Arbeiter Ring Publishing (ARP) was founded in 1996 by musician John K. Samson and writer/editor Todd Scarth in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. Our mandate is to publish a dynamic combination of cultural, fiction, and non-fiction titles with an emphasis on progressive political analysis of contemporary issues, or what the Winnipeg Free Press described as “left-wing politics with a rock-and-roll attitude.”
We chose the name Arbeiter Ring to express our solidarity with the rich history of the social justice movement in Winnipeg. The Arbeiter Ring (Worker’s Circle) was a radical Jewish organization especially active in the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and instrumental in bringing many great thinkers, such as the trail- blazing anarchist Emma Goldman, to speak to the citizens of our city. The Arbeiter Ring’s engagement with both ideas and activism is an abiding inspiration.
ARP is currently run by an editorial collective of five artists and academics: Roewan Crowe, Peter Ives, Esyllt Jones, John K. Samson, and Todd Scarth, along with our administrator, Richard Wood. In the last fourteen years we have published an eclectic and engaging list, from Any Given Power, a book of short stories by Giller Prize nominated author Alissa York, to our best-selling exploration of the anti- globalization movement, Another World is Possible: Globalization and Anti-Capitalism, by David McNally.
We have served as an amplifier for the concerns of some of Canada’s finest Indigenous writers, with books like Lighting the Eighth Fire: The Liberation, Resurgence, and Protection of Indigenous Nations, an anthology edited by Leanne Simpson; The Red Indians by Peter Kulchyski; and Dishonour of the Crown: The Ontario Resource Regime in the Valley of the Kiji Sìbì by Paula Sherman.
We explored moving pictures in Kino Delirium: The Films of Guy Maddin, the first book-length study of the renowned director, and They Came From Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema, the definitive (and perhaps only) book on that neglected and surprisingly important subject, both by Caelum Vatnsdal. We looked at pictures that are still, but are still moving, in Framing Identity: Social Practices of Photography in Canada by Susan Close, and took an enlightening peep at surveillance culture with Greg Elmer and Andy Opel’s Preempting Dissent: The Politics of an Inevitable Future.
The wide-ranging concerns of ARP are perfectly captured in our recent titles, which explore, among many other subjects, race and rhythm, education, apartheid, food, foreign policy, and the Oka Crisis.
Our authors are world-renowned academics, first-time novelists, community activists, and established writers from all over Canada who share our firm belief that the written word can change the world, one reader at a time. We are proud of this catalogue of books—books we hope will challenge, assist, entertain, and provoke you.
