The Masses
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
| − | + | The Masses was founded in 1911. It was an illustrated socialist monthly with 10 volumes that became short lived because in August 1917 it was barred from mail by the US government because it critiqued the US involvement in World War I. Was The Masses barred specifically because of this one article or was it barred because its conflicting views with the US government? The Masses was barred not because of its critique of the US involvement in World War I but it was barred because of its unpopular socialist opinions that proved a nightmare for the capitalist US government. The article critiquing US involvement in World War I was used as a scapegoat to finally silence “the most dangerous magazine in America”, but how effective was the ban on The Masses? Did the government succeed in silencing these writers and stomping out the socialist movement? | |
| − | The Masses was founded in 1911. It was an illustrated socialist monthly with 10 volumes that became short lived because in August 1917 it was barred from mail by the US government because it critiqued the US involvement in World War I. Was The Masses barred specifically because of this one article or was it barred because its conflicting views with the US government? The Masses was barred not because of its critique of the US involvement in World War I but it was barred because of its unpopular socialist opinions that proved a nightmare for the capitalist US government. The article critiquing US involvement in World War I was used as a scapegoat to finally silence “the most dangerous magazine in America” | + | |
==Text Mining== | ==Text Mining== | ||
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| − | ===The Liberator Vol 1=== | + | ===The Liberator=== |
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| + | The Liberator was a magazine started by Max Eastman after The Masses was banned. In it, he covered topics very similar to the masses. The Magazine was later merged with a few others and the ownership fell under the Communist Party of America. | ||
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| + | ====Vol 1==== | ||
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| − | + | This graph shows that Max Eastman's new magazine didn't let up on the pressure against the war. By starting another magazine, he was successful in circumventing the government ban on The Masses. | |
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| + | ===Scouts=== | ||
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| + | Before the US involvement in WWI, ''The Masses'' held a campaign against the Boy Scouts as they believed they were a breeding ground for soldiers. After the US gets involved however, the Boy Scout movement dies out. | ||
==Timeline== | ==Timeline== | ||
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==Close Reading== | ==Close Reading== | ||
| + | ===Vol. 1 No. 1=== | ||
| + | [http://library.brown.edu/jpegs/1354913032125756.jpg '''Unite in Buying as in Selling'''] By Eugene Wood | ||
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| + | ''"Workers of the world, unite!"'' | ||
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| + | Wood here is calling for all working citizens to band together in order, ''"to defend what we have already gained, and to conquer more."'' Wood wants the workers to receive more than what they are currently being given. He believes that the working class, no matter what they do, are always in a losing situation. ''"We sell our labor-power to an enemy of ours; we all know that. We also buy form an enemy of ours; we all know that." The goal of any corporation is to be profitable. Wood, however, does not believe that profits should come at the expense of the working class. Although these corporations pay these workers, the corporations are also the ones that set the price of goods that the working class buys. | ||
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| + | ''"Now suppose we unite to sell to each other, so that, instead of enemies of ours getting the profit, we get the profit, you and I, the union plumber and the union hatmaker and so on."'' Wood appeals to his readers by saying that instead of these corporations getting the profits, the working class would be able to get them instead. Wood tells his readers that a union would be the most beneficial way to "share the wealth" among the working class. Along with this, it puts the bosses of those in the working class in a pinch. ''"Let me say this again: The weak point of capitalism is that it must sell. A boss may cut down wages, and he may stick up prices, but unless he can sell to workingmen what workingmen produce, he's a gone dog. No sale, no profit. Sell or go bust."'' By buying and selling from each other within the union, it creates havoc in the market as it forces the larger corporations to compensate by forcing them to lower the prices in order for their product to be sold. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Vol. 1 No.2=== | ||
| + | [http://library.brown.edu/jpegs/1354913821828875.jpg '''The Boy Scout Movement'''] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ross_Kirkpatrick George R. Kirkpatrick] | ||
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| + | ''"The Boy Scout movement is an organized, craftily subsidized effort for creating the kill-lust in boys, the love of arms, the desire for the military life, and the brainlessly automatic obedience of soldiers."'' | ||
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| + | Kirkpatrick discusses the BSA and how they are developing soldiers through blind obedience. He mocks the idea of the Scouts as he believes they cater to the primal nature of violence rather than promote the ideals of education and subsequently reform. They train these boys to follow rather than have them think on their own. ''"'Obedience is beautiful. Blind obedience is to superiors is perfection. I am inferior, I agree that those who are appointed over me ought to be over me. I will make no inquiries."'' Kirkpatrick critiques the Boy Scouts as he believes it forces them into "hive mind" thinking. Rather than critique what they believe is wrong, the Scouts encourages youth to follow and that those who are superior to you are superior a reason. Kirkpatrick believes these boys are being brainwashed to follow. | ||
===Vol. 1 No. 12=== | ===Vol. 1 No. 12=== | ||
| − | [http://library.brown.edu/ | + | [http://library.brown.edu/cds/repository2/repoman.php?verb=render&id=1354919237672627&view=pageturner&pageno=5 '''The Cheapest Commodity on the Market'''] by Horatio Winslow |
''"Yet woman is the cheapest commodity on the market. You can buy ten women for the price of a good ruby."'' | ''"Yet woman is the cheapest commodity on the market. You can buy ten women for the price of a good ruby."'' | ||
| − | + | Winslow in this article addresses the worth of labor for both men and women and critiques the fact that women earn just enough to get by. | |
''"From these women will come the race of the future. According to their health and strength will be the health and strength of the next generation. Common sense ought to help us see that even if we lack the imagination to see in the degradation of women the degradation of the whole race."'' | ''"From these women will come the race of the future. According to their health and strength will be the health and strength of the next generation. Common sense ought to help us see that even if we lack the imagination to see in the degradation of women the degradation of the whole race."'' | ||
| − | + | Winslow is appalled by the fact that the labor force is seemingly expendable. If someone was not doing their job properly or efficiently, they could easily find someone else to bring in. In regards to women as well, they are making just enough to get by. This, however, to Winslow was unacceptable as the future of a generation depended on women. | |
| − | + | Winslow then goes on to beg several questions about women as well as the views of the workforce: | |
#Are women really seen as equal in society? ''"To be a woman in a modern capitalist society means to be the cheapest commodity on the market."'' | #Are women really seen as equal in society? ''"To be a woman in a modern capitalist society means to be the cheapest commodity on the market."'' | ||
#Is the life of a person in general really worth what we make of it? ''"A jewel is a fine thing, but so far, as a jewel serves no practical purpose, one human life is worth all the jewels of the world."'' | #Is the life of a person in general really worth what we make of it? ''"A jewel is a fine thing, but so far, as a jewel serves no practical purpose, one human life is worth all the jewels of the world."'' | ||
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#Will we be the shameful era for women's rights for not doing something about this injustice now? | #Will we be the shameful era for women's rights for not doing something about this injustice now? | ||
| − | At the beginning on the article, | + | At the beginning on the article, Winslow goes on to say that those that believe that women were equal to men during that time have been lied to by those who preach that they are. From there, he goes on to speak of the injustices of the labor force. ''"But if you want a human being's services you have only to hold up your hand and at once you will have a score of human beings to choose from. You don't even have to buy them. Each day you need pay them only what it will take to buy their food and lodging and if ever they become sick you have simply to throw them out and hire others in their place."'' Essentially, the gears that keep in the system are completely replaceable. Workers were seen as commodities rather than living beings. Winslow was appalled by the views of the labor force and was also stunned by how women were viewed as well. |
| − | ===Vol. | + | ===Vol. 3 No.2=== |
| − | [http:// | + | [http://dl.lib.brown.edu/jpegs/1361204715159167.jpg '''Anton Otto Fischer'''] |
| − | ''"The | + | ''"As it is, he will only fume and rage and say he will not do another thing for The Masses"''. |
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| + | Fischer was an political propaganda artist for ''The Masses'' and was heavily involved during the first volume of the magazine. His contributions after the first volume, however, were nonexistent. This is acknowledged in this issues "Who We Are and What We Are Doing" section. Fischer states his reason for leaving to a written letter saying: ''"'My Dear Piet: A happy New Year and Merry Xmas. But say, what silly rot are you up to now? I hope you are not going to drag me into that. If you do, I won't do another thing for The Masses. I don't like it."'' Fischer left the ''The Masses'' as he disagreed with where the publication was going. As a political propaganda artist, it seems odd for him to leave ''The Masses'' as the publication openly contradicted and criticized the government. His leaving, however, was due to the disagreement to the direction that the magazine was headed. | ||
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| + | ''The Masses'' saw Fischer's leaving as a him being over committed. ''"Today he is very much in demand; in fact, too much. They are overworking him. ''Scribner's Magazine'' ran four full pages of his paintings and three pages of sketches as a special feature. The ''Cosmopolitan'', the ''Saturday Evening Post'', ''Collier's'' and others are keeping him so busy that it is as much as your life is worth to try to get into his studio before dark."'' ''The Masses'' wanted the readers to believe that it was not due to their ideals that Fischer left. Rather the editors wanted the readers to believe that he left as Fischer himself was too busy to work on ''The Masses''. They deliberately attempted to cover up the fact that Fischer left as he disagreed with the direction of the magazine. | ||
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| + | ===Vol. 4 No. 1=== | ||
| + | [http://library.brown.edu/jpegs/1362683052976639.jpg '''Why the United States Must Adopt Socialism'''] by R.A. Dague | ||
| − | + | ''"'Crushing of the weak by the strong, he [Chancellor Andrews] says, is an eternal principle. Time will come, says the chancellor, when wrecks of humanity will be put out the world mercifully by skilled physicians just as Mr. Rockefeller terminated the existence of the weaker oil companies.'"'' | |
| − | ''" | + | In this article, Dague criticizes the way major corporations treat their employees. The system used by the heads of large corporations, ''"are working night and day to continue an industrial system founded on greed, under which the working people are cheated out of four-fifths of the value of their earnings, that a few Rockefellers, Carnegies, Morgans, and Baers may amass billions of wealth, not by honestly earning a single dollar of it, but by stock-watering and beating working-people down to starvation wages."'' In Dague's eyes, workers are exploited for their work. While the owners of these large companies are making unimaginable profits, their workers are barely making enough to survive. The workers are being worked into the ground, and once they can no longer work, they are being replaced. |
| + | ''"According to the the purported quotation form Prof. Andrews, it would seem that the Senate Committee overlooked the methods proposed for disposing of the worn-out old workers 'broken in spirit and wrecked in body.'"'' | ||
| − | + | Dague also accuses the government for not doing more to intervene in the injsutice that takes place. ''"'The government is bound in its own defense, for its citizenship, its life, to interpose between the strong and the weak. No man can meet obligations and discharge the duties of citizenship, in a free government who is broken in spirit and wrecked in body through such industrial peonage. It is just as much the government's duty to protect citizens from such outrageous treatment as from the burglar and highwayman."'' Dague does not believe that the government is looking out for the interests of the public. Rather, like the large corporations, they are looking for maximum profit. Dague appeals to the majority as his criticisms support the workers rather than the large corporations. He believes that the workers deserve more for what they do and that the government needs to do a better job of providing equality for the workers. | |
===Vol. 7 No. 1=== | ===Vol. 7 No. 1=== | ||
| − | [http://library.brown.edu/ | + | [http://library.brown.edu/cds/repository2/repoman.php?verb=render&id=1380037863570678&view=pageturner&pageno=12 '''Labor and the Future'''] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Pinchot Amos Pinchot] |
| − | "Confident in its isolation and ignorance, industrial absolutism not only says to the worker, "You toil and work and earn bread and I'll eat it; " it says, "You earn bread on my terms only and I'll eat it. And if you rebel I will use economic power, violence, law, the administration of justice—yes, and contempt of law and violation of justice, in order to reduce you to obedience." | + | ''"Confident in its isolation and ignorance, industrial absolutism not only says to the worker, "You toil and work and earn bread and I'll eat it; " it says, "You earn bread on my terms only and I'll eat it. And if you rebel I will use economic power, violence, law, the administration of justice—yes, and contempt of law and violation of justice, in order to reduce you to obedience."'' |
Pinot's article argues that industrial absolutism is a unfair to the working class and discusses the use of labor strikes to cure the United States from industrial absolutism. Industrial absolutism is in essence the belief that an employer has complete power over his or her employees and the employees must obey the employer. Pinot uses the example of strikes to check the power of the employer and eventually phase out industrial absolutism. | Pinot's article argues that industrial absolutism is a unfair to the working class and discusses the use of labor strikes to cure the United States from industrial absolutism. Industrial absolutism is in essence the belief that an employer has complete power over his or her employees and the employees must obey the employer. Pinot uses the example of strikes to check the power of the employer and eventually phase out industrial absolutism. | ||
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| − | '''Confession of a Suffrage Orator''' by Max Eastman | + | [http://library.brown.edu/cds/repository2/repoman.php?verb=render&id=1380037863570678&view=pageturner&pageno=7 '''Confession of a Suffrage Orator'''] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Eastman Max Eastman] |
''"Why to say that woman's sphere is the home after the census says it isn't, is like saying the earth is flat after a hundred thousand people have sailed round it!"'' | ''"Why to say that woman's sphere is the home after the census says it isn't, is like saying the earth is flat after a hundred thousand people have sailed round it!"'' | ||
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''"No woman is fit to bring children into this world until she knows to the full the rough actual character of the world into which she is bringing them. And she will never know that until we lift from her—in her own growing years—the repressive prejudice that expresses itself and maintains itself in refusing to make her a citizen."'' | ''"No woman is fit to bring children into this world until she knows to the full the rough actual character of the world into which she is bringing them. And she will never know that until we lift from her—in her own growing years—the repressive prejudice that expresses itself and maintains itself in refusing to make her a citizen."'' | ||
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| + | ===Vol. 9 No. 3=== | ||
| + | [http://library.brown.edu/jpegs/1380056207834360.jpg '''Aid and Comfort'''] by Eugene Wood | ||
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| + | ''"'Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason? | ||
| + | When it doth prosper, it is never treason.'"'' | ||
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| + | Wood writes about his irritations about a Mr. Eastman, who associates himself with the socialist party, and his recent support for Woodrow Wilson. ''"If you don't mind me saying it, Mr. Eastman, I feel pretty damn sore at the way you've acted."'' Wood goes on to say how he feels that he's been betrayed by Eastman due to his support of Wilson. Wood believes that the work he has done thus far is being thrown away by someone who he thought was an ally. Eastman has gone on to support the enemy. | ||
| + | ''"We who have kept the faith, if we're whom you mean by 'the keepers of the sacred dogmas,' we who have made some sacrifices, have ripped the lining out of our throats barking against noises on chilly street-corners, we who have got up Sunday mornings at 6 o'clock to distribute leaflets, we who have had bags of water thrown on us by people who cried:'Hooray for Wilson!' the same as you, Don't you think we have a right to be irritated?"'' | ||
===Vol. 9 No. 8=== | ===Vol. 9 No. 8=== | ||
| − | [http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1380112514234999.pdf '''Advertising Democracy'''] by Max Eastman | + | [http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1380112514234999.pdf '''Advertising Democracy'''] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Eastman Max Eastman] |
''"It is not a war for democracy. It did not originate in a dispute about democracy, and it is unlikely to terminate in a democratic settlement."'' | ''"It is not a war for democracy. It did not originate in a dispute about democracy, and it is unlikely to terminate in a democratic settlement."'' | ||
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Eastman also holds the U.S. accountable for conscription which he feels strips away the very democratic essence of U.S. involvement. He argues that it's insulting to force soldiers into a war meant to spread freedom: "Come, boys, get on your chains, we're going to fight for liberty!" | Eastman also holds the U.S. accountable for conscription which he feels strips away the very democratic essence of U.S. involvement. He argues that it's insulting to force soldiers into a war meant to spread freedom: "Come, boys, get on your chains, we're going to fight for liberty!" | ||
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| + | ===The Liberator Vol. 1 No. 2=== | ||
| + | [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1918/02/v1n02-apr-1918-liberator.pdf '''Tulsa, November 9th'''] | ||
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| + | In this article, an anonymous writer sends a letter into The Liberator to be published. The letter tells the story of the Tulsa Outrage from the eyes of a victim. Sixteen men involved with the I.W.W. were rounded up by the police, put on trial, and found guilty of not owning war bonds. They were fined $100, then turned over to the Knights of Liberty (part of the KKK), who whipped, tarred, and feathered them, warning them to never return to Tulsa. | ||
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| + | These men weren't actually being convicted of not owning war bonds. Their true crime was organizing and demanding better wages, thereby harming the war effort. These men were punished for resisting oppressive capitalism. Below the letter, Max Eastman includes excerpts from the Tulsa Daily World: | ||
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| + | ''"Any man who attempts to stop the supply for one-hundredth part of a second is a traitor and ought to be shot!"'' | ||
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| + | ''"...The first step in the whipping of Germany is to strangle the 1. W. W:s. Kill them, just as you would kill any other kind of a snake. Don't scotch 'em; kill 'em. And kill 'em dead..."'' | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== | ||
| − | ''"The Masses"'', an journal of the early twentieth century, was highly controversial. Its strong writing in favor of socialism served as a threat to American capitalists. Although it was an anti-war article that ultimately resulted in the magazine's discontinuation, that was simply the final straw. The United States prides itself on freedoms of speech and the press. But criticizing the war in a time when national unity is needed, qualifies as "treasonable material." It was not a single issue that got ''"The Masses"'' off the presses, but rather nearly a decade of dangerous material in the eyes of the government. | + | ''"The Masses"'', an journal of the early twentieth century, was highly controversial. Its strong writing in favor of socialism served as a threat to American capitalists, especially during the "red scare" during the First World War. Although it was an anti-war article that ultimately resulted in the magazine's discontinuation, that was simply the final straw. The United States prides itself on freedoms of speech and the press. But criticizing the war in a time when national unity is needed, qualifies as "treasonable material." It was not a single issue that got ''"The Masses"'' off the presses, but rather nearly a decade of dangerous material in the eyes of the government. |
==Resources== | ==Resources== | ||
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| − | + | [http://www.historynet.com/womens-suffrage-movement Women's Suffrage Movement] History Net Web. 07 Mar. 2017 | |
| − | [http://www.historynet.com/womens-suffrage-movement | + | |
| + | The Marxists.org archive of [https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/ '''The Liberator'''] | ||
