Why the Messenger?

Why have we have chosen to call the our newspaper the Messenger? The name Messenger has a history. A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen were two black radical activists starting early in the 20th century. They got their start publishing a newspaper here in Harlem called the Messenger. In the 19-teens and the 1920s, Randolph and Owen were socialists who supported the Russian revolution and actively supported the militant working class movement in the US. Randolph had a long career as leader of the Sleeping Car Porters’ Union, fighting against racial exclusion and discrimination in the American Federation of Labor (AFL). From the 1930s to the 1950s though, he devoted a great deal of energy to criticizing and organizing against the Communist Party’s efforts in the Black community.

Despite Randolph’s later anti-communism, we chose the name Messenger in the spirit of Randolph’s earlier pro-socialist working class politics. Most importantly, we chose the name because Randolph was a student at City College when he was first exposed to Marxism and got involved in radical politics. We seek to carry on that tradition of exposing City College students in Harlem to critical thinking and left-wing activist politics.