''The New Nation'' was a weekly newspaper launched in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in January 1891 by the American

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

writer

Edward Bellamy Edward Bellamy (March 26, 1850 – May 22, 1898) was an American author, journalist, and political activist most famous for his utopian novel ''Looking Backward''. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of numerou ...

. The paper served as a de facto national organ of the nationwide network of

Nationalist Clubs Nationalist Clubs were an organized network of socialist political groups which emerged at the end of the 1880s in the United States of America in an effort to make real the ideas advanced by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel ''Looking Backwa ...

and expounded upon their activities and political ideas, which derived from the best-selling 1888 novel ''

Looking Backward ''Looking Backward: 2000–1887'' is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a journalist and writer from Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts; it was first published in 1888. The book was translated into several languages, and in short or ...

.'' The paper soon became an advocate of the policies of the fledgling People's Party before ceasing publication due to diminishing subscriptions in the aftermath of the

Depression of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an Depression (economics), economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignmen ...

Publication history

Background

The years of the late 1870s and 1880s were marked by a series of strikes and

economic crises A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

in the United States — problems which raised questions about the basic structure of the American economy in the minds of many American intellectuals. For some, a prospective answer lay in the pages of writer Edward Bellamy's 1888 work of utopian imagination, '' Looking Backward, 2000-1887,'' which imaginatively depicted a future world of organized and regimented economic production and social peace. In a case of attempting to cause life to imitate art, a network of so-called

sprung to life in 1889, emerging first in the city of

. A monthly magazine called '' The Nationalist'' was produced by Boston Club No. 1 which came to serve as the de facto national organ of this

political movement, in the wake of which a spate of local newspapers were either launched or which lent support to the burgeoning movement. It was estimated by one prominent participant, Boston journalist

Cyrus Field Willard Cyrus Field Willard (August 17, 1858 – January 17, 1942) was an American journalist, political activist, and theosophist. Deeply influenced by the writing of Edward Bellamy, Willard is best remembered as a principal in several utopian socialist en ...

, that by the end of 1889 some 50 newspapers existed which could be counted as supporting this growing national movement, which in the states of the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

came to resemble a mainstream political fad. Despite its leading place in the movement, ''The Nationalist'' proved to be financially unsuccessful, however, and in 1890 it was suggested to Bellamy by the Boston club that he take over the editorial helm of the magazine. Bellamy was in ill health, however, suffering from a bout of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

, and he was forced for a time to forgo taking a seat at the editorial desk.Bowman, ''The Year 2000,'' pg. 130. By the end of the year, the magazine was deeply in debt, kept in operation only through the grace of subscriber donations. Bellamy remained committed to building a political movement around his economic ideas, but came to see ''The Nationalist'' as a flawed and waning organ of expression. He instead sought to establish a new nationwide newspaper to assume the lead of the vigorous alliance of local Nationalist clubs. A new weekly newspaper, ''The New Nation'' would be this successor publication.

Establishment

Bellamy made Boston the home of ''The New Nation'' and made use of the mailing list of ''The Nationalist'' to enlist subscribers for the new publication. Bellamy assumed the role of editor and publisher, with

Henry R. Legate Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

of the Second Nationalist Club of Boston his assistant and

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

graduate

Mason Green Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutt ...

the publication's initial business manager. The first issue of ''The New Nation'' rolled off the presses dated January 31, 1891. It published an initial manifesto which declared its purpose to be the criticism of "the existing economic system as radically wrong in morals and preposterous economically" and to advance instead a "plan of national industrial cooperation, aiming to bring about the economic equality of citizens..."

Development

''The New Nation'' stood in marked contrast to the somewhat apolitical editorial line of ''The Nationalist,'' which limited itself to a more abstract and philosophical perspective.Lipow, ''Authoritarian Socialism in America,'' pg. 254. Opinion and news relating to contemporary political issues dominated the pages of the new small-format 16-page weekly, which was visually similar to the venerable liberal weekly ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

.'' Although it was designed to reach and appeal to a large general audience, ''The New Nation'' was unsuccessful in gaining a mass readership, with the publication probably never exceeding 8,000 copies in circulation.Mason A. Green, ''Edward Bellamy: A Biography of the Author of "Looking Backward."'' Manuscript at Houghton Library, Harvard University, pg. 96. Cited in Lipow, ''Authoritarian Socialism in America,'' pg. 254. The relative lack of success of the publication was not for the lack of Bellamy's trying. The novelist abandoned his literary work to dedicate himself to contemporary issues and practical politics and "threw himself into the work of inspiring in others the faith that was in him," Mason Green later recalled, adding that "the man of letters was now a man of action." Bellamy continue to reside in his small hometown of Chicopee Falls, making the commute to Boston each week to work on the newspaper, which occupied his hours from Wednesday through Saturday.Lipow, ''Authoritarian Socialism in America,'' pg. 255. Bellamy composed editorials for the paper and came out of his temperamental isolation to deliver short political speeches and attend meetings in support of the Nationalist political movement.

Demise

The early 1890s saw the emergence of a new political party, the People's Party, commonly known as "The Populists," which put forward a radical reform agenda against

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

and advancing an agenda appealing to the practical needs of American farmers. Discouraged by the "old parties" of the nation, the Nationalists were strongly supportive of those pushing forward the idea of such a new political organization and lent them support in the pages of ''The New Nation'' from 1890. The Nationalists also directly participated in the organizational convention of the new political party held in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

in 1892. Bellamy and ''The New Nation'' attempted to advance a perspective that was both friendly and aloof from the new party, declaring to his adherents that "nationalism is a movement and not a party" and that the role of the Nationalists was to influence a broad spectrum of reform organizations. Despite these efforts, severe attenuation of Nationalism as an independent political movement followed with local Bellamy clubs being rapidly supplanted by local units of the nascent political reform party. The Economic Panic of 1893 put additional stress on the movement, reducing organizational strength and putting ''The New Nation'' under financial strain. With his finances dwindling and beginning to suffer from the

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

which would eventually kill him, Bellamy suspended publication of ''The New Nation'' in 1894. He also wanted to concentrate upon writing a new political novel to carry forward the story of his protagonist in ''Looking Backward,'' a book published in 1897 as ''

Equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elite ...

.''Joseph Schiffman, "Introduction" to ''Edward Bellamy: Selected Writings on Religion and Society.'' New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1955; pg. xlvi. Bellamy would die in May 1898, at the age of 48, shortly after publication of his final novel.

Publication history

Background

Establishment

Development

Demise

Footnotes

Further reading