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Introduction A History of The Progressive Magazine Matthew Rothschild Magazines are fragile plants—magazines of dissent especially so. Only a few manage not to die from neglect or mishandling or poor transplanting. The Progressive is one of those exceptional, hardy orchids. Founded on January 9, 1909, by Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, it was originally called La Follette’s Weekly, and then simply La Follette’s. In 1929, four years after La Follette’s death, it continued as a weekly magazine called The Progressive, and in 1948 it became a monthly publication. This publication has always been more than a magazine. It’s the articulation of a mission. On the very Wrst page of the very Wrst issue, La Follette laid it out. “In the course of every attempt to establish or develop free government, a struggle between Special Privilege and Equal Rights is inevitable,” he wrote. “Our great industrial organizations [are] in control of politics, government, and natural resources. They manage conventions, make platforms, dictate legislation. They rule through the very men elected to represent them.” Yet he was hopeful. “The battle is just on,” he wrote. “It is young yet. It will be the longest and hardest ever fought for Democracy. In other lands, the people have lost. Here we shall win. It is a glorious privilege to live in this time, and have a free hand in this Wght for government by the people.” The words of La Follette Wnd an almost perfect echo in those of Bill Moyers, which we published ninety-Wve years later. Similarly, La Follette’s statements denouncing the crackdown on civil liberties in 1917 recall those of Senator Russ Feingold in December 2001. As we’ve pored over every single issue published by this magazine over the past 100 years, we’ve been amazed at all the echoes—the continuity of concern that represents itself year after year, decade after decade. The themes ring out: Combating corporate power Championing civil liberties Rallying for women’s rights and civil rights and human rights and labor rights Opposing war and empire 3 Preserving our environment Defending a truly independent media Reforming criminal justice Building a sturdy safety net for all Americans Democratizing our democracy As La Follette himself put it, “The real cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy.” And we’ve achieved some more democracy over the last 100 years. Women gained the right to vote and reproductive freedom. The labor movement won the right to strike, the eight-hour day, the minimum wage, and an end to child labor. The civil rights movement interred Jim Crow. The gay rights movement, against long odds, asserted itself and made extraordinary progress toward equality over the last four decades. Unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation, along with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, have provided at least some cushion for people tossed hither and yon by capitalism and bad luck. The regulatory apparatus, established early in the Progressive years and strengthened during the 1960s and 1970s, created at least a sca¤olding for holding business accountable. And the environmental movement, which began with Teddy Roosevelt and rose again with Gaylord Nelson and a myriad of activists, marches on today. Yet there are many things that remain to be achieved. It is disconcerting to read about the need for universal health care—back in 1917. It is eerie to stumble upon an article demanding an end to the corrupting inXuence of money in politics—dated 1909. It is frustrating to read article after article against the death penalty, starting with Leo Tolstoy’s in 1910. And it is amazing to see, time and time again, how our presidents continue to wage war “without authority from Congress” and “based on a Ximsy pretext”—as The Progressive editorialized back in 1927.  The magazine has always been woefully undercapitalized, and the demands of running the publication, on top of his senatorial duties, took a toll on La Follette. “La Follette loved his magazine,” writes Nancy C. Unger in her biography, Fighting Bob La Follette. “He refused to acknowledge it as a perpetual drain either politically or personally, and willingly made up its deWcits out of the family’s Wnances.” Over time, things did not get easier. On October 6, 1947, the headline on the cover of The Progressive read: “The End of The Progressive.” Written by then-editor Morris H. Rubin, the notice began: “This is the last issue of the present Progressive. . . . For years we have...

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