Product Code Database
Socialist Worker is the name of several 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 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 (ISO) in the United States from 1977 to 2019, and a biweekly published by the Socialist Workers Party in Ireland, a quarterly published by the International Socialist Organisation in Zimbabwe, a bi-monthly published by the Socialist Workers League in Nigeria, and a monthly published by the former International Socialist Organisation in Australia.
The newspaper was renamed Socialist Worker in 1968 and moved to weekly production; its first editor was Roger Protz (Higgins 90). Its language and general approach was modelled on The Daily Mirror 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.Chris Harman The revolutionary press by Chris Harman, International Socialism, 24 (1984) Writers included Paul Foot, Duncan Hallas and Eamonn McCann 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.John Molyneux "Chris Harman: Editor of 'Socialist Worker' whose intellectual stature gave him an influence beyond party ranks", The Independent, 19 November 2009
After 2004 it was edited by Chris Bambery, who was succeeded by Charlie Kimber in 2009, and Judith Orr late in 2010.Peter Manson "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.
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 College.Adam Withnall "Socialist Worker called to apologise over 'vile' article saying Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple's death is 'reason to save the polar bears'", The Independent, 10 July 2014Claire Duffin "Outcry after socialist paper mocks death of Eton schoolboy in polar bear attack", Daily Telegraph, 10 July 2014 Writing in The Guardian, Owen Jones 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 Upper class blood."Owen Jones "Mocking an Eton boy's death is the worst politics of envy", The Guardian, 14 July 2014
Working for the newspaper has proven to be an apprenticeship for many prominent journalists at the onset of their careers, including Gary Bushell and the brothers ChristopherLynn Barber "Hitch-22: A Memoir by Christopher Hitchens", The Sunday Times, 16 May 2010 and Peter Hitchens. "Peter Hitchens", Debretts online
Since 13 April 2001, the ISO also published a Spanish language 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 2019 in the wake of a sexual scandal.
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. It has now ceased publication. The Agitator, a monthly student bulletin was published from 2007 to 2009.
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.Armstrong, Mick. "The Origins of Socialist Alternative", Marxist Left Review. Number 1, Spring, 2010, p.125. 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.
|
|
