{{Short description|American Marxist magazine}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2011}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox magazine | title = Political Affairs | logo = | logo_size = | image_file = Political Affairs.jpg | image_size = <!-- (defaults to user thumbnail size if no size is stated) --> | image_alt = | image_caption = Cover of August 2005 issue | editor_title = | previous_editor = | staff_writer = | photographer = | category = [[List of political magazines|Political magazine]] | frequency = Monthly | circulation = | publisher = [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party USA]] | founder = | founded = | firstdate = {{Start date|1944}} | finaldate = 2016 | country = USA | based = New York | language = English | website = {{URL|http://www.politicalaffairs.net}} | issn = 0032-3128 | oclc = }} '''''Political Affairs Magazine''''' is a [[Marxist]] publication and the theoretical journal of the [[Communist Party USA]], originally published in print and later online only.<ref name="The End">{{cite web |last1=Sears |first1=Ben |title=Thanks for being a reader of Political Affairs |url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/thanks-for-being-a-reader-of-political-affairs |website=Political Affairs |publisher=People Before Profit |access-date=November 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212111543/https://www.peoplesworld.org/thanks-for-being-a-reader-of-political-affairs |archive-date=December 12, 2015 }}</ref> It aims to provide an analysis of events from a [[working class]] point of view. The magazine is a publication of the [[Communist Party USA]] and was founded in 1944 upon the closure of its predecessor, ''[[The Communist (USA)|The Communist]]'', which was founded in 1927. Well-known editors of ''Political Affairs Magazine'' included [[V. J. Jerome]], [[Gus Hall]], Hyman Lumer, [[Herbert Aptheker]], [[Gerald Horne]], and [[Joe Sims (politician)|Joe Sims]]. Other editors included [[Max Weiss (activist)|Max Weiss]]. In 2016, the magazine stopped publishing articles and merged with ''[[People's World]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Thanks for being a reader of Political Affairs|publisher=People's World|date=2016|access-date=April 24, 2017|url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/thanks-for-being-a-reader-of-political-affairs/}}</ref> In May of 2026, Co-Chair Joe Sims announced on social media<ref>{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX4XVUyMhre/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== |access-date=2026-05-04 |website=www.instagram.com}}</ref> that the [[Communist Party USA]] would be re-establishing Political Affairs.
==History== At its founding, ''Political Affairs'' was the theoretical organ of the [[Communist Party USA]], generally publishing articles intended almost exclusively for members of the Communist Party. In the late 1990s, that role changed. ''Political Affairs'' shed its role as an internal organ of the Communist Party and adopted a broader stance. It provides Marxist perspectives on many contemporary issues and engages in theoretical discussions relevant to Marxists and the labor movement. In addition to articles devoted to national and international politics, the magazine offers poetry, book reviews, occasional reviews of music and film, interviews, and occasional short stories.
The publication can be traced back to ''The Masses'', the famous [[Greenwich Village]] paper of the 1910s. After being suppressed by the government, the paper continued as ''The Liberator''. Independently of this, the [[Friends of Soviet Russia]] had established another monthly, ''Soviet Russia'', in 1919. In 1924 the title was changed to ''Soviet Russia Pictorial''. Finally, [[William Z. Foster]] had begun ''Labor Herald'' as the official publication of his [[Trade Union Educational League]] in March 1922. When the [[Workers Party of America]] had finally been consolidated as the unified above-ground Communist Party in the United States, it was determined that the party should have a theoretical monthly as well as a daily, in line with Lenin's guideline in ''[[What Is To Be Done?]]''
The above three publications were combined into ''Workers Monthly'', which debuted in November 1924. It changed its name to ''The Communist'' in 1927 and to ''Political Affairs'' in 1944.<ref name="rad">{{cite book |last=Goldwater |first=Walter | authorlink=Walter Goldwater|title=Radical periodicals in America 1890-1950 |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Library |date=1964 |pages=20–23, 33, 40, 47}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Title ! Place of publication ! Duration |- | ''[[The Masses]]'' | New York | Vol. I #1 January 1911 - Vol. X #2 December 1917 |- | ''[[The Liberator (magazine)|Liberator]]'' | New York | Vol. I #1 March 1918 - Vol. VII #10 October 1924 |- | ''Soviet Russia'' | New York | Vol. I #1 June 1919 - Vol. VII #11 December 1922 |- | ''Soviet Russia Pictorial'' | Chicago | Vol. VIII #1 January 1923 - Vol. IX #10 October 1924 |- | ''Labor Herald'' | Chicago | Vol. I #1 March 1922 - Vol. III #8 October 1924 |- | ''Workers Monthly'' | New York | Vol. IV #1 November 1924 - Vol. V #16 February 1927 |- | ''The Communist'' | New York | Vol. VI #1 March 1927 - Vol. XXIII #12 December 1944 |- | ''Political Affairs'' | New York | Vol. XXIV #12 January 1945–present |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.politicalaffairs.net/ Official website] [https://web.archive.org/web/20180512123027/http://www.politicalaffairs.net/ Archive] *[https://archive.org/details/pub_political-affairs ''Political Affairs'' archive] at the [[Internet Archive]] *[http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/wm/index.htm Archive of ''Workers Monthly'' from November 1924 - February 1927] *[http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/srp/index.htm Archive of ''Soviet Russia Pictorial'' from January 1923 - December 1923] * [https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/1946-1956/ Marxists Internet Archive: Political Affairs articles of 1945 after Browderism]
{{Communist Party USA}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Communist periodicals published in the United States]] [[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Defunct political magazines published in the United States]] [[Category:Communist Party USA publications]] [[Category:Magazines established in 1944]] [[Category:Defunct Marxist magazines]] [[Category:Online magazines with defunct print editions]] [[Category:Magazines disestablished in 2016]]