New York Communist
Encyclopedia
The New York Communist was a short-lived weekly newspaper issued by the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
of Local Greater New York, encompassing the New York City metro area. The paper was edited by the renowned radical
journalist
and war correspondent
John Reed. Only 10 issues of the paper were produced during 1919 before the publication was absorbed by The Revolutionary Age
following the Left Wing National Conference of June 1919.
were engaged in "fighting for control of the local Party machinery, against a fierce and unscrupulous resistance by the petty politicians who direct the Party machine." While noting enormous contributions to this movement made by the long-established Left Wing weekly of the Left Wing Section of Local Boston, The Revolutionary Age, "as long as the entire machinery is not in our hands, a New York is essential," Reed declared.
For the next 10 weeks, Reed's newspaper documented one of the most ferocious factional struggles in the history of the Socialist Party of America, a veritable war marked by arbitrary dissolutions of party units, lockouts from facilities, and takeovers of scheduled meetings. This blow-by-blow coverage which makes The New York Communist one of the most important primary sources
for historians studying the process of formation of the American Communist movement during the tumultuous year of 1919.
According to historian James Weinstein
:
Editor John Reed was assisted in his task by associate editor Eadmonn MacAlpine. Business manager of the publication at its launch was Maximilian Cohen
, the Executive Secretary of the Left Wing Section of Local Greater New York. Cohen was succeeded in this role by Benjamin Gitlow
effective with the June 14 issue. Each issue of the paper consisted of 8 pages in each issue and bore a cover price of 5 cents per copy.
No sooner had the second edition of The New York Communist appeared when David P. Berenberg
, a party regular affiliated with the Rand School of Social Science
, launched a new factional document from the other side of the debate, mockingly entitled The New York Socialist. The publication adopted the jeering tone of Reed's publication and matched The New York Communist blow-for-blow in terms of personal invective, albeit concentrating its fire on the Left Wing insurgents as "an enemy...within our ranks."
This new rival proved to be too tempting a target for the sophomorish Reed to ignore. On May 17, The New York Socialist appeared as usual at the Rand School. It was not until several thousand issues had been distributed that it was discovered that the document being distributed was an exact replica of Berenberg's publication created by Reed and MacAlpine. The parody issue prominently featured a speech purported to have been delivered by leader of the Regular faction Louis Waldman
on April Fool's Day. In this mock speech, Waldman portrayed as attacking the Left Wing with the words:
The complete run of The New York Communist was reprinted as an elephant folio book by the Greenwood Reprint Corporation
of Westport, Connecticut in 1970 as part of their series "Radical Periodicals in the United States." A microfilm edition was also released by Greenwood at that same time.
Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
The Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party was an organized faction within the Socialist Party of America in 1919 which served as the core of the dual communist parties which emerged in the fall of that year — the Communist Party of America and the Communist Labor Party of America.-Precusors:A...
of Local Greater New York, encompassing the New York City metro area. The paper was edited by the renowned radical
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
John Reed. Only 10 issues of the paper were produced during 1919 before the publication was absorbed by The Revolutionary Age
Revolutionary Age
The Revolutionary Age was an American radical newspaper edited by Louis C. Fraina and published from November 1918 until August 1919. Originally the publication of Local Boston, Socialist Party, the paper evolved into the de facto national organ of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party which...
following the Left Wing National Conference of June 1919.
History
According to a declaration in its inaugural issue, no doubt written by editor John Reed, "thousands of members" of the Left Wing Section living in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
were engaged in "fighting for control of the local Party machinery, against a fierce and unscrupulous resistance by the petty politicians who direct the Party machine." While noting enormous contributions to this movement made by the long-established Left Wing weekly of the Left Wing Section of Local Boston, The Revolutionary Age, "as long as the entire machinery is not in our hands, a New York is essential," Reed declared.
For the next 10 weeks, Reed's newspaper documented one of the most ferocious factional struggles in the history of the Socialist Party of America, a veritable war marked by arbitrary dissolutions of party units, lockouts from facilities, and takeovers of scheduled meetings. This blow-by-blow coverage which makes The New York Communist one of the most important primary sources
Primary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
for historians studying the process of formation of the American Communist movement during the tumultuous year of 1919.
According to historian James Weinstein
James Weinstein
James "Jimmy" Weinstein was an American historian and journalist best known as the founder and publisher of In These Times...
:
"Reed and his colleagues viewed the Socialist Party moderates as consistent supporters of 'liberal state capitalism' as a result of their commitment to parliamentarianism. Although they did not yet attack the old party leadership as prowar, they did tend to equate it with European social democracySocial democracySocial democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
, which, Reed wrote, was 'as responsible for the war as Wilhelm.' * * *
"While the Left Wing in New York, as throughout the United States, became more and more caught up with the insurrectionary perspective of the new Communist International, the old leadership of the Socialist Party reacted to the wartime repression and postwar antiradical hysteria by appealing to traditional American democratic rights and liberal values. Thus, at the same point in time, each wing exhibited one side of the polarity that has characterized the movement as a whole since World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
: in its revolutionary phase a resort to abstract revolutionary appeals; in its popular (defensive) stage a falling back on the dominant liberalism."
Editor John Reed was assisted in his task by associate editor Eadmonn MacAlpine. Business manager of the publication at its launch was Maximilian Cohen
Maximilian Cohen
Maximilian "Max" Cohen was an American socialist politician of the early 20th Century. Cohen held a series of important posts during the pivotal year of 1919, including Secretary of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party for Local Greater New York, Secretary of the Left Wing National Council,...
, the Executive Secretary of the Left Wing Section of Local Greater New York. Cohen was succeeded in this role by Benjamin Gitlow
Benjamin Gitlow
Benjamin "Ben" Gitlow was a prominent American socialist politician of the early twentieth century and a founding member of the Communist Party USA. From the end of the 1930s, Gitlow turned to conservatism and wrote two sensational exposés of American Communism, books which were very influential...
effective with the June 14 issue. Each issue of the paper consisted of 8 pages in each issue and bore a cover price of 5 cents per copy.
No sooner had the second edition of The New York Communist appeared when David P. Berenberg
David P. Berenberg
David Paul Berenberg was an American socialist teacher, editor, and writer. He is best remembered as a founder and editor of The American Socialist Quarterly, the theoretical magazine of the Socialist Party of America during the 1930s....
, a party regular affiliated with the Rand School of Social Science
Rand School of Social Science
The Rand School of Social Science was formed in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America in 1906. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served as a research bureau, a publisher, and the operator...
, launched a new factional document from the other side of the debate, mockingly entitled The New York Socialist. The publication adopted the jeering tone of Reed's publication and matched The New York Communist blow-for-blow in terms of personal invective, albeit concentrating its fire on the Left Wing insurgents as "an enemy...within our ranks."
This new rival proved to be too tempting a target for the sophomorish Reed to ignore. On May 17, The New York Socialist appeared as usual at the Rand School. It was not until several thousand issues had been distributed that it was discovered that the document being distributed was an exact replica of Berenberg's publication created by Reed and MacAlpine. The parody issue prominently featured a speech purported to have been delivered by leader of the Regular faction Louis Waldman
Louis Waldman
Louis Waldman was a leading figure in the Socialist Party of America from the late 1910s and through the middle 1930s, a founding member of the Social Democratic Federation, and a prominent New York labor lawyer.-Early years:...
on April Fool's Day. In this mock speech, Waldman portrayed as attacking the Left Wing with the words:
"So evident is their intention to disrupt the party that it has been necessary to expel all Left Wing branches and exclude the members from any vote on party affairs. If this is not disrupting the party, what is??
The complete run of The New York Communist was reprinted as an elephant folio book by the Greenwood Reprint Corporation
Greenwood Publishing Group
Greenwood Publishing Group is an educational publisher and is part of ABC-CLIO. It publishes reference works under its Greenwood Press imprint, and scholarly, professional, and general interest books under Praeger Publishers...
of Westport, Connecticut in 1970 as part of their series "Radical Periodicals in the United States." A microfilm edition was also released by Greenwood at that same time.
List of issue dates and key contents
- "The Party Situation in New York" (unsigned); "The Left Wing and The Call" (unsigned); "Problems of the Representative of Soviet Russia in America" (Nicholas Hourwich); "We're Gonna Be Expelled! Help!!" (unsigned).
- "The Left Wing and the Revolution" (Louis C. FrainaLouis C. FrainaLouis C. Fraina was a founding member of the American Communist Party in 1919. After running afoul of the Communist International in 1921 over the alleged misappropriation of funds, Fraina left the organized radical movement, emerging in 1930 as a left wing public intellectual by the name of Lewis...
); "The Plan that Went Awry" (unsigned); "Saved by the Bourgeoisie" (A. Nyemanoff); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned); "The Pink Terror: I. The Rape of the 17th A.D." (unsigned). - "Who is Splitting the Party" (editorial); "A Challenge and a Greeting" (Rose Pastor StokesRose Pastor StokesRose Harriet Pastor Stokes was a Jewish-American socialist activist, writer, birth control advocate, and feminist. She was active in labor politics and women's issues, and was a founding member of the Communist Party of America in 1919. She was a figure of some public notoriety for having married...
); "The Pink Terror: II. The Pillage of the 18-20th A.D." (unsigned).- Vol. 1, No. 4 — May 8, 1919
- "The Aftermath of May Day" (unsigned); "Eugene V. Debs' Position" (includes a handwritten letter to Rose Pastor Stokes); "Why Political Democracy Must Go (part 1)" (John Reed); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned); "The Pink Terror: III. Frightfulness in the 2nd and 6th A.D. Branches" (unsigned).
- Vol. 1, No. 5 — May 15, 1919
- "A Moderate Socialist Office-Holder" (Thomas Leaderless); "Soviet Russia's Red Army: An Interview with Sklandsky, Assistant Commissar of War" (Michael PuntervoldMichael PuntervoldMichael Puntervold was a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Labour and Social Democratic Labour parties.He is known for having a personal relation with Lenin and later served as a lawyer for Leon Trotsky during his exile...
); "Why Political Democracy Must Go (part 2)" (John Reed); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned); "The Pink Terror: IV. Bloody Thursday in the 8th A.D." (unsigned).- Vol. 1, No. 6 — May 24, 1919
- "Clearing the Decks" (unsigned, attributed to John Reed); "The Party Congressional Platform for 1918" (Bertram D. Wolfe); "Why Political Democracy Must Go (part 3)" (John Reed); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned); "The Executive Committee's Statement" (Maximilian Cohen); "The Pink Terror: V. The Abortive Massacre of the 3rd-5th and 10th A.D." (unsigned).
- Vol. 1, No. 7 — May 31, 1919
- "Bourgeois Dictatorship in Local New York" (Jay LovestoneJay LovestoneJay Lovestone 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 Central Intelligence Agency helper, and foreign policy advisor to the leadership of the AFL-CIO and various unions...
); "Call for a National Conference of the Left Wing"; "Left Wing Bogey" (Nicholas Hourwich); "The IWW and Bolshevism" (John Reed); "Why Political Democracy Must Go (part 4)" (John Reed); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned); "A Picture of Soviet Russia" (Maxim LitvinovMaxim LitvinovMaxim Maximovich Litvinov was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet diplomat.- Early life and first exile :...
); "The of Right-Wingism" (John Everett).- Vol. 1, No. 8 — June 7, 1919
- "Forty Thousand Expelled by Seven" (unsigned); "Strike Against the Bosses!" (Carl Brodsky); "The Party and the Berne Conference" (Eadmonn MacAlpine); "Why Political Democracy Must Go (part 5)" (John Reed); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned); "Chicago Turns to the Left" (I.E. Ferguson, reprinted from The Revolutionary Age); "The Pink Terror: VI. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare in the 1st A.D." (unsigned).
- Vol. 1, No. 9 — June 14, 1919
- "Scuttling the Ship" (Joseph Stilson, Alexander Stoklitsky, and 5 other federation leaders); "A Reply to a Non-Partisan League Farmer (part 1)" (Jay Lovestone); "Why Political Democracy Must Go (part 6)" (John Reed); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned).
- Vol. 1, No. 10 — June 21, 1919
- "Proletarian Dictatorship: A Speech by Nicolai Lenin" (J. Wilenkin, trans.); "A Reply to a Non-Partisan League Farmer (part 2)" (Jay Lovestone); "Why Political Democracy Must Go (part 7)" (John Reed); "Left Wing Notes" (unsigned); "The Pink Terror: VII. Secret Diplomacy in the 4th A.D." (unsigned);
External links
- John Reed Internet Archive, Marxists Internet Archive. —includes articles from The New York Communist. Retrieved September 10, 2009.