Harry Leslie Smith was born into extreme poverty in Barnsley in 1923. He survived the Great Depression by working as a child labourer and served his country in the RAF during the Second World War. Afterwards he returned to civilian life by marrying and, along with many from his generation, helping to lay the cornerstones of the welfare by becoming an engaged citizen.At ninety-four, Harry is an activist for the poor, the NHS and the preservation of social democracy. He is the author of five books and a frequent contributor to the New Statesman, Daily Mirror and Guardian, for whom his video essay on the refugee crisis was shared over a million times on Facebook and has attracted huge comment and debate. Refusing to go gently into that good night, Harry now hosts a weekly podcast. When not on the road speaking about his life experiences, he divides his time between Yorkshire and Ontario, Canada.
This is a heartfelt, important work which stands both as a fine
memoir and a warning to those who have not experienced first-hand
the dark and difficult times that shaped the life of author. Harry
Leslie Smith is deeply articulate, his words are moving and
powerful, and his voice is authentic and sincere. Everyone under 95
should take heed!
*Joanne Harris*
This is a wonderful book and a timely reminder that so much of the
progress we take for granted came not from the benevolence of the
great and good, but from the collective struggles of previous
generations of working people. At a time when the need for decent
jobs, homes, rights and services is more pressing than ever, Don't
Let My Past Be Your Future is a must read for trade unionists,
campaigners and everyone on the left.
*Frances O’Grady, General Secretary, Trades Union Congress*
History, they say, is written by the winners. Harry is a winner. He
defied the odds and poor health to beat poverty and inequality to
live a long and full life. He has been a tremendous public servant
to this country, and his relentless spirit spills from these pages
ensuring his service to us all will survive to benefit future
generations . . . Don't dismiss these as the dreams of an old man.
Harry is our own 'a living bridge' to history. Read this book,
cross this bridge. Take a long, good look at what you see on the
other side. We must do better than be destined to repeat our
history as tragedy.
*Len McCluskey, General Secretary, Unite*
I dipped into the book and then I kept on reading - it's a
beautiful, wise and righteous piece of work and truly generous to
the coming generation
*A.L. Kennedy*
Told with passion and eloquence, Mr Smith's personal story of
growing up in a time without social services is a stark reminder of
how close we may be (in the UK and the US) to consigning millions
of people to a life of abject misery for no other reason than they
were born poor.
*Gale Anne Hurd, producer of The Walking Dead*
This is a powerful and deeply moving personal memoir of a
Dickensian-like childhood shaped by hunger, suffering and family
despair in pre-war Britain. As today's world drifts back towards
the extreme inequality that marked Harry Leslie Smith's childhood,
we would be crazy to ignore his stirring call-to-arms in defence of
the welfare state.
*Linda McQuaig*
With eloquence, passion and insight that can only come from lived
experience, Harry Leslie Smith once again holds up a mirror to
contemporary Britain and the hazardous path it is currently on.
By reminding us so vividly of the recent past and shining a light
on present perils this book is an urgent warning flare against a
gathering storm of far-right ideology and the collective scourges
of austerity, inequality and Brexit. Most importantly of all
though, it exhorts us to do something now or pay the price for
complacency in the face of such threats. Please read - and give it
to those you care about to read
*Mary O'Hara*
Through reading Harry's words, I feel as if I am walking the bridge
between his generation and my own. His experiences as a child in
the Great Depression highlight the dangerous times we now live in -
in which the destruction of the NHS and welfare state risk dragging
us back to a Britain of the 1930s. Harry's work to defend and
champion our public services is something I am endlessly grateful
for. He is an inspiration
*Emily Berrington*
Harry has lived through the Great Depression, World War 2, and has
borne witness to many of our world's greatest economic, social and
cultural conflicts. He's an ordinary man, who has lived through
extraordinary times, and brings his experiences of life forward
with breath-taking lucidity and ability. His words are not a
reflection on history, but a warning that history may be about to
repeat itself. A brilliant book, by a brilliant man
*Professor Vikas S. Shah, FRSA*
If you truly want to comprehend the dangerous place in which we
find ourselves today, social, economic and political and how we
came to be in this mess, look no further then Harry Leslie Smiths
extraordinary new book Don't Let My Past Be Your Future. Never have
the words of this great man been of more relevance, not just to you
and I but to our children and our children's children. At times
Harry's book will make you angry; it will make you cry; but
ultimately it will fill you with the desire to rise up against
injustice and what a testament that is to the words of this
incredible man
*Peter Stefanovic, lawyer, blogger*
Harry Leslie Smith's bravery and honesty are irreproachable, and
his timely, lucid and often harrowing memoir is the perfect
antidote to the schmaltzy, romanticised British history we've been
force fed by the media. It serves as a chilling warning to my
generation of the dangers of repeating the mistakes of British and
European history. The heroes here aren't generals or politicians
but the working-class men and women who struggled against
hypocrisy, war and the overhanging threat of injury, disease and
homelessness to achieve a tolerable life. Nothing is romanticised.
Smith is candid about the machismo and mistreatment of women, not
least his mum, in coal mining communities. But he never lets us
forget the hidden injuries of class, the shame and stigma that
comes with poverty, or the sense of hope that led people to build
the welfare state. For readers today, this book is much more than a
personal account of how ordinary men and (especially) women
achieved dignity in history. It's a wakeup call for a society that
seems intent on giving this dignity away, voting for cuts one day
and retreating behind right-wing demagogues the next. It's a
must-read rejoinder to Britain's patriotic myths of the Second
World War that never goes soft on fascism. And it shows the heroic
things that downtrodden people achieve when they put aside their
differences and unite in struggle. In his ninety-four years, Smith
has never faltered from his commitment to truth and international
justice. This autobiography ensures that people of all generations
can learn from his amazing life
*Cat Boyd, co-founder of the Radical Independence Campaign and the
Scottish Left Project*
Harrowing with a moving message
*Sunday Mirror*
Harry and I were born 50 years apart, in the same town, to the same
stock of hardworking Barnsley miners which is why I jumped at the
chance to read his stark warning to our current and forthcoming
generations. After enduring a heart breaking struggle, Harry has
sought to turn the life of extreme hardship he endured into
something positive and this book is exactly that. Holding up a
mirror between then and now, it deftly compares our current
existence with the one our ancestors trod and horrifically we are
not a million miles away from each other. This is our chance to
momentarily walk in the footsteps of those who trod before us and
prevent the repetition that history so eagerly desires.Coming from
a genuine position of concern, this is an incredibly important book
written by one of the last remaining voices of those times. It
should be studied and its message heeded because, if we ignore
Harry's past, our future may well return to those dark days.
*Shaun Dooley*
Anyone not persuaded of the risks of believing the siren voices of
selfishness and intolerance should read Harry Leslie Smith's
book
*Zelo Street blog*
Through reflecting on his own experiences during his childhood,
Harry Leslie Smith has painted a frank and uncompromising picture
of the grim, appallingly miserable childhood he had to endure due
to the poverty faced by his family contrasted with the, shamefully
still, grim and miserable lives many people endure today in a
country ravaged by cuts, austerity and political turmoil . . . The
strength of Smith's work is in his deftly woven narrative which
features examples from his past, contrasted with the experiences of
those living in poverty today, effectively highlighting how far we
have sunk back into the cesspit of greed and injustice. It is also
a testament to Smith that he manages to uplift as well as horrify
the reader, particularly when discussing his own route out of the
wretchedness of his situation
*The Book Bag*
Wonderful, impassioned . . . important
*Rick O'Shea*
In his winter years, Smith has lost none of his righteous passion,
nor his knack for vivid prose
*New Statesman*
Utterly compelling . . . measured but unflinching . . . the
clear-sighted power of his writing is something that all of us
should pay heed to and its call is one we must answer
*Unison*
There is not a life away from poverty once you've known it. The
nicest sweets will always leave you with the shadow of hunger as an
aftertaste. In this book, Harry Leslie Smith has remembered the
Britain of his youth, and it's a cautionary tale. Without safety
nets, people die, and poverty's few survivors always bear lifelong
scars. There are few thinking-men I respect more in the world than
Harry, and in clear prose he explains poverty's brutality, sparing
himself nothing, so that the rest of us might learn something from
his pain. The man is in his nineties and reading this book is like
watching him turn austerity's boosters over his knee like naughty
children; it's well worth your time. I am grateful to have been
able to read this book.
*Linda Tirando, anti-poverty activist*
Powerfully written . . . with a passion and poignancy still all too
rare in our body politic
*Open Democracy*
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