Exact Editions is delighted to announce that individuals and institutions can now purchase a subscription to the digital edition of The Progressive. Subscribers will have access to recent back issues going back to 2019 as well as new issues published six times a year. 

Since 1909, The Progressive has aimed to amplify voices of dissent and those under-represented in the mainstream, with a goal of championing grassroots progressive politics. The bi-monthly magazine’s bedrock values are nonviolence and freedom of speech.

Based in Madison, Wisconsin, The Progressive publishes on national politics, culture, and events including U.S. foreign policy, also focussing on issues of particular importance to the heartland. Two flagship projects of The Progressive include Public Schools Advocate, which covers efforts to resist the privatisation of public education in the US, and Progressive Perspectives, a nonprofit organisation aiming to diversify op-ed pages in the US.

The Progressive’s History

The Progressive was founded on January 9th, 1909 by Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. of Wisconsin, aiming to document the work of those resisting corruption and working to protect representative government. The Progressive’s first editor, Belle Case La Follette, a women’s suffrage, peace, and civil rights activist, dedicated the magazine, originally titled La Follette’s Weekly, to “winning back for the people the complete power over government — national, state, and municipal — which has been lost to them.”

The La Follettes dedicated the pages of the magazine to exposing and attacking private greed in the form of corporate monopolies that hoarded power, championing the public interest, and seeking social and economic justice. A lone advocate for peace among U.S. Senators, Bob La Follette urged the United States not to entangle itself in foreign wars.

First editor, Belle Case La Follette. After the death of her husband in 1925, she vowed, “The magazine will go on.

Over the years, The Progressive has had features from multiple writers including: Wendell Berry, Edwidge Danticat, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jim Hightower, Eduardo Galeano, Luis Rodriguez, Terry Tempest Williams, and Dave Zirin as well as publishing original work from poets such as: Adrienne Rich, Martín Espada, C.K. Williams, and Rita Dove.

The Progressive has also had interviews with prominant figures in the past include Howard Dean, Ani DiFranco, Steve Earle, Janeane Garofalo, Danny Glover, Amy Goodman, Mikhail Gorbachev, Seymour Hersh, Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Barack Obama, Michael Pollan, Robert Redford, Martin Sheen, Joseph Stiglitz, Helen Thomas, Alice Walker, and Elizabeth Warren.

Readers to the digital edition of The Progressive on the Exact Editions platform will find all back issues included in the archive are fully searchable and any keyword can be searched across a single issue or year. Accessible cross-platform on the web, Android and iOS devices, subscribers can navigate and explore back and upcoming issues of The Progressive at ease and continue to learn as well as keep up to date on US politics and events. 

For institutions interested in requesting a free trial of The Progressive, please click here.

Individuals can purchase an annual or quarterly subscription by clicking here.