Archaeology of Ideology: Computational Analysis of The Masses (1910s) and the Lyrical Left's Socio-Political Discourse in Historical Context

Abstract

The Masses, a pivotal early 20th-century periodical, offers a unique archaeological lens into the socio-political discourse of the lyrical left in Greenwich Village during the 1910s. Employing a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model alongside Word2Vec, this study dissects an 884-article corpus to uncover the primary concerns of this avant-garde collective. Our analysis reveals that themes such as socialism, class struggle, feminism, and the Great War were central, reflecting a dynamic engagement with contemporary historical events. Through close readings of Dell’s Moon-Calf and Untermeyer’s Challenge, we elucidate how The Masses not only served as a crucible for radical ideas but also shaped the literary and political identities of its contributors. This paper transforms the "dusty" periodical heritage into a vibrant "object of knowledge," demonstrating the interplay between ideological evolution and literary expression in early 20th-century America.