“AS A child of eight I came to the United States from Port of Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies. My mother and father had come to this country two years earlier in 1922. Like thousands of the West Indian immigrants, they hoped to find their fortunes in America where ‘gold was to be found on the streets’ and they dreamed of rearing their children in a ‘free America.’ This dream was soon disabused. Together with my three sisters, our family suffered not only the impoverished lot of working-class native families and its multi-racial populace, but early learned the scourge of indignity stemming from Jim-Crow national oppression.”

These words, written by Claudia Jones, encapsulate the experiences of many migrants seeking a new life in capitalist countries over many years.

They also express the exploitation and racism experienced by the whole working class under capitalism which seeks to divide and rule. Claudia Jones understood the only way to combat and overcome was through the unity of migrants and the working class.