RED SCARE

by Robert K. Murray ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1954

Subtitled A Study in National Hysteria -- 1919-1920, this might, with substitution of some names, be placed in the contemporary scene. The underlying hysteria lives on. The terror of domestic bolshevism is with us. Labor is continually charged with radicalism. Schools and government departments are under fire. Congressional investigations hold the limelight. Spy hunts make news. Loyalty oaths are demanded. McCarthyism is a new word-as Palmerism is forgotten. Yet many remember the tragic futility of our post-war ""red scare"" in 1919, when sedition and espionage legislation was prevalent, state and nationwide. It was the IWW and the Socialist bugbear then, and the beginnings of the Communist movement here. There were strikes like the Seattle General Strike, there were riots and dynamiting. There was a drive for patriotism, spelled with capital letters, and the American Legion came into being, and the KKK was revived. Employer organizations fattened. And Attn. Genl. Palmer instituted raiding devices and deportations. Liberal civic organizations came under suspicion (the Civil Liberty Union and the League of Women Voters!). Then- with returning prosperity, in January 1920, there began a return to sanity. But the aftermath we have with us, laying groundwork for Red Scare 1952-54 variety. Do we ever learn from history? Important documentary evidence here.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Univ. of Minnesota

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION