Alexander Hughes
commitment to race and class radicalism. The book, initially running at 5,000 copies, sold in its entirety. Several copies made it as far as Russia where contemporary socialist radical Claude McKay, a close friend of Harrison, read the text during his time working with the Soviet government.23 Through a diverse set of written works, Harrison’s reached a large and varied reading audience. Before becoming involved in the Socialist Party, Harrison worked as a postal clerk until 1911. Harrison believed he was fired because Booker T. Washington’s “Tuskegee Machine” forced his termination after Harrison published two critical letters in the New York Sun.24 If so, Harrison’s dismissal likely involved Washington’s assistant, Charles William Anderson. He wrote in a letter to Washington, “Please destroy this [letter] … I will attend to Harrison. If he escapes me, he is a dandy.”25 Fortunately for students of history, Washington did not destroy the letter. The altercation suggests Harrison’s capacity for drawing negative attention from prominent African-American leaders who feared his ability to sway public opinion. It seems the goal for Washington and Anderson was to make it difficult for Harrison to provide for himself, and thus less of a threat. As a result of losing his job, Harrison desperately needed another means of providing for his family, especially if he was going to maintain a comparable level of civic involvement. Harrison next found work with the Socialist Party of the United States. Although he was an ideological socialist for most of his life, Harrison was directly involved with the Party for only a few years. From 1911 to 1914, Harrison actively worked as the leading black Socialist Party organizer in New York.26 Harrison struggled for years with the Party for the “need of socialist propaganda” directed toward African Americans. Black Socialists numbered only in the thousands, and Harrison thought more available information would help swell their ranks. Harrison’s efforts coincided
[26] The University of Oregon McNair Research Journal