Black nationalism, British socialism, and transnational newspapers between Britain and the Caribbean, 1975–80

This article analyses how socialists in the mid to late 1970s sought to develop an alternative model of black nationalist politics through transnational publishing ventures. This article focuses on a black workers' newspaper that was edited by Caribbean socialists in London and simultaneously distributed in Britain and Jamaica. Analysing Flame for the first time suggests that black self-organisation and the practices of the British left should be understood as a story of turbulent interdependence, despite the two being differentiated in previous studies. It shows how working-class radicalism in the Caribbean was an important catalyst for the development of black peoples' movements in 1970s Britain and the formation of new national identities. Transnational relationships between the Caribbean and Britain were more extensive during the 1970s than previously assumed. However, like previous movements to organise black opposition to capitalism through left-wing organisations during the 1930s and 1940s, Flame flickered briefly before its main sponsor withdrew support.