Red Scare

It was November 18, 1918, the day WWI had officially ended. The last cry of help had been heard and peace was supposedly coming to the United States or it had seemed. An ideological war which prompted mass paranoia had caused, among many other things, what would be known as the Red Scare (****). The 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. The purpose of this research is to explore the threat that plagued the United States in its’ time of great panic and anxiety, during the “first” Red Scare which lasted between 1919 to 1921. This powerful threat turned out to be Communism and it was greatly feared by almost every U.S. citizen. Communism is “system of social and economic organization in which property is owned by the state group, to be shared in common or to be disturbed among members of the community equally or in proportion to their respective needs. In 1919, no more than one-tenth of the adult American population belonged to the newly formed communist movement, and even this small percentage were greatly persecuted. After the real war ended in 1918, the ideological war, turned against conscientious objectors and other radical minorities such as Wobblies, who were members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and also Socialists. It was thought that the Wobblies and the Socialists were trying to overthrow the United States government. Wobblies, were persecuted against for speaking out against the capitalist system. Most of what they said, was only to attract attention, but it was taken seriously by the government. From the very beginning of the Red Scare, the Wobblies were attacked by the government because they were a symbol of radicalism. The government placed legislation not only against the Wobblies but also against Socialists and Communists. In 1917, the US government made a law which gave the Secretary of