The Masses was a graphically innovative American magazine of socialist politics published monthly from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription in the United States during World War I. It was succeeded by The Liberator and then later New Masses. It published reportage, fiction, poetry and art by the leading radicals of the time such as Max Eastman, John Reed, Dorothy Day, and Floyd Dell.
June 1914 issue of The Masses. Cover Illustration was drawn by John French Sloan and depicts the Ludlow Massacre
Physically Fit, a drawing by Henry J. Glintenkamp, published in the magazine in 1917, that was cited in the indictment.
John French Sloan's satirical take on the Armory Show, captioned "A Slight Attack of Dimentia Brought on by Excessive Study of the Much Talked of Cubist Pictures in the International Exhibition in New York."
The Masses (cover), April 1916, A sketch by Frank Walts of Mary Fuller, star of The Heart of a Mermaid (Lucius J. Henderson, 1916)
New Masses (1926–1948) was an American Marxist magazine closely associated with the Communist Party USA. It succeeded both The Masses (1912–1917) and The Liberator (1918–1924). New Masses was later merged into Masses & Mainstream (1948–1963). With the coming of the Great Depression in 1929 America became more receptive to ideas from the political Left and New Masses became highly influential in intellectual circles. The magazine has been called “the principal organ of the American cultural left from 1926 onwards."
New Masses cover by Hugo Gellert, May 1926
The New Masses featured the political art of a number of prominent radical cartoonists, including William Gropper.
Mike Gold was among the most widely recognized radical literary figures associated with The New Masses.