The Masses

The Masses, American monthly journal of arts and politics, socialist in its outlook. It was known for its innovative treatment of illustration and for its news articles and social criticism.

The Masses was founded in 1911 in New York City by the Dutch immigrant Piet Vlag; his goal was to educate the working people of America about art, literature, and socialist theory, but he and the magazine’s first editor quit within 18 months. From 1912 Max Eastman was editor; during his tenure the magazine followed a more radical socialist policy. It published poems, stories, and political commentary by writers such as Sherwood Anderson, Carl Sandburg, and Louis Untermeyer; the radical journalists John Reed and Floyd Dell (q.v.) were staff members and regular contributors. The artists John Sloan and Art Young were also staff members; under their leadership The Masses published some of the best illustrations of the period, including, in addition to drawings by Sloan and Young, works by George Bellows, Stuart Davis, and Boardman Robinson.

During World War I The Masses took an antiwar stand, and in July 1917 the U.S. postmaster general declared the August 1917 issue “unmailable” under the Espionage Act of 1917; the magazine’s second-class mailing permit was later revoked, and it ceased publication at the end of 1917. In 1918 Eastman and several other editors twice stood trial under the Espionage Act; both trials produced hung juries.