He was originally from Trinidad and Tobago but was involved in the struggle for political independence and cultural and social change in the Caribbean in the 1940s and 1950s and later in Britain, the rest of Europe and the Third World.
[3] La Rose attended the local Roman Catholic school, and at the age of nine won a scholarship to St. Mary's College, Port of Spain.
His interest in culture – so-called serious music, literature and folk language and proverbs – preceded his commitment to politics and trade unionism.
In August 1966, together with his partner Sarah White, he founded New Beacon Books,[5] the first specialist Caribbean publishers, booksellers and international bookservice.
[7] La Rose produced a short film on the Black Church in Britain as part of a Full House BBC 2 television programme on the Caribbean arts in 1973.
Together they established a formidable cultural and political movement, successfully fighting many cases against police oppression and arbitrariness and for better state education.
That year he also became Chairman of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners in Kenya, whose founding members included the Kenyan novelist and critic Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.
In response to concerns about the rise in fascism and xenophobia, La Rose helped to found European Action for Racial Equality and Social Justice in 1989, bringing together anti-racists and anti-fascists from Belgium, Italy, France and Germany.
He edited the occasional journal New Beacon Review (1968, 1985, 1986) and co-edited with Andrew Salkey the special issue of the magazine Savacou (Nos.
In 1991 La Rose, together with a number of colleagues, founded the George Padmore Institute (GPI), a library, archive and educational research centre housing materials relating to the life experiences of Caribbean, African and Asian communities in Britain.
[3] The aims and objectives of the Institute are to organise: a library, educational resource and research centre, that will allow the materials in its care to be available for use by interested individuals and groups, both in person at the Institute and through the use of modern storage, retrieval and communication methods; educational and cultural activities, including conferences, courses, seminars, talks and readings; the publication of relevant materials.
In introducing La Rose's talk on "The Politics of Culture: Writing and Publishing Today", which he organised as the Borough of Islington's Writer in Residence in London in May 1985, the novelist, playwright and critic Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wrote: "John La Rose is immensely aware of the revolutionary potential of literature and culture in the world today.
Judged by R. Victoria Arana, Margaret Busby, Courttia Newland and Kadija Sesay, the competition was won by Molara Wood with her story "Written in Stone".