This weekend’s “Diamond Jubilee” celebrations for the Notting Hill Carnival—featuring plaques, heritage tours, and corporate sponsorships—offer only a selective account of its history. Central to the festivities is Claudia Jones, known as the “Mother of Carnival”. However, the figure honoured does not fully reflect the real Jones: a dedicated revolutionary Marxist, a key member of the Communist Party USA, and an individual persecuted during McCarthy-era witch hunts, which led to her imprisonment and deportation because of her political beliefs. This omission is deliberate, reflecting decades of efforts by the British government, Labour councils, and some academics and media figures to detach anti-racist movements from their socialist origins and depict them as a harmless form of multicultural celebration.
A revolutionary, not a cultural mascot
Born in Trinidad in 1915 and raised amid Harlem’s poverty, Jones joined the Communist Party in 1936, motivated by the Scottsboro campaign. She became a prominent intellectual within the party, offering influential analyses of the “triple oppression” faced by Black working-class women—long before these issues entered mainstream discourse. Her activism resulted in government crackdowns, including imprisonment under the Smith Act and expulsion from the U.S. due to Cold War legislation aimed at alleged “subversives.”
Jones arrived in Britain in 1955 and immediately encountered the racism faced by Caribbean workers involved in rebuilding post-war Britain. The Notting Hill riots of 1958 and Kelso Cochrane’s killing in 1959 were more than mere ‘community tensions’; they were episodes of fascist violence tolerated by authorities. In response, Jones launched the West Indian Gazette and organised the first indoor Caribbean carnival in 1959, using these events as acts of political defiance and collective self-assertion, not just cultural celebrations.
Today’s official commemorations reduce Jones to a simple symbol of “diversity,” dismissing the Marxist elements that defined her life. Events like her imprisonment, deportation, her support for the Soviet Union, and her stance against colonialism are often downplayed or ignored. This move to present Jones as a multicultural figure seems motivated by a political goal: to conceal the truth that her fight against racist violence, police harassment, and exploitation of immigrant labour stems from capitalism. In contrast, her actions were driven by a sense of international working-class solidarity.
The Pseudo‑Lefts and the Notting Hill Carnival
The 60th anniversary of the Notting Hill Carnival has been marked by the familiar voices from Britain’s pseudo-left circles—Labour councillors, NGO activists, academics, and media figures—who frame Carnival as a celebration of “diversity,” “community,” and “Black cultural expression.” This narrative is strategically convenient because it is ultimately misleading. It overlooks the Carnival’s roots in working-class struggles and instead promotes a depoliticised identity-politics story that benefits the state and corporate interests.
Carnival did not originate from simply ‘heritage ‘. Instead, it grew out of racist violence, police harassment, and the exploitation of Caribbean workers brought to Britain after the war. Claudia Jones, the communist who organised the first indoor carnival in 1959, was not merely a cultural promoter but a revolutionary Marxist. She was imprisoned and deported by the American government because of her political beliefs. Her efforts in London—via the West Indian Gazette and her activism against the 1958 Notting Hill riots—were based on a conviction that racism was inherently linked to capitalism.
The pseudo-left struggles to acknowledge this history because it reveals their own complicity. Over time, they have shifted from class-based politics to identity politics, turning anti-racist efforts into symbolic cultural displays that do not threaten capitalism. The modern face of Carnival—with corporate sponsorships, heritage plaques, and endless debates about “representation”—fits their perspective perfectly. It lets them celebrate “Black joy” while ignoring the displacement of Caribbean working-class residents from Notting Hill, the gentrification that has transformed the neighbourhood into one of London’s wealthiest areas, and the large police presence that now dominates the event.
Their politics centre on accommodation. They celebrate Carnival because it has been commercialised and lost its socialist roots. The hidden truth is that Carnival originated as a working-class protest, founded by a communist whose beliefs conflict with the pseudo-left’s focus on identity politics and capitalism.
The Commodification of the Notting Hill Carnival
The commercialisation of Carnival has paralleled the gentrification of Notting Hill and surrounding areas, which has become one of London’s priciest districts because of property speculation. The Caribbean working class, originally responsible for organising the carnival, has gradually been pushed out, while corporations and government bodies now try to link themselves to its “heritage.” Although the heightened police presence at the modern carnival is often viewed as a logistical issue, it masks the more profound social inequalities and gentrification reshaping the community.
The Notting Hill Carnival originally symbolised working-class Caribbean resistance against racist violence and government hostility. Over the past forty years, it has gradually turned into a commercial spectacle—marketed, policed, and monetised by the same institutions that initially aimed to suppress it. What started as an act of political protest has now been transformed into a “cultural asset,” losing its socialist roots and becoming subordinate to the commercial and ideological interests of the British government and corporations.
From resistance to revenue stream
Carnival originated from intense social conflicts such as the 1958 racist riots, the killing of Kelso Cochrane, and ongoing harassment of Caribbean workers by police and landlords. Claudia Jones’s indoor carnivals served as acts of communal self-expression by a community under pressure. The initial outdoor processions were casual, improvised, and openly rebellious against authority.
Today, Carnival is regarded as a brand. Transport for London, global alcohol firms, property developers, and local councils vie to link themselves with its “heritage.” The event is marketed as a major tourist draw, bringing in hundreds of millions of pounds to London’s economy. Meanwhile, the Caribbean working class, who created Carnival, has been pushed out of Notting Hill by rising rents and real estate speculation, even as their cultural work is exploited for commercial gain. This shift is not accidental; it mirrors the broader capitalist trend of appropriating, sanitising, and transforming opposition-driven cultural forms into commodities.
Policing replaces politics
The modern Carnival is accompanied by an enormous police operation—one of the largest in Europe—framed as a matter of “public safety.” The same state that ignored racist violence in the 1950s now deploys thousands of officers, surveillance drones, and crowd‑control infrastructure. Sensationalist media coverage justifies the policing by treating Carnival as a security problem rather than a political tradition rooted in struggle.
This intense policing serves dual purposes: to keep Carnival within manageable boundaries, preventing it from turning into a space for political activism or social upheaval; and to support the idea that Caribbean communities need supervision, echoing the racist reasoning behind initial conflicts. The commercialisation of Carnival is inherently linked to its securitisation, both demonstrating the state’s effort to depoliticise and dominate a cultural expression that originated as a form of resistance.
Official “heritage” programs—such as plaques, exhibitions, and curated histories—are central to this process. They highlight Carnival as a symbol of diversity but obscure its political origins. Claudia Jones is recognised as a cultural pioneer, rather than as a communist persecuted by the US government. The racist violence that contributed to Carnival’s rise is mentioned only in softened, depoliticised terms. Meanwhile, the systemic exploitation of Caribbean labour, police involvement, and the links between racism and capitalism are subtly omitted from the story. Ultimately, heritage serves as a tool of ideological control: a way to showcase the imagery of past struggles while downplaying their true meaning.
Notting Hill has undergone a dramatic transformation. The area’s working-class Caribbean community has gradually been pushed out due to property speculation, luxury redevelopment, and rising rents. Carnival now occurs in a neighbourhood increasingly disconnected from the community that created it. Sixty years later, the official Carnival showcases how political leaders portray historical struggles while minimising their true significance. Claudia Jones’s genuine legacy—her Marxist beliefs, internationalist perspective, and understanding that racism is linked to capitalism—remains too controversial to be publicly acknowledged. While the carnival continues, most modern celebrations prefer to forget the revolutionary ideals that once inspired it.
Sources and Bibliography
Primary Sources
- West Indian Gazette (1958–1964). Issues edited by Claudia Jones, including coverage of the Notting Hill riots, Kelso Cochrane’s murder, and early Carnival organising.
- Claudia Jones, “An End to the Neglect of the Problems of the Negro Woman!” Political Affairs, 1949.
- Claudia Jones, speeches and correspondence (various), held in the Claudia Jones Archive, Black Cultural Archives, Brixton.
- BBC Television, Caribbean Carnival broadcast, January 1959.
- Home Office papers on the Notting Hill riots (1958), National Archives, HO 376 series.
- Metropolitan Police reports on the murder of Kelso Cochrane (1959), National Archives, MEPO series.
Historical and Scholarly Works
- Carole Boyce Davies, Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Black Communist Claudia Jones (Duke University Press, 2008).
- Winston James, Holding Aloft the Banner of Ethiopia: Caribbean Radicalism in Early Twentieth‑Century America (Verso, 1998).
- Brian Alleyne, Radicalism and Cultural Politics in the Notting Hill Carnival (Mellen Press, 2003).
- Ruth Glass, London: Aspects of Change (Centre for Urban Studies, 1964) — foundational text on gentrification, including early analysis of Notting Hill.
- Tariq Modood, Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain (University of Minnesota Press, 2005) — for context on state multiculturalism.
- Paul Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack (Hutchinson, 1987) — on race, nationalism, and cultural politics in Britain.
Political Analyses and Contemporary Reporting
- World Socialist Web Site (WSWS):
“The political legacy of Claudia Jones” (various articles)—coverage of the Windrush scandal, British racism, and pseudo‑left identity politics.
- The Guardian and The Observer archives on Notting Hill Carnival (1966–present).
- The Times and Evening Standard reporting on policing, sponsorship, and gentrification of Carnival.
- Greater London Authority (GLA) reports on Carnival funding, policing, and economic impact (2000–2025).
- Transport for London (TfL), “Carnival 60” heritage programme documentation (2026).
Works on the Pseudo‑Left and Identity Politics
- David North, The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo‑Left (Mehring Books, 2015).
- Alex Lantier, “Identity Politics and the Pseudo‑Left” (WSWS, various).
- Eric London, The CIA’s Role in the Promotion of Identity Politics (WSWS, 2021).
- Adolph Reed Jr., “The Limits of Anti‑Racism” (Left Business Observer, 2000) — critical of identity politics from a class perspective.
Urban and Social Context
- London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea housing reports (1970–2025) — documenting displacement and gentrification.
- Centre for London, “The Changing Face of Notting Hill” (2018).
A Trumpet of Sedition 