Red Scare America 1920 :: essays papers

Red Scare America 1920World War I was finally over, however, there was a new threat toAmericans. This threat was Communism, which was greatly feared by mostU.S. citizens. Communism is a system of social and economic organizationin which property is owned by the state or group, to be shared in commonor to be distributed among members of the community equally or inproportion to their respective needs.* In 1919, no more than tenth part ofthe adult American population belonged to the newly formed Communistmovement, and even this small percentage were greatly persecuted. Although American Reds caught most of the fury of the raids, it was not estimable the Communists who had stirred tribeal panic. Emotions that hadbeen building since the turn of the century were brought out during WorldWar I, and then burst into a xenophobic (fear and hatred of foreigners)repression. Late in the afternoon of Friday, January 2, 1920, agents from theDepartment of Justice raided a Communist headquarters a nd began arresting cubic yards of people in major American cities throughout the nation. Theypoured into private homes, clubs, pool halls and chocolate shops, arrestingcitizens and aliens, Communists and non-Communists, tearing apart meetinghalls and destroying property. The Agents put their victims in jail, heldthem without an attorney, and interrogated them. The prisoners who coulddemonstrate that they *As quoted from The Lincoln Library copyright 1961were American citizens were released. Aliens were released a few yearslater unless they were members of the Communist Party or the CommunistLabor Party. These were the two groups that were formed from the AmericanCommunist movement. In two days, nearly five thousand people werearrested, and nearly five thousand were seized in the cleaning up thatfollowed during the next two weeks. The arrests were carried out withtotal disregard for the rights of the prisoners. There are somewhat psychological views that might help to expla in why theevents of 1919 -1920 took place. Some Americans during this time werealways on the verge of attacking. They were hostile toward minorities,extremely patriotic, and ready to rid their nation of any intruder thatseemed to threaten them. The postwar effort for one hundred percentAmericanism may have left our citizens with the desire to keep ourcountry pure. The Russian Revolution in the fall of 1918 also contributedto Americas unrest. In a violent outburst, the Communists took controlof the Russian government and murdered the Tsar and his entire family