In the early part of the twentieth century, Americans feared and fought against the principles of the Bolsheviks. Few Americans today even know what the “Red Scare” was, let alone fear these ideas. However, many of the basic Bolshevik ideas are alive and well in the United States. Citizens of the United States are beginning to accept and even believe in many principles that the Bolshevik Revolution was all about, including eminent domain, loss of freedom of speech, loss of privacy, and income redistribution in the form of very high tax rates. The textbook years for the Red Scare were from 1917 to 1920, but there were important events before 1917 that preceded the Bolshevik Revolution. “The first “reds” were those Americans who supported the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century.” (Hoyt, 11) The first Marxian socialists to come to the United States were German immigrants who began arriving in 1848. They slowly began to change the labor organization, and over a few years the Socialist and Communist parties were born. In 1901, all Americans were made aware of left-wing radicalism after an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz assassinated President William McKinley. “No more was needed to make Americans fear and hate the very words “anarchist,” “radical,” “red” and “socialist,” all of which they lumped together”. (Hoyt, 13) All of these events culminated in creating a certain fear in Americans from these groups. The climax of the fear of radicals, and the start of the Red Scare was when in November 1917, when the Russian Revolution took place. Earlier that year, there were only 11,060 Bolsheviks in Russia, yet five months later they managed to seize power. When American began to understand this concept, they were all struck with fear. Americans did not want to go back to a controlling government that they had just escaped by coming to America. The Red Scare began because of several bombs that were mailed to many people. These bombs were constructed so that when the person receiving the bomb opens their package, they will be greatly injured, or killed. There were about thirty bombs sent through the mail, and only about five were actually opened. These bombs were addressed to important people like John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, commissioners of immigration and many others. Bombs were the physical scare to people, but inside, Americans were “nervous that reds could get into the government and control the people.
The “Red Scare” was consuming many American’s lives following World War 1. After the war ended, anarchist bombings began, and a general fear of socialists, anarchists, communists, and immigrants swept the nation. There had always been resentment to immigrants in America, and these attacks just intensified these feelings. Americans were concerned that, because the Russian Revolution occurred, that it would happen in America next. The government began sweeping immigrants up and deporting them. Many innocent people were arrested because of their views against democracy. Although Sacco and Vanzetti were on trial for murder, their beliefs of how society should be run was the main focus in the trial.
In 1918, while the rest of Europe was still engaged in World War I, a newly formed communist government was developing in Russia. Much like 18th century Americans, they had just managed to overthrow what was viewed as a tyrannical government and hoped to form a new nation free of the injustices of the previous rule. Both countries wrote a new constitution as well as a declaration of rights to facilitate this, but their respective documents had vast differences. These disparities stemmed from differences in the ideologies of the new governments. The primary objectives of the Russian Declaration of Rights of the Working and Exploited People and the later constitution were the “abolition of all exploitation of man by man, complete elimination of the division of society into classes, merciless suppression of the exploiters, socialist organization of society, and victory of socialism in all countries.” Americans wanted equality of opportunity and personal freedom instead of the social equality desired by the Russians. The American constitution and Bill of Rights were created to protect personal liberties and individual freedom while the Russians were more concerned with the welfare and equality of the population as a whole. This difference is partially due to the differences in the conditions leading to revolution in each country. The American Revolution was initiated by the wealthy in response to what they considered unfair treatment by a foreign ruler while the Russian revolution was instigated by the poor in reaction to centuries of oppression and exploitation by the wealthy within their own country.
The American anticommunist attitude began in 1919, with the Red Scare. In 1917, Russia experienced the culmination of multiple social revolutions as the Bolsheviks seized control of the government. Discarding the old Russia, the Bolsheviks ushered in an era of communism under Marxist philosophy. The world responded with suspicion and a healthy dose of hostility. Little over a year later, the United States experienced a crisis as mail-bombs detonated in eight separate cities. Even though they were less than 70,000 professed communists in the Untied States, they attracted the full weight of public ire. Mitchell Palmer, the leader of this anticommunist crusade, believed that communism was eating its way into the homes of the American workman stating: “tongues of revolutionary heat were licking the alters of the churches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawling into the sacred corners of American homes, seeking to replace marriage vows with libertine laws, burning up the foundations of society,” (The Palmer Raids). The Palmer Raids peaked in December 1919, when Palmer arrested 249 resident communist aliens and deported them to the Soviet Union. Essentially, the Red Scare nurtured American fear of communism and created initial hostility between Communist Russia and the United States.
Governmental structures, local and federal, set up various un- American activites committees. These committees were set up solely to find and prosecute communists, or suspected communists. They drew the attention of the American public in every city that they were, furthering the panic of the "red scare."
The Red Scare in the 1950’s was actually America’s second red scare. The 1920’s red scare was what helped start suspicion over Communists, but was put off during World War 2. It was no coincidence that what many people called the second red scare ignited after World War 2, during the Cold War, in the 1950’s. The 1920’s red scare started because Americans were paranoid over the fact that Russia may seek revenge after they had overthrown a royal Russian family in 1917. What started Communist ideas in the U.S at the time was the fact that since the war was over many of people were out of jobs which caused people to ask how efficient was the government. The most successful and noteworthy of all the Soviet parties in the 1920’s had to be the International Workers of the World, which was also called the I.W.W or the Wobblies. The Wobblies first strike was on January 21 1919 where about 35,000 shipyard workers struck. They were immediately labeled reds, or Communists. After the first strike mass panic struck the U.S and many major chain stores had to reassure their customers that their workers would not revolt. A mayor named Ole Hansen from Seattle took the Wobblies strikes personally. Strikes continued over the next 6 months and were labeled as “crimes against society”, “conspiracies against the government” and even “plots to establish Communism”. This was when Attorney General A. “
Murray, Robert K. Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919-1920. U of Minnesota Press,
Unlike the Nazi Movement, the Lavender Scare arose after one U.S Senator, Joe McCarthy, looking for a little fame, decided to create a threat to make it his goal to eliminate it. McCarthyism involved leveraging the American fears of Communism during the Cold War against Russia. McCarthy convinced people that communists were infiltrating the government...
The war was over. The last cry of help had been heard and peace was supposedly coming to the United States. But everyone was wrong. An ideological war which prompted mass paranoia known as the Red Scare had spread through the US. It began in 1919 and ended in 1921. Red Scare was the label given to the actions of legislation, the race riots, and the hatred and persecution of "subversives" and conscientious objectors during that period of time.
In 1917 the Russian revolution took place. Many Americans were suspicious that Russian immigrants might spread communist ideas. This shows that Americans were scared of/ didn’t want communism as it contradicted the American Dream and took away personal advancement by hard work. In January 1920, 5 elected members of the New York State Assembly could not take
Times change and people come and go, but fear is a constant, and in “The Great Fear” by J. Ronald Oakley, he describes the wave of fear that occurred in the 1950s. In 1692, the townspeople of Salem were scared into believing that they were among witches, and in 1950’s the “Red” Scare destroyed thousands of peoples lives that were accused of being Communists. Those accused in both witch hunts were put on trial, and while many were killed in Salem, the Red Scare had blacklisted those persecuted.
The Red Scare changed the American view on immigration and foreign policy in America after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Red Scare was the fear of communism in America which persuaded the immigrant radicals of the Russian Revolution to support communism and a political change. Since there was no response to the growth of fear from anarchism and communism in America, Congress added anti-radical protections to the Immigration Act of 1918 (“Red Scare”). Also, General Palmer and other government officials’ homes were attacked infuriating the American government (Gordon). An addition to the Immigration Act would strictly enforce the radicals to discard their views towards communism and focus on support the democracy and capitalism in America.
The resignation of Nicholas II March 1917, in union with the organization of a temporary government in Russia built on western values of constitutional moderation, and the capture of control by the Bolsheviks in October is the political crucial opinions of the Russian Revolution of 1917. The actions of that historic year must also be viewed more broadly, however: as aburst of social strains associated with quick development; as a disaster of political modernization, in relations of the tensions sited on old-fashioned traditions by the burdens of Westernization; and as a social disruption in the widest sense, concerning a massive, unprompted expropriation of upper class land by fuming peasants, the devastation of outmoded social patterns and morals, and the scuffle for a new, democratic society.
The United States was in a state of scare when they feared that communist agents would come and try to destroy our government system. An example of this scare was the Cold war. During the cold war the U.S. supported the anti-communist group while the Soviet Union favored the communist party. Many people who still supported the communist party still lived in the U.S. When the U.S. joined the Cold war, trying to rid the communist party from Europe and Asia, the U.S. were afraid that the people living in the United States that still supported communism were spies that would give intel back to the Soviet Union to try to destroy their government. If anybody was a suspected communist, if somebody just didn’t like somebody, or if they were even greedy they could accuse the person of communism and the person would be thrown in the penitentiary, thus, starting the second red scare.
Within the early and mid-1900s, there were several moments in American history in which we feared that our democracy would be overridden by communist influence and infiltrated by communist groups. These two events were labeled the Red Scare, a time in which “reds”; or communists, were feared to be taking an active participation and role within our democratic government. The first Red scare occurred in the early 1919-1924 after the First World War and the second Red Scare occurred after the World War Two between 1947-1954. Both events, while happening in two totally different eras, carried effects that would impact American society for several future generations and impact the racial prejudice treatment towards those who carried communist beliefs and believed in a supremacist government.
...keep everyone at the same level. The government pro-vided for its people but individuality and owning anything was not possible especially if you want to get ahead. There’s ups and downs to the Bolsheviks beliefs but it was all created to make a change from the conditions of that time period.