Daily Worker


The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in Chicago, founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the Communist Party USA ; 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, Lester Rodney, David Karr, Richard Wright, John L. Spivak, Peter Fryer, Woody Guthrie, and Louis F. Budenz.
All works of the Daily Worker prior to 1964 are now in the public domain due to the nonrenewal of their copyright status.

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 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.
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.
In 1927, the newspaper moved from Chicago to New York.

Popular front changes

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.

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.

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.

Contemporary claims of successors

The new paper was cut back to a weekly issue and was retitled People's Weekly World. Print publication of the People's World ceased in 2010 in favor of an online edition., 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.
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.

Masthead

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1970s

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
  • Chicago; Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co. Feb 1925
  • by William Z. Foster, Earl Browder and James Cannon Chicago: Published for the Trade Union Educational League by the Daily worker 1925
  • . by Earl Browder Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily worker publishing company, 1925
  • translated by Max Bedacht Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily worker 1925.
  • by William F. Dunne Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • edited by Manuel Gomez Chicago: Published for Workers Party of America by Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • by Joseph Stalin Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • . Chicago: Published for the Workers Party by the Daily Worker Publishing Co. 1925
  • by Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev, and Grigory Zinovyev Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • by Yemelyan Yaroslavsky Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • . by Tom Bell Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • by Shapurji Saklatvala Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • by Hermynia Zur Mühlen, trans. by Ida Dailes Chicago, Ill., Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1925
  • . Chicago: Daily Worker Publishing Co., 1925
  • by Charles E. Ruthenberg Chicago: Published for the Workers Party of America by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1925
  • The international: words and music. : Daily Worker New York Agency, Dec 1925
  • by Heinz Neumann Chicago : Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • . by Michael Gold Chicago : Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • by Max Shachtman Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1926
  • by Bertram David Wolfe Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1926
  • . by Max Bedacht Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • by William F. Dunne Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • . by Albert Weisbord Chicago; Published for the Workers Party by the Daily Worker Pub. Co., November 1926.' Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • by James Dolsen Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926Labor conditions in China and its labor movement by James H Dolsen Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926Lenin on organization. by Vladimir Lenin Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • by Nikolai Bukharin, A. Berdnikov, and F. Svetlov Chicago: Daily Worker, 1926
  • by Fred Ellis Chicago: Daily Worker, 1927
  • by V. Yarotsky and N. Yekovsky Chicago: Daily Worker, 1927
  • by G. Schüller Chicago: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1926
  • ' Chicago; New York: Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1927
  • by Executive Committee of the Communist International New York, Daily Worker Pub. Co., 1927 The little red library #12
  • . by Jay Lovestone New York: Daily Worker Publishing Co., 1927.' New York: Daily Worker, 1928
  • ' New York: Comprodaily Pub. Co., 1929How to sell the Daily Worker. New York, Daily Worker, 1920sBurning 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, 1931Anti-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, 1934The Iron Heel by Jack London New York, Daily Worker, 1934The ruling clawss by A. Redfield New York, Daily Worker, 1935 Hunger and revolt: cartoons, by Jacob Burck New York, Daily Worker, 1935Martin Eden by Jack London New York, Daily Worker, 1937
  • William Z. Foster and William Z Foster New York: The Daily Worker, 1937The Daily worker, heir to the great tradition, by Morris Schappes New York, Daily Worker, 1944
  • by Harry Raymond; intro. by Benjamin Davis New York, Daily Worker, 1946The killing of William Milton by Art Shields New York, Daily Worker, 1948The Ingrams shall not die!: story of Georgia's new terror by Harry Raymond; intro. by Benjamin J. Davis New York, Daily Worker, 1948A tale of two waterfronts by George Morris )"Throw the bum out": official Communist Party line on Senator McCarthy. New York, Daily Worker, 1953–1954

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.
  • Gottfried, Erika, "Shooting Back: The Daily Worker Photographs Collection," American Communist History, vol. 12, no. 1, 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.

Theses

Books