Radical: the story of Arthur Desmond

Meet the New Zealand author of a book beloved by Neo-Nazi's, Satanists and White Supremacists. Bizarrely Arthur Desmond started off as a hard-core labour activist and supporter of Maori rights, but he then went "so far to the left that dropped off the edge."

Arthur Desmond is possibly the most widely read and influential political writer New Zealand has ever produced.

Unfortunately, the book he's best known for is - in the words of one reviewer on Goodreads.com - "sexist, racist, classist and more violent than any Tarantino movie". And the people his book is influencing these days are mostly neo-Nazis, white supremacists and misogynists.

But in his early days as a farm worker in Hawke's Bay, Desmond was a champion of workers' rights and the rights of Māori. So, what happened?

In the words of one historian, he went "so far to the left that dropped off the edge."

"It's a very disturbing, very unpleasant political philosophy, but it led to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini"

Arthur Desmond has mysterious origins. Nobody knows where he was born or who his parents were.

"I'm not certain Arthur Desmond is his real given name. It probably isn't," says historian Mark Derby, who's recently written a book titled Ragnar Redbeard: the Antipodean Origins of Radical Fabulist Arthur Desmond.

The first time Desmond appears in the historical record is in 1883. He was about 25 years old and running to become the Member of Parliament for Hawke's Bay. Desmond ran a populist campaign, rallying crowds of fellow farm workers who were fed up with the rich sheep barons who dominated the political establishment of the time.

One of his political speeches read like this:

"I have seen men living in a hut where no fire was allowed. Going to bed on a wet, cold day to keep themselves warm. I have seen the wind and the rain coming in through the cracked roof - and the winter storm whistling through the rafters, as it does through the rigging of a ship. And I have also known of the owners of these colonial gallivanting in some London ballroom upon the profits of these slaves' labour."

Desmond split the vote with another left-wing candidate on his first run for parliament and performed even better during his second run in 1887 - but failed to win a seat.

However, he alienated the settler community with his support for the former Māori guerrilla leader and founder of the Ringatu church, Te Kooti. When public meetings were held to protest a planned trip by Te Kooti to Gisborne, Desmond was the only Pākehā who raised his voice in support…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details