Free World (magazine)

Free World
EditorLouis Dolivet (Ludovic Brecher)
CategoriesNews magazine
FrequencyMonthly
PublisherThe Free World Association
First issueOctober 1941 (1941-October)
Final issueDecember 1946
CompanyFree World, Inc.
Based inNew York City
LanguageEnglish

Free World (1941–1946) was the monthly magazine of the International Free World Association, published by Free World, Inc. in New York City.[1] It was edited by "Louis Dolivet," an émigré writer, film producer, and alleged Soviet spy born in Romania as Ludovici Udeanu with French citizenship under the alias Ludovic Brecher.[2] Free World was militantly anti-Fascist, articulating the perspective of left-liberal Popular Front intellectuals and international political figures who supported the Allies in World War II and championed the creation of the United Nations as a successor to the failed post-World War I League of Nations.

Alongside academics and journalists from the United States, Britain, Canada, and Mexico, Free World prominently featured the voices of anti-Axis Chinese nationalists as well as exiled leaders from Spain, Italy, France, elsewhere in Europe, Brazil, Chile, and elsewhere in Latin America. An anonymous "Underground Reporter" gave regular updates on the activities of the Free French and other elements of the European resistance. The magazine's editorial position was fundamentally supportive of Soviet foreign policy, usually although not always in a subtle manner.[3] In this respect Free World was related to publications like The Week (1933–1941), a newsletter used by British journalist and Comintern agent Claud Cockburn to wage a disinformation campaign against Nancy Astor's notorious pro-Nazi 'Cliveden set.'

Similar to other left-liberal journals of its era, Free World combined international political analysis, book reviews, and artwork along with occasional fiction and poetry. Freda Kirchwey and others at The Nation had links to Free World, as did Michael Straight and Henry Wallace of The New Republic. It featured contributions from some on the anti-Stalinist left who later became associated with cold war liberalism, and it bore a resemblance to influential journals associated with the New York intellectuals, including The New Leader, Partisan Review, Common Sense, and Commentary (which began in 1945, followed by The Reporter (1949), Encounter (1953), and Dissent (1954)).

Starting with its first issue, Free World was billed as "A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Democracy and World Affairs." The month prior to the opening of the United Nations Conference on International Organization in April 1945, the Free World tagline was changed to "A Non-Partisan Magazine Devoted to the United Nations and Democracy." In October 1945, as the UN Charter went into effect, it became simply "A Monthly Magazine for the United Nations." Despite this title, and the extensive involvement of many editors and writers in the establishment of the new international organization, Free World was never formally connected with the United Nations.

Attracting ministers and diplomats from across the nearly fifty original UN Member States, by the start of 1946 Free World published in eight different editions in four languages: American, Mexican, French, Chilean, Chinese, Greek, Puerto Rican, and Uruguayan; Russian, Swedish, Czechoslovakian, Italian, Arabic, and British editions were "in preparation" throughout the last year of publication. Following the final issue of Free World in December 1946, Dolivet launched a new magazine called United Nations World, its first issue appearing in February 1947 (if not earlier). He abandoned that venture in 1950, having returned to France in 1949 and subsequently being banned from reentering the United States upon suspicion of having ties to Communism. United Nations World lasted under different editorship until 1953.[4]

  1. ^ Housed initially near Times Square at 55 West 42nd St. across from Bryant Park, in 1943 Free World, Inc. moved around the corner to 8 West 40th St., directly opposite the main branch of the New York Public Library. The following year it moved for long term to 144 Bleeker St. in Greenwich Village, two blocks from Washington Square Park.
  2. ^ (See the section on Dolivet/Brecher at the end of this article).
  3. ^ For instance, see: Irving Bryant's "We Must Live With Soviet Russia," November 1943. He argued for a "need to recognize the simple fact that after this war Russia will occupy as dominant a position as a land power in Europe as the United States does in North America. If they choose to do so the Soviets will be able to conquer and annex other European countries as easily as we could conquer and annex Canada and Mexico. Any attempt to make this impossible would merely compel Russia to take forcible possession of other parts of Europe...
    Once this fundamental truth is realized it will be seen that those who believe the Soviet Union desires to live in peace with the rest of the world, and those who fear what the Russians will do with their new strength, should support exactly the same policy. Both should oppose the setting up of a cordon of anti-Soviet states across Europe. Both should avoid fostering the fascist, and therefore anti-Soviet, states in the rest of Europe."
  4. ^ See: Joseph Preston Baratta, The Politics of World Federation: United Nations, UN Reform, Atomic Control (Westport, Ct: Praeger Publishers, 2004, 240) – refer to footnotes; and "The Press: Brave New World," Time, November 9, 1953.