Kingsley's Story
Submitted by Ben Isitt on
In the early 20th century Eugene T. Kingsley was for many years the face of Western Canadian intellectual radicalism, and was among the key figures who propelled the politics of dissent towards both legitimacy and popularity in British Columbia and across Canada as a whole. Described as the "the Old Man" and "the Old War Horse" of the British Columbia socialist movement, it was through Kingsley's newspaper, the Western Clarion, that Canadian socialism found it's clearest articulation in the early century. Yet the memory of Eugene Kingsley has been largely passed over, despite the immense weight of his political influence and the volume of his editorial writings for the Socialist cause.
Similarly, his greatest achievements of organization and public speaking were accomplished with a severe disability that few saw: In a railway accident halfway through his life, Eugene Kingsley lost both legs while working on a railway line in the northwestern United States. Kingsley's disability proved to be the genesis of his political life, and what follows is a series of chapters about eras in Kingsley's life from that event forward. These chapters help us better understand the sort of world that Kingsley lived in, the politics of the time, and how he viewed it. But more importantly, the story that follows demonstrates how Eugene Kingsley actively sought to change his world.
1. Incident at Spring Gulch - Disability and the Railroad
2. California Radical - Free Speech and Political Genesis
3. The Old War Horse - Socialism in British Columbia
4. The Genesis and Evolution of Slavery - the writings of Eugene Kingsley
5. The Twilight Years - Kingsley and Electoral Activism and censorship
6. Kingsley's Legacy
Similarly, his greatest achievements of organization and public speaking were accomplished with a severe disability that few saw: In a railway accident halfway through his life, Eugene Kingsley lost both legs while working on a railway line in the northwestern United States. Kingsley's disability proved to be the genesis of his political life, and what follows is a series of chapters about eras in Kingsley's life from that event forward. These chapters help us better understand the sort of world that Kingsley lived in, the politics of the time, and how he viewed it. But more importantly, the story that follows demonstrates how Eugene Kingsley actively sought to change his world.
1. Incident at Spring Gulch - Disability and the Railroad
2. California Radical - Free Speech and Political Genesis
3. The Old War Horse - Socialism in British Columbia
4. The Genesis and Evolution of Slavery - the writings of Eugene Kingsley
5. The Twilight Years - Kingsley and Electoral Activism and censorship
6. Kingsley's Legacy