Max Eastman, Editor of Anti-World War I “Masses,” Born
Max Eastman, editor of the anti-World War I magazine The Masses, was born on this day.
The Post Office banned The Masses from the mails in the summer of 1917 because of its anti-war views, and on two occasions the Justice Department unsuccessfully prosecuted Eastman and other Masses editors under the Espionage Act.
Eastman became editor of The Masses in 1913, and working with contributing writers and artists on a semi-cooperative basis, immediately transformed the magazine into the leading radical magazine in the country. The Masses supported socialism, women’s suffrage, civil rights, birth control, and freedom of expression in the arts. Artists who published in The Masses were on their way to becoming among the most celebrated artists of the period.
Max was the brother of Crystal Eastman, a feminist, socialist, and suffragist, who founded the American Union Against Militarism (AUAM) in 1914 to keep the U.S. out of the European War. When the U.S. entered the war on April 6, 1917, Roger Baldwin joined Eastman in creating the Civil Liberties Bureau, a committee of the AUAM, to provide assistance to young men thinking about being conscientious objectors to the war, and also to fight for freedom of speech. On January 20, 1920 the Civil Liberties Bureau was reorganized as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
On July 7, 1917, the U.S. Post Office banned The Masses from the mails, along with other anti-war publications. On July 24th, District Court Judge Learned Hand overturned the ban with a strong opinion supporting freedom of speech. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Hand’s decision in November, and the suppression of the anti-war press continued.
In January 1918, Max Eastman and others founded The Liberator, to take the place of The Masses. Because of the repressive atmosphere, however, the editors admitted that they were careful not to say anything that might provoke another Post Office ban or a new criminal prosecution.
After the war, Eastman lost interest in radical politics and devoted his life to his writing, including poetry. He also became increasingly conservative politically, and by the 1960s was admired by many leading conservative figures.
Read: Christoph Irmscher, Max Eastman: A Life (2017)
Read all the copies of The Masses (especially from 1917)