R.I.P. Stan Persky

“A major BC writer in the 1970s and 1980s, Stan Persky (at left) has died. The author of over 20 books, he co-founded the Georgia Straight Writing Supplement that led to the formation of New Star Books.FULL STORY

 

The counter culture still counts

August 09th, 2015

Shortlisted for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in 2016, Larry Gambone’s Vancouver-based memoir No Regrets (Edmonton: Black Cat Books 2015 $20) recalls his counter-culture activities on the West Coast including recollections of consorting with both beatniks and the Yippies, “invading” the U.S. at Blaine Washington and civil disobedience in the early days of the Ban the Bomb movement. Gambone’s memoir also includes his visits to Toronto, Mexico, San Francisco, Berkeley, London and the Kootenays. 978-1-926878-15-7

Larry Gambone grew up in logging towns on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where he was active in the anti-nuclear weapons ‘Ban-the-Bomb’ movement. He attended Simon Fraser University between 1967-70 and was involved in the campus New Left. He formed a campus IWW branch, and later joined the Vancouver Yippies.

Gambone briefly lived on a commune in the Kootenays in the 1970s, he helped form the anarchist paper Open Road and he became involved in the Surrealist Movement. In the 1980s he began a serious study of working class movements and the autodidact thinkers that influenced them, which led to his interest in the writings of Joseph Dietzgen. Gambone has continued to study and write about anarchism and other social movements.

Gambone is a founder of Red Lion Press which was started in 1984 with the publication of Joseph Dietzgen’s “Nature of Human Brain Work.”. The following year the press began to publish a series of chapbooks from 12 to 28 pages on labour, social history and anarchism. Since that time they have produced more than 20 chapbooks and sold or distributed more than 6500 copies, leading the publication of full-length books.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Gambone, Larry Anarchist SummitTHE VIEW FROM ANARCHIST MOUNTAIN (Red Lion Press $16). Articles from the last 20 years on a variety of topics, including social psychology, anarchist economics and history, social commentary and much more.

THE IMPOSSIBILISTS (Red Lion Press $10). Selected Articles From The Socialist Party of Canada and the One Big Union, 1906-1938. Revised edition with added material.Includes the writings of Ginger Goodwin.

The Nature of Human Brain Work: An Introduction to Dialectics by Joseph Dietzgen and Larry Gambone (Fernwood $19.95). Called by Marx “The Philosopher of Socialism,” Joseph Dietzgen was a pioneer of dialectical materialism and a fundamental influence on anarchist and socialist thought who we would do well not to forget. 9781552663929

CONTACT:
Red Lion Press at Box 297 Station A,
Nanaimo BC V9R5K9 CANADA
or email: Redlionpress@hotmail.com

Red Lion Press website: http://vcmtalk.com/

OTHER RED LION PRESS TITLES:

* BILL PRITCHARD – REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST – Previously unpublished ms. by the SPC/OBU member. Recounts the life of a revolutionary in Western Canada, 1910-22, (2010) 35 pages, $4.00

* THE WRITINGS OF GINGER GOODWIN – (2010) 19 pages, $2.00

* THE GREAT COAL STRIKE OF 1912 by Jack Kavanagh. Reprint of 1913 BC Federation of Labour pamphlet. The history of the Vancouver Island coal strike, militant class struggle. (2008) 20 pages, $2.00

*SPIRIT FIXER – surrealist rants and stories. by Larry Gambone (2007) $2.00

* WINO MOON – work poems and other stories by Larry Gambone (2007) $2.00

* VANCOUVER YIPPIE by various authors – the story of this infamous Yippie group and its relationship to the development of anarchism in Vancouver. (2007) 16 pages, $2.00

* THE COMOX PROJECT 1965 . by Larry Gambone, the story and influence of Canada’s first major CD against atomic weapons. (2007) 12 pages, $2.00

* THE PRIMAL WOUND by Larry Gambone. Explores the origins of authoritarianism and mental illness, neither of which are seen as inevitable. Based on up-to-date archeological, anthropological and climatological evidence. (2005) 16 pages, $2.00

Gambone, Larry beret b&w

Larry Gambone

* THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES by Sebastian Faure. Translation of one of the seminal articles of French anarchism. Faure was a major influence on the contemporary French Anarchist Federation. (2005) 12 pages, $2.00

* MAKING CONTACT by John Griffin. Further explorations into the application of Reich’s ideas by the military (2003) $2.00

* REAFFIRMIMG REICH by John Griffin . An examination of Wilhelm Reich’s experiments in weather control and a discussion of Reich and UFOs. Author attempts (successfully) to verify Reich’s claims through the use of dowsing techniques. Includes information on Trevor Constable, Jerome Eden, Harry Oldfield and Ruth Drown and the US military use of the cloudbuster. 22 pages, $3.00

* THE IRON FIST BEHIND THE INVISIBLE HAND – Corporate Capitalism As A System Of State-Guaranteed Privilege. By Kevin A. Carson. A contemporary anarchist economic discussion of the development of corporate capitalism. 24 pages, $2.50, (2001)

* FOR COMMUNITY An Introduction to the Communitarian and Mutualist Anarchism of Gustav Landauer. 14 pages, $2.00 (2001)

* THE ANARCHISM OF EMILE ARMAND – A selection of the writings of the French individualist anarchist. Armand was the last survivor of turn-of the century French anarchism, dying in his 90’s in 1962. 16 pages, (2001) $2.00

* CAPITALISM IS NOT FREE ENTERPRISE. By Hans Feldt. An introduction to the economic ideas of Silvio Gesell. Influenced by Proudhon and Henry George, Gesell was also a friend of Gustav Landauer. (1997) 12 pages, $2.00

* THE LIBERTARIAN MOVEMENT IN CHILE – The history of mutualism and anarcho-syndicalism in Chile from 1840 to the present. (1996) 20 pages $2.00

* PROUDHON AND ANARCHISM – A new interpretation of Proudhon’s anarchist philosophy and its relationship to the anarchist movement as it developed in the 19th Century. Why Proudhon is important today. (1996) 12 pages – $2.00

* COSMIC DIALECTICS – Joseph Dietzgen’s unique anti-sectarian and libertarian thought. Its impact upon the labor movement and its importance today. (1996) 20 pages – $2.50

* SYNDICALISM – IN MYTH AND REALITY – A critique of academic myths about anarcho-syndicalism. A first-time historical comparison and general compilation of membership statistics. (1995) 14 pages – $2.00

* REVOLUTION AND REFORMISM – The origins of the split between “revolutionaries” and “reformists” in the French CGT. Re-evaluating the “reformists” as Proudhonists seeking to update anarchism. (1995) 17 pages $2.00

* NO REGRETS (Edmonton: Black Cat Books 2014 $18) 978-1-926878-15-7

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