Freedom (newspaper)

Infobox Newspaper
name =
type = Fortnightly newspaper
format = A4
foundation = 1886
owners = Freedom Press
political = Anarchist
headquarters = 84b Whitechapel High Street, London
editor = Rob Ray
website = [http://www.freedompress.org.uk/ Freedom Press]

"Freedom" (ISSN 0016-0504 ) is a London-based anarchist newspaper published every two weeks by Freedom Press.

The paper was started in 1886 by volunteers including Peter Kropotkin and Charlotte Wilson and continues to this day as an unpaid project. Originally, the subtitle was "A Journal of Anarchist Socialism." The title was changed to "A Journal of Anarchist Communism" in June 1889. Today it is unlabelled.

The newspaper's mission statement is stated in every issue and summarises the writers' view of anarchism:

Anarchists work towards a society of mutual aid and voluntary co-operation. We reject all government and economic repression. This newspaper, published continuously since 1936, exists to explain anarchism more widely and show that only in an anarchist society can human freedom thrive.

The paper has historically featured news from the peace and labour movements and events, as well as listing planned events and protests. Staying true to Kropotkin's principle of mutual aid, the paper regularly features reviews of other anarchist and libertarian publications, such as "Organise!" and "Direct Action" as well as other local and international newsletters and journals.

It regularly features Donald Rooum's Wildcat cartoon strip as well as Rooum's articles, and has Svartfrosk and Louis Further as regular columnists. In recent years it has heavily focussed on pensions and the NHS, and on investigative articles over a wide range of topics.

In 2006, the paper gained a colour front for the first time in its history. Along with a number of gradual changes in the content and structure of the paper and organisational changes at Freedom Press, "Freedom" got a re-design in January 2008, which can be seen to the top left. While remaining a fortnightly newspaper, it doubled the number of pages to 16 and reduced to A4 in size, introducing a basic theory section, dedicated business and public sector pages and an increased story count [Rob Ray's blog includes an analysis of story counts in the anarchist press [http://libcom.org/blog/news-comparisons-start-2008-13012008] ] . It currently costs 80p per issue.

Related publications

"Spain and the World" was an anarchist publication founded in 1936 by Vernon Richards [Vernon Richards biography [http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/RichardsVernon.htm] ] with former "Freedom" writers, which had effectively ceased publication in 1932. The intention was to provide an English-language publication to support Spanish anarchists who were at that time achieving a measure of political influence through the anarchist trade union Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and other organisations.

Between the end of the Spanish Civil War and the outbreak of the Second World War, the fortnightly "Spain And The World" briefly became "Revolt!" in 1939, before adopting the title "War Commentary". In 1945 "War Commentary" resumed the title of "Freedom".

In 1944, Richards, his wife Marie-Louise and two others associated with the paperndash Philip Sansom and John Hewetsonndash were charged with conspiring to cause disaffection among members of the armed forces. Despite a defence campaign backed by the likes of Orwell, Michael Tippett, T. S. Eliot, and Benjamin Britten, Vernon, Sansom and Hewetson were convicted and served nine months in jail. [Colin Ward's article on Vernon Richards in the UK Guardian [http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,644515,00.html] ] .

See also

*"The Raven"

Notes

External links

* [http://www.freedompress.org.uk/ Freedom Press website]
* [http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/journals/freedom/index.html Old issues] , preserved at the Anarchist Archives. Includes the first ever issue.
* [http://www.libcom.org libcom] , which carries some of the newspaper content online.