The Fire and the Ashes is a most appropriate title for Andrew Jacksons timely book. It was Jean Jaurss advice to the rapidly emerging French socialist movement of the early twentieth century. To take forward from history and experience what had enduring value. As with Jaurs, Jackson leads us to reflect on where democratic socialism has been and how to take the fire of that movement forward while leaving the ashes behind, and learning from them.
BRYAN EVANS , professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University
A rare gift to students of labour and socialist politics in Canada, providing an insiders account of forty years of social democratic politics in the NDP and in the labour movement. Jacksons keen eye for detail, his sharp political and economic analysis, and his commitment to building workers and socialist power is at the centre of this sublime memoir. It is destined to become required reading for all those interested in the past, present, and future of the left in Canada.
CHARLES SMITH , associate professor, department of political science, University of Saskatchewan
The Fire and the Ashes is uniquely part memoir, part academic analysis, and part political manifesto. Andrew Jacksons highly readable book is sure to spark animated debate on the left about how best to rekindle the democratic socialist movement in Canada.
LARRY SAVAGE , professor, department of labour studies, Brock University
In this wonderfully accessible, entertaining, and succinct narrative, Jackson weaves together personal memoir with critical issues in the recent history of labour and the NDP, gleaning embers of wisdom from the past to help forge a new vision for the left.
TOBY SANGER , executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness
Andrew Jackson provides readers with a veteran activists account of the victories, defeats, challenges, and opportunities for unions and democratic socialism. With a narrative that spans from the late 1960s to the present day, Jackson describes how organized labour can reinvigorate left politics, reimagine social ownership, and articulate a vision for a sustainable future nationally and internationally.
JASON RUSSELL , associate professor of labour studies, SUNY Empire State College
A captivating memoir of a stalwart defender of workers. In the thick of policy debates for decades, Andrew Jackson gives a unique account of the role of labour in politics during the ascent of neoliberalism in Canada, convincingly showing throughout how neoliberal policies were never the only available option. As growing socioeconomic and environmental challenges call for politically courageous solutions, this serves as a useful reminder that there is and always was an alternative.
MATHIEU DUFOUR , professor, department of social sciences, Universit du Qubec en Outaouais
Not only does Andrew Jackson show how and why so-called socialisms of the twentieth century failed, he makes a convincing case for rekindling a democratic socialist politics that centres socio-economic justice, and with that, a brighter future.
CARLO FANELLI , assistant professor and coordinator of work and labour studies, York University
THE FIRE AND THE ASHES
Rekindling Democratic Socialism
ANDREW JACKSON
Between the Lines
Toronto
The Fire and the Ashes
2021 Andrew Jackson
First published in 2020 by
Between the Lines
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Cover design by Caleb Mitchell
Text design by DEEVE
Printed in Canada
We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing activities: the Government of Canada; the Canada Council for the Arts; and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and Ontario Creates.
For Karen, Caitlin, and Emma
Take from the altars of the past the fire, not the ashes.
Jean Jaurs, French Socialist leader
ONE A LIFE ON THE LEFT
Though I lay no claim to have led an important life, I have been active in the Canadian labour movement, the New Democratic Party (NDP), and left academia since the 1970s. Most notably, I was the chief economist and then director of social and economic policy of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the union of unions, for a quarter century from 1989 to 2012. As such I had a front-row seat on the neglected role of Canadian labour in politics. This book is part personal memoir, part historical analysis, and part political manifesto. Perhaps my anecdotes and passing insights will have some resonance with fellow veterans of the left and, hopefully, with a new generation of activists who are drawn to the traditions of democratic socialism.
My world has admittedly been quite a small one. I was once at a conference where my good friend and colleague Jim Stanford was introduced as one of Canadas leading trade union economists. Jim said he appreciated the sentiment, but that the only other one was at the back of the room! That was a slight exaggeration; he left out colleagues such as Sam Gindin of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), Hugh Mackenzie of the Steelworkers, and Toby Sanger of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Its evidently been a mainly male world, as well. That said, the research staff at the CLC and many affiliated unions has become more balanced in terms of gender. Angella MacEwen, the first CLC woman economist, was appointed before my retirement and quickly gained a high and well-merited public profile. As a senior staffer at the CLC, I was privileged to work closely with the presidents of the Congress (in my time, Shirley Carr, 198692; Bob White, 199299; and Ken Georgetti, 19992014) and the other elected officers, notably the incomparable Nancy Riche and Dick Martin, and also the leadership and senior staff of the affiliated unions such as CUPE, the Steelworkers, and the CAW (now Unifor).
I played a role as a policy adviser to the British Columbia and federal NDP caucuses before and during my CLC years, watching the federal party go through a near-death experience before reviving in the early 2000s under Jack Layton. Over much of my career with the CLC, I was also active in the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), a left-leaning think tank, as it is almost invariably referred to in the mainstream media, in contrast to the neutral moniker of think tank applied to such bastions of the right as the Fraser Institute. I wrote many studies for the CCPA documenting adverse economic and social trends, such as rising income and wealth inequality, and criticizing so-called neo-liberal right-wing ideas, and I published many articles and several books on Canadian political and economic issues over the years. These include
