Throughout the magazine's tenure, Randolph and Owen encountered several setbacks due to their controversial magazine, including:
Conflict over socialism After they were dismissed from the hotel they moved into a nearby office at 513 Lenox Avenue. With the patronage of Randolph's wife Lucille, they launched The Messenger. The first issue cost 15 cents (its price would never change) and ran the mission statement written by Randolph and Owen: "Our aim is to appeal to reason, to lift our pens above the cringing demagogy of the times, and above the cheap peanut politics of the old reactionary Negro leaders. [This was a reference to Booker T. Washington, who promoted rural skills and compromise at Tuskegee Institute.] Patriotism has no appeal to us; justice has. Party has no weight with us; principle has. Loyalty is meaningless; it depends on what one is loyal to. Prayer is not one of our remedies; it depends on what one is praying for. We consider prayer as nothing more than a fervent wish; consequently the merit and worth of a prayer depend upon what the fervent wish is". Declaring that "with us, economics and politics take precedence to music and art", the magazine's first two years were primarily devoted to advocating black labor unionism and socialism, and denouncing the War and its effects on black Americans. The magazine attacked President Woodrow Wilson's call to make "the world safe for democracy", when the black community was at risk in the U.S. Since the late 19th century, it had suffered a high rate of lynchings and violence in the South. At the turn of the century, most blacks were disenfranchised by changes in state law across the region that raised barriers to voter registration. They were excluded from the political system. The editors of the Messenger also criticized major northern black figures such as
W. E. B. Du Bois, who was pro-war at the time, and
Marcus Garvey, an activist from Jamaica. They believed that Garvey's program to "repatriate" native-born American black citizens to Africa was illogical and far fetched. Chandler Owens and A. Philip Randolph coined themselves “New Crowd Negroes”. Lacking a Patriotic connection towards their country their stance on Patriotism was “Patriotism has no appeal to us”. During this time the “New Negro” merged into society. At the time the U.S. Department of Justice described
The Messenger as “the most able and the most dangerous publications of its time”. The Journal heavily supported the Socialist Party, then moved toward a less radical approach and unionizing black workers. Competing black African American magazines included Fire!! (An unusual magazine) and Opportunity (celebrated black culture) within the 1920s. These journals often had an overlap with the same writers in the magazines such as popular figures such as
Zora Neale Hurtson and
Langston Hughes. Declaring that "with us, economics and politics take precedence to music and art", the magazine's first two years were primarily devoted to advocating black labor unionism and socialism, and denouncing the War and its effects on black Americans. The magazine attacked President
Woodrow Wilson's call to make "the world safe for democracy", when the black community was at risk in the U.S.: since the late 19th century, it had suffered a high rate of lynchings and violence in the South, and at the turn of the century most blacks were excluded from the political system and
disenfranchised by changes in state law across the region that raised barriers to voter registration. The editors of the
Messenger also criticized major northern black figures such as
W. E. B. Du Bois, who was pro-war at the time, and
Marcus Garvey, an activist from
Jamaica. They believed that Garvey's program to "repatriate" native-born American black citizens to Africa was illogical and far fetched.
Issues with the Justice Department The
Messenger declared:"No intelligent Negro is willing to lay down his life for the United States as it now exists. Intelligent Negroes have now reached the point where their support of the country is conditional". Such statements led to
Justice Department agents ransacking the
Messenger's editorial office in the dead of night, breaking furniture and confiscating back issues. Randolph and Owen conducted a public speaking tour against the war, appearing in
Chicago and
Cleveland, while selling copies of their fiery July 1918 issue. Reaching Cleveland on 4 August, Randolph and Owen took turns addressing the mass meeting gathered by the city's Socialist Party leader
Walter Bronstrup. He sold issues of the
Messenger in the crowd until an undercover Justice Department official bought an issue and broke up the meeting. The DOJ official pulled Randolph from the stage, arrested him and Owen, and held them the following day for investigation. Randolph and Owen were held for trial under charges of violating the
Espionage Act by: "unlawfully, knowingly and feloniously, the United States being then and there at war with the
Imperial German Government, willfully print and cause to be printed, publish and cause to be published, circulated, in a certain language intended to incite, provoke and incur resistance to the United States and to promote the cause of its enemies in a certain publication known as the
Messenger.” Socialism failed to attract followers in Harlem. By February 1920 the
Messenger identified as "A Journal of Scientific Radicalism;” in June 1923, it billed itself as "The World’s Greatest Negro Monthly". It published increasing amounts of poetry, stories, and other work of Harlem intellectuals as the area became the center for black culture. After two days in jail, the two men were brought to trial. The judge, looking at the two men and what they had written, said that he could not believe they were old enough, or, being black, smart enough to write that "red-hot stuff". He did not doubt that they were being used by white socialists who had written the editorials for them. He said there would be no trial and ordered Randolph and Owen returned to their parents' homes; telling them to leave town quickly. The men continued their tour. When they returned to New York, they learned that the
Postmaster General Albert Burleson had denied second-class mailing privileges to their magazine because of its content. == Impact within the Harlem Renaissance ==