Making 2013 a year of victories

For a long period the Morning Star was on the back foot, battered by the tides of history that have temporarily given the upper hand to those who wish to turn back time.

In recent years we have made great strides forward in production quality and have at times magnificently fulfilled our role as the defender of ordinary people and chronicler of their resistance.

However constant financial strains are often as prominent a narrative as the need to provide the momentum and organisational support that only a daily paper, for the movement and of the movement, can.

Support from readers and trade unions have proved priceless in sustaining us.

But the limited resources on which this paper continues to operate are a constant source of frustration, hampering our ability to report the stories that need telling and limiting our capacity to advance.

We cannot continue to be forced into financial navel-gazing at such a crucial time for our society.

We enter a new year under the sinister shadow of Tory misrule. We do so too against the backdrop of a massive offensive against modest post-war social democratic gains across the developed world.

Our response cannot be meek nor should we allow ideas, now more relevant than ever, to be sidelined, silenced and conveniently dismissed as "old-fashioned."

There's nothing more old-fashioned than relentless capitalist exploitation at ordinary people's expense, that's for sure.

In the face of all this it falls to us to formulate and present the socialist policies that together represent an alternative vision that does not bow and scrape to the wealthy Establishment and its hangers-on.

In the year to come the Morning Star, and the People's Press Printing Society readers' co-operative that owns it, are intent on stabilising the paper's finances and raising sufficient capital to allow us to make further steps up in quality, readership and political reach.

As has always been the case, we will be calling on readers who understand the paper's importance to play a key role in the expansion campaign.

The last year saw us produce the first ever Scottish edition of the Morning Star on December 1, and the first since the Daily Worker in 1942.

More dedicated Scottish coverage has appeared on the paper's pages, and we want to go further and unveil a full-time correspondent based in Scotland in 2013.

The fantastic support of our readers and allies north of the border has made what appeared to be a mere aspiration closer to reality.

That reality has become a possibility because of a new print and distribution deal struck in June which allows us to reach the length and breadth of Britain for the first time in decades.

To press home this advantage we have also appointed an experienced northern reporter, Peter Lazenby, who has been working hard to forge links locally and reconnect the paper with campaigners.

And we will soon be linking up with the Co-operative to launch a special promotional drive in the new year.

These initiatives are a recognition of the need to be bold and ambitious if we are to make the breakthrough in circulation required to drive our fortunes forward.

But the difference between success and failure is you.

Plans are currently being discussed to revitalise the PPPS in order to raise new capital, financial and human, that can be channelled into making us stronger and better.

We will be seeking new ways to link up with activists in local workplaces and communities to ensure that our 2013 promotional drive becomes a success.

We are planning an ambitious redevelopment of our online presence to raise new income, to act as a rallying point for organisation and to help us to better promote a direly needed alternative view.

We know that we can bank on your support in all that we do - and we will surely be relying on it.

For too long the fightback against this dismal government has remained just a word.

It is up to us, aided by a more powerful Morning Star to represent our views, to ensure that it now becomes a reality.

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Digital revolution

For inspiration in our current resistance to the bitter tide of cuts and collective punishment being inflicted by the wealthy few you need look no further than the pages of our forerunner the Daily Worker.

Soon we will officially unveil the first phase of an ambitious project to bring it back to life via the internet.

The Morning Star has teamed up with Digitorial, a company that specialises in creating searchable electronic editions of print newspapers, to make the historic archive accessible online.

With the help of the Durham Miners Association and The Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust we have been able to finance the first 15 years - from 1930 to 1945.

Work to digitise all the Morning Stars from 2002 to date is currently at an advanced stage.

Readers can get a sneak preview at www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/?sf=dwms

Prices start from £5.99 for 10 days' access to all the papers currently online.

In coming weeks we'll begin reprinting archive content that should whet your appetite - and help inspire and steel us for the challenges to come.