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Chronicling America
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Newspaper El Internacional (Tampa, Fla.) 1937-19??

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About El Internacional (Tampa, Fla.) 1937-19??

El Internacional was a labor paper from Ybor City, Tampa, Florida dedicated to supporting worker solidarity and unionization efforts in the first half of the twentieth century. It was the official local paper of the Unión Internacional de Tabaqueros (Cigar Maker’s International Union) and published in the Centro Obrero, also called the Labor Temple, in Ybor from 1904 until at least 1948 by local workers. Dedicated to the “propaganda de la organización obrera” (“labor organization propaganda”), El Internacional‘s position was clearly pro-union, pro-labor, and anti-capitalist, driven by the interests of union members and tobacco workers in Tampa.

El Internacional was the longest running labor paper in Tampa; however, the paper experienced several interruptions due to economic depressions and union reorganizations over this time. Its longest break was from 1928 to 1933. It also went on hiatus in December 1904 and September 1906. Additionally, the paper experienced a change in name from 1936 to 1937 when it published under the name Boletin de el Internacional.

For most of its run, El Internacional was a four-page weekly paper published on Fridays. It was occasionally six pages early in its history and later expanded to eight pages from 1939 to 1941 and again in 1946. It was published biweekly from late 1933 to early 1934 and in 1944. It was published monthly in 1937 and from 1945 to 1948. Over its more than 40-year run, El Internacional ranged from three to eight columns. In 1938, it was measured at 14 by 20 inches.

El Internacional was produced by and for a diverse community of immigrant workers, mostly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. The paper was predominantly in Spanish but was bilingual in Spanish and Italian from 1904-1910 and regularly trilingual in Spanish, English, and Italian in 1910 and 1921. The paper became progressively more bilingual in Spanish and English from 1916 onwards. By 1920, English content had expanded to a specially marked “English Section,” and by 1941, the last page of the paper appeared as an English front page, including a translated title and masthead. In 1946, when the paper expanded to eight pages, the last four were usually exclusively English.

As the cigar industry declined in Tampa, so did the Cigarmakers’ International Union and El Internacional. The decrease in union membership resulted in the decline in the paper’s readership. Subscription numbers for El Internacional are occasionally printed in the paper, ranging from a peak of 10,000 subscribers from 1910 to 1911 to a low of 2,000 from 1913 to 1914 and remaining at 5,000 from 1914 to 1915 and from 1938 to 1940.

El Internacional predominantly covered local union news. It regularly published meeting times, union lists and finances, information and editorials about local strikes, and investigations and findings concerning working conditions and changes in the industry. It frequently published editorials on the labor situation in Tampa and universal workers’ organization. It also published notices of cultural and community events sponsored by the social clubs and mutual aid societies in Ybor City, which were closely tied to tobacco workers and their unions. This section grew into the regular “Eventos Sociales” section.

In addition to local news, El Internacional also carried state and federal news concerning the tobacco industry and workers’ rights as well as international political news, particularly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy, including reprints of articles from Cuban and Spanish newspapers and magazines. The paper took a clearly anti-fascist stance on the Spanish Civil War, the rise of Mussolini, and coups and dictatorships in Cuba. Apart from political and labor news, the paper also published literary and scientific articles and Spanish-language poetry, especially patriotic poems supporting Cuban independence. Local English news and state labor news were often translated and reprinted in El Internacional. In later years, El Internacional also published untranslated articles in English from other tobacco union publications. In 1939, the paper began regularly publishing political cartoons and occasional recipes in English.

El Internacional‘s content reflects a unique reading culture prevalent in the cigar factories of Cuba and Florida. Newspapers like El Internacional were primarily read aloud in the cigar factories by lectores, or readers, until the 1930s. Lectores often compiled and translated news from different, multilingual sources. Cigar workers voted on what was to be read to them and paid lectores themselves. Tobacco labor newspapers like El Internacional and other newspapers from early twentieth-century Ybor such as El Federal, Boletin Obrero, and La Gaceta reflect workers’ interest in local labor organization, political news from their homelands, theories of labor and economics, and Spanish-language literature.

Provided By: University of Florida

About this Newspaper

Title

  • El Internacional (Tampa, Fla.) 1937-19??

Names

  • Cigar Makers' International Union of America

Dates of Publication

  • 1937-19??

Created / Published

  • Tampa, Fla. : Joint Advisory Board, 1937-
  • Tampa, Fla. : Comité Consultivo Conjunto

Headings

  • -  Cigar makers--Florida--Newspapers
  • -  Cubans--Florida--Newspapers
  • -  Hispanic Americans--Florida--Newspapers
  • -  Tobacco workers--Labor unions--Florida--Newspapers
  • -  Tampa (Fla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Ybor City (Tampa, Fla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Hillsborough County (Fla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Cigariers--Floride
  • -  Cubains--Floride--Journaux
  • -  Américains d'origine latino-américaine--Floride--Journaux
  • -  Travailleurs du tabac--Syndicats--Floride
  • -  Cigar makers
  • -  Cubans
  • -  Hispanic Americans
  • -  Tobacco workers--Labor unions
  • -  Florida
  • -  Florida--Hillsborough County
  • -  Florida--Tampa
  • -  Florida--Tampa--Ybor City
  • -  United States--Florida--Hillsborough--Tampa
  • -  United States--Florida--Hillsborough--Ybor City

Genre

  • Newspapers
  • Hispanic American newspapers

Notes

  • -  Monthly, jun. 28, 1946-
  • -  Began in jun. de 1937.
  • -  Published at the Labor Temple (Centro Obrero).
  • -  Subtitle: "Boletin", sept. 18, 1943-abr. 29 de 1944.
  • -  Editor(s): Pedro Ramírez Moya, jun. <18> de 1937-sept. 23 de 1938; G. del Valle, nov. 4 de 1938-enero 20 de 1939; Pedro Ramírez Moya, enero 27 de 1939-enero 31 de 1941; Vicente Fraga, Louis Díaz, José Abad, feb. 28-abr. 18 de 1941; Manuel García, Luis Díaz, abr. 25-mayo 30 de 1941; Francisco Diez, jun. 6-20 de 1941; Francisco Barcena, Director, jun. 6 de 1941-agosto 21, 1942.
  • -  Frequency printed as weekly, but issued on biweekly basis, marzo 13-agosto 21 de 1942.
  • -  Publication suspended between: año 6, no. 52 (agosto 21, 1942) and año 7, no. 1 (sept. 18, 1943); año 7, no. 24 (abr. 29 de 1944) and año 7, no. 25 (sept. 12, 1944).
  • -  Issues for: nov.-dic. 1948, both numbered año 9, no. 28.
  • -  Issues for: agosto 1947-jul. 1948 called año 9, no. 14-25, but constitute año 10; agosto-dic. 1948 called año 9, no. 26-[29], but constitute año 11, no. 1-4.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  In Spanish and English.
  • -  "Official journal of the Joint Advisory Board, Cigar Makers International Union of America", jun. <18>-dic. 24 de 1937; "Official organ of the local unions of Tampa, Cigarmakers' International Union of America", dic. 31 de 1937-feb. 18 de 1938; "Official journal of the local unions of Tampa, Cigarmakers' International Union of America", feb. 25, 1938-
  • -  Año 2, núm. 9 (jun. 18 de 1937).
  • -  Año 9, núm. 28 (dic. 17, 1948).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper
  • AN2.F6.T36 I58
  • HD8039.C542U6 I58

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn95047438

OCLC Number

  • 33964783

ISSN Number

  • 2575-2324

Preceding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

El Internacional Tampa, Fla. -19??. (Tampa, FL), Jan. 1 1937. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95047438/.

APA citation style:

(1937, January 1) El Internacional Tampa, Fla. -19??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95047438/.

MLA citation style:

El Internacional Tampa, Fla. -19??. (Tampa, FL) 1 Jan. 1937. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95047438/.