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THE RED SCARE. 14.1. Russian Revolution. Part 1 = March 1917 WWI goes badly for Russia Czar Nicholas II abdicates New Russian leader = Alex Kerensky Pledges to remain in WWI This is very unpopular. Russians start looking to more radical ideas. Russian Revolution. Part 2 = November 1917
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THE RED SCARE 14.1
Russian Revolution • Part 1 = March 1917 • WWI goes badly for Russia • Czar Nicholas II abdicates • New Russian leader =Alex Kerensky • Pledges to remain in WWI • This is very unpopular. • Russians start looking to more radical ideas.
Russian Revolution • Part 2 = November 1917 • Lenin promises “peace, land, and bread” • Bolsheviks (“majority”) • Peace with Germany • Out of WWI • Civil war ensues • Reds vs. Whites • Reds win in 1920, establish USSR
Russian Communism • Openly hostile to American beliefs • The gov’t owned all land and property. • A single political party controlled the gov’t. • The needs of the country always took priority over the rights of individuals. • “Communism cannot be isolated or it will fail. IT MUST EXPAND WORLDWIDE.”
Russian Communism • Lenin dies in 1924. Stalin takes over. • Forces peasants onto collectivized farms • Use of terror to do so • Great famine resulted. • Estimates of3-60 million killed
Russian Communism • Is this fear justified? • It seems to be isolated on the other side of the world.
Communist spread? • Is fear of communism justified? • Hungary goes communist • Germany almost goes communist
US Response • During WWI, bombs sent to court buildings, police stations, churches, homes • Tied to violent immigrant anarchist groups • BOI (FBI) begins to track their movements • Approved by President Woodrow Wilson • In 1919: • 1,000s go on strike in Seattle • More mail bombs sent to US gov’t officials • Including Seattle mayor • Espionage Act passed (draft, etc.)
Schenck v. U.S. • Charles Schenck mailed anti-draft letters. • Jewish-American socialistw/ sympathies towardGermany • Secretary of local SocialistParty • Sent 15,000 leaflets urgingpotential draftees to refuseto serve • Calls on the 13th Amendment • Serving in military = “involuntary servitude”
Schenck v. U.S. • Arrested & convicted under Espionage Act 6 months • “The question in every case is whether the words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.” • “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.” • Unanimously upheld by Supreme Court
More Bombs • June 1919, bombs detonate in 8 cities • 1 near FDR • 1 at USAG Alexander Palmer’s house • Seen as “continuation” of Russian Revolution
More Bombs • These bombs were sent by 1 specific group, led by Luigi Galleani. • Bombs came w/ a note: • “Class war…You were the first to wage it…The darkness of your laws…There will have to be bloodshed, murder…We will destroy to rid the world of your tyrannical institutions.”
Palmer Raids • Alexander Palmer • Assassination attempts made 2x • “hyphenated Americans… poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life: such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out” -Woodrow Wilson
Palmer Raids • Palmer begins to raid houses of suspected communists, socialists, and anarchists. • “Any movement, however cloaked or dissembled, designed to undermine the government, will be met with unflinching, persistent, aggressive warfare.” • Palmer arrests 10,000 from Nov. 1919 to Jan. 1920 • Luigi Galleani was deported along w/ 8 others. • Dec. 1919: 249 Russian radicals deported on “Soviet Ark” • Jan. 1920: 6,000 arrested (mostly IWW) • 4,000 in one night
Public Opinion Falls • Palmer announces a Communist revolution on May 1, 1920. • The public gears up. • Nothing happened. • People realize the lack of threat. • People realize the disregard for civil liberties. • People realize they don’t like Palmer.
Exported Immigrants • Many of the deported radicals became loyal citizens of the USSR… • …until Stalin had most of them shot in the 1930s as potential traitors.
Sacco & Vanzetti • Accused of robbery & murder ARRESTED(~$16,000 from shoe factory) • Italian anarchists hadalready been red-flaggedfor the better part of adecade. • They were radicals andItalian. • They were followers ofLuigi Galleani.
Sacco & Vanzetti • Convicted & executed. • Riots of protest in London, Paris, and Germany. • Seen as result ofthe Red Scare.
Feeding the Fear • Labor strikes rose from175/month to 370/monthduring 1919. • Cause: Communist agitators? (probably not) • Cause: poor labor conditions (initial post-war recession) • Standard of living had declined since WWI because of inflation and static wages.
Boston Police Strike • No pay increase since beginning of WWI • Steps to form a union; 19 fired • Entire police force strikes • Riots broke out. • Massachusetts governorCalvin Coolidge: • “There is no right to strikeagainst the public safety byanybody, anywhere, anytime.” • Called out volunteer forceand state guard
“Crime against civilization” • End of the strike • Coolidge hires an entirely new police force(mostly returning servicemen) • New force gets higher wages, more vacation days, and city-provided uniforms • Striking former-officers were denied reentry
Strikes • Steel and Coal workers strike also. • Most strikes are blamed on communists. • Most Americans opposed unions & strikes(seen as anti-America & violent) • Strikes declined asthe economyimproves in 1920.