Non-English press of the Communist Party USA

During the nine decades since its establishment in 1919, the Communist Party USA produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in at least 25 different languages. This list of the non-English press of the Communist Party USA provides basic information on each title, along with links to pages dealing with specific publications in greater depth.

Non-English press

Armenian

Panvor (The Worker) (1921–1938) — Daily organ of the Armenian Workers Party and later the Armenian Communist Party, published in New York City. The publication, which resembled a magazine in form and content, published news from Soviet Armenia, theoretical material, and serialized translations of politically oriented fiction.Robert Mirak, "Armenians," in Dirk Hoerder with Christiane Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: Volume 2: Migrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987; pp. 532-533. Only a handful of issues have survived in the United States. Lraper (The Herald) (1938-June 1990) — Successor to Panyor, initially published in New York City three times a week, before being reduced to two issues a week in 1964 and to a weekly publication cycle in 1967.Mirak, "Armenians," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pp. 531. The paper was issued by the Armenian Progressive League of America and its affiliated social-benefit society, the Armenian Assistance Committee and moved its production to Los Angeles in 1979. Throughout its existence, Lraper provided news from Soviet Armenia and included works of Marxist theory as well as national news of the Armenian-American community. Proletar (The Proletarian) (1924-1926) — Short-lived 4-page weekly newspaper published in New York City.Solon DeLeon and Nathan Fine (eds.), American Labor Press Directory. New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1925; pg. 21. Claimed circulation in 1924 was 1,100 copies.

Bulgarian

Suznanie (Consciousness) (December 1923 – 1937) — Weekly newspaper published in Chicago by the Bulgarian Section of the Workers Party of America. The initial editor of the paper was Georgi Radulov, who was succeeded in 1924 by Todor Tsekov, who continued at the helm until 1931.Nikolay G. Altankov, "Bulgarians," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pg. 460. At the 4th National Convention of the Workers (Communist) Party, held in Chicago in August 1925, the circulation of the paper was claimed at 1900 copies. Publication of the paper later moved to Detroit, Michigan. Some copies of the paper exist in Bulgaria but there are no known repositories in North America.

Croatian

Glas Komunista (Communist Voice) (1919) — Short-lived Croatian-language newspaper which was published in Chicago in the fall of 1919 as the official organ of Yugoslav adherents of the Communist Party of America. Only one issue is known, dated November 1, 1919.Ivan Čizmić, "Yugoslavians," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pg. 416. Komunista (1921-1922?) — According to Official Bulletin No. 2 of the unified Communist Party of America, a Croatian-language edition of the official organ of the party, The Communist, was "expected" to be provided by the party's South Slavic Federation Language Bureau beginning in the second half of 1921."Language Federations," Official Bulletin of the Communist Party of America (Section of the Communist International), No. 2 (circa Aug. 15, 1921), pg. 6. Radnik (The Worker) (July 1922 – September 1935) — In 1922 a split erupted in the South Slavic Federation of the Socialist Labor Party of America, with Communist dissidents leaving that organization and its newspaper, Znanje, to join the new "legal" Workers Party of America. The group established their own publication, Radnik, publishing it as a weekly in Chicago.Čizmić, "Yugoslavians," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pp. 427-428. The paper later went to daily status before returning to a weekly publication cycle. In 1923, the publication's first editors were replaced by Leo Fisher. Glas Radnika (Workers' Voice) (September 1935 – 1936) — Chicago weekly which continued Radnik following the reorganization of the South Slavic section of the Communist Party USA and the establishment of an explicitly Croatian section in 1935.Čizmić, "Yugoslavians," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pg. 417. Radnički Glasnik (Workers' Herald) (September 1936 – December 1940) — After the conclusion of the 1st Conference of Croatian Communists in Chicago in May 1936, Glas Radnika was made the official organ of the Croatian Section of the CPUSA and the name was changed to Radnički Glasnik. The paper continued to be published in Chicago on a weekly basis, with F. Borić at the editorial helm.Čizmić, "Yugoslavians," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pg. 426. Narodni Glasnik (People's Herald) (December 1940 – August 1973) — In December 1940, Radnički Glasnik changed its name, although its basic political line remained unaltered. During World War II the renamed paper supported the American war effort at home and Josip Broz Tito in Yugoslavia, although when push came to shove following the Stalin-Tito break of 1948, the Narodni Glasnik sided with the Soviet Union rather than with the national communist Yugoslav regime headed by the Croatian Tito. Following the rapprochement between the two countries in the Khrushchev period, the paper softened its critique of communist Yugoslavia accordingly. Editor of the paper was F. Borić, later succeeded by Leo Fisher, who remained in charge until the end of the publication in the summer of 1973. Narodni Zajedničar (People's Fraternalist) (1939) — Short-lived Pittsburgh publication launched by Croatian communists who were members of the Croatian Fraternal Union, which had been publishing Zajedničar. No surviving copies known to exist.

Czech

Obrana (Defense) (November 1910 – 1938) — Weekly newspaper launched in New York City by the Czech Socialist Section of the Central Labor Union. The publication moved to the left after the 1917 Russian Revolution and sided with the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party during the factional war of 1919 which resulted in the formation of the American communist movement.František Bielek, "Czechs," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pp. 250-251. The paper was produced in the interim by the "Independent Czechoslovak Marxist Federation," with this group later joining the Communist Party. In 1924 Obrana proclaimed itself the official publication of the Czechoslovak Section of the Workers Party of America. Circulation as of that date was approximately 4,000 copies. The paper moved from weekly to daily status in 1934. Publication was terminated in 1938. An annual yearbook called Dělník (The Worker) was also produced.

Danish

Fremad (Forward) (1935) — In February 1935, the Scandinavian Educational Publishing Company in New York City, publisher of the Ny Tid Norwegian-Danish Edition, decided to make that an exclusively Norwegian paper. A Danish-language monthly called Fremad was launched for the Danish readers effected by the decision to move to linguistic homogeneity. The Danish paper was apparently terminated after only a few months; no copies are known to have survived.Jens Bjerre Danielsen, "Danes," in Dirk Hoerder with Christiane Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: Volume 1: Migrants from Southern and Western Europe. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987; pg. 131.

Estonian

Uus Ilm (New World) (January 1909-1980s?) — Uus Ilm, one of the longest-running radical publications in the United States, was launched as a weekly in New York city by the Central Committee of the American-Estonian Socialist Association.Dirk Hoerder, "Estonians," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 2, pp. 222-223. The paper moved to the left after the 1917 Russian Revolution and was the organ of Estonian-speaking communists in America from the 1920s.

Finnish

Työmies (The Worker) (July 1903 – August 1950) — The granddaddy of the Finnish-American radical press was Työmies, established in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1903 as Amerikan Suomalainen Työmies (The Finnish-American Worker). In June 1904 the publication was moved to the small town of Hancock, located in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The paper remained in that location for a decade before moving to the comparative metropolis of Superior, Wisconsin, a virtual twin city of Duluth, Minnesota. From its earliest days, Työmies was a Marxist publication, significantly more radical than its East Coast counterpart established in January 1905, Raivaaja (The Pioneer).Auvo Kostiainen, "Finns," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 1, pp. 234-235. The paper briefly published an English-language paper called Wage Slave, and was the source of a number of annual magazines in the Finnish language. During its Communist Party phase, which began in about 1920, the circulation of the daily fluctuated in the range of 13,000 to 15,000 copies, declining to around 5,000 in 1950, at which time it was consolidated with the CPUSA's East Coast Finnish-language newspaper, Eteenpäin, to form Työmies-Eteenpäin (see below). Toveri (The Comrade) (December 1907 – February 1931) — Toveri hailed from the isolated coastal town of Astoria, Oregon, one of two major radical publications produced there by the tightly knit community of "Red Finns" there. The decision of the Finnish Socialist Federation to divide the itself into three districts gave impetus to Finnish-American socialists to launch a newspaper of their own to serve as the voice of the Federation's Western District. In June 1907 a referendum of the Finnish Socialist locals of the West decided to establish a paper for the district and a temporary board of directors was established in Astoria.Paul George Hummasti, Finnish Radicals in Astoria, Oregon, 1904-1940: A Study in Immigrant Socialism. New York: Arno Press, 1979; pg. 40. The venture was capitalized in July through the offer of $5,000 worth of stock at $10 a share. When half of this amount was sold by October, the new holding company, the Western Workmen's Co-operative Publishing Company, was cleared to begin operations. The first issue of the new paper, named Toveri ("The Comrade") appeared on December 7, 1907, under the editorship of Aku Rissanen, formerly on the editorial staff of the Massachusetts Finnish-language socialist newspaper, Raivaaja.Hummasti, Finnish Radicals in Astoria, Oregon, 1904-1940, pg. 41. Although planned as a bi-weekly, the paper was impacted by an emerging economic crisis and appeared only irregularly during its first year.Hummasti, Finnish Radicals in Astoria, Oregon, 1904-1940, pg. 42. The paper moved to daily status in 1912. In 1920, the paper's editorial line moved from the Socialist Party camp to a position favoring revolutionary socialism, and the paper soon evolved into a Communist Party organ, which it followed up to its demise.Kostiainen, "Finns," in Hoerder with Harzig (eds.), The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s, vol. 1, pp. 231-232. Toveri generally consisted of six pages and included sections for farmers and women, as well as material in English, and it was supported by local advertisers. The printing presses of Toveri were shipped to Soviet Karelia following the paper's closure in 1931.