''Tomorrow'' was a left-wing magazine in New Zealand from 1934 to 1940, edited by

Kennaway Henderson Andrew Kennaway Henderson (25 May 1879 – 17 January 1960) was a New Zealand clerk, illustrator, cartoonist, editor and pacifist. He was born in London, England. He was imprisoned twice as a conscientious objector in World War I W ...

History and content

The magazine was established in 1934 by Henderson, who was an artist and an illustrator, together with Frederick Sinclaire and H. Winston Rhodes, both English academics from

Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to: * Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S. * Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia * Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada * Canterbury College, Kent, England * Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...

, and printer

Denis Glover Denis James Matthews Glover (9 December 19129 August 1980) was a New Zealand poet and publisher. Born in Dunedin, he attended the University of Canterbury where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently lectured. He worked as a reporte ...

who was in the midst of establishing his own publisher, Caxton Press. It was Henderson's idea to start the magazine, having been inspired by the British socialist magazine ''

The New Age ''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938), inspired by Fabian socialism, and credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It publishe ...

''. The magazine largely published political opinions and works by contributors like Sinclaire, Noel Pharazyn, W. B. Sutch and John A. Lee. Under Rhodes' and Glover's influence, however, it also became a vehicle for New Zealand literary works. The magazine published thirty of

Frank Sargeson Frank Sargeson () (born Norris Frank Davey; 23 March 1903 – 1 March 1982) was a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. Born in Hamilton, Sargeson had a middle-class and puritanical upbringing, and initially worked as a lawyer. After ...

's early stories, as well as works by

Roderick Finlayson Roderick Finlayson (March 16, 1818 – January 20, 1892) was a Canadian Hudson's Bay Company officer, farmer, businessman, and politician. Born in Loch Alsh (Kyle of Lochalsh), Scotland, Finlayson came to North America in 1837. He moved to L ...

R. A. K. Mason Ronald Allison Kells Mason (10 January 1905 – 13 July 1971) was a New Zealand poet. Described by Allen Curnow as New Zealand's "first wholly original, unmistakably gifted poet", he was born in Penrose, New Zealand, Penrose, Auckland on 10 ...

, Rex Fairburn,

Allen Curnow Thomas Allen Monro Curnow (17 June 1911 – 23 September 2001) was a New Zealand poet and journalist. Life Curnow was born in Timaru, New Zealand, the son of a fourth generation New Zealander, an Anglican clergyman, and he grew up in a relig ...

and

. Leading Australian literary critic

Nettie Palmer Janet Gertrude "Nettie" Palmer (née Higgins) (18 August 1885 – 19 October 1964) was an Australian poet, essayist and Australia's leading literary critic of her day. She corresponded with women writers and collated the Centenary Gift Book which ...

contributed a regular series titled "Australian Note Book". The magazine had a limited budget because Henderson and the magazine's other founders were philosophically opposed to the concept of advertising, and most of the funds to publish the magazine came from advance subscriptions. In early 1935 the magazine had to cease production for a temporary period due to a libel suit. Rhodes later said that the magazine only began to make a profit in late 1939, shortly before it was closed down in 1940. The reason for the magazine's closure was that no printers were willing to print it following the government's introduction of wartime regulations that enabled publications to be banned for publishing subversive material.

Legacy

''Tomorrow'' was the first left-wing publication of its kind in New Zealand. Historian

Rachel Barrowman Rachel Barrowman (born 1963) is a New Zealand author and historian, with a focus on New Zealand cultural and intellectual history. Career Barrowman's biography of R.A.K. Mason, ''Mason: The Life of R.A.K. Mason'', won the 2004 Montana New Zeal ...

has described it as "the principal forum in New Zealand for the discussion of issues and international developments of left-wing culture in the 1930s". Writer

Charles Brasch Charles Orwell Brasch (27 July 1909 – 20 May 1973) was a New Zealand poet, literary editor and arts patron. He was the founding editor of the literary journal ''Landfall'', and through his 20 years of editing the journal, had a significant im ...

thought it "more influential than any New Zealand periodical before or since", though he considered Henderson's cartoons "juvenile". ''The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature'' describes it as "one of the most important periodicals of literary interest" before the introduction of ''Landfall'' in 1947.

References

{{Authority control Defunct magazines published in New Zealand Magazines established in 1934 Magazines disestablished in 1940 Socialist magazines Literary magazines published in New Zealand