The Forward
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The Forward is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. It was founded in 1897 as a daily newspaper in Yiddish (פֿאָרװערטס; Forverts) by Abraham Cahan. By the 1930s, the Forward was a leading U.S. metropolitan daily with considerable influence and a nationwide circulation of more than 275,000. However, by 1950, this had already dropped to 47,479.
Today, the Forward is a weekly news magazine now published in two language versions, Yiddish, and English. Each version is effectively an independent publication with its own contents. There was for a few years a Russian edition as well.
Early on, the Forward defended trade unionism and moderate, democratic socialism. The paper was a significant participant in the activities of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union; Benjamin Schlesinger, a former president of the ILGWU, became the General Manager of the paper in 1923, then returned to the Presidency of the union in 1928. The paper was also an early supporter of David Dubinsky, Schlesinger's eventual successor.
As the influence of the Socialist Party in both American politics and in the Jewish community waned, the paper joined the American liberal mainstream though it maintained a social democratic orientation. The English version has some standing in the Jewish community as an outlet of liberal policy analysis.
Following decades of steady decline, the Yiddish version has recently enjoyed a modest revival as courses in the language have become more popular among university students; circulation has leveled out at about 3,000. The current editor of the Yiddish version is Boris Sandler, a Moldovan who is also one of the most significant contemporary writers in Yiddish.
The website of the Forward describes the formation of its Russian edition [1], "In the fall of 1995 a Russian-language edition of the Forward was launched, under the editorship of Vladimir "Velvl" Yedidowich. The decision to launch a Russian Forward in the crowded market of Russian-language journalism in New York followed approaches to the Forward Association by a number of intellectual leaders in the fast-growing émigré community who expressed an interest in adding a voice that was strongly Jewish, yet with a secular, social-democratic orientation and an appreciation for the cultural dimension of Jewish life."
The Russian edition was sold in 2004, although it kept the name. See for instance this item in The Village Voice: [2] Around the same time, the Forward Association also sold off its interest in WEVD to the Disney Company's sports division ESPN.
For a period in the 1990s, conservatives came to the fore of the English edition of the paper, but the break from tradition didn't last. A number of conservatives dismissed from The Forward later helped to found the modern New York Sun.
The most well-known writer in The Forward was Isaac Bashevis Singer, who received the Nobel Prize in literature although other well known Socialist literary and political figures, such as Leon Trotsky and Morris Winchevsky have also written for The Forward at various points.
- See also: Media of New York City
[edit] External links
- The English edition of the Forward
- The Yiddish edition of the Forward
- The Russian edition of the Forward (Forverts)
- Information on the website of the folks who purchased the Russian edition of the Forward
Categories: Foreign-language newspapers published in the United States | Weekly newspapers published in the United States | Jewish American history | Jewish newspapers | Jews and Judaism in New York City | New York City newspapers | Newspapers published in New York | Yiddish literature | Yiddish periodicals
