Whether it is Christmas or any other holiday, the only gift I can give you is the gift of my memories and those of my father. For me, telling these stories is a means to make sense of the darkness the world has entered. I honestly don't know if there is a way out of this cul de sac neoliberalism has pushed us into. But if there is, it will be done by remembering our working class history honestly, without interpretation and reinvention from the entitled, who dictate the ebb and flow of even popular culture.
To you, my faithful subscribers, I provide a voice recording of Harry Leslie Smith, recalling his Christmas in 1930 when he was seven working-class Britain struggled through a harsh Great Depression famine. My dad's words are redemptive and contemporary considering how many bairns in 2023 will undergo a similar Christmas, thanks to a cost of living crisis created to better the profit of the 1%.
Harry Leslie Smith was an ordinary man who lived through extraordinary times. He was born during an era when the working class lived in destitution and the entitled classes lived lives of excess and narcissism. His life's journey was a voyage most of his working-class generation undertook. It began in poverty was consumed by war then in peace was renewed with purpose and kindness by the elimination of want through the creation of the Welfare State. It wasn’t an easy road taken but my dad like his generation knew- socialism was the only path to take.
5 books were written before Harry Leslie Smith died in November 2018. However, there was a large book unfinished at the time of his death which he titled the Green and Pleasant Land. It’s working class Remembrance of things Past as well as a political testament in defence of the Welfare State. I've been piecing it together from all the written notes, typescript & index cards my father left behind. It is almost ready for publication. If I wasn’t in such a scramble to keep a roof over my head, I think it would have been done by now. But to be fair to myself, I have gotten much done over these last few years despite a worldwide pandemic, and my own severe health limitations including a bad bout of cancer in 2020.
As always, thank you for reading my sub stack posts because I really need your help Your subscriptions to Harry’s Last Stand keep the legacy of Harry Leslie Smith alive and me housed. So if you can join with a paid subscription which is just 3.50 a month or a yearly subscription or a gift subscription. I promise the content is good, relevant and thoughtful. Take Care, John
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