This week at The Archive we are celebrating reaching a landmark of 36 million pages now available to search – with a staggering 152,433 new pages joining us just this week alone. Our updated titles reflect the range, depth and diversity of pages in our collection – with 18 titles updated in all, these new pages span England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada and India, and cover 168 years of history.

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In addition to these updates, we have three brand new titles joining us this week. At over 36 million pages strong, joining our rich tapestry of specialist political newspapers this week are two communist titles (Freedom (London) and Communist (London)). 

Rounding off our new titles this week is the Meath Herald and Cavan Advertiser. Newspapers started to appear rather late in County Meath, and the Meath Herald and Cavan Advertiser was the first to be published in the area, published in Kells. Kells gives its name to the famous Book of Kells, a beautifully illustrated manuscript Gospel book, believed to have been created in the 9th century.

Meath Herald and Cavan Advertiser | 26 April 1845

Communism in the United Kingdom

By the 1880s, alternative political ideologies such as anarchism, communism, and socialism were gaining popularity in the United Kingdom. This is reflected in the establishment of Freedom (London), which was founded in 1886 by anarchist-socialists Peter Kropotkin and Charlotte Wilson. Its original subtitle was ‘A Journal of Anarchist Socialism,’ before changing to represent ‘Anarchist Communism’ with the aim of rejecting ‘all government and economic repression.’

Kropotkin laid out his intentions in the first issue of Freedom (London): ‘We are socialists, disbelievers in property, advocates of the equal claims of all the work for the community as seems good – calling no-one master. We are anarchists, disbelievers in the government of the many by the few in any shape and under any pretext.’

Freedom (London) | 1 December 1886

And Kropotkin’s intentions endured; Freedom (London) is published to this day in an online format. However, the monthly schedule faced a short interruption in publication in the 1930s, and during the Second World War editor Vernon Richards was charged with trying to cause disaffection among the armed forces. Despite support from the likes of George Orwell and T.S. Eliot, Richards was imprisoned for 9 months. Freedom (London) finally got a colour version in 2006, and switched to bi-annual publication ten years later.

Finally, Communist (London), was a short-lived publication representing the views of Communist International, an organisation which advocated world communism. The paper itself sought ‘articles dealing with current topics from a Communist standpoint,’ and printed Communist thought-pieces as well as Communist news from across the globe. Communist International was disbanded in 1943 by Stalin, in attempt to appease his American and British Allies.

Communist (London) | 25 November 1920

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated eighteen of our existing titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a FREE sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.

You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.