The first Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the Russian 1917 October Revolution, German Revolution of 1918–1919, and anarchist bombings in the U.S. in 1919. At its height in 1919–1920, concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and the alleged spread of socialism, communism, and anarchism in the American labor movement fueled a general sense of concern.
The scare had its origins in the hyper-nationalism of World War I as well as the Russian Revolution. At the war's end, following the October Revolution, American authorities saw the threat of communist revolution in the actions of organized labor, including such disparate cases as the Seattle General Strike and the Boston Police Strike and then in the bombing campaign directed by anarchist groups at political and business leaders. Fueled by labor unrest and the anarchist bombings, and then spurred on by the Palmer Raids under Democrat President Woodrow Wilson to suppress radical organizations, it was characterized by exaggerated rhetoric, illegal searches and seizures, unwarranted arrests and detentions, and the deportation of several hundred suspected radicals and anarchists. In addition, the growing anti-immigration nativist movement among Americans viewed increasing immigration from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe as a threat to American political and social stability.
Bolshevism and the threat of a communist-inspired revolution in the U.S. became the overriding explanation for challenges to the social order, even for such largely unrelated events as incidents of interracial violence during the Red Summer of 1919. Fear of radicalism was used to explain the suppression of freedom of expression in the form of display of certain flags and banners. In April 1920, concerns peaked with J. Edgar Hoover telling the nation to prepare for a bloody uprising on May Day. Police and militias prepared for the worst, but May Day passed without event. Soon, public opinion and the courts turned against Palmer, putting an end to his raids and the first Red Scare.
Origins
In reaction to subversive and militant leftist actions in the United States, the United States Congress passed the Espionage Act in 1917, the Sedition Act of 1918, and the Immigration Act of 1918. The Espionage Act made it a crime to interfere with the operation or success of the military, and the Sedition Act forbade Americans to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, flag, or armed forces of the United States during war.Laws of the United States, Espionage Act of 1917 (Act of June 15, 1917), ch. 30, title I, §3, 40 Stat. 219, amended by Act of May 16, 1918, ch. 75, 40 Stat. 553-54, reenacted by Act of Mar. 3, 1921, ch. 136, 41 Stat. 1359, (codified at 18 U.S.C. §2388); Laws of the United States, Sedition Act of 1918, (1918 Amendments to §3 of The Espionage Act of 1917), Act of May 16, 1918, ch. 75, 40 Stat. 553-54, (repealed by Act of Mar. 3, 1921, ch. 136, 41 Stat. 1359) The Immigration Act of 1918 targeted anarchists by name and was used to deport Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman and Luigi Galleani, among others.Ann Hagedorn, Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), pp. 184–5, 218–22
Progression of events
Seattle General Strike
On January 21, 1919, 35,000 shipyard workers in Seattle went on strike seeking wage increases. They appealed to the Seattle Central Labor Council for support from other unions and found widespread enthusiasm. Within two weeks, more than 100 local unions joined in a call on February 3 for a general strike to begin on the morning of February 6.Murray, 58–60; Brecher, 121 The 60,000 total strikers paralyzed the city's normal activities, like streetcar service, schools, and ordinary commerce, while their General Strike Committee maintained order and provided essential services, like trash collection and milk deliveries.Hagedorn, 87; Brecher, 122–124
Even before the strike began, the press tried to persuade the unions to reconsider. In part they were frightened by some of labor's rhetoric, like the labor newspaper editorial that proclaimed: "We are undertaking the most tremendous move ever made by labor in this country ... We are starting on a road that leads – NO ONE KNOWS WHERE!"Brecher, 124–25 Daily newspapers saw the general strike as a foreign import: "This is America – not Russia," one said when denouncing the general strike.Murray, 60–61 The non-striking part of Seattle's population imagined the worst and stocked up on food. Hardware stores sold their stock of guns.Murray, 60–62
Seattle Mayor Ole Hanson announced that he had 1500 police and 1500 federal troops on hand to put down any disturbances. He personally oversaw their deployment throughout the city.Murray, 63 "The time has come", he said, "for the people in Seattle to show their Americanism ... The anarchists in this community shall not rule its affairs." He promised to use them to replace striking workers, but never carried out that threat.Brecher, 126–27
Meanwhile, the national leadership of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and international leaders of some of the Seattle locals recognized how inflammatory the general strike was proving in the eyes of the American public and Seattle's middle class. Press and political reaction made the general strike untenable, and they feared Seattle labor would lose gains made during the war if it continued.Brecher, 127–28; Murray, 64 The national press called the general strike "Marxian" and "a revolutionary movement aimed at existing government".Murray, 65 "It is only a middling step", said the Chicago Tribune, "from Petrograd to Seattle."Murray 65
As early as February 8 some unions began to return to work at the urging of their leaders. Some workers went back to work as individuals, perhaps fearful of losing their jobs if the Mayor acted on his threats or in reaction to the pressure of life under the general strike.Foner, 75 The executive committee of the General Strike Committee first recommended ending the general strike on February 8 but lost that vote. Finally on February 10, the General Strike Committee voted to end the strike the next day.Foner, 75–76 The original strike in the shipyards continued.Brecher, 128
Though the general strike collapsed because labor leadership viewed it as a misguided tactic from the start, Mayor Hanson took credit for ending the five-day strike and was hailed for it by the press. He resigned a few months later and toured the country giving lectures on the dangers of "domestic bolshevism". He earned $38,000 in seven months, five times his annual salary as mayor.Murray, 65–66; Hagedorn, 180 He published a pamphlet called Americanism versus Bolshevism.Foner, 77n; Noggle, 102–03; Ole Hanson, Americanism versus Bolshevism (Garden City, New York, 1920), Americanism versus Bolshevism, accessed April 11, 2011
Overman Committee
The Overman Committee was a special five-man subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary chaired by North Carolina Democrat Lee Slater Overman. First charged with investigating German subversion during World War I, its mandate was extended on February 4, 1919, just a day after the announcement of the Seattle General Strike, to study "any efforts being made to propagate in this country the principles of any party exercising or claiming to exercise any authority in Russia" and "any effort to incite the overthrow of the Government of this country".United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 6; Hagedorn, 55; Murray, 94; The Committee's hearings into Bolshevik propaganda, conducted from February 11 to March 10, 1919, developed an alarming image of Bolshevism as an imminent threat to the U.S. government and American values. The Committee's final report appeared in June 1919.
Archibald E. Stevenson, a New York attorney with ties to the Justice Department, probably as a "volunteer spy",Hagedorn, 54, 58 testified on January 22, 1919, during the German phase of the subcommittee's work. He established that anti-war and anti-draft activism during World War I, which he described as pro-German activity, had now transformed itself into propaganda "developing sympathy for the Bolshevik movement".United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 12–14; Powers, 20 America's wartime enemy, though defeated, had exported an ideology that now ruled Russia and threatened America anew. "The Bolshevik movement is a branch of the revolutionary socialism of Germany. It had its origin in the philosophy of Marx and its leaders were Germans."United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 14; Lowenthal, 49 He cited the propaganda efforts of John Reed and gave many examples from the foreign press. He told the senators that "We have found money coming into this country from Russia."United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 19, 29
The senators were particularly interested in how Bolshevism had united many disparate elements on the left, including anarchists and socialists of many types,United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 14–18 "providing a common platform for all these radical groups to stand on".United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 34 Senator Knute Nelson, Republican of Minnesota, responded by enlarging Bolshevism's embrace to include an even larger segment of political opinion: "Then they have really rendered a service to the various classes of progressives and reformers that we have here in this country." Other witnesses described the horrors of the revolution in Russia and the consequences of a comparable revolution in the United States: the imposition of atheism, the seizure of newspapers, assaults on banks, and the abolition of the insurance industry. The senators heard various views of women in Russia, including claims that women had been made the property of the state.United States Congress, Bolshevik Propaganda, 475
The press reveled in the investigation and the final report, referring to the Russians as "assassins and madmen", "human scum", "crime mad", and "beasts".Murray, 97 The occasional testimony by some who viewed the Bolshevik Revolution favorably lacked the punch of its critics. One extended headline in February read:
On the release of the final report, newspapers printed sensational articles with headlines in capital letters: "Red Peril Here", "Plan Bloody Revolution", and "Want Washington Government Overturned".Murray, 98
Anarchist bombings
There were several anarchist bombings in 1919.
April 1919 mail bombs
In late April 1919, approximately 36 booby trap bombs were mailed to prominent politicians, including the Attorney General of the United States, judges, businessmen (including John D. Rockefeller),"Send Death Bombs to 36 U.S. Leaders" Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1919 and a Bureau of Investigation field agent, R. W. Finch, who happened to be investigating the Galleanist organization.The Galleanists were radical anarchists and devotees of Luigi Galleani who advocated direct action, i.e. bombing and assassination, against capitalists and representatives of the government.Avrich, Paul, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background, Princeton University Press (1991), pp. 147: The inclusion of R. W. Finch, a low-ranking BOI agent who had been assigned to question and investigate the Galleanist movement and had questioned other Galleanists about movements of its members, dispelled any doubt on the identity of the bombers.