Red Pepper was founded by the Socialist Movement – an independent left-wing grouping that grew out of a series of large conferences held in Chesterfield in 1987 and 1988 after the defeat of Britain's miners' strike of the mid-1980s. The Socialist Movement set up a campaigning, fortnightly newspaper called Socialist in autumn 1991. It lasted through September 1992. Supporters of The Socialist were convinced that there was a demand for a regular green-left publication, published independently of any political party. After a fundraising drive, which raised an initial £135,000, Red Pepper launched as a monthly in May 1995. Its first editor was Denise Searle, who had also edited Socialist.But for most of its history, it has been edited by socialist and feminist Hilary Wainwright best known as the co-author of Beyond the Fragments. From 2004 she became co-editor alongside Oscar Reyes. In July 2009, Oscar stepped down and James O'Nions and Michael Calderbank replaced him, with Emma Hughes and Sarah-Jayne Clifton joining the editorial team in 2010. Now more of an editorial collective, the magazine today is edited by Wainwright, Calderbank and Ruth Potts. Prominent journalists involved with the publication at some point include Laurie Penny, Gary Younge and Barbara Gunnell. The magazine's reported circulation in November 1995 was 13,000 copies. In 2004, it was reportedly 7,000 copies.