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June 1914 issue of The Masses. Cover Illustration was drawn by John French Sloan and depicts the Ludlow Massacre
June 1914 issue of The Masses. Cover Illustration was drawn by John French Sloan and depicts the Ludlow Massacre

The Masses was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the U. The Ludlow massacre refers to the violent deaths of 20 people 11 of them children during an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a Tent colony of 1200 striking Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution S. from 1911 to 1917, when government suppression shut it down. It was succeeded by The Liberator and then later The New Masses. The Liberator was a monthly magazine established by Max Eastman and his sister Crystal Eastman in 1918 to continue the work of The Masses, which The New Masses (1926 – 1948 was prominent American Marxist publication edited by Michael Gold, and briefly by Whittaker Chambers It published reportage, fiction, poetry and art by the leading radicals of the time such as Max Eastman, John Reed and Floyd Dell. Max Forrester Eastman ( January 4, 1883 &ndash March 25, 1969) was a Socialist and (late in his life Libertarian American John "Jack" Silas Reed ( October 22, 1887 &ndash October 19, 1920) was an American Journalist, Poet Floyd Dell (1887-1969 was an American author and critic Biography Floyd Dell was born in Barry Illinois in 1887

Contents

History

Piet Vlag, an eccentric socialist immigrant from the Netherlands, founded the magazine in 1911. Vlag’s dream of a co-operatively operated magazine never worked well, and after just a few issues he left for Florida. His vision of an illustrated socialist monthly had, however, attracted a circle of young activists in Greenwich Village to The Masses that included visual artists from the Ashcan school like John French Sloan. Greenwich Village (ˌgrɛnɪtʃ ˈvɪlɪdʒ often simply called the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern Manhattan The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, is defined as a realist Artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States These Greenwich Village artists and writers asked one of their own, Max Eastman (who was then studying for a doctorate under John Dewey at Columbia), to edit their magazine. John Dewey (October 20 1859 &ndash June 1 1952 was an American Philosopher, Psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have John Sloan, Art Young, Louis Untermeyer, and Inez Haynes Gillmore (among others) mailed a terse letter to Eastman in August 1912: “You are elected editor of The Masses. No pay. ”[1]

The Masses was to some extent defined by its association with New York’s artistic culture. “The birth of The Masses,” Eastman later wrote, “coincided with the birth of ‘Greenwich Village’ as a self-conscious entity, an American Bohemia or gipsy-minded Latin Quarter, but its relations with that entity were not simple. ”[2] The Masses was very much embedded in a specific metropolitan milieu, unlike some other competing socialist periodicals (such as the Appeal to Reason, a populist-inflected 500,000-circulation weekly produced out of Girard, Kansas). Appeal to Reason is the fifth Studio album by American Punk rock band Rise Against, released on October 7, 2008 Girard is a city in Crawford Township, Crawford County, Kansas, United States ( PLSS description = T29SR23Esec24 and sec13 from the

The magazine carved out a unique position for itself within American left print culture. It was more open to Progressive Era reforms, like women's suffrage, than Emma Goldman's anarchist Mother Earth. The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of reform which lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s Beginnings Lydia Chapin (Taft (February 2 1712 – November 9 1778 was a forerunner of women's suffrage in Colonial Emma Goldman (June 27 1869 – May 14 1940 was an anarchist known for her political activism writing and speeches For other uses of Mother Earth see Mother Earth. For the 1970-present environmental/self-sufficiency magazine see Mother Earth News. At the same time it fiercely criticized more mainstream leftist publications like The New Republic for insufficient radicalism. The New Republic ( TNR) is an American Magazine of politics and the arts [3]

"Conscription," an illustration by H.J. Glintenkamp published in the magazine in 1917 that was cited in the indictment.
"Conscription," an illustration by H. J. Glintenkamp published in the magazine in 1917 that was cited in the indictment.

World War I continually exercised The Masses’ political imagination. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Its editors believed the cause of the conflict was transparently clear: imperialist international finance capital. The origins of World War I included many factors including the conflicts and antagonisms of the four decades leading up to the war Grotesque caricatures of Europe’s wealthy bankers directing workingmen’s guns populated the magazine’s pages. Even before it began, throughout the various scares of 1912 and 1913, the paper consistently railed against militarism. Militarism is the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or

After Eastman assumed leadership, and especially after August 1914, the magazine’s denouncements of the war were frequent and fierce. In the September 1914 edition of his column, “Knowledge and Revolution,” Eastman predicted: “Probably no one will actually be the victor in this gambler’s war—for we may as well call it a gambler’s war. Only so can we indicate its underlying commercial causes, its futility, and yet also the tall spirit in which it is carried off. ”[4]

Throughout 1916 and early 1917, in a series of ever more desperate editorials and illustrations, Eastman, Reed, and the others urged against American intervention in the war. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Worried about newly-enacted sedition laws like the Espionage Act of 1917, once war was declared in April, the paper resorted to indirect attacks on American participation in the war. The Espionage Act of 1917 was a United States federal law passed shortly after entering World War I on June 15 1917 which made it a Crime for a person

In the midst of the First Red Scare, the magazine's critiques of patriotism, and especially of the draft, were enough to have it charged under the stringent anti-sedition laws. In American history, the First Red Scare took place in the period 1917–1920 and was marked by a widespread fear of Anarchism, as well as the effects of radical The United States Post Office, under Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson, first denied the magazine second-class mailing privileges. Albert Sidney Burleson (June 7 1863 &ndash November 24 1937 was a United States Postmaster General and Congressman. News dealers refused to sell the magazine. [5] In November 1917, the editors of The Masses were indicted on charges they had obstructed enlistment. [6] Although a split jury acquitted Eastman and his cohorts a year later, the dramatically higher postal rates were enough to kill the paper on their own.

After The Masses died, Eastman and other writers were unwilling to let its spirit go with it. In March 1918, their new monthly adopted the name of William Lloyd Garrison’s famed The Liberator. The Liberator was a monthly magazine established by Max Eastman and his sister Crystal Eastman in 1918 to continue the work of The Masses, which William Lloyd Garrison ( December 12 1805 – May 24 1879) was a prominent American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer The Liberator was an abolitionist newspaper founded by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831.

The Masses continued to serve as an example for radicals long after it was suppressed. “The only magazine I know which bears a certain resemblance to (Dwight Macdonald's magazine) Politics and fulfilled a similar function thirty years earlier,” Hannah Arendt claimed in 1968, was “the old Masses (1911-1917). Dwight Macdonald (1906-1982 was an American writer editor Social critic, philosopher and political radical ”[7]

Politics

The Labor Struggle

The magazine reported on most of the major labor struggles of its day: from the the Mine War in West Virginia to the Paterson Silk Strike of 1913 and the Ludlow massacre. The West Virginia Mine War of 1912-1913 was a confrontation between striking coal miners and coal operators in Southern West Virginia centered around the area enclosed by two The Paterson silk strike of 1913 was a strike of the silk mill workers in Paterson, New Jersey. The Ludlow massacre refers to the violent deaths of 20 people 11 of them children during an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a Tent colony of 1200 striking It strongly sympathized with Big Bill Haywood and his IWW, the political campaigns of Eugene V. Debs, and a variety of other socialist and anarchist figures. William Dudley Haywood (February 4 1869&ndashMay 18 1928 better known as Big Bill Haywood, was a prominent figure in the American labor movement. The Industrial Workers of the World ( IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati Ohio, USA Eugene Victor Debs (November 5 1855 &ndash October 20 1926 was an American union leader one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial The Masses also indignantly followed the aftermath of the Los Angeles Times bombing. The Los Angeles Times bombing was the purposeful dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles California, on

Women's Rights and Sexual Equality

The magazine vigorously argued for birth control (supporting activists like Margaret Sanger) and women's suffrage. Margaret Higgins Sanger ( September 14, 1879 &ndash September 6, 1966) was an American Birth control activist an advocate Several of its Greenwich Village contributors, like Reed and Dell, practiced free love in their spare time and promoted it (sometimes in veiled terms) in their pieces. The term free love has been used since at least the nineteenth century to describe a Social movement that rejects Marriage, which is seen as a form Support for these social reforms was sometimes controversial within Marxist circles at the time; some argued that they were distractions from a more proper political goal, class revolution. Emma Goldman once tutted: “It is rather disappointing to find THE MASSES devoting an entire edition to ‘Votes for Women. Emma Goldman (June 27 1869 – May 14 1940 was an anarchist known for her political activism writing and speeches ’ Perhaps Mother Earth alone has any faith in women […] that women are capable and are ready to fight for freedom and revolution. ”[8]

Illustrations

John French Sloan's satirical take on the Armory Show, captioned "A Slight Attack of Dimentia Brought on by Excessive Study of the Much Talked of Cubist Pictures in the International Exhibition in New York."
John French Sloan's satirical take on the Armory Show, captioned "A Slight Attack of Dimentia Brought on by Excessive Study of the Much Talked of Cubist Pictures in the International Exhibition in New York. Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of US National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the International Exhibition "

Although the magazine's birth coincided with the explosion of modernism, and its contributor Arthur B. Davies was an organizer of the Armory Show, The Masses published for the most part realist artwork that would later be classified in the Ashcan school. Modernism describes an array of Cultural movements rooted in the changes in Western society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Arthur Bowen Davies ( September 26, 1863 – October 24, 1928) was an Avant-garde American artist Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of US National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the International Exhibition Realism is a visual art style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, is defined as a realist Artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States Many illustrations were appended with captions, a policy that irritated John French Sloan so much he left the magazine's staff.

Literature & Criticism

American realism was a vital, pioneering current in the writing of the time, and several leading lights were willing to contribute work to the magazine without pay. Ashcan School American realism was a turn of the century idea in art music and literature that showed through these different types of work reflections of the time period The name most associated with the magazine is Sherwood Anderson. Sherwood Anderson (September 13 1876 &ndash March 8 1941 was an American writer mainly of short stories, most notably the collection Winesburg Ohio Anderson was “discovered” by The Masses’ fiction editor, Floyd Dell, and his pieces there formed the foundation for his Winesburg, Ohio stories. Winesburg Ohio is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. In the November 1916 Masses, Dell described his surprise years before while reading Anderson’s unsolicited manuscript: “there Sherwood Anderson was writing like—I had no other phrase to express it—like a great novelist. ”[9] Anderson would later be cited by the Partisan Review circle as one of the first homegrown American talents. Partisan Review was an American political and literary quarterly published from 1934 to 2003, though it suspended publication between October 1936

The magazine's criticism, edited by Floyd Dell, was cheekily titled (at least for a time) “Books that Are Interesting. Floyd Dell (1887-1969 was an American author and critic Biography Floyd Dell was born in Barry Illinois in 1887 ” Dell’s perceptive reviews gave accolades to many of the most notable books of the time: An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution, Spoon River Anthology, Theodore Dreiser’s novels, Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Unconscious, G.K. Chesterton’s works, Jack London’s memoirs, and many other prominent creations. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is a 1913 book by American Historian Charles A Spoon River Anthology (1915 by Edgar Lee Masters, is a collection of unusual short free-form poems that collectively describe the life of the fictional small town Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser ( August 27 1871 &ndash December 28 1945) was an American novelist and journalist Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936 was an influential English writer of the early 20th century Jack London (January 12 1876 &ndash November 22 1916 was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The

Notable contributors

Sherwood Anderson
George Bellows
Arthur B. Davies
Floyd Dell
Max Eastman
Jack London
Amy Lowell
Inez Milholland
John Reed
John French Sloan
Upton Sinclair
Louis Untermeyer
Art Young

See also

Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten

Further reading

External links

Archives

Articles

References

  1. ^ Max Eastman, Enjoyment of Living, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948. 394.
  2. ^ Enjoyment of Living, 418.
  3. ^ The Masses, April 1916, 12.
  4. ^ The Masses, September 1914, 4.
  5. ^ "News Dealers Won't Sell the Masses. " The New York Times. November 7, 1917.
  6. ^ "Indicts the Masses and 7 of Its Staff. " The New York Times. November 20, 1917.
  7. ^ Hannah Arendt, “He’s All Dwight,” The New York Review of Books, August 1, 1968.
  8. ^ Quoted in The Masses, January 1916, 20.
  9. ^ The Masses, November 1916, 17.
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