Claudia Jones Patriarchy

Claudia Jones is relatively unknown in the United States today, but was once a well-known activist that made headlines when she was deported. Although she was fully dedicated to the communist cause her idea of how communism would spread and be successful involved the integration of feminist theories. She believed that the participation of women is what would end up causing the success of the communist party. This mixture of communism and feminist theories involving gender inequality, discrimination, and patriarchy influenced Claudia Jones views and activities for most of her adult life. This idea of communism and feminist theories leading Jones’s life comes form the explanation of her life in Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black
Black women were being hired as maids and given jobs that included “uncountable hours without recompense” by the same white women who claimed they wanted equality for the sexes. White feminist seemed to completely forget the idea of equality when their interest was being met. This was especially unproductive to the cause of equality because it was important to realize that all women need to fight oppression in order “in the vital interest of the fight to realize equality for all women” . This of course meant that Jones realized one thing; the real fight wasn’t between white women and black women, but against the idea of patriarchy. Patriarchy is something so ingrained into society that it was even present in Jones’s political party. Although she was considered someone high up she realized the idea of patriarchy was still very present there. When Walter Lowenfels Jones wrote a piece about female inferiority recognized something very important. “These ideas also circulated un-criticized among party members [because it was] consistent with her own Marxist-Leninist ideology” . She recognized that her own party and beliefs had patriarchal aspects to it, but also realized the critiquing and challenging Lowenfels beliefs and statements could help expel these types ideas in her England based paper (as well leaving in a community where everyone contributed) could combat these types of beliefs in her