This is a really important book. The diagnosis of all that is wrong with British society and beyond is spot on. He says what many of the Left have been thinking and some have been saying (but in isolated, disconnected snippets) for more than thirty years. The book pulls it all together to form a lucid summation which identifies the underlying problem as advanced, 21st century capitalism. The outlook presents us with a stark choice: barbarism or change.

Unfortunately, Harry still puts his faith in social democracy rather than democratic socialism. Our society's historically brief flirtation with social democracy shows, as indeed does Harry's book, how frail and temporary the benefits of such an approach can be and how it can so easily be taken over by the sort of self-serving individuals who hijacked the Labour Party in the dying decades of the last century (and who are doing so again right now). Harry Smith's position is reflected in his ambivalent attitude to trade unionism. In many places in the book he extols the virtues of, and necessity for, working people protecting their livelihoods through the collective pursuit of their common interests. Yet when they do start to develop some strength, as in the 1970s, he withdraws his support and seems to present the labour movement as a threat. That this occurs even in the opening pages makes me wonder if this was an editorial tactic to gain the interest of as wide a readership as possible for the book.

Harry's specific policy recommendations for a better society, presented towards the end of the book, are disappointing in their scope but are, I suppose, in line with his social democracy. They will not resolve the fundamental problems the rest of this book does so well to warn us of. I would urge people to read this book, though, for the way in which the author offers a clear, unsparing analysis of our broken society. The fact that he does so while weaving in reflections of his own long and constructive life in a moving, but never sentimental, fashion makes it an exceptionally good read, too. Thanks, Harry. ( )

Harry's Last Stand is part autobiography, part call to action for social democrats. Harry, who passed away just last month (November 2018) was born a few years after the Great War, suffered in poverty during the Great Depression, and served with the RAF during World War II.

He then was able to raise a family in relative luxury due to the welfare state implemented in Britain and other western countries which provided all citizens health care through the National Health Service, state funded education and housing for those in need.

The main message of this book, though, is that the advances that the welfare state afforded its citizens are being lost through the austere policies of governments in the past few decades. Harry's criticism of the politicians who led this attack on the gains made in the post war period are biting. He sees through their admonitions that such changes were necessary, calling it out for what it is, those with power and money turning back the clock to a period when their money bought them power.

This is a book that every social democrat should read. It takes the reader through one person's experience of dire poverty through a period when everyone's needs were being met, and back into a period when those most disadvantaged are again being left by the wayside by our governments who once looked after them. ( )

Full (vicious) circle

Harry Smith has a lot to say, and thinks he might have little time to say it. He is in his 90s now, and has lived through the worst grinding poverty of the Depression. He saved himself by joining the Royal Air Force in World War II, where he finally had a real bed to sleep in, real clothing, real food every day, and a purpose. And despite the discrimination of the class system, he did all right.

For someone with precious little education, he is remarkably well versed in history, politics, sociology, pop culture and social media. He knows exactly what’s going on and going down, and seems totally comfortable handling the issues of the day.

The entire book is based on this premise: “After it was done and the war won, the politicians promised us that no one in this country would face that type of unemployment and helplessness ever again. So I really don’t know why the Western world wants to go back to those bleak, unhappy times without a murmur of real dissent.” He piles on the evidence of the shrinking of programs, the rise in living costs, the disappearance of opportunity and of hope. Expensive schools, expensive healthcare, and massive subsidies to business are the wrong way to build a country, except for the rich, who get richer from it. He is very clear that austerity is the wrong solution to a bad situation. Just as it was in the Depression.

Smith writes with precision and clarity, dancing between the present and his own past with ease. It gives the book a needed lift and makes it a fast-paced read. His obviously left-leaning insights are not new, but his fears are different from the usual political dross. His views are not dimmed by age. Neither is his grasp of the issues. He sees things much more clearly than most of our elected officials. He has perspective from direct experience. And having lived most of his life in Yorkshire and Toronto, is frustratingly familiar with all our governments’ failures.

He would like to see more participatory democracy, more restrictions on the ultra rich and their corporations, more of the common man in government, and most of all, a welfare state (safety net in the USA) that made such a gigantic difference to life in the UK after the war. Margaret Thatcher disassembled much of it in the UK, as Ronald Reagan did in the USA. The result is corporations running the world, increasing debt everywhere but corporate bank accounts, and struggles reminiscent of the Depression. He has been witness to the greatest transfer of wealth in history, from tax dollars to corporate coffers. For him, we are coming full circle in just his lifetime, and that is nothing to be proud of.

David Wineberg ( )