View source for The Masses

==Introduction==
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The Masses was founded in 1911. It was an illustrated socialist monthly with 10 volumes that became short lived because in August 1917 it was barred from mail by the US government because it critiqued the US involvement in World War I. Was The Masses barred specifically because of this one article or was it barred because its conflicting views with the US government? The Masses was barred not because of its critique of the US involvement in World War I but it was barred because of its unpopular socialist opinions that proved a nightmare for the capitalist US government.  The article critiquing US involvement in World War I was used as a scapegoat to finally silence “the most dangerous magazine in America”.</html>

==Text Mining==

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===War===
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''The Masses'' held a very negative view of the United States' entrance and involvement in World War I. Peaks in the graph occur near issues in which war is discussed heavily. ''The Masses's'' views on the war were very strong and polarizing as well, which is part of the reason it was so inflammatory.

===Woman===
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In ''The Masses'' corpus, we chose "Woman" as during the time the views on women were a big social issue. During this period, women were pushing to be equal and was a controversial topic of discussion. ''The Masses'' in particular was highly for the idea of woman's suffrage.

===Labor===
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Labor was analyzed because labor is a very significant issue in the socialism versus capitalism conflict. It helps address the guiding question of whether "The Masses" was barred from mail because of one article on US involvement in World War I or if it was barred because of a build up of unpopular opinions that the US government eventually silenced.
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==Timeline==
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==Close Reading==


===Vol. 1 No. 12===
[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1354919808797629.pdf '''The Cheapest Commodity on the Market'''] by A.O. Fischer  

''"Yet woman is the cheapest commodity on the market. You can buy ten women for the price of a good ruby."''

Fischer in this article addresses the worth of labor for both men and women and critiques the fact that women earn just enough to get by.

''"From these women will come the race of the future. According to their health and strength will be the health and strength of the next generation. Common sense ought to help us see that even if we lack the imagination to see in the degradation of women the degradation of the whole race."''

Fischer is appalled by the fact that the labor force is seemingly expendable. If someone was not doing their job properly or efficiently, they could easily find someone else to bring in. In regards to women as well, they are making just enough to get by. This, however, to Fischer was unacceptable as the future of a generation depended on women. 

Fischer then goes on to beg several questions about women as well as the views of the workforce: 
#Are women really seen as equal in society? ''"To be a woman in a modern capitalist society means to be the cheapest commodity on the market."''
#Is the life of a person in general really worth what we make of it? ''"A jewel is a fine thing, but so far, as a jewel serves no practical purpose, one human life is worth all the jewels of the world."''
#''"What is the matter with a world that searches land and sea for a new jewel yet stands calmly by while women sell their lives to a machine and sell them for only enough to buy food and bed?"''
#Will we be the shameful era for women's rights for not doing something about this injustice now?

At the beginning on the article, Fischer goes on to say that those that believe that women were equal to men during that time have been lied to by those who preach that they are. From there, he goes on to speak of the injustices of the labor force. ''"But if you want a human being's services you have only to hold up your hand and at once you will have a score of human beings to choose from. You don't even have to buy them. Each day you need pay them only what it will take to buy their food and lodging and if ever they become sick you have simply to throw them out and hire others in their place."'' Essentially, the gears that keep in the system are completely replaceable. Workers were seen as commodities rather than living beings. Fischer was appalled by the views of the labor force and was also stunned by how women were viewed as well.

===Vol. 4 No. 1===
[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1362683171490042.pdf '''Why the United States Must Adopt Socialism'''] by R.A. Dague

''"The annual report of the Steel Trust for December 31, 1911, shows that last year it made net profits of $142,000,000 or a profit of $700 on each employee."''

For Karl Marx, exploitation is unpaid wages. By this definition, any member of the working-class whose company realizes a profit is exploited. Dague finds this appalling, and uses the factoid to suggest why socialism is necessary for the United States. He continues, ''"The U.S. Senate Labor and Education Committee recently in its official report denounced the United States Steel Corporation as a "brutal system of industrial slavery.""'' Strong rhetoric of slavery via exploitation is reminiscent of the slavery of fifty years prior... It took over a century to free slaves from Africa. Will Dague tolerate taking that long to solve exploitation in the industrial era?

''"Socialism is a systematic, well-thought-out system of Industrialism, which will meet the requirements of the new era coming. It will stop stock-watering and "industrial peonage," and the crushing of the weak by the strong. It will furnish employment to all the unemployed. It will abolish strikes and blacklisting and dynamiting and war. It will take children out of the mills and shops and put them in school; it will make comfortable the aged, not by chloroforming them, but pensioning them.''"

While these all sound like great things, and appeal to the masses, how will socialism result in such change? Dague provides empty claims that preach to the choir that is ''The Masses''. In fact, Dague seems to gather his persuasion from the ethos that comes from shaming both the system of capitalism, and the capitalists themselves. Dague's logos, in this piece at least, is lacking.

===Vol. 7 No. 1===
[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1380038297735042.pdf '''Labor and the Future'''] by Amos Pinchot

"Confident in its isolation and ignorance, industrial absolutism not only says to the worker, "You toil and work and earn bread and I'll eat it; " it says, "You earn bread on my terms only and I'll eat it. And if you rebel I will use economic power, violence, law, the administration of justice—yes, and contempt of law and violation of justice, in order to reduce you to obedience.""

Pinot's article argues that industrial absolutism is a unfair to the working class and discusses the use of labor strikes to cure the United States from industrial absolutism. Industrial absolutism is in essence the belief that an employer has complete power over his or her employees and the employees must obey the employer. Pinot uses the example of strikes to check the power of the employer and eventually phase out industrial absolutism.

"Labor can no longer win by strikes alone. The labor surplus is so large..."
"Neither peaceful nor violent methods can keep this unemployed labor surplus out of the mine or mill."

A major issue with Pinot's recognition of strikes as a means of overthrowing industrial absolutism is that if an employee is fired there is such a large labor surplus that two more employees can be hired the same day to take the former employee's place. This labor surplus also means that violent and peaceful methods are useless. Pinot even goes on to say that the industrial absolutism results in "industrial slavery." 

This type of writing eventually led to the introduction and recognition of labor unions once the labor surplus began to decrease. However, the damage by this article is still done as it target political issues that the US government had yet to solve. This is yet another is ''The Masses'' tackles that the US government had no answer to at the time.

===Vol. 9 No. 8===

[http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1380112514234999.pdf '''Advertising Democracy'''] by Max Eastman

''"It is not a war for democracy. It did not originate in a dispute about democracy, and it is unlikely to terminate in a democratic settlement."''

The Masses heavily criticized the U.S's involvement in the war, and Eastman contributes to this by attacking Wilson's intentions, claiming that the U.S. has caught war-fever and that the war, at heart, was never about liberty to begin with.

''"If you can not raise in our population a volunteer army of one million men for this war, then the American democracy does not want this war; and to call it a democratic war, or a war for democracy, while you whip them to it, is an insult in their faces."''

Challenging the President on the true intent of the war, Eastman asks a series of questions to Wilson in his article that question whether the war is a war for democracy:

# Would the U.S. end the war with a democratic Germany putting aside views on submarine war and trade of arms and munitions?
# Would Wilson recant his statement that citizens shouldn't engage in assisting revolution in other states?
# Would he promote a German group promoting democratic ideals?
# Would he make a peace agreement with the Reichstag (parliament) where the only item absolutely required is peace?

Eastman also holds the U.S. accountable for conscription which he feels strips away the very democratic essence of U.S. involvement. He argues that it's insulting to force soldiers into a war meant to spread freedom: "Come, boys, get on your chains, we're going to fight for liberty!"

==Conclusion==
''"The Masses"'', an journal of the early twentieth century, was highly controversial. Its strong writing in favor of socialism served as a threat to American capitalists. Although it was an anti-war article that ultimately resulted in the magazine's discontinuation, that was simply the final straw. The United States prides itself on freedoms of speech and the press. But criticizing the war in a time when national unity is needed, qualifies as "treasonable material." It was not a single issue that got ''"The Masses"'' off the presses, but rather nearly a decade of dangerous material in the eyes of the government.

==Resources==
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"The Masses." The Masses. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.
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"Readings." Text and Medium: Intro to Digital Humanities. N.p., 16 Nov. 2015. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.
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"Voyant Tools." Voyant Tools. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2017
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[http://www.historynet.com/womens-suffrage-movement '''Woman's Suffrage Movement'''] History Net Web. 07 Mar. 2017