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RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: october 2008 :: RMTnews 23 Possibly the most stimulating fringe meeting at September’s TUC congress in Brighton was the lunchtime debate staged by the Morning Star. General secretaries Bob Crow of RMT, Mark Serwotka of PCS and Derek Simpson of Unite stressed the need to fight together industrially to defend workers’ rights, which all three unions continue to do. They also debated the role of new Labour in government and the need for trade unions to have a political voice. This discussion was hard- hitting but comradely and all three shook hands at the end as the 130-strong audience gave an enthusiastic response to the platform, which also included Institute of Employment Rights director Carolyn Jones, who concentrated her remarks on workplace rights and recent diabolical anti-union rulings by the European Court of Justice. Later that evening, following the Morning Star’s successful social, I had a word with Mark Serwotka who expressed his satisfaction with the fringe meeting. He said that he had been delighted by the range of views that had been put forward, adding that only the Morning Star could have drawn such speakers to debate these important issues. This assessment encapsulates the reasons for the Morning Star?s existence. It is not simply a mouthpiece for a single political organisation. It exists to provide a daily voice for the entire labour movement. As well as everything that you would expect from a daily newspaper (news, politics, international coverage, sport, music, theatre, gardening, TV listings and so on) the Morning Star has an additional role of reporting on labour movement conferences, disputes and proposals on key issues such as jobs, industrial investment and workers’ rights. It certainly has a political dimension. As the paper’s masthead makes clear, its aims are peace and socialism and these are the themes that dictate editorial policy. The Morning Star’s feature pages and letters column provide a forum for not only the great and the good but also rank-and-file activists (and the occasional armchair strategist) to debate the way ahead. So the meeting at Brighton wasn’t a one off. It was a live version of the exchange of views that takes place on a daily basis in our paper. So why isn’t the Morning Star a mass-circulation daily? Because it doesn’t have the resources enjoyed by the rest of the media. No newspaper pays for itself through its cover price. All, except the Morning Star, rely on big-business advertising to swell their income and their profits. And, to the surprise of absolutely no-one, they unanimously support the free- market capitalist system that has just given rise to a massive financial crisis. Trade unionists wouldn’t elect their boss as their workplace representative. Why should we contribute to the profits of media moguls who can be guaranteed without fail to support the employer’s side whenever workers are forced to go on strike for a living wage or to defend working conditions? Our paper relies solely on its readers and friends in the trade unions, especially through a £16,000 Fighting Fund to which hundreds of supporters contribute every month. That’s why the Morning Star has been able to survive while other, more substantially financed papers have bitten the dust. And we are not content to simply survive. We have plans to raise the number of pages from 12 to 16 (from 16 to 20 on Saturdays) and to increase the use of colour from next spring, thanks to financial help from a small consortium of committed supporters. Our priority is to improve the quality of the Morning Star so as to serve the labour and trade union movement even better. And that aim would be assisted by a sharp increase in readership to build what is not just Britain’s only left-wing, labour movement daily newspaper but also the sole remaining English-language paper of its kind in the world. SUPPORT THE MORNING STAR Morning Star editor John Haylett outlines why working people should support the only English language daily socialist newspaper in the world