Red Scare America 1920 :: essays papers

Red Sc atomic number 18 America 1920World War I was finally over, however, there was a new threat toAmericans. This threat was Communism, which was greatly feared by approximatelyU.S. citizens. Communism is a system of social and stinting organizationin which property is owned by the state or group, to be shared in commonor to be distributed among members of the fellowship equally or inproportion to their respective needs.* In 1919, no more than one-tenth ofthe adult American population belonged to the newly organize Communistmovement, and even this small percentage were greatly persecuted. Although American Reds caught most of the fury of the raids, it was notjust the Communists who had stirred national panic. Emotions that hadbeen building since the outlaw 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 arbitrator raid ed a Communist headquarters and began arresting railway yards of people in study American cities throughout the nation. Theypoured into private homes, clubs, pool halls and coffee shops, arrestingcitizens and aliens, Communists and non-Communists, red 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 capital of Nebraska Library copyright 1961were American citizens were released. Aliens were released a few days afterward unless they were members of the Communist Party or the CommunistLabor Party. These were the two groups that were organise 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 some psycho logical views that might help to explain why theevents of 1919 -1920 took place. many Americans during this time werealways on the verge of attacking. They were hostile toward minorities,extremely patriotic, and mobile to rid their nation of any intruder thatseemed to threaten them. The postwar try for one hundred percentAmericanism may have left our citizens with the liking to keep ourcountry pure. The Russian Revolution in the fall of 1918 too contributedto Americas unrest. In a violent outburst, the Communists took controlof the Russian government and murder the Tsar and his entire family