What's New

About the Book

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.

About the Author

Ben Swankey is one of Western Canada's most important socialist historians and lecturers. Born in Steinbach, Manitoba on Sept. 17, 1913, Swankey has been an outspoken 'coaltion builder' and social activist since he participated in the Edmonton Hunger March in 1932. In 1940, Swankey, a Communist, was arrested in Calgary under Section 21 or the War Measures Act, and interned without charge or a trial in a prison camp with other Communists and left-leaning citizens. After his release, he served in the Canadian Army artillery. After the war, he became the Alberta leader of the Labor-Progressive Party, a post he left in 1957 when he moved to British Columbia. In his subsequent career as a lecturer, labour journalist and and organizer, Swankey became a close friend of Vancouver lawyer Harry Rankin, working with Rankin to form Vancouver's Committee of Progressive Electors. He is the author of a number of books on history and economics, cas well as countless articles and pamphlets. In retirement he became a leader of the province's seniors' movement. Swankey lives in Burnaby, where he maintains a keen interest in current affairs, politics and the environment.