''The Liberator'' was a monthly

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 ...

magazine established by

Max Eastman Max Forrester Eastman (January 4, 1883 – March 25, 1969) was an American writer on literature, philosophy and society, a poet and a prominent political activist. Moving to New York City for graduate school, Eastman became involved with radical ...

and his sister

Crystal Eastman Crystal Catherine Eastman (June 25, 1881 – July 28, 1928) was an American lawyer, antimilitarist, feminist, socialist, and journalist. She is best remembered as a leader in the fight for women's suffrage, as a co-founder and co-editor with ...

in 1918 to continue the work of ''

The Masses ''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was ...

,'' which was shut down by the wartime mailing regulations of the U.S. government. Intensely political, the magazine included copious quantities of art, poetry, and fiction along with political reporting and commentary. The publication was an organ of the

Communist Party of America 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 Re ...

(CPA) from late 1922 and was merged with two other publications to form ''

The Workers Monthly ''Political Affairs Magazine'' was a monthly Marxist publication, originally published in print and later online only. It aimed to provide an analysis of events from a working class point of view. The magazine was a publication of the Communist ...

'' in 1924.

History

''The Liberator'' focused on international news, featuring war correspondent and Communist Labor Party founder John Reed reporting on the ongoing situation in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

; reports were filed from across post-war Europe by

Robert Minor Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor (15 July 1884 – 26 January 1952), alternatively known as "Fighting Bob," was a political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and, beginning in 1920, a leading member of the American Communist Party. Background Robe ...

Frederick Kuh Frederick Kuh (29 October 1896, Chicago– 2 February 1978) was an American journalist and diplomat who spent most of his career in Europe. Kuh was born in Chicago and started his career as a reporter for the Chicago Herald and the Chicago Evenin ...

, and

. As with ''The Masses,'' ''The Liberator'' relied heavily upon political art, including contributions from

Maurice Becker Maurice Becker (1889– August 28, 1975) was a radical political artist best known for his work in the 1910s and 1920s for such publications as ''The Masses'' and '' The Liberator''. Biography Early years Maurice Becker was born in Nizhni-Novg ...

E.E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings, who was also known as E. E. Cummings, e. e. cummings and e e cummings (October 14, 1894 - September 3, 1962), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems, two autobi ...

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...

, Fred Ellis,

Lydia Gibson Lydia Gibson (1891-1964) was an American socialist illustrator who contributed work to ''The Masses,'' '' The Liberator,'' '' The Workers' Monthly,'' ''New Masses,'' and other radical publications. Biography Early years Lydia Gibson was born i ...

William Gropper William Gropper (December 3, 1897January 3, 1977) was a U.S. cartoonist, painter, lithographer, and muralist. A committed radical, Gropper is best known for the political work which he contributed to such left wing publications as '' The Rev ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

, Helen Keller, J.J. Lankes,

Boardman Robinson Boardman Michael Robinson (1876–1952) was a Canadian-American painter, illustrator and cartoonist. Biography Early years Boardman Robinson was born September 6, 1876 in Nova Scotia. He spent his childhood in England and Canada, before mov ...

Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...

Wanda Gág Wanda Hazel Gág ( ; March 11, 1893 – June 27, 1946) was an American artist, author, translator, and illustrator. She is best known for writing and illustrating the children's book ''Millions of Cats'', the oldest American picture book still i ...

, and

Art Young Arthur Henry Young (January 14, 1866 – December 29, 1943) was an American cartoonist and writer. He is best known for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left-wing political magazine ''The Masses'' between 1911 and 1917. B ...

. Each color cardstock cover of ''The Liberator'' was unique. Poetry and fiction fleshed out its pages, including work by

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

, Claude McKay,

Arturo Giovannitti Arturo M. Giovannitti (; 1884–1959) was an Italian-American union leader, socialist political activist, and poet. He is best remembered as one of the principal organizers of the 1912 Lawrence textile strike and as a defendant in a celebrated tri ...

, and others. Maintaining a low price for the elaborate publication came at a huge cost, however. To economize, ultra-thin newsprint was used for the magazine's pages — cheap and high in acid content. The result was a fragile and ephemeral publication. Despite a circulation that peaked at 60,000 copies per month,

Paul Buhle Paul Merlyn Buhle (born September 27, 1944) is a (retired) Senior Lecturer at Brown University, author or editor of 35 volumes including histories of radicalism in the United States and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of ...

, ''Marxism in the USA: From 1870 to the Present Day.'' London: Verso, 1987; p. 172. comparatively few specimens of ''The Liberator'' have survived. ''The Liberator'' ran into trouble in 1922—both financial and motivational, as editor Max Eastman's interests shifted from the mundane work of editing to book writing. Eastman ceded his editorial blue pencil around January 1, 1922, with literary critic

Floyd Dell Floyd James Dell (June 28, 1887 – July 23, 1969) was an American newspaper and magazine editor, literary critic, novelist, playwright, and poet. Dell has been called "one of the most flamboyant, versatile and influential American Men of Letters ...

taking over the job. Throughout 1922 political matters were somewhat deemphasized in favor of art and culture on Dell's watch, including the first publication of poetry by Claude McKay and the fiction of Michael Gold. When finances became tight that year, the underground Communist Party of America moved to fill the void, working with Eastman, Dell, and the core of writers behind the magazine towards a friendly takeover of the publication effective in October of that same year. After the fall of 1922, ''The Liberator'' emerged as the de facto official organ of the CPA and its "Legal Political Party" sibling, 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 ...

— maintaining a similar graphic style and orientation toward fiction, albeit with a noticeable ideological narrowing of political content. Long articles began to be published by prominent Communist leaders, including

C. E. Ruthenberg Charles Emil Ruthenberg (July 9, 1882 – March 1, 1927) was an American Marxist politician and a founder and head of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Biography Early years Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born July 9, 1882, in Cleveland, Ohio, ...

John Pepper John Pepper, also known as József Pogány and Joseph Pogany (born József Schwartz; November 8, 1886 – February 8, 1938), was a Hungarian Communist politician. He later served as a functionary in the Communist International (Comintern) in Mos ...

, William Z. Foster,

Jay Lovestone Jay Lovestone (15 December 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an American activist. He was at various times a member of the Socialist Party of America, a leader of the Communist Party USA, leader of a small oppositionist party, an anti-Communist and Centr ...

, and Max Bedacht. Former anarchist turned Communist true-believer Robert Minor served as editor during this period, assisted by Joseph Freeman as an associate editor in charge of literary material. In 1924 ''The Liberator'' was merged with the Workers Party's

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 ...

magazine, ''The Labor Herald,'' and its "

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 ...

" monthly, ''Soviet Russia Pictorial,'' to form a new publication. This new magazine, ''The Workers Monthly'', was fundamentally similar to the 1923–24 vintage ''Liberator'' and continued as the Workers Party's de facto theoretical journal until 1927, at which time it was given a new form and title as ''The Communist''. In January 1945 the name of the publication was changed to ''

Political Affairs ''Political Affairs Magazine'' was a monthly Marxist publication, originally published in print and later online only. It aimed to provide an analysis of events from a working class point of view. The magazine was a publication of the Communist P ...

''. In January 2008, ''Political Affairs'' ceased publication as printed paper, switching to an entirely web-based existence. It was later discontinued and aired its final issue in 2016.

References

External links

{{Wikisource, Portal:The Liberator (magazine)
''The Liberator'' online archive

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels ...

, www.marxists.org/ —Downloadable pdfs of full issues at the highest resolution scans available online.
''The Liberator''
in the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University.
Max Eastman Internet Archive
Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/

Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Liberator, The (United States Magazine) Communist periodicals published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct political magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1918 Magazines disestablished in 1924 Progressive Era in the United States Socialist Party of America publications Socialist magazines Magazines published in New York City

History

See also

References

External links