''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several

far-left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s currently or formerly associated with the

International Socialist Tendency The International Socialist Tendency (IST) is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations espousing the ideas of Tony Cliff (1917–2000), founder of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in Britain (not to be confused with t ...

(IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since 1968, and a monthly published by the International Socialists in Canada. It was a monthly (and daily web site) published by the

International Socialist Organization The International Socialist Organization (ISO) was a Trotskyist group active primarily on college campuses in the United States that was founded in 1976 and dissolved in 2019. The organization held Leninist positions on imperialism and the role ...

(ISO) in the United States from 1977–2019, and a biweekly published by the Socialist Workers Party in Ireland, a quarterly published by the International Socialist Organisation in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and a monthly published by the former International Socialist Organisation in Australia.

Socialist Worker ''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several far-left newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since ...

was also the name of an IST political group in New Zealand.

United Kingdom

Although ''Socialist Worker'' sales/circulation data is not publicly available, John Molyneux estimated the circulation of the paper in 2006 to be under 8,000. Special "bumper" issues have a circulation approaching 10,000 it was claimed in an article containing an interview with Judith Orr in April 2013.Ian Burrel
"Why we had to rejoice after Margaret Thatcher's death, by the editor behind provocative Socialist Worker front page"
''The Independent'', 12 April 2013

History

Originally titled ''Industrial Worker'', and then ''Labour Worker'', it was founded by the

Socialist Review Group The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Socialist Review Group by supporters of Tony Cliff in 1950, it became the International Socialists in 1962 and the SWP in 1977. The party con ...

(which became the International Socialists, then the SWP) in 1961 in London (Cliff 78). The newspaper was renamed ''Socialist Worker'' in 1968 and moved to weekly production; its first editor was

Roger Protz Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

(Higgins 90). Its language and general approach was modelled on ''

The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' but aimed to provide a very different set of ideas. In the early 1970s at a time of class struggle in Britain, the print order rose from 13,000 in 1970 to 28,000 during the miners strike of 1972, and had stabilised at about 27,000 in March 1973. It then rose again at the end of that year, reaching 40,000 during the 1974 miners' strike and even touching 53,000 for one issue before the crucial 1974 election. Writers included Paul Foot,

Duncan Hallas Duncan Hallas (23 December 1925 – 19 September 2002), was a prominent member of the Trotskyist movement and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Great Britain. Biography Born into a working-class family in Manchester, Duncan Hall ...

and

Eamonn McCann Eamonn McCann (born 10 March 1943) is an Irish politician, journalist, political activist, and former councillor from Derry, Northern Ireland. McCann was a People Before Profit (PBP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 2016 ...

plus reports of strikes and other struggles from across the country sent in by readers. The editor from 1974 to 1978, Paul Foot (Foot xii) later went to work for the ''Mirror'', though he continued to contribute to ''Socialist Worker'' until his death in 2004. It was first edited between 1976–77 and then again between 1982 and 2004 by

Chris Harman Chris Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of ''International Socialism'' and ''Socialist Work ...

. After 2004 it was edited by

Chris Bambery Chris Bambery is a Scottish political activist, socialist, author, journalist, and TV presenter and producer, most recently with the Islam Channel where he hosts their current affairs programme ''The Report''. Prior to the 2017 UK General Elect ...

, who was succeeded by Charlie Kimber in 2009, and Judith Orr late in 2010.Peter Manso
"Another one bites the dust"
, ''Weekly Worker'', 6 January 2011 When Margaret Thatcher died, the newspaper printed "Rejoice" over her headstone, gaining much international comment. Sale of the Socialist Worker in Leeds

The paper gained mainstream attention for itself when it published an article which seemed to mock the death of a 17-year-old who was mauled to death by a polar bear, on the basis that he was attending

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

. Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

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 ...

commented that instead of expressing sadness or empathy over the death of a young person, the newspaper was "evidently delighted." Jones said the end of the article "was even more gratuitous," because it said "Now we have another reason to save the polar bears." Jones suggested that "the official organ of the Socialist Workers party (SWP) apparently fantasises about an army of polar bears leaving the playing fields of Eton soaked blue with posh blood." Working for the newspaper has proven to be an apprenticeship for many prominent journalists at the onset of their careers, including

Gary Bushell Garry Bushell (born 13 May 1955) is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author, musician and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Cockney Oi! bands GBX and the Gonads. He managed the New York Ci ...

and the brothers

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

and

Peter Hitchens Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for '' The Mail on Sunday'' and was a foreign correspondent reporting from both Moscow and Washington, D.C. Peter Hitchens ...

Production and distribution

The paper is published on behalf of the party by Larkham Printers & Publishers Limited, having previously been published by Sherborne Publications Limited.

United States

Shortly after its foundation in 1977, the ISO began publishing a monthly titled ''Socialist Worker'', modelled after the British publication of the same name and the biweekly ''Workers' Power'', then published by the International Socialists. The paper became a daily web site on

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...

2008. The print version was published monthly. The ISO left the International Socialist Tendency in 2001. Since 13 April 2001, the ISO also published a

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

supplement to ''Socialist Worker'', titled ''Obrero Socialista''. Publication was irregular until 2005, since when it has been bimonthly. The ISO, and with it ''Socialist Worker'', was dissolved in April of 2019 in the wake of a

sexual scandal Public scandals involving allegations or information about possibly immoral sexual activities are often associated with the sexual affairs of film stars, politicians, famous athletes, or others in the public eye. Sex scandals receive attentio ...

Canada

''Socialist Worker'' is the publication of the International Socialists, the Canadian IST affiliate. The newspaper was originally called ''Workers' Action'' and was published monthly from 1975 until 1985. After 108 issues, it was renamed ''Socialist Worker''. More recently, the newspaper has been published sporadically. It was published triweekly for a short period in 1995 and is currently on a monthly schedule. ''Socialist Worker'' is twelve pages and printed in black and red. A French-language monthly, ''Résistance!'', was also published by the IS and claimed a circulation of 300, most of it in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. It has now ceased publication. ''The Agitator'', a monthly student bulletin was published from 2007 to 2009.

Other countries

The Irish SWP's fortnightly ''Socialist Worker'' styles itself as a "paper of the movements". Similar publications with the same title were formerly published in Australia and New Zealand. The Australian International Socialist Organisation's paper sales dwindled to 422 an issue by 2000. By 2001, when the paper went weekly, sales had dropped by almost 300.Armstrong, Mick. "The Origins of Socialist Alternative", ''Marxist Left Review.'' Number 1, Spring, 2010, p.131. The paper ended with the merger of the ISO and two other socialist groups which formed Solidarity in 2008.

References

;Notes ;Sources *

Tony Cliff Tony Cliff (born Yigael Glückstein, he, יגאל גליקשטיין; 20 May 1917 – 9 April 2000) was a Trotskyist activist. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and by the end of the 1950s had assumed the pen na ...

(2000) ''A World to Win''. Bookmarks, London, * Paul Foot (1990) ''Words as Weapons'', Verso, London, *

(1991) ''The Revolutionary Paper'', Socialist Workers Party, * Jim Higgins (1997)
More Years for the Locust
', IS Group, London,