I knew the red scare was bad, but i’m actually actively reading about it right now and CHRIST it was bad.
As someone who has no idea what that is because it’s probably a history thing and my mom never let me attend a history class or even look up history, could you explain what it is so I could research about it?
It was the fear that socialism and communism would spread to the united states. There were two. First one happened after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Many people feared there would be a communist revolution in the US, and they were afraid it would change their life. Around this time, leftism was becoming popular in the US, as people were fighting for their rights as workers against their shitty bosses. The IWW (Industrial Workers Of The World) was probably the largest union during the time, so large at one point, they had control over an entire mining town.
This first Red Scare led to the creation of the Sedition act of 1918. Which banned dissident speech against the government and the war (World War I). This permitted the US government to raid suspected anarchists (which was considerably more popular than outright communism) and communists. It was the first period in a time of great repression of any and all leftist beliefs. No distinction between socialism, communism, anarchism, or social democracy. If you were a lefty, you were considered an enemy of the state, and the House of Un-American Activities was on your ass.
The second one has, arguably, permanently crippled the left in the United States. The second Red Scare occurred after World War II (1939–45), and was popularly known as “McCarthyism” after its most famous supporter, Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthyism coincided with increased popular fear of communist espionage consequent to a Soviet Eastern Europe, the Berlin Blockade (1948–49), the Chinese Civil War, the confessions of spying for the Soviet Union given by several high-ranking U.S. government officials, and the Korean War.
People were executed because of this second red scare. Executed, even though there was no proof they were communists, as well as the fact that, even if it came to light you WEREN’T a communist, and you were acquitted, your life was ruined nonetheless. Nobody wanted to associate with a communist. You lost your job, you lost your friends. It was a time of political repression and a disgusting period in US history.
I’d spit on McCarthy’s grave if I thought he was worth the energy.
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