Catalyst - the SolFed freesheet

Catalyst is the quarterly freesheet of the Solidarity Federation. If you want to get hold of a copy, get in touch with your nearest SolFed local, or email catalyst[AT]solfed.org.uk. If you would like to distribute Catalyst, please get in touch with the Media Collective.

Catalyst is SolFed’s main outward-looking propaganda, and is produced by the media collective as mandated by national conference. We want it to be as good as possible, and reflect both the geographical and topical scope of the organisation. But we can only print what gets submitted!

You don’t have to be an experienced writer to submit to Catalyst, anything from 25 words to 1,200 words will be considered. We have tried to develop a ‘house style’ of ‘psuedo-news’, because Catalyst only comes out every 3 months we need to present analysis in an accessible newsy way. But you don’t need to worry too much about this – that’s what the collective is there for, to sub-edit or re-write sections where necessary to fit in with the overall style.

Since Catalyst went 8-page tabloid in October 2009, we’ve also tried to break it down into fixed sections to make it easier to structure and solicit articles. This can help you get an idea what you can write, and where it would go:

Page 1: Mostly flags for what’s inside, plus the first 400 words of a lead article (which can be up to 1,000 words long if it’s continued inside). This article is usually on the most important issue that will be topical for the 3-month duration of the issue (e.g. cuts, elections etc), and is normally written or commissioned by the Catalyst collective.

Page 2: International round-up. Anything from 25 word shorts to 600 word articles about international class struggles or events of interest to angry/militant/disillusioned workers. We try to get IWA stuff in, but only when it’s of interest to non-anarchists – so things like the FAU Babylon Cinema and Belgrade 6 have been covered extensively because they’re also newsworthy, but CNT actions would only be covered if significant, rather than reporting every minor dispute or bit of solidarity they do (which is quite a lot!).

Page 3: the second most important page in the paper. Usually a feature article of 5-600 words, ideally on a struggle we’ve been directly involved in (such as the Lewisham Bridge school occupation), or a topic of wide interest where our anarcho-syndicalist perspective offers and angle people won’t have read elsewhere. This page also has around 400 words for other articles, plus a ‘news in brief’ column for 50-100 word shorts.

Page 4-5: Centrefold spread. This is our chance to look at an issue in depth, or do an interview with a participant in a recent direct action (strike, occupation etc). Usually around 1,400 words in total, but broken into several separate pieces on the same theme. So if it was an interview, there’d also be a ‘background’ box, for example. They wouldn’t necessarily have to be written by the same person.

Page 6: Industry Focus OR Know your rights. Standing feature, 8,00-1,200 words in-depth on a particular industrial focus or legal rights issue. Basic rights at work are in every issue on page 6 or 7.

Page 7: Comment, Opinion & Letters.

Page 8: Miscellaneous/everything else.