The World Tomorrow (magazine)
Encyclopedia
The World Tomorrow: A journal looking toward a Christian world (1918–1934) was an American
political magazine
, founded by the pacifist
organization Fellowship of Reconciliation
(FOR) and published in New York City
by FOR's Fellowship Press at 108 Lexington Avenue.
Its main editors were:
contributed to the magazine in the 1920s and then became a part-time editor in the late 1920s or no later than 1931. Niebuhr was a prominent American
theologian and commentator on public affairs. He became an anti-communist in 1940, after starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s (indebted to theological liberalism
) and a new Neo-Orthodox theologian
in the 1930s.
Grace Hutchins, the life partner of Anna Rochester, was also a FOR member who worked for the magazine. Hutchins served as press secretary (1924–1926), business editor (1925–1926), and contributing editor.
Esther Shemitz (later wife of Whittaker Chambers
) and her close friend Grace Lumpkin
worked for the magazine in the 1920s. Hutchins and Rochester were their art patrons, supporting Shemitz's painting and Lumpkin's writing, e.g., publication of To Make My Bread
(1933).
, an economist
at the University of Chicago
, also served as [part-time?] editor. Henry Noel Brailsford
contributed a weekly feature in the 1930s.
reported that The World Tomorrow would go from a monthly to a weekly format. "The times in which we are now living demand a sustained emphasis upon religion, pacifism, and socialism, and... no other American journal is concentrating upon this combination." It noted editors were Kirby Page, Reinhold Niebuhr, Devere Allen, and Paul Douglas.
Though it does not explain why the magazine closed, the FOR website states:
, the magazine was published as follows:
The complete run of The World Tomorrow from 1918 to 1934 is available as item 23 in the Library of World Peace Studies edited by Warren F. Kuehl. [New York]: Clearwater, 1978–1982. 1242 microfiches. The Library of Congress' holding starts with vol. 1, no. 6 dated June 1918 and ends with vol. 17, no. 15 dated July 26, 1934.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, founded by the pacifist
Pacificism
Pacificism is the general ethical opposition to war or violence, except in cases where force is deemed absolutely necessary to advance the cause of peace....
organization Fellowship of Reconciliation
Fellowship of Reconciliation
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries...
(FOR) and published in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
by FOR's Fellowship Press at 108 Lexington Avenue.
Main Editors
The World Tomorrow seems to have had some paid and some unpaid editors, many of whom overlapped.Its main editors were:
- 1918–1921: Norman ThomasNorman ThomasNorman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
, six-time presidentialPresident of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
candidate for the Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist Party of AmericaThe Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
, served as the magazine's first editor. In 1921, Thomas moved to secular journalism as associate editor of The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
magazine. - 1918–1920 Walter Fuller. Styled ‘editorial secretary’ on the letterpaper of The New World (which changed its name to The World Tomorrow in June 1918), he was later called 'associate editor'. He did the actual work of editing for Norman Thomas, and was paid a regular salary. In February 1920, he moved on to become managing editor of The Freeman, although his name remained for a while on the list of members of the board of The World Tomorrow. When Fuller collapsed and died of a brain haemorrhage in September 1927, Norman Thomas sent a glowing eulogy to the BBC for whom Fuller was editing the Radio Times.
- 1922–1924: John Nevin SayreJohn Nevin SayreThe Reverend John Nevin Sayre, , brother of US State Department offiicial Francis B. Sayre, was an Episcopal minister, peace activist, and author...
served as editor of The World Tomorrow, 1922–1924 (then as associate secretary, 1924–1935). Sayre was an EpiscopalEpiscopal Church (United States)The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
minister, peace activistPeace activistThis list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
, and authorAuthorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and also helped found the Episcopal Peace FellowshipEpiscopal Peace FellowshipThe Episcopal Peace Fellowship is a U.S. peace organization composed of members of the Episcopal Church. It was originally founded on November 11, 1939 as the Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship by Bishop William Appleton Lawrence, Mrs. Henry Hill Pierce, Rev. John Nevin Sayre and Bishop Paul Jones and...
. Sayre's brother, Assistant Undersecretary of State Francis B. SayreFrancis B. SayreFrancis Bowes Sayre was a professor at Harvard Law School and a son-in-law of President Woodrow Wilson.-Biography:He was born on April 30, 1885....
, had Alger HissAlger HissAlger Hiss was an American lawyer, government official, author, and lecturer. He was involved in the establishment of the United Nations both as a U.S. State Department and U.N. official...
reporting directly to him at the State Department but declined to testify on his behalf. (His brother also married the daughter of Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
.) - 1922–1926: Anna Rochester was a FOR member who served as editor-in-chief (1922–1926), then resigned in 1927 over political differences. Within a month, she received an invitation to join the magazine's board, which she declined.
- 1926–1934: Kirby PageKirby PageKirby Page was an American Disciples of Christ minister, an author, and a peace activist. According to Gaustad and Noll's A Documentary History of Religion in America, after World War I,...
(1890–1957) was an American Disciples of Christ minister, an author, and a peace activist. - [dates?]: Devere Allen edited the magazine for ten years, was a journalistJournalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and historianHistorianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. He championed nonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. It is largely synonymous with civil resistance...
while member of the Socialist Party of AmericaSocialist Party of AmericaThe Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
in the 1930s and founded the Worldover Press.
1920s
Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
contributed to the magazine in the 1920s and then became a part-time editor in the late 1920s or no later than 1931. Niebuhr was a prominent American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theologian and commentator on public affairs. He became an anti-communist in 1940, after starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s (indebted to theological liberalism
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
) and a new Neo-Orthodox theologian
Neo-orthodoxy
Neo-orthodoxy, in Europe also known as theology of crisis and dialectical theology,is an approach to theology in Protestantism that was developed in the aftermath of the First World War...
in the 1930s.
Grace Hutchins, the life partner of Anna Rochester, was also a FOR member who worked for the magazine. Hutchins served as press secretary (1924–1926), business editor (1925–1926), and contributing editor.
Esther Shemitz (later wife of Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers and also known as David Whittaker Chambers , was an American writer and editor. After being a Communist Party USA member and Soviet spy, he later renounced communism and became an outspoken opponent later testifying in the perjury and espionage trial...
) and her close friend Grace Lumpkin
Grace Lumpkin
Grace Lumpkin was an American writer of proletarian literature, focusing most of her works on the Depression era and the rise and fall of favor surrounding communism in the United States...
worked for the magazine in the 1920s. Hutchins and Rochester were their art patrons, supporting Shemitz's painting and Lumpkin's writing, e.g., publication of To Make My Bread
To Make My Bread
To Make My Bread is a novel written by Grace Lumpkin about the Loray Mill Strike. It was published in 1932. Lumpkin chronicles the McClures, a family of poor Appalachian tenant farmers, during the industrialization of the south...
(1933).
1930s
In the 1930s, Paul Howard DouglasPaul Douglas
Paul Howard Douglas was an liberal American politician and University of Chicago economist. A war hero, he was elected as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois from in the 1948 landslide, serving until his defeat in 1966...
, an economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, also served as [part-time?] editor. Henry Noel Brailsford
H. N. Brailsford
Henry Noel Brailsford was the most prolific British left-wing journalist of the first half of the 20th century.The son of a Methodist preacher, he was born in Yorkshire and educated in Scotland, at the High School of Dundee...
contributed a weekly feature in the 1930s.
Resurgence and demise
In August 1932, when many weekly magazines were reducing their publication frequency to monthly, TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
reported that The World Tomorrow would go from a monthly to a weekly format. "The times in which we are now living demand a sustained emphasis upon religion, pacifism, and socialism, and... no other American journal is concentrating upon this combination." It noted editors were Kirby Page, Reinhold Niebuhr, Devere Allen, and Paul Douglas.
Though it does not explain why the magazine closed, the FOR website states:
By 1934, its circulation had risen to 40,000. The World Tomorrow was succeeded in 1935 by Fellowship, edited by Harold Fey; later editors included John Nevin Sayre, Alfred Hassler, William Miller, James Forest, and Virginia Baron.
Publishing history
According to holdings at the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, the magazine was published as follows:
- Monthly: January 1918 – July 1932 (suspended May–September 1926)
- Weekly: September 1932 – April 1933
- Monthly: May–August 1933
- Biweekly: August 31, 1933 – July 26, 1934
The complete run of The World Tomorrow from 1918 to 1934 is available as item 23 in the Library of World Peace Studies edited by Warren F. Kuehl. [New York]: Clearwater, 1978–1982. 1242 microfiches. The Library of Congress' holding starts with vol. 1, no. 6 dated June 1918 and ends with vol. 17, no. 15 dated July 26, 1934.
Availability
See also
- PacificismPacificismPacificism is the general ethical opposition to war or violence, except in cases where force is deemed absolutely necessary to advance the cause of peace....
- Fellowship of ReconciliationFellowship of ReconciliationThe Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries...
- Norman ThomasNorman ThomasNorman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
- John Nevin SayreJohn Nevin SayreThe Reverend John Nevin Sayre, , brother of US State Department offiicial Francis B. Sayre, was an Episcopal minister, peace activist, and author...
- Anna Rochester
- Kirby PageKirby PageKirby Page was an American Disciples of Christ minister, an author, and a peace activist. According to Gaustad and Noll's A Documentary History of Religion in America, after World War I,...
- Devere Allen
- Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold NiebuhrKarl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...