Download Red Scare and Labor Strikes

Red Scare and Labor Strikes
OUT
IN
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March 1917 – Czar Nicholas II forced to step down
• Lost popularity with a series of poor decisions, including entering
WWI
• War brought devastating casualties & severe food shortages
• Riots in streets, army too weak to protect him
Vladimir I. Lenin saw opportunity to gain power
• “End the war!” “All land to the peasants!”
November 1917 – Lenin & followers, the Bolsheviks, took power
• Put all privately owned farms, industries, land, & transportation
under government ownership
Early 1918 – civil war breaks out between the “reds” & “whites”
• “reds” = Lenin’s forces
• “whites” = mostly former landowners, government officials, &
army leaders
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France, Britain, Japan, & USA backed the “whites”
After 2 years, millions of deaths, “reds” win
Known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) or Soviet Union
Communism was the official ideology of the USSR
1. The government owned all land and property
2. A single political party controlled the government
3. Individuals had no rights that the government was
bound to respect
4. Government vowed to stir up revolutions in other
countries and spread communism throughout the world
The communist system
was openly hostile to
American beliefs &
values:
• Capitalism, private
property, private
business, First
Amendment freedoms
 Red Scare – intense fear
of communism & other
extreme ideas
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Schenck vs USA (1919)
• Charles Schenck mailed letters to men who were drafted urging
them not to report for duty
• Convicted of the Espionage Act, he appealed, goes to Supreme Court
• Government was justified in silencing free speech when there is a
“clear and present danger” to the nation
• Compared to yelling “fire” in a crowded theater, which would cause a
dangerous panic
Sacco & Vanzetti
• April 15, 1920 – gunmen rob & kill guard & paymaster of a shoe
factory
• Few weeks later police arrest Sacco & Vanzetti, Italian immigrants
• Both had guns; Sacco’s model matched the murder weapon
• Case drew international attention & controversy
• 1927 – both were electrocuted
 1919
– Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
set up special force to conduct raids & arrest
suspected communists, socialists, anarchists
 1,000’s jailed; most born overseas
 Many were innocent, over 500 were
deported, although convicted of no crime
 Strong support at first
 Wave
of labor unrest was a cause of the red scare
 Convinced that communists were behind the strikes
 Boston Police Strike
• No pay increase since pre-war
• 19 fired for union activity  whole force voted for
strike
• With no police  riots break out; governor called
in state guard
 Governor was Calvin Coolidge, later be
president
• This gave him national attention
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Steel Strikes, 1919
• Strikes in Gary, IN & over cities believed to be the work of
communists
• Corporation's private police force killed 18 strikers & beat
hundreds
United Mine Workers of America (UMW) strike in 1919
• Agreed not to strike during war
• But now… strike for better pay, shorter week
• Attorney General Palmer got court order for workers to go
back to work
• They do, but get pay raise
Strikes & union membership will drop in 1920s because of
economy boomed & wages rose