Back the Star so it can back you too

In the 10 months since being appointed editor several things have become clear.

First, the commitment and dedication of hundreds of people up and down the land who put in as much effort as the workers at the paper's offices who make sure the Morning Star comes out six days a week.

Second, the desperate need for a paper such as the Morning Star for our movement to be able to project, share and debate the vital issues that it faces.

And third, the need therefore for greater action by us and you to ensure that this paper is fit for purpose in the 21st century.

At a trade union day conference organised under the Morning Star banner in Exeter last weekend I was accused of being too negative about the big advances that this paper has made in recent years.

For those of you who remember the eight-page, black-and-white paper that emerged, punch drunk, out of the late-1990s crises, today's 24-page Saturday edition, and 16 during the week, is certainly a world away.

We have greater regional coverage than for many a year, and this week we deployed a full-time reporter to Scotland from our London office for the first time in more than a decade.

But in answer to the Exeter delegate's fair comment on a perhaps harshly self-critical analysis of the paper came this reply - we cannot stand still. And to ensure we do not we must always look to the future.

Despite ongoing support from many sections of the trade union, labour and peace movements, sales of the paper are not rising in its current form.

This fact must be both confronted and swept aside if we are to continue to survive, and then move forward with the strength that working people need.

Today the Yorkshire and the Humber TUC will debate a motion tabled by the Unite region that encourages support in the form of shares applications and pledges for daily sales, among other things.

Hopefully that motion will be widely supported, and echoed elsewhere in months to come. It is to be hoped too that locally and regionally the sentiments of that motion will be turned to action - we need just 1,000 extra daily readers to give us a solid launchpad for advance.

That means those of you who buy us occasionally, not least only on a Saturday, making that extra effort to buy it every day. It is the difference between success and failure.

A letter sent to all Unite branches from general secretary Len McCluskey setting out the case for the paper and urging that they take out paper subscriptions and shares has been bearing fruit.

It goes to show how the value of having your paper is recognised far and wide.

We must look to broaden and amplify this support into all-Britain movement for a bigger and better paper.

The goal is to build up a pile of capital not, this time, to slap a sticking plaster over the finances of the Morning Star, but to raise an investment war chest that can be ploughed into developing the paper in the ways required to make it ever more relevant.

In coming weeks we will be announcing plans to build on the fine start offered by Unite branches in responding to the shares appeal.

Central to its success will be key strategic targets that will mean we can bring you a better paper.

In my opinion this certainly means being bigger. But how much bigger? Twenty pages a day? Twenty-four? And what will fill those pages?

Do we need to raise cash for reporting resources to cover your region or nation?

All these questions and more must be posed and answered. And then costed.

But the aim is clear - to turn the Morning Star into a must-read for anyone who is concerned about the future of our society.

We will be publishing regular updates - a kind of roll of honour - detailing those who have responded to this appeal in future weeks.

Send me your stories and suggestions to editorial@peoples-press.com

I will write with an update as soon as I can.