Skip to main content
Lifting the ban on the Daily Worker
In the middle of WWII, the forerunner to the Morning Star was banned by the state for calling for colonial freedom, campaigning against profiteering, for union rights and for a better life for the workers amid the Blitz, explains JOHN ELLISON

THE Daily Worker, in being and in action since 1930, became the Morning Star 1966. Under whichever name, the paper was and is the only daily in Britain focused on exposing the mechanics of capitalism and challenging its management on behalf of working people.

But in January 1941 the Daily Worker was suppressed by the Winston Churchill government and did not reappear until September 7 1942, 80 years ago today. Popular pressure compelled the government to lift the ban.

Herbert Morrison, then the home secretary for Labour, took the lead in imposing the ban. His memorandum to the Cabinet on December 23 1940 claimed that the paper had “striven to create in the reader a state of mind in which he will be unlikely to be keen to assist the war effort.”

Take out shares in the People's Press
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
THE STRUGGLE NEVER STOPPED: Mikis Theodorakis and Liesbeth L
Features / 15 November 2024
15 November 2024
JOHN ELLISON looks back to the 1974 general election in Greece which freed the people from the oppressive military junta
Harold Wilson arrives in Downing St, 1974
Features / 31 July 2024
31 July 2024
JOHN ELLISON looks back at the Wilson government’s early months, detailing how left-wing manifesto commitments were diluted, and the challenges faced by Tony Benn in implementing socialist policies
An injured Palestinian boy is carried from the ground follow
Features / 11 January 2024
11 January 2024
Robert Fisk and John Pilger knew that the legacy of the aggression of the US and its allies against the Middle East was crucial to understanding that crimes like the war on Gaza will only lead to more violence, writes JOHN ELLISON
MAN WITH A BOAT: Tory leader Edward Heath poses for the came
Features / 4 December 2023
4 December 2023
JOHN ELLISON looks at the miners' strike and Shrewsbury 3 case that led Edward Heath to ask ‘Who governs Britain?’ and the electorate to answer: not you
Similar stories
RED FLAG FLYING: The Soviet flag is hoisted over the Reichst
Features / 30 January 2025
30 January 2025
NICK WRIGHT examines the British ruling class's complex relationship with fascism before, during and after the second world war
Popular support for the USSR was emphasised by the Arctic co
Books / 8 November 2024
8 November 2024
WILL PODMORE listens keenly to the people’s voice expressing support for the USSR and disdain for the political Establishment and the empire
POST-WAR AUSTERITY: Sir Stafford Cripps, as Labour Chancello
Features / 22 October 2024
22 October 2024
MAT COWARD remembers the curious character of Sir Stafford Cripps, who was Winston Churchill's ambassador to the Soviet Union, with a famously eccentric diet
(Right) Jim Berryman, Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill a
Books / 29 August 2024
29 August 2024
MALC MCGOOKIN wallows in the artistry of gifted cartoonists given a fine target for caricature