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The ''Morning Star'' is a
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
British daily newspaper with a focus on
social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
,
political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
and
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
issues. Originally founded in 1930 as the ''Daily Worker'' by the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), ownership was transferred from the CPGB to an independent readers' co-operative in 1945. The paper was then renamed and reinvented as the ''Morning Star'' in 1966. The paper describes its editorial stance as in line with ''
Britain's Road to Socialism ''Britain's Road to Socialism'' is the programme of the Communist Party of Britain, and is adhered to by the Young Communist League and the editors of the ''Morning Star'' newspaper. It proposes that socialism can be achieved in Britain by the ...
'', the programme of the
Communist Party of Britain The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and s ...
. During the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the paper gave a platform to whistleblowers exposing numerous war crimes and atrocities, including publishing proof that the British military were allowing Dayak auxiliaries to headhunt suspected MNLA guerrillas in the Malayan Emergency, publishing evidence of the use of biological weapons by the United States during the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, and revealing the existence of mass graves of civilians killed by the
South Korean government The Government of South Korea is the union government of the South Korea, Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of sta ...
. The ''Morning Star'' has survived numerous attempts at censorship, being banned by all British wholesalers for nearly 12 years, being the victim of police raids and politically motivated libel suits, being banned by the UK government between 1941–1942, and threats by the British government to have its journalists tried for treason and executed. Despite these difficulties, the paper has lasted to become the longest-running socialist newspaper in British history. The paper prints contributions by writers from a variety of
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
,
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
,
social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
,
green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
and
religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
perspectives, with some of its famous contributors including
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
,
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...
,
Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of ...
, Len Johnson,
Wilfred Burchett Wilfred Graham Burchett (16 September 1911 – 27 September 1983) was an Australian journalist known for being the first western journalist to report from Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb, and for his reporting from "the other si ...
,
Alan Winnington Alan Winnington (16 March 1910 – 26 November 1983) was a British journalist, war correspondent, and Communist activist most famous for his coverage of the Korean War and the Chinese revolution. He is most well-known as the author of ''I Saw ...
,
Jean Ross Jean Iris Ross Cockburn ( ; 7 May 1911 – 27 April 1973) was a British writer, political activist, and film critic. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), she was a war correspondent for the ''Daily Express'' and is thought to have been a ...
, and
Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spent ...
. Unlike many socialist newspapers, the ''Morning Star'' does not concentrate on politics to the exclusion of other topics: the paper also includes pages covering arts reviews, sports, gardening, cookery, and book reviews.


The ''Daily Worker'' (1930–1966)


Early years

The ''Morning Star'' was founded in 1930 as the ''Daily Worker'', the paper representing the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and was immediately preceded by and grew out of the ''Weekly Worker'' (10 Feb 1923 - 21 Jan 1927) and ''Workers Life'' (28 Jan 1927 - 20 Dec 1929) newspapers. The first edition was produced on 1 January 1930 from the offices of the newspaper in Tabernacle Street, London, after a meeting the day before by nine British communists, including Willie Gallacher,
Kay Beauchamp Kathleen Mary 'Kay' Beauchamp (27 May 1899 – 25 January 1992) was a leading light in the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1920s. She helped found ''The Daily Worker'' (later '' The Morning Star'') and was a local councillor in Finsbury. ...
,
Tom Wintringham Thomas Henry Wintringham (15 May 1898 – 16 August 1949) was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was a supporter of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founder ...
, Walter Holmes, and
Robert Page Arnot Robert "Robin" Page Arnot (15 December 1890 – 18 May 1986), best known as R. Page Arnot, was a British Communist journalist and politician. Early years Robert Page Arnot, known to his friends as "Robin", was born in 1890 at Greenock, the s ...
. In the first few decades of its existence, the ''Daily Worker'' contained cartoons for children. The ''Daily Worker's'' first issue contained a children's cartoon titled "Micky Mongrel the Class Conscious Cur", drawn by artist Gladys Keable, which would become a staple of the early paper. The paper's first editor was journalist William Rust, while the paper's assistant editor and manager was Tom Wintringham, and was printed at Wintringham's Unity Press. In January 1934, the ''Daily Worker'' offices moved to Cayton Street, off
City Road City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of Lo ...
. The first eight-page ''Daily Worker'' was produced on 1 October 1935.


Second World War

On 3 September 1939, Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
spoke to the nation on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, at which time he announced the formal declaration of war between Britain and
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. ''Daily Worker'' editor J. R. Campbell, backed by his political ally, Party General Secretary
Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spent ...
, sought to portray the conflict against
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
as a continuation of the
anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
fight. This contradicted the position of the
Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
in the aftermath of the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...
(which became CPGB policy on 3 October) that the war was a struggle between rival imperialist powers, and Campbell was removed as editor as a result, being replaced by William Rust.Bill Jones, ''The Russia complex: the British Labour Party and the Soviet Union''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977, p.38 . The paper accused the British government's policies of being "not to rescue Europe from fascism, but to impose British imperialist peace on Germany" before attacking the Soviet Union. The newspaper responded to the assassination of
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
by a Soviet agent with an article on 23 August 1940, entitled "A Counter Revolutionary Gangster Passes", written by former editor Campbell. The paper criticised Sir Walter Citrine after his meeting in Paris with French Labour Minister Charles Pomaret in December 1939. ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' said of the events following the meeting, "Minister Pomaret clamped down on French labour with a set of drastic wage-&-hour decrees and Sir Walter Citrine agreed to a proposal by Chancellor of the Exchequer
Sir John Simon John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954), was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. He is one of only three peop ...
that pay rises in Britain be stopped". Citrine sued the ''Daily Worker'' for libel after it accused him and his associates of "plotting with the French Citrines to bring millions of Anglo-French Trade Unionists behind the Anglo-French imperialist war machine"; the publisher pleaded the British press equivalent of 'fair comment'. Citrine alleged, in response to his lawyer's questioning, that the ''Daily Worker'' received £2,000 pounds per month from "Moscow", and that Moscow directed the paper to print anti-war stories. During this period, when the Soviet Union had a non-aggression pact with Germany, the ''Daily Worker'' ceased to attack Nazi Germany.Editoria
"The 'Daily Worker"
''Manchester Guardian'', 22 January 1941, reprint on ''The Guardian'' website. On 21 January 1941, publication of the newspaper was suppressed by the
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
in the wartime coalition,
Herbert Morrison Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth, (3 January 1888 – 6 March 1965) was a British politician who held a variety of senior positions in the UK Cabinet as member of the Labour Party. During the inter-war period, he was Minis ...
(a Labour Party MP). It had repeatedly ignored a July 1940 warning that its pacifist line contravened Defence Regulation 2D, which made it an offence to 'systematically to publish matter calculated to foment opposition to the prosecution of the war'. A Scottish edition of the ''Daily Worker'' was produced from its plant in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
from 11 November 1940. On 16 April 1941, the ''Daily Worker'' offices at Cayton Street were totally destroyed by fire during
the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...
. The paper moved temporarily in 1942 to the former Caledonian Press offices in Swinton Street (whence the old Communist Party ''Sunday Worker'', edited by William Paul and
Tom Wintringham Thomas Henry Wintringham (15 May 1898 – 16 August 1949) was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was a supporter of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founder ...
, had been published from 15 March 1925 until 1929). New offices were acquired in 1945, at a former brush-makers' warehouse at 75
Farringdon Road Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing C ...
, for the sum of £48,000. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
in June 1941, the situation changed; British Communists became fervent supporters of the war. For the rest of the war, the paper was a strong supporter of the British war effort, and campaigned to organise a "
Second Front The Western Front was a military theatre of World War II encompassing Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The Italian front is considered a separate but related theater. The Wester ...
" in Europe to assist the Soviet Union. The government's ban on the ''Daily Worker'' was lifted in September 1942, following a campaign supported by
Hewlett Johnson Hewlett Johnson (25 January 1874 – 22 October 1966) was an English priest of the Church of England, Marxist Theorist and Stalinist. He was Dean of Manchester and later Dean of Canterbury, where he acquired his nickname "The Red Dean of Can ...
, the
Dean of Canterbury The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The current office of Dean originated after the English Reformation, although Deans had also existed before this time; its immediate precur ...
, and Professor
J. B. S. Haldane John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (; 5 November 18921 December 1964), nicknamed "Jack" or "JBS", was a British-Indian scientist who worked in physiology, genetics, evolutionary biology, and mathematics. With innovative use of statistics in biolog ...
. A "Lift the ban" conference at
Central Hall, Westminster The Methodist Central Hall (also known as Central Hall Westminster) is a multi-purpose venue in the City of Westminster, London, serving primarily as a Methodist church and a conference centre. The building, which is a tourist attraction, also h ...
on 21 March 1942 was attended by over 2,000 delegates. A key part of the campaign was to secure Labour Party support (Herbert Morrison was a fierce opponent of the ''Daily Worker''). On 26 May 1942, after a heated debate, the Labour Party carried a resolution declaring the Government must lift the ban on the ''Daily Worker''. The ''Daily Worker'' welcomed the dropping of the
atomic bomb on Hiroshima The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
, editorialising "The employment of the new weapon on a substantial scale should expedite the surrender of Japan". Lawrence S. Wittner, ''The Struggle Against The Bomb: Volume One, One World Or None''. Stanford, California,
Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It was among the presses officially ...
, p.172 The paper also applauded the bombing of Nagasaki, and called for the use of additional atomic bombs against the Japanese. The People's Press Printing Society was formed just after the war in 1945. The Society's purpose was to raise money for the paper under a co-operative ownership model, and it quickly attracted support from the labour movement. By January 1946 it had 10,000 individual members, as well as organisational membership from 186 trade union bodies and 17 other co-operatives. One month later, in February 1946, a large rally was organised at the Albert Hall, the ''Daily Worker'' which was then owned by Keable Press Ltd on behalf of the Communist Party of Great Britain, was sold to the People's Press Printing Society for a single shilling.


Postwar

The ''Daily Worker'' reached its peak circulation after the war, although precise circulation figures are disputed – from 100,000 to 122,000 to 140,000 and even 500,000. The ''Daily Worker'''s campaigns against the
colour bar Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...
in Britain inspired British middleweight champion boxer Len Johnson to join the Communist Party of Great Britain, and write a boxing column for the ''Daily Worker''. The ''Daily Worker'' was fully supportive of the show trials in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
and
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
in the late 1940s, as well as the split with
Tito Tito may refer to: People Mononyms * Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman * Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journ ...
and Yugoslavia in 1948. In 1950 ''Daily Worker'' foreign correspondent
Alan Winnington Alan Winnington (16 March 1910 – 26 November 1983) was a British journalist, war correspondent, and Communist activist most famous for his coverage of the Korean War and the Chinese revolution. He is most well-known as the author of ''I Saw ...
published ''I Saw the Truth in Korea'', which provided evidence of mass graves containing thousands of corpses belonging to civilians executed by
South Korean government The Government of South Korea is the union government of the South Korea, Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of sta ...
during the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. In response to Winnington's anti-imperialist views and exposure of atrocities in Korea,
Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
's cabinet discussed having Winnington executed by charging him with treason. However, it was instead decided to make him stateless by refusing to renew his passport. Historians and academics have described Winnington as one of the most trustworthy voices of the war. In April 1952, the ''Daily Worker'' published photographs of a
Royal Marine The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
commando posing with two Iban soldiers and holding the decapitated head of a suspected member of the
Malayan National Liberation Army The Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), often mistranslated as the Malayan Races Liberation Army, was a communist guerrilla army that fought for Malayan independence from the British Empire during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) and l ...
(MNLA). The article also included eyewitness testimonies from British personnel in Malaya. An
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...
spokesman subsequently claimed that the photographs were a forgery and a "communist trick", though Colonial Secretary
Oliver Lyttelton Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos, (15 March 1893 – 21 January 1972) was a British businessman from the Lyttelton family who was brought into government during the Second World War, holding a number of ministerial posts. Background, ed ...
later confirmed to
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
that they were genuine; Lyttelton noted the decapitations were conducted by Iban headhunters hired by the British and claimed that it was an isolated incident. In response to Lyttelton's claims, the ''Daily Worker'' published several more photographs of MNLA guerrillas decapitated by Ibans and whose heads became trophies for British soldiers. In 1956, the ''Daily Worker'' suppressed correspondent
Peter Fryer Peter Fryer (18 February 1927 – 31 October 2006)
''Spartacus Educational''. was an English ...
's reports from the Hungarian revolution, which were favourable to the uprising. The paper denounced the attempted revolution as a "white terror", invoking the Horthy regime and earlier 1919–1921 period. By the late 1950s the paper was down to just one sheet of four pages. The last edition of the ''Daily Worker'' was published on Saturday 23 April 1966. An editorial in that final issue declared:
"On Monday this newspaper takes its greatest step forward for many years. It will be larger, it will be better and it will have a new name.... During its 36 years of life our paper has stood for all that is best in British working-class and Socialist journalism. It has established a reputation for honesty, courage and integrity. It has defended trade unionists, tenants, pensioners. It has consistently stood for peace. It has always shown the need for Socialism. Let all Britain see the ''Morning Star'', the inheritor of a great tradition and the herald of a greater future".
In February every year between 1950 and 1954, the ''Daily Worker'' held a rally at
Harringay Arena Harringay Arena was a sporting and events venue on Green Lanes in Harringay, North London, England. Built in 1936, it lasted as a venue until 1958. Construction Harringay Arena was built and owned by Brigadier-General Alfred Critchley under ...
in
Harringay Harringay (pronounced ) is a district of north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the New River, where it crosses Green Lanes by Finsbury Park, and Duckett's ...
, north London, attended by about 10,000 people. Guests were entertained by tableaux set to music.
Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...
also sent recorded messages which were played during the rallies.


''Morning Star'' (1966–present)


History

The first edition of the ''Morning Star'' appeared on Monday, 25 April 1966. South African exile Sarah Carneson worked for the newspaper in the late 1960s. Until 1974, the paper was subsidised by the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
government with direct cash contributions, and from 1974 onwards was indirectly supported by daily bulk orders from Moscow. Its Chief Executive from 1975 was Mary Rosser. By the late 1970s, the paper and the
CPGB The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
were beginning to come into conflict with one another, as the
Eurocommunist Eurocommunism, also referred to as democratic communism or neocommunism, was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more rele ...
trend in the CPGB grew, while the ''Morning Star'' at the time retained a pro-Soviet stance and opposed Eurocommunism. An editorial in ''The Guardian'', however, reported in 1977 that the paper was giving coverage to dissidents in
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
and elsewhere in the Soviet bloc to the consternation of about a third of CPGB members who wanted a reversal to a strictly pro-Kremlin line. "The ''Morning Star'' is open for genuine debate about the future of the Left", it asserted. A demonstration outside the
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
embassy against the imprisonment of
reformist Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement. Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eve ...
Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
Rudolf Bahro Rudolf Bahro (18 November 1935 – 5 December 1997) was a dissident from East Germany who, since his death, has been recognised as a philosopher, political figure and author. Bahro was a leader of the West German party The Greens, but became dis ...
was organised by the ''Morning Star'' that year. Also in 1977, editor
Tony Chater Anthony Philip John "Tony" Chater (21 December 1929 – 2 August 2016) was a British newspaper editor and Communist activist. Early life Born in Northampton, Chater attended Northampton Town and County Grammar School, and joined the Communist ...
persuaded the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
government to begin running advertisements in the newspaper, previously absent because of a lack of audited circulation figures. In December 1981, when the
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
movement was suppressed and martial law declared, the paper criticised the Executive Committee of the party for condemning the acts of the (then-Communist) Polish government. In 1982, the ''Morning Star'' attacked the attitudes of ''
Marxism Today ''Marxism Today'', published between 1957 and 1991, was the theoretical magazine of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The magazine was headquartered in London. It was particularly important during the 1980s under the editorship of Martin Jacque ...
'', the party's monthly journal, which was controlled by the Eurocommunists.John Callaghan ''The Far Left in British Politics'', Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987 The newspaper attracted some wider media attention in September 1981 when the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
paid to place six advertisements for its
Russian-language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is one of four living Eas ...
service in the ''Morning Star'', which was one of the few
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
newspapers that the USSR government allowed to be circulated in the country. Four of these advertisements were printed as agreed, but the last two of the six were not printed. A spokesman for the newspaper said that the advertising department had not properly consulted with other teams before making the agreement, and that the BBC's broadcasts were part of
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
propaganda. The paper supported the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during the miners' strike of 1984–1985, but the party had become critical of NUM leader
Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...
's strategy towards the end of the strike. Meanwhile, in March 1984, the CPGB Executive Committee (EC) issued a seven-page document which was heavily critical of editor Tony Chater, in particular because he had refused to print an article which commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of the death of
Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
. The EC put forward candidates to challenge those loyal to Chater at the 1984 AGM of the PPPS and called for Chater's replacement. He was expelled from the CPGB in January 1985, along with the assistant editor, David Whitfield, reportedly because the attempts to remove him as editor had failed. A statement by the party's EC asserted that the paper was "being systematically used to attack and undermine congress policy, support factional activities in the party, and help sectarian minority groupings in their opposition to the party majority". In June 1985, however, AGMs of the PPPS held in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
voted by about 60 to 40% for candidates backed by the management committee of the ''Morning Star''.Chater remained editor of the paper until 1995 when he retired. Control of the newspaper passed from the
Eurocommunist Eurocommunism, also referred to as democratic communism or neocommunism, was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties which said they had developed a theory and practice of social transformation more rele ...
leadership of the CPGB to the newly established pro-Soviet
Communist Party of Britain The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and s ...
(CPB). On the day before the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
began to be demolished in 1989, under a headline reading "GDR unveils reforms package", the newspaper commented that "The German Democratic Republic is awakening", and quoting material supplied by
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
’s ruling Socialist Unity Party: "A revolutionary people’s movement has set in motion a process of serious upheaval ... The aim is dynamically to give socialism more democracy" Soviet bulk orders ended abruptly in 1989 (the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...
had still been buying 6,000 copies every day), and the termination of this order, with only a week's notice, was the cause of "huge financial disruption". In the 1990s, the publication's circulation fell to 7,000, following the end of the Soviet bulk sales. There were tensions between different CPB factions over control of the paper, and in particular over the successor of Tony Chater as editor. Chief Executive Mary Rosser favoured the news editor, Paul Corry (also her son-in-law); the staff and by the unions favoured Chater's deputy, John Haylett, who was installed in February 1995. In 1998 many of its workers – then earning £10,500 a year and with no raise for 11 years – went on strike. These strikes were provoked by the sacking by Rosser of Haylett for "gross misconduct". During the protest a breakaway from the ''Morning Star'', the ''Workers' Morning Star'' was formed, and published by a small group of journalists who worked for the ''Morning Star'' at the same time. This paper was discontinued before the end of the decade. Haylett was eventually reinstated as editor and the protests stopped, as the circulation saw a moderate increase. "Our political relationship is still with the Communist Party of Britain", he said in 2005, pointing out that only about 10% of readers were members of the party, "but now we represent a broad movement". It opposed the 1999
Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...
, denouncing military intervention by
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
, and consistently defended Serbian president
Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
, according to other publications. Although the paper is normally published from Monday to Saturday, an issue of the ''Morning Star'' was published on 13 September 2015, its first ever Sunday edition, to cover
the election ''The Election'' () is a political drama series produced by Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV). With a budget of HK$15 million, filming started in July 2014 and wrapped up on 28 October 2014. Popularly voted to be the inaugural drama of ...
of
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
as Leader of the Labour Party. In December 2016, the newspaper was criticised by Labour MPs led by John Woodcock ("one of the fiercest critics of British government inaction over aid to the region", according to ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'') for its description of the imminent fall of Aleppo to Syrian government forces in a front-page headline as a "liberation". Labour MP
Tom Blenkinsop Thomas Francis Blenkinsop (born 14 August 1980) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland from 2010 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was an Opposition Whip under Ed Mil ...
tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
: "Hard left joining with far right in welcoming dictators "liberating"
Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...
. Absolute disgrace". Other Labour MPs joining in the criticism were
Stephen Doughty Stephen John Doughty (born 15 April 1980) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2012. He has been the Shadow Minister for Africa and a Shadow M ...
, Angela Smith,
Ian Austin Ian Christopher Austin, Baron Austin of Dudley (born 6 March 1965) is a British politician who sits as a life peer in the House of Lords. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dudley North from the 2005 general election until the 2019 gene ...
,
Mike Gapes Michael John Gapes (born 4 September 1952) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South from 1992 to 2019. Born in Wanstead Hospital, Gapes attended Buckhurst Hill County High School. He studied ec ...
,
Jess Phillips Jessica Rose Phillips (; born 9 October 1981) is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguard ...
,
Toby Perkins Matthew Toby Perkins (born 12 August 1970) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesterfield since 2010. He has been Shadow Minister for Apprentices and Lifelong Learning since April 2020. Prev ...
and
Wes Streeting Wesley Paul William Streeting (; born 21 January 1983) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since 2021, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North since 2015. He serv ...
.
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
MP
George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...
and ''Guardian'' writer
Owen Jones Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a British newspaper columnist, political commentator, journalist, author, and left-wing activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'' and '' Tribune.'' He has two ...
also attacked the paper's headline. However, the paper rejected the criticism, stating that "from a purely technical point of view, when a sovereign government reclaims territory previously held by enemy forces, that’s called "liberation" whether we like the outcome or not".
Stop the War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group established on 21 September 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, to campaign against what it believes are unjust wars. The Coalition has c ...
convener
Lindsey German Lindsey Ann German
''Evening Standard'' (This is London), 14 May 2004 (born 1951) is a ...
, and political commentator Peter Oborne defended the ''Star'' reporting of the issue, and questioned the dominant media narrative, respectively. Jeremy Corbyn said he "disagreed" with the headline, emphasising that he always advocated a ceasefire and "a political settlement in Syria". However, he refused to say he would never buy or read the paper again, saying; "Listen, I buy lots of newspapers. I frequently disagree profoundly with headlines, even in ''The Guardian'', the ''Telegraph'', the ''Mail'', and so on. Does it mean I won’t buy them, or read them? Of course not." In June 2022 it published a statement by the Communist Party of Britain on the 'situation in Ukraine' that stated "the war between Russia and Ukraine is part of a wider conflict between capitalist powers, between Russia on one side and Ukraine and the expansionist NATO powers on the other." It went on to call NATO "an alliance of imperialist powers" and oppose sanctions against Russia.


Editorial line and contents

The newspaper describes itself as "a reader-owned co-operative and unique as a lone socialist voice in a sea of corporate media". The paper attempts to speak to the working class a group its editor described in 2015 as around 80% to 90% of the British population who work for a wage rather than living off investments or assets. Successive annual general meetings of the People's Press Printing Society have agreed that the policy of the paper is founded on ''
Britain's Road to Socialism ''Britain's Road to Socialism'' is the programme of the Communist Party of Britain, and is adhered to by the Young Communist League and the editors of the ''Morning Star'' newspaper. It proposes that socialism can be achieved in Britain by the ...
'', the programme of the
Communist Party of Britain The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and s ...
. A profile of the paper which was published in the centre-left ''New Statesman'' magazine in 2015 commented on its contents that: On international issues, the paper was historically sympathetic to the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact, allies during the Cold War. Commentators have suggested that it maintains a fairly Anti-Western sentiment, anti-Western worldview into the 21st century. Its attitude to the wider world has been criticised by others on the British left with Paul Anderson (journalist), Paul Anderson former editor of the socialist ''Tribune (magazine), Tribune'' magazine commenting that “It runs articles extolling the virtues of single-party ‘socialist’ states on a regular basis – North Korea, Cuba, China, Vietnam. Its default position on just about everything happening in the world is that anything any western power supports – but particularly the United States – must be opposed, which has led to it cheering on Putin, Hamas, Assad and a lot of other real nasties.” The paper is sympathetic to Irish republicanism categorising reporting about Northern Ireland as foreign. On its masthead, the paper states that it supports peace and socialism, and it is also Euroscepticism, Eurosceptic. The ''Morning Star'' and ''The Spectator'' were the only publications to campaign for an Exit vote in the 1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975 referendum. Tony Benn (described as "the ''de facto'' leader of the "Out" campaign") campaigned alongside the paper. Over thirty years later the ''Morning Star'' supported the No2EU platform in the 2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, 2009 European Parliament election. The paper was also supportive of 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Britain's vote in 2016 to leave the EU, saying that "Anybody who supports the election of a Corbyn government with a mandate to end austerity, extend public ownership, redistribute wealth and restructure our economy in the interests of working people needs to explain how this agenda can be implemented in the framework of an EU that bans so much of it" but criticised the referendum campaign as being headed by "reactionary zealots" such as Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. The paper advocates a vote for the Labour Party in most seats, except for the handful in which the Communist Party of Britain has a candidate. During Jeremy Corbyn's term as Labour leader, the Communist Party of Britain did not stand any candidates against Labour in the 2017 UK General Election, 2017 or 2019 UK General Election, 2019 general elections, and the ''Morning Star'' became wholly pro-Labour in this period. The paper has also received contributions from representatives of the Green politics, Green movement, religious organisations as well as Scottish nationalism, Scottish and Welsh nationalism, Welsh nationalists.


Contributors and staff

In the first years of the twenty-first century, the paper has carried contributions from Uri Avnery, John Pilger, Green politics, Green activist Derek Wall, ex-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone,
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament (MPs)
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
and John McDonnell (politician), John McDonnell, Green Party of England and Wales, Green MP Caroline Lucas, former MP George Galloway (Respect Party, Respect), the cartoonist Martin Rowson, and many trade union general secretaries. Features are contributed by writers from a range of socialist, Social democracy, social democratic, Green politics, green and religious perspectives. Despite this, according to then editor John Haylett in 2005: "things that happened in the Soviet Union 70 years ago are still being used as a stick to beat the ''Morning Star''." On 1 January 2009, Bill Benfield took over as editor of the ''Morning Star''. John Haylett, who had been editor since 1995, took up the post of political editor. Benfield had previously been deputy editor and head of production, but suffered from ill health. In May 2012, Richard Bagley became editor of the ''Morning Star'', having already worked at the paper in various positions since 2001. In July 2014, he stepped down as editor, with Ben Chacko becoming acting editor,"Tributes paid to departing Star stalwarts"
''Morning Star'' (website), 28 July 2014 a position in which Chacko was confirmed in May 2015. The newspaper "is the most precious and only voice we have in the daily media", said (then backbencher Labour MP) Jeremy Corbyn at the time of Chacko's formal appointment in May 2015. "I look forward to working with Ben in promoting socialism and progress".


Finances and circulation

The ''Morning Star'' carries little commercial advertising, with low advertising rates, and the cover price does not pay for print and distribution. Consequently, the paper has always been dependent on donations from activists, readers, and trade unions. The paper relies on its "Star Fund" appeal (monthly target £18,000). In its past, the paper received a subsidy from the Soviet Union in the form of bulk orders. In 1981, its circulation was about 36,000, down from the ''Daily Worker''s post-war peak. In March 2005, ''BBC News Magazine'' reported the ''Morning Star''s circulation as between 13,000 and 14,000, quoting Haylett's comment "perhaps only one in 10 of these readers would label themselves as Communists". The circulation was thought to be around 10,000 when Ben Chacko took over as editor in mid-2015. The ''Morning Star'' has also taken a much higher profile at trade union gatherings and within the UK trade union movement, particularly with unions such as Unite the Union, Unite, GMB (trade union), GMB, UCATT, FBU, Community, CWU, NUM, Durham Miners, Prison Officers and National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, RMT. Since 2008, the ''Morning Star'' has hired exhibition space at the Trades Union Congress, with sponsored copies being handed out to delegates at the TUC, Labour Party Conference (UK), Labour Party Conference, at union conferences and high profile events such as the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival and the Durham Miners Gala. The newspaper is also available at independent newsagents and shops such as RS McColl, in local supermarkets such as Budgens, at railway stations and on motorway service areas. In addition, it is stocked by the Co-op Food chain of stores. During the early morning of 28 July 2008, the offices of the newspaper were damaged by fire, and the edition of 29 July took a reduced form. A similar incident occurred on 20 October 2014 when a fire broke out near the offices and a small number of staff had to relocate to the sports editor's house in order to finish the paper. On 1 June 2009, the ''Morning Star'' was re-launched. The re-launch included a 16-page edition during the week, and a 24-page weekend edition priced at £1.20 after a rise in its prices in September 2014. This rose to 1.50 in 2020 There is no Sunday edition of the newspaper. There was also an expanded use of colour pictures and graphics, plus a redesign and a modern layout of the pages. The ''Morning Star'' also redesigned its website. In addition, a number of new and experienced journalists were engaged and the positions of full-time Industrial Correspondent and The Lobby, Lobby Correspondent in the House of Commons were reintroduced. In November 2011, the ''Morning Star'' launched an urgent appeal to raise £75,000 in order to address a number of funding issues which meant the paper might have gone under by the end of the year. On Monday 18 June 2012, the ''Morning Star'' moved to printing at two Trinity Mirror print sites in Watford and Oldham, which improved distribution of the ''Morning Star'' to all parts of the country, particularly Scotland. In November 2021, ''The Canary (website), The Canary'' revealed that the UK Foreign Office had tried, unsuccessfully, to discover the source of the ''Morning Star''s funding during the 1970s. A report by the Information Research Department stated: "While watertight evidence is no doubt lacking, it might be possible for a skilled propagandist to present a convincing case which the CPGB [Communist Party of Great Britain] would find extremely difficult to refute. The project would require some detailed research which IRD could no doubt undertake in conjunction with MI5, the Security Service". Commenting on these revelations, Ben Chacko, the editor of the ''Morning Star'', told ''The Canary'':
Given what we know of the secret state's extensive surveillance and sabotage of entirely legal protest movements and trade unions, it is no surprise that British spooks also wanted to undermine the ''Morning Star''. Trying to discredit the newspaper with claims it must have had access to secret foreign funding run up against the fact that the ''Morning Star'' was not just the most authoritative source on industrial relations in the British press – prime ministers from Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher made sure to obtain their copy – but a daily newspaper whose integrity and professionalism was respected by other journalists, as the spooks evidently found to their dismay! This is a cautionary tale about the state's willingness to play dirty to discredit critical media. It is absolutely relevant today, given the calls we hear from both main parties in Parliament for tighter censorship, bans on foreign-owned media like China Central Television or RT (TV network), Russia Today, and for state regulation of so-called “fake news” that conveniently ignores the barrage of fake news pumped out by Establishment media day in, day out. We must acknowledge the importance of defending free speech and the right to "publish and be damned!" as our government connives at efforts to intimidate and jail journalists such as Julian Assange.


Online version

An online version of the paper was launched on 1 April 2004. Initially only some parts of the site were free, including a PDF of the paper's front page, the editorial "Star Comment" and all the articles from the culture and sports pages, while features and the current affairs were subscription-only. On 1 January 2009 this policy was changed, and all content was made freely available online. In April 2012, the paper launched a daily e-edition of the full newspaper, which readers can subscribe to for a charge. As of 2020, the number of articles non-subscribers can read for free is limited.


Editors

As the ''Daily Worker'': :1930: William Rust :1933: Jimmy Shields (journalist), Jimmy Shields :1935: Idris Cox :1936: Rajani Palme Dutt :1938: Dave Springhall :1939: John Ross Campbell :1939: William Rust :1949: John Ross Campbell :1959: George Matthews (journalist), George Matthews Chairs of the editorial board have included
Hewlett Johnson Hewlett Johnson (25 January 1874 – 22 October 1966) was an English priest of the Church of England, Marxist Theorist and Stalinist. He was Dean of Manchester and later Dean of Canterbury, where he acquired his nickname "The Red Dean of Can ...
(clergyman known as 'the Red Dean' of Canterbury), although he was not a member of the CPGB. As the ''Morning Star'': :1966: George Matthews :1974:
Tony Chater Anthony Philip John "Tony" Chater (21 December 1929 – 2 August 2016) was a British newspaper editor and Communist activist. Early life Born in Northampton, Chater attended Northampton Town and County Grammar School, and joined the Communist ...
:1995: John Haylett :2009: Bill Benfield :2012: Richard Bagley :2014: Ben Chacko


Notes

;Notes ;Citations


Sources

* *


External links

*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morning Star, The 1930 establishments in the United Kingdom 1966 establishments in the United Kingdom Communist newspapers Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom Media and communications in the London Borough of Islington National newspapers published in the United Kingdom Newspapers published in London Newspapers established in 1930 Publications established in 1966 Socialist newspapers published in the United Kingdom Socialist newspapers