The Revolutionary Paper

by Chris Harman

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

British journalist and political activist for the Socialist Workers Party.

Harmann was involved with activism against the Viet Nam war but became controversial for denouncing Ho Chi Minh for murdering the leader of the Vietnamese Trotskists.

Harman's work on May 1968 in France and other student and workers uprisings of the late 1960s, The Fire Last Time, was recommended by rock band Rage Against the Machine in their album sleeve notes for Evil Empire.

Reviews

[V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why do socialists always have a newspaper to sell? Harman's book answers that question, and argues for the production and distribution of a newspaper as one of the chief functions of a revolutionary organization. He details the history of the revolutionary paper as a tool for socialists, going back to Pravda in Russia. What I find most useful are the distinctions he draws between the role of a capitalist newspaper and a socialist paper: capitalist papers, for instance, are designed to make the day's events appear as random and unconnected as possible, while a socialist paper is written to draw connections among the many questions of the day and put forward solutions based in workers' struggle.

The paper is not merely a propaganda tool--it's a way for us to gauge the political climate by assessing how receptive people are to socialist politics. It is also a way to get into conversations with people we might not otherwise meet, and to trade ideas about how to change society. It allows us to meet potential allies, whether they are people who will become socialists or simply people who want to help build an anti-war movement or join the struggle for women's liberation. I would recommend this book to anyone who has questions about what selling a newspaper has to do with revolution.

[Jordan Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

The socialist newspaper has not only been a vital tool in bridging the gap between theory and practice, but also as a means of organisation. Harman makes the argument for the importance of the revolutionary socialist newspaper not just in the upturn of class struggle but crucially, in the downturn. With all the attacks and distortions on the revolutionary Marxist position that occur in ebbs of open class struggle, the paper serves as a space to defend the core principles of socialism and provide militants with an ideological defence against the attacks of being a revolutionary while living under capitalism. The paper must contain the principles (with the ultimate aim being working class self-emaciation), agitation (relating back to the experience of workers under capitalism), and what is to be done. Striking the correct balance between these is no easy task but this pamphlet is equip with numerous historical examples of successes and failures in the history of the revolutionary socialist press providing important lessons for the struggle today.

[William Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible! Overly focused on the role of the Party.