EC1 History
The Red Scare
pages 166-167
Key words
● Workers’ unions
Key words
● Workers’ unions
○ Organizations representing workers
■ Negotiate over wages, working
hours and working conditions
Key words
● Left-wing
○ Liberal
○ Social ideas
Key words
● Deported: forced to leave a country
Key words
● Patriotism:
love of
country
Key words
● Strike
Key words
● Alien: immigrant
What was the Red Scare?
● 1919-1920
● fear of a communist
revolution in the USA
● Consequences:
thousands arrested,
imprisoned and
deported
Who were the targets of the Red Scare?
● Targets
○ Mostly immigrants
○ Workers’ unions
○ People with left-wing
ideas
○ International
Workers of the
World union (IWW)
○ Socialist Party
What was the International Workers of the World?
● 1905
● Workers’ rights
Why did patriotism cause the Red Scare?
● WWI: USA vs. Germany = American patriotism
○ Suspicion or distrust of people of German origin
● Some groups did not support the war
○ International Workers of the World
○ Socialist Party
■ Seen as unpatriotic = targeted
● Patriotic groups
○ Returning soldiers = patriotic
○ American Legion - largest group
○ Asked the government to pass laws against immigrants,
communists and the IWW
What was the American Legion?
● Made up of
American veterans
(ex-soldiers)
○ Patriotic
○ Fought against
Germans
Why did economic problems cause the Red
Scare?
● High unemployment caused by the end of
WWI
○ 4 million soldiers
○ 9 million worked in the war industry
■ Caused
● Lower wages
● More working hours
Why did worker unrest cause the Red Scare?
● Strikes
● 1919 Seattle shipyards strikes = 60,000
○ Peaceful
■ Caused by
● Poor working conditions
● Government
○ Reacted as if the strikes were violent
● Media
○ Reacted as if the strikes were linked to communism
Why did violence cause the Red Scare?
● 30+ letter bombs posted to people
○ Few exploded
○ April 1919
● 8 bombs set off in cities
○ Anarchists
○ June 1919
● Media
○ hysteria