The Masses

The Masses was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was succeeded by The Liberator and then later The New Masses. It published reportage, fiction, poetry and art by the leading radicals of the time such as Max Eastman, John Reed, Dorothy Day, and Floyd Dell.

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. 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 University), to edit their magazine. 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.” In the first issue, Eastman wrote the following manifesto:

The Masses (disambiguation)

The Masses is a magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the U.S. from 1911 until 1917.

The Masses may also refer to:

See also

Mahachon

Mahachon (Thai: มหาชน, 'The Masses') was a Thai newspaper, published as an organ of the Communist Party of Thailand. It was started in 1942 as a clandestine publication. It was legally published weekly between October 25, 1945 and 1950. After becoming legal, Mahachon had its editorial office near Sanam Luang, Bangkok.

References