Scottish Daily News
Encyclopedia
The Scottish Daily News (SDN) was a left-of-centre
daily newspaper published in Glasgow
between 5 May and 8 November 1975. It was hailed as Britain's first worker-controlled, mass-circulation daily, formed as a workers' cooperative
by 500 of the 1,846 journalists, photographers, engineers, and print workers who were made redundant in April 1974 by Beaverbrook Newspapers
when the Scottish Daily Express
closed its printing operations in Scotland and moved to Manchester
.
The redundant workers, who set up a Scottish Daily News action committee, contributed £200,000 of their redundancy money to set up the newspaper, with the British government promising a loan of £1.2 million to enable them to buy the Scottish Daily Express building in Glasgow at 195 Albion Street — a replica of the Daily Express's iconic
black-glass Art Deco
offices in London's Fleet Street
, dubbed the "Black Lubyanka
", — if the committee could raise another £275,000. Around £175,000 of this came from members of the public in shares of £25 each, and just over £100,000 from Robert Maxwell
, the owner of Pergamon Press
.
The newspaper, which had as its slogan "Read the people's paper and keep 500 in jobs," folded after six months with a deficit of £1.2 million, but was published for another six months by a small group of employees who, led by journalist and future Member of the Scottish Parliament
Dorothy-Grace Elder
, staged the country's one and only newspaper work-in, writing and selling the paper themselves on the streets of Glasgow, taking no salaries, and refusing to leave the Albion Street building.
, as the Scottish Daily Express had been, at 9:50 p.m. on 4 May 1975, under the editorship of Fred Sillito, with Andrew McCallum as news editor, and 500 employee-shareholders. The journalists, based on the third floor of the Albion Street building, agreed to take a basic £69 a week salary and the editor £150 (McKay and Barr 1976, p.70). Dorothy-Grace Elder, who in 1999 became one of the first members
(MSP) of the new Scottish Parliament
, became the editor of the women's section. The first issue sold out at over 300,000 copies.
Although the broadsheet format was at the time believed by many employees to be a mistake, as reports had shown that the Scottish public preferred the tabloid format, the action committee, now called the executive council or works council, confidently expected circulation to fall to 220,000 within three weeks as the novelty of the newspaper wore off (ibid, p. 71). However, circulation dropped further and faster than expected, reaching 190,000 in the third week. After taking returns into account, this produced an actual sales figures of less than 180,000, which meant that the newspaper had started to lose money.
According to Christopher Hird in the New Internationalist, a feasibility study conducted by Strathclyde University before the paper started indicated that the average daily sale needed to be 200,000 to break even, and that the venture could not work given the costs and expected sales.
After the capital costs were taken into account, writes Hird, the company had been started with just £950,000, a relatively small amount to launch a new paper.
None of the workers had experience of publishing a tabloid, which generally requires twice as many stories of half the length. By the end of August, losses were running at £17,000 a week with circulation down to 170,000.
The losses continued, made worse on 19 September when Beaverbrook began legal action to recover £59,000 the company said was still owed on the sale of the building. The litigation destroyed what was left of the newspaper's financial credibility and credit
was no longer available. Bills had to be paid immediately, journalists no longer had lines of credit for taxi
s and petrol, photographers had to pay up front for photographic supplies, and the accounts department became swamped with demands for payment from nervous creditors (ibid p. 142).
and the newspaper's former night editor, who took over on 6 October. When asked how he felt about this, he compared himself to the captain of the Titanic, thereafter becoming known as "Nathan Iceberg" (ibid).
The government refused to extend any additional loans to save the newspaper, or to give up its secured creditor
status on the loan for the building, which would have meant the newspaper could have raised money using the building as collateral
.
During a workers' meeting on 20 October, with circulation running at 150,000 a day, the company chairman Alistair Blyth announced that a provisional liquidator
, James Whitton of Coopers Lybrand, had been appointed to take over the running of the newspaper, with the aim of saving it rather than continuing the liquidation process (ibid, p. 149). Whitton's options were to sell the newspaper as a going concern, find new investors, or split up and sell the assets. The advantage of having a liquidator sanctioned by the courts on board was that the newspaper's credit was guaranteed and salaries could be paid.
The next day, 21 October, members of the executive council met Prime Minister Harold Wilson
to ask again, without success, that the government's loan conditions be relaxed.
On Saturday, 1 November, the workers held a rally in at Custom House Quay attended by several hundred employees and members of the Scottish National Party
(SNP), where speakers appealed to the government to save the newspaper and the 500 jobs. Those who addressed the rally included Teddy Taylor
of the Conservative Party
, Margo MacDonald
of the SNP, Jimmy Reid
of the Communist Party
, and representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress
as well as ministers of Catholic and Protestant churches.
Chairman Alister Blyth told the rally:
On 6 November, the liquidator announced that he would be winding up the newspaper in two days' time.
Elder wrote on her Scottish National Party
webpage:
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
daily newspaper published in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
between 5 May and 8 November 1975. It was hailed as Britain's first worker-controlled, mass-circulation daily, formed as a workers' cooperative
Worker cooperative
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which...
by 500 of the 1,846 journalists, photographers, engineers, and print workers who were made redundant in April 1974 by Beaverbrook Newspapers
Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook
William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Bt, PC, was a Canadian-British business tycoon, politician, and writer.-Early career in Canada:...
when the Scottish Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
closed its printing operations in Scotland and moved to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
The redundant workers, who set up a Scottish Daily News action committee, contributed £200,000 of their redundancy money to set up the newspaper, with the British government promising a loan of £1.2 million to enable them to buy the Scottish Daily Express building in Glasgow at 195 Albion Street — a replica of the Daily Express's iconic
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
black-glass Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
offices in London's Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
, dubbed the "Black Lubyanka
Lubyanka
Lubyanka or Lubianka may refer to:*Lubyanka Square, Moscow*Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, Moscow*Lubyanka Building, former KGB headquarters and prison at Lubyanka Square, Moscow*Lubyanka , a metro station in MoscowPlaces in Poland called Lubianka...
", — if the committee could raise another £275,000. Around £175,000 of this came from members of the public in shares of £25 each, and just over £100,000 from Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
, the owner of Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press
Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, which published scientific and medical books and journals. It is now an imprint of Elsevier....
.
The newspaper, which had as its slogan "Read the people's paper and keep 500 in jobs," folded after six months with a deficit of £1.2 million, but was published for another six months by a small group of employees who, led by journalist and future Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
Dorothy-Grace Elder
Dorothy-Grace Elder
Dorothy-Grace Elder is a journalist and a former Member of the Scottish Parliament.She first came to the public eye in the 1970s as a television journalist, on BBC Scotland's news programme Reporting Scotland...
, staged the country's one and only newspaper work-in, writing and selling the paper themselves on the streets of Glasgow, taking no salaries, and refusing to leave the Albion Street building.
Broadsheet
The first 16-page edition of the newspaper rolled off the presses as a broadsheetBroadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
, as the Scottish Daily Express had been, at 9:50 p.m. on 4 May 1975, under the editorship of Fred Sillito, with Andrew McCallum as news editor, and 500 employee-shareholders. The journalists, based on the third floor of the Albion Street building, agreed to take a basic £69 a week salary and the editor £150 (McKay and Barr 1976, p.70). Dorothy-Grace Elder, who in 1999 became one of the first members
Member of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
(MSP) of the new Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, became the editor of the women's section. The first issue sold out at over 300,000 copies.
Although the broadsheet format was at the time believed by many employees to be a mistake, as reports had shown that the Scottish public preferred the tabloid format, the action committee, now called the executive council or works council, confidently expected circulation to fall to 220,000 within three weeks as the novelty of the newspaper wore off (ibid, p. 71). However, circulation dropped further and faster than expected, reaching 190,000 in the third week. After taking returns into account, this produced an actual sales figures of less than 180,000, which meant that the newspaper had started to lose money.
According to Christopher Hird in the New Internationalist, a feasibility study conducted by Strathclyde University before the paper started indicated that the average daily sale needed to be 200,000 to break even, and that the venture could not work given the costs and expected sales.
After the capital costs were taken into account, writes Hird, the company had been started with just £950,000, a relatively small amount to launch a new paper.
Relaunch
By August 1975, losses were running at £30,000 a week with a daily circulation of just 80,000, and it was decided to relaunch the newspaper as a tabloid, the first issue of which was published on 18 August (ibid p. 122) with a print run of 240,000, priced at 5p.None of the workers had experience of publishing a tabloid, which generally requires twice as many stories of half the length. By the end of August, losses were running at £17,000 a week with circulation down to 170,000.
Losses
On 15 September 1975, 300 of the workers attended an emergency meeting set up by Robert Maxwell, who accused the management of the newspaper of playing politics with the workers' jobs, in part because, he said, they were refusing to allow managers to manage and were blocking a price rise that Maxwell felt might save the newspaper (ibid p. 132). The result of the meeting was that two of the managers were removed from the executive council and replaced by two of Maxwell's supporters, Dorothy-Grace Elder and Tommy Clarke.The losses continued, made worse on 19 September when Beaverbrook began legal action to recover £59,000 the company said was still owed on the sale of the building. The litigation destroyed what was left of the newspaper's financial credibility and credit
Credit (finance)
Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide resources to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately , but instead arranges either to repay or return those resources at a later date. The resources provided may be financial Credit is the trust...
was no longer available. Bills had to be paid immediately, journalists no longer had lines of credit for taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
s and petrol, photographers had to pay up front for photographic supplies, and the accounts department became swamped with demands for payment from nervous creditors (ibid p. 142).
Final days
During the final days of the newspaper, its content became self-obsessed, with appeals to the Scottish people to save their own newspaper (ibid p. 148). The editor was forced out, and a new editor appointed, Nathan Goldberg, a communistCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and the newspaper's former night editor, who took over on 6 October. When asked how he felt about this, he compared himself to the captain of the Titanic, thereafter becoming known as "Nathan Iceberg" (ibid).
The government refused to extend any additional loans to save the newspaper, or to give up its secured creditor
Creditor
A creditor is a party that has a claim to the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property or service to the second party under the assumption that the second party will return an equivalent property or...
status on the loan for the building, which would have meant the newspaper could have raised money using the building as collateral
Collateral (finance)
In lending agreements, collateral is a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan.The collateral serves as protection for a lender against a borrower's default - that is, any borrower failing to pay the principal and interest under the terms of a loan obligation...
.
During a workers' meeting on 20 October, with circulation running at 150,000 a day, the company chairman Alistair Blyth announced that a provisional liquidator
Liquidator (law)
In law, a liquidator is the officer appointed when a company goes into winding-up or liquidation who has responsibility for collecting in all of the assets of the company and settling all claims against the company before putting the company into dissolution....
, James Whitton of Coopers Lybrand, had been appointed to take over the running of the newspaper, with the aim of saving it rather than continuing the liquidation process (ibid, p. 149). Whitton's options were to sell the newspaper as a going concern, find new investors, or split up and sell the assets. The advantage of having a liquidator sanctioned by the courts on board was that the newspaper's credit was guaranteed and salaries could be paid.
The next day, 21 October, members of the executive council met Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
to ask again, without success, that the government's loan conditions be relaxed.
On Saturday, 1 November, the workers held a rally in at Custom House Quay attended by several hundred employees and members of the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
(SNP), where speakers appealed to the government to save the newspaper and the 500 jobs. Those who addressed the rally included Teddy Taylor
Teddy Taylor
Sir Edward MacMillan Taylor, usually known as Teddy Taylor , is a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1964 to 1979 for Glasgow Cathcart and from 1980 to 2005 for Rochford and Southend East.He was a leading member and sometime Vice-President of the Conservative...
of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, Margo MacDonald
Margo MacDonald
Margo MacDonald MSP is a Scottish politician and former Scottish National Party MP and Deputy Leader...
of the SNP, Jimmy Reid
Jimmy Reid
James "Jimmy" Reid was a Scottish trade union activist, orator, politician, and journalist born in Govan, Glasgow. His role as spokesman and one of the leaders in the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in between June 1971 and October 1972 attracted international recognition...
of the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
, and representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress
Scottish Trades Union Congress
The Scottish Trades Union Congress is the co-ordinating body of trade unions, and local Trades Councils, in Scotland. With 39 affiliated unions as of 2007, the STUC represents around 630,000 trade unionists....
as well as ministers of Catholic and Protestant churches.
Chairman Alister Blyth told the rally:
[A]nyone in the newspaper industry will tell you ... that it takes at least a year for a newspaper to become established, get on its feet to settle its circulation. It became clear that we were under-financed from the start ... This was aggravated, of course, by the fact that we came out with the wrong size of newspaper. (ibid p.151)
On 6 November, the liquidator announced that he would be winding up the newspaper in two days' time.
Work-in
At a workers' meeting on 7 November 1975, the remaining employees, led by Dorothy-Grace Elder, decided to stage a work-in by refusing to leave the building, and by writing and selling the newspaper themselves on the streets of Glasgow, with the printing handed over to an outside commercial printer because the Albion Street presses were no longer running. A small group of employees stood outside factories and stores at five o'clock every morning shaking tin cans and asking for donations, a situation that continued for six months until, needing to earn a living, workers began to leave, putting an end to Scotland's experiment in worker-controlled news production.Elder wrote on her Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
webpage:
For six months, we held that building — technically, illegally. The old black glass Express
building was worth millions.
We were the first newspaper workers' co-operative and we worked for free for six months in the freezing and abandoned Albion Street plant, producing a rebel paper we wrote and sold ourselves on the streets.
Throughout, I dreaded the day the phone would ring to tell us the police would be sent in to re-claim the building (then part owned by the LabourLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government and with a council interest also).
A call came one day from the Lord Provost, Peter McCann, who was also chief magistrateMagistrateA magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
.
"Oh please don't send in the police. We can't risk violence. This is a peaceful work-in," I said before he had a chance to speak. "Police? We could — but we won't," replied McCann. "Councillors wouldn't do that to Glasgow folk who are protesting peacefully. I was just phoning to say I guess your work-in must be hungry since your canteen closed.
"So you've all to come round to the Corporation canteen, get a cheap dinner and say I sent you if there's any bother".