Daily Worker

{{Short description|American left-wing newspaper (1924–1958)}}

{{About|the American newspaper|the British newspaper formerly of this name|Morning Star (British newspaper)}}

{{More citations needed|date=May 2014}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}

{{Use American English|date=April 2024}}

{{Infobox newspaper

| logo =

| image = Daily Worker.pdf

| caption = No. 254 of the Daily Worker (November 7, 1927)

| type = Daily newspaper

| format = Broadsheet and tabloid

| foundation = {{start date and age|1924}}

| political = Communist; socialist

| language = English

| ceased publication = January 1958

| relaunched =

| headquarters = {{plainlist|

}}

| circulation = Various

}}

The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists.{{cite web|last=Admin|date=2009-08-25|title=About People's World|url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/about-the-peoples-world/|access-date=2023-07-18|website=People's World|language=en-US}} Publication began in 1924.{{cite news|last=Pederson|first=Vernon|date=January 11, 2008|title=Take It As Red|publisher=On The Media for National Public Radio|quote=Founded in 1924, the Daily Worker – which ceased to be a daily 50 years ago – was the de facto house organ of American Communism.|url=http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/01/11/06|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821121821/http://onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/01/11/06|archive-date=2008-08-21}} It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA); it also reflected a broader spectrum of left-wing opinion. At its peak, the newspaper achieved a circulation of 35,000. Contributors to its pages included Robert Minor and Fred Ellis (cartoonists), Lester Rodney (sports editor), David Karr, Richard Wright, John L. Spivak, Peter Fryer, Woody Guthrie, and Louis F. Budenz.

History

=Origins=

The origins of the Daily Worker were with the weekly Ohio Socialist published by the Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919. The Ohio party joined the nascent Communist Labor Party of America (CLP) at the 1919 Emergency National Convention.

The Ohio Socialist only used whole numbers. Its final issue was #94 November 19, 1919. The Toiler continued this numbering, even though a typographical error made its debut issue #85 November 26, 1919. Beginning sometime in 1921 the volume number IV was added, perhaps reflecting the publications fourth year in print, though its issue numbers continued the whole number scheme. The final edition of the Toiler was Vol IV #207 January 28, 1922. The Worker continued the Toilers numbering during its run Vol. IV #208 February 2, 1922 to Vol. VI #310 January 12, 1924. The first edition of Daily worker was numbered Vol. I #311.

The Ohio Socialist became Toiler in November 1919. In 1920, with the CLP going underground, Toiler became the party's "aboveground" newspaper published by "The Toiler Publishing Association." It remained as the Cleveland aboveground publication of the CLP and its successors until February 1922.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In December 1921 the "aboveground" Workers Party of America was founded and the Toiler merged with Workers Council of the Workers' Council of the United States to found the six page weekly The Worker.

This became the Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.Goldwater, Walter Radical periodicals in America 1890-1950 New Haven, Yale University Library 1964 pp.10, 30, 42, 46

In 1927, the newspaper moved from Chicago to New York.{{cite web|title=Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection|publisher=Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive|url=http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/photos_223/bioghist.html|date=September 2018|access-date=24 November 2018}}

=Popular front changes=

File:May Day parade float with male statue reading the “Daily Worker”.jpg parade float with statue reading the Daily Worker]]

Beginning in the popular front period of the 1930s, the paper broadened its coverage of the arts and entertainment. In 1935, it established a sports page, with contributions from David Karr, the page was edited and frequently written by Lester Rodney. The paper's sports coverage combined enthusiasm for baseball with the usual Marxist social critique of capitalist society and bourgeois attitudes. It advocated the desegregation of professional sports.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

=Post-World War II=

After a short hiatus, the party published a weekend paper called The Worker from 1958 until 1968. A Tuesday edition called The Midweek Worker was added in 1961 and also continued until 1968, when production was accelerated.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

=Two newspapers and a merger=

{{Socialism US|literature}}

In 1968, the publication was resumed as a New York daily paper, now titled The Daily World. In 1986, the paper merged with the West Coast weekly paper, the People's World. The new People's Daily World published from 1987 until 1991, when daily publication was abandoned.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

= Contemporary claims of successors =

The new paper was cut back to a weekly issue and was retitled People's Weekly World (later retitled to People's World as to de-emphasize the weekly component). Print publication of the People's World ceased in 2010 in favor of an online edition.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} {{asof|2012}}, People's World claims that, "Peoplesworld.org is a daily news website of, for and by the 99% and the direct descendant of the Daily Worker." Its publisher is Long View Publishing Company. The online newspaper is a member of the International Labor Communications Association and is indexed in the Alternative Press Index. Its staff belong to the Newspaper Guild/CWA, AFL–CIO.{{cite web|title=About the People's World|publisher=People's World|url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/about-us|access-date=24 March 2012|date=2009-08-25}}

Another publication, both in print as The Worker and online as Daily Worker USA states that it is "Continuing The Daily Worker, Founded in 1924." The Worker is the Publication of the Central Committee of the Party of Communists USA, which itself claims to be the continuing the legacy of the old CPUSA, and The Worker has been printed and distributed since at least 2020.{{cite web|title=About Us|url=https://dailyworkerusa.com/about-us/|access-date=2024-04-11|website=The Worker|language=en-US}}{{cite web|title=Home|url=https://dailyworkerusa.com/|access-date=2024-04-11|website=The Worker|language=en-US}}

Masthead

=1920s=

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

{{div col end}}

=1930s=

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

{{div col end}}

=1940s=

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

{{div col end}}

=1950s=

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

{{div col end}}

Pamphlets

Before the Party established the Workers Library Publishers in late 1927, the party used the Daily Worker Publishing Company imprint to publish its pamphlets.

  • The state and revolution: Marxist teaching on the state and the task of the proletariat in the revolution by Vladimir Lenin Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1924
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheWhiteTerroristsAskForMercy The white terrorists ask for mercy] Chicago; Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co. Feb 1925
  • [https://archive.org/details/TradeUnionsInAmerica Trade unions in America] by William Z. Foster, Earl Browder and James Cannon Chicago: Published for the Trade Union Educational League by the Daily worker 1925 (Little red library #1) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/01-LRL-tu.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/ClassStruggleVs.ClassCollaboration Class Struggle vs. Class Collaboration]. by Earl Browder Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily worker publishing company, 1925 (The little red library #2) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/02-LRL-cs.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/PrinciplesOfCommunismengelsOriginalDraftOfTheCommunistManifesto Principles of Communism: Engels's Original Draft of the Communist Manifesto.] translated by Max Bedacht Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily worker 1925. (Little Red Library #3) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/03-LRL-princip-of-comm.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/WorkerCorrespondentsWhatWhenWhereWhyHow Worker Correspondents: What? When? Where? Why? How?] by William F. Dunne Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925 (The Little red library #4) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/04-LRL-worker-coress.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/05-LRL-poem.pdf Poems for workers, an anthology] edited by Manuel Gomez Chicago: Published for Workers Party of America by Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925 (Little Red Library #5)
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheTheoryAndPracticeOfLeninism The theory and practice of Leninism] by Joseph Stalin Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015068647711;page=root;view=image;size=100;seq=1 The Party Organization]. Chicago: Published for the Workers (Communist) Party by the Daily Worker Publishing Co. 1925
  • [https://archive.org/details/LeninismOrTrotskyism Leninism or Trotskyism] by Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev, and Grigory Zinovyev Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • [https://archive.org/details/LeninHisLifeAndWork Lenin: his life and work] by Yemelyan Yaroslavsky Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • [http://www.marxists.org/archive/bell/1925/union/index.htm The Movement for World Trade Union Unity]. by Tom Bell Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • [http://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A4403 British imperialism in India; speech delivered in the House of Commons, July 9, 1925] by Shapurji Saklatvala Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • [https://archive.org/details/FairyTalesForWorkersChildren Fairy tales for workers' children] by Hermynia Zur Mühlen, trans. by Ida Dailes Chicago, Ill., Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1925
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheFourthNationalConventionOfTheWorkerscommunistPartyOfAmerica The fourth national convention of the Workers (Communist) Party of America : Report of the Central Executive Committee to the 4th national convention held in Chicago, Illinois, August 21st to 30th, 1925: resolutions of the Parity Commission and others]. Chicago: Daily Worker Publishing Co., 1925
  • [https://archive.org/details/FromPropagandaSocietyToCommunistPartyPagesFromPartyHistory1919-1925 From the Third through the Fourth Convention of the Workers (Communist) Party of America] by Charles E. Ruthenberg Chicago: Published for the Workers (Communist) Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • The international: words and music. [New York]: Daily Worker New York Agency, Dec 1925
  • [https://archive.org/details/marxengelsonrevo00neum Marx and Engels on revolution in America] by Heinz Neumann Chicago : Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926 (The little red library #6) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/06-LHL-marx.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheDamnedAgitatorAndOtherStories The damned agitator and other stories]. by Michael Gold Chicago : Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926 (The little red library #7) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/07-LRL-gold.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/1871TheParisCommune 1871: the Paris commune] by Max Shachtman Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1926 (The little red library #8) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/08-LRL-paris-commue.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/HowClassCollaborationWorks How class collaboration works] by Bertram David Wolfe Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1926 (The little red library #9) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/09-LRL-class-collab.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheMenaceOfOpportunismAContributionToTheBolshevizationOfTheWorkers The menace of opportunism; a contribution to the bolshevization of the Workers (Communist) Party]. by Max Bedacht Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheBritishStrikeItsBackgroundItsLessons The British strike: its background, its lessons] by William F. Dunne Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • [https://archive.org/details/PassaicTheStoryOfAStruggleAgainstStarvationWagesAndForTheRightTo_854 Passaic: The Story of a Struggle against Starvation Wages and for the Right to Organize]. by Albert Weisbord Chicago; Published for the Workers (Communist) Party by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., November 1926.
  • [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/red-cartoons/1926/index.htm Red cartoons from the daily worker, the workers monthly and the liberator: Communist publications] Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheAwakeningOfChina The awakening of China] by James Dolsen Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • Labor conditions in China and its labor movement by James H Dolsen Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • Lenin on organization. by Vladimir Lenin Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001747758 Elements of political education. Vol. I] by Nikolai Bukharin, A. Berdnikov, and F. Svetlov Chicago: Daily Worker, 1926
  • [http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/AmRad/sacoovanzetticartoons.pdf The case of Sacco and Vanzetti in cartoons from the Daily worker] by Fred Ellis Chicago: Daily Worker, 1927 [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/red-cartoons/sacco-vanzetti/index.htm alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/ConstitutionOfTheU.s.s.r Constitution of the U.S.S.R.] by V. Yarotsky and N. Yekovsky Chicago: Daily Worker, 1927 (The little red library #10) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/10-LRL-ussr.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/jimconnolly00schl Jim Connolly and the Irish rising of 1916] by G. Schüller Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926 (The little red library # 11) [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/lrlibrary/11-LRL-jim-connolly.pdf alternate link]
  • [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/red-cartoons/1927/index.htm Red cartoons of 1927 from the daily worker and the workers monthly] Chicago; New York: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1927
  • [http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?application=DIGITOOL-3&owner=resourcediscovery&custom_att_2=simple_viewer&forebear_coll=&user=GUEST&pds_handle=&pid=361643&con_lng=ENG&search_terms=%5C%22china%20in%20revolt%5C%22&adjacency=N&rd_session=http://digitool.fcla.edu:80/R/RKX4JNBL1BRGMMER5KSUFECGX2S1A4A4JMHFCSBJQEQIYPV4J3-00022 China in revolt]{{dead link|date=March 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} by Executive Committee of the Communist International New York, Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1927 The little red library #12 [https://archive.org/details/ChinaInRevolt Alternate link]
  • [https://archive.org/details/TheLaborLieutenantsOfAmericanImperialism The Labor Lieutenants of American Imperialism]. by Jay Lovestone New York: Daily Worker Publishing Co., 1927.
  • [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/red-cartoons/1928/index.htm Red cartoons from the Daily Worker 1928] New York: Daily Worker, 1928
  • [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/red-cartoons/1929/index.htm 1929 Red cartoons: reprinted from the daily worker] New York: Comprodaily Pub. Co., 1929
  • How to sell the Daily Worker. New York, Daily Worker, 1920s
  • Burning Daylight by Jack London New York, Daily Worker, 1930s
  • "Soviet dumping" fable: speech by Litvinov New York: Published for Daily Worker by Workers Library Publishers, 1931
  • Anti-soviet lies and the five-year plan: the "Holy" capitalist war against the Soviet Union by Max Bedacht New York: Published for Daily Worker by Workers Library Publishers, 1931
  • Dimitroff accuses by Georgi Dimitrov New York, Daily Worker, 1934
  • The Iron Heel by Jack London New York, Daily Worker, 1934
  • The ruling clawss by A. Redfield New York, Daily Worker, 1935 (cartoons)
  • Hunger and revolt: cartoons, by Jacob Burck New York, Daily Worker, 1935
  • Martin Eden by Jack London New York, Daily Worker, 1937
  • [https://archive.org/details/HowTheAutoWorkersWon How the Auto Workers Won] William Z. Foster and William Z Foster New York: The Daily Worker, 1937
  • The Daily worker, heir to the great tradition, by Morris Schappes New York, Daily Worker, 1944
  • [http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=31735058194105;view=toc;c=amlefttxt Dixie comes to New York: story of the Freeport GI slayings] by Harry Raymond; intro. by Benjamin Davis New York, Daily Worker, 1946
  • The killing of William Milton by Art Shields New York, Daily Worker, 1948
  • The Ingrams shall not die!: story of Georgia's new terror by Harry Raymond; intro. by Benjamin J. Davis New York, Daily Worker, 1948
  • A tale of two waterfronts by George Morris (1952)){{cite book|first=George|last=Morris|author-link=George Morris (American writer)|title=A Tale of Two Waterfronts|publisher=Daily Worker|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yX5UMgEACAAJ|pages=31|date=1952|access-date=12 June 2021}}
  • "Throw the bum out": official Communist Party line on Senator McCarthy. New York, Daily Worker, 1953–1954

See also

References

{{Reflist|2}}

Further reading

=Articles=

  • Fetter, Henry D. "The Party Line and the Color Line: The American Communist Party, the Daily Worker and Jackie Robinson." Journal of Sport History 28, no. 3 (Fall 2001).
  • Gottfried, Erika, "Shooting Back: The Daily Worker Photographs Collection," American Communist History, vol. 12, no. 1 (April 2013), pp. 41–69.
  • Lamb, Christopher and Rusinack, Kelly E. "Hitting From the Left: The Daily Worker's Assault on Baseball's Color Line". Gumpert, Gary and Drucker, Susan J., eds. Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Communicating Baseball. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2002.
  • Rusinack, Kelly E. "Baseball on the Radical Agenda: The Daily and Sunday Worker Journalistic Campaign to Desegregate Major League Baseball, 1933-1947". Dorinson, Joseph, and Woramund, Joram, eds. Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports, and the American Dream. New York: E. M. Swift, 1998.
  • Smith, Ronald A. "The Paul Robeson-Jackie Robinson Saga and a Political Collision". Journal of Sport History 6, no. 2 (1979).

=Theses=

  • Evans, William Barrett. "Revolutionist Thought in the Daily Worker, 1919-1939". Ph.D. diss. University of Washington, 1965.
  • Jeffries, Dexter. "Richard Wright and the ‘Daily Worker’: A Native Son’s Journalistic Apprenticeship". Ph.D. diss. City University of New York, 2000.
  • Rusinack, Kelly E. "Baseball on the Radical Agenda: The Daily and Sunday Worker on Desegregating Major League Baseball, 1933-1947". M.A. Thesis, Clemson University, South Carolina, 1995.
  • Shoemaker, Martha Mcardell. "Propaganda or Persuasion: The Communist Party and Its Campaign to Integrate Baseball". Master’s thesis. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1999.

=Books=

  • Hemingway, Andrew. Artists on the Left: American Artists and the Communist Movement, 1926-1956. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2002.
  • Schappes, Morris U. The Daily Worker: Heir to the Great Tradition. New York: Daily Worker, 1944.
  • Silber, Irwin. Press Box Red: The Story of Lester Rodney, the Communist Who Helped Break the Color Line in American Sports. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2003.