''Morgen Freiheit'' (original title: ; English: ''Morning Freedom'') was a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based daily

Yiddish language Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

newspaper affiliated with the

Communist Party, USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

, founded by

Moissaye Olgin Moissaye Joseph Olgin (24 March 1878 – 22 November 1939) was a Ukrainian-born writer, journalist, and translator in the early 20th century. He began his career writing for the Jewish press in support of the Russian Revolution in 1910. During th ...

in 1922. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the paper's pro-Israel views brought it into disfavor with the Communist Party, and its editor

Paul Novick Pesakh "Paul" Novick (7 September 1891 – 21 August 1989) was a radical Jewish-American journalist, political commentator, and editor. Novick is best remembered as the long time editor-in-chief of the Communist Party Yiddish-language daily ''Morg ...

was expelled from the organization. The paper closed in 1988.

Institutional history

Establishment

The ''Freiheit'' was established in 1922 as a self-described "Communistic fighting newspaper" in the Yiddish language.Henry Felix Srebrnik, ''Dreams of Nationhood: American Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project, 1924-1951.'' Brighton, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2010; pg. 2. The paper's chief goals included the promotion of the Jewish labor movement, the defense of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the advancement of

proletarian culture Working-class culture or proletarian culture is a range of cultures created by or popular among working-class people. The cultures can be contrasted with high culture and folk culture, and are often equated with popular culture and low culture (t ...

, and the defeat of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

in America.

Development

By 1925, the press run of the ''Freiheit'' grew to 22,000 copies per issue, making it the largest of nine daily newspapers in the United States affiliated with the American Communist Party. ''The Morning Freiheit''/''Morgen Freiheit'' in its time was one of the most prominent Yiddish newspapers published in the United States, and the showcase of left socialist artists and writers both Jewish and non-Jewish, Zionist and internationalist. Among the writers to appear in its pages was

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 ...

, the author of the novel '' Jews Without Money''. The newspaper made political contributions related to the formation of the

International Fur and Leather Workers Union The International Fur and Leather Workers Union (IFLWU), was a labor union that represented workers in the fur and leather trades. History The IFLWU was founded in 1913 and affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Radical union ...

, as well as many of the needle trades unions in the United States, including the Amalgamated Clothing Workers union, and perhaps the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of Labor unions in the United States, unions that organized workers in industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in ...

(which later merged with the

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

as the

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

). Following Moissaye Olgin's sudden death in November 1939, the ''Freiheit'' was headed by Paul Novick (1891-1989), a journalist born in

Brest-Litovsk Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk and Brest-on-the-Bug, is a city in south-western Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the Polish town of Terespol, where the Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a border town. It serves as the admini ...

who had first come to America in 1913.Srebrnik, ''Dreams of Nationhood,'' pg. 16. Novick had been associated with the publication from its foundation in 1922 and was active in the ICOR, the American Committee of Jewish Writers, Artists and Scientists, and other Communist Party-sponsored mass organizations.

Associate Editor

Shachno Epstein (1881-1945)

Writers

People who wrote for or served on the staff of ''Morgen Freiheit'' included: *

Melech Epstein Melech Epstein (, 1889–1979) was an American journalist and historian. His two most famous books, ''Jewish labor in U.S.A.'' and ''The Jew and communism'' are considered standard works. Early life Epstein was born in Ruzhany, Grodno Gubern ...

Mike 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 se ...

Yosl Cutler Yosl Cutler (, 1896 – June 11, 1935) was a Yiddish-American cartoonist, poet, satirist and founder of the first Yiddish puppet theatre in the United States. Biography Yosl Cutler, an orphaned son of a butcher, was born in Troyanov (today ...

Footnotes

External links

digitized archives at the National Library of Israel
{{authority control 1922 establishments in New York City 1988 disestablishments in the United States Defunct newspapers published in New York City Socialist newspapers Newspapers established in 1922 Publications disestablished in 1988 Yiddish communist newspapers Communist Party USA publications Non-English-language newspapers published in New York (state) Yiddish culture in New York City Defunct Yiddish-language newspapers published in the United States Daily newspapers published in New York City Secular Jewish culture in the United States Communism in New York (state)