| Workers' Dreadnought | |
| Motto: | For International Socialism |
| Type: | Weekly newspaper |
| Format: | Broadsheet |
| Owner: | Workers' Socialist Federation |
| Founder: | Sylvia Pankhurst |
| Publisher: | Dreadnought Publications |
| Editor: | Sylvia Pankhurst |
| Generalmanager: | Harold Burgess |
| Headquarters: | 152 Fleet Street, London |
| Publishing Country: | United Kingdom |
| Circulation: | 10,000 |
| Circulation Date: | 1917 |
| Circulation Ref: | [1] |
Workers' Dreadnought was a communist newspaper based in London and led by Sylvia Pankhurst.
The paper was started by Pankhurst at the suggestion of Zelie Emerson,[2] after Pankhurst had been expelled from the Women's Social and Political Union by her mother and sister. The paper was published on behalf of the newly formed East London Federation of Suffragettes.
Provisionally titled Workers' Mate, the newspaper first appeared on 8 March 1914[3] (14 March according to another source[4] or 21 March according to yet another[5]), the day of a suffragette rally at which Pankhurst was due to speak, in Trafalgar Square, as The Woman's Dreadnought, with a circulation of 30,000,, subsequently (at number 10, in May 1914) stated as 20,000.[6]
When the editor was imprisoned, Norah Smyth alternated as acting editor with Jack O'Sullivan.[7] For many years, Smyth had used her skills as a photographer to provide pictures for the newspaper of East End life, particularly of women and children living in poverty.[8]
In July 1917, the name was changed to Workers' Dreadnought,[9] which initially had a circulation of 10,000. Its slogan changed to "Socialism, Internationalism, Votes for All", and then in July 1918 to "For International Socialism", reflecting increasing opposition to Parliamentarism in the party.[10]
The paper took a strong stance against to the First World War, calling for Britain to begin peace negotiations, and speaking positively of Russia's exit from the war.[11] [12] The paper's first issue for October 1917 advocated for a peace referendum among the British Army, but before it could enter circulation the Metropolitan Police raided offices of Workers Dreadnought and destroyed the copies of the issue.[13]
On 19 June 1920, Workers' Dreadnought was adopted as the official weekly organ of the Communist Party (British Section of the Third International).[14]
During the Post-war French occupation of the Rhineland, German communists attempted to retake the region. France employed the use of black colonial troops to halt them. Reporting on the events, the Daily Herald referred to the soldiers using terms such as "Black Scourge in Europe," and "Black Menace of 40,000 Troops".[15] Jamaican writer Claude McKay considered the papers' focus on the Black soldiers to be illogical prejudice, and a distraction from the communists' efforts against French occupation.[16] [17] McKay wrote a letter adressed to the Daily Herald
The paper warned of fascism in Italy, condemned the white labourism in South Africa's Rand Rebellion,[19]
Sylvia Pankhurst was arrested under the Defence of the Realm Act for publishing articles "calculated and likely to cause sedition among His Majesty's forces, in the Navy, and among the civilian population". Claude McKay had his rooms searched. He is likely to have been the author of "The Yellow Peril and the Dockers" attributed to "Leon Lopez", which was one of the articles cited by the government in its case against Workers' Dreadnought.[20]
On 14 June 1924, Workers' Dreadnought ceased publication.[21]