People's World Research Files
Scope and Content of Collection
Consists of the research files of the newspaper People's World, organized by subjects and individual's names and primarily consists of newspaper clippings and ephemera. Some folders do contain primary source materials including speeches, notes, and interviews. Issues addressed include social and political events of local, national and world-wide scope, such as the Communist Party in the U.S., especially California; labor union activities; the Independent Progressive Party and the peace movement; poverty conditions; discrimination against African Americans, Jews, and Japanese; and life in the Soviet Union.
Dates
- 1929-1996
Language of Materials
Languages represented in the collection: English.
History of People's World
The West Coast-based People's World was founded on January 1, 1938 as a daily grassroots newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Published in San Francisco, People's World circulated up and down the West Coast and was financed entirely by subscription. Its self-stated purpose was to represent the interests, causes and struggles of the common people under the banner "For Security, Democracy and Peace." The paper's articles and photographs heralded social change, focusing on such issues as equality, civil rights, labor, and immigration. In the late 1950s, in response to strong anti-Communist propaganda led by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, the readership of People's World declined and the paper was forced to go to a weekly schedule. In 1986 it returned to being a daily after it merged with Daily World. The resulting People's Daily World continued to serve as the political voice of the Communist Party.
Extent
36.25 cubic feet (39 cartons)
- Title
- Finding Aid to the People's World Research Files
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Labor Archives staff in 2012; Revised in 2016.
- Date
- Revised 2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in: English.
Repository Details
Part of the Labor Archives and Research Center Repository
San Francisco State University
J. Paul Leonard Library, Room 460
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco 94132-1722 USA
(415) 405-5571
larc@sfsu.edu