TOMORROW’S special edition of the Morning Star, of which over 200,000 copies will be printed and distributed free of charge, might well be the first copy you’ve come across — it’s nearly 20 times our usual print run.

We’re making the special effort to get our message out because most of the media in this country is hostile to socialism and the labour movement. Most printed newspapers sold daily in Britain are owned by a handful of billionaire tycoons — Rupert Murdoch, Lord Rothermere, the Barclay brothers.

The super-rich have done very well out of the status quo — their fortunes keep growing, even as poverty stalks our country, foodbanks multiply and the “greed is good” capitalism that’s been king in Britain ever since Thatcher’s day poisons our natural environment.

It’s hardly surprising then that newspapers speaking for their super-rich owners are quite happy with the way things are and will keep backing the Tories while our industries disappear, our public services wither and the ice caps melt.

Their narratives are echoed and amplified by broadcast and even social media. Though the advent of Twitter and Facebook has democratised the flow of information, they remain private companies that do intervene politically — and most of what is shared via social media is still content originating from one of the “mainstream” media organisations that act as propaganda for the Establishment rather than holding the powerful to account.

New platforms are one thing, but what we really need is a media voice of our own. That’s the job of the Morning Star, the only national daily paper that’s owned by a co-op — the People’s Press Printing Society.

Anyone can buy a share for £1 and then you have the right to attend our AGM, which takes place in stages in several cities across Britain every summer, and elect the management committee that appoints the editor.

We’re also the only trade union daily in Britain. Unions aren’t popular with other newspapers, which like to depict them as troublemakers disrupting the economy.

But only by organising together in a union can working people protect themselves from unscrupulous bosses seeking to cut corners, wages and pensions, and fight together to raise pay and standards across the workforce.

The Morning Star has 11 national trade unions and one trade union region on its management committee — Aslef, Community, CWU, FBU, GMB, NUM, POA, RMT, TSSA, Unite, Usdaw and NUM North East. 

That means on a daily basis we report on industrial activism, which doesn’t just mean strikes — though when workers do strike we’re often the only paper to give their point of view — but all the workplace campaigning and activity undertaken against exploitative employers that takes place up and down Britain week in, week out.

The Morning Star is the only daily socialist newspaper in the English-speaking world. We don’t sit on the fence — we see capitalism as an inherently unjust and exploitative system that cannot provide a sustainable future for people or the planet.

We fight for a socialist Britain and a socialist world in which the means of producing wealth are commonly owned and used for everyone’s benefit.

Our masthead “For Peace and Socialism” on the front page adds another key element of what makes the Morning Star unique — we’re an anti-war paper that reports on the horrific consequences of imperialist aggression and oppression around the world, including the appalling suffering caused by wars in which Britain and our allies, especially the United States, are complicit or responsible for. 

We really hope you’ve enjoyed this free edition and if you appreciate the importance of having one voice in the daily media that’s different, we hope you start to read us more regularly — sign up to our newsletter using the QR code on page 2, order us from your newsagent or subscribe to our e-edition at www.morningstaronline.co.uk/subscribe.