Book review: David Spaner’s left-wing picaresque a superlative read

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Keefer Street

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David Spaner  |  Ronsdale Press

$24.95 | 308pp.

They were called

premature anti-fascists

. The men and  women of the International Brigades who travelled to Spain in the 1930s to defend the Spanish Republic from rogue general Francisco Franco’s fascist attack were heroes to many, but often viewed as dangerous reds by their home governments.

While Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were quick to supply Franco with military aid, western powers pursued a course of neutrality that by default supported the Spanish dictator. The International Brigades came from around the world to support the democratically elected Spanish Republic, defying their government’s collusion with Franco. And yes, many of them were reds, either members of the Communist parties in their home countries, anarchists, Trotskyists or left social democrats unwilling to let Spanish democracy be destroyed.

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The Canadian cohort was called the  Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion or the Mac Paps, named for two 19th century Canadian rebels; Canada sent more fighters to Spain per capita than any other country except France.

B.C. writer David Spaner’s splendid new historical novel Keefer Street tells their story. His protagonist, Jake Feldman, grows up during the Depression in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighborhood and is radicalized by his experiences of poverty. He goes on to become a kind of left-wing Forrest Gump, showing up for most of the iconic moments of labour and anti-fascist history in the tumultuous Canadian decade of the 1930s. He’s at the Battle of Ballantyne Pier the On to Ottawa Trek and even at Toronto’s  Battle of Christie Pits, which has been called Canada’s worst antisemitic riot. He eventually goes to Spain and serves with the Mac Paps until the International Brigades are sent home as Spain falls to Franco.

But this is not simply a picaresque of the Canadian Left’s biggest hits. Spaner has a gift for  characterization and dialogue and creates a whole world of believable characters and interpersonal drama, as he follows Jake from Keefer Street to Spain, home to B.C. and eventually back to Spain for a reunion of International Brigade survivors.

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Throughout this story, the author resists any temptation to portray his characters as subjects of hagiography. They are all fully rounded and complex, and Jake’s complicated relationships with his family and friends are well realized, as is his reconnection with Rebecca, a woman from his past. This book is an impressive human document, blending history and psychology, politics, and passion.

Highly recommended.

Tom Sandborn lives and writes in Vancouver. He welcomes your feedback and story tips at [email protected]

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