Workers' Weekly
Encyclopedia
The Workers' Weekly was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Great Britain
, established in February of 1923. The publication was succeeded by The Daily Worker in 1930.
movement. With the organization of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in August of 1920, the constituent parties such as the British Socialist Party
(BSP) and the Workers' Socialist Federation (WSF) ceased to exist as did the BSP's paper weekly newspaper, The Call. A new publication was established for the new political party called The Communist.
The Communist began on 5 August 1920, just four days after the completion of the convention which founded the CPGB. The publication continued without interruption until its 131st issue, dated 3 February 1923. The paper was in many ways a direct continuation of The Call, retaining the same look and style, the same editor, and even continuing the serialization of articles begun in the earlier publication.
The first editor was Fred Willis, former editor of the BSP's weekly, assisted by Raymond Postgate
. The paper maintained a circulation of between 8,000 and 9,000 during 1920, after which time the circulation began to rise rapidly due to improvements in the publication's design. Francis Meynell took over as editor around the first of 1921 and by 5 February 1921, circulation stood at 25,000. Sales continued to rise throughout the year, touching the 60,000 mark at the time of the raid on party offices in May 1921.
Towards the end of April 1921, Member of Parliament J.H. Thomas successfully sued The Communist for libel, naming its editors, printer, and publisher in the action. The pressure of this legal action and subsequent raid of party offices by the police had the effect of making production of the paper extraordinarily difficult. The Independent Labour Party's
printing house abruptly stopped production of an issue of the paper in midstream after coming to an agreement with the Director of Public Prosecutions not to produce any more Communist material.
In July 1921, Postgate took over for Meynell as editor of The Communist. He continued in that role until giving way in favor of T.A."Tommy" Jackson
in May 1922.
By the fall of 1922, the print run of The Communist had declined to around the 20,000 mark, with actual sales in the vicinity of just 8,000.
It was clear to Communist Party leaders that a drastic makeover for the publication was due.
Andrew Rothstein minced no words in an article in the party's monthly theoretical magazine:
The governing Executive Committee of the CPGB had decided to replace The Communist with a new publication called the Workers' Weekly. The first issue of the new paper was dated 10 February 1923. The change of name was to reflect a parallel change in the publication's approach, emphasizing the daily life and shop concerns of the working class as well as noteworthy events in the labour movement
. In his article in the monthly theoretical magazine of the CPGB announcing the switch, Andrew Rothstein
declared that the revamped publication was to mark a move away from being "a weekly journal for the orthodox
Communist household" and towards becoming "a live reporter and interpreter of the working class life and struggle."
R. Palme Dutt
was editor of the revamped publication. Following the Comintern's emphasis of the day, the new paper attached particular importance to letters from worker-correspondents, publishing over 2,500 letters and reports submitted from the grassroots
in its first year.
On February 17, 1923, the paper explicitly stated the change in direction:
Circulation once again began to rise. The first issue of The Workers' Weekly had a press run of 19,000 and sold out within 24 hours of publication. By the end of March, the press run had increased considerably, to over 50,000 copies.
With the appearance of the Daily Worker, its less frequent forerunner, The Workers' Weekly, ceased publication.
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
, established in February of 1923. The publication was succeeded by The Daily Worker in 1930.
Forerunners
Workers' Weekly had its origins in the earlier press of the British revolutionary socialistRevolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
movement. With the organization of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) in August of 1920, the constituent parties such as the British Socialist Party
British Socialist Party
The British Socialist Party was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw the defection of its pro-war Right Wing...
(BSP) and the Workers' Socialist Federation (WSF) ceased to exist as did the BSP's paper weekly newspaper, The Call. A new publication was established for the new political party called The Communist.
The Communist began on 5 August 1920, just four days after the completion of the convention which founded the CPGB. The publication continued without interruption until its 131st issue, dated 3 February 1923. The paper was in many ways a direct continuation of The Call, retaining the same look and style, the same editor, and even continuing the serialization of articles begun in the earlier publication.
The first editor was Fred Willis, former editor of the BSP's weekly, assisted by Raymond Postgate
Raymond Postgate
Raymond William Postgate was an English socialist, journalist and editor, social historian, mystery novelist and gourmet.-Early life:...
. The paper maintained a circulation of between 8,000 and 9,000 during 1920, after which time the circulation began to rise rapidly due to improvements in the publication's design. Francis Meynell took over as editor around the first of 1921 and by 5 February 1921, circulation stood at 25,000. Sales continued to rise throughout the year, touching the 60,000 mark at the time of the raid on party offices in May 1921.
Towards the end of April 1921, Member of Parliament J.H. Thomas successfully sued The Communist for libel, naming its editors, printer, and publisher in the action. The pressure of this legal action and subsequent raid of party offices by the police had the effect of making production of the paper extraordinarily difficult. The Independent Labour Party's
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
printing house abruptly stopped production of an issue of the paper in midstream after coming to an agreement with the Director of Public Prosecutions not to produce any more Communist material.
In July 1921, Postgate took over for Meynell as editor of The Communist. He continued in that role until giving way in favor of T.A."Tommy" Jackson
Thomas A. Jackson
Thomas A. "Tommy" Jackson was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain and later the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was a leading communist activist and newspaper editor and worked variously as a party functionary and a freelance lecturer.-Early years:Thomas A. Jackson, best...
in May 1922.
By the fall of 1922, the print run of The Communist had declined to around the 20,000 mark, with actual sales in the vicinity of just 8,000.
It was clear to Communist Party leaders that a drastic makeover for the publication was due.
Establishment of Workers' Weekly
In the spring of 1923, the Communist Party of Great Britain felt itself at low ebb. Leading theoreticianTheoretician (Marxism)
A theoretician is a term from the vernacular of Marxism relating to an individual who observes and writes about the condition or dynamics of society, history, or economics, making use of the main principles of Marxian socialism in the analysis....
Andrew Rothstein minced no words in an article in the party's monthly theoretical magazine:
"What is the position of our party today? Despite the terrifying pictures drawn by the Morning PostMorning PostThe Morning Post, as the paper was named on its masthead, was a conservative daily newspaper published in London from 1772 to 1937, when it was acquired by The Daily Telegraph.- History :...
and the British Empire UnionBritish Empire UnionThe British Empire Union was created in the United Kingdom during World War I, in 1916, after changing its name from the Anti-German Union, which had been founded in 1915...
, we in the party know to our cost, and do not conceal it...that our party numbers only some thousands of members, of whom perhaps half are "active," i.e., propagandists, agitators, organizers, literature-sellers, writers, etc. The party has not a great many more members than those organisations which were represented at the first and second unity congresses in August 1920 and January 1921.... We have some members active in the trade unions, less in the trades councils, and very few in the workshops.... The masses do not attend branch meetings. We shall find them where they are to be found daily — at the 'point of production': the workshop, pit, depot, stores, or office....
"How can we extend our influence in the workshops? By means of the Workers' Weekly: by making it interesting to those in the workshops; by reflecting in it the daily life of the workshops; by building it up, in short, around letters from the workships, because the constitute the first link in the chain, the first like that we must take hold of and hold on to with all our might, knowing that only in that way we shall arrive at what we desire."
The governing Executive Committee of the CPGB had decided to replace The Communist with a new publication called the Workers' Weekly. The first issue of the new paper was dated 10 February 1923. The change of name was to reflect a parallel change in the publication's approach, emphasizing the daily life and shop concerns of the working class as well as noteworthy events in the labour movement
Labour movement
The term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
. In his article in the monthly theoretical magazine of the CPGB announcing the switch, Andrew Rothstein
Andrew Rothstein
Andrew Rothstein was a Russian-British journalist.Rothstein, who was to became a significant figure in British Communism, was born in London to Jewish Russian political emigrants. His subsequent life was always tinged by the identity of his father, Theodore Rothstein...
declared that the revamped publication was to mark a move away from being "a weekly journal for the orthodox
Orthodoxy
The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...
Communist household" and towards becoming "a live reporter and interpreter of the working class life and struggle."
R. Palme Dutt
Rajani Palme Dutt
Rajani Palme Dutt , best known as R. Palme Dutt, was a leading journalist and theoretician in the Communist Party of Great Britain.-Early years:...
was editor of the revamped publication. Following the Comintern's emphasis of the day, the new paper attached particular importance to letters from worker-correspondents, publishing over 2,500 letters and reports submitted from the grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
in its first year.
On February 17, 1923, the paper explicitly stated the change in direction:
"We want a paper made by the workers for the workers. Our news is working class news supplied by the workers on the spot. It may not be very wonderful news yet, but you can improve that for us by seeing that we get the news that you won't get in other papers. It is the news of the workers."
Circulation once again began to rise. The first issue of The Workers' Weekly had a press run of 19,000 and sold out within 24 hours of publication. By the end of March, the press run had increased considerably, to over 50,000 copies.
Dissolution
In London on 1 January 1930, under a banner headline reading "Workers of the World, Unite," a new daily newspaper of the Communist Party of Great Britain called The Daily Worker was born. Taking the same name as the American Communist daily established in 1923, the altogether different British Daily Worker would prove to be the only left-wing daily paper in the country over the next 30 years. The editor of the paper was a 26 year old named William Rust, whose editorial experience had included a brief stint at the helm of the paper of the Young Communist League.With the appearance of the Daily Worker, its less frequent forerunner, The Workers' Weekly, ceased publication.