Negro Labor News Service was a publication which sought to present news from a socialistic and racial point of view.  While not revolutionary, the paper advocated social and economic restructuring that would seem extreme to contemporaries.   

     One of the main luminaries behind the paper was Frank Crosswaith, a political activist and also a major African-American voice.  A Caribbean immigrant, Crosswaith eagerly took to the politics of his adopted land as an advocate for greater equality and democracy.  His political outlook favored a fusion of labor and socialist parties.  However, he was opposed to communism, which he considered to be "a stumbling block in [the socialists'] campaign to organize the Negro population of the United States." 

     Crosswaith, besides acting as an advocate on social issues, also sough to act within politics.  He for several positions in government, including Secretary of State with Norman Thomas, Congressman, Lieutenant Governor, New York City Council, and the President of the Board of Aldermen.  Additionally, he authored The Negro and Socialism. 

     Other important contributors were Earl Lawson Sydnor, a Black Bostonian poet and James Oneal, an historian and author who wrote The Next Emancipation. 

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• November 30, 1929
       This week's newsletter addresses the discrimination that exists in the labor movement towards Negro workers and calls for solidarity in labor struggles. 
  




• January 3, 1931
       This edition examines the significance of the year 1930 in light of the quest for social and economic justice and the hope that 1931 holds. 
  




• January 10, 1931
       This week, Frank Crosswaith attacks an unnamed criticizer and the spending of money for defense against poison gas. 
  
  

• January 17, 1931
       In this edition, the author criticizes the Secretary of State Stimson for lecturing Liberia on slavery.
  
  

• January 24, 1931
       Crosswaith notes an article by R.L. Buell which discusses the connection between the Firestone Rubber Company and the institution of slavery in Liberia. 
  
  

• February 7, 1931
       The newsletter this week proposes public ownership of the means of production to solve the increasing problem of unemployment.  Also addressed is a national tour by Frank R. Crosswaith and a proposed ban on racial discrimination by insurance companies.  
  
  

• February 14, 1931
       This edition again focuses on the need for socialistic methods to assuage the problem of unemployment and also announces the availability of Frank Crosswaith for labor organizing in the western states. 
  
  

• February 28, 1931
       This week, Crosswaith calls for a new history that does not serve as the tool of the ruling class, but instead recognizes the contribution of the common men and women who do the work of maintaining civilization.  There is also a story concerning the American occupation of Haiti. 
  
  

• March 14, 1931
       The newsletter this week reviews a book by Dr. John Hill entitled Negro--National Asset or Liability, which is well-received, but with qualifications.  There is also a section by James Oneal which attacks the division of the working class by race or religion and argues in favor of a unified front against the ruling class. 
  
  

• March 21, 1931
       Earl Lawson Sydnor discusses the necessity of uniting Negroes around a progressive political agenda to win control of the resources of the nation.  The newsletter also describes Crosswaith's tour through Ohio. 
  
  

• March 28, 1931
       Crosswaith reviews Negro Membership in American Labor Unions, which details the discrimination that Negro workers have received in labor organizations. 
  
  

• April 4, 1931
       This week is the first installment of a series by James Oneal named The Next Emancipation.  The newsletter focuses on the similarities between the experience of white workers and black workers, describing both as "slaves" of the master classes.  The problem, for Crosswaith, is not based on superficial divisions of race or creed, but is based on the need for cheap labor. 
  
  

• April 11, 1931
      The second installment deals with the inherent inequality of the capitalist system, because of the wage labor system. 
  
  

• April 18, 1931
       The third installment of the series by James Oneal deals with the incapability of reformist solutions, such as Booker T. Washington's plan to create black capitalists, to solve the fundamental problem of inequality.  An account of discrimination against Frank Crosswaith in a restaurant is also included. 
  
  

•  April 25, 1931
       This week, the fourth installment dwells on Marcus Garvey's plan to create an "Africa for the Africans."  The result, according to Oneal, would simply be the substitution of black capitalism for white capitalism, with no change in substance. 
  
  

• May 2, 1931
       The result of creating an "Africa for the Africans," according to Oneal, would be nothing more than a Negro imperialism, with the same exploitation by the ruling class.  He also compares the plight of Negro workers with that of the Irish in an earlier stage of American history and offering this lesson as a message of hope.
  
  

• May 9, 1931
       This sixth installment calls upon Negro and white workers to recognize the true source of their common poverty and work towards social equality.
  
  

• May 23, 1931
      The eight installment begins by dealing with the Republican abandonment of the goal of social equality.  This results from the growing common interests of the ruling classes of the North and South, against which both black and white workers must unite. 
  
  

• May 29, 1931
       The final installment by James Oneal deals with the injustice of capitalist control over the lives of millions of workers.  As a result of capitalist domination of the two major parties, the only alternative for the working class is the Socialist Party. 
  
  

• June 6, 1931
       The question of the Negro and his relation to socialism is discussed by Crosswaith, as well as the Republican abandonment of the interests of blacks and the working class. 
  
  

•  June 13, 1931
       Crosswaith begins this week by contending that only the Socialist Party can adequately represent the interests of the working class and thereby fulfill the promise of democracy.  The "good faith" of the Socialist Party is evidenced by its attacks on racial discrimination and its promotion of anti-lynching laws. 
  
  

• June 20, 1931
       This week, the discussion centers upon the Scottsboro boys and the "legal lynchers" who seek their death.  Crosswaith asserts that the only way to combat the ignorance and hatred that leads to lynching is the abolition of capitalism. 
  
  

• July 11, 1931
       Crosswaith reviews a book entitled The Black Worker, which he praises with the exception of two chapters which are critical of the Socialist Party and himself.    
  
  

• August 1, 1931
       The impossibility of effective reforms within the capitalist system is again stressed as Crosswaith makes a case for producing for use rather than producing for profit. 
  
  

•  August 8, 1931
       Arthur Parker discusses the discrimination that is faced by colored Americans and the findings of the Wickersham report, which praises socialist-led Milwaukee for its lack of crime.  He also proposes the nationalization of the railroad industry and its operation for the public good. 
  
  

•  August 15, 1931
       R.L. Miller notes the particular problems that Negroes face in the contemporary depression and proposes socialist solutions.
  
  

• August 22, 1931
       Arthur Parker begins by detailing the inequality exhibited in war and the difference between the vaunted glory of war and the squalid truth.  Other topics include a recent conference proposed by William Green to discuss the unemployment problem, the cost of elections, the Ku Klux Klan, and the bankruptcy of the National Benefit Insurance Company. 
  
  

• August 29, 1931
       This week, Arthur Parker discusses a lynching, the inhumane methods of extracting confessions from potential aliens, the violence used by authorities in Chicago, and the support that the United States government gives to exploitation of Latin America. 
  
  

•  September 5, 1931
       This week, Parker attacks the hypocrisy of the Hoover administration in destroying goods to deal with "overproduction."  He also reviews a sermon which emphasizes supplying the economic needs of the people, the injustice faced by the Filipinos in California, and the Georgian requirement to work on the roads in return for receiving aid. 
  
  

• September 12, 1931
       In this edition, Arthur Parker expresses his disdain of the government reliance on charities for unemployment relief, Prohibition, the inhumane treatment of the Filipinos in California, and the use of labor to work on county roads in Georgia. 
  
  

• September 19, 1931
       This week, Parker praises the progressive unemployment plan of Mayor Curley of Boston and the plan of Arthur Brisbane to end the depression.  At the same time, he criticizes Governor Murray of Oklahoma for his advocacy of patience, the growing use of "dope," and the passivity of Negroes in seeking justice.     
  
  

• September 26, 1931
       The emphasis this week is on the injustice of the economic inequality and its causes.  Also discussed is the "Negro Yearbook," an encyclopedia on the progress of the Negro in America and the world. 
  
  

• October 3, 1931
       Arthur Parker condemns comments made by General Butler attacking pacificism and the use of the Monroe Doctrine to strangle Latin American countries. 
  
  

•  October 10, 1931
       Growing Native discontent in British South Africa is the subject of this week's edition, and is to be continued into next week.
  
  

• October 25, 1931 
       This week, Parker presents evidence that the justice system in the United States does not work for the colored citizen and considers the unresponsive nature of the government in the face of lynchings. 
  
  

•  October 31, 1931
       Arthur Parker criticizes the use of labor-saving machines to replace workers, the rumors of war with Japan, and the cutting of wages.

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Updated 12/13/05