Founded by activists, socialists, communists, and those active in the labor movement in the early 1900s, the current publication is a result of a merger between the Daily World[2] and the West Coast weekly paper People's Daily World in 1987.

People's World traces its lineage to the Daily Worker newspaper, founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists in Chicago in 1924.

On the front page of its first edition, the paper declared that "big business interests, bankers, merchant princes, landlords, and other profiteers" should fear the Daily Worker.

[4] Its founder, Harrison George, started People's Daily World in San Francisco after he raised $33,000 from supporters in California.

[9] People's World is funded by its supporters and published by a small staff, and a network of volunteers.