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Anarchist newspaper circulation

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on May 25, 2008 at 11:18:24 am
 
I have been thinking about the circulation of anarchist newspapers and magazines.I know that Mother Earth had a circulation of about 3.000 at its highest point.Liberty's highest circulation was around a thousand. Does anyone else out there have any figures??

 

Just reading 'Sacco and Vanzetti the anarchist background' - I think Avrich gives figures for some of the Italian-american papers. now i know you're interested i can look for numbers. john

Cronaca Sovversiva: 'never exceeded four or five thousand' - Avrich Sacco and Vanzetti p50.

L'Adunata dei refrattari: rose to 10,000 after WW2 (when copies were being shipped backto Italy) - Berman, The torch and the Axe.

 

According to Maximoff in The Syndicalists in the Russian Revolution: "Newspapers were published not only in the large administrative and industrial centres, like Moscow and Petrograd, which had several Anarchist newspapers (in Petrograd the circulation of the Anarcho-Syndicalist Golos Trouda and the Anarchist Burevestnik was 25,000 each; the Moscow daily Anarchia had about the same circulation), but also in provincial cities, like Kronstadt, Yaroslavl, Nizhni-Novgorod, Saratov, Samara, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, Rostov on Don, Odessa and Kiev. (In 1918, Anarchist papers were coming out in Ivanovo-Vosnesensk, Chembar, Ekaterinburg, Kursk, Ekaterinoslav, Viatka.)"

 

Also Green Anarchy claims their current circulation is between 8000-9000. Ha! Nicole

 

How come I've seen the figure of 10,000 for Mother Earth's peak circulation? i.e. in the introduction to Peter Glassgold's anthology, and I'm sure in a couple of other sources. I've actaully been working on a database of US anarchist newspaper circulations (you stole my idea!); I've got about 29 figures so far (but some are estimates from authorities or historians, and this includes the 10,000 number for ME) and I'll post the results once they're in a more managable form.  --Kenyon

 

Yes.I have seen that.The figure 10,000 comes from Rebel In Paradise and Drinnon offers no source for it.The only figure I have seen EG mention is 3,000, but I'll go and do some counting of subscribers.A couple of other newspapers.According to Marcelino Garcia in "Anarchist Voices"  .." the top circulation of Cultura Proletaria" which I edited from the 1930s till it closed in 1952, was 4,000" (p392) Meanwhile  Frank Brand (Enrico Arrigoni) states that "Eresia" ( 1928-1932) had a print run of 2,000.(pp174) Database eh? Fucking students

 

You know I wouldn't be surprised if  those numbers for GA were correct.Does anyone have any sense of  circulation of other current publications?

 

Another general point,I guess,is the number of subscribers papers had/have.From my own experience, there was a  clear relatioship between number of subscribers to the paper and how long it existed!!

 

This also relates to the question of subscribers vs. circulation (i.e. print run)--I think often the two are conflated. Then of course estimating readership is a whole other question. In addition, there's the fact that anarchist publications knew no borders--papers published in the US went all over the world, while anarchists in the US regularly read foreign, wrote for, and funded papers like Freedom, Der Arbeter Fraynd, Studi Sociali, etc. --Kenyon

 

Chicago Arbeiter-Zeitung 5000 in 1886 (EGPP Book 1). Anarchy: JODA has wide circulation but their numbers are probably extremely inflated. I wonder if they count the dozens of copies sent to us at PLP that I throw straight into the bin. Nicole

 

Yes.One of my reasons for thinking on this issue was just how many anarchists papers got/get out there, beyond subscriber lists.When John on donations to  KSL from various people in the UK I notice there are often 10 copies of the same issue of Class War,all new and pristine.They never went anywhere.I hope that wasn't repeated too much.Anyway I am at the archive this weekend and I'll see what other figures I can find.--Barry

 

You know you're freaking old when you stay up to 4 in the morning on a Friday night reading through the pages of The Blast  trying to figure out the paper's circulation. I scoured every page looking for some kind of clue and here is what I found. According to the 15 March 1916 it cost them $75 to produce each edition. The wholesale cost for the paper was 2.5 cents and a single copy was 5 cents. If we take these figures I would make a conservative estimate that the print run for the Blast at this time was 1500 - 3000 ($75/0.05 or $75/0.025). As to how many people actually read it, who knows. Then in the 15 July 1916 edition, during the height of the anti-preparedness movement, the editors announced that the Blast was going to double its circulation. This is confirmed in the 15 August 1916 edition when the paper states they have printed "an extra large issue this time" (p.7). This was probably necessary due to the attention the paper was receiving in the mainstream press after the bombing and arrests of Mooney, Billings, Nolan and Weinberg. The editors were using the paper to spread the word about their case.  In Anarchist Voices Marion Bell remembers mailing copies of the Blast to people all over the world (including Malatesta in London) from her hometown in AZ after AB had problems mailing it from San Francisco (p. 30). So in the end, I could not find a exact number of readers. Oh well. --Nicole the insomniac

 

 

Well.I finally tracked down the 10,000 number for Mother Earth.It's the figure quoted at Berkman and Goldman's trial in 1917.It was ,I think, a special print run for the June 1917 issue.(I'll confirm that).After reading Nicole's exhaustive assessment of  the print run for The Blast( come on it's healthier thasn hanging around the toilets at the Gilman!!) I am more than ever inclined to see the regular Mother Earth print run as around 3,000.I am pretty sure  that Mother Earth's mailing list was passed on to The Blast.Thank you Kenyon for the other figures.Do you think that 20,000 for FAS is pushing it a bit?

 

Every source says the FAS circulation in by 1914 was between 20-30,000. Mina Graur further says says it had 14,000 _subscribers_ at its height (I don't recall where she got this figure, but probably from the pages of the FAS itself somewhere), which would definitely mean its total circulation would have been significantly higher than 14,000. Two things to keep in in mind are that a lot of FAS readers weren't necessisarily anarchists; under Yanovsky's editorship the FAS became an important source of both labor news in general and of Yiddish literature. Also, Yiddish-speaking Jews were a particularly radical group; the socialist Forverts (Jewish Daily Forward) was the most widely circulated Yiddish paper in the country and peaked at about 250,000 around 1920, so with the FAS we're talking about 1/10 the circulation of the most popular socialist paper, which seems like a reasonable fraction. --Kenyon

 

 

Free Society had a circulation of about 1000 is January 1898 and they were trying increase it to 5000 by encouaging people to take out larger subscriptions and then passing them around to friends/comrades etc. They aregued that if they could get 2000 paid subscriptions they could increase the total circ to 5000. -- Jessica (I've never found any circ stats for firebrand)

 

Allright, below is my updated list

-Kenyon

 

 

Anarchist Periodical Circulation Figures, 1880-1940

 compiled by Kenyon Zimmer

 

Key:

e = estimate

s = self-reported

r = recollection

p = private correspondence

 

 

Title

 

Year(s)

 

Circulation

 

Subscribers

 

 

Source

 

Notes

 

L’Adunata dei Refrattari

 

1922-1939

 

c.5,000

 

 

Berman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Agitator

 

 

1910-1912

 

300+

 

300 s

 

Gorgura

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Alarm (I)

 

1884

 

2,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1885

 

3,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1886

 

3,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L’Allarme

 

1915

 

2,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:37

 

 

 

1916

 

6,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:37

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amerikanskie Izvestiia

 

 

1922

 

 

3,000 e

 

 

 

Davis, 126

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Der Anarchist

 

1886

 

300

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:355; Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Anarchist Soviet Bulletin

 

1919

 

2,000 e; 650,000 s

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004; Anarchist Soviet Bulletin, April 1919

 

Second figure obviously fictitious

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Der Arme Teufel

 

1887

 

2,750

 

 

Oestreicher, 159

 

 

 

1890

 

3,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:376

 

 

 

1894

 

3,500

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1894, 1295

 

 

 

1895

 

7,000

 

 

Oestreicher, 157

 

 

 

1897

 

3,525

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1897, 1352

 

 

 

1898

 

2,700; 3,525 e

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:376; N. W. Ayer 1898, 1358

 

 

 

1900

 

3,525; 3,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:376; N. W. Ayer 1900, 1406

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L’Avvenire

 

1912

 

4,000

 

 

Pernicone, “War,” 81

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Budoucnost

 

1884

 

360

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 2:241

 

 

 

1886

 

750

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenge

 

1938

 

5,000 p

 

 

[Bluestein] to [Steimer] & [Fléchine]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung

 

1880

 

3,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1881

 

4,500

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1882

 

4,850

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1883

 

5,200

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1884

 

5,326

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1885

 

5,110

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1886

 

5,780

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124; Hoerder, ed., 3:389

 

 

 

1888

 

5,000

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1890

 

4,600

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1892

 

5,800

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1894

 

7,145

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1895

 

15,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:389

 

 

 

1896

 

15,120

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1898

 

12,560

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1900

 

10,000; 15,000

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100; Bekken, 18

 

 

 

1910

 

15,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:389

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cronaca Sovversiva

 

1912

 

3,200

 

 

Pernicone, “War,” 81

 

 

 

c.1917

 

4,000

 

 

Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti, 50

 

 

 

1918

 

5,000

 

 

Cartosio, 425

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultura Proletaria

 

c.1927-1939

 

4,000 r

 

 

Avrich, Anarchist Voices, 392

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dĕlnické Listy

 

1896

 

1,200

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 2:244

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delo Truda

 

1939

 

200-300

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 2:118

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Demonstrator

 

1904

 

c.800

 

 

Veysey, 36

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discontent

 

1900

 

1,200

 

 

Ghormley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Domani

 

1919

 

1,500; 1,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2005; Hoerder, ed., 3:60

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L’Emancipazione

 

1931

 

3,000

 

2,000+

 

R. De Rango, “Ai compagni,” L’Emancipazione, June 1931

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eresia

 

1928-1930

 

c.2,000 r

 

 

Avrich, Anarchist Voices, 174

 

 

 

1931-1932

 

3,000 s; 3,100 s

 

 

Eresia, January 1932, 65

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Die Fackel

 

1880

 

5,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124; Hoerder, ed., 3:407

 

 

 

1881

 

5,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1882

 

7,150

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1883

 

9,300

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1884

 

10,035

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1885

 

10,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1886

 

12,200

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1888

 

7,500

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1890

 

16,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:407; Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1892

 

20,000

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1894

 

24,160

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1895

 

25,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:407

 

 

 

1896

 

24,600

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1898

 

19,800

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1900

 

15,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:407; Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1910

 

24,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:407; Bekken, 18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fraye Arbeter Shtime

 

1890-94

 

3-4,000

 

 

Sanders, 112; Michels, 100

 

Calculated as ½ circ. of Arbayter Tsaytung

 

 

1899

 

4,000

 

 

Gordin, 249

 

 

 

1904

 

20,000

 

 

Gordin, 294

 

 

 

1906

 

20,000

 

 

Gordin, 314

 

 

 

1910

 

15,000 s

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1910, 1160

 

 

 

1911

 

15,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1911, 1210

 

 

 

1913

 

12,500 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1913, 637 (too low)

 

 

 

1914

 

25,000-30,000 s; 12,500 e

 

15,000

 

Gordin, 314; N. W. Ayer 1914, 650; Graur, 244

 

Ayer estimate far too low

 

 

1917

 

12,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1917, 1292

 

 

 

1918

 

12,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1918, 672

 

 

 

1920

 

12,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism 2:2004; N. W. Ayer 1920, 1300

 

 

 

1923

 

7,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1923, 1376

 

 

 

1924

 

7,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1924, 1398

 

 

 

1925

 

7,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1925, 1419

 

 

 

1935

 

5,000 p

 

 

Cohn to Nettlau

 

 

 

1940

 

10,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1940, 1190

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Di Fraye Gezelshaft (I)

 

1895

 

2,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 2:579

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Di Fraye Gezelshaft (II)

 

1910

 

6,000-8,000 s

 

 

Di Fraye Gezelshaft, January 1910 and May 1910

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Society (I)

 

1898

 

1,000

 

 

“New Year Suggestion,” Free Society, 2 January 1898

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Society (II)

 

1921

 

1,000+

 

 

Busha

 

1,000 copies delivered to Philadelphia alone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom (II)

 

1919

 

2,500 s; 2,000 e

 

 

Freedom, April-May 1919; Revolutionary Radicalism 2:20006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom (III)

 

1933

 

c.2,000 s

 

 

Freedom, 18 March 1933

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freiheit

 

1883

 

5,000

 

 

Carlson, 205

 

 

 

1884

 

5,000

 

 

Carlson, 205

 

 

 

1885

 

5,000

 

 

Carlson, 205

 

 

 

1886

 

5,000

 

 

Carlson, 205

 

 

 

1892

 

4,300

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:411

 

 

 

1894

 

4,300

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1894, 538

 

 

 

1896

 

5,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:411

 

 

 

1897

 

1897

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1897, 1353

 

 

 

1904

 

3,500

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1904, 1458

 

 

 

1905

 

3,500

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1905, 1103; Hoerder, ed., 3:411

 

 

 

1906

 

5,000

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1906, 1112

 

 

 

1907

 

5,000

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1907, 1126

 

 

 

1908

 

5,000

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1908, 1131

 

 

 

1909

 

4,500

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1909, 1140

 

 

 

1910

 

4,250

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1910, 1157; Hoerder, ed., 3:411

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golos Truda

 

c. 1917

 

c. 2,800

 

 

“Mailing List—‘Golos Truda’—Russian Nihilist Newspaper”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golos Truzhenika

 

1920

 

1,500 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

1922

 

6,000 s, 700 e

 

 

Davis, 126

 

Probably closer to 1,500

 

 

1925

 

1,400 p; 5,000 s

 

 

Maximov to Mrachnyi; De Leon, 11

 

De Leon definitely inflated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Jaquerie

 

1919

 

3,000

 

 

United States Congress, 536

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Khleb i Volia

 

1919

 

4,547

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 1:862

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lampcka

 

1886

 

750

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Land and Liberty

 

1914-1915

 

3,500

 

 

Sandos, 61

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liberty

 

1890

 

1,000

 

 

Martin, 268

 

 

 

1894

 

800

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1894, 543

 

 

 

1898

 

750

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1898, 572

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucifer

 

1884

 

900

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1884, 302

 

 

 

1885

 

850

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1885, 311

 

 

 

1886

 

850

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1886, 324

 

 

 

1888

 

850

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1888, 850

 

 

 

1889

 

1,250

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1889, 187

 

 

 

1890

 

1,676

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1890, 262

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luokkataistelu

 

1919

 

5,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man!

 

1934

 

 

 

Nold

 

“the…paper with the most subscribers”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Il Martello

 

1919

 

2,500

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004

 

 

 

1923

 

6,500

 

 

Pernicone, Carlo Tresca, 105

 

 

 

1924

 

10,500

 

 

Pernicone, Carlo Tresca, 105

 

 

 

1929

 

8,000

 

 

Pernicone, Carlo Tresca, 105

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Modern School

 

1920

 

500 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother Earth (I)

 

1906-1917

 

c.3,000-4,000

 

 

Pateman

 

 

 

1910

 

6,000

 

 

New York Times, 8 May 1910

 

 

 

1917

 

10,000 (special June issue)

 

 

Pateman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Den Nye Tid

 

1880

 

1,600

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1881

 

1,600

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1882

 

2,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1883

 

2,400

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1884

 

2,800

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Di Parole

 

1884-1885

 

2,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:453

 

 

 

1888

 

2,200

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:453

 

 

 

1890

 

1,600

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:453

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Plebe

 

1906-1909

 

3,000+

 

3,000

 

Caminita, 47

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Práce

 

1886-1887

 

500

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 2:253

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Questione Sociale (I)

 

1899

 

3,500

 

 

Panofsky, 290

 

 

 

1900

 

3,000

 

 

Carey, 291

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Il Refrattario

 

1919

 

2,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:852, 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regeneración

 

1910

 

11,000 s; 17,000 r

 

 

Mother Earth, April 1911; Freedom (London), December 1922

 

 

 

1915

 

3,986

 

 

Sandos, 59,

 

 

 

1916

 

10,500 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1916, 1286

 

Too high

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Le Rèveil des Mineurs

 

1890-1893

 

5,000

 

 

Creagh, 149

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Road to Freedom

 

1925

 

1,200 s

 

 

De Leon, 26

 

 

 

c.1926-1932

 

3,000+

 

3,000

 

Avrich, Anarchist Voices, 432

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Sferza

 

1925

 

 673+

c. 673 subs.

 

Untitled address list given to Germinal by La Sferza, n.d. [1925], Hugo Rolland Archive, IISH, Folder 15.

 

Total circ. of 1,000-1,500?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish Revolution

 

1938

 

7,000 r

 

 

Dolgoff, 19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanguard

 

c.1936

 

c.3,000 r

 

 

Avrich, Anarchist Voices, 450

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Di Varhayt

 

1889

 

2,500

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 2:654

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Der Verbote

 

1880

 

5,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1881

 

6,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1882

 

6,500

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1883

 

7,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1884

 

7,115

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1885

 

8,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124; Hoerder, ed., 3:492

 

 

 

1886

 

8,000

 

 

Nelson, Beyond, 124

 

 

 

1888

 

5,000

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1890

 

3,150

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1892

 

3,575

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1894

 

4,000

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1896

 

7,300

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1898

 

6,150

 

 

Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

1900

 

5,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:492; Nelson, “Arbeiterpresse,” 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volné Listy

 

1910

 

4,500

 

 

New York Times, 8 May 1910

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Woman Rebel

 

1914

 

2,000+

 

2,000 sub. r

 

Sanger, 109

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Word

 

1880

 

1,050 e

 

 

Ayer 1880, 295

 

 

 

1881

 

1,200 s

 

 

Ayer 1881, 36

 

 

 

1882

 

1,300 s

 

 

Ayer 1882, 34

 

 

 

1883

 

1,300 e

 

 

Ayer 1883, 35

 

 

 

1884

 

1,300 e

 

 

Ayer 1884, 35

 

 

 

1885

 

2,050 s

 

 

Ayer 1885, 37

 

 

 

1886

 

2,050 s

 

 

Ayer 1886, 37

 

 

 

1888

 

2,050 s

 

 

Ayer 1888, 225

 

 

 

1889

 

2,025 s

 

 

Ayer 1889, 230

 

 

 

1890

 

2,040 s

 

 

Ayer 1890, 319

 

 

 

1893

 

2,040 e

 

 

Ayer 1893, 339

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Die Zukunft

 

1885

 

2,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:504

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Avrich, Paul. Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

Avrich, Paul. Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.

Bekken, Jon. "The First Anarchist Daily Newspaper: The Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung," Anarchist Studies 3 (1995), 3-23.

Berman, Paul. “The Torch and the Axe: The Unknown Aftermath of the Sacco-Vanzetti Affair.” The Village Voice, 17 May 1988.

[Bluestein], Abe to Molly [Steimer] & Senya [Fléchine], 3 June 1938. Senya Fléchine Papers, folder 9, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Busha, S. “Free Society.” 25 February 1921. National Archives and Records Administration, Bureau of Investigation Records, File 202600-1081.

Caminita, Ludovico. “Twenty Years of Experience in the Radical Movement,” n.d. [c. 1923], unpublished manuscript, National Archives and Records Administration, Bureau of Investigation Records, File 61-115.

Carey,George. “‘La Questione Sociale,’ an Anarchist Newspaper in Paterson, New Jersey (1895-1908).” In Lydio Tomasi, ed., Italian Americans: New Perspectives in Italian Immigration and Ethnicity. Staten Island: Center for Migration Studies, 1985.

Carlson, Andrew R. Anarchism in Germany: The Early Movement. Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press, 1872.

 Cartosio, Bruno. "Italian Workers and Their Press in the United States, 1900-1920." In Christian Harzig and Dirk Hoerder, eds., The Press of Labor Migrants in Europe and North America, 1880s to 1930s (Bremen: Publications of the Labor Newspaper Preservation Archive, 1985), 423-42.

Cohn, Michel A. to [Max] Nettlau, 8 February 1935. Max Nettlau Papers, folder 307, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 

Creagh, Ronald. “Socialism in America: The French-speaking Coal Miners in the Late Nineteenth Century.” In Marianne Debouzy, ed. In the Shadow of the Statue of Liberty: Immigrants, Workers, and Citizens in the American Republic, 1880-1920. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992, 143-156.

Davis, Jerome. The Russian Immigrant. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1922.

De Leon, Solon, ed. American Labor Press Directory. New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1925.

Dolgoff, Sam. Fragments: A Memoir. Cambridge: Refract Publications, 1986.

Ghormley, Kenneth O. “The L.F.D.B.A. Celebrates Its Centennial: Anarchy at Home.” The Fortnightly Club of Redlands, California. Online at <http://www.redlandsfortnightly.org/papers/ghorm99.htm>. (Accessed 1/22/08)

Gogura, Heather. “The Agitator,” The Labor Press Project. Online at <http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/Agitator.htm>. (Accessed 1/22/08)

Gordin, Abba. Sh. Yanovsky: zayn lebn, kemfn un shafn, 1864-1939. Los Angeles: Sh. Yanovksy Odenk Komitet, 1957.

Graur, Mina. An Anarchist “Rabbi”: The Life and Teachings of Rudolf Rocker. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

Hoerder, Dirk (with Christiane Harzig), ed. The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: An Annotated Bibliography. 3 vols. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.

“Mailing List—‘Golos Truda’—Russian Nihilist Newspaper.” n.d. [c.1917]. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, File 54235/36-C.

Martin, James J. Men against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827-1908. De Kalb: Adrian Allen Associates, 1953.

Maximov, Grigorii Petrovich to Mark Mrachnyi, 22 June 1925. Mark Mrachnyi Papers, Joseph A. Labadie Collection, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Michels, Tony. A Fire in Their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005.

N. W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son, 1885-1909.

N. W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual Directory. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son, 1910-1929.

N. W. Ayer & Son’s Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son, 1930-1940.

Nelson, Bruce C. “Arbeiterpresse und Arbeiterbewegung: Chicago’s Socialist and Anarchist Press, 1870-1900.” In Elliot Shore, Ken Fones-Wolf, & James P. Danky, eds., The German-American Radical Press: The Shaping of a Left Political Culture, 1850-1940. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992, 81-107.

Nelson, Bruce C. Beyond the Martyrs: A Social History of Chicago’s Anarchists, 1870-1900. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1988.

Nold, Carl. “For Man!” Man! January 1934.

Oestreicher, Richard. “Robert Reitzel, Der Arme Teufel.” In Elliot Shore, Ken Fones-Wolf, & James P. Danky, eds., The German-American Radical Press: The Shaping of a Left Political Culture, 1850-1940. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992, 147-67.

Panofsky, Gianna S. “A View of Two Major Centers of Italian Anarchism in the United States: Spring Valley and Chicago, Illinois.” In Dominic Candeloro, Fred L. Gardaphe, & Paolo A. Giordano, eds., Italian Ethnics: Their Languages, Literature and Lives. Staten Island: The American Historical Association, 1990, 271-296.

Pateman, Barry.

Pernicone, Nunzio. Carlo Tresca: Portrait of a Rebel. New York: Palgarve Macmillan, 2005.

Pernicone, Nunzio. “War among the Italian Anarchists: The Galleanisti’s Campaign Against Carlo Tresca.” In Philip V. Cannistraro & Gerald Meyer, eds., The Lost World of Italian-American Radicalism: Politics, Labor, and Culture. Westport CT: Praeger, 2003.

Revolutionary Radicalism: Its History, Purpose and Tactics with an Exposition and Discussion of the Steps Being Taken and Required and Curb It, Being the Report of the Joint Committee Investigating Seditious Activities, Filed April 24, 1920, in the Senate of the State of New York. 4 vols. Albany: J. B. Lyon, 1920.

Sanders, Ronald. The Downtown Jews: Portraits of an Immigrant Generation. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.

Sandos, James A. Rebellion in the Borderlands: Anarchism and the Plan of San Diego, 1904-1923. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.

Sanger, Margaret. Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company 1938.

United States Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Rules. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer on Charges Made Against Department of Justice by Luis F. Post and Others. 66th Congress, 2nd Session. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1920.

Veysey, Laurence. The Communal Experience: Anarchist and Mystical Counter-Cultures in Twentieth Century America. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

 

 

 

IWW Periodical Circulation Figures, 1905-1940

 

compiled by Kenyon Zimmer

 

Key:

 

e = estimate

 

s = self-reported

 

r = recollection

 

p = private correspondence

 

 

Title

 

Year(s)

 

Circulation

 

Subscribers

 

Source

 

Notes

 

Ahjo

 

1919

 

500 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bérmunkás

 

1925

 

6,000 s

 

 

De Leon, 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fellow Worker

 

1920

 

12,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Felszabadulas

 

1919

 

800 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golos Truzhenika

 

1919

 

1,500 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

1922

 

700 e, 6,000 s

 

 

Davis, 126

 

Probably closer to 1,500

 

 

1925

 

1,400 p; 5,000 s

 

 

Maximov to Mrachnyi; De Leon, 11

 

De Leon definitely inflated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial Pioneer

 

1925

 

12,500 s

 

 

De Leon, 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial Solidarity

 

1924

 

16,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1924, 230

 

Too high

 

 

1925

 

8,000 s; 16,000 e

 

 

De Leon, 11; N. W. Ayer 1925, 237

 

Ayer too high

 

 

1926

 

15,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1926, 241

 

Definitely too high

 

 

1927

 

5,000-6,500

 

 

“Minutes of Regular Session,” 13-14

 

 

 

1928

 

3,400; 4,000

 

 

“Minutes of Regular Session,” 13-14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial Union Bulletin

 

1907

 

7,000

 

 

Brissenden, 184

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial Unionist [IWW (EP)]

 

1925

 

4,500 s

 

 

De Leon, 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrial Worker

 

1911

 

4,000

 

 

Foner, 4:150

 

 

 

1912

 

c.9,000

 

 

Foner, 4:150

 

 

 

1917

 

11,500

 

 

Foner, 4:150

 

 

 

1925

 

5,000 s

 

 

De Leon, 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industrialisti

 

1919

 

500 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

Way too low

 

 

1920

 

10,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 1:215

 

 

 

1923

 

8,450

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1923, 1365

 

 

 

1925

 

9,000 s

 

 

De Leon, 11

 

 

 

1927

 

8,823

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1927, 1429

 

 

 

1929

 

9,800

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1929, 1356

 

 

 

1930

 

9,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1930, 1256

 

 

 

1931

 

9,000 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1931, 1231

 

 

 

1932

 

8,722

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1932, 1204

 

 

 

1933

 

8,722 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1933, 1202

 

 

 

1934

 

7,850 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1934, 1170

 

 

 

1935

 

8,250

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1935, 1165

 

 

 

1936

 

8,250 e

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1936, 1161

 

 

 

1940

 

6,200

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1940, 1249

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Industriele Arbayter Shtime

 

1920

 

5,000 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jedna Velka Unie

 

1920

 

250 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

Way too low

 

 

1924

 

1,400

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 2:247

 

 

 

1925

 

3,000 s

 

 

De Leon, 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Klassenkampf

 

1919

 

5,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luokkataistelu

 

1919

 

5,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marine Worker

 

1925

 

25,000 s

 

 

De Leon, 12

 

Inflated?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Muncitorul

 

1919

 

150 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Nueva Solidaridad

 

1919

 

500 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

probably too low; see Solidaridad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Solidarity

 

1919

 

1,500

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Il Nuovo Proletario

 

1919

 

1,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

This seems too low; see Il Proletario

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Big Union Monthly

 

1919

 

6,000 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proletaras

 

1919

 

2,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Il Proletario

 

1900

 

3,000

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:102

 

 

 

1916

 

7,800

 

 

Hoerder, ed., 3:102

 

 

 

1925

 

7,000 s

 

 

De Leon, 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rabotnicheska Misul           

 

1919

 

100 e

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rebel Worker

 

1919

 

12,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:1211

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solidaridad

 

1925

 

7,500 s

 

 

De Leon, 12

 

 

 

1926

 

7,000

 

 

N. W. Ayer 1926, 1418

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solidarity

 

1912

 

12,000 s

 

 

Foner, 4:150

 

Foner unsure of reliability of this figure

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tie Vapauteen

 

1919

 

5,000

 

 

Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004

 

 

 

1920

 

5,500; 3,500

 

 

Brown

 

 

 

1921

 

6,500

 

 

Brown

 

 

 

1925

 

8,000 s

 

 

De Leon, 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Voice of the People

 

1913

 

1,500 r

 

 

Hall, 169

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

 

Brissenden, Paul Frederick. The I.W.W.: A Study of American Syndicalism. New York: Columbia University, 1919.

 

Brown, Roy. “‘High Spots of the 13th IWW Convention.” Industrial Pioneer, June 1921.

 

Davis, Jerome. The Russian Immigrant. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1922.

 

De Leon, Solon, ed. American Labor Press Directory. New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1925.

 

Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States, vol. 4, The Industrial Workers of the World, 1905-1917. New York: International Publishers, 1956.

 

Hall, Covington. Labor Struggles in the Deep South & Other Writings. Ed. David R. Roediger. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 1999.

 

Hoerder, Dirk (with Christiane Harzig), ed. The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: An Annotated Bibliography. 3 vols. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.

 

Maximov, Grigorii Petrovich to Mark Mrachnyi, 22 June 1925. Mark Mrachnyi Papers, Joseph A. Labadie Collection, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

 

Miles, Dione. Something in Common: An IWW Bibliography. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986.

 

“Minutes of Regular Session of the General Executive Board of the Industrial Workers of the World.” 15-23 March 1928. Industrial Workers of the World Collection, box 7, folder 14, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

 

N. W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son, 1869-1909.

 

N. W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual Directory. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son, 1910-1929.

 

N. W. Ayer & Son’s Directory of Newspapers and Periodicals. Philadelphia: N. W. Ayer & Son, 1930-1940.

 

Revolutionary Radicalism: Its History, Purpose and Tactics with an Exposition and Discussion of the Steps Being Taken and Required and Curb It, Being the Report of the Joint Committee Investigating Seditious Activities, Filed April 24, 1920, in the Senate of the State of New York. 4 vols. Albany: J. B. Lyon, 1920.

 

 

 

A Note on IWW and Other Periodicals Edited by Anarchists

 

 

 

Anarchists edited more than a dozen IWW publications—many of which were explicitly anarchist in outlook—before 1940, and in 1919-20 these had a combined circulation of over 23,000.[1] They included the Finnish Luokkataistelu (Class Struggle, 1919) edited by Gus Alonen; and the Lithuanian Darbiniku Balsas (The Workers’ Voice, 1914-19) and Proletaras (Proletarian, 1919-23), both edited by the longtime anarchist Juozas Laukys. The Bulgarian Rabotnicheska Misul (Worker’s Thought) was edited by self-described Tolstoyan anarcho-syndicalist George Andreytchine (who later fled to Russia where he became a Communist and briefly served as the American representative on the Profintern), and its successor, Rabotnicheska Probuda (Worker’s Awakening, 1919-20), had its second-class matter status revoked by the authorities for its anarchist content. Spanish-speaking anarchists Herminio Gonzales and Aurelio Vicente Azuara edited Tampa’s El Obrero Industial (The Industrial Worker, 1914) and Los Angeles’ El Rebelde (The Rebel, 1915-17), respectively, and exiled Russian anarcho-syndicalist leader G. P. Maximoff, took over editorship of Golos Truzhenika (Toiler’s Voice, 1918-27) in 1924.  Meanwhile, Swedish anarcho-syndicalist John Sandgren edited both Nya Världen (The New World, 1919) and the English-language One Big Union Monthly from 1919-20, until his outspoken criticisms of the Russian Bolshevik regime, based on reports in the European anarchist press, resulted in his removal. His fellow Swedish anarchist Gustav E. Bergman, however, later edited Seattle’s Industri-Arbetaren (Industrial Worker, 1924-25), while birth-control advocate and Socialist-turned-anarchist Frederick A. Blossom edited The Labor Defender (1918).[2]

    Other trade union papers edited by anarchists include the International Ladie's Garment Workers' Union organ Justice, edited by longtime Fraye Arbeter Shtime editor Saul Yanovsky beginning in 1919, then by fellow Jewish anarchist Simon Farber. The Hotel Worker, paper of the revolutionary syndicalist International Federation of Workers in the Hotel, Restaurant, Club, and Catering Industries, was edited by the anarchist Jack Isaacson, and had a circulation of 15,000 in 1920 and 7,000 in 1925 (Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004; De Leon, 10). Within the Yiddish-language press Philadelphia's Di Idishe Velt (The Jewish World, 1914-42) was founded and edited by socialists and anarchists in its early years, and Russian Revolution veteran Abba Gordin edited the literary journal Yidishe Shriftn (Yiddish Writing, 1936-57), while anarchsits also frequently wrote for the socialist Forverts, independent Der Tog, and socialist-territorialist papers. The editors of the free-thought The Truth Seeker and the magazine Twentieth Century both became avowed anarchists for a time near the turn of the century and reflected this in their publications' content, as did Little Review editor Magaret Anderson. Finally, The Catholic Worker was founded in 1933 by self-identified Catholic anarchists Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin and carried an implicitly Christian anarchist viewpoint through most of its existence. With a circulation that soared to 185,000 by 1940, it was far and away the largest-circulating anarchist-influenced publication in the history of America and, perhaps, the world, excluding Spain.



[1] See Revolutionary Radicalism, 2:2004-2006. A circulation of approximately 10,000 for The Labor Defender (1918) has been estimated based off of that of its successor, The Fellow Worker, which had a circulation of 12,000 in 1919-20 (2:2004).

[2] Revolutionary Radicalism, ; Hoerder, Immigrant Labor Press, 2:161, 174, 456, 457; 3:180, 182; 1: 96, 162; [John Sandgren], “Wrangel and the Bolsheviki,” One Big Union Monthly, December 1920; “Removal of Editor of the One Big Union Monthly,” One Big Union Monthly, January 1921; The Labor Defender (New York), 1918.

 

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