''Freedom'' is a

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 ...

-based

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

website and biannual journal published by

Freedom Press Freedom Press is an anarchist publishing house and bookseller in Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1886, it is the largest anarchist publishing house in the country and the oldest of its kind in the English speaking world. It is bas ...

which was formerly either a monthly, a fortnightly or a weekly newspaper. The paper was started in 1886 by volunteers including

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

and

Charlotte Wilson Charlotte Mary Wilson (6 May 1854, Kemerton, Worcestershire – 28 April 1944, Irvington-on-Hudson, New York) was an English Fabian and anarchist who co-founded '' Freedom'' newspaper in 1886 with Peter Kropotkin, and edited, published, ...

and continued with a short interruption in the 1930s until 2014 as a regular publication, moving its news production online and publishing irregularly until 2016, when it became a bi-annual. Originally, the subtitle was "A Journal of Anarchist Socialism". The title was changed to "A Journal of

Anarchist Communism Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains resp ...

" in June 1889. Currently it's labelled simply as an "Anarchist Journal". The newspaper's

mission statement A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation ...

was originally stated in every issue and summarises the writers' view of anarchism: The current printed issue does not carry a summary, but the website retains a section of the original 1886 introductory essay by Peter Kropotkin:

History

The paper historically featured news from the

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

s and events as well as listing planned events and

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

s. Staying true to Kropotkin's principle of mutual aid, the paper regularly featured reviews of other anarchist and

libertarian socialist Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...

publications, such as ''Organise!'' and ''

Direct Action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

'' as well as other local and international newsletters and journals. In 2006, the paper gained a colour front for the first time in its history. Along with a number of gradual changes in the content and structure of the paper and organisational changes at Freedom Press, ''Freedom'' got a re-design in January 2008. While remaining a fortnightly newspaper, it doubled the number of pages to 16 and reduced to A4 in size, introducing a basic theory section, dedicated business and public sector pages and an increased story count. In late 2011, it switched from fortnightly to monthly publication, which continued until its closure as a regular paper in 2014. It cost £2 per issue.

Editors

Note that this is a non-comprehensive list: * 1886–1895:

* 1895–1910:

Alfred Marsh Alfred Marsh (3 November 1858 – 13 October 1914) was an anarchist-communist and long-time editor and stalwart of the newspaper ''Freedom''. Early years Marsh was born in Clerkenwell, London. Having lost his mother at an early age, he was ...

* 1910–1928:

Thomas Keell Thomas Henry Keell (24 September 1866 – 26 June 1938) was an English compositor who edited the anarchist periodical ''Freedom''. In 1907, he attended the International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam, where he was hailed by Emma Goldman as " ...

* 1930–1934:

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

* 1930–1936: John Humphrey * 1936–1949:

Marie Louise Berneri Marie Louise Berneri (born Maria Luisa Berneri; 1 March 1918 – 13 April 1949) was an anarchist activist and author. Born in Italy, she spent much of her life in Spain, France, and England. She was involved with the short-lived publication, '' ...

* 1936–1968:

Vernon Richards Vernon Richards (born Vero Benvenuto Costantino Recchioni, 19 July 1915 – 10 December 2001) was an Anglo-Italian anarchist, editor, author, engineer, photographer, and companion of Marie-Louise Berneri. Richards' founding of the paper '' Spa ...

* 1940–1960:

Colin Ward Colin Ward (14 August 1924 – 11 February 2010)

(joint) * 1964–1969: John Rety * 1970: Peter Turner, Jack Robinson and Bill Christopher * 1970s: John Lawrence,

Donald Rooum Donald Rooum (20 April 1928 – 31 August 2019) was an English anarchist cartoonist and writer. He had a long association with Freedom Press who have published seven volumes of his ''Wildcat'' cartoons. In 1963 he played a key role in exposi ...

* 1970s–1980s: Stu Stuart, Vernon Richards * 1976–1980s: David Peers * 1980s: Gillian Fleming * 1990s–2001: Charles Crute * 2001–2004: Toby Crow * 2003–2004: Steven, Jim Clarke * 2004–2009: Rob Ray * 2009–2013: Dean Talent * 2012–2013: Matt Black * 2013–2014: Charlotte Dingle

2014 print closure

On 1 March 2014, ''Freedom'' announced the closure of its print edition, continuing to publish online alongside a bi-annual printed freesheet. This was expanded into a 20-page journal from 2016. Frequency dropped to one issue per year during the 2020-2021

Covid pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

Related publications

'' Spain and the World'' was an anarchist publication founded in 1936 by

with former ''Freedom'' writers, which had effectively ceased publication in 1932. The intention was to provide an English-language publication to support

Spanish anarchists Anarchism in Spain has historically gained some support and influence, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when it played an active political role and is considered the end of the golden age of cl ...

who were at that time achieving a measure of political influence through the anarchist trade union

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo ( en, National Confederation of Labor; CNT) is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions, which was long affiliated with the International Workers' Association (AIT). When working wi ...

(CNT) and other organisations. ''Spain and the World'' had several notable contributors, including

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...

Ethel Mannin Ethel Edith Mannin (6 October 1900 – 5 December 1984) was a popular British novelist and travel writer, political activist and socialist. She was born in London. Life and career Mannin's father, Robert Mannin (d. 1948) was a member of the So ...

and

John Cowper Powys John Cowper Powys (; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English philosopher, lecturer, novelist, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...

. Between the end of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

and the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the fortnightly ''Spain and the World'' briefly became '' Revolt!'' in 1939 before adopting the title '' War Commentary''. In 1945, ''War Commentary'' resumed the title of ''Freedom''. In 1944, Richards, his wife

Marie-Louise Berneri Marie Louise Berneri (born Maria Luisa Berneri; 1 March 1918 – 13 April 1949) was an anarchist activist and author. Born in Italy, she spent much of her life in Spain, France, and England. She was involved with the short-lived publication, ' ...

and two others associated with the paper (

Philip Sansom Philip Richard Sansom (19 September 1916 – 24 October 1999) was a British anarchist writer and activist. Sansom began working life as a commercial artist. During the Second World War he was a conscientious objector, and worked in farming for ...

and

John Hewetson John Christopher Hewetson (10 January 1913 – 20 December 1990) was a British anarchist doctor, writer and newspaper editor. During the Second World War he was an editor of the anarchist newspaper '' War Commentary'', which saw him imprisoned ...

) were charged with conspiring to cause disaffection among members of the armed forces. Despite a defence campaign backed by the likes of

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

, T. S. Eliot and

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

, Vernon, Sansom and Hewetson were convicted and served nine months in jail.Colin Ward's article on Vernon Richards in the UK Guardian
/ref> Freedom Press compiled a selection of articles from ''Freedom'' in the 1991 book ''The State Is Your Enemy''.

List of anarchist periodicals The following is a chronological list of noteworthy anarchist and proto-anarchist periodicals. Footnotes Further reading * * * * External linksCold Off The Pressescontains full text copies of anarchist periodicals from the Anarchy ...

* '' The Raven: Anarchist Quarterly''

Notes

External links

*
Freedom Press Newspaper Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freedom (British newspaper) Anarchist newspapers Anarcho-communism Monthly newspapers Publications established in 1886 Peter Kropotkin Political newspapers published in the United Kingdom 1886 establishments in the United Kingdom