Thank you for contributing to The Communist!
We welcome submissions from our readers and supporters. In particular, we are always keen to receive material that provides a workers’ perspective; that gives a voice to the exploited and the oppressed; that helps paint a vivid picture of the realities of capitalism; that adds colour and detail to the general outlines in our editorials and theoretical articles, bringing the pages of our paper to life.
Such articles can come in a variety of flavours. Letters detailing the daily injustices of life under capitalism. Real stories that reveal the rotten conditions that workers face. Short, sharp pieces that expose the hypocrisy and lies of the bosses and their representatives.
The aim is to show the gaping class divide between the haves and the have-nots; to ridicule the rich and their system; to express the mood in society, including the explosive anger that is accumulating below the surface; to address the questions that are being genuinely raised by honest workers and youth, on the streets and in the movement.
We are also pleased to be sent reports from the frontlines, from the strikes and struggles breaking out across the country – including interviews, pictures, and videos.
We are the paper of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and we want to feature reports of party activity on a national, regional, and local level. So whether your branch is leading a campaign on campus, or has taken a new initiative on political education or finance, we want to know about your successes and lessons.
We are keen for reviews of films, TV, books, music, theatre, and more in the paper, commenting on the arts and culture. And we are always on the lookout for talented illustrators who can produce insightful and satirical political cartoons.
In short, we are looking for ‘communist correspondents’, who can translate the conversations they have, the headlines they read, and the events they experience into poignant, perceptive, or powerful contributions in the paper.
Online submission
All of these shorter types of article can be submitted online, for consideration by the The Communist Editorial Board (EB).
Using this website form, writers can choose from a variety of contribution categories, with specific word counts, advice, and guidance provided depending on the material.
For further advice on how to write clearly and concisely, please read our ‘how to write for the paper’ document. And try to stick to our official in-house style guide. This will help to minimise the changes and corrections that need to be made by the editors.
When you’re ready to submit your contribution: fill out your details, including the best means for the EB to contact you with any questions or feedback; choose the most appropriate / relevant category for your submission; read the guidelines provided regarding suggested content and writing style; enter your text in the embedded editor; attach any supplementary material, especially any useful pictures or videos; and press submit.
Please do not attach your article as a document file or link. Such submissions will not be considered, unless agreed and approved beforehand by a member of the EB.
If you’re struggling to keep your submission within the designated word count, the first port of call is to see if it can be cut, or edited down to focus on a particular point or aspect of the issue in question.
If you feel that the topic deserves more space, please contact the EB via the online form. Select the ‘suggestion for an article’ category, and provide details of the points you wish to cover in your contribution. See the next section for more details.
Online submissions will all be read and considered by a member of the EB. We will attempt to reply and provide feedback to all authors. But given the quantity of material we receive, we cannot guarantee a response. Nor can we promise that all contributions will be published, either in the paper or on the website.
The EB will publish contributions according to the political priorities of the organisation. And we reserve the right to amend submissions to meet the agreed political programme and perspective of the party. (Although we will always try to stay true to the author’s own style and original content.)
The Communist is not an academic journal, offering an eclectic pick-and-mix of ideas, but the voice of the RCP, with a duty to provide and present a clear communist view on all questions.
Rest assured, however: any silence or lack of reply should not be taken by authors as an indication of perceived poor quality.
For topical issues, it is often the case that we are already planning to publish a more in-depth article on the same matter, or have received other similar contributions. For less time-sensitive pieces, meanwhile, we will often keep said material ‘in the bank’, until a more appropriate time or space for publication arises.
So please do not be disheartened if your submission is never printed in black and white. Every contribution plays a role: helping us to enrich and refine our political analysis as an organisation; and providing readers and supporters with valuable practice in writing – a useful skill for any communist activist.
If you have any questions regarding your submission, or would appreciate specific advice or feedback on an article, either contact a leading RCP member in your area, or write to the EB by selecting the ‘feedback on the paper’ category on the online form.
Commissioned articles
Unfortunately, given the restrictions of space in the paper, alongside the limited resources of the organisation, it is not possible to accept unsolicited longer articles.
At the present time, we are restricted to publishing a fortnightly paper. As we expand, we will move to a weekly – and even a daily – paper, with a corresponding increase in the quantity of material we publish online. But that is the music of the future.
Budding writers should therefore pause on putting pen to paper for longer articles, unless this has been cleared with a member of the EB.
We cannot issue an open invitation for longer articles. Instead, such articles are commissioned by the EB. This involves an assigned EB member providing authors with suggestions for the political content and structure of the piece, along with political and stylistic feedback on any drafts received.
If readers wish to be considered for writing a longer piece, or have suggestions on topics that we should cover in our publications, then these requests can be relayed to the EB via the ‘suggestion for an article’ category on the online submission form.
By contrast, shorter articles and letters – including reports from demonstrations and local activity, interviews with workers, cultural reviews, cartoons, or more agitational material – should be written and submitted without delay.
Editorial process
In many cases, once a longer article and its author has been approved, the first draft will be reviewed by an experienced local RCP member, before it is sent to the EB. The experienced comrade will liaise with the EB, and discuss with the writer to provide feedback, agree any necessary edits, and help implement these changes.
After the article has been received and edited by the EB, we will endeavour to provide constructive feedback to the author, where possible and appropriate. We cannot promise to publish every submission, however. In certain instances, we may have to reject a piece, if it cannot be brought up to the necessary quality.
But even in such a scenario, the effort expended will not be of waste. Rather, the process of preparing, writing, discussing, feeding back, and correcting should be seen as an extremely valuable one from an educational point of view – even if the article is never published.
In other cases, where the article is deemed time sensitive or urgent, then political and stylistic edits will be made – and articles will be published – at the discretion of the EB.
Where this occurs, and where this is feasible, the EB will attempt to maintain the author’s personal writing style and key political arguments. Where substantive changes or major edits are implemented, we will try to relay this to the author as soon as possible.
We appeal to writers for a sense of patience and humility in such instances, and to be sympathetic to the pressures that the EB faces, which sometimes limit the capacity we have to provide authors with prompt feedback, real-time communication, or final publication approval.
Again, thank you for contributing to The Communist. We greatly value your support in helping us produce a genuine workers’ paper – a powerful weapon for revolutionary workers and youth in Britain.
