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.

In 1967, the paper now known as the Daily World, again became a daily. It reported on the civil rights movement, including sit-ins, voter registration campaigns and the Freedom Rides. In the late 1960s and into the early 1970s, the Daily World aligned itself with the anti-Vietnam War and black nationalist movements.

In 1986 the paper merged with the CPUSA's West Coast weekly, the People's World . The newly formed People's Daily World was published from 1987 until 1991, when daily publication was abandoned in favor of a weekly edition, renamed the People's Weekly World . During this period the paper focused heavily on labor union activity, particularly in cities like Detroit and Chicago, as well as the growing anti-globalization movement.

Shifting its operations back to Chicago between 2001 and 2002, the paper changed its name to the People's World in 2009. In 2010, the paper ceased print publication and became an electronic, online-only, publication.

Specific artists represented in the Daily Worker/ Daily World Cartoon Collection include: Fred Ellis, Ollie Harrington, Hugo Gellert, Norman Goldberg, Kinkaid, and James Erickson (Eric), among numerous others.

From the guide to the The, Daily Worker, and, Daily World, Cartoon Collection, Bulk, 1940-1980, 1928-2002, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)