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What’s New: Memoirs of a Socialist Idealist
In this unique and extraordinary memoir, Ben Swankey sums up a lifetime of labour and socialist activism. He begins with a remarkable evocation of his Saskatchewan childhood in the farming community of Herbert. While still a teenager, Swankey hitchhiked and rode the rails to Vancouver, where he came in contact with the unemployed movement and made a lifelong commitment to socialism. This decision brought him into the Young Communist League and the Communist Party as an organizer in the massive protests that shook Alberta during the Depression, particularly the Edmonton Hunger March in 1932. He mobilized support for the On to Ottawa Trek, worked with Crow's Nest miners and ultimately was interned during the Second World War for his political beliefs. What's New gives unique first person accounts of these remarkable periods in Canadian history. After service in the Canadian artillery following his release from internment, Swankey became leader of the Labour-Progressive Party in Alberta before moving to Burnaby, BC with his family, in 1957. Here he began an entirely new career as a labour writer and policy analyst. His long, close friendship with Harry Rankin, BC's crusading labour lawyer and long-time city councillor, gave him an unparalleled perspective on the labour and political life of the province. Swankey remained active into his 80s, working with the Council of Canadians and BC seniors' organizations to defend and expand our Medicare system. This is the life story of a unique Canadian.
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In an email to the Georgia Straight, Geoff Meggs recalled:
"I met Ben in the 1980s when I was editor of The Fisherman, the newspaper of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union. I helped him edit a booklet on the Fraser Institute that summarized that organization's roots and policies just as Bill Bennett's Social Credit government sought to implement them in a legislative blitzkrieg after the 1983 election. The resulting political confrontation spawned Operation Solidarity and brought the province to the brink of a general strike. Ben planned a first run of about 1,000 copies of the little book, but demand was immediate and insatiable. It was reprinted again and again. I believe the final sales exceeded 5,000, evidence of Ben's remarkable sense of timing and his unmatched ability to popularize complex topics in a way average readers welcomed.
"Ben watched the civic election results Saturday night with his grandson, Ben Williams. Vancouver civic politics had been his passion for more than 40 years. Although he never sought the limelight, he was crucial strategist and organizer in the early days of COPE, serving as Harry Rankin's right-hand man in his long campaign to become COPE's first elected councillor. A gifted researcher, author and teacher, Swankey was the author of most of Rankin's weekly columns on politics and the economy, which had a wide circulation in the labour press. Ben was a lifelong socialist who never allowed himself to become intellectually complacent or ideologically hidebound. His autobiography, published in 2004, was called 'what's new' because he always challenged his audiences to ask 'what's new' in the world around them. He continued teaching and lecturing right into his eighties, most often to labour and working class audiences, encouraging debate, inviting action and instilling hope."
**********
In an email to the Georgia Straight, Geoff Meggs recalled:
"I met Ben in the 1980s when I was editor of The Fisherman, the newspaper of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union. I helped him edit a booklet on the Fraser Institute that summarized that organization's roots and policies just as Bill Bennett's Social Credit government sought to implement them in a legislative blitzkrieg after the 1983 election. The resulting political confrontation spawned Operation Solidarity and brought the province to the brink of a general strike. Ben planned a first run of about 1,000 copies of the little book, but demand was immediate and insatiable. It was reprinted again and again. I believe the final sales exceeded 5,000, evidence of Ben's remarkable sense of timing and his unmatched ability to popularize complex topics in a way average readers welcomed.
"Ben watched the civic election results Saturday night with his grandson, Ben Williams. Vancouver civic politics had been his passion for more than 40 years. Although he never sought the limelight, he was crucial strategist and organizer in the early days of COPE, serving as Harry Rankin's right-hand man in his long campaign to become COPE's first elected councillor. A gifted researcher, author and teacher, Swankey was the author of most of Rankin's weekly columns on politics and the economy, which had a wide circulation in the labour press. Ben was a lifelong socialist who never allowed himself to become intellectually complacent or ideologically hidebound. His autobiography, published in 2004, was called 'what's new' because he always challenged his audiences to ask 'what's new' in the world around them. He continued teaching and lecturing right into his eighties, most often to labour and working class audiences, encouraging debate, inviting action and instilling hope."
Submitted on January 30, 2012 in By David.
