The Daily Worker was a leftist newspaper published in Chicago and later New York City, founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. The publication generally promoted the prevailing views of the Communist Party USA (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. The newspaper ceased daily publication in 1958 and transitioned to weekly publication under various names until 2010. Several online news and opinion outlets now claim to be the legitimate successor to The Daily Worker.

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 (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.

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.Goldwater, Walter Radical periodicals in America 1890-1950 New Haven, Yale University Library 1964 pp.10, 30, 42, 46

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 (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. , 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.

Leadership Editors 1924–1928 J. Louis Engdahl 1925–1936 William F. Dunne 1928–1930 Robert Minor 1931–1932 William Weinstone 1930, 1933–1940 Clarence Hathaway 1940–1945 Louis F. Budenz 1945–1947 Morris Childs 1947–1958 John Gates 1956–1958 Si Gerson

Staff

1920s

Martin Abern Maurice Becker, cartoonist Max Bedacht, contributor Alexander Bittelman, magazine editor Ella Reeve Bloor Jacob Burck, cartoonist Walt Carmon, circulation manager Ann Washington Craton, contributor Whittaker Chambers Kyle Crichton as "Robert Forsythe" (father of Robert Crichton) Paul Crouch Samuel Adams Darcy Nicholas Dozenberg, business manager William F. Dunne, editor Fred Ellis, cartoonist J. Louis Engdahl, editor Lovett Fort-Whiteman, contributor Harry Freeman Sender Garlin Hugo Gellert, cartoonist Harrison George Mike Gold, columnist William Gropper, cartoonist Jolan Gross-Bettelheim, cartoonist Ji Chaoding, contributor L. E. Katterfeld ("New York representative") Sergey Kurnakov, military affairs A. B. Magil Benjamin Mandel, business manager Robert Minor, cartoonist Richard B. Moore Paul Novick Harvey O'Connor ("effective editor") Tom Maidhc O'Flaherty, columnist Moissaye Joseph Olgin Edwin Rolfe Max Shachtman Esther Shemitz, cartoonist Bertram Wolfe

1930s

James S. Allen, foreign news writer Robert Bendiner Richard O. Boyer Sam Brody, film critic Nathaniel Buchwald, Moscow correspondent Louis F. Budenz, managing editor Ben Burns Samuel Adams Darcy, editor Benjamin J. Davis Jr. Theodore Draper, assistant foreign editor Theodore Dreiser Lou Ferstadt, cartoonist Frederick Vanderbilt Field Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, columnist Nelson Frank Nat Ganley Harry Gannes, foreign editor James Glaser, managing editor Si Gerson Eugene Gordon Woody Guthrie, "Woody Sez" columnist for People's World Clarence Hathaway, editor Syd Hoff, cartoonist Jacob Kainen, cartoonist David Karr Jay Richard Kennedy, circulation manager Sergey Nikolaevich Kurnakov Avrom Landy, New York City editor John Howard Lawson Edna Lewis Walter Lowenfels Maud Malone, librarian Max Margulis, music critic J. B. Matthews, contributor George Morris, labor editor Felix Morrow Joseph North, columnist Pablo O'Higgins, illustrator Brian O'Neill, contributor Myra Page, contributor Harry Alan Potamkin, film critic Samuel Putnam Al Richmond Lester Rodney, sports writer Edwin Rolfe Muriel Rukeyser Howard Rushmore Samuel Sillen, contributor Charles Edward Smith, music critic Vern Smith, Moscow correspondent John L. Spivak Carolyn Lloyd Strobell, contributor Ryan Walker, cartoonist/editor William Weinstone, editor Alden Whitman, book critic Richard Wright, Harlem editor Marguerite Young, Washington DC bureau chief

1940s

Edith Anderson-Schröder, culture editor Phil Bard, advertising manager Isidore Begun, columnist Abner Berry, negro affairs editor Dick Briefer, cartoonist Earl Browder, contributor Morris Childs, editor Benjamin J. Davis Jr., president Pele de Lappe, illustrator Peggy Dennis, women's editor Frederick Vanderbilt Field Sidney Finkelstein, music critic James W. Ford, contributor Si Gerson Irving Goff, contributor Louis Harap, contributor Grace Hutchins, contributor Jim Kepner Harvey Kurtzman, cartoonist Edna Lewis Bill Mardo Mike Quin, contributor Alexander Saxton Edwin Seaver Jack Stachel, associate editor Joseph Starobin, foreign editor Carolyn Lloyd Strobell, owner Dalton Trumbo, contributor Theodore Ward Alden Whitman, book critic Milton Wolff, culture editor Jose Yglesias, film critic

1950s

Joseph Clark, foreign editor Jesús Colón, columnist Howard Fast Peter Fryer, contributor John Gates, editor Si Gerson, executive editor Claudia Jones, columnist Douglas Turner Ward, reporter Charles W. White, cartoonist

Salespeople gallery

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