MIA: History: USA: Publications: The Class Struggle/Advance
The Class Struggle/Advance
1896-1902
Introduction
The Class Struggle began as the official organ of Section San Francisco of the Socialist Labor Party, believed to have been launched as a weekly in 1896. A four-page broadsheet of limited circulation, no early copies are known to have been survived. A single 1900 issue bearing the original name of the publication, preserved in the newspaper scrapbooks of Eugene V. Debs, is presented here.
On October 7, 1899 a five person group headed by San Francisco printer George B. Benham bought the paper, keeping it tightly allied with the dissident elements of the SLP opposed to the party's New York City leadership and party editor Daniel DeLeon. The paper followed the dissidents into orbit of the Social Democratic Party with headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1900.
On June 23, 1900 the paper was sold to the Social Democratic Party of California for $460 and Emil Liess was named its new editor. The name of the publication was changed to The Advance shortly thereafter and a greater national presence began to be exerted, with ads soliciting subscriptions placed in various east coast socialist publications.
In 1901 the paper was transformed into a 16-page tabloid, apparently becoming a subsidized appendage of the San Francisco Labor Council, the local federation of trade unions. As the official organ of Local San Francisco, the paper remained formally allied with the Socialist Party of America with its establishment in the summer of 1901, it goes without saying.
Early in 1902 the paper began to experience problems, both with personnel and finances. Emil Liess retired from active editorship of the paper and it was found that two people were needed to take care of the work he had previously done. The job was taken over by comrades named Noel, handling the editorial task, and Treft, handling business management. The cost of production increased commensurately with this doubling of staff.
At the same time that editorial costs were necessarily increased, revenue began to fall, with the launch of the California socialist papers Undercurrent and the Los Angeles Socialist. "Bills are due and must be paid," the Editorial Board warned in January 1902, otherwise "it will be necessary...to cripple the paper's power by greatly reducing its size or else to suspend publication altogether."
At its peak, circulation of Advance did not exceed 10,000 copies — and was perhaps substantially less than that.
The surviving run of Advance is virtually complete for the years 1901 and 1902, thereby providing a unique and valuable resource for study of the history of the Bay Area socialist and labor movement. No issues of Advance dated after Dec. 27, 1902 are known to exist, although the possibility that additional issues were produced can not be discounted.
Tim Davenport
Corvallis, OR
December 2018
1900
March 17, 1900, 1901, Whole No. 293
September 8, 1900, 1901, Whole No. 318
1901
January 5, 1901, Whole No. 335
January 12, 1901, Whole No. 336
January 19, 1901, Whole No. 337
January 26, 1901, Whole No. 338
February 2, 1901, Whole No. 339
February 9, 1901, Whole No. 340
February 16, 1901, Whole No. 341
February 23, 1901, Whole No. 342
August 10, 1901, Whole No. 366
August 17, 1901, Whole No. 367
August 24, 1901, Whole No. 368
August 31, 1901, Whole No. 369
September 7, 1901, Whole No. 370
September 14, 1901, Whole No. 371
September 21, 1901, Whole No. 372
September 28, 1901, Whole No. 373
October 5, 1901, Whole No. 374
October 12, 1901, Whole No. 375
October 19, 1901, Whole No. 376
October 26, 1901, Whole No. 377
November 2, 1901, Whole No. 388
November 9, 1901, Whole No. 389
November 16, 1901, Whole No. 380
November 23, 1901, Whole No. 381
November 30, 1901, Whole No. 382
December 7, 1901, Whole No. 383
December 14, 1901, Whole No. 384
December 21, 1901, Whole No. 385
December 28, 1901, Whole No. 386
1902
January 4, 1902, Whole No. 387
January 11, 1902, Whole No. 388
January 18, 1902, Whole No. 389
January 25, 1902, Whole No. 390
February 1, 1902, Whole No. 391
February 15, 1902, Whole No. 392
February 22, 1902, Whole No. 394
April 426, 1902, Whole No. 403
August 16, 1902, Whole No. 419
August 23, 1902, Whole No. 420
August 30, 1902, Whole No. 421
September 6, 1902, Whole No. 422
September 13, 1902, Whole No. 423
September 20, 1902, Whole No. 424
September 27, 1902, Whole No. 425
October 11, 1902, Whole No. 427
October 18, 1902, Whole No. 428
October 25, 1902, Whole No. 429
November 1, 1902, Whole No. 430
November 8, 1902, Whole No. 431
November 15, 1902, Whole No. 432
November 22, 1902, Whole No. 433
November 29, 1902, Whole No. 434
December 6, 1902, Whole No. 435
December 13, 1902, Whole No. 436
December 20, 1902, Whole No. 437
December 27, 1902, Whole No. 438
Last updated on 11 December 2018