Red Scares: A Comparison of the First and Second Red Scare in the US

Running head: RED SCARES 1
Red Scares
Jiabao Wen
Baker College

RED SCARES
Red Scares
As Cold War between Soviet Union and US got more stressed during the late 1940’s
and during early period of 1950’s hysteria was formed over assumed threat created by
Communists in US which popularly became identified as Red Scare. This was because
communist generally referred to as Red for their devotion to Red Soviet flag. The red
scare resulted into numerous actions that had severe and enduring impact over US
government and society. Federal staffs were examined to determine whether they were
loyal to government and the House Un-American activities Committee as well to US
on whole. A climate of terror and repression linked the red scare to late 1950’s. After
WWII the democratic US and communist Soviet Union became involved in numerous
large political and economic struggles known as Cold war and this severe rivalry
between the two super power nations created concerns in US that Communist and
Leftist sympathizers within US may actively work as Soviet Union’s insiders and
would create a threat for US security. Such political threats on America brought unrest
leading to striking off civil rights, nativism and immigration rules. The first red scare
was witnessed during the termination of WWI and eventually the second red scare was
followed after WWII which illustrates that irrespective of the country’s involvement
or witnessing of nuclear war there were certain unsolved concerns which required
specific intervention. In this a discussion is made to compare the two based on area
that is highlighted during these times.
As Red scare became tensed the political environment changed and became more
conservative and elected representatives from primary parties looked to portray
themselves as ardent anti-communist and few people dared to condemn the
questionable tactics that was applied to oppress suspected radicals. Representatives of
Leftist party declined as it became evident that such collaboration could result into
severe outcomes and dissenting voices from left side of political arena felt silent over
numerous concerns. For instance during judicial events support for freedom of speech
and other civil rights were disintegrated largely and this pattern was characterized by
the 1951 US Supreme court ruling in Dennis Vs US which during the period of Red
scare stated that free-speech rights of incriminated communist could be limited due to
their actions which evidently reflected danger to the government.
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RED SCARES
When in Soviet Union there occurred Russian Revolution many Americans had
illusion that the revolution was simply a revolution of industrial laborers against small
but powerful group of capitalist and this misinterpretation was because of the fact that
many people thought Russian revolution occurred as per forecast of social writer Karl
Marx. But the revolution was much bigger than an industrial revolution as it was set
quite earlier on the ground for The Bolshevik revolution which occurred in Russia
during 1917 and it was started by several people who would transform the history of
the world. It started when Czar Nicholas II pulled millions of laborer into WWI which
discouraged several Russian people with their injuries and loss of lives and Russia was
put into ruins and was mature ground for revolution. Later during mass demonstration
when women laborer protested in 1917 the Czar’s representatives were called out of
army to oppress protesters, later Czar Nicholas II was dethroned during February
revolution and provisional government was formed as replacement. As this was
weakly formed government so it failed to live up to people expectations which kept
Russia involved in war and made situation worse (Landon 2015) This provisional
government was opposed by Soviet and after Lenin returned from exile in 1917 he
joined Bolshevik party in Russia whose purpose was to overthrow provisional
government and from a new one. Later Lenin convinced Bolshevik party to form
instant insurrection against provincial government and ultimately Bolshevik regime
led to fall of provincial government and a new government was formed and led by
Bolsheviks.
The Americans feared that incidence of the Bolshevik regime may happen even in US
as they were feared of communism, which reached to high during WWI and after the
war ended a fear driven movement called 1St Red scare began spreading in US. In
1917 the Russia went through Bolshevik revolution and as outcome of this Russia
established communist government and withdrew soldiers from war. Americans
believed that Russia let down their associates including US by withdrawing war. So,
many Americans feared that communist in Russia known as Soviet Union following
the Bolshevik revolution thought of spreading communist ideology across the world
including US. Once US had no longer to focus on war several Americans feared that
communism may spread across US and would threaten the national democratic values.
This overwhelming fear of communism emerged again after WWII and there was an
undeclared war between US and Soviet Union called Cold war which struggled both
nations from spreading their economic and political systems across the world. During
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