New Yorker Volkszeitung

Last updated

New Yorker Volkszeitung was the longest-running German language daily labor newspaper in the United States of America, established in 1878 and suspending publication in October 1932. At the time of its demise during the Great Depression the Volkszeitung was the only German-language daily in the United States and one of the oldest radical left newspapers in the nation.

Contents

History

Background

During the 19th century Germans were the second-largest immigrant group to the United States, behind only the ethnic Irish. [1] The wave of German immigration began slowly, averaging about 20,000 people per year during the decades of the 1830s and early 1840s, before exploding after the economic crisis of 1847 and the failure of the Revolution of 1848 in the German states. [1] When the first wave of mass emigration peaked in 1854, some 220,000 Germans left their fatherland for a new home in America. [1]

Immigration centered in a number of major American cities of the East and Midwest, including St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New York City [2] — urban areas which retained this Germanic influence for many decades, or in some cases, for generations.

A second mass wave of emigration from Germany to America began in 1866, following the conclusion of the American Civil War and running until the economic collapse associated with the Panic of 1873. [1] During this second flurry of departures more than a million more Germans were added to the population of the United States. [1]

Establishment

Development

Split with the Socialist Labor Party

World War I

Split with the Socialist Party of America

Later years

Termination and legacy


The New Yorker Volkszeitung began as a daily in 1878. It was edited by Sergei Shevitch from 1879 to 1890. It was later reorganized by Dr. Siegfried Lipschitz, an American correspondent of the Sozialistischer Pressedienst of Berlin, Germany. He succeeded Ludwig Lore as the newspaper's editor. Afterwards the publication was endorsed by the Socialist Party of the United States and the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Its publisher was the Socialist Cooperative Publishing Association which had offices at 47 Walker Street in New York City.

The financial crisis of the 1930s prevented members of the Socialist Cooperative Publishing Association from meeting regularly, which made it necessary to shut down printing. Its thirty employees were not released. [3] Two months after the closure of New Yorker Volkszeitung, a new publication, Neue Volkszeitung , was launched as its successor. [4]

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Anne Spier, "German-Speaking Peoples," in Dirk Hoerder with Christiane Harzig, The Immigrant Labor Press in North America, 1840s-1970s: Volume 3: Migrants from Southern and Western Europe. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1987; pg. 315.
  2. See the graphic "Places of Publication of German-American Labor Periodicals" in Spier, "German-Speaking Peoples," pg. 319.
  3. "Volkszeitung Suspends". New York Times . October 12, 1932. p. 5.
  4. Krispyn, Egbert (1978). Anti-Nazi Writers in Exile. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. p. 125.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<i>Zajedničar</i> Newspaper of the Croatian Fraternal Union of America


Zajedničar (Fraternalist) is a newspaper of the Croatian Fraternal Union of America (CFU), a fraternal benefit society of the Croatian diaspora.

<i>Tie Vapauteen</i> Finnish-language magazine

Tie Vapauteen was a Finnish language monthly magazine published by Finnish members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the United States from 1919 to 1937. The magazine advanced an explicitly syndicalist position marked by Marxian class analysis. The magazine featured regular analysis of American industry, working life, and political commentary alongside poetry, fiction, and humor. The publication was also closely tied to the Finnish Work People's College in Duluth, Minnesota, and would occasionally publish contributions written by Work Peoples' College students.

Fremad ('Forward') was a Norwegian-language weekly newspaper published from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States, between 1894 and 1935. During its first two years of publishing, the socialist Olav Kringen edited the paper.

Arbeidets Ridder was a Norwegian/Danish language weekly labor newspaper published from Minneapolis during the 1880s.

Dagbladet was an American daily newspaper published in the Norwegian language in Chicago from 1889 to 1891.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dino Rondani</span>

Dino Rondani was an Italian socialist politician, lawyer and parliamentarian. He was also the National Secretary of the Cooperative League. He was a member of parliament representing Cossato until 1914.

Eteenpäin was a Finnish-language daily newspaper launched in New York City in 1921. The paper was the East Coast organ of Finnish-American members of the Communist Party USA. The paper moved to Worcester, Massachusetts in 1922 and to Yonkers, New York in 1931. In 1950 Eteenpäin was merged with the Communist Party's Midwestern Finnish-language daily, Työmies to create Työmies-Eteenpäin, which continued to be published from Superior, Wisconsin into the 1990s.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilhelm Rosenberg</span> American dramatist

Wilhelm Ludwig "William" Rosenberg was a German-American teacher, poet, playwright, journalist, and socialist political activist. He is best remembered as the head of the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1884 to 1889.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-English press of the Socialist Party of America</span>

For a number of decades after its establishment in August 1901, the Socialist Party of America produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in an array different languages. This list of the Non-English press of the Socialist Party of America provides basic information on each title, along with links to pages dealing with specific publications in greater depth.

The Neue Volkszeitung was a German-language newspaper issued from New York City, United States. The paper had a moderate social democratic orientation and is remembered as a leading anti-Nazi American publication in the German language during the years of World War II.

Gnistan was a Swedish-language radical, Socialist-Unitarian newspaper published from Minneapolis, United States in 1891 and 1892. Gnistan was edited by Rev. Axel Lundberg, founder of the first Swedish Unitarian congregation in Minneapolis and a former associate of August Palm. Gnistan was supported by 'Gnistan' clubs in Minneapolis and Moline, Illinois. It became a weekly newspaper in December 1891. After it suspended publication in 1892, its subscribers received Facklan instead. Gnistan was later revived in Chicago in 1896. The newspaper was later renamed as Vesterlandet.

<i>Előre</i>

Előre (Forward) was a Hungarian-language socialist magazine published in the United States by activists of the Hungarian Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party of America. Launched in September 1905, Előre was published for 16 years before going bankrupt in October 1921. The discontinued publication was immediately succeeded by a new Hungarian-language communist periodical called Új Előre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergei Shevitch</span> Russian newspaper editor and socialist political activist

Sergei Egorovich Shevitch was a Russian newspaper editor and socialist political activist who achieved his greatest fame in the United States of America. As editor of the New Yorker Volkszeitung from 1879 to 1890, Shevitch emerged as arguably the most important leader of the Socialist Labor Party of America. In 1889, Shevitch was the leader of a split of the Socialist Labor Party of America, emerging victorious and serving for a short while as the National Secretary of the organization.

Laisvė (Freedom) was a Lithuanian-language radical political newspaper published in the United States of America from 1911 to 1986. The privately owned paper was originally associated with the American Lithuanian Socialist Union, forerunner of the Lithuanian Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party of America. After the 1919 split of that organization into Socialist and Communist wings, Laisvė became an organ of the Communist Party of America. The paper was one of the most influential and longest-running radical Lithuanian language newspapers in the US, issued daily from 1919 through 1958.

Bérmunkás was a Hungarian language newspaper published in the United States by the radical syndicalist trade union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The paper was launched as a bi-weekly in November 1912. During the years of World War I American government repression of the IWW and its press forced the publication to make a series of name changes in an attempt to keep ahead of postal authorities. The original name was restored in 1923 and Bérmunkás continued until its eventual termination in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche</span>

Friedrich Wilhelm Fritzsche, commonly known by his middle name, was a German trade unionist and socialist politician who was elected a member of the Reichstag. He was a founder and President of the General German Cigar Workers' Union (ADZV) in 1865. The subject of police persecution for his political views, in 1881 Fritzsche emigrated to the United States of America, where he edited the newspaper the Philadelphia Tageblatt for a time before retiring from politics.

<i>Social-Demokraten</i> (Chicago newspaper)

Social-Demokraten was a Norwegian and Danish weekly socialist newspaper published in the United States from 1911 to 1921. The paper was a privately owned entity closely associated with the Scandinavian Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party of America.

Charles Dirba was a Latvian-American co-founder of the Communist Party of America (CPA) and Communist Party USA (CPUSA).

Johanna Greie, also known as Johanna Greie-Cramer, was a German-American writer, socialist, and reformer.