From the Margins to the Mainstream

Abstract

This article examines the mechanisms by which an obscure party journal, published by the Communist Party of Great Britain, moved out of the ‘radical ghetto’ of left-wing publishing into the mainstream of national distribution and debate during the 1980s. Most assessments of left periodicals focus on the ideological perspective(s) or politics of such publications. Few accounts, however, have considered the examination of the more prosaic processes of promotion and distribution of radical periodicals when assessing their success or failure in reaching out beyond their own political and social networks. The mixed success of Marxism Today in the marketplace demonstrates that for the radical press, there is not a clear ‘either/or’ decision for or against the two dominant models: Comedia and Bolshevik. Marxism Today gained advantages by making use of national newsagent distribution and press coverage which, despite the considerable effort expended by the magazine, were not always rewarded.