Periodicals

Periodicals

Off the shelves and on to the Internet!

hHi Periodicals were not originally a focus of this site, however we have come to view them (and ephemera) in a different light and have engaged in a process to procure and post periodicals that were distributed in the greater Washington, D.C. area as well as those related to particular political or social movement groups that operated in the area. They help give context to our photo albums and provide another primary source to researchers.

 

 

 

Quick links to periodicals (scroll down to access those not highlighted)

Local Periodicals

Local Alternative Press

Local Anarchist

Local Antiwar

Local Black Liberation/Civil Rights

Local Civil Liberties

Local Communist/Socialist

Local Community Press

Local GI/Veterans Press

Local LGBTQ

Local Labor

Local Students (College and University)

Local Students (High School)

Local Women’s Movement

National Periodicals

National Alternative Press

National Antiwar

National Civil Liberties

  • Action Bulletin
  • CounterSpy

National Civil Rights & Black Liberation

National Communist/Socialist

  • Unity & Struggle
  • The Worker (national edition)

National Fascist

National GI & Veterans

National LBGTQ+

National Labor

National Liberation and Anti-Imperialist

National Native American

  • Freedom Weekend News

National Social and Economic Justice

National Student

National Women’s

International Periodicals

 

Local Periodicals

Local Alternative Press

Washington Area Spark

The Montgomery Spark, The Montgomery County Spark, The Washington Area Spark and its successor publications On The Move and the Maryland-DC-Virginia Worker published from 1971-77. Beginning as a radical student newspaper at Montgomery College, it morphed into a “movement” newspaper, then to a working class-based paper and finally as a publication dominated by the Revolutionary Union and later Revolutionary Communist Party. Spark first expanded from Montgomery College to Montgomery County, MD and then the Washington, D.C. area. It was succeeded by On The Move (1974-75), which in turn was succeeded by The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area (1975-77) published by the Revolutionary Communist Party.

  • Historical Washington Area Spark (complete set)

Vol. 1 No. 1 – October 5, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 2 – October 25, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 3 – November 19, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 4 – December 10, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 5 – February 29, 1972

Vol. 1 No. 6 – April 15, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 1 – September 6, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 2 – October 4, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 3 – October 31, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 4 – November 19, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 5 – December 20, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 6 – January 20, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 7 – February 21, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 8 – March 14, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 9 – May 11, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 10 – June 12, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 11 – July 11, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 12 – August 17, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 1 – October 11, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 2 – November 24, 1973

  • On The Move–successor to Washington Area Spark (complete set):

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April-May, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 2 – August, 1974

Vol. 1, No. 3, November, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 4 – December, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 5 – January, 1975

 

 

 

  • The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area–successor to On the Move:

Available Issues:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – October 1975 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – November 1975 

Vol. 1 No. 3 – December 1975

Vol. 1 No. 4 – January 1976

Vol. 1 No. 5 – February 1976

Vol. 1 No. 6 – March 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 7 – April 1976

Vol. 1 No. 8 – May 1976

Vol. 2 No. 3 – December 1976

Vol. 2 No. 4 – January 1977 

–Donated courtesy of Connie Lednum

  • National edition of The Worker

The Revolutionary Communist Party published a number of Worker newspapers in cities and regions throughout the United States 1975-77 and occasionally published a national edition of The Worker. The July 1976 issue was distributed by the Maryland-DC-Virginia The Worker.

The national edition distributed by the Maryland-DC-Virginia The Worker dealt with the Bicentennial and the RCP’s “We’ve Carried the Rich for 200 Years” demonstration.

1976 – July 4th – Special National Edition of The Worker 

  • Washington Area Spark/On The Move/The Worker Artifacts

National Liberation Front headband – 1971-72 – worn at D.C. area antiwar demonstrations by Spark staff

Spark “bomb” headband – 1972 – Worn at D.C. area antiwar demonstrations by Spark staff

“Throw the Bum Out” flyer – Apr. 1974  – A two-sided flyer by On The Move urging people to participate in an anti-imperialist contingent within a larger “Impeach Nixon” march to be held April 27, 1974.

“May Day celebration” – May 1975 – The DC Anti-Imperialist Committee advertises a May Day celebration at All Souls Church in Washington, D.C. May 4, 1975. The sponsors included The Worker newspaper, Revolutionary Union, Ethiopian Student Union, Eritreans for Liberation, Iranian Students Association and the Ethiopian Women’s Study Group. The event was endorsed by the African Liberation Support Committee, Congress of African People, February First Movement and the Wounded Knee Defense Committee.

“Call for a Workers Dinner” flyer – Apr. 1977 – a four page 4-page pamphlet inviting workers to a dinner at The Worker offices at 3609 Fleet Street, Baltimore Md on Sunday, April 3, 1977. About 150 workers attended.

Alice – The Blacksburg Free Press

Alice was a left-wing alternative newspaper that published 36 issues from May 1968-May 1970 in Blacksburg, Virginia. Though not in the immediate Washington, D.C. area, it retains a strong connection through Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech). Alice covered student issues and campus demonstrations at Virginia Tech as well as broader emerging issues such as gay, lesbian and women’s rights, anti-Vietnam War, drugs, black liberation, police repression and the youth culture. The paper generally used student semesters at Virginia Tech as volume numbers and initially published in an 8 ½ x 11 or 8 ½ x 14 newsletter style before switching to tabloid newsprint in 1969.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – May 18, 1968

Vol. 1 No. 2 – June 1, 1968 

Vol. 2 No. 1 – June 24, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 2 – July 1, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 3 – July 8, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 4 – July 15, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 5 – July 29, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 6 – August 5, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 7 – August 12, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 9 (apparently mis-numbered) – August 19, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 1 – September 23, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 2 – September 30, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 3 – October 7, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 4 –  October 14, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 5 – October 1968

Vol. 3 No. 6 – November 1968

Vol. 3 No. 7 – November 25, 1968

Vol. 4 No. 1 – January 7, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 2 – January 1969

Vol. 4 No. 3 – February 1969

Vol. 4 No. 4 – February 1969

Newsletter – March 1969

Vol. 5 No. 1 – April 1969

Vol. 5 No. 2 – April 4, 1969

Vol. 5 No. 3 – April 16, 1969

Vol. 5 No. 4 – May 1, 1969

Vol. 5 No. 5 – May 20, 1969

Vol. 6 No. 1 – September 1969

Vol. 6 No. 2 – October 1969

Vol. 6 No. 3 – October 1969

Vol. 6 No. 4 – November 6, 1969

Vol. 7 No. 1 – January 1970

Vol. 7 No. 2 – February 6, 1970

Vol. 7 No. 3 – March 1970

Vol. 8 No. 1 – April 1970

Vol. 8 No. 2 – May 1970

Some originals held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Other originals are from the Virginia Tech Special Collections.

Colonial Times

The Colonial Times was a left-leaning tabloid in Washington, D.C. that reported much like mainstream journalism and published irregularly from October 1971 until May 1972. It would reincarnate itself as The Daily Rag in October 1972.

Vol 1 No 1 – October 18, 1971

Vol 1 No 2 – November 15, 1971

Vol 1 No 3 – December 3, 1971

Vol 1 No 4 – December 21, 1971

Vol 1 No 5 – January 14, 1972

Vol 1 No 6 – March 2, 1972

Vol 1 No 7 – March 16, 1972

Vol 1 No 8 – May 1972

These copies were hand scanned from originals held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box O85.

The Daily Rag

The Daily Rag published every two weeks from October 1972 until October 1973, then weekly until its demise June 13, 1974. It was a left wing tabloid that reported on local, national and international issues from a radical perspective, but was less flamboyant than the Washington Free Press or Quicksilver Times. Its first incarnation was as the Colonial Times that published at least eight issues beginning in October 1971 but folded thereafter. The Colonial Times billed itself as the alternative to the Quicksilver Times and the Washington Post. The Colonial Times then began publishing the Rag in 1972 and claimed a circulation of 36,000 in 1973 for the paper that was distributed free of charge.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Early October, 1972

Vol 1 No 2 – unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 3 – unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 4 – unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 5 – unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 6 – December 22, 1972

Vol. 1 No. 7 – January 19, 1973

Special Issue – January 20, 1973

Vol. 1 No. 9 – February 9, 1973

Vol 1 No 10 – February 23, 1973

Vol 1 No 11 – unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 12 – March 23, 1973

Vol 1 No 13 – April 6, 1973

Vol. 1 No. 14 – April 20, 1973

Vol 1 No 15 – May 4, 1973

Vol 1 No 16 – May 18, 1973

Vol 1 No 17 – June 1, 1973

Vol 1 No 18 – June 15, 1973

Vol 1 No 19 – June 28, 1973

Vol 1 No 20 – July 13, 1973

Vol 1 No 21 – July 27, 1973

Vol 1 No 22 – August 10, 1973

Vol 1 No 23 – August 24, 1973

Vol 1 No 24 – September 7, 1973

Vol 1 No 25 – September 21, 1973

Vol 2 No 1 – October 5, 1973

Vol 2 No 2 – unavailable at this time

Vol 2 No 3 – October 19, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 4 – October 26, 1973

Vol 2 No 5 – November 2, 1973

Vol 2 No 6 – November 9, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 7 – November 16, 1973

Vol 2 No 8 – November 23, 1973

Vol 2 No 9 – November 30, 1973

Vol 2 No 10 – unavailable at this time

Vol 2 No 11 – December 14, 1973

Vol 2 No 12 – December 21, 1973

Vol 2 No 13 – unavailable at this time

Vol 2 No 14 – January 12, 1974

Vol 2 No 15 – January 19, 1974

Vol 2 No 16 – January 25, 1974

Vol 2 No 17 – unavailable at this time

Vol 2 No 18 – February 8, 1974

Vol 2 No 19 – February 15, 1974

Vol 2 No 20 – February 22, 1974

Vol 2 No 21 – March 1, 1974

Vol 2 No 22 – March 8, 1974

Vol 2 No 23 – March 15, 1974

Vol 2 No 24 – March 22, 1974

Vol 2 No 25 – March 28, 1974

Vol 2 No 26 – April 4, 1974

Vol 2 No 27 – April 11, 1974

Vol 2 No 28 – April 18, 1974

Vol 2 No 29 – April 25, 1974

Vol 2 No 30 – May 2, 1974

Vol 2 No 31 – May 9, 1974

Vol 2 No 32 – May 16, 1974

Vol 2 No 33 – May 23, 1974

Vol 2 No 33 – May 30, 1974 (mis-numbered)

Vol 2 No 35 – June 6, 1974

Vol 2 No 36 – June 13, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 1, Vol. 1 No. 14, Vol. 2 No. 4 and Vol. 2 No. 7 are courtesy of Robert Simpson. The rest have been scanned from originals held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box O99.

Northern Virginia Free Press

The Northern Virginia Free Press was a brief-lived 1970 left-wing alternative newspaper that grew out of the Annandale Free Press—a high school alternative publication. The paper’s banner featured a marijuana leaf. The NoVa Free Press maintained an office in Springfield and had seven staff members when it published its first edition along with several contributors and several other people to assist with art work.

Vol.. 1 No. 1 – Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection # M 520, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Vol. 1 No. 2 – Original held in Special Collections Rare Books (William & Mary Libraries), Call Number AN47.A43 N84.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April 1970 ca.

Vol. 1 No. 2 – June 1970 ca.

 

Quicksilver Times (nearly complete set)

This newspaper was the premier Washington, D.C. alternative newspaper from 1969 to 1972 along with the Washington Free Press (1967-70) during a period of radical and revolutionary upheaval. Quicksilver was among the pioneers skillfully utilizing the strengths of offset printing such as color, centerfold and back cover political posters and art, attention getting headlines, large graphics and over time, using white space to focus attention. On the negative side, its ultization of half-tone graphics overlaid on text, reversed text and a small type face made reading the content difficult at times (though attractive to glance at). It had excellent coverage of topics such as the Weather Underground, the 1969 Moratoriums, 1970 national student strike, 1970 Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention, 1971 People’s Peace Treaty, 1971 Mayday demonstrations, the rise of the women’s liberation and gay liberation movements, the rise and decline of the Black Panther Party, campaigns to free political prisoners, the youth culture and the co-op movement.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – June 16, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 2 – June 27, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 3 – July 10, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 4 – July 21, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 5 – August 1, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 6 – August 12, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 7 – August 26, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 8 – September 10, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 9 – September 21,  1969

Vol. 1 No. 10 – October 1, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 11 – October 18, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 12 – October 29, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 13 – November 13, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 14 – November 26, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 15 – December 8, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 16 – December 19, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 1 – January 9, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 2 – January 19, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 3 – January 30, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 4 – February 9, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 5 – February 20, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 6 – March 3, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 7 – March 13, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 8 – March 24, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 9 – April 3, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 10 – April 14, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 11 – May 8, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 12 – May 18, 1970

Vol. 2 No 13 – unavailable at this time

Vol. 2 No. 14 – June 9, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 15 – June 23, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 16 – July 3, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 17 – July 14, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 18 – July 28, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 19 – August 8, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 20 – August 18, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 21 – September 1, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 22 – September 15, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 23 – September 26,  1970

Vol. 2 No. 24 – October 5, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 25 – October 19, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 26 – October 31, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 27 – November 10, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 28 – November 24, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 29 – December 8, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 30 – December 22, 1970

Vol. 3 No. 1 – January 16, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 2 – January 30, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 3 – February 17, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 4 – March 2, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 5 – March 17, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 6 – March 31, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 7 – April 14, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 8 – April 30, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 9 – May 15, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 10 – June 2, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 11 – June 13, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 12 – July 3, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 13 – July 17, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 14 – July 30, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 15 – August 14, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 16 – August 28, 1971 (duplicate date and volume number)

Vol. 3 No. 17 – August 28, 1971 (duplicate date and volume number)

Vol. 3 No. 18 – September 16, 1971 (possibly misdated)

Vol. 3 No. 19 – October 13, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 20 – October 29, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 21 – November 12,  1971

Vol. 3 No. 22 – November 25, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 23 – December 14, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 24 – December 31, 1971

Vol. 4 No. 1 – January 14, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 2 – January 28, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 3 – February 15, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 4 – March 3, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 5 – March 23, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 6 – April 12, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 7 – May 2, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 8 – May 31, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 9 – July 30, 1972

Red Earth

Red Earth was the new name of Voice from the Mother Country beginning with the second issue. The last issue of Washington, D.C.-based Red Earth alternative newspaper published as a mini-manual of urban guerilla warfare circa June 1970. The politics of the paper are closely aligned with the Weathermen (later Weather Underground).

Included is a statement from the Weathermen after the bombing of the New York City police headquarters that occurred on June 9, 1970.

The 20-page tabloid also covers arms, logistics, tactics, 7 sins that a guerrilla can commit, popular support and recruitment.

The paper was apparently laid-out as a 16-page paper, but expanded to 20 pages with the inclusion of an unnumbered 4-page insert in the center of the tabloid.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April 1970 (published as Voice from the Mother Country)

Vol. 1 No. 2 – unavailable

Vol. 1 No. 3 – May 29, 1970

No Volume or Issue number – June 1970

Voice from the Mother Country

A staff split at the Quicksilver Times alternative newspaper resulted in about half the staff leaving to publish one issue of Voice from the Mother Country in April 1970. They took over the Quicksilver offices at 1932 17th Street NW that later in the year became the Community Center of the Black Panther Party. Subsequently the paper was renamed Red Earth and published three more issues.

The start-up paper was effectively ended by an FBI raid on May 7, 1970 that was ostensibly looking for former DC Regional SDS leader Cathy Wilkerson who at the time was a fugitive member of the Weather Underground Organization. Two of the staff members of the Voice were arrested on weapons charges.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April 1970 – Note pages 3 and 4 are damaged

Vol. 2 No. 1 – May 1970 – unavailable (published as Red Earth)

Vol. 1 No. 3 – May 29, 1970 (published as Red Earth

No Volume or Issue number – June 1970 (published as Red Earth)

Washington Free Press

The Washington Free Press published from 1966 to 1969 and became the first of the 1960s “underground” newspapers in the Washington, D.C. area. It began as an intercollegiate newspaper in the area in 1966 and in April 1967 began publishing as an area-wide alternative newspaper. It started as an eight-page weekly tabloid publishing investigative pieces and exposes not covered by the mainstream press but in a writing style not much different from than the three daily newspapers that served the city. By 1968 it was publishing a 24 or 28-page issue every two weeks or so and had adopted a more free-form style of journalism where opinion was mixed freely with reporting. Its politics evolved from a left-liberal bent to youth culture to revolutionary over a three-year span. Under pressure from authorities, internal issues, and from the start-up alternative newspaper Quicksilver Times, the Free Press began faltering in its last year of publication. It moved to a monthly and then abandoned a regular schedule. Its once lively content began to fade and it ceased publication in December 1969. Most issues of the area-wide paper are represented, but some are missing pages and the quality of some of the scans is less than desirable. If you have copies of the Washington Free Press or know where to obtain them, please e-mail washington_area_spark@yahoo.com

Donations by Robert and Craig Simpson: Vol. 1 No. 1, Vol. 1 No. 4, Vol. 2 No 15, Vol. 2 No. 18, Vol. 2 No. 27, Vol. 2 No. 29, Vol. 2 No. 31, Vol. 2 No 32, Vol. 2 No. 33, Vol. 2 No. 38, Vol. 2 No. 40, Vol. 2 No 41, Vol. 2 No. 42, Vol. 2 No 45, Vol. 2 No. 47, Vol 2 N 48, Vol. 2 No. 49, Vol. 2 No. 50, Vol. 2 No. 52, Vol. 3 No. 2, Vol. 3 No 5

Scans from the District of Columbia Library: Vol. 2 No. 1, Vol. 2 No. 2, Vol 2 No. 3 & 4, Vol 2 No. 5, Vol. 2 No 6, Vol. 2 No. 7, Vol. 2 No 8, Vol 2 No 9, Vol 2 No. 11, Vol. 2 No. 12, Vol. 2 No. 13, Vol. 2 No 14, Vol. 2 No. 15 (Sept 3), Vol. 2 No 16, Vol. 2 No 17, Vol 2 No. 19, Vol 2 No 20, Vol 2 No 21, Vol 2 No 22, Vol 2 No 23, Vol 2 No 24, Vol 2 No 25, Vol. 2 No 26, Vol 2 No 28, Vol. 2 No. 30, Vol. 2 No 34, Vol 2 No 35, Vol 2 No. 36, Vol 2 No 37, Vol. 2 No 39, Vol 2 No 46, Vol. 3 No. 1, Vol 3 No 3, Vol 3 No 6, Vol 3 No 7, Vol 3 No 8, Vol 3 No 9, Vol 3 No 10, Vol 3 No 11, Vol 3 No 12

Scans from the Marshall Bloom Alternative Press Collection, Special Collections, Amherst University supplied missing pages for Vol. 2 No 43, Vol. 2 No 44, Vol. 3 No 4.

Donations by Robert and Craig Simpson supplied missing pages for Vol. 2 No 25, Vol. 3 No 11.

A number of missing issues and pages have been added as of March 1, 2024, including the rare first issue when it was a D.C. area-wide student newspaper and the April 28, 1968 issue that had extensive coverage of the disturbances in the city following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The new additions are indicated in bold:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – March 22, 1966 – from color scan 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 3 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 4 – May 26, 1966 – from color scan

Vol. 1 No. 5 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 6 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 7 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 8 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 9 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 10 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 11 – Not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 12 – – Not available at this time

Vol. 2 No. 1 – March 26 1967

Vol. 2 No. 2 – April 2, 1967 – missing pages

Vol. 2 No. 3 & 4 – April 19, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 5 – April 26, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 6 – May 5, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 7 – May 22, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 8 – June 6, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 9 – June 14, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 10 – Not available at this time

Vol. 2 No. 11 – June 30, 1967 – missing page

Vol. 2 No. 12 – July 21, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 13 – August 4, 1967 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 14 – August 20, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 15 – September 3, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 15 — September 23, 1967 – color scan

Vol. 2 No. 16 – October 14, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 17 – October 31, 1967 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 18 – November 3, 1967 ca. – Extra – color scan

Vol. 2 No. 19 – November 23, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 20 – December 12, 1967 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 21 – December 31, 1967 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 22 – January 14, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 23 – February 3, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 24 – February 20, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 25 – February 29, 1968 – pages 1 & 2 from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 26 – March 7, 1968 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 27 – March 19, 1968 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 28 – March 27, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 29 – April 22, 1968 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 30 – May 8, 1968 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 31 – May 18, 1968 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 32 – May 31, 1968 – misdated March 31, 1968 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 33 – June 24, 1968 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 34 – July 16, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 35 – July 26, 1968 Special Edition

Vol. 2 No. 36 – July 27, 1968, Special Edition

Vol. 2 No. 37 – August 1, 1968 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 38 – August 16, 1968 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 39 – September 1, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 40 – September 15, 1968 – no missing pages – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 41 – October 1, 1968 – no missing pages – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 42 – October 15, 1968 – from color scan, but pages 21-22 damaged

Vol. 2 No. 43 – November 1, 1968 – new color scan

Vol. 2 No. 44 – November 15, 1968 – no missing pages

Vol. 2 No. 45 – December 1, 1968 – no missing page – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 46 – December 16, 1968 

Vol. 2 No. 47 – January 1, 1969 – no missing pages – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 48 – January 16, 1969 – no missing pages  – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 49 – February 1, 1969 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 50 – February 15, 1969 – from color scan

Vol. 2 No. 51 – Not available at this time

Vol. 2 No. 52 – March, 15, 1969 – from color scan

Vol. 3 No. 1 – April 1, 1969 –missing page

Vol. 3 No. 2 – April 16, 1969 – from color scan, some damage

Vol. 3 No. 3 – May 1, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 4 – May 16, 1969 –no missing pages

Vol. 3 No. 5 – June 1, 1969 – from color scan

Vol. 3 No. 6 – July 1, 1969 – missing pages

Vol. 3 No. 7 – August 1, 1969 – missing pages

Vol. 3 No. 8 – August (late) 1969 – missing pages

Vol. 3 No. 9 – September (early) 1969 – missing pages

Vol. 3 No. 10 – October (early) 1969 – missing pages

Vol. 3 No. 11 – November (early) 1969 – pages 11-14  from color scan, missing pages

Vol. 3 No. 12 – December (Christmas) 1969

Washington Area Free Press

The Washington Area Free Press is believed to have published two issues in mid-1970

The paper had no relation to the similarly named Washington Free Press that published 1967-69.

The Quicksilver Times traced the history of the Washington Area Free Press in their Vol. 2, No. 17 July 14, 1970 edition that covered a police raid on the newspaper:

“The Washington Area Free Press, formerly the Northern Virginia Free Press, an off-shoot of Red Earth, formerly Voice from the Mother Country, an off-shoot of Quicksilver Times was busted last week.”

No volume, number or date – circa July/August 1970

Vol. 1 No. 2 – unavailable

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Local Anarchist

Lone Wolf Bulletin

Lone Wolf was the publication of the Washington, D.C. anarchist collective Lone Wolf that explained their views on the theory and practice of anarchism in a series of short tracts 1981-82.

In their own words:

“The Lone Wolf Collective strives to help in building a conscious revolutionary anarchist movement and do outreach, spreading general information about the practicality of anarchism.”

The issues of Lone Wolf covered the principles and goals of the collective, a brief history of anarchism, a critique of Marxism, and an explanation of anarchism.

No. 1 – July 1981

No. 2 – February 1982

No. 3 – March 1982

No. 5 – September 1982

Utopian Anarchist Party

The Utopian Anarchist Party was the newsletter of a group of the same name founded in the Washington, D.C. suburbs and eventually gaining adherents across the country.

The 8 ½ x 11 newsletter we have come from a period in which he allied the group with the Revolutionary Communist Party.

Articles in the three issues in the Spark collection in 1998 cover shootings of police, school burnings, overthrowing capitalism, opposing fascism, pipe bombs, disrupting a Montgomery Council hearing, a series by “Pyro-girl” on breaking into homes, communism, a review of meth manufacturing methods, among other writings.

William “Bill” White was its leader who gained a degree of fame opposing police brutality, the education system and psychiatry.

White grew up in Montgomery County, MD attending Walt Whitman High School where he founded the group. He also attended the University of Maryland. He also started a website, Overthrow.com, as another venue to express his views.

However, by 2000 White took the group in another direction, becoming a virulent anti-Semite and taking the group into the neo-Nazi realm. He founded at least two neo-Nazi groups and was a spokesperson for several neo-Nazi activities.

He continued various neo-Nazi activities throughout the early 2000s and had numerous brushes with the law until 2013 when he was sentenced to 92 months in prison for attempting to extort money from his ex-wife. In 2014 he was convicted of threats sent to Florida officials and sentenced to an additional 210 months in prison.

White is scheduled to remain in prison until 2037.

No. 74 circa February 1998 

No. 75 circa April 1998 

No. 77 circa August 1998  

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Local Antiwar

D.C. Moratorium Newsletter

The Newsletter of the D.C. Vietnam Moratorium Committee, the local arm of the organization that sponsored perhaps the largest anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in the October and November 1969 Moratoriums (or strike) against the war that involved upwards of two million people, publishes a newsletter in January 1970. The national Committee was not able to duplicate its success and the organization disbanded after antiwar protests set around the April 15th tax day largely fizzled. In an April 20, 1970 letter to supporters the organizers wrote there was “little prospect of immediate) change in the Administration’s policy in Vietnam.” Unbeknownst to its organizers, President Richard Nixon would set off a firestorm of protest just 10 days later on April 30, 1970 when he ordered U.S. troops to invade Cambodia. Students at college campuses across the country staged strikes and mass demonstrations and over 100,000 people rallied against the war in Washington, D.C. with less than a week’s notice.

Vol. ? No. ? – January 1970

The Mourning Dove

The Mourning Dove was the newsletter of the Washington Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, a broad coalition that sponsored local peace demonstrations as well as organizing for national demonstrations like the October 1967 march on the Pentagon and the August 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention. The local group was most active in 1967 and 1968 and served as the local arm of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, often called the Mobe. It grew out of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam that was organized to build for a large anti-Vietnam War demonstration in New York City in April 1967. The newsletter was mimeographed on 8 ½ x 11 paper. Issues currently available are:

No. 1 – circa May 5, 1967 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – June 9, 1967

Vol. 1 No. 3 – (mis-numbered as No. 2) – June 23, 1967

Vol. 1 No. 4 – July 8, 1967

Vol. 1 No. 5 – July 21, 1967

Vol. 1 No. 6 – circa August 1967 (missing pages 1-2)

Spring Movement

Washington, Spring 1971 was a tabloid (and sometimes 8 ½ x 11) newspaper for anti-Vietnam War demonstrators gathered in Washington, D.C. April-May 1971. The newspaper was also at times named Spring Movement.

The May 1st edition of the newspaper described itself saying,

“We are trying to set up a two-way newspaper, independent from any one group, but open to everyone here.”

“We want to provide as a service to people coming into Washington, and a place to exchange political information, about the actions, and about what we are going to do when we get home.”

More than 25 people worked to produce and distribute the newspaper.

Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations staged in Washington, D.C. during those weeks in 1971 included a massive a week-long veterans encampment that culminated in veterans throwing their medals onto the U.S. Capitol lawn; probably the largest antiwar march in Washington, D.C. held April 24th; a week of demonstrations and civil disobedience by the People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and an attempt to shut-down the federal government with civil disobedience May 3rd-5th that resulted in upwards of 12,000 arrests.

Available issues:

April 8, 1971

May 1, 1971

May 3, 1971

State of W.A.R.

The Washington Area Resistance (WAR) begins publishing State of W.A.R. in May 1969 a newsletter oriented toward the non-violent, antiwar civil disobedience movement, including adherents of “hit and stay.”

The WAR was founded as an organization promoting a refusal to cooperate with the Selective Service System in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War prior to the first “Stop the Draft Week” demonstrations in October of that year.

One of the writers published in the newsletter is Leslie Bayless, one of three who ransacked and poured blood on draft records at the Silver Spring Selective Service System office, and who was imprisoned at the time of the publication of the newsletter.

The newsletter covers a wide range of upcoming and recent antiwar activities, a calendar of upcoming meetings and actions and includes a flyer on supporting the D.C. nine—hit and stay activists who smashed glass, hurled files out a fourth-floor window and poured blood on the remaining files and furniture at the Dow Chemical offices at 15th & L Streets NW Washington, DC March 22, 1969 and awaited police to arrive for their arrest.

Available issues of State of W.A.R.:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – May 15, 1969 –

The Washington Mobilizer

The Washington Mobilizer (1966-68) was the newsletter of the Washington Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, a local umbrella antiwar coalition that was an affiliate of the National Mobilization Committee of the same name. The organization was first organized as the Spring Mobilization Committee in 1966 and organized several antiwar and anti-draft rallies and demonstrations, including organizing attendance at the large April 1967 New York city march. The group sought permanence by replacing its name “Spring” with “Washington” and organized locally the large October 1967 March on the Pentagon and April 1968 protests against the draft, among other activities.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Apri 30, 1967 ca.

Vol. 2 No. 1 – November 6, 1967

Vol. ? No. ? – February 17, 1968

Washington Peace Center Newsletter

The Washington Peace Center newsletter was published irregularly during the 1960s and 70s, acting as a clearinghouse for peace, social justice and non-violent social change.

Available issues of the Washington Peace Center Newsletter:

No. 37 – July 31, 1968

No. 38 – September 25, 1968

No. 40 – November 26, 1968

No. 42 – February 14, 1969

No. 44 – April 25, 1969

Washington War Tax Resistance Newsletter

The Washington War Tax Resistance was founded circa 1969 and was part of a national campaign to defund the war in Indochina.

The newsletter publicized ways to avoid the telephone tax surcharge, ways to file income tax returns without the Vietnam War surcharge, bank penalties for IRS seizures, penalties imposed for refusing the tax as well as information on demonstrations and protests over the taxes.

The primary target was a telephone tax enacted at a rate of 10% in 1966. Wilbur Mills, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, explained during the floor debate that “it is Vietnam, and only the Vietnam operation, which makes this bill necessary.”

A secondary target was an income tax surcharge proposed by President Lyndon Johnson to continue funding the war in Vietnam.

As the war in Vietnam drew to a close, so too did the movement against the war tax and most local chapters and the national movement shuttered their doors in 1973.

January 2, 1970

November 23, 1970

January 29, 1971

March 12, 1971

April 10, 1971

August 30, 1971

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Local Black Liberation/Civil Rights Press

A.C.E. Newsletter

A.C.E. Newsletter (All Concerned Employees) was published by the NIH Taskforce Against Racism and Discrimination, one of many advocacy organizations formed by Black government employees in the early 1970s to combat discrimination on the job.

The newsletter was an 8 ½ x 11, 4-page black and white publication. Contents in the three issues contained in these files include a list of demands, calls to mass rallies at All Souls Church and detail of conditions facing laundry workers, among other articles.

The umbrella group, Government Employees United Against Racial Discrimination (GUARD) had by 1971 expanded to 16 federal agencies and two District of Columbia Departments—sanitation and fire–and had about 1,500 dues paying members. About 1,100 of those were federal employees.

No. 1 – July 12, 1971 

No. 2 – Mis-numbered with no date-likely August 1971 

No. 3 – September 8, 1971 

Originals held in the DC Public Library, The People’s Archive, 001 Julius Hobson Papers, Series 6: Federal Job Discrimination, 1963-1978, Box 32, Folder 1 Local identifier  dcpl_001_hobson_032_01_19710712

Baltimore Panther Trial News

The Baltimore Panther Trial News was published by the Committee to Defend Political Prisoners in Baltimore, Md. and focused its work on members and a supporter of the Baltimore Black Panther Party accused in the July 1969 slaying of an alleged police informant. The group expanded its efforts holding rallies in support of prison rebellions. It was composed of Black Panther Party sympathizers, some of whom were involved with the Mother Jones collective that operated in the city 1970-72.

No Volume or Issue Number – circa May 1971

Black Unity

Black Unity was the newsletter of the Agriculture Task Force Against Racial Discrimination (ATFARD) 1971-75. ATFARD was an affiliate of the umbrella group in the Washington, D.C. area Government Employees United Against Racial Discrimination (GUARD).

ATFARD acted as an advocacy group of rank-and-file employees at the Department of Agriculture (both Washington, D.C. and Beltsville, MD), held occasional protests, sponsored speakers, represented employees in discrimination complaints, published a newsletter that also built solidarity with other GUARD affiliates, weighed in on contemporary issues, urged participation in African Liberation Day (1972-73) and the Children’s March Against Hunger (1972), and published Black History articles, among other activities.

The umbrella group GUARD was active at upwards of two dozen departments and agencies, including Health, Education & Welfare, Library of Congress, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Institutes of Health, Commerce Department, and the District of Columbia Government. GUARD was headed for a time by Reginal Booker, the anti-freeway activist leader.

A February 1973 history published by the ATFARD reads:

“On April 17, 1971, in the People’s cafeteria located in the 5th wing on the 6th floor, a rally was held to get the attention of Black employees of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The main issue was and still is racial discriminatory practices in hiring and promoting policies of the Department.

“Guest speakers at the rally included John Gibson, Urban League, Len Ball, Urban League and Reggie booker, former Chairman of GUARD (Government Employees United Against Racial Discrimination). These truly Black and skillful speakers strove to enlighten the Black people of Agriculture of their mission–The mission to bring our people together as one and to deal with and get on the case of racial discriminatory practices in the Department of Agriculture.

“As a result, concerned employees met at All Souls Unitarian Church the following Thursday and formed the Agriculture Task Force Against Racial Discrimination. To date, ATFARD has grown department-wide and has strengthened immensely.

“It publishes a monthly newsletter, Black Unity, which keeps the employees well informed. Goals include:

  1. To exert maximum community pressure to attract racial segregation and discrimination in the Department of Agriculture.
  2. To become the Department’s “EEO Conscience”, speaking out against injustices to Blacks and other minorities, using radio, television and other means of mass communication. To increase the hiring and promotion of Blacks and other minorities in the Department of Agriculture.
  3. To encourage Black employees, as individuals and as groups, to file complaints and to develop a pool of persons willing to represent them during the complaint process.
  4. To provide a forum where the rank-and-file Agricultural Workers can express their determination to protest discrimination, using whatever means necessary.”

Original copies of Black Unity are held at the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library, Special Collections.

Available issues of the newsletter Black Unity:

Vol. 1 No. 8 – February 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 3 – September 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 4 – October 1972  

Vol. 2 No. 5 – November 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 6 – December 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 8 – February 1973 

Vol. 2 No. 9 – March 1973 

Vol. 2 No. 10 – April 1973  

Vol. 2 No. 11 – May 1973 

Vol. 2 No. 12 – June 1973 

Vol. 3 No. 1 – July 1973  

Vol. 3 No. 2 – August 1973 

Vol. 3 No. 3 – October 1973 

Vol. 3 No. 4 – November 1973

Vol. 3 No. 5 – February 1974 

Vol. 3 No. 6 – March 1974 

Vol. 3 No. 7 – April 1974 

Vol. 3 No. 6 – May 1974 (duplicate number) 

Vol. 3 No. 9 – June/July 1974 (number out of order) 

Vol. 3 No. 8 – August 1974  

Vol. 3 No. 11 – November 1974  

Vol. 4 No. 1 – January 1975 

Vol. 4 No. 2 – April 1975  

Finally Got the News

Published by the Washington, D.C. African Liberation Support Committee. This issue reflects the group’s turn toward the working class and Marxism-Leninism.

Vol. 1 No. 5 – May 1974

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shop-Talk

Shop-Talk was the newsletter of the Washington Interracial Workshop, a Washington, D.C. affiliate of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) that conducted demonstrations and civil disobedience designed to integrate public facilities in the city in the late 1940s and early 1950x.

Washington Interracial Workshop history adapted from a Wisconsin Historical Society description:

“The Washington Interracial Workshop, which affiliated with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1949, began in 1947 as a summer workshop sponsored by CORE and the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR).

“The summer program attracted a dozen persons from the District of Columbia and other states throughout the United States. Local participants considered the Workshop so successful that they formed a separate, permanent organization dedicated to abolishing segregation in the nation’s capital.

“Both this organization and the summer workshops, which CORE and FOR continued to sponsor every year, operated by the CORE principles of interracial membership, direct action, and non-violent tactics. Membership fluctuated between ten and twenty people.

“Under the chairmanship of Lynn Seiter from 1947 to 1948, the Workshop picketed and leafleted patrons of segregated facilities at the Y.M.C.A., the Greyhound Bus Terminal, and public swimming pools in the nation’s capital.

“When Don Coan took over the chairmanship in April 1949, the Workshop began a lengthy struggle to integrate D.C. movie theatres that only ended in April 1951; Coan also moved to make eating places and recreational facilities available to people of all races.

“In the spring of 1951 Albert Mindlin succeeded Coan and spearheaded efforts to integrate Washington’s playgrounds. The Rosedale Playground campaign became a city-wide issue after a black child drowned while swimming in the playground pool after hours on June 22, 1952. The playground was not opened to blacks until October 28 of that year.”

The Washington Interracial Workshop became embroiled in a national CORE dispute of tactics and the CORE fieldworker Wallace Nelson who organized and led many of the Rosedale Playground protests. Nelson was an advocate of non-violent resistance. An example would be going limp when arrested versus simply submitting to the arrest. The Washington Interracial Workshop had initiated a neighborhood group at Rosedale named the Citizens Committee to Integrate Rosedale Playground.

During one of the protests in which White supremacists attacked Black children and their chaperones, a Black member of the Citizens Committee got into a heated dispute with one White supremacist. The Black resident went home, got a gun, returned to the protest and fired his weapon in the air. Both the Black resident and White supremacist were arrested.

The neighborhood group largely defended the resident and the DC parks department quickly voted to desegregate the Rosedale Playground, but national CORE leaders suspended the relationship with the Citizens Committee. National leaders blamed Nelson’s militant non-violent tactics for sowing the seeds of the incident and he was fired as a CORE fieldworker at the 1953 CORE convention.

February 12, 1952 

May 13, 1952 (missing pages) 

The newsletter is courtesy of the Courtesy of the Civil Rights Movement Archive, https://www.crmvet.org/index.html

Third World

Third World was an independent Washington, D.C. area periodical tabloid dedicated to black liberation that began publishing in September 1969 and continued through at least through 1973.

The paper concentrated on news of Black liberation, Pan-Africanism and providing news stories and interviews related to Black political thought. It also published poems, photographs and other artwork and reviewed performances of Black artists.

The paper was financed through both sales (25 cents per copy) and advertisements, although donations played a major role.

Distribution was through both street sellers who were usually children who kept a portion of the sales money, subscriptions and through retail outlets. The paper’s goal was 24 issues per year, but varied between two and four weeks. Currently available issues:

Vol. 1 No. 12 – Sep. 1970

Vol. 2 No. 1 – Oct. 1970 

Vol. 2 No. 6 – Apr. 1971 

Vol. 3 No. 1 – Nov. 26, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 9 – March 17, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 10 – March 31, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 11 – April 14, 1972  

Vol. 3 No. 12 – April 28, 1972 (New)

Vol. 3 No. 13 – May 12, 1972 (New)

Vol. 3 No. 16 – June 30, 1972 

Vol. 3 No. 20 – September 1, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 1 – October 6, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 2 – October 20, 1972 (New)

Vol. 4 No. 3 – November 3, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 4 – November 24, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 6 – December 22, 1972

Vol. 4 No. 7 – January 5, 1973

Vol. 4 No. 8 – January 26, 1973

Vol. 4 No. 9 – February 9, 1973

Vol. 4 No. 10 – March 2, 1973

Vol. 4 No. 11 – March 16, 1973

Vol. 4 No. 13 – April 13, 1973

Volume 2 Number 1 and Volume 2 Number 6 were donated by Robert “Bob” Simpson. Other issues were scanned with a handheld cell phone from originals held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box 004. Volume 3 Number 12, Volume 3 Number 13 and Volume 4 Number 2 are courtesy of the Northwestern University McCormick Library, Special Collections & Archives. Vol. 3 No. 11 and Volume 3 No. 16 were scanned with a handheld cell phone from originals held in the College of William and Mary Swem Library Special Collections.

U-BAD Newsletter

United Blacks Against Discrimination (U-BAD) was a group of civilian workers and GIs at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital 1972-? that attacked issues of racial discrimination at the sprawling facility located in NW Washington, D.C. It was headed by Nell Pendleton who filed a number of lawsuits against the facility for bias and organized demonstrations against white supremacy.

Vol 2 No 57 – October 1975 ca.

 

 

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Local Civil Liberties

Md/DC Committee to Oppose Political Repression Update

The Md/DC Committee to Oppose Political Repression publishes its sixth update In August 1972 detailing the state’s case against six anti-Vietnam War activists at the University of Maryland. The Committee was a University of Maryland College Park-based group formed after an anti- Vietnam War demonstrations at the school during April and May 1972. The Committee, influenced by Youth Against War and Fascism, continued to support those prosecuted for their political beliefs at least until 1974. Their activities included support for the D.C. Jail inmates who were prosecuted for a 1972 uprising after being promised immunity for returning to their cells.

No. 6 – Mid August 1972

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Local Communist/Socialist

Alliance for Labor and Community Action newsletter

The Alliance for Labor and Community Action in Washington, D.C. published its 8 ½ x 14 newsletter Action during at least 1975-76.

The Alliance published a statement of purpose that described its basic purpose:

“The Alliance for Labor and Community Action is a group of workers—employed and unemployed—fighting all forms of oppression. Our tasks are to unite people, bringing forth working class leadership, and involving new people in the struggle and in the organization.

“We will struggle against the oppression of Black people and other nationalities.

“We emphasize struggles that both help solve immediate and pressing problems and point the way to ending exploitation and oppression—actions that point out clearly who are our friends and who are our enemies.

“Anyone may participate. All decisions are made after thorough discussion in open meeting.

“We do not seek to replace present trade unions or community organizations. In fact, we will join with them to militantly struggle for the interests of all working and oppressed people.

The Alliance was closely identified with the October League (M-L) and was formed prior to the national October League initiating the National Fight Back Organization in late 1975. For a time in Washington, D.C., the October League maintained both organizations.

The October League (M-L0 (later Community Party (M-L) was a new communist movement organization that had its roots in the split in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1969. The Communist Party (M-L) folded in 1982.

Donated by Craig Simpson

Available issues:

Vol. 1 No. 2 – October 28, 1975  

Vol. 1 No. 8 – January 21, 1976 

Vol. 1 No. 9 – January 29, 1976 –

Capitol List

The Capitol List was the 8 ½ x 11 newsletter of the “Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) D.C./MD.VA. Locals” and covered the group’s activities in the area.

DSOC was formed in the wake of a split in the Socialist Party of America in the early 1970s. Its ideological leader was Michael Harrington who advocated a re-alignment theory that would fuse the issue-based radicals of the 1960s-70s with labor unions to form a progressive movement in the United States.

While he argued that socialists should be explicitly socialist and not hid their politics likethe renamed Socialist Party, which was called the Social Democrats USA. He advocated working within the Democratic Party to achieve his vision of a realignment.

DSOC held its first convention in 1973 and in 1982 merged with the New America Movement (NAM), a left-wing formation that grew out of the anti-Vietnam War movement to form the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) that in contemporary times is the largest socialist group on the left.

Vol. 3 No. 1 – January 1979 

Original held in the Elizabeth Smith collection of Virginia ERA Ratification Council Records, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Branch Cabell Library, Special

Changes

Changes was published by the Maryland Socialist League (1966-69) as an 8 ½ x 11 newsletter. The league constituted itself as upholding Marxism-Leninism and sought to operate under the principles of democratic centralism.

The league grew out of activism at the University of Maryland and was headquartered in Riverdale, MD.

Issue No. 2 of Changes has been added to our collection and lists a managing editor and an editorial board; and contains a constitution that contains an analysis of the world situation, a statement of principles and an organizational structure.

It also contains an endorsement of Richard “Dick” Ochs campaign for congress in Maryland’s 5th District. By 1966 Ochs had been arrested a dozen times in civil rights demonstrations and would be arrested dozens more times in the coming decades protesting war and climate change.

The Maryland Socialist League represents an early example of the New Left of the 1960s turning to Marxism-Leninism when founding a new organization separate from the old Communist Party USA, the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party. Later in the decade and into the 1970s a plethora of groups claiming to uphold Marxism-Leninism would arise out of the New Left—consolidating, splitting, and disbanding until most of those that survived were shadows of their former selves by the turn of the century.

Vol. 1 No. 2 – Oct. 1966 

On The Move–successor to Washington Area Spark (complete set):

On the Move was the successor publication to the Washington Area Spark and was initiated by the Washington, D.C. area chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party. It covered local union caucuses, elections, contracts and myriad issues of concern to workers in addition to a Marxist-Leninist analysis of current events. It would in turn merge with a similar Baltimore newspaper, On The Line, to create The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area in the latter part of 1975.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April-May, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 2 – August, 1974

Vol. 1, No. 3, November, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 4 – December, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 5 – January, 1975

 

 

 

Virginia Socialist

The Virginia Socialist was the newsletter of the Virginia Socialist Party, affiliate of the Socialist Party USA formed in 1973 after most of the Debs Caucus of the Social Democrats USA (a direct descendant of the Socialist Party of America) split away in 1972.

The Virginia Socialist was a 5 ½ x 8 ½ pamphlet-form with a banner that read “Socialism & Democracy” that carried news of the local and national organizations as well as reporting of developments deemed important.

The Virginia organization had seven chapters in 1975.

The Socialist Party of America was formed 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America who had split from the main organization in 1899.

The Socialist Party of America had its greatest success in the period in which Eugene Debs was the undisputed leader of the party and ran for president of the United States in 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1920—the last time from a prison cell where he was sent following his open opposition to World War I. In that election Debs won nearly 1 million votes (about 3.5 percent of the electorate).

The organization suffered a major split in 1919 when a large portion left to form what became the Communist Party USA in the wake of the Russian revolution. It also suffered from the first Red Scare and went into a long decline.

It briefly cooperated with the Communist Party during the united front period in the mid and late 1930s after Adolph Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, but renounced the alliance and the organization entered a period of long decline during the Cold War.

Norman Thomas headed the Socialist Party as its presidential candidate 1924-48. He received his largest portion of the vote in 1932 when he received 885,000 votes or about 2.2 percent of the total vote. The party ceased running presidential candidates after 1956.

It had a brief resurgence in the 1960s, but instead of embracing the new politics that were emerging, the group changed its name to the Social Democrats USA and took a staunch anti-communist stance, opposing immediate withdrawal from Vietnam and opposing taking a position on abortion and social rights for gay people

It then suffered another split when its most prominent member, Michael Harrington, left and formed a new organization that ultimately became the Socialist Party USA.

During this period the Socialist Party/Social Democrats USA was eclipsed by New Left organizations like Students for a Democratic Society, The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and the New American Movement, the latter two merging to form the Democratic Socialists of America.

The Socialist Party USA in recent times had chapters in seven states and organizers in nine more, though Virginia is not one of them. The party often aligns with the Green Party in running candidates in state and local elections.

March 1975  

The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area

The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area (1975-77) was a tabloid focused on working class issues and Marxist-Leninist analysis of current events published by the local Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).

The newspaper was the product of a merger of two newspapers—On The Move in the Washington, DC area and On The Line in the Baltimore, MD area.

Some of the headlines could have been drawn from contemporary times: “New Plan for the Unemployed—Cut Benefits,” “New Rulings Attack Minorities—Big Fuss Over ’Reverse Bias’,” “’Illegals’ Not the Enemy—Deportation Raids in DC,” and “High Court Attacks Women—No Disability Pay for Pregnant Workers.”

The paper also covered local workers caucuses, union elections, union contracts, strikes and demonstrations.

The paper was one of dozens published in local areas across the country that focused on working class issues and were distributed at workplaces.

However, in 1977 the RCP split into two groups—the RCP retained about 60 percent of the membership while a split-off, The Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (RWH) took about 40 percent. The split was over many issues, but the split in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party precipitated the break.

Longtime CCP leader Mao Zedong was deceased and the majority of the party arrested Mao’s widow and other leading adherents of Mao’s analysis of the path forward for socialism. The RCP upheld the “Gang of Four” while the RWH stayed the course with the Chinese government.

The local working-class newspapers, including the MD-DC-VA Worker, would not survive the split. The RCP would pull nearly all its cadre out of the factories, mines and mills within a few years while the smaller RWH had a bigger base among student.

Donated courtesy of Connie Lednum

Available Issues:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – October 1975 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – November 1975 

Vol. 1 No. 3 – December 1975

Vol. 1 No. 4 – January 1976

Vol. 1 No. 5 – February 1976

Vol. 1 No. 6 – March 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 7 – April 1976

Vol. 1 No. 8 – May 1976

Vol. 2 No. 3 – December 1976

Vol 2 No. 4 – January 1977 

Workers’ Power

Workers’ Power [1967-?] was the newsletter of the Workers Party of Maryland and it covered various social and political issues, including labor rights, racism, anti-war movements, and the struggle for equality.

The paper was Baltimore-based and the first three issues came out every two weeks until the group abandoned this approach and published irregularly thereafter. Issue Number 4 ran 30 pages.

The driving force behind the Workers’ Party of Maryland was A. Robert Kauffman, a Trotskyist who joined or formed a number of small political formations in Baltimore and later ran for public office to publicize his political beliefs.

No. 4 – July 1967 ca. 

Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

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Local Community Press

Fields of Plenty

Fields of Plenty Community Newsletter was published by a cooperative that operated a healthy food and drug store and  at 2447 16th Street NW. The coop saw itself as part of a broader movement that could demonstrate a better future through cooperative effort. It sought to bring low cost food to city residents through an anti-profit enterprise. The coop also sought to build political support to oppose a food tax in the city and encouraged building tenants unions. It was first established in March 1974 and continued operation at least through 1981.

Vol. 1 No. 3 – July 1974

Jews for Urban Justice Newsletter

The Jews for Urban Justice Newsletter was published monthly by the organization.

The May 1969 issue contains a calendar of events, a recounting of the Freedom Seder, a report on a gathering of left-wing Jewish groups, and a list of board members, among other reports

From Wikipedia:

“Jews for Urban Justice (JUJ) was a Jewish-American left-wing activist organization based in Washington, D.C., and its suburbs. The organization was founded to oppose anti-black racism within the predominantly white Jewish community of Washington, D.C.”

May 1969 

Letts Talk

The August 18, 1968 edition of the YMCA Camp Letts newsletter Letts Talk shows the spread activist sentiment among youth at this point in time when a newspaper class at the camp interviewed campers and staff on their one wish—see page 4. The peace symbol clearly indicates the editors’ point of view. In the interviews one staff member calls for an “End to the war in Indochina” while another staff member calls for “An end to pollution.” The camp had been founded in 1906 as a relatively low-cost summer camp for white boys. It was nominally integrated in 1961 and began co-ed operations in 1975. Many of the counselors and staff of the camp were drawn from University of Maryland students.

Vol. 1 No. 10 – August 18, 1968

The Names Project National Capital Area Chapter Newsletter

The National Capital Area Chapter of the Names Project was established in 1989 after Washington, D.C. resident Tom Kane initiated an effort to discover the names of deaf persons who had died from complications related to AIDS and who were not yet represented on the Quilt project—an ongoing effort that has built a massive quilt displaying the names on AIDS victims.

Kane’s efforts found 62 names and worked with volunteers to create 26 panels for deaf people and sign language interpreters.

The chapter did outreach efforts to educate the general public about the AIDS epidemic, the massive number of victims and its effects on society. The group did outreach in community forums, public schools, churches and other venues, often using portions of the larger quilt lent out by the national Quilt Project. The group also engaged in fundraising efforts.

The local group disbanded in 2002 in a dispute with the national organization over the ability of the local chapter to use portions of the quilt for display in its outreach efforts. The national organization also sought greater control over the finances and expenditures of the local chapter.

The national organization has displayed the entire quilt three times—all in Washington, D.C., but no longer does so because of the immense size of the quilt.

1989 – July-August

Tin Drum

Tin Drum was the regular newsletter of the Washington Area Free University (WAFU) that published from 1969 to at least 1973.

The Washington Area Free Community, an umbrella organization that legally shielded affiliated organizations and acted as a grant recipient, was the nominal publisher of the newsletter.

In an interview with the Washington, D.C. area alternative newspaper Quicksilver Times October 5, 1970, a spokesperson for WAFU described the newsletter as follows:

“Tin Drum represents a combination of what at one time was sort of a literary essay of work, and the catalogue which we found would be cheaper and a more economical effort to put the two together, so we’ve been doing that now for about four issues. To show the variety of some of the new courses, we’re going to have Basic Marxist Economics, Backpacking and Camping, Philosophy and Techniques of Transcendental Meditation, Beginning Folk Guitar, Analysis of Power (I’m not sure from what point of view). Dawn of a New Age, Film-making and setting up a chapter of-Newsreel, Ecology, Problem Solving and Learning, Art Techniques in Oil, Interpersonal Communications which will be Encounter, Dance and Street Theater, Film Development, Making Contact Prints, and it will go on from there. I think we’re going to have a good issue here.”

The later Washington, DC alternative newspaper Daily Rag described WAFU in a March 8, 1973 article:

“The longest living free university in the area, JWAFU has no real definition or goals. It is what it does. That is basically being a vehicle for folks who want to share what they know, or who want a taste of something unknown. Anyone can teach a course, anyone can take a course. Only the desire and energy are necessary.”

Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Vol. 1 No. 2 – August 1969  

The Voice of Mother Jones

The Voice of Mother Jones was the community newspaper of the Mother Jones Collective in Baltimore, Md. The collective functioned as a predominantly white organization organized similar to and parallel with the Baltimore Black Panther Party. The organization existed circa 1970-72 after which many of its members joined the Revolutionary Union—a predecessor organization to the Revolutionary Communist Party. The collective operated under a “serve the people” philosophy and ran a free lunch program for children in a working class community, a “liberation school,” a film program and a recreation program for children. Politically, a spokesperson once described it as “Marxist-Maoist” and the group carried out demonstrations against conditions in the city jail, against rising bread prices, and in support of a bakery strike.

No. 3 – circa September 1970

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Local GI/Veterans press

B.E.F. News

Two of the first issues of the B.E.F. News published June 25, 1932 and July 9, 1932 by the Bonus Expeditionary Force-BEF-or Bonus Army are published for the estimated 50,000 people that made up their encampments around the Washington, D.C.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – June 25, 1932

Vol. 1 No. 3 – July 9 1932

 

 

 

Concerned Officers Movement Newsletter

The Concerned Officers Movement newsletter was a result of one officer’s participation as a marshal in the November 15, 1969 Moratorium anti-Vietnam War march where he was featured in the Washington Post and later received an unsatisfactory notation for loyalty in his fitness report. Other officers rallied to this officer. From the group’s first newsletter: “COM is opposed to the preponderant share of national resources devoted to the military. While Americans go hungry, while cities decay, while our natural resources become more despoiled, the Pentagon is able to get billions of dollars for an ABM [anti-ballistic missile] system that may not even work. National defense is important, but so are poverty, education, and the environment. It is time to reexamine our priorities.” “Within the military structure itself, COM supports the free expression of dissenting opinion. GI movements with legitimate grievances have too long been suppressed. By a military hierarchy that considers honest questioning a threat to its power. The military can no longer consider itself a closed, private sector of society; the constitutional right of free speech must be guaranteed for all servicemen”

No. 1 – April 1970 

No. 3 – July 1970 

No. 4 – August 1970

Highway 13

Highway 13 was a tabloid published periodically from 1972-75 for Maryland veterans and GIs and one of the longer running GI-oriented newspapers in the country. Excerpts from the May 1974 issue: “Highway 13 is an independent newspaper written and distributed by a working collective of GIs, veterans, and concerned people living in the Baltimore/Washington area. “The primary purpose of Highway 13 is to promote GI empowerment by rank and file unity. “The fundamental political position of Highway 13 is anti-imperialist. “We stand for a military justice system which is not part of the chain0-of-command and that gives us full constitutional and civil rights.”

Vol. 1 No. 1 – circa August 1972

Vol. 1 No. 2 – November, 1972

Vol. 1 No. 3 – February 1973

Vol. 1 No. 4 – April 1973

Vol. 1 No. 5 – June 1973

Vol. 1 No. 6 – July 1973

Vol. 1 No. 7 – August 1973

Vol. 2 No. 1 – September 1973

Vol. 2 No. 2 – November 1973

Vol. 2 No. 3 – December 1973

Vol. 2 No. 4 – February 1974

Vol. 2 No. 5 – April 1974

Vol. 2 No. 6 – May 1974

Vol. 2 No. 7 – July 1974

Vol. 2 No. 8 – September 1974

Vol. 3 No. 1 – October 1974

Vol. 3 No. 2 – November 1974

Vol. 3 No. 3 – Unavailable at this time

Vol. 3 No. 4 – March 1975

Vol. 3 No. 5 – May 1975

No Volume or Issue Number – Undated

Left Face

Left Face was an alternative newsletter directed toward GIs published in Washington, D.C. in 1969. It does not appear to be related to a later publication of the same name. Only one issue was apparently published and there is little in the newsletter to indicate who published it. The newsletter advocates revolutionary views.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Oct. 1969

 

 

Left Face

Left Face was a newsletter published in the Washington, D.C. area for active duty military personnel 1975-77. It was initially a project of the Military Law Project which itself was a project of the National Lawyers Guild. It was published by the Enlisted People’s Organizing Committee. The newspaper acted as an antiwar vehicle, provided legal advice for military personnel and advocated for organizing servicemembers into a union. It does not appear to be related to an earlier publication of the same name.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – December 1975

Vol. 1 No. 2 – March 1976

Vol. 1 No. 3 – May 1976

Vol. 1 No. 4 – August 1976

Vol. 1 No. 5 – November 1976

Vol. 2 No. 1 – March 1977

Vol. 2 No. 1 – March. 1977 – misdated and mis-numbered

Vol. 2 No. 3 – October 1977

Military Law Project News-Notes

The Military Law Project News-Notes was published in 1975 by the organization of the same name.  The MLP was an off-shoot of the National Lawyers Guild funded by the American Friends Service Committee and operated in the Washington, D.C. area. During the mid-1970s. A drive to unionize GIS spawned the MLP to form the Enlisted People’s Organizing Committee which published a successor publication called Left Face. A lengthy explanation of why the Military Law Project was formed is published in the July 1975 issue of News-Notes.

July 1975 – (no volume or number)

September 1975 – (no volume or number)

November 1975 – (no volume or number)

OM

OM newsletter was published by Roger Priest, a seaman apprentice journalist assigned to the Pentagon and the Washington Navy Yard 1969-70 that criticized the brass, opposed the war in Vietnam and urged military personnel to form a union and had a national circulation of about 1,000. Its publication resulted in a court martial for Priest where he faced charges of soliciting fellow soldiers to desert, urging insubordination and making statements disloyal to the United States that could have resulted in up to six years hard labor, forfeiture of pay and grade and a dishonorable discharge. Priest was ultimately convicted of promoting disloyalty and given a reprimand, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge. At the time it was regarded as a victory for Priest. In 1971, a panel of Navy appeals judges reversed that conviction and awarded Priest an honorable discharge, A later review of the case by Rear Admiral George Koch, commandant of the Washington Naval District, dropped the reprimand.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April 1, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 2 – May 1, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 3 – June 1969 Special Edition – July 1969

Vol. 1 No. 4 – October 1, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 5 – January 1970

Vol. 1 No. 6 – April 1970 Special Edition – April 1970

Thank You to Subscribers -= April 8, 1970

Special Edition – May 1, 1970

Open Sights

Open Sights was a GI tabloid newspaper published from 1969-72 in the Washington, D.C. area. First based in Laurel, Md., its offices later moved to Washington, D.C. The newspaper was loosely affiliated with the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam in its early years and later loosely affiliated with the Washington Area Military & Draft Law Panel.

No. 1 – February 1969

No. 2 – March 21, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 3 – April 18, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 1 – February 1, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 2 – March 1, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 3 – April 1970

Vol. 2 No. 4 – May 1970

Vol. 2 No. 5 – Early summer 1970

Vol. 2 No. 6 – September 1970 ca.

Vol. 2 No. 7 – October 1970

Vol. 2 No. 8 – November 1970

Vol. 3 No. 1 – January 1971

Vol. 3 No. 2 – March 1971

Vol. 3 No. 4. – April 1971

No Volume or Issue No. – April 1972

No Volume or Issue No. – May 1972

No Volume or Issue No. – June 1972

No Volume or Issue No. – July 1972

The Liberated Castle

The Liberated Castle was a newsletter put out by GIs out Fort Belvoir in Virginia in 1971. Real names were often signed and at least two active duty personnel were interviewed on the record by The Liberated Castle. It was an antiwar and soldiers’ rights publication. From their second issue: “We began meeting at the Friends’ Meeting House one month ago. We were eight GIs. Over the past month we put out our first issue of The Liberated  Castle. We have begun to teach ourselves—about our Rights, about the conditions of our lives, about the nature of rank and caste systems. But mostly we are beginning to learn about ourselves and the power that we have when we liberate our thinking and act together.”

Vol. 1 No. 1 – June 1971

Vol. 1 No. 2 – August 1971

The Oppressed

The Oppressed was published by GI’s stationed at Walter Reed Hospital, then located in the District of Columbia, in 1971. “The Oppressed arose from the frustration and anger toward the oppressive military system of a group of GI’s stationed here at Walter Reed Hospital…Since basic training, all of us have felt strongly the powerlessness of the GI in the army and we realize the need to express the ultimate freedom that not even the military can take from us. “At its roots anti-war and anti-army, the Oppressed is an outlet for the individual to voice anything he has to say.” –from the Oppressed, June 14, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April 1, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 4 – June 14, 1971

The Pawn

The Pawn was published by the Frederick GIs United during 1969-70 “for the purpose of promoting free speech and GI rights.” The publication was mainly based at Ft. Detrick in Maryland.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – November 1969

Vol. 1 No. 2 – December, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 3 – February, 1970

Vol. 1 No. 4 – April 1970

Vol. 1 No. 5 – June 1970

Vol. 2 No. 1 – August 1970

Vol. 2 No. 2 – November 1970

Undated and unnumbered #1 Undated and unnumbered #2

U-BAD Newsletter

United Blacks Against Discrimination (U-BAD) was a group of civilian workers and GIs at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital 1972-? that attacked issues of racial discrimination at the sprawling facility located in NW Washington, D.C. It was headed by Nell Pendleton who filed a number of lawsuits against the facility for bias and organized demonstrations against white supremacy.

Vol 2 No 57 – October 1975 ca.

 

 

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Local LGBTQ

ACT UP DC FRONTLINES

The District of Columbia AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) publishes the first issue of their newsletter ACT UP DC FRONTLINES as a tabloid in November 1990.

ACT UP was originally formed in New York in March 1987 as a direct-action group focused on the AIDS crisis, but taking on myriad issues in the LGBTQ+ community.

In the District of Columbia area, protesters blocked the doors, hallways and roadway entering the Federal Drug Administration offices and forced its closure in October 1988. Police arrested dozens inside the building while upwards of 1,500 protesters outside the Rockville, MD building blocked roads.

They were demanding easier access to experimental drugs. At the time contacting AIDS was almost universally fatal with only one drug approved that slowed, but did not stop, the disease.

Perhaps the most significant local ACT UP-led protest occurred at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda where on May 21, 1990, around 1000 ACT UP members initiated a choreographed demonstration, splitting into sub-groups across the campus. The protest was in part directed at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and its director, Anthony Fauci. Activists were angered by what they felt was slow progress on promised research and treatment efforts.

Activists affiliated with ACT-UP wrapped the Arlington, Virginia home of Senator Jesse Helms in a 15-foot condom on September 5, 1991. The protest condemned the Helms AIDS Amendments, which continued to block funding for education, as well as his ongoing opposition to People With AIDS, including numerous homophobic falsehoods about HIV and AIDS. Helms had actively passed laws stigmatizing the disease, and his staunch attempts to block federal funding for, and education about, HIV and AIDS had significantly increased the death toll.

Some of the harmful legislation he enacted is still in place. The condom was inflated and the message on it read: “A CONDOM TO PREVENT UNSAFE POLITICS. HELMS IS DEADLIER THAN A VIRUS.” This was the first action of the affinity ACT group TAG (Treatment Action Guerillas). While the police were called, no one was arrested, and the group was allowed to take the condom down, though they did receive a parking ticket.

In October 1992 and October 1996, during displays of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and just before presidential elections, ACT UP activists held two Ashes Actions. Inspired by a passage in David Wojnarowicz’s 1991 memoir Close to the Knives, these actions scattered the ashes of people who had died of AIDS, including Wojnarowicz and activist Connie Norman, on the White House lawn, in protest of the federal government’s inadequate response to AIDS.

These were the most prominent ACT UP actions in the D.C. area, but the group also carried out dozens of actions, educational forums, meetings and other activities in the late 1980s and through the mid-1990s.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – November 1990 

Breadbox

Breadbox was a tabloid publication published weekly by the Washington, D.C. Gay Liberation Front, an integrated group of gay men who advocated revolution and took part in the November 1970 Black Panther Party-sponsored Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention. The newspaper lasted at least 14 issues and saw itself as part of a broader revolutionary movement in the United States. The D.C. Gay Liberation Front was one of the few gay organization that sprung up across the country in the early 1970s that was interracial and based in the working class. Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection # M 520, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – August 1970, ca.

The Furies

The Furies was published by a Washington, D.C. lesbian separatist collective 1972-73. All issues are available at the Independent Voices website. Collective member Ginny Berson wrote in the first issue “… Sexism is the root of all other oppressions, and Lesbian and woman oppression will not end by smashing capitalism, racism, and imperialism. Lesbianism is not a matter of sexual preference, but rather one of political choice which every woman must make if she is to become woman-identified and thereby end male supremacy.”

Vol. 1 No 1 through Vol. 2 No. 3 – January 1972 through May 1973 (off-site at Jstor)

GLF Newsletter

GLF Newsletter was the publication of the D.C. Gay Liberation Front (1970-72), a radical, left-wing gay organization that was formed through letters and articles in the Quicksilver Times alternative newspaper.

From the Washington History Center description: “DC GLF participated in a variety of political and social activities in Washington D.C. before fading after 1972. Political activities included handing out thousands of “Are You a Homosexual?” awareness leaflets to passersby; protesting carding policies at D.C. gay bars that were biased against African Americans, women, or men in drag; disrupting an anti-gay Catholic psychiatrist’s speech during a conference on religion and the homosexual at Catholic University; and protesting against the listing of homosexuality as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) during the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) annual conference in 1971.

“D.C. GLF also took part in participating in the Gay Mayday protests against the Vietnam War as part of the larger Mayday protests in May 1971; participating in both the Philadelphia plenary session (September 1971) and the Black Panthers’ Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention in DC (November 1971); protesting the expulsion of GLF members from the Zephyr Cocktail Lounge on the weekend of the RPCC; marching in Christopher Street Liberation Day parades in New York City; protesting police arrests of cruising gay men at Arlington’s Iwo Jima Memorial; and the formation of the first D.C. Gay Pride Week from May 2-7, 1972, organized by DC GLF members Chuck Hall, Bruce Pennington, and Cade Ware.

Vol. 1 No. 4 – August 25, 1970

Vol. 1 No. 9 – October 6, 1970  

Vol. 1 No. 12 – October 27, 1970  

Vol. 1 No. 14 – November 10, 1970  

Vol. 1 No. 4 is held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Vol 1. No. 9, Vol. 1 No. 12, Vol. 1 No. 14 are courtesy of the D.C. History Center Rainbow History Project.

Gertrude Stein Democratic Club Newsletter

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club (now Capital Stonewall Democrats) newsletter covers club activities; reports on meetings; candidate endorsements; publicizes events like Gay Pride Week, covers political and legislative news of interest to the LGBTQ+ community.

The club describes itself as follows:

“The Capital Stonewall Democrats (formerly Gertrude Stein Democratic Club) serves as the voice of LGBTQ+ Democrats in the District of Columbia. Established in 1976, Capital Stonewall Democrats is one of the oldest Democratic clubs in the District and is a founding chapter of the National Stonewall Democrats. Our membership maintains active members in each of the 8 wards of the District of Columbia.”

Gertrude Stein was a novelist and an early “out” lesbian, famous for her relationship with Alice B. Toklas—about which the two published a book.

The group changed its name in 2021 after criticism of Stein’s collaboration with the Nazi-installed Vichy government in France during World War II that actively aided the Nazi occupation of that country. Stein allegedly maintained friendly relations with the regime in order to protect her art collection from seizure by the Nazis.

The club’s endorsement of Marion Barry in the city’s first Democratic Party mayoral primary in modern times in 1978 was critical in Barry narrowly defeating Sterling Tucker and incumbent mayor Walter Washington. Results were so close that it took more than a week to declare a winner. The club and Barry maintained close relations thereafter as Barry became known informally as “mayor for life” in the city.

The club’s newsletter apparently went dormant for a time and began again with new volume and numbers.

Donated by Craig Simpson

Available issues

Vol. 2 No. 3 – March 1982 

Vol. 3 No. 6 – June 1995  

The Homosexual Citizen

The Homosexual Citizen; News of Civil Liberties and Social Rights for Homosexuals was the newsletter of the Mattachine Society of Washington (DC) from January 1966 – May 1967.

The 5 ½ x 8 newsletter covered local news on discrimination, civil rights victories and lawsuits; analysis of problems within the LGBTQ+ community; and national news of civil rights and other gay rights organizations.

The Mattachine Society of Washington (MSW) was a gay rights organization founded in August 1961 by Franklin Kameny and Jack Nichols.  

While the organization took the name of the original, California-based Mattachine Society established in 1950, it operated separately and was distinguished from other Mattachine Societies by its militancy.

MSW made clear its political focus within its Statement of Purpose when it declared, “It is not the purpose of this organization to act as a social group or as an agency for personal introductions.”

One of the prominent lesbian members of the group was Lilli Vincenz who came to Washington, D.C. in 1963 as a member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). During her time in WAC, Dr. Vincenz was outed as a lesbian and received a general discharge.

Following her discharge, Vincenz became active in the MSW and editing its newsletter. She later helped found the Washington, D.C. publication The Gay Blade which in turn became The Washington Blade that continues online in contemporary times.

June, July & October 1966 donated by Craig Simpson. Jan-May 1966, Sept. 1966, Nov. 1966-May 1967 courtesy of the Rainbow History Project.

January 1966 

February 1966 

March 1966 

April 1966 

May 1966 

June 1966

July 1966  

August 1966 

September 1966  

October 1966  

November 1966  

December 1966  

January 1967  

February 1967 

March 1967  

April 1967  

May 1967 

Lambda Rising News

Scattered issues of the District of Columbia-based gay book review periodical, Lambda Rising News, have been added to the Spark collection. The reviews began as 8 ½ x 11 and expanded to tabloid-sized and were issued with some regularity.  Our collection contains issues from 1986-96.

Lambda Rising News was based in a bookstore of the same name founded by Deacon Maccubbin in 1974 at 1724 20th Street NW.

Maccubbin had originally started a headshop at that location in 1971 that sold marijuana paraphernalia, tobacco and alternative periodicals, including a section of gay periodicals and books, but ultimately expanded to an adjacent suite in the building to house a gay bookstore.

At the time, mainstream bookstores refused to carry LBGTQ+ oriented books and periodicals. Maccubbin’s bookstore carried LGBTQ+ novels and history, and queer theory along with newspapers and magazines oriented toward the gay community.

The Lambda Rising store was so successful that it would expand to Baltimore, Rehoboth Beach and Norfolk. The D.C. store would also expand its square footage, first by moving to S Street NW and later to an even larger space on Connecticut Ave. NW.

The first gay pride festival in the District of Columbia was initiated by Maccubbin in the form of a block party in front of the 20th Street store in 1975.

The stores fell victim to their own success as mainstream bookstores began to carry LGBTQ+ titles. The rise of Internet sales also threatened the brick and mortar stores. Maccubbin closed the last store December 31, 2010.

In a statement announcing the intention to close, Maccubbin said, “We said when we opened it: Our goal is to show there’s a market for LGBT literature, to show authors they should be writing this literature, to show publishers they should be publishing it, and bookstores they should be carrying it. And if we’re successful, there will no longer be a need for a specialty gay and lesbian book store because every bookstore will be carrying them. And 35 years later, that’s what happened. We call that mission accomplished.”

No. 7 – Summer 1986 

Winter 1989 

Spring 1990 (NEW)  

Summer 1990  

Fall 1990

Winter 1990 (NEW) 

January-February 1981  

Summer 1991 

Holiday 1991

Spring 1992

Summer 1992

Fall 1992

Holiday 1992

Spring 1993

Summer 1993

Spring 1994 (NEW) 

Summer 1994 (NEW) 

Autumn 1994 (NEW) 

Winter 1994 (NEW)  

Spring 1995

Summer 1995 

Autumn 1995

Holiday 1995

February-March-April 1996 

The Names Project National Capital Area Chapter Newsletter

The National Capital Area Chapter of the Names Project was established in 1989 after Washington, D.C. resident Tom Kane initiated an effort to discover the names of deaf persons who had died from complications related to AIDS and who were not yet represented on the Quilt project—an ongoing effort that has built a massive quilt displaying the names on AIDS victims.

Kane’s efforts found 62 names and worked with volunteers to create 26 panels for deaf people and sign language interpreters.

The chapter did outreach efforts to educate the general public about the AIDS epidemic, the massive number of victims and its effects on society. The group did outreach in community forums, public schools, churches and other venues, often using portions of the larger quilt lent out by the national Quilt Project. The group also engaged in fundraising efforts.

The local group disbanded in 2002 in a dispute with the national organization over the ability of the local chapter to use portions of the quilt for display in its outreach efforts. The national organization also sought greater control over the finances and expenditures of the local chapter.

The national organization has displayed the entire quilt three times—all in Washington, D.C., but no longer does so because of the immense size of the quilt.

1989 – July-August

The Washington Blade

Originally published as the Gay Blade, the periodical has covered the Washington, D.C. area’s LBGTQ community since 1969 and as of 2020 continues to publish an online version. The District of Columbia Public Library has digitalized copies from 1969 – 1996.

Vol. 1 No. 1 through Vol. 25 No. 53 – October 1, 1969 through December 30, 1994 – (off-site at the D.C. Public Library)

 

 

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Local Labor Press

Action

The Metro Workers Rank and File Action Caucus was formed in the wake of the 1978 cost-of-living wildcat strike that paralyzed bus service and the embryonic subway service for a week in July 1978. At least two caucuses arose out of the strike. One was influenced by the Progressive Labor Party and the other was the Action Caucus.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Sept. 5, 1978

Vol.1. No. 2 – Oct. 1978

Vol. 1 No. 3 – Nov. 1978

Vol. 1 No. 4 – Jan. 1979

Vol. 1 No. 5 – Jun. 1979

Vol. 1 No. 6 – Aug. 1979

AFSCME in Action

The first issue of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1072’s AFSCME in Action newsletter from September 1973.

The union represented about 1300 University of Maryland College Park campus workers but did not have collective bargaining rights at that time.

The first issue covers campus layoffs, racial discrimination, a rival employee association, the union picnic, safety, a call to impeach Nixon and other issues.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Sep. 1973

Vol. 7 No. 9 – Sep. 1977

Alliance for Labor and Community Action newsletter 

The Alliance for Labor and Community Action in Washington, D.C. published its 8 ½ x 14 newsletter Action during at least 1975-76.

The Alliance published a statement of purpose that described its basic purpose:

“The Alliance for Labor and Community Action is a group of workers—employed and unemployed—fighting all forms of oppression. Our tasks are to unite people, bringing forth working class leadership, and involving new people in the struggle and in the organization.

“We will struggle against the oppression of Black people and other nationalities.

“We emphasize struggles that both help solve immediate and pressing problems and point the way to ending exploitation and oppression—actions that point out clearly who are our friends and who are our enemies.

“Anyone may participate. All decisions are made after thorough discussion in open meeting.

“We do not seek to replace present trade unions or community organizations. In fact, we will join with them to militantly struggle for the interests of all working and oppressed people.

The Alliance was closely identified with the October League (M-L) and was formed prior to the national October League initiating the National Fight Back Organization in late 1975. For a time in Washington, D.C., the October League maintained both organizations.

The October League (M-L0 (later Community Party (M-L) was a new communist movement organization that had its roots in the split in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1969. The Communist Party (M-L) folded in 1982.

Donated by Craig Simpson

Available issues:

Vol. 1 No. 2 – October 28, 1975  

Vol. 1 No. 8 – January 21, 1976 

Vol. 1 No. 9 – January 29, 1976 –

Annapolis Report

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Maryland Public Employees Council 67  legislative newsletter.

Vol. 2 No. 2 – Feb. 12,, 1974

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATU National Capital Local Union 689 News

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which at that time represented most workers (about 6,000) of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), published this 8 1/2 x 11, black & white newsletter monthly from 1973-2000. We have a few issues from the 1980s. In this century, the union began organizing other transit units in the D.C. area and it now counts over 10,000 members.

Vol. 4 No. 12 – December 1977

Vol. 5 No. 12 – December 1978

Vol. 6 No. 6 – June 1979

Vol. 6 No. 7 – July 1979

Vol. 6 No. 9 – September 1979

Vol. 10 No. 2 – February 1983

Vol. 10 No. 3 – March 1983

Vol. 10 No. 4 – April 1983

Vol. 10 No. 6 & 7 – June/July 1983

Vol. 10 No. 11 – November 1983

Vol. 10 No. 4 – April 1984 (wrong volume number, should be 11)

Vol. 11 No. 6 – June 1985

Vol. 11 No. 9 – September 1985

Vol. 11 No. 10 – November 1985

Vol. 11 No. 11 – December 1985

Black Unity

Black Unity was the newsletter of the Agriculture Task Force Against Racial Discrimination (ATFARD) 1971-75. ATFARD was an affiliate of the umbrella group in the Washington, D.C. area Government Employees United Against Racial Discrimination (GUARD).

ATFARD acted as an advocacy group of rank-and-file employees at the Department of Agriculture (both Washington, D.C. and Beltsville, MD), held occasional protests, sponsored speakers, represented employees in discrimination complaints, published a newsletter that also built solidarity with other GUARD affiliates, weighed in on contemporary issues, urged participation in African Liberation Day (1972-73) and the Children’s March Against Hunger (1972), and published Black History articles, among other activities.

The umbrella group GUARD was active at upwards of two dozen departments and agencies, including Health, Education & Welfare, Library of Congress, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, National Institutes of Health, Commerce Department, and the District of Columbia Government. GUARD was headed for a time by Reginal Booker, the anti-freeway activist leader.

A February 1973 history published by the ATFARD reads:

“On April 17, 1971, in the People’s cafeteria located in the 5th wing on the 6th floor, a rally was held to get the attention of Black employees of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The main issue was and still is racial discriminatory practices in hiring and promoting policies of the Department.

“Guest speakers at the rally included John Gibson, Urban League, Len Ball, Urban League and Reggie booker, former Chairman of GUARD (Government Employees United Against Racial Discrimination). These truly Black and skillful speakers strove to enlighten the Black people of Agriculture of their mission–The mission to bring our people together as one and to deal with and get on the case of racial discriminatory practices in the Department of Agriculture.

“As a result, concerned employees met at All Souls Unitarian Church the following Thursday and formed the Agriculture Task Force Against Racial Discrimination. To date, ATFARD has grown department-wide and has strengthened immensely.

“It publishes a monthly newsletter, Black Unity, which keeps the employees well informed. Goals include:

  1. To exert maximum community pressure to attract racial segregation and discrimination in the Department of Agriculture.
  2. To become the Department’s “EEO Conscience”, speaking out against injustices to Blacks and other minorities, using radio, television and other means of mass communication. To increase the hiring and promotion of Blacks and other minorities in the Department of Agriculture.
  3. To encourage Black employees, as individuals and as groups, to file complaints and to develop a pool of persons willing to represent them during the complaint process.
  4. To provide a forum where the rank-and-file Agricultural Workers can express their determination to protest discrimination, using whatever means necessary.”

Original copies of Black Unity are held at the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library, Special Collections.

Available issues of the newsletter Black Unity:

Vol. 1 No. 8 – February 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 3 – September 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 4 – October 1972  

Vol. 2 No. 5 – November 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 6 – December 1972 

Vol. 2 No. 8 – February 1973 

Vol. 2 No. 9 – March 1973 

Vol. 2 No. 10 – April 1973  

Vol. 2 No. 11 – May 1973 

Vol. 2 No. 12 – June 1973 

Vol. 3 No. 1 – July 1973  

Vol. 3 No. 2 – August 1973 

Vol. 3 No. 3 – October 1973 

Vol. 3 No. 4 – November 1973

Vol. 3 No. 5 – February 1974 

Vol. 3 No. 6 – March 1974 

Vol. 3 No. 7 – April 1974 

Vol. 3 No. 6 – May 1974 (duplicate number) 

Vol. 3 No. 9 – June/July 1974 (number out of order) 

Vol. 3 No. 8 – August 1974  

Vol. 3 No. 11 – November 1974  

Vol. 4 No. 1 – January 1975 

Vol. 4 No. 2 – April 1975  

Metro C.A.R.

Metro C.A.R. was published by a rank-and-file caucus at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) that existed for a number of years from approximately 1978 to 1996. It published periodic newsletters and flyers. We currently have one issue published after a wildcat strike by workers in July 1978

No volume or issue number – Aug. 1978 ca.

 

 

CLUW News – Metropolitan D.C. area

The Metropolitan D.C. Area Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) publishes an 8 ½ x 11 newsletter early in the group’s formation.

In March 1974, union women from over 58 unions and 41 states gathered in Chicago to establish an organization based upon women and labor movements. There were over 3,000 women in attendance.

The purpose of this organization was to increase the number of organized women workers, implement affirmative action, work for the passage of legislation favorable to women workers, and increase women’s involvement in their unions.

CLUW was founded as a result of rising women’s consciousness and initial actions combatting discrimination as part of the general activism of the 1960s and early 1970s.  

Shortly after the Chicago convention, the D.C. chapter was formed. During 1974-76 period (and possibly later) the October League (M-L), a new communist movement organization, influenced the local chapter and issues raised by CLUW during this period were also raised by other October League-influenced organizations such as the Fight Back organization and the Alliance for Labor and Community Action.

Donated by Craig Simpson

Available issues:

Vol. 2 No. 8 April 1976  

August 1976 

Off the Shelf/LC Newsletter

The newsletter of United Federal (later Public) Workers of America Local 28 entitled “Off the Shelf” and later retitled “LC Newsletter” sought to keep its members at the Library of Congress abreast of issues facing them and actions taken by the union.

The United Federal Workers of America Local 28 at the Library of Congress was organized in July 1937 after the officers of the former American Federation of Government Employees local union resigned en masse.

Local 28 put out a monthly newsletter and led fights for fairness in promotion through the use of seniority, against racial discrimination at the library, against forced overtime, and lobbied congressional committees for increased pay, among other issues.

The national union merged with the CIO’s state employees’ union in 1946 becoming the United Public Workers of America.

The activist union represented employees at the Library of Congress into the early 1950s before the national union succumbed to red-baiting during the 2nd Red Scare and dissolved in 1952.

Originals held at the University of Pittsburgh American Left Ephemera Collection, Series – Labor, Box 14, Folder 20.

Available issues:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – January 1938  

Vol. 1 No. 11 – November 1938  

Vol. 2 No. 12 – December 1939  

Vol. 3 No. 1 – January 1940  

Vol. 3 No. 2 – February 1940 

Vol. 3 No. 3 – March 1940  

Vol. 3 No. 4 – April 1940  

Vol. 3 No. 5 – May 1940  

Vol. 3 No. 6 – June 1940  

On The Move–successor to Washington Area Spark (complete set):

On the Move was the successor publication to the Washington Area Spark and was initiated by the Washington, D.C. area chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party. It covered local union caucuses, elections, contracts and myriad issues of concern to workers in addition to a Marxist-Leninist analysis of current events. It would in turn merge with a similar Baltimore newspaper, On The Line, to create The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area in the latter part of 1975.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April-May, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 2 – August, 1974

Vol. 1, No. 3, November, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 4 – December, 1974

Vol. 1 No. 5 – January, 1975

 

 

 

The Trades Unionist

The Trades Unionist was published by the Washington, D.C. Central Labor Council since 1896, but the shrinking of union membership eventually forced it to end publication. It was replaced in the 21st Century with a daily online newsletter by the umbrella labor group for unions in the greater Washington area. The Central Labor Council is now known as the Washington Metropolitan Council, AFL-CIO.

No Vol. or Issue – Oct. 15, 1976

 

U-BAD Newsletter

United Blacks Against Discrimination (U-BAD) was a group of civilian workers and GIs at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital 1972-? that attacked issues of racial discrimination at the sprawling facility located in NW Washington, D.C. It was headed by Nell Pendleton who filed a number of lawsuits against the facility for bias and organized demonstrations against white supremacy.

Vol 2 No 57 – October 1975 ca.

 

Washington, D.C. Teacher

The Washington, D.C. Teacher was the newsletter of the Washington Teachers Union (American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 6). The issues available include articles on new methods of education, anti-Vietnam War activities, a demonstration against red-baiting surrounding Antioch College, contract talks and other local union business. The following issues of the Washington Teacher, usually published as a tabloid, are currently available:

Vol. 5 No. 7 – June 1970

Special Issue – July 1970

Vol. 6 No. 1 – October 1970

Vol. 6 No. 5 – April 1971

Vol. 6 No. 6 – June 1971

The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area

The Worker for the Maryland-DC-Virginia Area (1975-77) was a tabloid focused on working class issues and Marxist-Leninist analysis of current events published by the local Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).

The newspaper was the product of a merger of two newspapers—On The Move in the Washington, DC area and On The Line in the Baltimore, MD area.

Some of the headlines could have been drawn from contemporary times: “New Plan for the Unemployed—Cut Benefits,” “New Rulings Attack Minorities—Big Fuss Over ’Reverse Bias’,” “’Illegals’ Not the Enemy—Deportation Raids in DC,” and “High Court Attacks Women—No Disability Pay for Pregnant Workers.”

The paper also covered local workers caucuses, union elections, union contracts, strikes and demonstrations.

The paper was one of dozens published in local areas across the country that focused on working class issues and were distributed at workplaces.

However, in 1977 the RCP split into two groups—the RCP retained about 60 percent of the membership while a split-off, The Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (RWH) took about 40 percent. The split was over many issues, but the split in the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party precipitated the break.

Longtime CCP leader Mao Zedong was deceased and the majority of the party arrested Mao’s widow and other leading adherents of Mao’s analysis of the path forward for socialism. The RCP upheld the “Gang of Four” while the RWH stayed the course with the Chinese government.

The local working-class newspapers, including the MD-DC-VA Worker, would not survive the split. The RCP would pull nearly all its cadre out of the factories, mines and mills within a few years while the smaller RWH had a bigger base among students.

Donated courtesy of Connie Lednum

Available Issues:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – October 1975 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – November 1975 

Vol. 1 No. 3 – December 1975

Vol. 1 No. 4 – January 1976

Vol. 1 No. 5 – February 1976

Vol. 1 No. 6 – March 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 7 – April 1976

Vol. 1 No. 8 – May 1976

Vol. 1 No. 9 – June 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 10 – July 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 11 – July 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 1 No. 12 – August 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 2 No. 1 – September 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 2 No. 2 – October/November 1976 – not available at this time

Vol. 2 No. 3 December 1976

Vol 2 No. 4 – January 1977 

Workers’ Power

Workers’ Power [1967-?] was the newsletter of the Workers Party of Maryland and it covered various social and political issues, including labor rights, racism, anti-war movements, and the struggle for equality.

The paper was Baltimore-based and the first three issues came out every two weeks until the group abandoned this approach and published irregularly thereafter. Issue Number 4 ran 30 pages.

The driving force behind the Workers’ Party of Maryland was A. Robert Kauffman, a Trotskyist who joined or formed a number of small political formations in Baltimore and later ran for public office to publicize his political beliefs.

No. 4 – July 1967 ca. 

Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

 

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Local Students (College and University)

George Mason College The Newspaper

“The Newspaper” was a weekly broadside published by a student group at George Mason College called Spectrum that was active in antiwar, civil rights and student rights issues. The available copies are undated and un-numbered, but probably published in 1970.

Among the contributors were Bonnie Atwood, Erling Friss-Baastad, Kathy O’Dell, Bill Pulman, Marianna Tate and Brother Wasp.

The available issues were published on 8 1/2 x 14 two-sided paper.

Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

1970 ca. Undated # 1 

1970 ca. Undated # 2 

University of Maryland SDS Spark

The University of Maryland College Park Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) published a newsletter 1967-68 that inspired the later Montgomery College Spark, some of whom that created it had attended UMD SDS meetings.

In August 1967, the UMD SDS began publishing a daily edition of a newsletter named Spark directed toward the delegates to a National Student Association (NSA) convention that was being held on campus shortly after the revelations that NSA had been partially funded by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

We currently have one issue:

Aug. 23, 1967

Thereafter, the Spark became a semi-regular SDS publication on campus. We have four issues:

Sept. 1967 ca.

Nov. 28, 1967

Jan. 15, 1968

May 7, 1968

In addition, the UMD SDS published an internal newsletter called Snark. We have two issues:

Vol. 2 No. 1 – Jan. 24, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 2 – Mar. 1, 1968

An internal organizing letter from Gregory Dunkel that served the same purpose as Snark:

August 26, 1968

University of Maryland Route One Gazette

After the Students for Democratic Society splintered in the Fall of 1969 and the student strike of 1970, left-wing UMD students formed the Democratic Radical Union of Maryland (DRUM) to take the place of SDS. It lasted through the school year of 1970-71. They published The Radical Guide to the University of Maryland and the Route One Gazette:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – September 1970

Vol. 1 No. 2 – November 1970

Vol. 2 No. 1 – Winter 1971

Vol. 1 No. 1 and Vol. 1 No. 2 are scanned from originals held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box R18.

Virginia SSOC Newsletter

The Virginia state organization of the Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) published its second newsletter in February 1969. At the time, SSOC maintained offices in Richmond and Charlottsville and had chapters on about a dozen campuses across the state, including Eastern Mennonite, George Mason, Lynchburg, Mary Washington, University of Virginia, Hollins, William and Mary, and Old Dominion. Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC), organization of students from predominantly white colleges and universities in the American South that promoted racial equality and other progressive causes such as anti-Vietnam War, pro-labor organizing and opposing in loco parentis 1965-69.

No. 2 – February 5, 1969

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Local Student Publications (High School)

The Crusader

One of a number of District of Columbia Wilson High School alternative student newspapers published in the early 1970s, The Crusader filled the gap between “Revolt” and “Fly by Night” at the Wilson campus.

Articles in Vol. 1 No. 1 from April 1970 included film reviews, quality of education, fascism in the U.S., high school student rights, the Roger Priest case, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, the Bobby Seale case and poetry, among other articles.

The tabloid describes itself under an “Origin of a Species” headline as, “The origin of “The Crusader” was that we had noticed that neither Wilson High nor Deal Junior High had a newspaper which represented the feelings of the students, and needless to say the students are a very important part of a school. Also, the only paper which have been printed have never survived for any extensive length of time, and this we hope to do. We will print any articles as long as they are 1) well written and 2) they are backed up with reached facts. All articles must be signed!”

The staff box listed names taken from Superman and Batman as well as Daddy Warbucks, Richie Rich and Spiro Agnew. Asst. Editor Ralph Bowen and Wayne Horvitz appear to have been real names.

Vol 1 No 1 – Apr. 1970 – issue courtesy of the Lincoln Cushing collection.

Fly by Night

Fly by Night was published by District of Columbia Wilson High School and Deal Junior High School students during at least the 1970-71 school year.

Vol. 1 No.. 3 of the newspaper describes itself:

“FLY BY NIGHT is published by CHIPMUNK PRINTING and GRAPHICS. .All articles and comments that appear in this paper are the opinions and beliefs of those who wrote them and NOT of the paper. Advertisements may be placed FREE OF CHARGE by any student or student organization (this offer is limited to students, but anyone else may place an ad for a meager sum). Anyone may submit articles·, and all will be published on a first come – first served basis. (The only requirement is that you sign your material or offer a reasonable· explanation for not doing so (NO PEN NAMES). THIS PAPER IS DISTRIBUTED FREE OF CHARGE. IF ANYONE TRIES TO SELL IT TO YOU, RIP THEM OFF! l !”

Vol. 1 No 1 courtesy of the Lincoln Cushing collection.

Vol. 1 No 3  was scanned with a handheld cell phone from an original held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box 143.

Vol. 1 No 1 – October 1970

Vol 1 No 3 – March 1971

HYSTERIA!

HYSTERIA! was published in December 1971 by high school-age young people as an alternative newspaper in the Washington, D.C. area.

According to the donor of this issue, the group coalesced out of the 1971 Mayday demonstrations that attempted to shut down Washington, D.C. through non-violent civil disobedience in protest of the Vietnam War.

In a “Who put out this paper” section, the publishers describe themselves and their mission as follows:

“Those of us creating this paper are in high school, have graduated, or dropped out. Most of us come from white, middle class, suburban families. We are trying to figure out what our problems are, where they come from and how we are going to deal with them.

“Our aim in creating this paper is to give different ideas on the problems that we as high school people are forced to struggle with. We also want to put Important issues in a different perspective than the Wash. Post and the New York Times.

“We need you to put out this paper. We can’t do it ourselves. Send us your drawings, photographs, articles, and essays. Tell us where you live, what you’re going, your criticisms of our paper, what you liked about it, how it relates to you, and anything, anything! We can use anything! We also need help on layout, distribution, choosing articles, and all other areas involved in putting out this paper.”

The issue covers dropping out of school, life in prison, self-defense for hitchhiking women, an examination of the environment at Walter Johnson High School, and a calendar of events, among other articles and blurbs.

Number 1 – December 3, 1971

The original is part of the Jeffrey T. Goldthorpe collection.

MCSA Newsletter

The MCSA Newsletter was the publication of the Montgomery County Student Alliance, a brief-lived coalition of students from different high schools in the county seeking educational reform. The Alliance issued a 17-page report and lobbied the county’s board of education to make changes. The group was composed of about 1,000 individual members and operated openly, publishing the names of its contacts at each school and seeking the approval to distribute its newsletter in the schools and pledging not to change content to satisfy administrators. In 1987 It was revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted surveillance of the group and its members. The surveillance was conducted under the Bureau’s Cointelpro program of disruption of left-leaning groups in the United States. A Freedom of Information request by Norman Solomon a former leader of the group led to a heavily redacted disclosure that somewhere between 15-30 students were targeted at a minimum of six high schools: Montgomery Blair, Walt Whitman, Winston Churchill, Springbrook, Wheaton and Northwood. A later individual Freedom of Information request by Spark contributor Craig Simpson revealed that he was one of those targeted while a student at Springbrook High School.

Number 1 – February 26, 1969

Outcry

The only issue published of a Springbrook High School student-produced newsletter where students signed their names to the articles and challenged the administration to discipline them.

Spark contributors Robert “Bob” Simpson and Craig Simpson are among the authors. Articles critique high school suppression of expression, the dress code, the 1968 elections, school presentation of drug information and a call for a student bill of rights.

The newsletter was published with assistance of the Washington Free Community. Springbrook H. S. is located in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – January 12, 1969

Resistance

Resistance was an alternative newsletter produced by and for greater Washington, D.C. area high school students. It was initially published with the assistance of members of the Democratic Radical Union of Maryland (DRUM)—a successor organization to the Students for Democratic Society on the College Park campus.

Vol. 1 No. 2 articles cover the Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention, reports from Northwestern, Blair and Oxen Hill High Schools, a critique of the Montgomery County student smoking policy, an essay on discrimination and sexism against high school women, an anti-ROTC article, and draft counseling. Vol. 2 No. 1 has articles on the U.S. war in Laos and Vietnam, birth control, United Farm Workers, running away from home, Marshall and Northwestern High School, and women’s liberation, among other topics.

Vol. 1 No. 2 – October 1970

Vol. 2 No. 1 – February 1971

Vol. 1 No. 2 donated by Robert “Bobbo” Simpson. Vol. 2 No. 1 is part of the Jeffrey T. Goldthrope collection.

Revolt

Revolt, the newspaper of the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) at Wilson High School in the District of Columbia, covered left-wing issues at the national, city and high school level.

The Revolutionary Youth Movement was formed at the August 1969 Students for a Democratic Society when that organization split into two factions—The Progressive Labor Party dominated group that kept the SDS name and an opposition group composed of an anarcho-communist faction that became the Weather Underground and a Maoist faction that ultimately mainly aligned with the Revolutionary Union or the October League. RYM as a national organization lasted only months before splintering.

Vol 1 No 4 – circa March 1970 – This issue is courtesy of the Lincoln Cushing collection.

Truth

A newsletter named “Truth” by and for high school students is produced in connection with the University of Maryland Students for a Democratic Society chapter in October 1967.

The newsletter had little local high school news but instead covered political topics.

It would be the first of a number of attempts to do outreach to high schools in the greater Washington, D.C. area by SDS

Vol. 1 No. 1 – October 1967

 

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Local Women’s Movement

CLUW News – Metropolitan D.C. area

The Metropolitan D.C. Area Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) publishes an 8 ½ x 11 newsletter early in the group’s formation.

In March 1974, union women from over 58 unions and 41 states gathered in Chicago to establish an organization based upon women and labor movements. There were over 3,000 women in attendance.

The purpose of this organization was to increase the number of organized women workers, implement affirmative action, work for the passage of legislation favorable to women workers, and increase women’s involvement in their unions.

CLUW was founded as a result of rising women’s consciousness and initial actions combatting discrimination as part of the general activism of the 1960s and early 1970s.  

Shortly after the Chicago convention, the D.C. chapter was formed. During 1974-76 period (and possibly later) the October League (M-L), a new communist movement organization, influenced the local chapter and issues raised by CLUW during this period were also raised by other October League-influenced organizations such as the Fight Back organization and the Alliance for Labor and Community Action.

Donated by Craig Simpson

Available issues:

Vol. 2 No. 8 April 1976  

August 1976 

Northern Virginia National Organization for Women newsletter

The Northern Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) published a monthly 8 ½ x 11 newsletter beginning in 1971.

The newsletter covers various initiatives, events, and issues related to women’s rights and equality in Northern Virginia, including meetings, demonstrations, electoral activities, media outreach, legislative action, promotion of the Equal Rights Amendment, and a list of new members among other articles. Volume 3 Number 10 ran 15 pages.

The National Organization for Women (NOW) consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It is the largest feminist organization in the United States with around 500,000 members. NOW is regarded as one of the main liberal feminist organizations in the US, and primarily lobbies for gender equality within the existing political system. NOW campaigns for constitutional equality, economic justice, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+ rights[ and racial justice, and against violence against women.

Vol. 3 No. 10 – November 1973  

Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Off Our Backs

Off Our Backs was a long-running women’s news journal published from 1970-2008. The publications was based in Washington, D.C. and in its early years widely covered events in the city. Most issues are available on the pay site JSTOR. JSTOR is accessible at no charge with a D.C. Library card.

The group of women planning to publish the first issue of Off Our Backs newspaper put out a January 23, 1970 flyer announcing that publication will begin in February 1970.

Excerpts from the announcement:

“It is a paper written by women and for women to be shared with other women who are also struggling for liberation,” the flyer proclaims.

“Male supremacy pervades this society, preventing direct and hones communication between women. Nowhere, in either the underground or Establishment press, are our issues adequately analyzed or discussed. Several of us, after working on local underground and/or “movement” papers, have become convinced that we, can no longer work where we see repeated failure to print articles of importance to our sisters and ourselves, and where degrading sex ads and nudie photos are the accepted norm of ‘political” coverage.’

“Off Our Backs will cover news events and stories relevant to women’s struggles for liberation and include continuing articles on medical survival issues and women’s history, media reviews, poetry, activities of women’s groups, personal reports on the condition of women at school, on the job, etc., and on-going analysis reflecti.ng the thinking of a growing movement.”

Off Our Backs was a long-running women’s news journal published from 1970-2008. The publication was based in Washington, D.C. and in its early years widely covered events in the city.

Original held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection # M 520, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Vol. 1 No. 1 through Vol. 38 No. 1 – February 1970 through January 2008 – (off-site at Jstor)

Virginia National Organization for Women Newsletter

The Virginia National Organization for Women newsletter was published four times per year in the 1980s and covered all aspects of women’s rights, including the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, opposing violence against women, opposing discrimination in employment, credit, housing and other areas of society.

The Virginia chapter can trace its history back to the founding of the National Organization for Women in 1966 when longtime Arlington resident Catherine Shipe East one of 49 founding members.

The chapter continues to function in contemporary times.

“NOW is a multi-issue, multi-strategy organization that takes a holistic approach to women’s rights. Our priorities are winning economic equality and securing it with an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will guarantee equal rights for women; championing reproductive rights and justice and other women’s health issues; opposing racism; fighting bigotry against the LGBTQIA community; and ending violence against women,” according to the group’s 2025 website.

Available issues

May 1983  

Fall (1) 1983

Originals held in the Elizabeth Smith collection of Virginia ERA Ratification Council Records, Virginia Commonwealth University, James Branch Cabell Library, Special Collections.

Washington Women’s Liberation & Women’s Center Newsletters

Washington Women’s Liberation and later the Women’s Center published several periodical newsletters in their name—a newsletter, a bulletin, and a newsletter named “In Our Own Write.”

Washington Women’s Liberation

Washington D.C. Women’s Liberation was formed early in 1968 after women participating in the Jeanette Rankin Brigade protest against the Vietnam War January 15, 1968 decided to form an organization that linked feminism with the broader struggle against capitalism.

Washington Women’s Liberation participated in the protest demonstration at a “Distinguished Ladies” event during President Richard Nixon’s January 1969 Inaugural weekend activities in one of the first women’s liberation marches in the country. Another high-profile activity in their first year was joining other women’s liberation groups in protesting the Miss America beauty pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. Jan. 31-Feb 1, 1969.

A year after their formation, Washington Women’s Liberation had three groups—two in northwest Washington and one in southeast. Its membership was predominantly white and came mainly out of the anti-Vietnam and civil rights movements. A Women’s Liberation office was set up where abortion counseling, women’s health outreach, and newsletter publication took place and also served as a focal point for left-wing women’s meetings through the D.C. metropolitan area.

In the fall of 1969, Washington Women’s Liberation joined with the National Welfare Rights Organization in several actions, including occupying the office of the secretary of the U.S. Health, Education and Welfare department and forming a contingent in the Moratorium antiwar demonstrations. Members of Washington Women’s Liberation began also publishing the feminist journal Off Our Backs that would continue until 2008, though the journal was not an official WWL publication.

Washington Women’s Liberation members spent a good deal of time analyzing how oppression of women fit into capitalist exploitation of labor and how that oppression and exploitation affected their lives and the lives of other women. The group initially opposed the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment fearing it would roll back laws that protected women, but joined with mainstream women’s groups in August 1970 in the first large feminist march in Washington, D.C. since the suffragettes early in the 20th century. The group also sponsored a break-away march that day to the Women’s House of Detention to show solidarity with imprisoned sisters.

Internal fissures began surfacing in 1970—those who favored joining with mainstream women’s organizations in specific actions, lesbian separatism and a perception of newer members that older members did not value them. The internal issues and a lack of overall direction led to the closure of the Women’s Liberation office in 1971 and Washington Women’s Liberation ceased to exist circa 1972 following the establishment of a Women’s Center in the city.

 Prominent members of Washington women’s Liberation included Marilyn Salzman Webb and Charlotte Bunch.

Washington Area Women’s Center

The Washington Area Women’s Center (1972-late 80s) developed naturally from the high level of activism in the Washington area related to feminism and women’s rights taking place.

Specifically two parallel movements led directly to its formation. First, the Magic Quilt was a coalition of projects and discussion groups. Second, the Women’s Liberation Office, an activist group, rented space that it used for meetings, abortion counseling, a telephone hotline, and an information center.

The Women’s Liberation Office held a retreat at which the idea was born to form a center for women.

 In 1972, the Washington Area Women’s Center formed as a non-profit. Over the years several different management models were attempted including a coordinating council of representatives from different project groups, followed by an elected five-member executive board and finally the group had a core group collective composed of WAWC members who volunteer their time either at the Center or on Center projects.

During its time from 1972 through the late 1980s, the Washington Area Women’s Center served both as a space where women could explore aspects of feminism and work on projects dedicated to furthering feminist theory and also practical work to serve as a clearinghouse of advisors and information to help women in the Metropolitan Area explore all options related to changing their lives and asserting their rights. –Women’s Center description from George Washington University Library.

Washington Women’s Liberation Newsletter and Bulletin

April 23, 1969 – Vol. 1 No. 1 – (New)

August 25, 1969 – (Complete) 

October 20, 1969  

November 5, 1969, Issue 3 – (New) 

November 13-15, 1969 – Women’s Festival (New) 

November 21, 1969, Issue 4 – (New) 

December 3, 1969 – (New) 

January 1, 1970 (circa) 

January 29, 1970 

February 1970  

March 20, 1970  

April 6, 1970  

April 30, 1970  

May 12, 1970  

May 25, 1970  

June 10, 1970 

July 1, 1970  

July 23, 1970  

Late July 1970 

September 19, 1970 

November/’December 1971  

January 1972  

February 1972  

Women’s Center periodicals (News, Newsletter, Bulletin and In Our Own Write)

March 1972 

April 7, 1972  

April 22, 1972  

April 1972  

May 6, 1972  

May 1972 (late)

June 8, 1972

June 20, 1972  

July 18, 1972

August 5, 1972  

August 21, 1972 

September 11, 1972  

October 6, 1972  

November 5, 1972  

December 1972

January 1973 

February/March 1973  

April 1973  

May 1973  

June 1973  

July 1973  

August 1973  

September 1973  

October/Novemberr 1973  

December 1973  

January 1974 

February 1974  

March 1, 1974 (circa)

March 11, 1974  

July 23, 1974  

April 1975  

May 1975  

June 1975  

July 1975  

September/October 1975  

November 1975  

December 1975  

October 1976  

December 1976  

January 1977  

February 1977  

March 1977  

April 1977  

May 1977

June 1977  

July 1977

August 1977

October 1977  

November 1977  

December 1977  

January 1978  

February 1978

March 1978  

April 1978  

May 1978  

June 1978  

July 1978  

August 1978  

September 1978  

October 1978 

November 1978  

December 1978  

January 1979

February 1979  

March 1979

April 1979  

May 1979  

June 1979  

July 1979  

August 1979 

September 1979  

October 1979  

November 1979  

December 1979  

August 29, 1970, October 20, 1969, February 1970, November/December 1971 and February 1972 are scanned from originals held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. The rest of the collection is from the George Washington University Gelman Library Special Collections “Washington Area Women’s Center records 1966-1989.

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National  Periodicals

National Alternative Press

Hard Times (formerly Mayday)

Hard Times had its beginnings in October 1968 when three Washington, D.C. journalists produced a weekly four page investigative and opinion tabloid called Mayday. In April 1969 the publishers changed its name to Hard Times after receiving a request from the  trademark holder of the international distress call to change their name. The tabloid-size paper was more traditional journalism than “underground,” but it pursued topics of a left-leaning nature of interest to a national audience. The paper folded in 1970 and several of its staff went to work for Ramparts Magazine, producing a supplement to the magazine that was also named Hard Times.

Number 43 – September 8, 1969

 

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National Antiwar

The Anti Draft

The Anti Draft was the publication of the Committee Against Registration and the Draft (CARD) 1980-88 that helped to organize resistance to the re-introduction of the selective service system that had ended following the Vietnam War in and the institution of all-volunteer armed services in the United States in 1975.

CARD was formed in 1979 as a national coalition and immediately organized a series of demonstrations both the 1980 Republican and Democratic Conventions and at local post offices around the country. CARD was also part of an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging draft registration.

Local coalitions of CARD were formed around the country that carried out local protests. Most lapsed after the initial wave of protests 1979-82, although CARD continued to exist into the late 1980s.

Vol. 1 No. 9 – November-December 1980

Vol. 1 No. 10 – January-February 1981

Vol. 2 No. 2 – June 1982

Vol. 2 No. 3 – December 1982

Vol. 2 No. 4 – August 1983

Vol. 2 No. 7 – July 1984

Vol. 3 No. 2 – January-March 1988

Memo

Memo was the bulletin of Women’s Strike for Peace, a group which sprang up almost overnight staging a national demonstration of 50,000 women and supporters to demand nuclear disarmament in 1961. The group staged a number of high-profile demonstrations and was at least partially responsible for the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. WSP was also notable for its leader Dagmar Wilson’s skillful rebuke of the House Un-American Activities Committee. WSP would become early opponents of the Vietnam War and continue its opposition to the Gulf War and for nuclear disarmament in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Prominent members included founder Dagmar Wilson, U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug, Barbara Bick who edited the group’s bulletin and Edith Villastrigo who served as WSP’s legislative director and who was previously the personal secretary to William Z Foster, head of the Communist Party USA. The group occupied a unique position as a women’s organization between the first and second wave feminism. Issues are courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society and issues purchased by Washington Area Spark:

Vol. 3 No. 5 – September 28, 1964

Vol. 3 No. 7 – October 30, 1964

Vol. 3 No. 8 – November 13, 1964

Vol. 3 No. 16 – March 31, 1965

Vol. 4 No. 12 – June 1966

No Volume or Issue No. – July 1966

Vol. 5 No. 2 – September 1966

Vol. 5 No. 3 – October 1966

Vol. 5 No. 4 –  December 1966 ca.

Vol. 5 No. 5 – January 1967

Vol. 5 No. 6 – February 1967

Vol. 5 No. 7 – March 1967

Vol. 5 No. 8 – April 1967

Vol. 5 No. 9 – May 1967

Vol. 5 No. 10 – June 1967

Vol. 5 No. 11 – August 1967

No Volume or Issue No. – October 1967

Vol. 6 No. 1 – November 1967

No Volume or Issue No. – January 1968 ca.

Vol. 6 No. 3 – February 1968

Vol. 6 No. 4 – March 1968

Vol. 6 No. 5 – May. 1968

Vol. 6 No 6 – September 1968

Vol. 6 No. 7 – October 1968

Vol. 6 No. 8 – November 1968

No Volume or Issue No. – January 1969

No Volume or Issue No. – April 1969

No Volume or Issue No. – Fall 1969

No Volume or Issue No. – Summer 1970

Mobilizer

Mobilizer was the newsletter of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (later “National,”1966-67), a broad-based coalition opposing the war in Vietnam, that organized several antiwar and anti-draft rallies and demonstrations, including organizing attendance at the large April 1967 New York city march.

The group was initially headed by long-time labor and peace activist A. J. Muste. However, Muste died in 1967 before the April mass march took place. The coalition broadened its leadership by adding Cleveland Robinson, a labor leader from District 65 of the Wholesale, Retail, and Department Store Workers Union, AFL-CIO, Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Dagmar Wilson of Women’s Strike for Peace. They joined long-time peace activists Dave Dellinger, Robert Greenblatt, Sidney Peck and Edward Keating. James Bevel from SCLC was chosen as national director.

The group sought permanence by replacing its name “Spring” with “National” and organized the large October 1967 March on the Pentagon and April 1968 protests against the draft, among other activities.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – December 19, 1966 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – February 6, 1967 

Vol. 1 No. 3 – March 18, 1967 

Vol. 1 No. 4 – May 1, 1967 ca.  

Vol. 2 No. 1 – September 1, 1967

Mobilizer issues dated May 1, 1967 ca. and September 1, 1967 are courtesy of the courtesy of the Civil Rights Movement Archive, <a href=”https://www.crmvet.org/index.html&#8221; rel=”noreferrer nofollow”>www.crmvet.org/index.html</a>. Other issues are donated by Craig Simpson.

Movin’ Together

Movin’ Together was the newsletter of the People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice (PCPJ) that included various peace, anti-poverty, and labor groups. These groups worked together to confront the related issues of war in Southeast Asia and racism, sexism, poverty, and repression in the United States 1970-72. The national antiwar movement split into two large coalitions in 1969-70. The other coalition to arise was National Peace Action Coalition (NPAC). They two were distinguished by PCPJ’s embrace of other issues besides the Vietnam War and PCPJ’s willingness to engage in civil disobedience. NPAC had a single demand, “Out Now,” and did not endorse civil disobedience. PCPJ and NPAC jointly sponsored the May 9, 1970 march on Washington after President Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia and the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University and an April 24, 1971 mass march on Washington the following year. PCPJ was founded in 1970 as National Coalition Against War, Racism, and Repression and also organized several specific campaigns including People’s Peace Treaty, Citizen’s Action Pledge, and Nixon Eviction campaign; reports, speeches, and resolutions pertaining to the Assembly for Peace and Independence of the People of Indochina held at Versailles, France, February 1972. Issues are from the Spark collection and the Wisconsin Historical Society

March 19, 1971

April 1, 1971 ca.

April 17, 1971

May 14, 1971

May 28, 1971

June 16, 1971

July 15, 1971

September 21, 1971

April 1972

October 1972

New Mobilizer

The New Mobilizer (1969-70) was the newsletter of the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, a national umbrella anti-Vietnam War coalition.

The organization was first organized as the Spring Mobilization Committee in 1966 and organized several antiwar and anti-draft rallies and demonstrations, including organizing attendance at the large April 1967 New York city march.

The group sought permanence by replacing its name “Spring” with “National” and organized the large October 1967 March on the Pentagon and April 1968 protests against the draft, among other activities.

A split in the antiwar movement occurred later in 1968 over whether to focus on a single demand (End the War) or to include social justice demands as well. Differences also included whether to condone civil disobedience as a tactic.

These two tendencies were later reflected as the National Peace Action Coalition and the 1969-70 New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, which was later reconstituted that year as the People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice. While both coalitions reflected a broad base and many disparate organizations and individuals, the old left Trotskyist Social Workers Party supported NPAC while the Communist Party supported New Mobilization/PCPJ.

No. 1 – Sept. 5, 1969

No. 2 – Sept. 25, 1969

No. 3 – Oct. 8, 1969

No. 4 – October 28, 1969

No. 5 – Unavailable

No. 6 – Jan. 1970

No. 7 – Feb. 1970

No. 8 – Feb. 1970

No. 9 – Mar. 1970

The Peace Times

The Peace Times was the short-lived newsletter of the Vietnam Moratorium Committee, the organization that sponsored perhaps the largest anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in the October and November 1969 Moratoriums (or strike) against the war that involved upwards of two million people. The Moratorium’s principal organizers (Sam Brown, David Hawk, David Mixner and Marge Sklencar) and volunteers were mainly veterans of the 1968 Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy campaigns for president who turned to grassroots organizing when Richard Nixon was elected president in November 1968. The Committee was not able to duplicate its success and a few weeks after its second newsletter issue, the organization disbanded after antiwar protests set around the April 15th tax day largely fizzled. In an April 20, 1970 letter to supporters the organizers wrote there was “little prospect of immediate) change in the Administration’s policy in Vietnam.” Unbeknownst to its organizers, President Richard Nixon would set off a firestorm of protest just 10 days later on April 30, 1970 when he ordered U.S. troops to invade Cambodia. Students at college campuses across the country staged strikes and mass demonstrations and over 100,000 people rallied against the war in Washington, D.C. with less than a week’s notice.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – March 7, 1970

Vol. 1 No. 2 – March 21, 1970

Vol. 1 No. 3 – April 7, 1970

The Resistance

The Resistance newsletter was the national publication of the draft resistance group The Resistance thrived from 1967-68 urging young men to refuse to cooperate with the Selective Service System in protest of the Vietnam War. The group was formed in early 1967 on the West Coast by prominent antiwar activists David Harris, Dennis Sweeney, Steve Hamilton and Lenny Heller and spread across the nation. The group organized draft card turn ins and burnings—actions which could result in five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. They organized demonstrations to support draft refusers and set an example themselves by publicly refusing to cooperate with the draft.

No. 3 – October 1967

No. 5 – January 31, 1968

The Student Mobilizer

The Student Mobilizer (1967-72) was a newspaper published irregularly by the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (1965-73). The SMC originally acted as the arm of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (1966-67) and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (1967-68). With the internal splits within the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1969, the SMC had chapters on dozens of campuses and was often the only national mass organization active at a school. On many campuses, it was also often the largest radical student organization. The SMC had chapters on dozens of campuses across the United States and also did outreach to active duty GIs, including the establishment of the GI Press Service that had a couple dozen local GI newspapers and newsletters affiliated with it.

Vol. 1 No. ? – December 1, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 3 – July 1968

Special Wallposter Issue No. 1 –  January 18, 1969

Wallposter No. 2 – March 14, 1969

Wallposter No. 3 – April 5, 1969

Vietnam Summer News

Vietnam Summer News was the national publication of Vietnam Summer, a temporary coalition of a number of groups in 1967, but primarily backed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to convince non-student Americans to oppose the war in Vietnam. The project expanded to 48 states and Vietnam Summer News reached a circulation of 65,000 during its six issue run. It was modeled after the 1964 civil rights Freedom Summer. Two staff members paid by AFSC coordinated the national office while 26,000 volunteers worked in 700 local projects across the country. The effort involved door-to-door canvassing, teach-ins, counseling on draft resistance, local antiwar demonstrations, working to get antiwar referenda on the ballot, and the dissemination of antiwar literature. The group only published six issues during the summer of 1967 and the group disbanded thereafter, although many local efforts continued.

No. 6 – August 25, 1967

WIN

WIN, Peace and Action Through Non-Violent Action was published by the War Resisters League 1966-84.

Vol. 7, No. 3 – February 15, 1971  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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National Civil Liberties

Action Bulletin

The National Committee to Defeat the Mundt bill Action Bulletin newsletter was issued as the anti-communist, civil liberties restricting bill was considered in Congress.in 1950.

The bill had been defeated by a broad-based campaign in 1948, but opponents faced much stronger headwinds in 1950.

Jerry J. O’Connell, former U.S. representative from Montana, chaired the committee to defeat the bill. Bruce Waybur from the CIO United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America served as treasurer.

The 1948 Nixon-Mundt bill targeted the Communist Party USA, but contained drastic civil liberties infringements that could apply to other groups and individuals, including registration of individual Communist Party members and the “source” of so-called communist front groups. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate after a broad-based campaign against it.

The bill was re-introduced in 1950 as the Mundt-Ferguson bill. The political situation had changed by this time with the onset of the Korean War, the Alger Hiss spying case and the general burgeoning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Once again the Mundt-Ferguson bill passed the House of Representatives, but the Senate did not pass it. Instead, the Senate Judiciary Committee drew up a “new Mundt bill” named the McCarren Act that contained many of the provisions of the Mundt Act. The McCarren Act became law after Congress overrode President Harry Truman’s veto.

No. 1 – March 6, 1950 

No. 2 – March 16, 1950 

No. 3 – Unavailable at this time

No. 4 – March 31, 1950 

No. 5 – April 11, 1950 

No. 6 – April 20, 1950 

No. 7 – May 11, 1950 

No. 8 – Unavailable at this time

No. 9 – June 29, 1950 

No. 10 – Unavailable at this time

No. 11 – July 15, 1950 

Emergency Conference on the Mundt Bill – August 9, 1950  

CounterSpy

CounterSpy was a magazine that published articles on covert operations, especially those undertaken by the American intelligence community, including the FBI, CIA and local police agencies.

It was the official Bulletin of the Committee for Action/Research on the Intelligence Community (CARIC). CounterSpy published 32 issues between 1973 and 1984 from its headquarters in Washington DC.

Among its articles of local interest in Washington, D.C. was its 1976 expose of Sheila O’Donnell, also known as Sheila O’Conner and Sheila Rees. O’Donnell was a source for the FBI, providing information on the National Lawyers Guild, Washington Area Spark, and Revolutionary Union, among other left-wing organizations. See page 16 of Vol. 3 No. 1 – Spring 1976.

The magazine was continued by The National Reporter starting in 1985.

CounterSpy was edited in Washington, D.C. by Tim Butz and Winslow Peck.

Butz was a fifth-generation veteran who served in the Air Force from 1965-69, including service in Vietnam. He returned to civilian life enrolling at Kent State University where he was present during the antiwar protests that resulted in the Ohio National Guard killing four students and wounding nine others. Butz would become a leader in Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) before founding CounterSpy.

Peck was the other editor who used a pseudonym and whose real name was Perry Fellwock, a former National Security Agency analyst who had leaked information on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance to Ramparts magazine in 1972. Fellwock was a Vietnam veteran who, like Butz, had turned into an antiwar activist with Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW).

Former Central Intelligence Agency personnel Victor Marchetti, Philip Agee, and Stanley Sheinbaum joined CounterSpy’s advisory board aimed at bolstering the magazine’s credibility and acting as a counter-weight against intelligence agency criticism.

The magazine gained attention when CounterSpy founder and former Central Intelligence Agency agent Philip Agee advocated outing agents in their Winter 1975 issue. Agee urged the “neutralization of its [CIA] people working abroad” by publicizing their names so that they could no longer operate clandestinely.

The 1975 assassination of Richard Welch, the CIA Station Chief in Greece, by Revolutionary Organization 17 November was blamed by some on disclosures in magazines such as CounterSpy. Agee denied the accusation that he had leaked Welch’s name.

However, U.S. officials, including then-CIA Director George H. W. Bush, blamed CounterSpy for contributing to Welch’s death, Welch was previously named as a CIA officer by several European publications, and the CIA had assigned him a house previously used by CIA station chiefs

Butz explained in a 1975 interview on the Today Show.

“Well, we’re not doing it simply for expose, In the article where we listed the hundred and fifty station chiefs, for example, was an analysis of the role of station chief, an analysis of what they do. And we listed the names primarily to give people an idea of how widespread the CIA is. From Katmandu to Karachi, there are CIA stations in some of the most innocuous places in the world, men operating at the request of the United States government. And what we’re trying to do is raise the question of what are they doing there and, even more important, how are they functioning.”

Congress cited the Welch assassination as the principal justification for passing the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in 1982 making the willful identification of a CIA officer a criminal offense.

Original held at the New York University Tamiment Library.

Vol. 3 No. 1 – Spring 1976

 

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National Civil Rights/Black Liberation

The African World

The African World was published by the Youth Organization for Black Unity (YOBU) as a national tabloid newspaper 1971-74 covering U.S. black liberation struggles, African liberation struggles and acting as a forum for theoretical articles and speeches on black liberation. Publication began In 1971 when the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU), led by Nelson Johnson, launched the SOBU Newsletter, which it soon renamed The African World. SOBU changed its name shortly thereafter to YOBU. The group developed chapters in a number of cities across the U.S., including Washington, D.C. The newspaper, along with the organization took a leftward turn and began embracing Marxism-Leninism before disbanding with many of its most dedicated cadre forming the brief-lived Revolutionary Workers League in 1974.

Vol. 2 No. 23 – September 2, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 26 – October 14, 1972

Vol. 3 No. 3 – November 25, 1972

Vol. 3 No. 9 – March 3, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 16 – June 30, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 18 – July 28, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 19 – August 11, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 21 – September 22, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 24 – October 1973

Vol. 3 No. 25 – November 30, 1973

Vol. 3 No. 26 – December 1973

Vol. 4 No. 1 – February 9, 1974

Vol. 4 No. 2 – March 1974

Vol. 4 No. 3 – April 1974

Vol. 4 No. 4 – May 31, 1974

Vol. 4 No. 5 – July 1974

Vol. 4 No. 6 – November 30, 1974

Vol. 4 No. 7 – February 1975

Vol. 4 No. 8 – March 1975

Vol. 4 No. 9 – May 1975

Vol. 4 No. 10 – June 1975

Vol. 4 No. 11 – July 1975

Vol. 4 No. 12 – September 1975

Volume 2, Number 26 was donated by Robert “Bob” Simpson. Other issues were scanned with a handheld cell phone from an original held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box 004.

Babylon

Babylon was published by the Revolutionary People’s Communication Network that was created by Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver and their allies after a dispute in the Black Panther Party leadership led to the expulsion of the Cleavers, the other Panthers in exile, Geronimo Pratt and almost the entire New York City branch from the group in 1971. Kathleen Cleaver returned from exile in Algeria to set up the communications network that published Babylon and other revolutionary tracts. The Cleavers saw their role as providing the above-ground political support for the armed struggle. Newspapers published by the group also included Voice of the Lumpen, published in West Germany, and Right On!—which replaced Babylon as the chief newspaper of the group in 1972. We currently hold one issue of Babylon:

Vol. 1 No. 3 – December 15, 1971

The Beat Goes On

The Beat Goes On was the newsletter of the December 4th Committee headed by Akua Njeri (formerly Deborah Johnson), a Chicago Black Panther and the fiancé of slain Panther leader Fred Hampton.

The Committee was formed to expose the truth of the December 4, 1969 killing orchestrated by Cook County State’s Attorney Edward Hanrahan, who was assisted by Chicago police and the FBI, and to keep Fred Hampton’s political contributions alive.

Vol. 1 No. 1 of the newsletter recounts Fred Hampton’s history, the events of the raid and a timeline of developments up until August 1975. It also contains an advertisement for a commemoration of the Attica prison uprising, urging amnesty for prisoners.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Aug. 1975

The Black Panther

The Black Panther was the official organ of the Black Panther Party and was published from 1967 into the late 1970s.

The newspaper was most popular from 1968-1972, and during this time sold a hundred thousand copies a week. A total of 537 issues were published during its lifespan.

The Panthers initiated community service programs in the black community such as free breakfast for children, free clothing, pre-school classes, and organizing buses for visitors to prisoners.

They also were strident defenders of the black community against police violence and advocated armed self-defense. The group was violently attacked by police forces across the country, most famously when Chicago Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were assassinated by police in 1969.

Much of their activity was consumed by legal defense of their members in high profile trials of two of their leaders–Huey Newton and Bobby Seale–as well as defenses of chapter members in New York, New Haven, Baltimore, New Orleans  and elsewhere.

Many copies of the newspaper are from our own files, The Wisconsin Historical Society, Freedom Archives, It’s About Time website and the Roz Payne Sixties Archive.

Vol. 1 No. 1, Vol. 1 No. 2, Vol. 1 No. 5, Vol 2 No 2, Vol 2 No 3, Vol 2 No 5, Vol 2 No 7, Vol 2 No 8, Vol 2 No 11, Vol 2 No 12-14, Vol 2 No 18, Vol 2 No 22, Vol 2 No 24, Vol 2 No 25, Vol 2 No 26, Vol 2 No 27, Vol 2 No 28, Vol 2, No 29, Vol 3 No 3, Vol 3 No 4, Vol 3 No 14, Vol 3 No 16, Vol 3 No 24, Vol 3 No 25, Vol 3 No 26, Vol 4 No 8, Vol 4 No 9, Vol 4 No 10, Vol 4 No 12, Vol 4 No 13, Vol 4 No 15, Vol 4 No 16, Vol 4 No 19, Vol 4 No 20, Vol 4 No 27, Vol 4 No 28, Vol 5 No 1, Vol 5 No 2, Vol 5 No 8, Vol 5 No 10, Vol 5 No 13, Vol 5, No 14, Vol 5 No 17, Vol 5 No 19, Vol 5 No 20, Vol 6 No 7, Vol 6 No 23, Vol 6 No 29, Vol 6 No 30, Vol 7 No 5, Vol 7 No 10, Vol 7 No 11, Vol 7 No 13, Vol 7 No 15, Vol 7 No 18, Vol 7 No 20, Vol 7 No 25, Vol 7 No 26, Vol 7 No 27, Vol 7 No 30, Vol 8 No 1, Vol 8 No 3, Vol 8 No 4, Vol 8 No 5, Vol 8 No 9, Vol 8 No 10, Vol 8 No 13, Vol 8 No 14, Vol 8 No 16, Vol 8 No 18, Vol 8 No 19, Vol 8 No 20, Vol 8 No 21, Vol 8 No 26, Vol 8 No 28, Vol 8 No 30, Vol 9 No 2, Vol 9 No 3, Vol 9 No 4, Vol 9 No 6, Vol 9 No 8, Vol 9 No 11, Vol 10 No 2, Vol 10 No 3, Vol 10 No 5, Vol 10 No 6, Vol 10 No 7, Vol 10 No 8, Vol 10 No 9, Vol 10 No 10, Vol 10 No 12-19, Vol 10 No 22-25, Vol 10 No 28, Vol 11 No 2-15, Vol 11 No 17-23, Vol 11 No 28, Vol 11 No 30, Vol 12 No 2, Vol 12 No 3, Vol 12 No 4, Vol 12 No 6-13, Vol 12 No 15-27, Vol 12, No 30, Vol 13 No 1-14, Vol 13 No 16-30, Vol 14 No 1-7, Vol 14 No 9, Vol 14 No 10, Vol 14 No 12-30, Vol 15 No 1-15, Vol 15 No 17-30 are scans courtesy of the Marxist Internet Archive.

Volume 3 No 6 is a scan from an original held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box U5.

Issues added March 5, 2024 at last update are in bold:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April 25, 1967 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – May 15, 1967 –  

Vol. 1 No. 3 – June 20, 1967

Vol. 1 No. 4 – July 3, 1967

Vol. 1 No. 5 – July 20, 1967 

Vol. 1 No. 6 – November 23, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 1 – March 16, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 2 – May 4, 1968 (no page missing) – 

Vol. 2 No. 3 – May 18, 1968 

Vol. 2 No. 4 – Not available at this time

Vol. 2 No. 5 – September 7, 1968 (no pages missing)

Vol. 2 No. 6 – September 14, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 7 – September 28, 1968 –

Vol. 2 No. 8 – October 5, 1968 

Vol. 2 No. 9 – October 19, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 10 – October 26, 1968

Vol. 2 No. 11 – November 2, 1968 

Vol. 2 No. 12-14 – November 16, 1968 

Vol. 2 No. 15-17 – December 1968

Vol. 2 No. 18 – December 21, 1968 

Vol. 2 No. 19 – January 4, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 20 – January 15, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 21 – January 23, 1969  

Vol. 2 No.  21 – February 2, 1969 – (incorrect number)

Vol. 2 No. 23 – February 17, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 24 – March 3, 1969 

Vol. 2 No. 25 – March 9, 1969 

Vol. 2 No. 26 – March 16, 1969 

Vol. 2 No. 27 – March 23, 1969 

Vol. 2 No. 28 – March 31, 1969 

Vol. 2 No. 29 – April 6, 1969 – 

Vol. 2 No. 30 – April 20, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 1 – April 27, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 2 – May 4, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 3 – May 11, 1969 

Vol. 3 No. 4 – May 19, 1969 

Vol. 3 No. 5 – unavailable at this time

Vol. 3 No. 6 – May 31, 1969  

Vol. 3 No. 7 – June 7, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 8 – June 14, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 9 – June 21, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 10 – June 28, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 11 – July 5, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 12 – July 12, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 13 – July 19, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 14 – July 26, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 14 – August 2, 1969 – incorrect issue number – 

Vol. 3 No. 16 – August 9, 1969  

Vol. 3 No. 17 – August 16, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 18 – August 23, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 19 – August 30, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 20 – September 6, 1969 

Vol. 3 No. 21 – September. 13, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 22 – September 20, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 23 – September 27, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 24 – October 6, 1969 

Vol. 3 No. 25 – October 11, 1969 

Vol. 3 No. 26 – October 18, 1969  

Vol. 3 No. 27 – October 25, 1969]

Vol. 3 No. 28 – unavailable at this time

Vol. 3 No. 29 – November 6, 1969 

Vol. 3 No. 29 – November 15, 1969 – (Incorrect number)

Vol. 3 No. 31 – November 22, 1969

Vol. 3 No. 32 – November 29, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 1 – December 6, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 2 – December 13, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 3 – December 20, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 4 – December 27, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 5 – January 3, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 6 – January 10, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 7 – January 17, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 8 – January 24, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 8 – January 31, 1970 – duplicate issue number 

Vol. 4 No. 9 – February 9, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 10 – February 17, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 11 – unavailable at this time (possibly a phantom issue)

Vol. 4 No. 12 – February 21, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 13 – February 28, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 14 – March 7, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 15 – March 15, 1970  

Vol 4 No. 16 – March 21, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 17 – March 28, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 18 – unavailable at this time

Vol. 4 No. 19 – April 11, 1970  

Vol. 4 No. 20 – April 18, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 21 – April 25, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 22 – May 9, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 23 – unavailable at this time

Vol. 4 No 24 – May 19, 1970

Vol. 4 No 25 & 26 – May 31, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 27 – June 6, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 28 – June 13, 1970 

Vol. 4 No 29 – June 20, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 30 – June 27, 1970

Vol. 4 No. 1 – July 4, 1970 (incorrect volume, should be Volume 5)

Vol. 5 No. 1 – July 11, 1970 – (repeats number 1) 

Vol. 5 No. 2 – July 18, 1970 

Vol. 4 No. 3 – July 25, 1970   (incorrect volume, should be Volume 5) 

Vol. 5 No. 5 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 5 No. 6 – August 8, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 7 – August 15 1970

Vol. 5 No, 8 – August 21, 1970 

Vol. 5 No. 9 – August 21, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 10 – September 5, 1970 

Vol. 5 No. 11 – September 12, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 12 – September 19, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 13 – September 26, 1970  

Vol 5 No. 14 – October 3, 1970 

Vol. 5 No. 15 – October 10, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 16 – October 17, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 17 – October 24, 1970 

Vol. 5 No. 18 – October 31, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 19 – November 7, 1970  

Vol. 5 No. 20 – November 14, 1970 

Vol. 5 No. 21 – November 21, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 22 – November 28, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 23 – December 5, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 24 – December 14, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 25 – Dec. 19, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 26 – December 26, 1970

Vol. 5 No. 27 – January 2, 1971

Vol. 4 No. 28 – January 9, 1971 – (incorrect volume number)

Vol. 4 No. 29 – January 18, 1971

Vol. 5 No. 30 – January 23, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 1 – January 30, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 2 – February 6, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 3 – February 13, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 4 – February 20, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 5 – February 27, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 6 – March 6, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 7 – March 13, 1971  

Vol. 6 No. 8 – March 20, 1971

Vol.. 6 No. 9 – March 27, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 10 – April 3, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 11 – April 10, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 12 – April 17, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 13 & 14 – May 1, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 15 – May 8, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 16 – May 15, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 17 – May 22, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 18 – May 29, 1971

Vol. 6 No.19 – June 5, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 20 – June 12, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 21 – June 19, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 22 – June 26, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 23 – July 3, 1971 

Vol. 6 No. 24 – July 10, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 25 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 6 No. 26 – July 24, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 27 – August 2, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 28 – August 9, 1971

Vol. 6 No. 29 – August 14, 1971 

Vol. 6 No. 30 – August 21, 1971 

Vol. 7 No. 1 – August 28, 1971 

Vol. 7 No. 2 – September 4, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 3 – September 11, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 4 – September 18, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 5 – September 25, 1971  

Vol. 7 No. 5 – October 4, 1971 (duplicate number)

Vol. 7 No. 6 – October 9, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 7 – (This is believed to be a phantom issue with the misnumbered Vol 7 No 5 being corrected in the numbering sequence with Vol. 7 No.8).

Vol. 7 No. 8 – October 16, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 9 – October 23, 1971

Vol. 7 No 10 – October 30, 1971 

Vol. 7 No 11 – November 6, 1971 

Vol. 7 No. 12 – November 13, 1971

Vol, 7 No. 13 – November 20, 1971  

Vol. 7 No. 14 – November 29, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 15 – December 4, 1971 

Vol. 7 No. 16 – December 11, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 17 – December 18, 1971

Vol. 7 No. 18 – December 25, 1971  

Vol. 7 No. 19 – January 1, 1972

Vol. 7 No. 20 – January 8, 1972 

Vol. 7 No. 21 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 7 No. 22 – January 22, 1972

Vol. 7 No. 23 – January 29, 1972

Vol. 7 No. 24 – February 5, 1972

Vol. 7 No. 25 – February 12, 1972  

Vol. 7 No. 26 – February 19, 1972 

Vol. 7 No. 27 – February 26, 1972 

Vol. 7 No. 28 – March 4, 1972

Vol. 7 No. 29 – March 11, 1972

Vol. 7 No. 30 – March 18, 1971  

Vol. 8 No 1 – March 25, 1971

Vol. 8 No. 2 – April 1, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 3 – April 8, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 4 – April 15, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 5 – April 22, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 6 – April 29, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 7 – May 6, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 8 – May 13, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 9 – May 20, 1972  

Vol. 8 No. 10 – May 27, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 11 – June 3, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 12 – June 10, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 13 – June 17, 1972  

Vol. 8 No. 14 – June 24, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 15 – July 1, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 16 – July 8, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 17 – July 15, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 18 – July 22, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 19 – July 29, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 20 – August 5, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 21 – August 12, 1972  

Vol. 8 No. 22 – August 19, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 23 – August 23, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 24 – September 2, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 25 – September 9, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 26 – September 16, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 27 – September 23, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 28 – September 30, 1972 

Vol. 8 No. 29 – October 7, 1972

Vol. 8 No. 30 – October 14, 1972 

Vol. 9 No. 1 – October 21, 1972

Vol. 9 No. 2 – October 28, 1972 

Vol. 9 No. 3 – November 4, 1972

Vol. 9 No. 4 – November 9, 1972 

Vol. 9 No. 5 – November 16, 1972

Vol. 9 No. 6 – November 23, 1972 

Vol. 9 No. 7 – November 30, 1972

Vol. 9 No. 8 – December 7, 1972 

Vol. 9 No. 9 – December 16, 1972

Vol. 9 No. 10 – December 23, 1972

Vol. 9 No. 11 – December 30, 1972  

Vol. 9 No. 12 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 13 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 14 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 15 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 16 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 17 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 18 – February 17, 1973

Vol. 9 No. 19 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 20 – March 3, 1973

Vol. 9 No. 21 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 22 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No..23 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 24 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 25 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 26 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 27 – April 21, 1973

Vol. 9 No. 28 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol, 9 No. 29 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 9 No. 30 – May 12, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 1 – May 19, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 2 – May 26, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 3 – June 2, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 4 – June 9, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 5 – June 16, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 6 – June 23, 1973   

Vol. 10 No. 7 –June 30, 1973   

Vol. 10 No. 8 – July 7, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 9 – July 14, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 10 – July 21, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 11 – July 28, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 12 – August 4, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 13 – August 11, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 14 – August 18, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 15 – August 25, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 16 – September 1, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 17 – September 8, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 18 – September 15, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 19 – September 22, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 20 – September 29, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 21 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 10 No. 22 – October 13, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 23 – October 20, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 24 – October 27, 1973

Vol. 10 No 25 – November 3, 1973 

Vol. 10 No. 26 – November 10, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 27 – November 17, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 28 – November 24, 1973  

Vol. 10 No. 29 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 10 No. 30 – December 8, 1973

Vol. 10 No. 31 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 10 No. 32 – December 22, 1973

Vol. 11 No. 1 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 11 No. 2 –January 5, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 3 – January 12, 1974  

Vol. 11 No. 4 – January 19, 1974  

Vol. 11 No. 5 – January 26, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 6 – February 2, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 7 – February 9, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 8 – February 16, 1974  

Vol. 11 No. 9 – February 23, 1974  

Vol. 11 No. 10 – March 2, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 11 – March 9, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 12 – March 16, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 13 – March 23, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 14 – March 30, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 15 – April 6, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 16 – April 13, 1974

Vol. 11 No. 17 – April 20, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 18 – April 27, 1974  

Vol. 11 No. 19 – May 4, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 20 – May 11, 1974 

Vol, 11 No. 21 – May 18, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 22 – May 25, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 23 – June 1, 1974 

Vol. 11 No. 24 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 11 No. 25 – June 15, 1974

Vol. 11 No. 26 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 11 No. 27 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 11 No. 28 – July 6, 1974  

Vol. 11 No. 29 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 11 No. 30 – July 20, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 1 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 12 No. 2 – August 3, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 3 – August 10, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 4 – August 17, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 5 – August 24, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 6 – August 31, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 7 – September 7, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 8 – September 14, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 9 – September 21, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 10 – September 28, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 11 – October 5, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 12 – October 12, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 13 – October 19, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 14 – October 26, 1974 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 12 No. 15 – November 2, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 16 – November 9, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 17 – November 16, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 18 – November 23, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 19 – November 30, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 20 – December 7, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 21 – December 14, 1974 

Vol. 12 No. 22 – December 21, 1974  

Vol. 12. No. 23 – December 28, 1974  

Vol. 12 No. 24 – January 4, 1975  

Vol. 12 No. 25 – January 11, 1975  

Vol. 12 No. 26 – January 18, 1975 

Vol. 12 No. 27 – January 25, 1975 

Vol. 12 No. 28 – February 1, 1975 

Vol. 12 No 29 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 12 No. 30 – February 15, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 1 – February, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 2 – March 1, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 3 – March 8, 1975

Vol. 13 No. 4 – March 15, 1975  

Vol. 13 No. 5 – March 22, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 6 – March 29, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 7 – April 5, 1975

Vol. 13 No. 8 – April 12, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 9 – April 10, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 10 – April 28, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 11 – May 5, 1975

Vol. 13 No. 12 – May 12, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 13 – May 19, 1975  

Vol. 13 No. 14 – May 26, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 15 – June 2, 1975

Vol. 13 No. 16 – June 9, 1975  

Vol. 13 No. 17 – June 16, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 18 – June 23, 1975  

Vol. 13 No. 19 – June 30, 1975

Vol. 13 No. 20 – July 7, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 21 – July 14, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 22 – July 21, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 23 – July 28, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 24 – August 4, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 25 – August 11, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 26 – August 18, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 27 -August 25, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 28 – September 1, 1975 

Vol. 13 No. 29 – September 8, 1975

Vol. 13 No. 30 – September 15, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 1 – September 22, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 2 – September 29, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 3 – October 6, 1975  

Vol. 14 No. 4 – October 14, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 5 – October 18, 1975

Vol. 14 No. 6 – October 25, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 7 – November 1, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 8 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 14 No. 9 – November 15, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 10 – November 22, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 11 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 14 No. 12 – December 6, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 13 – December 13, 1975

Vol. 14 No. 14 – December 20, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 15 – December 27, 1975 

Vol. 14 No. 16 – January 3, 1976  

Vol. 14 No. 17 – January 10, 1976 

Vol. 14 No. 18 – January 17, 1976 

Vol. 14 No. 19 – January 24, 1976  

Vol. 14 No. 20 – January 31, 1976 

Vol. 14 No. 21 – February 7, 1976

Vol. 14 No. 22 – February 14, 1976 

Vol. 14 No. 23 – February 21, 1976 

Vol. 14 No. 24 – February 28, 1976

Vol. 14 No. 25 – March 6, 1976  

Vol. 14 No. 26 – March 13, 1976  

Vol. 14 No. 27 – March 20, 1976

Vol. 14 No. 28 – March 27, 1976 

Vol. 14 No. 29 – April 3, 1976  

Vol. 14 No. 30 – April 10, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 1 – April 17, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 2 – April 24, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 3 – May 1, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 4 – May 8, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 5 – May 15, 1976

Vol. 15 No. 6 – May 22, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 7 – May 29, 1976

Vol. 15 No. 8 – June 5, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 9 – June 12, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 10 – June 19, 1976  

Vol. 15 No. 11 – June 26, 1976  

Vol. 15 No. 12 – July 3, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 13 – July 10, 1976  

Vol. 15 No. 14 – July 17, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 15 – July 24, 1976  

Vol. 15 No. 16 – (unavailable at this time)

Vol. 15 No. 17 – August 7, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 18 – August 14, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 19 – August 21, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 20 – August 28, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 21 – September 4, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 22 – September 11, 1976  

Vol. 15 No. 23 – September 18, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 24 – September 25, 1976  

Vol. 15 No. 25 – October 2, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 26 – October 9, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 27 – October 16, 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 28 – October 23, 1976

Vol. 15 No. 29 – October 30 1976 

Vol. 15 No. 30 – November 6, 1976 

Vol. 16 No. 1 – November 13, 1976

Charter Bulletin

Charter Bulletin was the newsletter of the Civil Rights Congress (1946-56), a nationwide organization that had 60 chapters and 10,000 members at its peak.

It took up the high profile racial justice cases of the Martinsville 7, Rosa Lee Ingram, the Trenton 6 and Willie McGee. It helped lead the fight for a federal anti-lynching law and a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission.

It laid charges of genocide against black people in the United States at the United Nations.

The CRC defended the U.S. Communist Party and attacks on civil liberties. It was declared a subversive organization by the U.S. government in 1947 and many of its leaders were jailed during the Red Scare.

Vol. 2 No. 2 – Jan. 8, 1951

Committee Against Racism National Report

The Committee Against Racism (CAR) published their National Report beginning in December 1974 after the organization was formed in late 1973 out of the remnants of the Worker-Student Alliance of the Students for Democratic Society. CAR had chapters across the country and attacked pseudo-scientific theories of black racial inferiority, organized and called for demonstrations against racism during the Boston busing crisis of 1975 and confronted the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi organizations. The committee later changed its name to the International Committee against Racism (InCAR) and replaced its newsletter with a magazine called Arrow. InCAR’s mission statement (reprinted on the inside front cover of every Arrow issue) said that it “recognizes the absolute necessity of unity of communists and non-communists in this struggle” against both societal and organized racism. The Progressive Labor Party saw the organization as “a radical organization led by the Party which the Party builds in order to advance the struggle for communism.” The group disbanded in 1996 as the Progressive Labor Party abandoned an attempt to gradually win activists to communism through INCAR and instead pursued recruiting them directly into the party.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – December 1973

Equal Justice

Equal Justice was published from 1938-1942 by the International Labor Defense (ILD), a Communist Party-led organization that conducted legal, direct action and political defense of civil rights and labor. A predecessor publication, Labor Defender, ran from 1926-1937.

Spark has the April 1938 issue that covers the D.C. New Negro Alliance victory over the legality of boycotting Sanitary Grocery Stores for their failure to hire Black clerks; developments in the Scottsboro case; and the Tom Mooney case, among others.

The International Labor Defense was best known for its relentless campaign on behalf of the “Scottsboro Boys,” seven Black youth charged with raping two White women. The issues in the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court twice.

Other well-known ILD cases included Sacco and Vanzetti and Angelo Herndon, but most of their work involved much lesser known activists and individuals who faced persecution at the hands of local and state authorities.

April 1938 

Finally Got the News

Published by the national African Liberation Support Committee based in Washington, D.C. Similar to the local ALSC, this newsletter also reflects a turn toward the working class and Marxism-Leninism.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – October 1974

Vol. 1 No. 2 – December 1974

 

 

 

I Am We

The Committee for Justice for Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party based in Oakland, Ca. published a national newsletter, I Am We.

By this time, the Black Panther Party was pulling most of its remaining cadre in cities across the country to its base in Oakland, Ca.

Vol. 1 No. 3 – May/June 1975

 

 

 

Panther Trial News – What’s Really Happening at the Trial of Bobby and Ericka

The Panther Trial News was a periodic newsletter detailing events surrounding the trial of Black Panther chair Bobby Seale and New Haven Panther leader Ericka Huggins who were charged with kidnapping and murder of an alleged police informant. The newsletter was published from October 1969 until May 1971 when the jury deadlocked 11 to 1 for Seale’s acquittal and 10 to 2 for Huggins’ acquittal. Prosecutors dropped the charges shortly afterward. Copies are from Spark files and the Roz Payne Sixties Archive.

No. 1 – June 29, 1970

No. 2 – July 12, 1970

No. 3 – July 19, 1970

No. 4 – July 27, 1970

No. 5 – August 2, 1970

No. 6 – August 9, 1970

No. 7 – August 17, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 1 – Oct. 25, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 12 – May 9, 1971

The Patriot

The Patriot was the national newspaper of the Patriot Party, a white left-wing revolutionary organization aligned with the Black Panther Party, that was distributed in the greater Washington, D.C. area in 1970. The Patriot Party was initially formed as the Young Patriots Organization in Chicago and later expanded nationwide as the Patriot Party. It was one of the component organizations of Black Panther Fred Hampton’s original Rainbow Coalition in Chicago. They rejected white supremacy but wore a confederate flag patch on their shirts. They organized in the Washington, D.C. area 1970-71 out of the Panther office on 18th Street NW and their Community Center on 17th Street NW focusing are far southeast Washington where working class whites still lived and the inner suburbs of Prince George’s County. There were three issues of The Patriot. We currently have two:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – March 21, 1970

Vol. 1 No. 2 – July 21, 1970

Poll Tax Repealer

The Poll Tax Repealer was the national newsletter of the National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax.

The national campaign against the poll tax began in the early 1940s and continued through the end of the decade. The campaign had some success at the local level as some states repealed their poll tax, including Georgia in 1945.

The civil rights movement wasn’t successful at ending the tax until the 24thAmendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1964. Poll taxes in state elections were outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966

Vol. 2 No. 2 – March 1943

Vol. 4 No. 1 – April 1945

Vol. 4 No. 3 – May 4, 1945

Vol. 4 No. 5 – June 1, 1945

Vol. 4 No. 6 – June 15, 1945

Vol. 4 No. 6 – First July issue, 1945

Vol. 4 No. 9 – Second August issue, 1945

Vol. 4 No. 11 – Second September issue, 1945

Vol. 4 No 12 – First October issue, 1945

Vol. 4 No 14 – First November Issue, 1945

Vol. 4 No. 15 – Second November issue, 1945

Vol. 4 No. 16 – December, 1945

Vol. 5 (No number) – August, 1946

Right On!

Right On! was initially published by the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party after a split within the Black Panther Party. Panther leader Huey Newton expelled Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver, the entire International section, the entire New York branch, Geronimo Pratt and several others from the group in early 1971. The first issue of Right On! provides what it says is a telephone transcript of a conversation between Newton and E. Cleaver after the split. While personalities played a role, the political differences (perhaps oversimplified) can be characterized as the Cleaver faction advocating armed struggle while the Newton faction wished to emphasize community service and electoral politics. Kathleen Cleaver returned from exile to the U.S. to  create the Revolutionary People’s Communication Network that ultimately published Right On!, Babylon and Voice of the Lumpen. Right On! replaced Babylon as the chief newspaper of the Network in 1972. Cleaver saw her role as the above-ground support for the underground armed struggle against the United States. Most issues are from the Spark collection and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Vol 1 No 10 and Vol 1 No. 12

were scanned with a handheld cell phone from an original held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box R14.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – April 3, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 2 – May 17, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 3 – August 3, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 4 – September 1, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 5 – September 15, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 6 – October 1, 1971 ca.

Vol. 1 No. 7 – November 1, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 8 – November 16, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 9 – December 4, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 10 – December 19, 1971

Vol. 1 No. 11 – January 1, 1972

Vol. 1 No. 12 – February 15, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 1 – February 29, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 3 – May 31, 1972

Vol. 2 No. 6 – November 1972

Vol. 2 No. 7 – January 15, 1973

Vol. 2 No. 9 – May 1974

SNCC Periodicals

SNCC published a number of periodicals that evolved over the years beginning with The Student Voice in 1960 later changing its name to The Voice. The SNCC Newsletter replaced The Voice in 1967. Internal Newsletters were also published.

~ The Student Voice

The Student Voice was published from 1960-65 changing its name to The Voice in 1965. It covers SNCC campaigns, local SNCC news and analysis of national and international events.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – June 1960 through Vol. 6 No 6 – December 1965 

(off-site at the CRMV website) – SNCC internal newsletters also available

 

 

 

 

~ SNCC News of the Field

News of the Field replaced the Voice in 1966 and acted as more of an internal newsletter reporting chapter news and campaigns

No. 3 – March 9, 1966 through No. 11 May 8, 1966 – (off-site at the CRMV website) – some issues missing

 

 

 

~ SNCC Newsletter

The successor publication to The Student Voice and The Voice began publishing in 1967 while Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture) was chair of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and continued publishing under new chair H. Rap Brown (later Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin). The July 1967 edition contains a controversial opinion piece on Palestine, published shortly after the Third Arab-Israeli War, which caused the organization to be labeled anti-Semitic. SNCC released a more formal statement in response on August 15, 1967, entitled “The Middle-East Crisis.” It incorporates many of the points that were made in the June-July article, but within an added context that acknowledged the horrors of the Holocaust, the suppression of American Jewish voices that protested Zionism, and the critical support given to Zionism by the United States. This incarnation of the SNCC newsletter published as a full-size newspaper:

Vol. 1 No. 4 – June 1967

Vol. 1 No. 5 – September 1967 (missing pages 3, 4, 5, 6)

Other issues available offsite at the CRMV website)

Soul Force

Soul Force was the official journal of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and published from 1968-72(?).

The following description is adapted from the Stanford University King Institute description:

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was established in 1957 to coordinate the action of local protest groups throughout the South.

The catalyst for the formation of SCLC was the Montgomery bus boycott. Following the success of the boycott in 1956, Bayard Rustin wrote a series of working papers to address the possibility of expanding the efforts in Montgomery to other cities throughout the South. In these papers, he asked whether an organization was needed to coordinate these activities.

At their founding conference the SCLC  encouraged black Americans “to seek justice and reject all injustice” and to dedicate themselves to the principle of nonviolence “no matter how great the provocation.”

SCLC differed from organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in that it operated as an umbrella organization of affiliates. Rather than seek individual members, it coordinated with the activities of local organizations like the Montgomery Improvement Association and the Nashville Christian Leadership Council.

SCLC’s first major campaign, the Crusade for Citizenship, began in late 1957, sparked by the civil rights bill then pending in Congress. The idea for the crusade was developed at SCLC’s August 1957 conference, where 115 African American leaders laid the groundwork for the crusade. The campaign’s objective was to register thousands of disenfranchised voters in time for the 1958 and 1960 elections, with an emphasis on educating prospective voters.

The crusade sought to establish voter education clinics throughout the South, raise awareness among African Americans that “their chances for improvement rest on their ability to vote,” and stir the nation’s conscience to change the current conditions. Funded by small donations from churches and large sums from private donors, the crusade continued through the early 1960s.

SCLC also joined local movements to coordinate mass protest campaigns and voter registration drives all over the South, most notably in Albany, Georgia, Birmingham and Selma, Alabama, and St. Augustine, Florida.

The organization also played a major role in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The visibility that SCLC brought to the civil rights struggle laid the groundwork for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

By the latter half of the decade, tensions were growing between SCLC and more militant protest groups such as SNCC and the Congress of Racial Equality. Amid calls for “Black Power,” King and SCLC were often criticized for being too moderate and overly dependent on the support of white liberals.

As early as 1962 SCLC began to broaden its focus to include issues of economic inequality. Seeing poverty as the root of social inequality, in 1962 SCLC began Operation Breadbasket in Atlanta to create new jobs in the black community. In 1966 the program spread to Chicago as part of the Chicago Campaign.

A year later planning began for a Poor People’s Campaign to bring thousands of poor people to Washington, D.C., to push for federal legislation that would guarantee employment, income, and housing for economically marginalized people of all ethnicities.

The assassination of King on 4 April 1968 crippled SCLC’s momentum and undermined the success of the Poor People’s Campaign. The organization, which had often been overshadowed by its leader’s prominence, resumed plans for the Washington demonstration as a tribute to King. Under the leadership of SCLC’s new president, Ralph Abernathy, 3,000 people camped in Washington from 13 May to 24 June 1968.

Headquartered in Atlanta, SCLC is now a nationwide organization with chapters and affiliates located throughout the United States. It continues its commitment to nonviolent action to achieve social, economic, and political justice and is focused on issues such as racial profiling, police brutality, hate crimes, and discrimination.

Available issues of Soul Force:

May 1, 1968 – Vol. 1 No. 2  

April 4, 1969 – Vol. 2 No. 1 

June 1969 – Vol. 2 No. 2 

January 1971 – Vol. 3 No. 3 

April 1971 – Vol. 4 No. 3  

March 1972 – Vol. 6 No. 3 

October-November 1972 – Vol. 6 No. 10-11 

Soul Force journal credits: May 1, 1968, April 9, 1969 & October/November 1972 issues: The Joseph Echols and Evelyn Gibson Lowery Collection. Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library; April 1972 issue: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Abigail Wiebenson & sons, John, Derek & Sam in honor of John Wiebenson; June 1969 isxsue: Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; January 1971 and April 1971 issues: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture OBJECT NUMBER: 2015.130.2; March 1972 issue: Auburn Avenue Research Library Historic African American Education Collections

Unity & Struggle

The national newspaper of the Congress of Afrikan People (later the Revolutionary Communist League), which had moved from a cultural nationalist perspective (published in conjunction with the Newark, NJ-based Spirit House) to revolutionary nationalism with the formation of the Congress of Afrikan People in 1970 and then toward Marxism-Leninism and the formation of the Revolutionary Communist League in 1974. The groups were led by the poet and Black activist Imamu Amiri Baraka. The newspaper was initially named Black Newark, had one issue named Black News, then Black New Ark before finally becoming Unity & Struggle

Black Newark

Vol 1 No 1, April 1968

Vol 1 No 2, July 1968

Vol 1 No 3, November 1968

Black News

Vol 1 No 4, undated

Black New Ark

Vol 1 No 5, April 1972

Vol 1 No 6, May 1972

Vol 1 No 7 July 1972

Vol 1 No 8, unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 9, September 1972

Vol 1 No 10, unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 11, November 1972

Vol 1 No 12, December 1972

Vol 2 No 1, January 1973

Vol 2 No 2, February 1973

Vol 2 No 3, March 1973

Vol 2 No 4, unavailable at this time

Vol 2 No 5, May 1973

Vol 2 No 6, June 1973

Vol 2 No 7, July 1973

Vol 2 No 8, August 1973

Vol 2 No 9, September 1973

Vol 2 No 10, September 1973

Vol 2 No 11, October 1973

Vol 2 No 12, November 1973

Vol 2 No 13, November 1973

Vol 2 No 14, December 1973

Vol 3 No 1, January-February 1974

Unity & Struggle

Vol 3 No 2, February-March 1974

Vol 3 No 3, March 1974

Vol 3 No 4, April 1974

Vol 3 No 5, May 1974

Vol 3 No 6, June 1974

Vol 3 No 7, July 1974

Vol 3 No 8, August 1974

Vol 3 No 9, September 1974

Vol 3 No 10, October 1974

Vol 3 No 11, October 1974

Vol 3 No 12, November 1974

Vol. 3 No 13, December 1974

Vol 4 No 1, December-January 1975

Vol 4 No 2, January 1975

Vol 4 No 3, February 1975

Vol 4 No 4, March 1975

Vol 4 No 5, April 1975

Vol 4 No 6, April 1975

Vol 4 No 7, May 1975

Vol 4 No 8, June 1975

Vol 4 No 9, June 1975

Vol 4 No 10, July 1975

Vol 4 No 11, August 1975

Vol 4 No 12, August-September 1975

Vol 4 No 13, October 1975

Vol 4 No 14, October 1975

Vol 4 No 15, November 1975

Vol 4 No 16, November 1975

Vol 5 No 1, January 1976

Vol 5 No 2, February 1976

Vol 5 No 3, March 1976

Vol 5 No 4, April 1976

Vol. 5 No. 5 – May 1976

Vol 5 No 6, June 1976

Vol 5 No 7-10, October 1976

Vol 6 No 1-6, May-June 1977

Vol 6 No 7-10, October-November 1977

Vol 7 No 1, January 1978

Vol 7 No 2-4, April 1978

Vol 7 No 5-6, June 1976

Vol 7 No 7, July 1978

Vol 7 No 8-10, 1978

Vol 8 No 1-2, February 1979

Vol 8 No 3, unavailable at this time

Vol 8 No 4-9, 1979

Vol. 5 No 5 was donated by Robert Simpson.

Vol. 3 No. 9, Vol 3 No 12, Vol 4 No. 1, Vol 4 No. 2, Vol 4 No. 5, Vol 4 No 6, Vol 4 No 7, Vol 4 No 8, Vol 4 No 9, Vol 4 No 10, Vol 4 No 11, Vol 4 No 12, Vol 4 No 13, Vol. 4 No 14, Vol 4 No 15, Vol 4 No 16, Vol 5 No 1, Vol 5, No 2, Vol 5 No 3, Vol 5 No 4, Vol 5 No 6, Vol 5 No 7-10, Vol 6, No 1-6, Vol 7, No 1, Vol 8 No 4-9 were scanned from originals held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box U5.

Vol 3 No 2, Vol 3 No 3, Vol 3 No 5, Vol 3 No 6, Vol 3 No 8, Vol 3 No 10, Vol 3 No 12, Vol 4 No 3, Vol 4 No 4, Vol 7 No 2-4, Vol 7 No 7, Vol 7 No 8-10, Vol 8 No 1-2 are from the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism Online.

Vol 1 No 1, Vol 1 No 2, Vol 1 No 3, Vol 1 No 4, Vol 1 No 6, Vol 1 No 7, Vol 1 No 11, Vol 1 No 12, Vol 2 No 5, Vol 3 No 4, Vol 3 No 7, Vol 3 No 11, Vol 6 No 7-10, Vol 7 no 7, Vol 8 No 1-2 are from Rutgers University Libraries, Rutgers University Community Repository, Newark Black Newspapers.

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National Communist/Socialist

Unity & Struggle

The national newspaper of the Congress of Afrikan People (later the Revolutionary Communist League), which had moved from a cultural nationalist perspective (published in conjunction with the Newark, NJ-based Spirit House) to revolutionary nationalism with the formation of the Congress of Afrikan People in 1970 and then toward Marxism-Leninism and the formation of the Revolutionary Communist League in 1974. The groups were led by the poet and Black activist Imamu Amiri Baraka. The newspaper was initially named Black Newark, had one issue named Black News, then Black New Ark before finally becoming Unity & Struggle

Black Newark

Vol 1 No 1, April 1968

Vol 1 No 2, July 1968

Vol 1 No 3, November 1968

Black News

Vol 1 No 4, undated

Black New Ark

Vol 1 No 5, April 1972

Vol 1 No 6, May 1972

Vol 1 No 7 July 1972

Vol 1 No 8, unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 9, September 1972

Vol 1 No 10, unavailable at this time

Vol 1 No 11, November 1972

Vol 1 No 12, December 1972

Vol 2 No 1, January 1973

Vol 2 No 2, February 1973

Vol 2 No 3, March 1973

Vol 2 No 4, unavailable at this time

Vol 2 No 5, May 1973

Vol 2 No 6, June 1973

Vol 2 No 7, July 1973

Vol 2 No 8, August 1973

Vol 2 No 9, September 1973

Vol 2 No 10, September 1973

Vol 2 No 11, October 1973

Vol 2 No 12, November 1973

Vol 2 No 13, November 1973

Vol 2 No 14, December 1973

Vol 3 No 1, January-February 1974

Unity & Struggle

Vol 3 No 2, February-March 1974

Vol 3 No 3, March 1974

Vol 3 No 4, April 1974

Vol 3 No 5, May 1974

Vol 3 No 6, June 1974

Vol 3 No 7, July 1974

Vol 3 No 8, August 1974

Vol 3 No 9, September 1974

Vol 3 No 10, October 1974

Vol 3 No 11, October 1974

Vol 3 No 12, November 1974

Vol. 3 No 13, December 1974

Vol 4 No 1, December-January 1975

Vol 4 No 2, January 1975

Vol 4 No 3, February 1975

Vol 4 No 4, March 1975

Vol 4 No 5, April 1975

Vol 4 No 6, April 1975

Vol 4 No 7, May 1975

Vol 4 No 8, June 1975

Vol 4 No 9, June 1975

Vol 4 No 10, July 1975

Vol 4 No 11, August 1975

Vol 4 No 12, August-September 1975

Vol 4 No 13, October 1975

Vol 4 No 14, October 1975

Vol 4 No 15, November 1975

Vol 4 No 16, November 1975

Vol 5 No 1, January 1976

Vol 5 No 2, February 1976

Vol 5 No 3, March 1976

Vol 5 No 4, April 1976

Vol. 5 No. 5 – May 1976

Vol 5 No 6, June 1976

Vol 5 No 7-10, October 1976

Vol 6 No 1-6, May-June 1977

Vol 6 No 7-10, October-November 1977

Vol 7 No 1, January 1978

Vol 7 No 2-4, April 1978

Vol 7 No 5-6, June 1976

Vol 7 No 7, July 1978

Vol 7 No 8-10, 1978

Vol 8 No 1-2, February 1979

Vol 8 No 3, unavailable at this time

Vol 8 No 4-9, 1979

Vol. 5 No 5 was donated by Robert Simpson.

Vol. 3 No. 9, Vol 3 No 12, Vol 4 No. 1, Vol 4 No. 2, Vol 4 No. 5, Vol 4 No 6, Vol 4 No 7, Vol 4 No 8, Vol 4 No 9, Vol 4 No 10, Vol 4 No 11, Vol 4 No 12, Vol 4 No 13, Vol. 4 No 14, Vol 4 No 15, Vol 4 No 16, Vol 5 No 1, Vol 5, No 2, Vol 5 No 3, Vol 5 No 4, Vol 5 No 6, Vol 5 No 7-10, Vol 6, No 1-6, Vol 7, No 1, Vol 8 No 4-9 were scanned from originals held in the Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, Amherst College Archive and Special Collections Box U5.

Vol 3 No 2, Vol 3 No 3, Vol 3 No 5, Vol 3 No 6, Vol 3 No 8, Vol 3 No 10, Vol 3 No 12, Vol 4 No 3, Vol 4 No 4, Vol 7 No 2-4, Vol 7 No 7, Vol 7 No 8-10, Vol 8 No 1-2 are from the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism Online.

Vol 1 No 1, Vol 1 No 2, Vol 1 No 3, Vol 1 No 4, Vol 1 No 6, Vol 1 No 7, Vol 1 No 11, Vol 1 No 12, Vol 2 No 5, Vol 3 No 4, Vol 3 No 7, Vol 3 No 11, Vol 6 No 7-10, Vol 7 no 7, Vol 8 No 1-2 are from Rutgers University Libraries, Rutgers University Community Repository, Newark Black Newspapers.

The Worker (national edition)

The Revolutionary Communist Party published a number of Worker newspapers in cities and regions throughout the United States 1975-77 and occasionally published a national edition of The Worker.

The Maryland-DC-Virginia Worker published in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Other papers published under The Worker name in New York-New Jersey, Upstate New York, New England, Coalfields, Cleveland-Northeast Ohio, Detroit & Southeast Michigan, Chicago-Gary, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Birmingham, Houston, Southwest, Southern California, San Francisco, Salinas & Pajaro Valleys, Northwest and Hawaii, among other areas.

One national edition dealt with the Bicentennial and the RCP’s “We’ve Carried the Rich for 200 Years” demonstration, while the other covered an uprising in Houston along with RCP activity in the city.

Available national editions

1976 – July 4th – Special National Edition 

1979 – January – Special National Edition. 

1976 edition donated by Connie Lednum, 1979 edition courtesy of Bannedthought.net

National Fascist

The Bulletin

The Bulletin, a short 8 ½ x 11 newsletter, was the official organ of the National Socialist White People’s Party and the National Socialist Youth Movement headquartered in Arlington, VA in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The three issues in this collection contain articles and photos of Nazi participation in a March for Victory in Vietnam, a picket of an Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir visit to Washington, D.C., coverage of David Duke when he was a student and conducting racist actions at Louisiana State University, a national Nazi conference, and Nazi infiltration of schools, among other reports.

No. 69 – Sep. 1, 1970 

No. 70 – Sep. 15, 1970

No. 71 – Oct. 01, 1970

Christian Anti-Communist Crusade

The Christian Anti-Communist Crusade was a newsletter published in the 1950s-1970s by the organization of the same name founded by Frederick Charles Schwarz.

The organization on the far-right of the political spectrum was particularly influential during the 1950s at the height of anti-communist hysteria in the United States, but continued to operate into the 1980s. In addition to publishing a newsletter, it held speaking tours and seminars on combatting what it considered to be communist influence.

Schwartz was campaigning against communism in his native Australia when he was brought to the United States by right-wing fundamentalist preacher Rev. Carl McIntire. Schwartz concentrated on combatting the ideological foundations of communism by citing original works by communist leaders.

He went far beyond simply rebutting communism, asserting the communist core sought to direct social movements such as anti-Vietnam War, civil rights and the women’s liberation movement as instruments to undermine capitalism.

His beliefs developed over time that communists could not win in the United States, but instead would undermine its foundations internally while encircling the US externally until America surrendered.

The organization and others like it helped to provide the ideological underpinnings of the Christian Nationalist movement in contemporary times.

The newsletter was published approximately twice monthly.

Available newsletters:

July 3, 1967 

August 14, 1967 

September 4, 1967  

April 1, 1969 

April 15, 1969 

June 1, 1969 

Originals held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

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National GI & Veterans

GI Alliance Newsletter

The GI Alliance, a network of two dozen groups among active duty GIs. with its office in Washington, D.C., publishes its first newsletter circa June 1970 The GI Alliance was formed May 29-30, 1970 at a conference in Atlanta, Georgia of 50 GI and civilian delegates from 24 military bases around the country. The Alliance appears to have lapsed later in 1970 after publishing several newsletters.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – June 1970

 

 

GI Press Service

The GI Press Service acted as a national clearinghouse and news service for a number of alternative GI newspapers around the country from 1969-71. It was affiliated with the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. The press service was originally based in Washington, D.C. but moved its operations to New York in June 1970. Thereafter it began to decrease in frequency and content.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – June 26, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 2 – July 10, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 3 – July 24, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 4 – August 7, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 5 – August 21, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 6 – September 4, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 7 – September 18, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 8 – October 2, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 9 – October 16, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 10 – October 30, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 11 – November 13, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 12 – November 27, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 13 – December 11, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 14 – December 25, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 1 – January 21, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 2 – February 4, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 3 – February 26, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 4 – March 13, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 5 – March 27, 1969

Vol. 2 No. 6 – April 24, 1969

Special Issue – May 8, 1970 ca.

Vol. 2 No. 7 – May 22, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 8 – July 1, 1970

Vol. 2 No. 9 – September 21, 1970 

Vol. 3 No. 1 – February 1, 1971

Vol. 3 No. 2 – March 1971

Vol. 3 No. 3 – April 1971

Vol. 3 No. 4 – May 1971

Vol. 3 No. 5 – June 1971

Vol. 3 No. 6 – September 1971

Vol. 3 No. 7 – October 1971

Winter Soldier

Winter Soldier was the national publication of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) from 1973-75. It was the successor publication to 1st Casualty (1971–1972). VVAW started fairly small, but a number of high-profile actions caused many to flock to the organization and by 1973 had perhaps 20-30,000 members and added another 10-20,000 supporters when it opened its doors to non-veterans.

Vol. 3 No. 2 through Vol. 4 No. 3 – April 1, 1973 through March 1, 1974 (off site at Independent Voices)

 

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National LGBTQ

InterCHANGE

InterCHANGE was the publication of the U.S. National Student Association’s National Gay Student Center that began publishing in 1972.

The National Gay Student Center was initiated by a resolution at the 1972 Congress of the USNSA mandating its establishment.

Warren J. Blumenfeld, a member of the Washington, D.C. Gay Liberation Front, was its first director.

InterCHANGE began as a 8 ½ x 11 magazine-type format under Blumenfeld, but turned into a newsletter under J. Lee Lehman, in 1974.

The early issues under Blumenfeld included a number of articles on Washington, D.C. area LGBTQ+ activities, including an article by Spark contributor Sue Reading, an article on the firing of Montgomery County teacher Joe Acanfora, the victory of the Gay Student Alliance at the UMD College Park over the Board of Regents after they were denied funding as a recognized campus group, and a critique of the local chapter of the Venceremos Brigade–the group that organized solidarity with the Cuban revolution.

The early issues also included reports on campus activities around the country, an article by Blumenfeld on obtaining recognition for campus LGBTQ+ groups, and gay and lesbian resources, among other items.

Later issues focused on resources available to gay groups including books, book stores, gay studies, gay rights and campus non-discrimination clauses, and other LGBTQ+ issues.

Blumenfeld would go on to write and edit several books and become an associate professor at Iowa State University and a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as continuing his lifelong activism confronting inequality for LGBTQ+ people.

Vol. 1 No. 2 – May-June 1972 

Vol. 1 No. 3 – January-February 1973  

Vol. 2 No. 1 – March-April 1974 

Vol. 2 No. 2 – Summer 1974  

Vol. 2 No. 3 – Fall 1974  

Vol. 3 No. 1 – Fall 1975  

Vol. 3 No. 3 – Summer 1976 

Vol. 4 No. 1 – Winter 1977 

Vol. 4 No. 2 – Summer 1977  

Donated by Craig Simpson

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National Labor

Equal Justice

Equal Justice was published from 1938-1942 by the International Labor Defense (ILD), a Communist Party-led organization that conducted legal, direct action and political defense of civil rights and labor. A predecessor publication, Labor Defender, ran from 1926-1937.

Spark has the April 1938 issue that covers the D.C. New Negro Alliance victory over the legality of boycotting Sanitary Grocery Stores for their failure to hire Black clerks; developments in the Scottsboro case; and the Tom Mooney case, among others.

The International Labor Defense was best known for its relentless campaign on behalf of the “Scottsboro Boys,” seven Black youth charged with raping two White women. The issues in the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court twice.

Other well-known ILD cases included Sacco and Vanzetti and Angelo Herndon, but most of their work involved much lesser known activists and individuals who faced persecution at the hands of local and state authorities.

April 1938 

In Transit (formerly Motorman and Conductor)

In Transit is the monthly journal of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), that principally represents bus, rail and paratransit employees in the U.S. and Canada, has been published since 1892. The journal was originally named The Motorman and Conductor. The union was originally named the Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway Employees of America, it later became the Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motorcoach Employees before its current ATU. Locally the union represents most employees at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, D.C. Circulator, D.C. Streetcar, Fairfax Connector, Alexandria DASH, Greyhound and several paratransit units. Available issues include most from 1902-1928 and scattered thereafter. Some volumes are missing issues::

Vol. 3 No. 10 – November 1897

Vol. 10 Nos. 1-12 – March 1902 – February 1903 (1st two issues have wrong volume number) –

Vol. 11 Nos. 2-12 – April 1903 – November 1903

Vol. 12 Nos. 1-12 December 1903 – November 1904

Vol. 13 & 14 Nos. 1-12 – December 1904 – November 1906

Vol. 15 & 16 Nos. 1-12 – December 1906 to November 1908

Vol. 17 & 18 Nos. 1-12 December 1908 – November 1910

Vol. 19 Nos. 1-12 – December 1910 – November 1911

Vol. 20 Nos. 1-12 – December 1911 – November 1912

Vol. 21 & 22 Nos. 1-12 – December 1912 – November 1914

Vol. 23 & 24 Nos. 1-12 – December 1914 – November 1916

Vol. 25 Nos. 1-12 – December 1916 – November 1917

Vol. 26 Nos. 1-12 – December 1917 – November 1918

Vol. 27 Nos. 1-12 – December 1918 – November 1919

Vol. 28 Nos. 1-12 – December 1919 – November 1920

Vol. 29 & 30 Nos. 1-12 – December 1920 – November 1922

Vol. 31 & 32 Nos. 1-12 – December 1922 – November 1924

Vol. 33 & 34 Nos. 1-12 – December 1924 – November 1926

Vol. 34, 35 & 36 Nos. 1-12 – December 1925 – November 1928

Vol. 91 No. 9 – September 1983

Vol. 92 No. 4 – April 1984

Vol. 92 No. 5 – May 1984

Vol. 92 No. 6 – June 1984

Vol. 93 Nos. 7-8 – July-August 1985

Vol. 93 No. 9 – September 1985

The Telephone Worker

The Telephone Worker was the national publication of the National Federation of Telephone Workers (1939-47), the predecessor union to the Communications Workers of America. The NFTW grew out of the old AT&T company union, the American Bell Association, after the Wagner Act passed I 1935 outlawing company unions. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Act in 1937. The Telephone Worker was published irregularly ion the early years, but grew into a monthly 8 1/2 x 11 magazine format publication featuring national labor news, local telephone union news and the internal affairs of the union such as conventions, seminars and meetings. The NFTW grew to over 250,000 members and reached a national agreement with AT&T on wages in 1946. However, political conditions changed by 1947 and AT&T pushed the union Into a national strike. The loose federation of union in the NFTW had 10 demands and held together for more than 3 weeks before local unions started to cut their own deals with local telephone companies. The six-week strike failed and the NFTW passed out of existence less than a month later when most of the affiliates came together to form the Communications Workers of America in June 1947. The Congress of Industrial Organizations set up a Telephone Worker Organizing Committee at the same time and attracted a minority of old NFTW affiliates. The two union slugged it out in raids and representation elections over the next two years before making peace and merging–forming a single national telephone union.

Vol. 1 No. 3 – June 1942 

Special Edition – July 1942

Vol. 1 No. 8 – August 1942

Vol. 1 No. 9 – December 1942

Vol. 2 No. 5 – November 1943

Vol. 3 No. 2 – August 1944

Vol. 3 No. 7 – January 1945

Vol. 3 No. 8 – February 1945

Vol. 3 No. 10 – April 1945

Vol. 3 No. 11 – May 1945

Vol. 3 No. 12 – June 1945 

Vol. 4 No. 1 – July 1945

Vol. 4 No. 2 – August 1945 

Vol. 4 No. 3 – September 1945  

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National Liberation and Anti-Imperialism

¡Baraguá! 

¡Baraguá! was the newsletter of the National Network on Cuba, but compiled, edited and published by the Washington, D.C. Hands Off Cuba Coalition from circa 1990-95.

The organization campaigned to lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba, to lift all restrictions on travel to Cuba from the U.S. and to normalize relations between the Cuban and U.S. governments.

The newsletter also reported on Cuban world views and events in Cuba and on support activities in the United States.

¡Baraguá! took its name from Cuban revolutionary leader Antonio Maceo’s “Protest of Baraguá” issued after a truce was negotiated to end Cuba’s 10-year war of indepe3ndence from Spain in 1878. Maceo insisted that fighting continue until Cuba was free and independent and slavery had been abolished. After several more attempts at military campaigns to secure independence from Spain, Maceo was killed in battle in 1896.

The National Network on Cuba was composed of both national organizations and local coalitions across the country. In June 1992, its affiliates included: Casa de las Americas (NY); Venceremos Brigade (National); Antonio Maceo Brigade (National); Cuba Information Project; International Appeal for Peace with Cuba; Friends~ of Cuba (Denver); Hands Off Cuba Coalition (Denver); Justice for Cuba Coalition (Detroit); Hands Off Cuba Coalition (Cleveland); DC “Hands Off Cuba!” Coalition; U.S. Hands Off Cuba Coalition (NY); July 26 Coalition (Cambridge); New Jersey Hands Off Cuba Committee; Coalition Against U.S. Intervention in Cuba (Chicago); Committee to End the Cold War Against Cuba (Portland); Hands Off Cuba Coalition (San Francisco); Committee to Normalize Relations with Cuba (Boston); U.S.-Cuba Friendship Assoc. (San Diego); Coalition in Solidarity with Cuba (Los Angeles); Cuba Educational Project (Santa Cruz).

The newsletter was 8 ½ x 11 and usually 20 pages long.

Vol. 1 No. 3 – September/October 1991 

Special Edition – December 1991 

Vol. 2 No. 2 – April/May 1992 

Vol. 2 No. 3/4 – June/August 1992 

Vol. 2 No. 6 – December1992/January 1993 

Vol. 3 No. 1- February/March 1993 

Vol. 3 No. 3/4 – June/August 1993 

Vol. 3 No. 5 – September/October 1993 

Vol. 4 No. 2 – July 1994 

Vol. 4 No. 3 – November 1994 

Vol. 5 No. 1 – Spring 1995 

United Ireland Newsletter

The United Ireland Newsletter was published by the Irish Republican Clubs headquartered in Albany, N.Y. and served both as an internal newsletter for the Official Irish Republican Clubs across America and a vehicle to keep sympathizers abreast of Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) views.

The United Ireland Newsletter is un-numbered and has only dates. This a 5 ½ x 8 ½ black ink newsletter. Donated by Robert “Bob” Simpson.

July 1977 (undated, but postmarked July 1977) 

August 1977 

October 1977  

November 1977  

Venceremos

Early copies of Venceremos, the newsletter of the U.S. Venceremos Brigade–an organization that promotes education and understanding of communist-led Cuba—have been added to the Spark collection.

The Brigade sent groups of young people to Cuba to work and learn side-by-side with ordinary Cubans beginning in 1969.

It was formed initially by members of the Students for Democratic Society in conjunction with officials of the Republic of Cuba.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – January 1974 

Vol. 1 No. 2 – February 1974  

Vol. 1 No. 3 – March 1974 

Vol. 1 No. 5 – May-June 1974  

Vol. 2 No. 1 – October 1974 

Vol. 2 No. 2 – November 1974 (misnumbered and dated Vol. 2 No. 1 Oct. 1974) 

Vol. 2 No. 3 – December 1974  

Vol. 2 No. 8 – June 1975 

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National Native American

Freedom Weekend News

Freedom Weekend News was a brief two-month newsletter published in 1994 to publicize a demonstration calling for freedom for imprisoned American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Peltier who was convicted of killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation June 26, 1975.

The national demonstration took place in Washington, D.C June 26, 1994 and involved over 500 participants, about half of whom were Native Americans according to the Washington Post.

The demonstration was part of a nationwide campaign to persuade President William Clinton to grant clemency to Peltier.

About 20 of the participants made up an advance contingent of a five-month cross-country caravan promoting clemency for Peltier, crisscrossing the U.S, and entering Washington, D.C. July 15, 1994.

The FBI vehemently opposed granting clemency and published an ad in the Washington Post on the same day as the national demonstration in July. More than 500 FBI agents would later picket opposing clemency.

Peltier and other Native American activists were involved in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation located in South Dakota and Nebraska. Three Native Americans, including Peltier, were charged with murdering the agents. The FBI claimed that the two agents were executed in cold blood after being wounded in the shootout.

Peltier and the other two men claimed that FBI agents opened fire first and they returned fire in self-defense. The two other defendants were acquitted in separate trials, but Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two life terms in prison.

A long campaign to free Peltier ensued, with support gathered from around the world for clemency.

Clinton ultimately decided against clemency and Peltier remained in prison until February 18, 2025 after President Joseph Biden granted clemency in the waning days of his administration.

Freedom Weekend News:

No. 1 – April 16, 1994 

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National Social and Economic Justice

The Welfare Fighter

The Welfare Fighter was the national newspaper of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) that was created in 1966  to fight for greater assistance and control over welfare regulations. NWRO, which had four goals: adequate income, dignity, justice, and democratic participation, was active from 1966 to 1975.  At its height in 1969 it had a membership of as many as 25,000 people, with thousands more participating in NWRO protests. The majority of the members were African American women who often were on public assistance. The organization popularized the slogan $5,500 or fight, later amending it to $6,500 or fight because of inflation. The slogan represented the demand for a guaranteed yearly national income. The funding for the organization dried up in the early 1970s and in March 1975, the NWRO went bankrupt and the organization came to an end.

Vol. 2 No. 5 – February 1971

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National Student

Chipmunk

The Cooperative High School Independent Press Syndicate (CHIPS) published regular packets of news, graphics, photos and copies of other high school publications called Chipmunk and mailed them to affiliated high school and middle school alternative newspapers throughout the country.

Issue Number 13 describes a new way the newspaper exchange will work and lists the names and addresses of different CHIPS-affiliated high school alternative newspapers that were active in 1971.

The service apparently started in Chicago, moved to Washington, D.C. by 1971 and later to Ann Arbor, MI.

There were four main alternative news services at the time: Liberation News Service, Underground Press Syndicate, College Press Service and CHIPS that helped local alternative newspapers with content from around the country.

Number 13 – March 1971

Fight Back

Fight Back was the monthly publication of the Attica Brigade (later Revolutionary Student Brigade) and organization affiliated with the Revolutionary Union and later the Revolutionary Communist Party.

The Attica Brigade was based among college students and at its peak had dozens of chapters across the country. It was part of the New Communist Movement that arose in the early 1970s.

Vol. 1 No. 3 – Dec.-Jan. 1974

Vol. 1 No. 4 – Feb. 1974

Vol. 2 No. 1 – Sep. 15, 1974

Vol. 2 No. 3 – February 15, 1975

Jailbreak

Jailbreak was a publication of the High School Youth Against War and Fascism from at least 1970-71 that sought to educate and involve high school students in the broader movement for social justice. Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF) traces its roots back to 1962 when it was formed by the Workers World Party—a split off from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party. Jailbreak was a term used by both YAWF and the late phases of the Students for a Democratic Society in an appeal to high school students to break out of the “jail” of high school regimen and thought. On a few occasions, including at Western High School in Washington, D.C., SDS attempted to enter the school and encourage a student jailbreak (walkout).

Vol. 2 No. 1 – February 1971

 

Red Army

The April 12, 1971 issue of Red Army, a Philadelphia, PA high school newspaper, calls for students to attend the April 24, 1971 anti-Vietnam War mass march on Washington, DC and to participate in the May 1-5 attempt to shut down the federal government in the capital city through civil disobedience.

The four-page, tabloid size paper also contains articles on the history of Vietnamese struggle of independence, links the Vietnam War to oil production, blasts Lt. William Calley as a war criminal and scapegoat, and urges White students to reject racism.

The newspaper published at least four issues (Jan-April, 1971).

April, 12 1971 

Donated by Craig Simpson

SNCC Periodicals

SNCC published a number of periodicals that evolved over the years beginning with The Student Voice in 1960 later changing its name to The Voice. The SNCC Newsletter replaced The Voice in 1967. Internal Newsletters were also published.

~ The Student Voice

The Student Voice was published from 1960-65 changing its name to The Voice in 1965. It covers SNCC campaigns, local SNCC news and analysis of national and international events.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – June 1960 through Vol. 6 No 6 – December 1965 – (off-site at the CRMV website) – SNCC internal newsletters also available.

 

 

 

~ SNCC News of the Field

News of the Field replaced the Voice in 1966 and acted as more of an internal newsletter reporting chapter news and campaigns

No. 3 – March 9, 1966 through No. 11 May 8, 1966 – (off-site at the CRMV website) – some issues missing

 

 

~ SNCC Newsletter

The successor publication to The Student Voice and The Voice began publishing in 1967 while Stokely Carmichael (later Kwame Ture) was chair of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and continued publishing under new chair H. Rap Brown (later Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin). The July 1967 edition contains a controversial opinion piece on Palestine, published shortly after the Third Arab-Israeli War, which caused the organization to be labeled anti-Semitic. SNCC released a more formal statement in response on August 15, 1967, entitled “The Middle-East Crisis.” It incorporates many of the points that were made in the June-July article, but within an added context that acknowledged the horrors of the Holocaust, the suppression of American Jewish voices that protested Zionism, and the critical support given to Zionism by the United States. This incarnation of the SNCC newsletter published as a full-size newspaper:

Vol. 1 No. 4 – June 1967

Vol. 1 No. 5 – September 1967 (missing pages 3, 4, 5, 6)

SDS Periodicals

Though its roots went back to the League for Industrial Democracy established in 1905, the Students for a Democratic Society was formally constituted in 1960. It became the largest mass organization of the New Left from 1964-69. At its 9th convention in the summer of 1969, the organization split into three factions—the Progressive Labor dominated Worker-Student Alliance faction, Revolutionary Youth Movement I (the Weathermen) and Revolutionary Youth Movement II, which would itself split into competing Maoist factions. At its peak, SDS had chapters at over 300 colleges, universities and high schools and had upwards of 100,000 members and supporters.

~The Activist

The Activist began as a civil rights newsletter of the Midwestern Student Coordinating Committee in 1960. By 1961 it became an independent journal of political opinion associated with the Students for a Democratic Society and became a publication of SDS from 1962-63 before becoming an independent journal again. The Activist continued publishing until at least 1974 and issues after its split from SDS can be found at the Independent Voices website. The volume and number of some issues were printed incorrectly, but these are believed to be in chronological order:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Oct. 1960

Vol. 1 No. 2 – Nov. 1960

Vol. 2 No. 1 –  Feb. 1961 

Vol. 2 No. 2 – Winter 1961

Vol. 3 No. 1 – Fall 1961

Vol. 2 No. 3 – Spring 1962

Vol. 3 No. 1 – Fall 1962

Vol. 3 No. 2 – Winter 1963

Vol. 3 No. 2 – Spring 1963

~ Bulletin

SDS Bulletin published from 1962-65 that was more of a traditional  8 ½ x 11 newsletter, but contained opinion pieces, news and acted as a forum for debate within the organization. Please contact us if you have issues missing from this collection.

No. 3 – January 1963

No. 4 – March 1963

Vol. 2 No. 1 – October 1963 – missing pages 9-10

Vol. 2 No. 2 – November 1, 1963

Vol. 2 No. 3 – December, 1963

Vol. 2 No. 4 – January 1, 1964

Vol. 2 No. 6 – March 1, 1964

Vol. 2 No. 7 – April 1, 1964

Vol. 2 No. 8 – May 1, 1964

Vol. 2 No. 9 – June 1964 – missing pages 27-28

Vol. 2 No. 10 – July 1964

Vol. 3 No. 1 – September 1964

Vol. 3 No. 2 – October 1964

Vol. 3 No. 3 – November-December 1964

Vol. 3 No. 4 – January 1965

Vol. 3 No. 5 – February 1965

Vol. 3 No. 6 – March 1965

Vol. 3 No. 7 – May 1965

Vol. 3 (No number, Special Edition) – October 1965

Vol. 4 No. 1 – circa November 1965

Vol. 4 No. 2 – circa January 1966

~ New Left Notes

New Left Notes replaced the Bulletin in January 1966 and published until 1969. It was tabloid-sized and more free-form than the Bulletin, but served much of the same purpose containing opinion pieces, news and a forum for debate. We have all copies of New Left Notes, except possibly Vol. 4 No. 10 that we believe is a phantom issue and does not exist and that subsequent issues are simply mis-numbered.   These digital copies are drawn from our own hard copies and from The Independent Voices website, the SDS website and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – January 21, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 2 – January 28, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 3 – February 4, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 4 – February 11, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 5 – February 18, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 6 – February 25, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 7 – March 4, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 8 – March 11, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 9 – March 18, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 10 – March 25, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 11 – April 1, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 12 – April 8, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 13 – April 15, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 14 – April 22, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 15 – April 29, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 16 – May 6, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 17 – May 13, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 18 – May 20, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 19 – May 27, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 20 – June 3, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 21 – June 10, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 22 – June 17, 1966 

Vol. 1 No. 23 – June 24, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 24 – July 1, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 25 – July 8, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 26 & 27 – July 15 & 22, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 28 – July 29, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 29 – August 5, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 30 – August 12, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 31 – August 19, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 32 – August 24, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 33 – September 2, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 34 – September 9, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 35 – September 16, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 36 – September 23, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 37 – October 1, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 38 – October 7, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 39 – October 14, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 40, 41 – October 28, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 42 – November 4, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 42 – November 11, 1966 – mis-numbered

Vol. 1 No. 44 – November 18, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 45 – November 25, 1966

Vol. 1 No 46 – December 2, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 47 – December 9, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 48 – December 16, 1966

Vol. 1 No. 49 – December 23, 1966

Vol. 1 No 49 – December 30, 1966 (mis-numbered)

Vol. 2 No. 1 – January 6, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 2 – January 13, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 3 – January 20, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 4 – January 27, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 5 – February 3, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 6 – February 13, 1967

Vol. 2. No. 7 – February 20, 1967

Vol. 2. No. 8 – February 27, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 9 – March 6, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 10 – March 13, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 11 – March 20, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 12 – March 27, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 13 – April 3, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 14 – April 13, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 15 – April 17, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 16 – April 24, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 17 – May 1, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 18 – May 8, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 19 – May 15, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 20 – May 22, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 21 – May 22, 1967 – (mis-dated)

Vol. 2 No. 22 – June 5, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 23 – June 12, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 24 – June 29, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 25 – June 26, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 26 – July 10, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 27 – July 24, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 28 – August 7, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 29 – August 21, 1967 

Vol. 2 No. 30 – September 4, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 31 – September 11, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 32 – September 18, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 33 – September 25, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 34 – October 2, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 35 – October 9, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 36 – October 16, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 37 – October 23, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 38 – October 30, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 38 – November 6, 1967 – (mis-numbered)

Vol. 2 No. 39 – November 13, 1967 – (mis-numbered)

Vol. 2 No. 41 – November 27, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 42 – December 4, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 43 – December 4, 1967 – (mis-dated)

Vol. 2 No. 44 – December 18, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 45 – December 25, 1967

Vol. 3 No. 1 – January 8, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 2 – January 15, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 3 – January 22, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 4 – January 29, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 5 – February 5, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 6 – February 12, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 7 – February 19, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 7 – February 26, 1968 – (mis-numbered)

Vol. 3 No. 8 – March 4, 1968 – (mis-numbered)

Vol. 3 No. 10 – March 18, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 11 – March 25,  1968

Vol. 3 No. 12 – April 8, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 13 – April 15, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 14 – April 22, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 15 – April 29, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 16 – May 6, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 17 – May 13, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 18 – May 20, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 19 – May 27, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 20 – June 10, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 21 – June 29, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 22 – July 8, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 23 – July 29, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 24 – August 5, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 25 – August 12, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 26 – August 19, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 27 – September 9, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 28 – September 16, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 29 – September 22, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 30 – September 30, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 31 – October. 7, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 32 – October 18, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 33 – October 25, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 34 – November 11, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 35 – November 19, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 36 – December 4, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 37 – December 11, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 38 – December 18, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 39 – December 23, 1968

Vol. 3 No. 40 – January 8, 1969 (mis-numbered volume and number)

Vol. 4 No. 2 – January 15, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 3 – January 22, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 4 – January 29, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 5 – February 5, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 5 – February 5, 1969 (mis-numbered and mis-dated)

Vol. 4 No. 7 – February 21, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 8 – February 28, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 9 – March 8, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 10 – unavailable at this time – possibly a phantom issue that does not exist and subsequent issues are incorrectly numbered

Vol. 4 No. 11 – March 13, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 12 – March 20, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 13 – April 4, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 14 – April 10, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 15 – April 17, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 16 – April 24, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 17 – May 1,  1969

Vol. 4 No. 18 – May 13, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 19 – May 20, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 20 – May 30, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 21 – June 6, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 22 – June 18, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 23 – June 25, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 24 – July 8, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 25. – July 24, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 26 – August 1, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 27 – August 8, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 28 – August 23, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 29 – August 29, 1969

Vol. 4 No. 29 – August 29, 1969 (supplement)

~ Fire

Fire replaced New Left Notes after the 1969 convention of the organization where it split into three factions—the Weathermen (later Weather Underground) that controlled the national office, the Progressive Labor Party dominated rival SDS headquartered in Boston and the Revolutionary Youth Movement II which in turn split into competing Maoist factions. Fire published three issues as an SDS publication before the group dropped the SDS name. We have all three issues

Vol. 1 No. 1 – November 7, 1969

Vol. 1 No. 2 – November 21,  1969

Vol. 1 No. 3 – December 6, 1969

Related to SDS Fire 1969 11 The Second Battle of Chicago 1969

~ Radical America

Radical America began publication as an SDS-sponsored history journal in 1967 and outlived the organization, publishing until 1992.

Vol. 1 No. 2 – September 1967 through Vol. 24 No. 4 – September 1990 – (off site at the Brown University Library) – some issues missing

 

 

 

 

 

~ Caw!

CAW! was a brief-lived SDS magazine that published four issues 1968-69 that contained poetry, songs, art and in-depth articles. We have all four issues.

Vol. 1 No. 1 – February 1968

Vol. 1 No. 2 – May 1968

Vol. 1 No. 3 – Fall 1968

Special Cuba Supplement – Jan 1969

 

 

The Student Mobilizer

The Student Mobilizer (1967-72) was a newspaper published irregularly by the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (1965-73). The SMC originally acted as the arm of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (1966-67) and the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (1967-68). With the internal splits within the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in 1969, the SMC had chapters on dozens of campuses and was often the only national mass organization active at a school. On many campuses, it was also often the largest radical student organization. The SMC had chapters on dozens of campuses across the United States and also did outreach to active duty GIs, including the establishment of the GI Press Service that had a couple dozen local GI newspapers and newsletters affiliated with it.

Vol. 1 No. ? – December 1, 1967

Vol. 2 No. 3 – July 1968

Special Wallposter Issue No. 1 –  January 18, 1969

Wallposter No. 2 – March 14, 1969

Wallposter No. 3 – April 5, 1969

USNSA Periodicals

The United States National Student Association published a number of periodicals during its existence including USNSA News, USNSA Congress News and The American Student. USNSA was an umbrella group for student governments in the U.S. established in the late 1940s that was revealed in 1967 to have been partially funded by the Central Intelligence Agency. Following this scandal, the group broke all ties by 1969 and became a leading voice in the student antiwar movement.

~ The American Student

The American Student was the magazine published by the United States National Student Association (USNSA) during the mid 1960s. Issue No. 1 covers the campus free speech fight, civil rights, Vietnam War. This was a time when the USNSA’s international affairs were controlled and directed by the CIA and the magazine reports on South West Africa, apartheid, Latin America, international university sports and a U.S. student visit to Yugoslavia. Issue No. 3 provides an overview of the state of campus politics in late 1966. It profiles campus organizations and activists such as Paul Booth and the Students for Democratic Society, the Young Americans for Freedom, The non-activist Association of Student Governments, the Southern Student Organizing Committee, a member of the Progressive Labor Party and the Vietnam War and the debate over it at the USNSA’s own annual congress. It also contains a brief description of non-single issue campus activists groups including Campus Americans for Democratic Action, Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, May Second Movement, Student Peace Union, Students for Democratic Society, W. E. B. DuBois Clubs of America, Young Americans for Freedom, Young Democratic Clubs of America, Young Socialist Alliance and Youth Against War and Fascism. The available issues:

Vol. 1 No. 1 – Spring 1965 No. 3 – Winter 1966

~ USNSA Congress News

The United States National Student Association held an annual congress and published a daily newsletter during the week-long event. The August 16, 1970 edition of its convention in Minneapolis, MN recounts the passage of a resolution that mandated the organization to organize civil disobedience against the Vietnam War beginning May 1, 1971–the Mayday protests in Washington, D.C. that resulted in over 12,000 arrests. The issue was first debated on August 13th and reported in the August 14th issue.

August 11, 1970

August 12, 1970 ca.

August 14, 1970

August 16, 1970

August 17, 1970

August 18, 1970

– InterCHANGE

InterCHANGE was the publication of the U.S. National Student Association’s National Gay Student Center that began publishing in 1972.

The National Gay Student Center was initiated by a resolution at the 1972 Congress of the USNSA mandating its establishment.

Warren J. Blumenfeld, a member of the Washington, D.C. Gay Liberation Front, was its first director.

InterCHANGE began as a 8 ½ x 11 magazine-type format under Blumenfeld, but turned into a newsletter under J. Lee Lehman, in 1974.

The early issues under Blumenfeld included a number of articles on Washington, D.C. area LGBTQ+ activities, including an article by Spark contributor Sue Reading, an article on the firing of Montgomery County teacher Joe Acanfora, the victory of the Gay Student Alliance at the UMD College Park over the Board of Regents after they were denied funding as a recognized campus group, and a critique of the local chapter of the Venceremos Brigade–the group that organized solidarity with the Cuban revolution.

The early issues also included reports on campus activities around the country, an article by Blumenfeld on obtaining recognition for campus LGBTQ+ groups, and gay and lesbian resources, among other items.

Later issues focused on resources available to gay groups including books, book stores, gay studies, gay rights and campus non-discrimination clauses, and other LGBTQ+ issues.

Blumenfeld would go on to write and edit several books and become an associate professor at Iowa State University and a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as continuing his lifelong activism confronting inequality for LGBTQ+ people.

Vol. 1 No. 2 – May-June 1972 

Vol. 1 No. 3 – January-February 1973  

Vol. 2 No. 1 – March-April 1974 

Vol. 2 No. 2 – Summer 1974  

Vol. 2 No. 3 – Fall 1974  

Vol. 3 No. 1 – Fall 1975  

Vol. 3 No. 3 – Summer 1976 

Vol. 4 No. 1 – Winter 1977 

Vol. 4 No. 2 – Summer 1977  

Donated by Craig Simpson

– USNSA Newsletter

The United States National Student Association published a monthly newsletter from 1947 until at least 1972 that covered news from campuses across the country, political events of interest to students and internal NSA programs and offerings. The January 12, 1971 issue contains a first hand account of the negotiation of the People’s Peace Treaty and lays plans for the Ann Arbor Michigan conference that launched the organizing effort for the Mayday 1971 demonstrations that resulted in the arrest of over 12,000 demonstrators–the largest mass arrest at a protest in U.S. history.

Vol. 22 No. 1 – October 17, 1969

Vol. 24 No. 1&2 – January 12, 1971

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National Women’s

Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement

Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement was the first newsletter of the women’s liberation movement trend during the second wave feminist movement, publishing seven issues from 1967-69. It was initiated by Chicago women’s activist Jo Freeman.

The sixth and seventh issues were important because they reflected the split of the women’s liberation movement from the larger antiwar and civil rights movement and exposed differences within the women’s liberation movement itself.

The two issues were published in February and March 1969 after a debacle at the Counter-Inaugural protest of President Richard Nixon in Washington, D.C. where feminist speakers were booed and vulgar comments directed toward them.

The two issues of the newsletter recount the Counter-Inaugural events, publishes the speeches by Marilyn Saltzman Webb and Shulamith Firestone and contains accounts and perspectives on the events and different schools of thought within the women’s liberation movement.

The newsletter first began publishing prior to the organization of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union—the first organized women’s liberation group of the second wave feminism.

Complete set:

No. 1 – March 1, 1968 

No. 2 – June 1, 1968 

No. 3 – August 1, 1968  

No. 4 – October 1, 1968  

No. 5 – January 1, 1969  

No. 6 – February 1, 1969  

No. 7 – March 1, 1969  

Issue No. 6 is held in the Bonnie Atwood papers, 1965-2005, Collection, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Issues No. 1-5 & 7 are held by Reveal Digital and published online in conjunction with JSTOR.

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International Periodicals

The Irish People

The Irish People was a weekly newspaper which served as the “Voice of Irish Republicanism in America” from 1972-2004 and was published in New York. Published by volunteers who supported an Irish Republican political analysis, the paper provided weekly reports and analysis of events in Ireland related to the struggle against British rule. It also served as a contemporary weekly record and organizer of Irish-American political activity in the United States.

Vol. 4 No. 19 – May 14, 1976

Vol. 5 No. 36 – September 11, 1976

South Vietnam in Struggle

The English-language version of the Central Organ of the South Vietnam National Liberation Front (NLF, often called Viet Cong)

Vol. 7 No. 219 – October 22, 1973

Vol. 7 No. 220 – October 29, 1973

 

 

 

 

United Irishman

The United Irishman was the publication of the Irish Republican Army until 1970 and for the “Official” Irish Republican Army (OIRA) thereafter until it was replaced with the Irish People and the Workers Weekly in 1980. The “Official” IRA got its name after the “Provisional” Irish Republican Army (Provos) split from the OIRA after the August 1969 raids by the paramilitary Ulster Defense Force (a group of loyalists to the British Crown in Northern Ireland that carried out attacks on Catholics) that burned out several Catholic neighborhoods. The IRA had for several years taken a Marxist position that the working class Protestants were not the enemy and refrained from engaging them in combat except in limited defensive situations.

Vol. 36 No. 4 – April 1977

Vol. 36 No. 5 – May 1977

Vol. 36 No. 7 – July 1977

Vol. 36 No. 9 – September 1977

Vol. 36 No. 10 – October 1977

Vol. 38 No. 1 – January 1978

Unity

Unity is a weekly newspaper, slightly smaller than tabloid size, produced by the Belfast office of the Communist Party of Ireland(CPI).

Vol. 1 No. 15 – January 3, 1976  

 

 

 

 

 

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