UK 12" promo and test pressings [Rough Trade RTT171]
The "Barbarism Begins At Home" promos served in the campaign for the "Meat Is Murder" album. Information is found in the latter album's collectors appendix.

UK CD5 [Rough Trade RTT171CD]
In 1988 Rough Trade started reissuing the Smiths singles back catalogue on cd format, but stopped before half were done. "Barbarism Begins At Home" was never commercially released as a single in England. It was only properly released as such in Germany and in Italy, as a double a-side with "Shakespeare's Sister". So in 1988 Rough Trade seemed to prefer this approach to reissuing "Shakespeare's Sister". For some reason the 3:48 edit of "Barbarism Begins At Home" headlined the track listing instead of the full album version. The usual German/Italian artwork (and by extension the UK promo artwork) was adapted to fit the cd's thin jewelcase type of insert. It was also given a more intense yellow tint than any 1985 variation and all titles are listed on the front, in black instead of blue. The cd's 'label' itself follows the pattern of all others in the series, with a horizontal stripe across the middle, this one being in yellow and black.

Australia CD5 [Festival D1078]
Although "Barbarism Begins At Home" had not originally been released as a single in Australia, Festival still followed in the steps of Rough Trade UK and released the song as a cd-single in 1988. However they didn't quite follow the Rough Trade designs and the packaging was done more cheaply than in the UK. The front artwork was cropped to fit the jewelcase (the UK cd-singles were released in the thin case that need wider artwork) and the colours were not reproduced as well. The cd label's 2-colour horizontal stripe design remained as in the UK, but the font and layout were changed.

France 12" promo [Virgin SA 3013]
This item served as a promo for "Meat Is Murder". Information is found in the latter album's collectors appendix.

"Barbarism Begins At Home" was released in Germany as a double a-side with "Shakespeare's Sister". Therefore, sides are labelled 'A' and 'AA' and both titles appear on the front artwork, which was adapted from the artwork originally used in England on the promo 12"s for the "Meat Is Murder" album.

Germany 7" [RT Deutschland RTD021]
Front and back artwork are as displayed at the left of this page. The 7" format, unlike the 12" one, has the additional cryptic line "All god's children Got Wings" [sic] on the back. Many copies have a white "810 088-100" sticker on the front. The record has a large hole at the centre. Labels are black with white text in the classic Rough Trade layout. The engineer's name is incorrectly credited there as "Stephan Street", a mistake not made on the 12" labels.

This has been advertised in a record collecting magazine as being paired with a set of 10 badges. It is not known whether this combination was ever sold in record shops. If it was, it must have been a rather limited thing.

Germany 12" [RT Deutschland RTD021T]
Front and back artwork are as displayed at the left of this page. The inner sleeve is a plain white die-cut one. Labels are black with white text in the classic Rough Trade layout.

Germany 41cm x 58cm promo poster (16" x 23")
View here. Some copies have been spotted with a white border but these may be later reproductions.

Germany 12" master pressing plates [RT Deutschland RTD021T]
A set of master pressing plates for the German 12" has been reported. Additional information is needed.

Greece 12" [Virgin VG2041Z]
Mini-albums were sometimes released in Greece combining tracks from two or more singles. This happened twice for the Smiths, with "Sheila Take A Bow" and with this one, which pairs "Barbarism Begins At Home" with the three tracks and artwork originally used in other countries for "How Soon Is Now?". The reason for this one-of-a-kind pairing may be that the German and Italian "Barbarism Begins At Home" tracks had originally been released in Greece on the "Shakespeares's Sister" single. The back of the sleeve was adapted from the UK original for the alternate track listing and label involved. "Barbarism Begins At Home" is actually listed there in a different font. The inner sleeve is an anti-static one of rather good quality. The labels are the classic Virgin ones, green on one side and red on the other.

The existence of a mispressed edition with pink artwork instead of purple is rumoured.

Greece 12" promo [Virgin VG2041Z]
Promo 12"s are stock ones with "Promo not for sale" stamped in blue ink (and in English!) on the label.

Italy 7" [Virgin VIN45148]
"Barbarism Begins At Home" was released in Italy only on 7" format. Just like in Germany, the front artwork was adapted from the artwork originally produced for the British "Barbarism Begins At Home" promo 12"s (see the "Meat Is Murder" album). However "Shakespeare's Sister" appears on the front in a smaller font than "Barbarism Begins At Home" because, unlike in Germany, the single is not a double a-side. The colours are also slightly different: the yellow is lighter and the blue of the titles is darker, closer to green. The sleeve has a skin-like texture. The back looks like the German one, with minor changes made to account for the involvement of Virgin Dischi. Labels are yellow with blue text in the classic Rough Trade layout.

Italy 7" promo [Virgin VIN45148]
Stock copies with a star-shaped hole punched out of the sleeve have been advertised as promos, but it is unlikely that these came from the record company because promos from Virgin Dischi at the time had a promo warning pin-stamped in a corner of the sleeve. Actually, even the latter form of promo has never been reported for this title.