{{Short description|Socialist newsweekly published in the United States}} {{other uses|Militant (disambiguation)}} {{More citations needed|date=May 2008}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = ''The Militant'' | logo = The Militant logo.svg | logo_size = | logo_alt = Masthead. Under the words "The Militant" in a large brushstroke-style font are the words "A socialist newsweekly published in the interests of working people" | image = The Militant May 5 2025.png | image_alt = Front page of The Militant newspaper | caption = Front page of ''The Militant'', May 2025 | type = [[Newsweekly]] | editor = John Studer | founded = {{Start date and age|1928|11|15}} | language = [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]] | headquarters = 306 West 37th Street, 13th floor<br />New York City, New York 10018 | publishing_city = [[New York City]] | publishing_country = [[United States]] | website = {{URL|http://www.themilitant.com}} }}
'''''The Militant''''' is a [[socialist]] newsweekly connected to the United States [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]] (SWP) and the [[Pathfinder Press]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Militant – a socialist newspaper |date=September 15, 2009 |url=http://www.themilitant.com}}</ref> It is published in the [[United States]] and distributed in other countries such as [[Canada]], the [[United Kingdom]], [[Australia]], [[France]], [[Sweden]], [[Iceland]], and [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=About The Militant |url=https://themilitant.com/about/ |access-date=17 September 2024 |website=themilitant.com}}</ref>
== Publication history ==
=== Forerunners === [[File:290315-militant-cover.jpg|thumb|March 15, 1929 edition of ''The Militant'']] An earlier publication called ''The Militant'' was launched in November 1928 by [[James P. Cannon]] and other American [[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]] gathered together in the [[Communist League of America]] (CLA). It declared its goal to be a fight "in the interest of the working people" against the [[Capitalism|capitalist system]], [[Imperialism|imperialist]] wars, and the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] regime in the [[Soviet Union]], which according to the Trotskyists had betrayed and corrupted the [[October Revolution]].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
The original ''Militant'' terminated in 1934 at the time of the merger of the Cannon-led CLA with the [[American Workers Party]] headed by [[A. J. Muste]] to form the [[Workers Party of the United States]] (WPUS). The paper was succeeded by a similar broadsheet that served as the official organ of the WPUS called the ''New Militant,'' edited by Cannon. This paper was in turn terminated after about 18 months when the main section of the WPUS joined the [[Socialist Party of America]] en masse in 1936 and was replaced by a new publication ''[[Socialist Appeal (US, 1935)|Socialist Appeal]]'' by Trotskyists in the SPA. [[Albert Goldman (politician)|Albert Goldman]] edited the Chicago-based publication from 1935, he and other Trotskyists in Chicago had joined the SPA prior to the rest of the WPUS.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialistappeal/index.htm |title=Socialist Appeal [Chicago] - Contents by Issue (1935-1937) |publisher=Marxists.org |access-date=2012-08-07}}</ref> In 1937, the newspaper was transferred to New York City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/themilitant/index.htm |title=The Militant - NY |publisher=Marxists.org |date=2012-04-10 |access-date=2012-08-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=socialistappeal |title=Socialist Appeal: An Organ of Revolutionary Socialism archives |publisher=Onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu |access-date=2012-08-07}}</ref>
=== Current publication === The Socialist Workers Party was founded on December 31, 1937, by Trotskyists following the expulsion of the "Socialist Appeal faction" from the Socialist Party of America. The SWP's newspaper continued to be known as ''Socialist Appeal'' until 1941 when it was renamed ''The Militant''. This publication has continued without interruption.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
In 1964, ''The Militant'' gained unwanted attention when it was revealed during the [[Warren Commission]] that [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] had his wife, [[Marina Oswald Porter]] take two photographs of him around March 31, 1963 posing in his backyard holding a copy of ''The Militant'' and another communist newspaper [[Daily Worker|''The Worker'']] in one hand and [[John F. Kennedy assassination rifle|the rifle]] that he would later use on November 22 to [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassinate]] [[John F. Kennedy]] on the other (he held them in different hands in both photographs). These photographs were considered important evidence in the investigation as it proved the rifle was his.{{sfn|Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 4|1964|p=125}} In the 1970s, another photograph of the same was found and was used in a later investigation in 1977.<ref>{{cite web | title=HSCA Appendix to Hearings - Volume VI| website=Assassination Archive and Research Center|page=41 | url=http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/hsca/reportvols/vol6/html/HSCA_Vol6_0074a.htm | access-date=30 September 2023}}</ref>
In the summer of 2005, ''The Militant'' became a bilingual newspaper, published in both English and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ({{lang|es|El Militante}}), and with lead articles and editorials appearing in both languages. A [[French language|French]] edition was inaugurated in 2012 named {{lang|fr|Le Militant}}.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
''The Militant'' is not officially owned or controlled by the SWP. To protect the party and the paper, ''The Militant'' is owned by an unidentified private group,{{citation needed|date=October 2011}} although the endorsement the paper gives to the SWP is clear.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite book |title=Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/ |year=1964 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |page=191 |chapter=Chapter 4: The Assassin |chapter-url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-4.html |ref={{harvid|Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 4|1964}}}}
==External links== * [http://www.themilitant.com Official website] * [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/themilitant/index.htm Archive for all the back issues of ''The Militant'' 1928–1973] * [http://www.pathfinderpress.com/ Pathfinder Books, the bookstore of the Socialist Workers Party]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Militant}} [[Category:1928 establishments in the United States]] [[Category:Communist periodicals published in the United States]] [[Category:Magazines established in 1928]] [[Category:Magazines published in New York City]] [[Category:Multilingual magazines]] [[Category:Socialist Workers Party (United States)]]