''Labor Defender '' (1926–1937) was a magazine published by the

International Labor Defense The International Labor Defense (ILD) (1925–1947) was a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 in the United States as the American section of the Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was acti ...

(ILD), itself a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 as the American section of the

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

International Red Aid International Red Aid (also commonly known by its Russian acronym MOPR ( ru , МОПР, for: ''Междунаро́дная организа́ция по́мощи борца́м револю́ции'' - Mezhdunarodnaya organizatsiya pomoshchi bor ...

network and thus as support to the Communist Party (which in 1926 was legally 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 the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation fro ...

History

In January 1926, the ILD began publishing ''Labor Defender,'' as a monthly, profusely illustrated magazine with a low cover price of 10 cents. Magazine circulation boomed. It rose from some 1,500 paid subscriptions and 8,500 copies in bulk bundle sales in 1927, to some 5,500 paid subscriptions with a bundle sale of 16,500 by mid-1928. This mid-1928 circulation figure was said by Assistant Secretary Marty Abern to be "greater than the combined circulation of ''

The Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

,'' ''

Labor Unity The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labo ...

,'' and '' The Communist'' combined."

Outlook

''Labor Defender'' depicted a black-and-white world of heroic trade unionists and dastardly factory owners, of oppressed African Americans struggling for freedom against the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Ca ...

and the use of state terror to stifle and divide and destroy all opposition.Milton Cantor, "Labor Defender: Chicago and New York, 1926-1937; Equal Justice: New York, 1937-1942," in Joseph R. Conlin (ed.), ''The American Radical Press, 1880-1960: Volume 1.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974; pg. 250. Writers included both non-party voices such as novelist

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in sever ...

, former Wobbly poet

Ralph Chaplin Ralph Hosea Chaplin (1887–1961) was an American writer, artist and labor activist. At the age of seven, he saw a worker shot dead during the Pullman Strike in Chicago, Illinois. He had moved with his family from Ames, Kansas to Chicago in ...

, and Socialist Party leader

Eugene V. Debs Eugene Victor "Gene" Debs (November 5, 1855 – October 20, 1926) was an American socialist, political activist, trade unionist, one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and five times the candidate of the Soc ...

, as well as prominent Communists such as trade union leader

William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a radical American labor organizer and Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1945 to 1957. He was previ ...

, cartoonist

Robert Minor Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor (15 July 1884 – 26 January 1952), alternatively known as "Fighting Bob," was a political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and, beginning in 1920, a leading member of the American Communist Party. Background Robe ...

, and

Benjamin Gitlow Benjamin Gitlow (December 22, 1891 – July 19, 1965) was a prominent American socialist politician of the early 20th century and a founding member of the Communist Party USA. During the end of the 1930s, Gitlow turned to conservatism and wrote tw ...

, a former political prisoner in New York. The magazine made a constant plea for additional funds for jailed labor activists across the country. A regular column called "Voices from Prison" highlighted the plight of those behind bars and reinforced the message that good work was being done on the behalf of the so-called "class war prisoners" of America.Cantor, "Labor Defender...Equal Justice," pg. 253.

Masthead

The magazine's masthead included:

1926

January–August 1926 * Editor: T. J. O' Flaherty * Business: George Maurer * National Officers: Andrew T. McNamara (Chairman), Edward C. Wentworth (Vice Chairman),

James P. Cannon James Patrick Cannon (February 11, 1890 – August 21, 1974) was an American Trotskyist and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party. Born on February 11, 1890, in Rosedale, Kansas, the son of Irish immigrants with strong socialist convictio ...

(Executive Secretary) September–December 1926 * Editor:

Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginning ...

* Business: George Maurer * National Officers: Andrew T. McNamara (Chairman), Edward C. Wentworth (Vice Chairman),

(Executive Secretary)

1927

* Editor:

* Business: George Maurer * National Officers:

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (August 7, 1890 – September 5, 1964) was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Unio ...

(Chairman), Edward C. Wentworth (Vice Chairman),

(Executive Secretary)

1928

January–November 1928 * Editor:

* Business: George Maurer * National Officers:

(Chairman), Edward C. Wentworth (Vice Chairman),

(Executive Secretary) December 1928 * Editor:

Karl Reeve Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austr ...

* Business: George Maurer * National Officers:

(Chairman), Norman T. Tallentire (Assistant Secretary),

Alfred Wagenknecht Alfred Wagenknecht (August 15, 1881 – August 26, 1956) was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remembered for having played a critical role in the establishment of the American Communist Party in 1919 as a leader ...

(Executive Secretary)

1929

January–April 1929 * Editor:

* Business: George Maurer * National Officers:

(Chairman), Norman T. Tallentire (Assistant Secretary),

(Executive Secretary) May–June 1929 * Editor:

* Business:

Walt Carmon Walt Carmon (1894–1968) was a magazine editor and writer best known for his years as managing editor of the Communist magazine the ''New Masses'' from 1929 to 1932. He also worked for a number of other magazines in smaller roles, which contributed ...

* National Officers:

(Chairman), Edward G. Wentworth (Vice Chairman), Juliet Poyntz (Executive Secretary),

Carl Kacker Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

(Assistant Secretary) July–August 1929 * Editor:

* Business:

* National Officers:

(Chairman), Edward G. Wentworth (Vice Chairman),

(Executive Secretary) September–December 1929 * Editor:

J. Louis Engdahl John Louis Engdahl (November 11, 1884 – November 21, 1932) was an American socialist journalist and newspaper editor. One of the leading journalists of the Socialist Party of America, Engdahl joined the Communist movement in 1921 and continued ...

* National Officers:

(Chairman), Edward G. Wentworth (Vice Chairman),

(Executive Secretary)

1930

January–February 1930 * Editor:

* National Officers:

(Chairman), Edward G. Wentworth (Vice Chairman),

(Executive Secretary) March–June 1930 * Editor:

* Associate Editor: Sol Auerbach * National Officers:

(General Secretary),

George Maurer George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Preside ...

(Assistant Secretary), A. Jakira (Organizational Secretary) July–December 1930 * Editor:

* Associate Editor: Sol Auerbach * National Officers:

(General Secretary),

Sam Darcy Samuel Adams Darcy (born Samuel Dardeck , as known as "Sam Darcy," 1905 – November 8, 2005) was an American political activist who was a prominent Communist leader in both New York and California. While active in the organization of New York Ci ...

(Assistant Secretary), A. Jakira (Organizational Secretary)

1931

* Managing Editor: Sender Garlin * Editors:

William L. Patterson William Lorenzo Patterson (August 27, 1891 – March 5, 1980) was an African-American leader in the Communist Party USA and head of the International Labor Defense, a group that offered legal representation to communists, trade unionists, and ...

, Sasha Small * Associate Editor: Sol Auerbach

1932

January–September 1932 * Editors:

, Sender Garlin, Joseph North October–December 1932 * Editors:

, Joseph North * Associate Editors:

Louis Colman Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

, Sasha Small

1933

* Editors:

, Joseph North * Associate Editors:

, Sasha Small

1934

January 1934 * Managing Editor: Sender Garlin * Editors:

, Sasha Small February–December 1934 * Managing Editor: Sender Garlin * Editors:

, Sasha Small * Associate Editor:

1935

January–June 1935 * Managing Editor: Nichola Wirth * Editors:

, Sasha Small * Associate Editor:

* Art Editor: Limbach July–December 1935 * Editors:

, Sasha Small * Associate Editor:

1936

January–March 1936 * Editors:

, Sasha Small * Associate Editor:

April–May 1936 * Editor: Sasha Small * Pacific Coast Editor:

* Editorial Board:

Nathan Asch Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

Anna Damon Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

, Joseph Freeman,

Jerre Mangione Gerlando Mangione (March 20, 1909 – August 16, 1998) was an American writer and scholar of the Sicilian-American experience. Early life and education Mangione was born to Gaspare and Josephine Mangione (Polizzi) in Rochester, New York. His pa ...

, Maurice Rosenfield, Walter Wilson * Contributing Editors:

Jack Conroy John Wesley Conroy (December 5, 1899 - February 28, 1990) was a leftist American writer,"Jack Conroy." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 29 Oct. 2009, also known as a Worker-Writer,AP, . "Jack Conroy, Novelist, 91." ...

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, H ...

John Howard Lawson John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 – August 11, 1977) was an American writer, specializing in plays and screenplays. After starting with plays for theaters in New York City, he worked in Hollywood on writing for films. He was the first pres ...

Waldo Frank Waldo David Frank (August 25, 1889 – January 9, 1967) was an American novelist, historian, political activist, and literary critic, who wrote extensively for ''The New Yorker'' and ''The New Republic'' during the 1920s and 1930s. Frank is best ...

June–December 1936 * Editor: Sasha Small * Pacific Coast Editor: Chester Arthor, Jr. * Editorial Board:

, Joseph Freeman,

, Maurice Rosenfield, Walter Wilson * Contributing Editors:

1937

* Editor: Sasha Small * Pacific Coast Editor: Chester Arthor, Jr. * Editorial Board:

, Joseph Freeman,

, Maurice Rosenfield, Walter Wilson * Contributing Editors:

Pamphlet series

The magazine also published occasional pamphlets: * ''Under Arrest! Worker’s Self-Defense in the Courts'' (1928) * ''Smash the Frame up Against the Anthracite Miners—Free Boniat, Mendola and Moleski'' by B. F. Gebert (1928) * ''Sedition to Protest and Organize Against War Hunger Unemployment'' by J. L. Engdahl (1930) * ''The Story of the Imperial Valley'' by Frank Spector (introduction by John Dos Pasos) (1931) * ''Tampa’s Reign of Terror'' by

Anita Brenner Anita Brenner (born Hanna Brenner; 13 August 1905 – 1 December 1974) was a transnational Jewish scholar and intellectual, who wrote extensively in English about the art, culture, and history of Mexico. She was born in Mexico, raised and educa ...

and S. S. Windthrop (1933) * ''Night Riders in Gallup'' by

(1935) * ''You Cannot Kill the Working-Class'' by

Angelo Herndon Angelo Braxton Herndon (May 6, 1913 in Wyoming, Ohio – December 9, 1997 in Sweet Home, Arkansas) was an African-American labor organizer arrested and convicted of insurrection after attempting to organize black and white industrial workers in 1 ...

(1936)

References

External sources

*
WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labor Defender Communist periodicals published in the United States Communist magazines Defunct political magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1926 Magazines disestablished in 1937 Magazines published in New York City Marxist magazines Monthly magazines published in the United States