The Messenger. Vol. 6 No. 10. October, 1924.

Contents: These ‘Colored’ United States. No. 17— Kentucky : Janus Bifrons by J. Everett Harris, Old School of Negro “Critics” and Dunbar by Thomas Millard Henry, Editorials, Shafts and Darts by George S. Schuyler and Theophilus Lewis, Dr. Eugene Curry Nelson by Chandler Owen, Walter F. White’s “Fire in the Flint” Reviewed by Robert W. Bagnall, Upton Sinclair’s “The Goose Step” and “The Goslings” Reviewed by George S. Schuyler, Theatre by Theophilus Lewis, The Political Situation and the Negro by A. Philip Randolph, Critical Excursions and Reflections by J. A. Rogers.

The Messenger was founded and published in New York City by A. Phillip Randolph and Chandler Owen in 1917 after they both joined the Socialist Party of America. The Messenger opposed World War I, conscription and supported the Bolshevik Revolution, though it remained loyal to the Socialist Party when the left split in 1919. It sought to promote a labor-orientated Black leadership, “New Crowd Negroes,” as explicitly opposed to the positions of both WEB DuBois and Booker T Washington at the time. Both Owen and Randolph were arrested under the Espionage Act in an attempt to disrupt The Messenger. Eventually, The Messenger became less political and more trade union focused. After the departure of and Owen, the focus again shifted to arts and culture. The Messenger ceased publishing in 1928. Its early issues contain invaluable articles on the early Black left.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/messenger/v6n10-oct-1924-Messenger-riaz-toon-pgs-added.pdf