People's Voice (newspaper)

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People's Voice is a newspaper published fortnightly by the Communist Party of Canada and New Labour Press Ltd.

Produced in Vancouver, it contains news and editorial content related to national and international political issues of government, labour, and class struggle.

It is edited by Kimball Cariou.

Contents 1 History 2 Distribution and PV fund drive 3 Non-professional contributors 4 References 5 External link 6 See also

[edit] History

When the Communist Party of Canada was founded in 1921, the decision was made to publish a newspaper. In 1922, The Communist was the first attempt, and was an underground publication that was harassed by the police. The paper never got off the ground and closed after only a few issues. The first successful and legal paper was launched on March 15, 1922 ^[1]as a broadsheet named The Worker. During the 1930s the paper was renamed The Clarion. When the paper grew from a weekly into a daily on May 1, 1936, the name was adjusted to The Daily Clarion, and remained so until the paper was banned on November 21, 1939^{[2] [3]}. The ban was due to publishing an anti-war editorial during wartime, breaking regulation 15 under the Defense of Canada Regulations. This was several months before the Communist Party was banned in June, 1940 when the Canadian government issued an order in council^[4].

Shortly after being shutdown by the Dominion Government, the paper began printing (at first) underground under the name Canadian Tribune. The first copies were mimeographed. Officially the Canadian Tribune began on January 20, 1940.^[5] A second edition was published in British Columbia with the name Pacific Tribune. The two publications were weeklies and in the tabloid format.

The present incarnation of the paper began with the liquidation of the Canadian Tribune and its second pacific edition in the early 1990s. The remaining staff began publication of the current paper People's Voice in March, 1993 as a tabloid that continues to the present (2007). The paper was published on a monthly basis for a couple of years before the increase in frequency of printing a new edition every two weeks.

[edit] Distribution and PV fund drive

The People's Voice is largely distributed through mailed subscriptions with a small percenctage of news stands carrying the publication. True to its working poor roots, the paper offers a reduced rate for low income subscribers. A policy of the paper is to give away free issues at rallies and union picket lines. As a result of the policy of free papers at events and the fact that the paper carries no commercial advertisements, an annual fund drive supports the publication's continued operation.

[edit] Non-professional contributors

A unique feature of the People's Voice or "PV" as many readers call the paper, is the fact that there are no hired journalists, the original contributions either coming from readers, or volunteer contributors (although much content is filled by Communist Party statements). This can be seen in the quality of the articles ranging from mild to overtly biased. (a left slant as compared to a right slant, see National Post) The intent of having "ordinary people" write for other "ordinary people" is to self empower the readership as a whole away from the concentrated mainstream media.

[edit] References

[edit] External link

• [1] People's Voice official site. Contains selected articles online, also audio files.

[edit] See also

• media proprietor
• Concentration of media ownership
• propaganda model

an example of the Canadian Tribune.

old version of monthly People's Voice.

felix advertisment for Daily Clarion circa 1938.