Editing Chartism (section)

===Press===
Both nationally and locally a Chartist press thrived in the form of periodicals, which were important to the movement for their news, editorials, poetry and especially in 1848, reports on international developments. They reached a huge audience.<ref>, Joan Allen and Owen R. Ashton, ''Papers for the People: A Study of the Chartist Press'' (2005).</ref> ''[[The Poor Man's Guardian]]'' in the 1830s, edited by [[Henry Hetherington]], dealt with questions of class solidarity, manhood suffrage, property, and temperance, and condemned the Reform Act 1832. The paper explored the rhetoric of violence versus nonviolence, or what its writers called moral versus physical force.<ref>Bob Breton, "Violence and the Radical Imagination", ''Victorian Periodicals Review'', Spring 2011, 44#1 pp.&nbsp;24–41.</ref>

It was succeeded as the voice of radicalism by an even more famous paper: the ''[[Northern Star (chartist newspaper)|Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser]]''. The ''Star'' was published between 1837 and 1852, and in 1839 was the best-selling provincial newspaper in Britain, with a circulation of 50,000. Like other Chartist papers, it was often read aloud in coffeehouses, workplaces and the open air.<ref>Cris Yelland, "Speech and Writing in the Northern Star", ''Labour History Review'', Spring 2000, 65#1 pp.&nbsp;22–40.</ref> Other Chartist periodicals included the ''Northern Liberator'' (1837–40), ''English Chartist Circular'' (1841–43), and the ''Midland Counties' Illuminator'' (1841). The papers gave justifications for the demands of the People's Charter, accounts of local meetings, commentaries on education and temperance and a great deal of poetry. They also advertised upcoming meetings, typically organised by local grassroots branches, held either in public houses or their halls.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Protest and the Politics of Space and Place, 1789–1848|year = 2015|first = Katrina|last = Navickas}}</ref>

Research of the distribution of Chartist meetings in London that were advertised in the ''Northern Star'' shows that the movement was not uniformly spread across the metropolis but clustered in the West End, where a group of Chartist tailors had shops, as well as in Shoreditch in the east, and relied heavily on pubs that also supported local friendly societies.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = From Chartist Newspaper to Digital Map of Grass-roots Meetings, 1841–44: Documenting Workflows|journal = The Journal of Victorian Culture|volume = 22|issue = 2|pages = 232–247|date = 2017-03-20|doi = 10.1080/13555502.2017.1301179|first1 = Katrina|last1 = Navickas|first2 = Adam|last2 = Crymble|doi-access = free|hdl = 2299/18336|hdl-access = free}}</ref> Readers also found denunciations of [[imperialism]]—the [[First Opium War]] (1839–42) was condemned—and of the arguments of [[free trade]]rs about the civilizing and pacifying influences of free trade.<ref>Shijie Guan, "Chartism and the First Opium War", ''History Workshop'' (October 1987), Issue 24, pp.&nbsp;17–31.</ref>