 4, ‘The San Domingo Masses Begin’ (pp. 69–96); Chapter 5, ‘And the Paris Masses Complete’ (pp. 97–117).

3 March, Chapter 6, ‘The Rise of Toussaint’ (pp. 118–132); Chapter 7, ‘The Mulattoes Try and Fail‘ (pp. 133–41); Chapter 8, ‘The White Slave-Owners Again’ (pp. 142–62).

17 March, Chapter 9, ‘The Expulsion of the British’ (pp. 163–182); Chapter 10, ‘Toussaint Seizes the Power’ (pp. 183–195); Chapter 11, ‘The Black Consul’ (pp. 196–218); Chapter 12, ‘The Bourgeoisie Prepares to Restore Slavery’ (pp. 219–34).

31 March, Chapter 13, ‘The War of Independence’ (pp. 235–304).

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