Don't like what's out there? STRIKE! Magazine explain how to… | Huck
Huck
Print

Don't like what's out there? STRIKE! Magazine explain how to go it alone

Things I Learned Along the Way — Huck’s Fiftieth Anniversary Special collects lessons learned and creative advice from fifty of the most inspiring people we know. Each day we’ll be sharing a new excerpt from the magazine. Today, STRIKE! Magazine demonstrate what to do when you're fucked off with the way things are: launch a subversive magazine and started exploring other planets.

#37 – STRIKE!

STRIKE! is a radical politics magazine that went viral when quotes from its David Graeber – ‘bullshit jobs’ article appeared on the London Underground on the first day back to work this January. STRIKE! came into being because the team were “just fucked-off with everything else. We started STRIKE! shortly after the Arab Spring and the 2011 Riots: the whole world was erupting, but we felt badly let down by a mainstream media that was more interested in peddling the same old shite and celebrity stories in the interest of sales.” They stuck to their principles, carrying no advertising and the mag broke even after just the second issue – proving you don’t have to eat the corporate shit to survive in independent publishing. To all the contributors who want to write for them, they reply with the same answer: start your own magazine, it’s what we did.

“And it’s both the easiest and hardest thing in the world: the easy part is doing it — starting —- the slightly harder part is keeping on doing it – and then keeping on, and keeping on. We were horrendously naïve when we started: we put out the first issue as an experiment, but we sort of expected that everyone (yes, everyone!) would read it and instantly be up in arms, bashing down David Cameron’s door and demanding the dissolution of Parliament. But until you’ve got a bit of a reputation behind you, you’re just another crazy person standing on a street corner in the rain with an armful of soggy newsprint and a far-off look in your eye.”

This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives.

Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.


You might like

Introducing ‘The Chaos Isles’, a new photozine by Huck and Yushy

Normal Island — From unlicensed raves to the solstice at Stonehenge, furries to giant vegetable growers, Yushy is one of the UK’s best lensmen of its wild side. ‘The Chaos Isles’ will be sent out exclusively to Club Huck+ members.

  • Culture
  • Isaac Muk

“Magazines are cultural artefacts”: magCulture’s Jeremy Leslie on the enduring importance of print

We love magazines — Despite the ever creeping digitalisation of the world and culture, physical objects are taking on different, yet vital, roles in culture today. Ella Glossop chats to one of London’s biggest proponents of the art about why we need to support independent publications.

  • Culture
  • Ella Glossop

“I didn’t care if I got sacked”: Sleazenation’s Scott King in conversation with Radge’s Meg McWilliams

Radgenation — For our 20th Anniversary Issue, Huck’s editor Josh Jones sits down with the legendary art director and the founder of a new magazine from England’s northeast to talk about taking risks, crafting singular covers and disrupting the middle class dominance of the creative industries.

  • Huck 83: Life Is A Journey Issue
  • Josh Jones

In photos: The newsagents keeping print alive

Save the stands — With Huck 83 hitting shelves around the world, we met a few people who continue to stock print magazines, defying an enduringly tough climate for physical media and the high street.

  • Huck 83: Life Is A Journey Issue
  • Ella Glossop

Huck’s 20th Anniversary Issue, Wu-Tang Clan is here

Life is a Journey — Fronted by the legendary Wu-Tang Clan’s spiritual leader RZA, we explore the space in between beginnings and endings, and the things we learn along the way.

  • Huck 83: Life Is A Journey Issue
  • Huck
Wall covered in overlapping magazine pages and clippings featuring bright colours, text in various languages, and celebrity portraits.

Tech once promised connection. Print magazines are delivering it

Touch paper — After years of retrenchment in the journalism and media industry, physical magazines are making a comeback. In Real Life Media founder Megan Wray Schertler diagnoses the state of the industry, while explaining the radical history of print and why we need it today.

  • Culture
  • Megan Wray Schertler
You've read articles this month Thanks for reading

Join Club Huck — it's free!

Valued Huck reader, thank you for engaging with our journalism and taking an interest in our dispatches from the sharp edge of culture, sport, music and rebellion.

We want to offer you the chance to join Club Huck [it's free!] where you will receive exclusive newsletters, including personal takes on the state of pop culture and media from columnist Emma Garland, culture recommendations, interviews and dispatches straight to your inbox.

You'll also get priority access to Huck events, merch discounts, and more fun surprises.

Already part of the club? Enter your email above and we'll get you logged in.