Since our foundation the WSM has placed a very high priority on our publications. These are our public voice, they are means by which many people will make their first contact with the organisation. Quality and content are both, therefore, extremely important.
In the last decade the nature of publication has changed considerably due to technological developments. High quality print and layout has become much more accessible. More importantly the emergence of the internet has invented new forms of publication (web pages, mailing lists etc) which allow us not only to reach a far larger audience but to do so much faster and, where we wish, in an interactive manner. While it is true that the internet is only accessible to some this is even more true of the publishing side of older forms of publication.
In that context we now understand our publications to include not only those in printed form but also those in electronic form. To date the electronic form has been mostly generated from the printed form, in the future we intend to increasingly publish electronically.
All national publications will have an editorial group that is elected by national conference. National conference will set general guidelines for this group to follow which will include key areas to cover, the general balance of articles required in the publication and an annual budget for the publication. In between national conferences the editorial groups are answerable to National committee.
Each editorial group will have the following responsibilities, these in general include all aspects of publication from the commissioning of articles to the arrival of the material back from the printer and further distribution of it.
* ensure that the publication is produced according to deadline, with the exception of Red & Black Revolution this includes the writing of additional material by the editorial group itself if this is required to make the deadline.
* ensure that the publication is in agreement with the requirements set by national conference and listed at the foot of this position paper.
* ensure that articles are within the agreed WSM policy or they are clearly marked as the work of a guest writer or part of a debate.
* ensure that articles are proof read and free of typographical mistakes
* arrange the layout, delivery of print ready material and collection of finished material from the printers. In general this should all be carried out by a member of the editorial group or where this is not possible by the co-option as a 'non-voting' member of the group by someone with the required skills.
* distribute the publication to those responsible for its public distribution
* In the case of accounts written for the WSM web page/mailing lists these should be clearly marked as personal contributions
Editorial boards that fail to fulfil all the criteria above should be recalled and replaced at the first opportunity.
As well as communicating our ideas our publications also have an educational function for WSM members. As we seek to break down reliance on a few comrades who happen to have publication skills we should use the process of producing publications as a training school for members that want to acquire relevant skills. All members should be encouraged to write articles for publication and where possible new members should be co-opted for a while as a non-voting member to one or the other editorial group to learn how to edit, proofread or layout publications. This is in addition to what ever new members have been elected as full voting members of editorial committee by national conference
Red and Black Revolution
Red and Black Revolution is a magazine aimed at people with some
knowledge of anarchism.
Workers Solidarity
Workers Solidarity is a free/donation news sheet aimed at people that
have little or no knowledge of anarchism. Its primary purpose is to
give an anarchist perspective on current issues and to increase
peoples knowledge of what anarchism is..
Workers Solidarity Supporters
1. Anyone who distributes at least 50 copies of each issue of Workers Solidarity and donates an agree regular amount towards the cost of producing the paper can become a Workers Solidarity supporter.
2. Workers Solidarity supporters will have be able to speak and vote at an annual Workers Solidarity meeting held as part of our national conference. This meeting will elect an additional two delegates to the WS production group.
3. Workers Solidarity supporters with email can ask to be added to the WS production email list where they can comment on articles submitted for publication and suggest topics for articles.
Anarchist News is a free leaflet published around a single news related theme
Internet
The Internet editorial group is a group of four persons elected by national conference The internet editorial group will be responsible for the WSM web site, WSM mailing lists and for encouraging WSM interventions in internet debates. It will also be responsible for the creation of PDF publications bringing together related WSM articles. This editorial group will try and ensure that all activities the WSM are taking part in are advertised in advance on our email lists and web pages. It will also try and ensure that all significant events are reported on via the mailing list and web page within 48 hours of them occurring.
[Nov 2003] With a wide layer of in particular young people engaging in radical politics Red and Black Revolution has a very important role to play in promoting anarchism as a serious method of changing the world. We aim to produce 2 Red & Black Revolutions per year (March/September). If, at the scheduled time to send issue 1 to the printers, the editorial board decides that we do not have sufficient quality material, we shall produce only 1 issue in that year.
[Sept 2002] Initially Workers Solidarity production will continue at 6,000 copies of each issue produced every two months. However by the time the number of WS supporters (including WSM members) has risen to 30 production will be 8000 copies of each issue with 8 issues a year. At the next conference after this is achieved new targets will be drawn up.
The editorial group has to balance the need to get Workers Solidarity out on time with the need to allow the maximum input from all WSM members into its contents. These guidelines are designed to help in doing this.
1. The article mix for Workers Solidarity should be strongly guided by a standard template submitted to National Conference publications session.
2. At any time any member of the organisation can suggest an article for the next issue of the paper by emailing the Workers Solidarity mailing list. This suggestion must include the template element that the suggestion is being made for and an author who has agreed to do the article. This author can be the person making the suggestion. The suggestion should be appropriate for the suggested slot in the template.
3. At the start of each new issue the editorial group will draw up an article list based as far as possible on suggestions made but taking into account issues they consider it is essential that the paper cover. Authors should be suggested for each article, and this list mailed to the main WSM email list along with the deadline for each article and planned publication date. The editorial committee, where possible, should give people at least 2 weeks notice of article deadlines
Editing submitted articles
1. Articles in the paper should not be at odds with existing WSM policy unless they are clearly marked as debate pieces.
2. The editorial committee can reject an article that it believes is at odds with policy or it can choose to publish it as a debate piece. If rejected the author can demand that the article be place on the WSM web page as a debate piece or with the support of two or more of the membership that it be published in the following paper as a debate piece. Where the author thinks an article may be rejected they may submit it with two members already indicating support. In that case, providing it is in accordance with the template, it must be published in the issue it was submitted for.
3. Changes/amendments to articles
The editorial committee can correct spellings and grammar in an article without approval of author. It can also break up very long paragraphs or sentences.
Articles that are more then 5% of the max length indicated in the template can be edited down to the appropiate length without reference to the author. If the author wants to exceed the length so that a longer version of the article can be put on the WSM web site then they should include a second version that is already cut down to the correct length.
4. If the editorial group thinks that part of an article is unclear or that it is open to misinterpretation then, if time permits, they should seek to have the article resubmitted otherwise they can re-write that section but must notify the author of this prior to publication. If the author is unhappy with the changes they can demand the withdrawal of their name or pseudonym from the article.
Editorial decisions making
All editorial decisions can only be made
1. At a meeting of the editorial group advertised on the paper email list and by phone to any members of the editorial group with limited email access.
2. By consensus on the paper email list, decisions made at an editorial meeting are by majority.
Editorial skills
It is important that all members of the organisation are given the chance to learn how the editorial system works. So all editorial meetings are open to any WSM member as an observer and any WSM member can be a subscriber to the paper email list. Only delegates to the editorial group have voting rights.
New members of the organisation should be encouraged to write articles for the paper and to attend the editorial group meetings that edit these articles.
Ammended Nov 2003