Quotation by C.L.R. James:

Men make their own history, and the black Jacobins of San Domingo were to make history which would alter the fate of millions of men and shift the economic currents of three continents. But if they could seize opportunity they could not create it.

C.L.R. James     (more by this author)

1901-1989 (Age at death: 88 approx.)

Cyril Lionel Robert James, who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.R. Johnson, was an Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts. His work is a staple of subaltern studies, and he figures as a pioneering and influential voice in postcolonial literature. His work is often associated with Caribbean and Afro-nationalism, though James himself contended that the "either-or" was a false dichotomy, and that Caribbean peoples were indebted to European as much as African cultural traditions. A tireless political activist, James's writing on the Communist International stirred debate in Trotskyist circles, and his history of the Haitian slave uprising, The Black Jacobins, is a seminal text in the literature of the African Diaspora. Characterized by one literary critic as an "anti-Stalinist dialectician", James was known for his autodidactic facility, for his occasional playwriting and acting, and as an avid sportsman. He is also famed as a writer on cricket.

Author Information from Wikipedia

Country: Venezuela

Type: Prose
Context: Book