Daily Worker

This article is about the American newspaper. For the British newspaper formerly of this name, see Morning Star (British newspaper).

The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists.^[1] Publication began in 1924.^[2] It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the 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.

Daily Worker

No. 254 of the Daily Worker (November 7, 1927)
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet and tabloid
Founded	1924; 100 years ago (1924)
Political alignment	Communist; socialist
Language	English
Ceased publication	January 1958
Headquarters	New York City, New York Chicago, Illinois
Circulation	Various

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.^[3]

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]}

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.^[3]

In 1927, the newspaper moved from Chicago to New York.^[4]

Popular front changes

May Day 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]}

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]}

Two newspapers and a merger

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]}

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]} As of 2012^[update], 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.^[5]

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.^[6][7]

Masthead

1920s

• Maurice Becker, cartoonist
• Jacob Burck, cartoonist
• Walt Carmon, circulation manager
• Whittaker Chambers^[8]
• Kyle Crichton as "Robert Forsythe" (father of Robert Crichton)
• Paul Crouch
• Samuel Adams Darcy
• Fred Ellis, cartoonist
• Harry Freeman^[8]
• Sender Garlin
• Hugo Gellert, cartoonist
• Mike Gold, columnist
• Jolan Gross-Bettelheim, cartoonist
• L. E. Katterfeld ("New York representative"^[8])
• Robert Minor, cartoonist
• Richard B. Moore
• Harvey O'Connor ("effective editor"^[8])
• Moissaye Joseph Olgin

1930s

• Robert Bendiner
• Richard O. Boyer
• Louis F. Budenz, managing editor
• Ben Burns
• Benjamin J. Davis Jr., editor
• Theodore Dreiser
• Nelson Frank
• Harry Gannes, foreign editor
• Eugene Gordon
• Woody Guthrie, "Woody Sez" columnist for People's World
• Clarence Hathaway, editor
• Syd Hoff, cartoonist
• Jacob Kainen, cartoonist
• Sergey Nikolaevich Kurnakov
• Edna Lewis
• Walter Lowenfels
• Samuel Putnam
• Lester Rodney, sports writer
• Howard Rushmore
• Ryan Walker, cartoonist / editor
• Marguerite Young, Washington DC bureau chief

1940s

• Edith Anderson-Schröder, culture editor
• Bill Mardo
• Alexander Saxton

1950s

• John Gates
• Si Gerson, executive editor

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
• The white terrorists ask for mercy Chicago; Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co. Feb 1925
• 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) alternate link
• 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) alternate link
• 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) alternate link
• 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) alternate link
• 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)
• The theory and practice of Leninism by Joseph Stalin Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
• The Party Organization. Chicago: Published for the Workers (Communist) Party by the Daily Worker Publishing Co. 1925
• 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
• Lenin: his life and work by Yemelyan Yaroslavsky Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
• The Movement for World Trade Union Unity. by Tom Bell Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
• British imperialism in India; speech delivered in the House of Commons, July 9, 1925 by Shapurji Saklatvala Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
• Fairy tales for workers' children by Hermynia Zur Mühlen, trans. by Ida Dailes Chicago, Ill., Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1925
• 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
• 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
• Marx and Engels on revolution in America by Heinz Neumann Chicago : Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926 (The little red library #6) alternate link
• The damned agitator and other stories. by Michael Gold Chicago : Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926 (The little red library #7) alternate link
• 1871: the Paris commune by Max Shachtman Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1926 (The little red library #8) alternate link
• How class collaboration works by Bertram David Wolfe Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1926 (The little red library #9) alternate link
• The menace of opportunism; a contribution to the bolshevization of the Workers (Communist) Party. by Max Bedacht Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
• The British strike: its background, its lessons by William F. Dunne Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
• 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.
• Red cartoons from the daily worker, the workers monthly and the liberator: Communist publications Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
• 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
• Elements of political education. Vol. I by Nikolai Bukharin, A. Berdnikov, and F. Svetlov Chicago: Daily Worker, 1926
• The case of Sacco and Vanzetti in cartoons from the Daily worker by Fred Ellis Chicago: Daily Worker, 1927 alternate link
• Constitution of the U.S.S.R. by V. Yarotsky and N. Yekovsky Chicago: Daily Worker, 1927 (The little red library #10) alternate link
• Jim Connolly and the Irish rising of 1916 by G. Schüller Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926 (The little red library # 11) alternate link
• Red cartoons of 1927 from the daily worker and the workers monthly Chicago; New York: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1927
• China in revolt^{[permanent dead link‍]} by Executive Committee of the Communist International New York, Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1927 The little red library #12 Alternate link
• The Labor Lieutenants of American Imperialism. by Jay Lovestone New York: Daily Worker Publishing Co., 1927.
• Red cartoons from the Daily Worker 1928 New York: Daily Worker, 1928
• 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
• 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
• 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))^[9]
• "Throw the bum out": official Communist Party line on Senator McCarthy. New York, Daily Worker, 1953–1954

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

• Chambers, Whittaker (1952). Witness. New York: Random House. pp. 218–229, 252–259. ISBN 978-0-89526-789-4. LCCN 52005149.
• 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.

External links

• Daily Worker online at the Marxists Internet Archive
• Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection PHOTOS.223 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. New York University.
• Partial series archive at the Online Books Page
• The Daily Worker Cartoon Archive, Marxists Internet Archive. —Selected political cartoons from 1924 and 1926, listed by artist.
• Daily Worker FBI files. File number 61-275 Volume 5. Heavily redacted files from roughly 1948–late 1950s. Retrieved May 16, 2005.
• Baseball on the Radical Agenda by Kelly E. Rusinack.
• "A Sickening Red Tinge": The Daily Worker's Fight Against White Baseball by Kelly Rusinack and Chris Lamb. Cultural Logic, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1999.
• Front page of the Daily Worker Vol. 2 #216 Dec. 1, 1924

See also

• Earl Browder
• Gus Hall
• David Karr
• People's World
• Whittaker Chambers: foreign editor in the 1920s
• Jacob Burck: cartoonist in the 1920s and 1930s
• Louis F. Budenz: editor in early 1940s
• Lester Rodney: sports writer/editor
• "The Race" (Seinfeld): television episode prominently featuring the Daily Worker

Footnotes

1. Admin (August 25, 2009). "About People's World". People's World. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
2. Pederson, Vernon (January 11, 2008). "Take It As Red". On The Media for National Public Radio. Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Founded in 1924, the Daily Worker – which ceased to be a daily 50 years ago – was the de facto house organ of American Communism.
3. Goldwater, Walter Radical periodicals in America 1890-1950 New Haven, Yale University Library 1964 pp.10, 30, 42, 46
4. "Guide to the Daily Worker and Daily World Photographs Collection". Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. September 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
5. "About the People's World". People's World. August 25, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
6. "About Us". The Worker. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
7. "Home". The Worker. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
8. Chambers, Whittaker (1952). Witness. New York: Random House. pp. 206–207, 218–229, 252–259. ISBN 978-0-89526-789-4. LCCN 52005149.
9. Morris, George (1952). A Tale of Two Waterfronts. Daily Worker. p. 31. Retrieved June 12, 2021.