ISR editor Charles H. Kerr looks back at the changes in the class struggle, and to the International Socialist Review, after ten years publishing. The next decade would be far more eventful for the seminal Marxist magazine.

‘The Fighting Magazine of the Working Class’ by Charles H. Kerr from International Socialist Review. Vol. 11 No. 1. January, 1910.

Ten Eventful Years. In July, 1900, we issued the first number of the International Socialist Review. Organized socialism in the United States was represented at that time by three warring factions of nearly equal strength, two of which were soon consolidated into the present Socialist Party. These factions were largely the personal following of a few “leaders,” and their quarrels were a constant source of weakness. During these ten years capitalist production has gone on revolutionizing its processes day by day. The new processes have brought new working conditions. Little capitalists have been crowded down into the ranks of the wage-workers. Skilled laborers have found the market for their’ skill cut off. Craft unions which previously had kept their wages up have been beaten into submission, and all these have swelled the ranks of the revolutionary wage-workers, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. These social changes have been reflected in the Socialist Party. They have increased its membership five-fold, and have convinced the rank and file of the party that nothing but revolution will do. These men and women have learned to think for themselves. They can no longer be swayed by “leaders.”

The Working Class Finding Itself. This one big fact stands out above all the long and sometimes wearisome discussions held at the Socialist Congress at Chicago in May. There were plenty of “leaders” there. They received plenty of applause. They came with a variety of vote-catching programs, which if adopted might have attracted more votes to the party in the next election or two. These leaders were good debaters, experienced in the ways of conventions. They evidently came expecting an easy victory for their pet measures. But they were baffled at every turn by the settled conviction of a majority of the delegates that the men and women whom they represented wanted no compromise with reformers, no patching of the capitalist system, nothing to retard the onward sweep of the working class.

What the Review has Done. Not for a moment do we flatter ourselves that the Review has been the cause of this awakening of the rank and file. The Review is only the outcome and the expression of that awakening. Ten years ago our aim was “to educate the educators.” We thought the principles of socialism could be mastered by a chosen few and handed down to the many. Less than three years ago we saw a new light. We came to realize that the industrial wage-workers arrive from their daily experience at a clearer view of the class struggle than any mere theorist can possibly reach. We now see that if the Review is to be an important weapon in the fight against capitalism, it must be of, by and for the working class. Since we have been working with that aim in view our growth has been increasingly rapid. With this issue we take a new advance step, changing to the shape of the popular illustrated magazines.

The Fighting Magazine of the Working Class. That is what our growing army of fellow-workers is going to make the Review. The class struggle between wage-workers and capitalists is each month growing hotter. Each month we propose to take a hand in each new battle. If a big strike is on in your city, send us a concise story of what the men have done and what they are trying to do. Never mind about flowery language; the Review readers want the facts. Above all, send photographs with action in them. What we did for the free speech fight at Spokane and later at New Castle, for the shirt waist strikers, the Philadelphia car men and the steel workers at McKees Rocks we can do for you when your fight is on, if you keep us in touch with the situation.

The International Socialist Review (ISR) was published monthly in Chicago from 1900 until 1918 by Charles H. Kerr and critically loyal to the Socialist Party of America. It is one of the essential publications in U.S. left history. During the editorship of A.M. Simons it was largely theoretical and moderate. In 1908, Charles H. Kerr took over as editor with strong influence from Mary E Marcy. The magazine became the foremost proponent of the SP’s left wing growing to tens of thousands of subscribers. It remained revolutionary in outlook and anti-militarist during World War One. It liberally used photographs and images, with news, theory, arts and organizing in its pages. It articles, reports and essays are an invaluable record of the U.S. class struggle and the development of Marxism in the decades before the Soviet experience. It was closed down in government repression in 1918.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v11n01-jul-1910-ISR-gog-Corn-OCR.pdf