Political Affairs (magazine)

Defunct magazine published by the Communist Party USA from 1944 to 2016

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Political Affairs

Cover of August 2005 issue

Categories| Political magazine
Frequency| Monthly
Publisher| Joe Sims
First issue| 1944 (1944)
Final issue| 2016 (2016)
Company| Communist Party USA
Country| USA
Based in| New York
Language| English
Website| www.politicalaffairs.net
ISSN| 0032-3128

Political Affairs Magazine was a monthly Marxist publication, originally published in print and later online only.[1] It aimed to provide an analysis of events from a working class point of view. The magazine was a publication of the Communist Party USA and was founded in 1944 upon the closure of its predecessor, The Communist, which was founded in 1927. Well-known editors of Political Affairs Magazine included V. J. Jerome, Gus Hall, Hyman Lumer, Herbert Aptheker, Gerald Horne, and Joe Sims. Other editors included Max Weiss. In 2016, the magazine stopped publishing articles and merged with People's World.[2]

## History

[edit]

At its founding, Political Affairs was the theoretical organ of the Communist Party USA, generally publishing articles intended almost exclusively for members of the Communist Party. In the late 1990s, that role changed. Political Affairs shed its role as an internal organ of the Communist Party and adopted a broader stance. It provides Marxist perspectives on many contemporary issues and engages in theoretical discussions relevant to Marxists and the labor movement. In addition to articles devoted to national and international politics, the magazine offers poetry, book reviews, occasional reviews of music and film, interviews, and occasional short stories.

The publication can be traced back to The Masses, the famous Greenwich Village paper of the 1910s. After being suppressed by the government, the paper continued as The Liberator. Independently of this, the Friends of Soviet Russia had established another monthly, Soviet Russia, in 1919. In 1924 the title was changed to Soviet Russia Pictorial. Finally, William Z. Foster had begun Labor Herald as the official publication of his Trade Union Educational League in March 1922. When the Workers Party of America had finally been consolidated as the unified above-ground Communist Party in the United States, it was determined that the party should have a theoretical monthly as well as a daily, in line with Lenin's guideline in What Is To Be Done?

The above three publications were combined into Workers Monthly, which debuted in November 1924. It changed its name to The Communist in 1927 and to Political Affairs in 1944.[3]

Title  | Place of publication  | Duration

|
|

The Masses | New York  | Vol. I #1 January 1911 - Vol. X #2 December 1917
Liberator | New York  | Vol. I #1 March 1918 - Vol. VII #10 October 1924
Soviet Russia | New York  | Vol. I #1 June 1919 - Vol. VII #11 December 1922
Soviet Russia Pictorial | Chicago  | Vol. VIII #1 January 1923 - Vol. IX #10 October 1924
Labor Herald | Chicago  | Vol. I #1 March 1922 - Vol. III #8 October 1924
Workers Monthly | New York  | Vol. IV #1 November 1924 - Vol. V #16 February 1927
The Communist | New York  | Vol. VI #1 March 1927 - Vol. XXIII #12 December 1944
Political Affairs | New York  | Vol. XXIV #12 January 1945–present

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Sears, Ben. "Thanks for being a reader of Political Affairs". Political Affairs. People Before Profit. Archived from the original on December 12, 2015. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
2. ^ "Thanks for being a reader of Political Affairs". People's World. 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
3. ^ Goldwater, Walter (1964). Radical periodicals in America 1890-1950. New Haven: Yale University Library. pp. 20–23, 33, 40, 47.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website Archive
* Political Affairs archive at the Internet Archive
* Archive of Workers Monthly from November 1924 - February 1927
* Archive of Soviet Russia Pictorial from January 1923 - December 1923
* Marxists Internet Archive: Political Affairs articles of 1945 after Browderism

* v
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Communist Party USA

Nominees|

| Presidential|

* William Z. Foster (1924; 1928; 1932)
* Earl Browder (1936; 1940)
* Charlene Mitchell (1968)
* Gus Hall (1972; 1976; 1980; 1984)

|

Vice Presidential|

* Benjamin Gitlow (1924; 1928)
* James W. Ford (1932; 1936; 1940)
* Mike Zagarell (1968)
* Jarvis Tyner (1972; 1976)
* Angela Davis (1980; 1984)

Leaders|

* C. E. Ruthenberg (1919–1920; 1922–1927)
* Alfred Wagenknecht (1919–1921)
* Charles Dirba (1920–1921)
* Louis Shapiro (late 1920)
* L. E. Katterfeld (1921)
* William Weinstone (1921–1922)
* Jay Lovestone (1922; 1927–1929)
* James P. Cannon (1921–1922)
* Caleb Harrison (1921–1922)
* Abram Jakira (1922–1923)
* William Z. Foster (1929–1934)
* Earl Browder (1934–1945)
* Eugene Dennis (1945–1959)
* William Z. Foster (1945–1957)
* Gus Hall (1959–2000)
* Sam Webb (2000–2014)
* John Bachtell (2014–2019)
* Rossana Cambron & Joe Sims (2019–present)

Prominent members|

* Bernard Ades
* William Albertson
* Herbert Aptheker
* Max Bedacht
* John Bernard
* Walter Bernstein
* Marc Blitzstein
* Ella Reeve Bloor
* Anne Burlak
* Peter Cacchione
* Benjamin J. Davis Jr.
* Shirley Graham Du Bois
* Bella Dodd
* Richard Durham
* Albert Goldman
* Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
* Harry Haywood
* Dorothy Ray Healey
* Manning Johnson
* Oakley C. Johnson
* Claudia Jones
* Antoinette Konikow
* Claude Lightfoot
* Steve Nelson
* Karl Emil Nygard
* William L. Patterson
* Paul Robeson
* Tupac Shakur
* Charles E. Taylor
* Emma Tenayuca
* Richard Wright

Litigation|

* Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board
* Aptheker v. Secretary of State
* Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board
* De Jonge v. Oregon
* Dennis v. United States
* Kent v. Dulles
* Keyishian v. Board of Regents
* Noto v. United States
* Scales v. United States
* Smith Act trials
* Watkins v. United States
* Yates v. United States

State parties|

| Current|

* Georgia
* Maryland
* Texas

|

Defunct|

* Alabama
* Hawaii

Related articles|

* American Committee for Spanish Freedom
* Bill of Rights socialism
* Browderism
* Communist Labor Party
* English-language press
* International Publishers
* Language federation
* Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party
* Lincoln Battalion
* List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States
* National conventions
* New York Workers School
* Non-English press
* People's World
* Red diaper baby
* San Francisco Workers' School
* Soviet Negro Republic
* Relations with African Americans
* Ware Group
* Yokinen Show Trial
* Young Communist League USA
* Young Pioneers of America

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