Ohio Socialist, June 1917

June 1917 issue of 'The Ohio Socialist,' a monthly publication from the State Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of Ohio. It was printed in Lakewood, Ohio, and later in Cleveland. This paper began with Issue No. 1 as a monthly publication, and continued through No. 94, published November 19, 1919. Over time, the paper was published on a semi-monthly and later weekly schedule, and had a circulation of more than 4,000 by the fall of 1917. 'The Ohio Socialist' was succeeded by a weekly paper titled 'The Toiler,' which ran through 1922. Both newspapers were predecessors to the national Communist newspaper 'The Daily Worker.' Many prominent members of the Socialist Party of Ohio contributed to the paper, including Charles Ruthenberg, secretary for the Cleveland branch of the party, who would go on to found the Communist Party of America (now CPUSA) in 1919; Alfred Wagenknecht, state secretary who was also involved with the Communist Labor Party and CPUSA; and Charles Baker, a member of the State Executive Committee who was charged (alongside Ruthenberg and Wagenknecht) with violating the Espionage Act in Ohio in 1917, following a rally critical of U.S. participation in World War I