Erickson, James

The Daily Worker, the official organ of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), traces its origins back to the Communist Labor Party, founded in Chicago in 1919. The Communist Labor Party’s paper was known as the Toiler . When the Communist Labor Party and the Workers Party merged in 1921, the Toiler became the weekly paper The Worker . Two years later, the paper changed its name to the Daily Worker . As a daily newspaper, the Daily Worker covered the major stories of the 20th century, while at the same time speaking to the left-wing sector of the American population, which included labor, civil rights, and peace activists. The newspaper emphasized radical social movements, labor struggles, racial discrimination, right wing extremism, the Soviet Union, and the world-wide Communist movement.

The CPUSA grew under increasing attack following WWII. The rise of McCarthyism and the Red Scare eventually forced the Party to go underground, and in 1958, the Daily Worker shut down operation. In 1960, it resumed bi-weekly publication as The Worker, but never achieved the level of popularity it had in the 1930s and 1940s.

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