IF YOU’RE reading this column in the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, the chances are you’ve picked up one of the thousands of Morning Stars we’ve handed out for free at this great celebration of trade union struggle.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs were transported to Australia in 1834, almost 100 years before the first edition of the Morning Star’s predecessor the Daily Worker rolled off the printing presses. 

But if we had been publishing at the time, I have no doubt that our headline would have been the defiant rallying cry of George Loveless: “We raise the watchword, liberty. We will, we will, we will be free!”

No other national daily paper gives a damn about trade union freedoms or the cost-of-living crisis, then or now. Of course they don’t. They’re owned by trust funds and oligarchs — the very same people who are getting richer while the rest of us are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table.

The Morning Star is different because we’re owned by our readers and backed by 11 national trade unions who have seats on the management committee that runs the paper. 

That means we’re free to put the workers’ side of the story and as it says on our masthead, to campaign for peace and socialism. But it also means we have no big business advertising or banks willing to bail us out when the going gets tough.

Instead, we’ve stayed afloat during lockdowns and spiralling inflation thanks to our readers and supporters who donate to the monthly fighting fund and buy shares. 

Our long-term survival depends on increasing circulation and arming the working class with the daily facts and analysis to make our movement indestructible. That’s why this year we launched our Reach for the Star campaign for 1,000 new readers.

I always say the best advert for the Morning Star is the Morning Star itself. And if you haven’t read the paper before, the 36 pages of news, features, sports, and culture in this weekend’s edition will hopefully persuade you to become a daily reader.

But before the paper in your hand becomes tomorrow’s fish ’n’ chip wrapper, I’d like you to pull out your phone and go to morningstaronline.co.uk/subscribe and choose a package that suits your preferred reading style (print edition or online) and budget. Prices begin from just £4.99 a month for unlimited access to the website. 

You don’t need me to tell you this weekend is going to be the mother of all scorchers. The Met Office have issued a red weather warning, which I encourage you to heed. 

Let me also issue a warning, a red politics warning to all those who might be tempted to be tempted to buy one of Murdoch’s rags: Stay cool. Avoid the Sun. Reach for the Star.