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"The tumult and the shouting dies, The captains and the kings depart." -Kipling, The Recessional
Mr. Kipling was wrong. War does not always end with the last cry on
the battlefield. World War I certainly did not. After the war formally
ended on November 18, 1918, there was an ideological war still going on
in the US. An ideological war which prompted mass paranoia and caused,
among many other things, what would be known as the Red Scare, which
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. It is this hysteria which would find itself repeated several
decades later in history when Senator Joeseph R. Macarthy accused high
government officials and high standing military officers of being
communist. Undoubtedly the most important topic of an investigation
into a historical occurrence is its inception. What caused the Red
Scare?
At the heart of the Red Scare was the conscription law of May 18,
1917, which was put in place during World War I for the armed forces to
be able to conscript more Americans. This law caused many problems for
the conscientious objector to WWI, because for one to claim that
status, one had to be a member of a "well-recognized" religious
organization which forbade their members to participation in war. As a
result of such unyeilding legislation, 20,000 conscientious objectors
were inducted into the armed forces. Out of these 20,000, 16,000
changed their minds when they reached military camps, 1300 went to
non-combat units, 1200 gained furloughs to do farm work, and 100 did
Quaker relief work in Europe. 500 suffered court-martial, and out of
these, 450 went to prison. However, these numbers are small in
comparison with the 170,000 draft dodgers and 2,810,296 men who were
inducted into the armed forces. Nevertheless, the conscientious
objectors were targeted in the Red Scare after the war. They were
condemned as cowards, pro-German socialists, although that was not
everything. They were also accused of spreading propaganda throughout
the United States. Very few conscientious objectors stood up for
themselves. Roderick Siedenberg, who was a conscientious objector,
wrote that "to steal, rape, or murder" are standard peacetime causes
for imprisonment, but in time of war "too firm a belief in the words of
Christ", and "too ardent a faith in the brotherhood of man" are more
acceptable.
Some organizations such as the National Civil Liberties Bureau,
which would later be renamed the American Civil Liberties Union, took
up the task of standing up for the rights of conscientious objectors.
Before the war, the NCLB-ACLU opposed American involvement, and
afterward defended the rights of the objectors. Later, the ACLU would
gain a reputation for helping people with liberal cases who were too
poor to pay for their own representation in court.
After the real war ended in 1918, the ideological war, which was
gaining speed at home, turned against conscientious objectors and other
radical minorities such as Wobblies, who were members of the Industrial
Workers of the World (IWW), and Socialists as well. These Wobblies and
Socialists were damned as being subversives who were trying to
overthrow the United States government.
Wobblies, in particular, were persecuted against for speaking out
against the capitalist system. Although most of what they said was only
to attract attention to their cause, their rhetoric was taken seriously
by the government and its officials. From the very beginning of the Red
Scare, the Wobblies were the subject of attack by the government,
because they were a symbol of radicalism. The government put in place
legislation, not only against the Wobblies, but also against Socialists
and Communists, due to the fact that the government did not distinguish
one of its enemies from another. One such action taken by the
government prevented Wobblies who were not yet citizens from
naturalization, even if they quit their organization. In 1917, the US
government made a law which gave the Secretary of Labor the power to
arrest or deport any alien "advocating or teaching" destruction of
property or the "overthrow of government by force." Words such as
"advocating" and the vague language used in the law allowed the
government to use deportation as a cure for the anti-government views
of its enemies, namely the Wobblies, Communists, and Socialists.
After all the unfair legislation passed by the government, the
scene was set for a disaster. All that was left was for someone to take
advantage of the anti-radical legislation, and the bomb would soon
explode. This is basically what Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer did
in the years 1919-1920. Palmer used the laws set down in 1917 to deport
members of the IWW. He did not only reserve his weapon for the
Wobblies; the American Communists and many other radical groups were
not to be left out. When the Palmer Raids began, which will be
discussed in more detail later, there were two main targets: the
Communist Party, and the Communist Labor Party. These groups grew out
of the IWW, the Socialist Party of America, and the Socialist Labor
Party. The largest of the three, the Socialist Party of America, had
split because of a dilemma over World War I.
This split occurred when Europe entered the war. For the most part,
American Socialists opposed the war, unlike their European brethren who
were much more nationalistic and supported their countries armies.
However, some of the more prominent American Socialists, each for his
own reasons, strongly supported the war.
This break in beliefs of the Socialist Party hurt it, but did by no
means destroy it. Many who were not Socialists opposed the draft, but
the Party itself was the true focal point of this opposition.
Accordingly, these people became targets for attack by American
nationalists and the American government. Heinous acts such as the
burning of Socialist documents and the lynching of its members were
commonplace.
While all this was taking place, an American Communist Party was
emerging from the ashes of the former Socialist strongholds which were
all along the eastern seaboard of the US. There, Russian immigrants
identified with the Bolshevik revolution in Mother Russia because of
their similar lives of poverty and squalor. These conditions of dispair
were in part due to the exclusion of immigrants from unions and their
not being permitted to vote. These people held strong
anti-government/anti-capitalist views, often advocating the immediate
overthrow of capitalism. Indeed, they were asking for trouble. And they
would get it.
As dangerous as these people appeared to be at the time, they were
in fact only one-thousandth of one percent of the voting American
public. Even the two parties who made up this minute percentage of
voters were riddled with corruption and dissent.
After the war formally ended in 1918, all the groups which opposed
the war came under fire. They were seen as destructive to the peace and
security of the American nation. The focus of the attacks was no longer
on the conscientious objectors, for many of them were already jailed
during the war, and were still in jail at the time; it had switched
over to the Socialists and the Wobblies, for they, unlike the
conscientious objectors, were a still viable target.
One way that these people were targeted was by use of the Espionage
Act of 1918. This act penalized anyone who obstructed the operation of
the armed forces, was insubordinate, or displayed disloyalty within the
forces. Because of the law's vauge language, the Justice Department
convicted more than 1000 people. Among this number were a large number
of Socialists and Wobblies.
The Espionage Act was not the only form of legislation to
discriminate against anti-war groups. In October 1918, Congress passed
the Alien Act, which gave the Secretary of Labor the power to deport "
any alien who, at any time after entering the United States, is found
to have been at the time of entry, or to have become thereafter a
member of any anarchist organization." The extremely broad language
used in this bill and the way it was interpreted gave Palmer the
authority to conduct his raids, during which thousands of people were
arrested and detained without actually having been charged.
Because they anticipated what was to come, the suspect
organizations worked for the repealing of the legislation aimed against
them. Many Socialists became prominent figures due to their attempts to
gain release for their imprisoned comrades.
Another reason for the Red Scare was the strike held by mine
workers. They were thought to be making threatening moves against the
Capitalist system through subversive Socialist organizations. These
strikes were part of a series of events which took place in 1919. This
strike, which occurred in February, was of 60,000 coal mine workers. In
that September, steel workers struck. All of the available blame was
put upon the American Communists, although many communists tried to
oppose this strike. Nationalist Americans called for a halt to this
"Bolshevik Revolution" which was taking place on American soil.
As a result of this panic traveling through American society, a
series of bombings occurred. The Socialists were immediately assumed to
be responsible. Newspapers had a field day publicizing these bombings.
Attorney General Palmer took advantage of the widespread panic of the
public and media and asked Congress for fund appropriations to help
avoid further danger. Congress obliged, not only supplying funds, but
going one step further. The message was then made clear: foreign
radicals were to all be deported.
The government had formulated and put into effect their plan to rid
the country of unwanted foreign radicals, but the problem remained as
what to do with those radicals were citizens of the United States. This
was not to go unanswered for long, however. In June of 1919, New York
state officials raided the Rand School of Social Science in New York,
as well as the headquarters of the I.W.W. and the Socialists. These
raids were a product of a New York legislature action that created the
Lusk Committee. The idea behind this committee was anit-radical, and
the tactics of said committee spread nationwide very quickly, or their
methods of "defending the republic". Even with all the legislation in
place, Attorney General Palmer complained that not enough was not
enough was being done to deport aliens. It is ironic that after the Red
Scare, he argued for the release of a Socialist that was imprisoned
during the Scare. However, during it he helped convict many in a
similar situation. It is highly probable that he held his anti-liberal
veiws only because he had presidential ambitions. But it must also be
considered that he himself was the target of a bombing. His actions may
merely have been out of fear, but his wavering attitudes hold no true
reason.
In the August of that same year, Palmer created an intelligence
department to deal with problems originating with anarchists and that
ilk. He appointed J. Edgar Hoover to lead this newly founded agency.
Hoover created files on each "subversive" organization. One of the
first field assignments of this agency was to raid The Union of Russian
Workers in New York.
Palmer was not the most extreme of these anti-radicals. Senator
Kenneth McKellen of Tennessee went so far as to propose sending all
native-born radicals to a special penal colony on the island of Guam.
Liberal journalists held very caustic opinions of the actions of Palmer
and his comrades. One journalist went as far as to say "Will it stop
unrest? Yes! Just as shaving the dog will keep his hair from growing.
In fact, shaving is said to promote growth."
Palmer didn't care what the journalists said. He went on with the
raids which he was so famous for. On December 27, around 250 deportees
sailed for Russia from New York ion the U.S.S. Buford, promptly labeled
as the "Soviet Ark." On Friday, January 2, 1920, agents of the Justice
department raided a Communist headquarters and began to arrest
thousands of people throughout America's major cities. In a period of
two days, 5000 people were arrested and 1000 jailed. There was no
regard for due process, and the treatment of the prisoners
unacceptable.
The Red Scare finally came to an end after a series of actions by
high government officials, especially in the Justice Department itself,
which showed dissent from Palmer's philosophy. Assistant Secretary of
Labor Louis F. Post began to reject most of the cases brought before
him concerning the immigrants. Even the Secretary of Labor himself,
William B. Wilson turned against Palmer. Out of 6,000 warrants issued
during the raids, less than 1,000 deportations resulted. Even with all
this opposition to his actions, Palmer still aspired to the office of
the Presidency. He was never nominated. By 1920, the Red Scare was
dying down, and by 1921 it was virtually dead.
It is obvious that the Red Scare was a product of World War I and
the anti-liberalism that ensued on the homefront. The truth is that Mr.
Palmer did not really cause the Red scare, he only participated in it.
What is known as the Red Scare of 1919-1921 set precedent to the witch
hunts of the McCarthy era, where he accused two presidents (Dwight D.
eisenhower was even a member of his own party) of being Communists Even
today, many lessons can and have been learned from this experience. The
main lesson learned is that the freedom of expression and of thought is
so important, that if it is taken away, in particular by the
government, justice cannot be either carried out or achieved.
Since the McCarthy era, nothing like the Red Scare has ever
occurred in American society or government. People have become very
cautious not to repeat the mistakes of the past, especially ones so
rediculous as the deportation of immigrants for their political
beliefs. But the question remains as to whether America will always
remember this episode of the early 1920's, or will she simply forget it
and make the same mistakes over and over again.
Perhaps Albert Einstein said it most eloquently in an interview on December 30, 1930...
"I never think of the future, It comes soon enough."
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