About this newsletter
This is the archive of The Prairie Progressive Newsletter (ISSN 2832-5435 (Print); ISSN 2832-5443 (Online)). All issues since 2017 are posted at www.theprairieprogressive.com.
In July of 1985, University of Iowa history professor Jeff Cox mimeographed and stapled the first issue of The Democratic Socialists of America Iowa Newsletter. By Labor Day of 1986, the four-page broadside was reborn as The Prairie Progressive, A Newsletter for Iowa’s Democratic Left. It has continued since then, co-edited by Cox (until his death in February 2020) and Dave Leshtz, often featuring opinion columns by the elusive Prairie Dog, a highly socialized species known for alerting its tight-knit community to danger.
The mission has remained the same for years:
- To promote “the left of the possible” in local politics
- To supply ammunition for readers to strengthen their arguments
- To challenge readers to envision more inclusive government processes and progressive policies
- To support the United States Postal Service and its union letter carriers through printed newsletters delivered to subscribers’ mailboxes
- To provide a platform for young activist writers
- Whenever possible, to make people laugh
- To inspire people to action
It is available in print through a small donation to cover costs.
The issue photograph was taken by Wendy C Robertson on 15 August 2021 in Hickory Hill Park, Iowa City. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
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Archiving and Preservation Status
The Prairie Progressive is preserved in the Internet Archive.
Sponsors
The Prairie Progressive is hosted by the University of Iowa Libraries as part of the University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections, MsC1185.