Today’s media landscape leaves much to be desired for the average person. Mainstream news outlets often pull their punches against corruption in the interest of their own profit motive. They often justify this corruption by using the hollow excuse of “journalistic objectivity,” an imaginary ideal that serves the interests of the ruling class.
In this struggle, we need a voice that breaks through political rhetoric and the miasma of national media, one that clearly and fearlessly states just what it is and what it intends to do. What we need is a news outlet that writes about issues facing ordinary people in Milwaukee without shying away from the root of the problem: capitalism.
Enter The Milwaukee Leader, a new project with a long history in this city.
In its earliest iteration, the Leader was a socialist daily newspaper published in Milwaukee from 1911 to 1939. Its masthead boldly proclaimed that the paper would be “unawed by influence” and “unbribed by gain.” The newspaper’s editorial policy emphasized that the struggle between workers and capitalists unfolds over time.
“We can make our editorials truly educational and at the same time suggestive to an intelligent reader by the wise use of HISTORY,” one undated editorial memo read. “Take the current events of the day and compare them with historical events in the history of the movement and of progress in general.”
The goal of this policy, the memo continued, was to “make our readers know something of history and help keep alive the revolutionary spirit in the best sense.”
It is this same revolutionary spirit that has led us to relaunch The Milwaukee Leader on May 1, 2023.
We will build a fiercely independent publication focused on the concerns of workers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and beyond. We believe that it is the workers who deserve the world, because it’s us who make the world. The ruling class may think they own the world, but we have only loaned it to them, and it’s time for us to take it back.
It’s clear to us that the working people of this city, this state, this country and this world are fed up with the status quo. The time has never been more urgent to confront the existential threats facing us and put the enemies of the working class on notice.
Some parts of our history, however, require honest reflection if we are to learn from them. The Leader was founded in part by Victor Berger, who became the first socialist elected to Congress in 1911. An Austrian immigrant from a Jewish family, Berger was a labor leader, public school teacher and antiwar activist. He also held racist, misogynist and anti-immigrant views which we roundly condemn.
We seek to dismantle white supremacy, misogyny, transphobia, xenophobia, and hate in all its forms and believe that these rivers of hate flow from a common source: capitalism. We must strike at the root of the problem if we are to bring a truly equitable future to this world.
The original Leader developed a wide readership among Milwaukee’s working class. We will aim to do the same while serving an increasingly diverse working class. Through our fearless journalism, we will hold elected officials and those in power accountable, regardless of party or favor, while improving public understanding of the way that politics affects their material well-being. As we grow, we’ll reach readers across the state of Wisconsin and beyond.
We hope you’ll join us. If you believe in our mission, please follow us on Twitter and Instagram, donate to support our work, or email us at milwaukeeleader@gmail.com.
