THE CRUCIBLE
Modern witch-hunts
The term witch-hunt has come to mean the searching out and persecution of
groups of people – usually for political reasons.
When Arthur Miller was writing The Crucible there was a notorious modern-day
witch hunt in progress.
After the Second World War many people thought that there was a direct threat
to the world from communism generally and Russia in particular.
The war in Korea between 10590-1953 also contributed to the feeling of unease
about left-wing sympathisers.
This fear was added to by the fact that the USSR had nuclear weapons.
McCarthyism
Early 1950s Senator Joseph McCarthy created a national campaign against
Communists and Communist sympathisers.
He made a famous speech in which he said that the State Department had been
infiltrated by Communists.
In 1950 Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were arrested and accused of being communist
spies – they were convicted and executed in 1953.
A group of government officials known as the House Un-American Affairs
Committee actively hunted for communists, having them ‘blacklisted’ and banned
from working.
Anti-communist hysteria gained ground and many people were hounded from their
jobs or prevented from working.
Many of the people accused of being Communist sympathisers worked in the arts –
writers, actors, film-makers and artists.
Typical features of these communist witch-hunts were – unfounded allegations;
encouragement of ‘naming names’, ever-increasing lists of those accused, the
chance to be freed if you confessed.
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All of the above led to a spiral of fear and suspicion.
The Crucible was published in 1953 when the Communist hysteria was at its height.
In 1956 Arthur Miller was asked to appear in front of the committee, and asked to
name people who had attended a communist supporters meeting ten years before.
He refused to name anyone and was fined.
It would have been a brave decision to make as he could easily have been sent to
prison.
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