The Chicago Daily Socialist

1906 – 1912

Introduction

Chicago, Illinois. (1906 - 1912) The Chicago Daily Socialist was begun late in October 1906, initially envisioned as a temporary side-project of the weekly Chicago Socialist. Published by Local Cook County, Socialist Party, the paper was created for a special run as a daily for a two week duration, culminating with the November 1906 general election.

The paper seems to have been very warmly received from the outset, however, selling well enough that the Executive Committee of Local Cook County made a quick decision to keep the paper as a permanent publication, with the costly 12-page Sunday editions abandoned after the initial two week run. The paper was the second English-language socialist daily in America, following into the field The Daily People of New York City, published from 1902 by the rival Socialist Labor Party. (This fact was rudely overlooked in an editorial in the ninth issue of the paper, which wrongly claimed for itself the mantle of “first permanent daily socialist newspaper in the English-speaking world.”)

The Daily Socialist was funded by the issuance of 5,000 shares of stock, which were to be sold to supporters for $10 each. Cover price of each issue was 1 cent, with subscriptions available at the rate of $2 per year.

Edited by A.M. Simons of the International Socialist Review, the Daily Socialist is most noteworthy for the vast number of cartoons which it published, frequently running two per day. The paper began with a largely volunteer staff, with one notable contribution made by radical novelist Jack London, who wrote a short analysis of the sensational Moyer-Haywood murder frame-up in the issue of November 4, 1906.

The publication deals largely with Chicago-area political events and is particularly interesting as an early venue for the editorial cartoons of artist Ryan Walker.

The paper terminated in 1912 for financial reasons.

Tim Davenport
Corvallis, OR
April 2019

Given the fact tha this is daily newspaper, each link below will bring you to a distinct home page for the year indicated in the link.

1906 | 1907 |1908 | 1909 |1910 |1911 |1912

Last updated on 21 February 2019