''Political Affairs Magazine'' was a monthly

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

publication, originally published in print and later online only. It aimed to provide an analysis of events from a

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

point of view. The magazine was a publication of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

and was founded in 1944 upon the closure of its predecessor, '' The Communist'', which was founded in 1927. Well-known editors of ''Political Affairs Magazine'' included

V. J. Jerome Victor Jeremy Jerome (1896–1965) was an American communist writer and editor based in New York City. He is best remembered as a Marxist cultural essayist and as the long-time editor of ''The Communist'', later known as ''Political Affairs'', th ...

Gus Hall Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg; October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a perennial candidate for president of the United States. He was the Communist Party nominee in the ...

, Hyman Lumer,

Herbert Aptheker Herbert Aptheker (July 31, 1915 – March 17, 2003) was an American Marxist historian and political activist. He wrote more than 50 books, mostly in the fields of African-American history and general U.S. history, most notably, ''American Negro ...

Gerald Horne Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

, and Joe Sims. Other editors included

Max Weiss Miksa (Max) Weisz (21 July 1857 – 14 March 1927) was an Austrian chess player born in the Kingdom of Hungary. Weiss was born in Sereď. Moving to Vienna, he studied mathematics and physics at the university, and later taught those subjects. Wei ...

. In 2016, the magazine stopped publishing articles and merged with ''

People's World ''People's World'', official successor to the ''Daily Worker'', is a Marxist and American leftist national daily online news publication. Founded by activists, socialists, communists, and those active in the labor movement in the early 1900s, th ...

''.

History

At its founding, ''Political Affairs'' was the theoretical organ of the

Communist Party, USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

, generally publishing articles intended almost exclusively for members of the Communist Party. In the late 1990s, that role changed. ''Political Affairs'' shed its role as an internal organ of the Communist Party and adopted a broader stance. It provides Marxist perspectives on many contemporary issues and engages in theoretical discussions relevant to Marxists and the labor movement. In addition to articles devoted to national and international politics, the magazine offers poetry, book reviews, occasional reviews of music and film, interviews, and occasional short stories. The publication can be traced back to ''The Masses'', the famous

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

paper of the 1910s. After being suppressed by the government, the paper continued as ''The Liberator''. Independently of this, the

Friends of Soviet Russia The Friends of Soviet Russia (FSR) was formally established in the United States on August 9, 1921 as an offshoot of the American Labor Alliance for Trade Relations with Soviet Russia (ALA). It was launched as a "mass organization" dedicated to r ...

had established another monthly, ''Soviet Russia'', in 1919. In 1924 the title was changed to ''Soviet Russia Pictorial''. Finally,

William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a Political radicalism, radical American labor organizer and Communism, Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party US ...

had begun ''Labor Herald'' as the official publication of his

Trade Union Educational League The Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) was established by William Z. Foster in 1920 (through 1928) as a means of uniting radicals within various trade unions for a common plan of action. The group was subsidized by the Communist International ...

in March 1922. When the

Workers Party of America The Workers Party of America (WPA) was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation fr ...

had finally been consolidated as the unified above-ground Communist Party in the United States, it was determined that the party should have a theoretical monthly as well as a daily, in line with Lenin's guideline in ''

What Is To Be Done? ''What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement'' is a political pamphlet written by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin (credited as N. Lenin) in 1901 and published in 1902. Lenin said that the article represented "a skeleton plan t ...

'' The above three publications were combined into ''Workers Monthly'', which debuted in November 1924. It changed its name to ''The Communist'' in 1927 and to ''Political Affairs'' in 1944.

References

External links

Official websiteArchive''Political Affairs'' archive
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Archive of ''Workers Monthly'' from November 1924 - February 1927
* ttps://www.marxists.org/history/erol/1946-1956/ Marxists Internet Archive: Political Affairs articles of 1945 after Browderism {{Authority control Communist periodicals published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct political magazines published in the United States Communist Party USA publications Magazines established in 1944 Marxist magazines Online magazines with defunct print editions Magazines disestablished in 2016