International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City, specializing in

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

works of

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Company history

Establishment

International Publishers Company, Inc., was founded in 1924 with funds given the project by Abraham A. Heller. Heller was the radical son of a wealthy jeweler doing business in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

.Trachtenberg, Testimony to the House Special Committee, September 13, 1939, pg. 4882. He expanded his fortune as head of the International Oxygen Company, a

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, primarily by using high temperature to melting, melt the parts together and allow them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Co ...

supply company that operated a trade concession in Soviet Russia during the time of the

New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...

in the early 1920s. A lifelong socialist, Heller had previously been a heavy financial donor to the '' New York Call,'' the Socialist Party's New York daily newspaper. He had been instrumental in funding the purchase of the headquarters building for the Rand School of Social Science. The company began with a capital stock of $50,000, paid in by Heller, with the stock subsequently split with Trachtenberg as compensation.Special Committee on Un-American Activities, US House of Representatives, ''Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States: Appendix — Part IX, Second Section.'' Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1944; pg. 847. Alexander Trachtenberg, a left wing member of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

associated with the Rand School of Social Science and its publishing house, who joined the Communist movement at the end of 1921, served as manager of International Publishers from its inception through the 1940s. The law firm for incorporating International Publishers was Hays, St. John & Buckley of 43 Exchange Place, whose partners included Arthur Garfield Hays. According to testimony before the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

by Trachtenberg, in addition to his initial $50,000 investment, Heller continually made up losses incurred by International Publishers during its first 15 years. Over that period, his investment climbed to a total of some $115,000. The idea of forming International Publishers seems to have come from Heller and Trachtenberg. Initial assistance came from the Communist Party (then the

Workers Party of America The Workers Party of America (WPA) was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from December 1921 until the middle of 1929. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation from indep ...

), limited to supplying advice and addresses of radical bookstores around America.Nicholas Dozenberg
"Establishing International Publishers,"
letter to Alexander Trachtenberg, June 19, 1924. Corvallis, OR: 1000 Flowers Publishers, 2010. In a letter dated June 1924 from the party's head Literature Department, Nicholas Dozenberg cautioned Trachtenberg that Charles H. Kerr & Co. of Chicago had already published many standard titles by

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

, thus limiting the prospects of successful new editions of the same works. Instead, Dozenberg encouraged Trachtenberg to concentrate on "books not yet published in English written by popular Russian writers like

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, Zinoviev,

Radek Radek is a masculine Christian name of Slavic origin. It is often nickname of Radovan, Ctirad and Radoslav. It is used as a surname and given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Radek Baborák, Czech conductor and French ...

, and others."

Development

In the fall of 1935, International Publishers launched a new program called the " Book Union". This was a radical book-buying circle, modeled on the

Book of the Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members ch ...

.Special Committee on Un-American Activities, ''Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activity in the United States: Appendix — Part IX, First Section.'' Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1944; pp. 588-591. The Book Union first offered an anthology entitled ''Proletarian Literature in the United States'', nearly 400 pages long and edited by current or future editors of '' The New Masses'':

Michael Gold Michael Gold (April 12, 1893 – May 14, 1967) was the pen-name of Jewish-American writer Itzhok Isaak Granich. A lifelong communist, Gold was a novelist, journalist, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, playwright, and literary critic. His semi ...

, Granville Hicks, Joseph North, and others. The Book Union collected a $1 annual fee from its members, who then received a discounted volume in the mail each month. The Book Union obliged members to buy 2 of 12 selections during the year. Purchase of four books in a year entitled members to a bonus premium. Despite its aggressively low pricing, the Book Union proved less successful than the

Left Book Club The Left Book Club is a publishing group that exerted a strong left-wing influence in Great Britain, during its initial run, from 1936 to 1948. It was relaunched in 2015 by Jan Woolf and Neil Faulkner, in collaboration with Pluto Press. Pionee ...

operated by

Victor Gollancz Ltd Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, an ...

in England and seems to have been terminated after just a few years.

1939 Dies Committee

On September 13, 1939, International Publishers Secretary and Treasurer Alexander Trachtenberg was called before the so-called Dies Committee of the US House of Representatives, the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities. Committee members grilled Tractenberg on his own history, the sources of funding behind International Publishers, and the company's relationship to the Communist Party. Trachtenberg characterized the relationship of International Publishers to the Communist Party as merely one of "buyer and seller." Trachtenberg indicated that International Publishers did not own presses but used the services of a company called Van Rees Press on a contract basis. The firm also exchanged printed sheets for publication with its British sister organization, Lawrence & Wishart, and bought sheets for binding from the forerunner of the official Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow. He estimated that some 10% of International Publishers' books had made use of such sources but that a lowering of

duty A duty (from "due" meaning "that which is owing"; , past participle of ; , whence "debt") is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, e ...

rates on bound books had largely eliminated the economy of importing unbound sheets. Trachtenberg estimated annual sales by International Publishers at $75,000 to $80,000. He noted that the company had a staff of four.

Recent years

During the 1960s and 1970s, International expanded its publication of inexpensive trade paperback books under the title "New World Paperbacks". A number of titles bore this as an alternative company logo.

Important publications

International Publishers has been party to the publication of a number of titles of lasting scholarly importance. During the 1920s, International Publishers produced the first English-language editions of important works on Marxist theory by

Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian Marxism, Marxist theorist. A leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International, Kautsky advocated orthodox Marxism, a ...

(''Foundations of Christianity,'' 1925; ''Are the Jews a Race?'' 1926; ''Thomas More and His Utopia,'' 1927),

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

(''Literature and Revolution,'' 1925; ''Wither England?'' 1925; ''Wither Russia?'' 1926),

Nikolai Bukharin Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...

(''Historical Materialism,'' 1925, ''The Economic Theory of the Leisure Class,'' 1927; ''Imperialism and World Economy,'' 1929); and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

(''Leninism,'' 1928). International Publishers worked in conjunction with the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

on three separate publishing initiatives involving the works of

V.I. Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

: an aborted ''Collected Works'' project begun in 1927; a 12-volume ''Selected Works'' project issued 1934-1938 in green bindings; and a revised, 12-volume ''Selected Works'' edition published in blue bindings in 1943. International also joined with the Communist Party of Great Britain's publishing house, Lawrence and Wishart and

Progress Publishers Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet Union, Soviet publisher founded in 1931. Publishing program Progress Publishers published books in a variety of languages: Russian, English, and many other European and Asian languages. They issued ma ...

(Moscow) to publish the massive, 50-volume ''Collected Works'' of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, a project launched in 1975 and completed only in 2004.Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
''Collected Works.''
In 50 volumes. New York: International Publishers, 1975-2004. International Publishers was an early reissuer of John Reed's legendary chronicle of the Russian Revolution, '' Ten Days That Shook the World.'' Originally published by

Boni & Liveright Boni & Liveright (pronounced "BONE-eye" and "LIV-right") is an American trade book publisher established in 1917 in New York City by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. Over the next sixteen years the firm, which changed its name to Horace Liv ...

in 1919, an International Publishers edition came out in 1926 and — except for a time during the reign of

, when the book fell out of official favor — it has been a mainstay of the publishing house's catalog ever since. International Publishers has also published a considerable number of memoir accounts by leading Communist Party participants, including those of William "Big Bill" Haywood (1929),

Nadezhda Krupskaya Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya ( rus, links=no, Надежда Константиновна Крупская, p=nɐˈdʲeʐdə kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvnə ˈkrupskəjə; – 27 February 1939) was a Russian revolutionary, politician and politic ...

(1930), William Z. Foster (two volumes, 1937 and 1930), Ella Reeve Bloor (1940), Joseph North (1958), W.E.B. Du Bois (1968), Benjamin J. Davis (1969), John Williamson (1969), William L. Patterson (1971), Hosea Hudson (1972), Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (reissue, 1973), Art Shields (two volumes, 1983 and 1986), Gil Green (1984) and

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...

(paperback reissue, 1988). International Publishers was also a frequent publisher of prolific labor historian Philip S. Foner and published his landmark, 10-volume ''History of the Labor Movement in the United States'' (1947–1994) as well as his massive five-volume collection ''The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass'' (1950–1975). The company also published the work of Herbert Aptheker, a historian specializing in

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

history.

Partial roster of authors

* Herbert Aptheker *

Anthony Bimba Antanas "Anthony" Bimba Jr. (1894–1982) was a Lithuanians, Lithuanian-born American newspaper editor, historian, and radical political activist. An editor of a number of Lithuanian Marxism, Marxist periodicals published in the United States, Bim ...

* Earl Browder * Alice Childress *

* Horace B. Davis * W.E.B. Du Bois * Robert W. Dunn * Frederick Engels * Vera Figner * Sidney Finkelstein * Elizabeth Gurley Flynn * Philip S. Foner * William Z. Foster *

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , ; ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosophy, Marxist philosopher, Linguistics, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, Political philosophy, political the ...

* Gus Hall * Jack Hardy * Grace Hutchins * V. I. Lenin *

* Scott Nearing * Victor Perlo * William J. Pomeroy * Mike Quin * John Reed * Anna Rochester *

* Charlotte Todes *

Alden Whitman Alden Rogers Whitman (October 27, 1913 – September 4, 1990) was an American journalist who served as chief obituary writer for ''The New York Times'' from 1964 to 1976. In that role, he pioneered a more vivid, biographical approach to obituaries ...

* Henry Winston

References

External links

International Publishers website
Intpubnyc.com, New York City. Retrieved August 22, 2010. * Adrien Hilton

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, New York City. Retrieved August 23, 2010. * Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/internationalpublishers/timeline {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Communist Party USA Mass media companies based in New York City Political book publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1924 Soviet Union–United States relations