The Morning Star, the only daily old school communist English language newspaper still in existence, has finally made its online presence free. As to why this is important, a few excerpts from the paper’s history will make clear
Founded on January 1, 1930, it is still the only English-language socialist daily newspaper published in the world.
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Over the next 15 years it fought its way into the consciousness of trade unionists and progressives throughout the land, always fighting for the cause of working people and battling against an Establishment which moved heaven and earth to extinguish it
It survived crippling court cases and the imprisonment of staff, harassment and even censorship by the police.
It survived a 12-year boycott (1930-1942) by wholesalers, during which the paper’s readers delivered the paper to newsagents.
It outlived an 18-month ban (1940-41) by a vindictive Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, which was only called off after a grass-roots protest movement involving millions of people.
And it rose above the bombing of its offices in 1941, which destroyed both the building and the new presses which had been bought with cash raised by readers’ collections.
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In 1966 the honourable name of the Daily Worker was replaced and the paper relaunched as the Morning Star – a change of name that was hotly debated throughout the trade union and labour movement.
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A continuous ban on advertising by commercial firms has left the finances of the paper permanently on a knife-edge and the ban’s effects have only been offset by the commitment of the trade union movement to advertising in the Morning Star and the efforts of thousands of readers in raising and pledging money to the paper’s Fighting Fund – another unique part of the Morning Star, which ties it to its readers in a way that no other daily newspaper would dare to attempt to emulate.
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It has been a long, rough, road that the Morning Star has been forced to travel, but the paper of the working class is still fighting and still campaigning. It has matured and has even grown through this difficult period.
And it still carries proudly the claim on its masthead.
For peace and socialism.