THE RED SCARE: Communism is Anti-American

A Personal Voice A. Mitchell Palmer “The blaze of revolution was sweeping over every American institution of law and order. . . . Eating its way into the homes of the American workman, its sharp tongues of revolutionary heat . . . Licking the altars of churches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawling up the foundations of society.” – “The Case Against the Reds”

What Was The Red Scare? The general fear that Communism would spread throughout America. The Russian Revolution turns the largest country in the world into a communist state

Communism An economic and political system based on a single-party government ruled by a dictatorship. The philosophy of communism is that the workers of the world will unite to seize power, seize wealth and redistribute this power and wealth equally to all people. Once this is done, a true democracy of equals will be created. Each country that has attempted to turn communist has failed to advance beyond this point of the “dictatorship of the workers” So communism is, despite its democratic goal, a totalitarian government where a single political party rules everything.

Where did this philosophy come from? Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Write The Communist Manifesto 1848 "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.“ These ideas appealed to many in the working class who felt exploited by factory owners Rejected “Social Darwinism”

Communism: a threat in America? 100,000 radicals join Communist parties in America Includes Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) All labor unions begin to be seen as possible communist “hotbeds” PREAMBLE TO THE IWW CONSTITUTION: “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life.”

Domestic Terrorism? “Radicals” attempt to steer the Labor Movement towards communism Common practice to bring weapons to labor rallies and strikes Several bombs mailed to government and business leaders. Police respond with increased violence, harassment, and scrutiny towards ALL labor organizations

America Responds A. Mitchell Palmer Combatant of Communism Member of a new organization created within the Justice Department: The FBI FBI-Federal Bureau of Investigation The Palmer Raids Targets: Communists, Socialists, and Anarchists Questionable tactics and possible violations of constitutional rights Very little real evidence is found

The Red Scare Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Communist Sacco and Vanzetti Arrested and Charged with the robbery and murder of a factory paymaster and his guard in Massachusetts. Italian immigrants and anarchists Prior to Vanzetti’s execution, he said: “In all my life I have never stole, never killed…. We were tried during a time…. When there was resentment against people of our principles…. I am suffering because I am a radical and because I am Italian.”

The Red Scare “Communism is like Prohibition, it’s a good idea but it wont work” -Will Rogers “Capitalism and Communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The Communist, Seeing the rich man and his fine home, says: ‘No man should have so much.’ The capitalist, seeing the same thing, says: ‘All men should have so much.’” -Thomas Sowell

Efforts to limit Immigration The quota system limits immigration to the US from each foreign country Prohibited Japanese immigration Only limited European migration Did not limit Canadians or Mexicans to move to the US

Effects of the Red Scare Labor Unions lose power and influence Already difficult to organize among immigrants due to language barrier Managers use anti-communist fear against workers who try to organize Americans seek “isolationism” as general principle. View the turmoil in post-war Europe as dangerous Warren G. Harding runs on a campaign of “Return to Normalcy”