The Masses

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”, (new stuff) but how effective was the ban on The Masses? Did the government succeed in silencing these writers and stomping out the socialist movement?

(WIP) 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.

[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1354919808797629.pdf '''The Cheapest Commodity on the Market'''] by A.O. Fischer 

Fischer 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.

Fischer 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 Fischer was unacceptable as the future of a generation depended on women.  

Fischer then goes on to beg several questions about women as well as the views of the workforce:  

At the beginning on the article, Fischer 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. Fischer was appalled by the views of the labor force and was also stunned by how women were viewed as well.

[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1362683171490042.pdf '''Why the United States Must Adopt Socialism'''] by R.A. Dague

''"The annual report of the Steel Trust for December 31, 1911, shows that last year it made net profits of $142,000,000 or a profit of $700 on each employee."''

For Karl Marx, exploitation is unpaid wages. By this definition, any member of the working-class whose company realizes a profit is exploited. Dague finds this appalling, and uses the factoid to suggest why socialism is necessary for the United States. He continues, ''"The U.S. Senate Labor and Education Committee recently in its official report denounced the United States Steel Corporation as a "brutal system of industrial slavery.""'' Strong rhetoric of slavery via exploitation is reminiscent of the slavery of fifty years prior... It took over a century to free slaves from Africa. Will Dague tolerate taking that long to solve exploitation in the industrial era?

''"Socialism is a systematic, well-thought-out system of Industrialism, which will meet the requirements of the new era coming. It will stop stock-watering and "industrial peonage," and the crushing of the weak by the strong. It will furnish employment to all the unemployed. It will abolish strikes and blacklisting and dynamiting and war. It will take children out of the mills and shops and put them in school; it will make comfortable the aged, not by chloroforming them, but pensioning them.''"

 

While these all sound like great things, and appeal to the masses, how will socialism result in such change? Dague provides empty claims that preach to the choir that is ''The Masses''. In fact, Dague seems to gather his persuasion from the ethos that comes from shaming both the system of capitalism, and the capitalists themselves. Dague's logos, in this piece at least, is lacking.

[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1380038297735042.pdf '''Labor and the Future'''] by Amos Pinchot

'''Confession of a Suffrage Orator''' by Max Eastman (Links)

[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1380112514234999.pdf '''Advertising Democracy'''] by Max Eastman

''"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.

[http://www.historynet.com/womens-suffrage-movement '''Woman's Suffrage Movement'''] History Net Web. 07 Mar. 2017