Spartacus Books

Spartacus Books is a non-profit, volunteer and collectively run bookstore and resource centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1973. Spartacus sells new and used books, zines, comics, magazines, CDs, videos, T-shirts, patches, pins, posters and cards.[1] Spartacus Books is one of the longest running collectively run bookstores in North America.

The exterior of Spartacus Books on Findlay Street

The building where it had long been located (311 West Hastings Street) burned down on April 25, 2004. The store once again opened for business on February 12, 2006 at 319 West Hastings Street, immediately adjacent to the old location.[2][3][4] However, due to the increasing cost of real estate in Vancouver, the store was forced to move again to 684 East Hastings Street.[5] In 2014 it moved out of the Downtown Eastside to 3378 Findlay Street.[6]

History

Spartacus Books was originally started at Simon Fraser University by Roger Perkins, who worked at the SFU bookstore. It was initially called the Spartacus Socialist Education Society, however over the years it has become a meeting place for people of divergent political views. However, they all agreed that they needed to get books and other educational materials that either were difficult to get through any other means.

The bookstore originally was in a space shared by a pool-hall run by the American Exiles Association, a group of American military deserters and war resisters. Later, it moved to 311 West Hastings Street, where it operated for 30 years until the fire in 2004.

Fire

A fire started at Spartacus Books on April 25, 2004 at 6:00 AM in a back dumpster behind the store.[7] There has been an investigation into the fire. However, the cause of the fire wasn't certain. By the time the fire was put out, the entire building had gone up in flames and Spartacus Books had lost all of its inventory as well as materials detailing the history of the store. Spartacus Books has a large collective, and the collective operates by writing in a store journal. The store journal is an analog version of a wiki. Each volunteer would write down important information that happened on their volunteer shift. Over the period of time the original store was open, the journals would be the main piece of history as to what happened at the store. This was lost as well.[8]

Fundraising, work and reopening

Fundraising for Spartacus Books came in the way of numerous donations, and the efforts of the collective and supporters over the years between April 2004 and November 2005.[3][9][10] They received money, used books and other donated items from the now-shut down Granville Book Company, which allowed the store to get space and shelving. In November 2005, the new space opened its doors to the public for a book release. However, the book store was not yet open for business. For example, there was no heat or electricity. By February 2006, Spartacus was back with a volunteer list of over 60 people.[4]

2013 renoviction

In late 2012, new landlords bought the building that Spartacus Books is in. Soon after, the new landlords terminated Spartacus' lease and told Spartacus to vacate the premises by July 31, 2013. This eviction notice was cancelled following media attention to Spartacus's 'renoviction'.[11][10]

The landlord announced that he would not be renewing the lease, which ran through to the end of July 2014. Spartacus Books moved to a new storefront at 3378 Findlay (near Trout Lake) at the end of June 2014.[10][9]

Current store
Inside Spartacus Books' current location at 3378 Findlay Street.

Spartacus Books is a bookstore that is run by a collective which operates on a horizontal consensus decision making structure. Any member of the public can fill out an application to join the collective, and after an interview process to make sure that the prospective volunteer understands the basic principles and the general rules of the store, the volunteer gets trained. After volunteering for two months, they are considered a member of the collective.[12]

It is usually described as a "radical bookstore", and among its sections are anarchism, women studies, LGBTQ lit,[13] poetry, Indigenous studies and Indigenous lit, organizing, theory, history and ecology, plus a section of non-specialized used books. The bookstore is often used for various events such as movie nights and book releases.[8][14] Spartacus has been described over the years as a hub of alternative culture in Vancouver. Groups that have used the space for meetings throughout the years include the Spartacus Book Club, the anarchistic free school movement, Vancouver Indymedia, cooperative housing, the Vancouver Esperanto group, Under the Volcano Festival, G8 and G20 protests and the local chapter of Industrial Workers of the World.[15][16] There are two computers connected to the internet and running free software and a WiFi hotspot which can be used for free.

References
  1. "Vancouver Venues: Spartacus Books". The Bellingham Herald. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  2. Williams, Jane; Briemberg, Mordecai (December 6, 2005). "New book on homophobic violence; Spartacus Books re-opens". rabble.ca. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  3. Burns, John (September 8, 2005). "Spartacus Books is back in business". Vancouver Free Press. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  4. "Spartacus Books Grand Opening". Beyond Robson. Archived from the original on February 21, 2006. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  5. "Spartacus Books". Kootenary School of Writing. Archived from the original on October 11, 2006. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  6. "Spartacus Books is on the move..." Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  7. UniversalEating (October 13, 2007), Cabbages & Kinks Fire, retrieved March 1, 2018
  8. "Spartacus Books | Discorder Magazine | CiTR". www.citr.ca. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  9. Austin, Ian (May 22, 2014). "Final chapter for Spartacus in DTES; Gentrification blamed". The Province. Vancouver, BC. ProQuest 1527869267.
  10. Mowbray, Mike (July 2014). "Grand Opening & Reno Fundraiser: Spartacus Books commitment to keep up the struggle". Columbia Journal: 13.
  11. VancouverSun (February 28, 2018), Iconic Spartacus bookstore to close, retrieved March 1, 2018
  12. "Volunteer Application for Spartacus Books". Google Docs. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  13. Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  14. "Events – Spartacus Books". spartacusbooks.net. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  15. Houle-Lachance, Adélie. "Spartacus, a bookstore for learning new things: Way better than a bookstore just for buying new things". Capilano Courier.
  16. "Reflections on the Spartacus Book Club". Allison's Blog. December 19, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2018.

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