Progressive Era
133-807: Repression and persecution Anti-war and civil rights movements Contemporary The Trade Union Unity League (TUUL) was an industrial union umbrella organization under the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) between 1929 and 1935. The group was an American affiliate of the Red International of Labor Unions . The formation of the TUUL was the result of the Communist International 's Third Period policy, which ordered affiliated Communist Parties to pursue
266-609: A "nonmailable matter". Due to the Espionage Act and the then Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson , 74 separate newspapers were not being mailed. In April 1919, authorities discovered a plot for mailing 36 bombs to prominent members of the U.S. political and economic establishment : J. P. Morgan Jr. , John D. Rockefeller , Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes , U.S. Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer , and immigration officials. On June 2, 1919, in eight cities, eight bombs exploded simultaneously . One target
399-452: A bare paragraph the government's ability to regulate wages and hours. Although the government had argued that the national economic emergency required special consideration, Hughes disagreed. The dire economic circumstances the country faced did not justify the overly broad delegation or overreach of the Act, the majority concluded. "Extraordinary conditions may call for extraordinary remedies. But
532-438: A bill. Overburdened, Moley delegated this work to Hugh S. Johnson. By May 1933, two draft bills had emerged, a cautious and legalistic one by John Dickinson ( Under Secretary of Commerce ) and an ambitious one focusing on trade associations by Hugh Johnson. Many leading businessmen—including Gerard Swope (head of General Electric ), Charles M. Schwab (chairman of Bethlehem Steel Corporation ), E. H. Harriman (chairman of
665-961: A blunt directive from Moscow denouncing the Polish government. On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory assigned to it by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, followed by co-ordination with German forces in Poland. The CPUSA turned the focus of its public activities from anti-fascism to advocating peace, not only opposing military preparations, but also condemning those opposed to Hitler . The party did not at first attack President Roosevelt, reasoning that this could devastate American Communism, blaming instead Roosevelt's advisors. On November 30, when Soviet Union attacked Finland and after forced mutual assistance pacts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ,
798-424: A coalition to support passage of the legislation, but these competing interests soon fought one another over the Act's implementation. As a consequence, NIRA collapsed due to failure of leadership and confusion about its goals. By the end of 1934, NIRA leaders had practically abandoned the progressive interventionist policy which motivated the Act's passage, and were supporting free-market philosophies—contributing to
931-420: A critical role to play through national planning, limited regulation, the fostering of trade associations , support for "fair" trade practices, and support for "democratization of the workplace" (a standard work week, shorter working hours, and better working conditions). Roosevelt, himself the former head of a trade association, believed that government promotion of "self-organization" by trade associations
1064-614: A failure. A key criticism of the Act at the time as well as more recently is that the NIRA endorsed monopolies, with the attendant economic problems associated with that type of market failure . Even the National Recovery Review Board, established by President Roosevelt in March 1934 to review the performance of the NIRA, concluded that the Act hindered economic growth by promoting cartels and monopolies. One of
1197-575: A federally protected right to organize, union membership in the United States increased considerably. Clause 7(a) of the NIRA was unclear regarding workers' legal right to collective-bargaining representation. Therefore, many employers established company unions in an attempt to prevent workers from joining AFL, TUUL, or independent unions. Nevertheless, the TUUL benefited from the National Industrial Recovery Act through significant increases in its membership. At one point,
1330-635: A living there. Title II, Sections 210–219 provided for revenues to fund the Act, and Section 220 appropriated money for the Act's implementation. Title III of the Act contained miscellaneous provisions, and transferred the authority to engage in public works from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to the Public Works Administration. Implementation of the act began immediately, with the NRA and PWA
1463-533: A major role not only in moving congressional Democrats to favour prolabor legislation but also in moving the Democratic party itself left of center.” The bill had a more difficult time in the Senate. The National Association of Manufacturers and Chamber of Commerce opposed its passage due to the labor provision. Despite the positions of these two important trade associations, most businesses initially supported
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#17327720668961596-433: A material fact, or make or cause to be made any false or fraudulent statements or representations, or make or use or cause to be made or used any false bill, receipt, voucher, roll, account, claim, certificate, affidavit, or deposition, knowing the same to contain any fraudulent or fictitious statement or entry , in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or of any corporation in which
1729-445: A pre-WWII isolationist tradition on the right. Liberal anti-communists believed that political debate was enough to show Communists as disloyal and irrelevant, while countersubversive anticommunists believed that Communists had to be exposed and punished. At times, countersubversive anticommunists accused liberals of being "equally destructive" as Communists due to an alleged lack of religious values or supposed "red web" infiltration into
1862-541: A revival of Red Scare politics in the United States, and for its ties to conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney and conservative activist Steve Bannon . David Skidmore, writing for The Diplomat , saw it as another instance of "adolescent hysteria" in American diplomacy, as another of the "fevered crusades [which] have produced some of the costliest mistakes in American foreign policy". Between 2000 and 2023, there were 224 reported instances of Chinese espionage directed at
1995-538: A strategy of dual unionism and thus abandon attempts at " bore from within " existing trade unions . TUUL unions aimed to organize semi-skilled and unskilled workers, many whom had been expelled from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). According to the TUUL, the AFL was "an instrument of the capitalists for the exploitation of the workers." Thus, the TUUL was formed as an organization in opposition to
2128-506: A view to transforming the unions themselves into revolutionary instruments. The TUEL sought to build a democratic, industrial, rank and file-centered union movement by attempting to steer conservative AFL and independent unions to the left on the political spectrum. Despite his lifelong enmity towards dual unionism, Foster remained at the helm of the TUEL organization when it changed its name and tactics at its 1929 convention. This change of line
2261-660: Is Twentieth-Century Americanism", the chairman, Earl Browder, advertised the CPUSA's integration to the political mainstream. In contrast, the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party opposed U.S. participation in the war and supported labor strikes, even in the war-effort industry. For this reason, James P. Cannon and other SWP leaders were convicted per the Smith Act. In March 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9835 , creating
2394-448: Is a form of moral panic provoked by fear of the rise, supposed or real, of leftist ideologies in a society, especially communism and socialism . Historically, "red scares" have led to mass political persecution , scapegoating , and the ousting of those in government positions who have had connections with left-wing to far-left ideology. The name is derived from the red flag , a common symbol of communism and socialism. The term
2527-470: Is a spy. Abundant accounts in narrative forms contained themes of the infiltration, subversion, invasion, and destruction of American society by un–American thought . Even a baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds , temporarily renamed themselves the "Cincinnati Redlegs" to avoid the money-losing and career-ruining connotations inherent in being ball-playing "Reds" (communists). In 1954, Congress passed
2660-774: Is known as " McCarthyism " after its best-known advocate, Senator Joseph McCarthy . McCarthyism coincided with an increased and widespread fear of communist espionage that was consequent of the increasing tension in the Cold War through the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe , the Berlin Blockade (1948–49), the end of the Chinese Civil War , the confessions of spying for the Soviet Union that were made by several high-ranking U.S. government officials, and
2793-603: Is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which are referred to by this name. The First Red Scare , which occurred immediately after World War I , revolved around a perceived threat from the American labor movement , anarchist revolution , and political radicalism that followed revolutionary socialist movements in Germany and Russia during the 19th–early 20th century. The Second Red Scare , which occurred immediately after World War II ,
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#17327720668962926-440: Is notable for Communists' unyielding antagonism to more moderate organizers, who were branded " social fascists ." TUUL activists attempted to organize some of the most marginal populations of the working class , such as the unemployed, women, and Blacks in the racially segregated American South . At its founding conference, the TUUL outlined that it would use three organizing strategies: forming national industrial unions along
3059-531: Is widely considered a policy failure , both in the 1930s and by historians today. Disputes over the reasons for this failure continue. Among the suggested causes are that the act promoted economically harmful monopolies , lacked critical support from the business community, and that it was poorly administered. The NIRA had no mechanisms for handling these problems, which led Congress to pass the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. The act
3192-402: Is without precedent. It supplies no standards for any trade, industry, or activity. It does not undertake to prescribe rules of conduct to be applied to particular states of fact determined by appropriate administrative procedure. Instead of prescribing rules of conduct, it authorizes the making of codes to prescribe them. For that legislative undertaking, section 3 sets up no standards, aside from
3325-577: The Agricultural Adjustment Act to stabilize the nation's agricultural industry. Enactment of the National Industrial Recovery Act climaxed the first 100 days of Roosevelt's presidency . Hugh S. Johnson , Raymond Moley , Donald Richberg , Rexford Tugwell , Jerome Frank , and Bernard Baruch —key Roosevelt advisors—believed that unrestrained competition had helped cause the Great Depression and that government had
3458-714: The Communist Control Act of 1954 which prevented members of the communist party in America from holding office in labor unions and other labor organizations. Examining the political controversies of the 1940s and 1950s, historian John Earl Haynes , who studied the Venona decryptions extensively, argued that Joseph McCarthy's attempts to "make anti-communism a partisan weapon" actually "threatened [the post-War] anti-Communist consensus", thereby ultimately harming anti-communist efforts more than helping them. Meanwhile,
3591-686: The Communist Party USA Murray B. Levin wrote that the Red Scare was "a nationwide anti-radical hysteria provoked by a mounting fear and anxiety that a Bolshevik revolution in America was imminent—a revolution that would change Church, home, marriage, civility, and the American way of Life". News media exacerbated such fears, channeling them into anti-foreign sentiment due to the lively debate among recent immigrants from Europe regarding various forms of anarchism as possible solutions to widespread poverty. The Industrial Workers of
3724-585: The False Claims Act of 1863 to read: ... or whoever , for the purpose of obtaining or aiding to obtain the payment or approval of such claim, or for the purpose and with the intent of cheating and swindling or defrauding the Government of the United States, or any department thereof, or any corporation in which the United States of America is a stockholder, shall knowingly and willfully falsify or conceal or cover up by any trick, scheme, or device
3857-612: The German-American Bund , and the perceived racial disloyalty of the Japanese-American population ( cf. hyphenated-Americans ). After the Soviet Union signed the non-aggression Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany on August 23, 1939, negative attitudes towards communists in the United States were on the rise. While the American communist party at first attacked Germany for its September 1, 1939 invasion of western Poland , on September 11 it received
3990-645: The Korean War (1950–53) against U.S. ally South Korea . A few of the events during the Red Scare were also due to a power struggle between director of FBI J. Edgar Hoover and the Central Intelligence Agency . Hoover had instigated and aided some of the investigations of members of the CIA with "leftist" history, like Cord Meyer . This conflict could also be traced back to the conflict between Hoover and William J. Donovan , going back to
4123-632: The Kremlin has." In 1954, after accusing the army, including war heroes, Senator Joseph McCarthy lost credibility in the eyes of the American public and the Army-McCarthy Hearings were held in the summer of 1954. He was formally censured by his colleagues in Congress and the hearings led by McCarthy came to a close. After the Senate formally censured McCarthy, his political standing and power were significantly diminished, and much of
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4256-579: The New Deal . Much evidence for Soviet espionage existed, according to Democratic Senator and historian Daniel Moynihan , with the Venona project consisting of "overwhelming proof of the activities of Soviet spy networks in America, complete with names, dates, places, and deeds." However, Moynihan argued that because sources like the Venona project were kept secret for so long, "ignorant armies clashed by night". With McCarthy advocating an extremist view,
4389-553: The Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon . To combat the growing economic decline, Hoover organized a number of voluntary measures with businesses, encouraged state and local government responses, and accelerated federal building projects. However, his policies had little or no effect on economic recovery. Toward the end of his term, however, Hoover supported several legislative solutions which he felt might lift
4522-499: The U.S. Constitution via Palmer-authorized "illegal acts" and "wanton violence". Defensively, Palmer then warned that a government-deposing left-wing revolution would begin on 1 May 1920— May Day , the International Workers' Day. When it failed to happen, he was ridiculed and lost much credibility. Strengthening the legal criticism of Palmer was that fewer than 600 deportations were substantiated with evidence, out of
4655-771: The USS Yorktown ; USS Enterprise ; the 30th Street railroad station in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania; the Triborough Bridge ; the port of Brownsville ; Grand Coulee Dam ; Boulder Dam ; Fort Peck Dam ; Bonneville Dam ; and the Overseas Highway connecting Key West , Florida, with the mainland. The agency survived until 1943, when the Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated most federal public works and work relief functions of
4788-503: The Union Pacific Railroad ), and Henry I. Harriman , president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce —helped draft the legislation. A two-part bill, the first section promoting cooperative action among business to achieve fair competition and provide for national planning and a second section establishing a national public works program, was submitted to Congress on May 15, 1933. The House of Representatives easily passed
4921-462: The " Federal Employees Loyalty Program " establishing political-loyalty review boards who determined the "Americanism" of Federal Government employees, and requiring that all federal employees to take an oath of loyalty to the United States government. It then recommended termination of those who had confessed to spying for the Soviet Union, as well as some suspected of being "Un-American". This led to more than 2,700 dismissals and 12,000 resignations from
5054-609: The "Code of Fair Competition for the Live Poultry Industry of the Metropolitan Area in and about the City of New York." The goal of the code was to ensure that live poultry (provided to kosher slaughterhouses for butchering and sale to observant Jews) were fit for human consumption and to prevent the submission of false sales and price reports. The industry was almost entirely centered on New York City. Under
5187-408: The "shockingly high level" of infiltration by Soviet agents during WWII had largely dissipated by 1950. Liberal anti-communists like Edward Shils and Daniel Moynihan had contempt for McCarthyism, and Moynihan argued that McCarthy's overreaction distracted from the "real (but limited) extent of Soviet espionage in America." In 1950, President Harry Truman called Joseph McCarthy "the greatest asset
5320-638: The 1930s, communism had become an attractive economic ideology , particularly among labor leaders and intellectuals. By 1939, the CPUSA had about 50,000 members. In 1940, soon after World War II began in Europe, the U.S. Congress legislated the Alien Registration Act (aka the Smith Act , 18 USC § 2385) making it a crime to "knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise or teach the duty, necessity, desirability or propriety of overthrowing
5453-526: The AFL." The Trade Union Unity League had its roots in an earlier Communist Party foray into the trade union movement, the Trade Union Educational League (1920-1929), headed by William Z. Foster . This earlier organization sought to pursue a "boring from within" tactic inside the previously existing unions, inside and outside of the American Federation of Labor — seeking to organize left wing "militants" within these unions with
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5586-498: The Act led to a massive wave of union organizing punctuated by employer and union violence, general strikes , and recognition strikes . At the outset, NRA Administrator Hugh Johnson naïvely believed that Section 7(a) would be self-enforcing, but he quickly learned otherwise. On August 5, 1933, the National Labor Board was established under the auspices of the NRA to implement the collective bargaining provisions of
5719-498: The Act. The premiere symbol of the NIRA was the Blue Eagle . By the end of 1934, large and small business owners and most of the public had turned against the NRA. Roosevelt himself shifted his views on the best way to achieve economic recovery, and began a new legislative program (known as the " Second New Deal ") in 1935. Implementation of Section 7(a) of the NIRA proved immensely problematic as well. The protections of
5852-708: The Act. The act was implemented by the NRA and the PWA. Large numbers of regulations were generated under the authority granted to the NRA by the Act, which led to a significant loss of business support for the legislation. NIRA was set to expire in June 1935, but in a major constitutional ruling the Supreme Court held Title I of the Act unconstitutional on May 27, 1935, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States . The National Industrial Recovery Act
5985-558: The Act. The National Labor Board, too, proved to be ineffective, and on July 5, 1935, a new law—the National Labor Relations Act —superseded the NIRA and established a new, long-lasting federal labor policy. NIRA also created a Public Works Administration (not to be confused with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of 1935). The leadership of the Public Works Authority was torn over
6118-485: The Boston police department. The press portrayed these worker strikes as "radical threats to American society" inspired by "left-wing, foreign agents provocateurs ". The IWW and those sympathetic to workers claimed that the press "misrepresented legitimate labor strikes" as "crimes against society", "conspiracies against the government", and "plots to establish communism". Opponents of labor viewed strikes as an extension of
6251-565: The CIO. Other TUUL activists became leaders in the emerging CIO unions of the late 1930s. Communist leaders brought with them many of the organizational skills that they had developed in their time with the TUUL. Although the TUUL was able to organize many light industries in New York City, it is unlikely that the TUUL would have achieved prominent status given the organization's difficulty to recruit members from heavy industries. However,
6384-610: The CPUSA to join with the CIO and the AFL in order to promote general labor unity as well as industrial unionism. With the establishment of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the end of Third Period Communism in 1935, American communist leader, William Z. Foster, returned to a "boring from within" strategy. Thus, Foster and the CPUSA worked to integrate hundreds of Communist organizers into John L. Lewis 's newly established industrial union organization. John L. Lewis, who had originally expelled Communist Party members from his United Miner Workers, now welcomed Communists to join
6517-568: The Communist Party considered Russian security sufficient justification to support the actions. Secret short wave radio broadcasts in October from Comintern leader Georgi Dimitrov ordered CPUSA leader Earl Browder to change the party's support for Roosevelt. On October 23, the party began attacking Roosevelt. The party was active in the isolationist America First Committee . The CPUSA also dropped its boycott of Nazi goods, spread
6650-820: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – within the Department of Justice, and used federal agents to jail more than 5,000 citizens and to search homes without respecting their constitutional rights. In 1918, before the bombings, President Woodrow Wilson had pressured Congress to legislate the anti-anarchist Sedition Act of 1918 to protect wartime morale by deporting putatively undesirable political people. Law professor David D. Cole reports that President Wilson's "federal government consistently targeted alien radicals, deporting them... for their speech or associations, making little effort to distinguish terrorists from ideological dissidents ". President Wilson used
6783-652: The Federal agents against Reds and suspected-Reds". In the event, twelve publicly prominent lawyers characterized the Palmer Raids as unconstitutional. The critics included future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter , who published A Report on the Illegal Practices of The United States Department of Justice , documenting systematic violations of the Fourth , Fifth , Sixth , and Eighth Amendments to
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#17327720668966916-437: The Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence, or for anyone to organize any association which teaches, advises or encourages such an overthrow, or for anyone to become a member of or to affiliate with any such association"—and required Federal registration of all foreign nationals . Although principally deployed against communists, the Smith Act was also used against right-wing political threats such as
7049-482: The NIRA staff felt the Act would survive a court test, the U.S. Department of Justice had on March 25, 1935, declined to appeal an appellate court ruling overturning the lumber industry code on the grounds that the case was not a good test of the NIRA's constitutionality. The Justice Department's action worried many in the administration. But on April 1, 1935, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
7182-560: The NIRA. Senator Bennett Champ Clark introduced an amendment to weaken Section 7(a), but Wagner and Senator George W. Norris led the successful opposition to the change. The bulk of the Senate debate, however, turned on the bill's suspension of antitrust law . Senators William E. Borah , Burton K. Wheeler , and Hugo Black opposed any relaxation of the Sherman Antitrust Act , arguing that this would exacerbate existing severe economic inequality and concentrate wealth in
7315-466: The National Industrial Recovery Act was unconstitutional. First, Hughes concluded that the law was void for vagueness because of the critical term "fair competition" was nowhere defined in the Act. Second, Hughes found the Act's delegation of authority to the executive branch unconstitutionally overbroad : To summarize and conclude upon this point: Section 3 of the Recovery Act (15 USCA 703)
7448-897: The National Textile Workers Industrial Union, the Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union, and the Agricultural Workers Industrial League (which later became the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union). The passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) in 1933 led to increase in strike activity by the AFL and TUUL unions. With the enactment of the NIRA and the inclusion of Clause 7(a), which provided many private-sector workers with
7581-662: The New Red Scare has caused the American and Chinese governments to "increasingly view Chinese students with suspicion" on American college campuses. The fourth iteration of the Committee on the Present Danger , a United States foreign policy interest group, was established on March 25, 2019, branding itself Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC). The CPDC has been criticized as promoting
7714-488: The Red Scare did not distinguish between communism , anarchism , socialism , or social democracy . This aggressive crackdown on certain ideologies resulted in many Supreme Court cases over free speech. In the 1919 case of Schenk v. United States , the Supreme Court, introducing the clear-and-present-danger test, effectively deemed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 constitutional. The second Red Scare occurred after World War II (1939–1945), and
7847-451: The Sedition Act of 1918 to limit the exercise of free speech by criminalizing language deemed disloyal to the United States government. Initially, the press praised the raids; The Washington Post stated: "There is no time to waste on hairsplitting over [the] infringement of liberty", and The New York Times wrote that the injuries inflicted upon the arrested were "souvenirs of the new attitude of aggressiveness which had been assumed by
7980-450: The Soviet Union—in the process revealing the extraordinary breadth of the Soviet spy network in infiltrating the federal government. The process also launched the successful political careers of Richard Nixon and Robert F. Kennedy , as well as that of Joseph McCarthy. The HUAC held a large interest in investigating those in the entertainment industry in Hollywood. They interrogated actors, writers, and producers. The people who cooperated in
8113-515: The Supreme Court's strict interpretation of the interstate commerce clause and worried that other legislation was jeopardized. In 1934, at the request of the Secretary Ickes, who wished to use the statute criminalizing making false statements to enforce Section 9(c) of the NIRA against producers of "hot oil", oil produced in violation of production restrictions established pursuant to the NIRA, Congress passed Pub. L. 73–394 , 48 Stat. 996 , enacted June 18, 1934 , which amended
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#17327720668968246-440: The TUEL gave way to the Trade Union Unity League (TUUL) and began to establish new unions. The TUUL founded about a dozen industrial unions in various economic sectors including textiles, marine labor, mining, shoe and leather manufacturing, and agricultural labor. Soon after the founding of the TUUL, approximately 50, 000 workers were organized by TUUL affiliates. This period in the Party's history has been called its "hey day" and
8379-408: The TUUL era. In 1935, with the formation of the Committee for Industrial Organization (soon to become the Congress of Industrial Organizations ), and with the shift in the Communist Party's policy to the Popular Front strategy, the TUUL came to an end. Communist trade unions were ordered to enter CIO industrial unions or to work within existing AFL unions. Radical, communist unions were instructed by
8512-654: The TUUL experienced considerable success organizing in light industries. Specifically, the TUUL organized light industries in New York City. Many TUUL-led strikes were offensive in character and pushed for wage increases or improved working conditions. However, many of these strikes were spontaneous, thus the unions had little opportunity to prepare sufficiently. The TUUL attempted to carry out two major activities during work stoppages. The TUUL provided guidance and resources to those on strike and it sought to recruit members to affiliated unions. Although many TUUL-led strikes were lost, many of them resulted in substantial gains for
8645-400: The TUUL had an estimated membership of 125,000 to 130,000 members. The CPUSA referred to the NIRA as "slave legislation" and considered its character to be protofascist. This was largely because the National Industrial Recovery Act promoted the regulation of prices, wages, and production through a tripartite relationship of labor, capital, and the state. CPUSA leader, Earl Browder, denounced
8778-477: The U.S. government before, during and after World War II. Other U.S. citizen spies confessed to their acts of espionage in situations where the statute of limitations on prosecuting them had run out. In 1949, anti-communist fear, and fear of American traitors, was aggravated by the Chinese Communists winning the Chinese Civil War against the Western-sponsored Kuomintang , their founding of the Communist China , and later China intervenes (October–December 1950) in
8911-504: The United States. The American Red Scares, combined with the general atmosphere of the Cold War, had a marked influence on other Anglophone countries. Anticommunist paranoia and violence was significantly advanced in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In other parts of the world , such as Indonesia , fear and loathing of communism has escalated to the level of political violence . National Industrial Recovery Act The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 ( NIRA )
9044-469: The World (IWW), also known as the Wobblies, backed several labor strikes in 1916 and 1917. These strikes covered a wide range of industries including steel working, shipbuilding, coal mining, copper mining, and others necessary for wartime activities. After World War I ended (November 1918), the number of strikes increased to record levels in 1919, with more than 3,600 separate strikes by a wide range of workers, e.g. steel workers, railroad shop workers, and
9177-618: The act a "mockery of the Bill of Rights" and a "long step toward totalitarianism" because it represented a government restriction on the freedom of opinion. He vetoed the act but his veto was overridden by Congress. Much of the bill eventually was repealed. The formal establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and the beginning of the Korean War in 1950 meant that Asian Americans , especially those of Chinese or Korean descent, came under increasing suspicion by both American civilians and government officials of being Communist sympathizers. Simultaneously, some American politicians saw
9310-477: The act had soured. The legislation was enacted in June 1933 during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal legislative program. Section 7(a) of the bill, which protected collective bargaining rights for unions , proved contentious (especially in the Senate ). Congress eventually enacted the legislation and President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 16, 1933. The Act had two main titles ( sections ) . Title I
9443-417: The argument necessarily stops short of an attempt to justify action which lies outside the sphere of constitutional authority. Extraordinary conditions do not create or enlarge constitutional power." Although the decision emasculated NIRA, it had little practical impact, as Congress was unlikely to have reauthorized the Act in any case. At the time and in recent analyzes, NIRA is generally considered to be
9576-435: The atom bomb , were found to have engaged in espionage. This allegedly included some pro-Soviet capitalists, such as economist Harry Dexter White , and communist businessman David Karr . According to The New York Times , China 's growing military and economic power has resulted in a "New Red Scare" in the United States. Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed anti-China sentiment. According to The Economist ,
9709-472: The bill in just seven days. The most contentious issue was the inclusion of Section 7(a), which protected collective bargaining rights for unions . Section 7(a) was nearly eliminated from the bill, but Senator Wagner, Jerome Frank, and Leon Keyserling (another Roosevelt aide) worked to retain the section in order to win the support of the American labor movement. According to one study ... The capitalist’s opposition to section 7a in congressional hearings
9842-478: The bombing, in which 38 died and 141 were injured. In 1919–20, several states enacted " criminal syndicalism " laws outlawing advocacy of violence in effecting and securing social change . The restrictions included limitations on free speech . Passage of these laws, in turn, provoked aggressive police investigation of the accused persons, their jailing, and deportation for being suspected of being either communist or left-wing. Regardless of ideological gradation,
9975-471: The cartels. Studies of the steel, automobile manufacturing, lumber, textile, and rubber industries and the level and source of support for the NIRA tend to support this conclusion. Without the support of industry, the Act could never have performed as it was intended. A third major criticism of the Act is that it was poorly administered. The Act purposefully brought together competing for interests (labor and business, big business and small business, etc.) in
10108-518: The code-making authority thus conferred is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. Finally, in a very restrictive reading of what constituted interstate commerce, Hughes held that the "'current' or 'flow'" of commerce involved was simply too minute to constitute interstate commerce, and subsequently Congress had no power under the Commerce Clause to enact legislation affecting such commercial transactions. The Court dismissed with
10241-479: The codes from the federal antitrust laws. Title I, Section 7(a) guaranteed the right of workers to form unions and banned yellow-dog contracts : ... employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for
10374-659: The collapse of almost all industry codes. There are a wide range of additional critiques as well. One is that NIRA's industry codes interfered with capital markets, inhibiting economic recovery. But more recent analyzes conclude that NIRA had little effect on capital markets one way or the other. Another is that political uncertainty created by the NIRA caused a drop in business confidence, inhibiting recovery. But at least one study has shown no effect whatsoever. Section 7(a) led to significant increases in union organizing, but NRA administrative rulings effectively gutted this section by permitting company union . Although Section 7(a)
10507-716: The constitutionality of the NIRA in the Schechter case. Although Donald Richberg and others felt the government's case in Schechter was not a strong one, the Schechters were determined to appeal their conviction. So the government appealed first, and the Supreme Court heard oral argument on May 2 and 3. On May 27, 1935, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote for a unanimous Court in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. The United States that Title I of
10640-416: The continuation of the Great Depression. Others point out that the cartels created by the Act were inherently unstable (as all cartels are), and that the effect on prices was minimal because the codes collapsed so quickly. A second key criticism of the Act is that it lacked support from the business community, and thus was doomed to failure. Business support for national planning and government intervention
10773-628: The country out of the depression. The final attempt of the Hoover administration to rescue the economy was the passage of the Emergency Relief and Construction Act (which provided funds for public works programs) and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) (which provided low-interest loans to businesses). Hoover was defeated for re-election by Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election . Roosevelt
10906-662: The courts. The constitutionality of the NIRA was tested in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States , 295 U.S. 495 (1935). Courts identified three problems with the NIRA: "(i) was the subject matter sought to be regulated by the power of Congress; (ii) if the regulations violated the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution ; and (iii) had Congress properly delegated its power to the executive." Although Roosevelt, most of his aides, Johnson, and
11039-442: The disbursement of money. Harold Ickes, too, was determined to ensure that graft and corruption did not tarnish the agency's reputation and lead to loss of political support in Congress, and so moved cautiously in spending the agency's money. Although the U.S. Supreme Court would rule Title I of NIRA unconstitutional, the severability clause in the Act enabled the PWA to survive. Among the projects it funded between 1935 and 1939 are:
11172-531: The discussion of communist subversion was made into a civil rights issue instead of a counterintelligence one. This historiographical perspective is shared by historians John Earl Haynes and Robert Louis Benson. While President Truman formulated the Truman Doctrine against Soviet expansion, it is possible he was not fully informed of the Venona intercepts, leaving him unaware of the domestic extent of espionage, according to Moynihan and Benson. By
11305-480: The economic effects of monopoly and cartels is higher prices—this was seen as necessary because the severe deflation of 1929–33 had depressed prices 20% and more. There is anecdotal evidence that these higher prices led to some stability in industry, but a number of scholars maintain that these prices were so high that economic recovery was inhibited. But other economists disagree, pointing to far more important monetary, budgetary, and tax policies as contributors to
11438-602: The economy that NRA proved to be the more important agency by far. NIRA, as implemented by the NRA, became notorious for generating large numbers of regulations. By March 1934 the "NRA was engaged chiefly in drawing up these industrial codes for all industries to adopt." The agency approved 557 basic and 189 supplemental industry codes in two years. Between 4,000 and 5,000 business practices were prohibited, some 3,000 administrative orders running to over 10,000 pages promulgated, and thousands of opinions and guides from national, regional, and local code boards interpreted and enforced
11571-453: The evening of June 9 and all day June 10 to reconcile the two versions of the bill, approving a final version on the afternoon of June 10. The House approved the conference committee's bill on the evening of June 10. After extensive debate, the Senate approved the final bill, 46-to-39, on June 13. President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 16, 1933. The National Industrial Recovery Act had two major titles ( sections ) . Title I
11704-514: The fear of Communists infiltrating the country. Supporters, however, believe the actions of the HUAC were justified given the level of threat Communism posed to democracy in the United States. Senator McCarthy stirred up further fear in the United States of communists infiltrating the country by saying that communist spies were omnipresent, and he was America's only salvation, using this fear to increase his own influence. In 1950 Joseph McCarthy addressed
11837-717: The fear that the Soviet Union would drop nuclear bombs on the United States, and fear of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). In Canada, the 1946 Kellock–Taschereau Commission investigated espionage after top-secret documents concerning RDX , radar and other weapons were handed over to the Soviets by a domestic spy-ring. At the House Un-American Activities Committee , former CPUSA members and NKVD spies, Elizabeth Bentley and Whittaker Chambers , testified that Soviet spies and communist sympathizers had penetrated
11970-574: The federal government into the new Federal Works Agency . President Roosevelt sought an extension of NIRA on February 20, 1935. But the business backlash against the New Deal, coupled with continuing congressional concern over the Act's suspension of antitrust law, left the President's request politically dead. A U.S. Senate committee investigation into the effectiveness of the NRA, PWA, and Section 7(a) revealed only limited political support for
12103-596: The first Red Scare, but especially during World War II. Donovan ran the OSS (CIA's predecessor). They had differing opinions on the nature of the alliance with the Soviet Union, conflicts over jurisdiction, conflicts of personality, the OSS hiring of communists and criminals as agents, etc. Historian Richard Powers distinguishes two main forms of anti-communism during the period, liberal anti-communism and countersubversive anti-communism. The countersubversives, he argues, derived from
12236-536: The hands of the rich (a severe problem which many economists at the time believed was one of the causes of the Great Depression). Wagner defended the bill, arguing that the bill's promotion of codes of fair trade practices would help create progressive standards for wages, hours, and working conditions, and eliminate sweatshops and child labor. The Senate passed the amended legislation 57-to-24 on June 9. A House–Senate conference committee met throughout
12369-401: The industries covered by the codes, while Section 7(c) authorized the President to impose such standards on codes when voluntary agreement could not be reached. Title I, Section 9 authorized the regulation of oil pipelines and prices for the transportation of all petroleum products by pipeline. Section 9(b) permitted the executive to take over any oil pipeline company, subsidiary, or business if
12502-422: The investigations got to continue working as they had been, but people who refused to cooperate were blacklisted . Critics of the HUAC claim their tactics were an abuse of government power and resulted in a witch hunt that disregarded citizens’ rights and ruined their careers and reputations. Critics claim the internal witch hunt was a use for personal gain to spread influence for government officials by intensifying
12635-468: The killer, who had been dating one of Trotsky's secretaries, was a disillusioned follower. In allegiance to the Soviet Union, the party changed this policy again after Hitler broke the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact by attacking the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The CPUSA opposed labor strikes in the weapons industry and supporting the U.S. war effort against the Axis Powers . With the slogan "Communism
12768-443: The labor provisions of the NIRA as "the American version of Mussolini's 'corporative state,' special state controlled labor unions closely tied up with and under the direction of the employers." Furthermore, the CPUSA viewed the NIRA as an attempt by the state, capital, and AFL leaders to deter militancy within labor unions. While TUUL unions suffered major defeats and had difficulty organizing in heavy and mass production industries,
12901-401: The law among Senators. The Senate bill reauthorizing NIRA provided for only a 10-month extension, with significant new limitations on NRA powers. The House reauthorization bill contained no new limits on the NRA, and proposed a two-year extension. By May 1935, the issue was moot as the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled Title I of NIRA unconstitutional. On April 13, 1934, the President had approved
13034-565: The leading agencies. Hugh Johnson spent most of May and June planning for implementation, and the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was established on June 20, 1933—a scant four days after the law's enactment. Roosevelt angered Johnson by having him administer only the NRA, while the Public Works Administration (PWA) went to Harold L. Ickes . NRA and PWA reported to different cabinet agencies, making coordination difficult, and PWA money flowed so slowly into
13167-510: The lines of the NMU, NTWU and the NTWIU; in industries where the federation struggled to organize unions, grouping together local unions and shop committees into national industrial leagues; and organizing left-wing oppositions in the AFL unions. The TUUL largely focused on building extensive industrial unions and on inter-ethnic and inter-racial organizing. Specifically, the TUUL focused on promoting
13300-536: The new agency's mission. PWA could initiate its own construction projects, distribute money to other federal agencies to fund their construction projects, or make loans to states and localities to fund their construction projects. But many in the Roosevelt administration felt PWA should not spend money, for fear of worsening the federal deficit, and so funds flowed slowly. Furthermore, the very nature of construction (planning, specifications, and blueprints) also held up
13433-495: The new poultry code, the Schechter brothers were indicted on 60 counts (of which 27 were dismissed by the trial court), acquitted on 14, and convicted in 19. One of the counts on which they were convicted was for selling a diseased bird, leading Hugh Johnson to jokingly call the suit the "sick chicken case". Even before these legal aspects became widely known, a number of court challenges to the NIRA were winding their way through
13566-469: The outbreak of the Korean War . The events of the late 1940s, the early 1950s—the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (1953), the trial of Alger Hiss , the Iron Curtain (1945–1991) around Eastern Europe , and the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test in 1949 ( RDS-1 )—surprised the American public, influencing popular opinion about U.S. national security , which, in turn, was connected to
13699-483: The parent company was found in violation of the Act. Title II established the Public Works Administration. Title II, Section 201 established the agency and provided for a two-year sunset provision. Section 202 outlines the types of public works which the new agency may seek to fund or build. Title II, Section 203 authorized the Public Works Administration to provide grants and/or loans to states and localities in order to more rapidly reduce unemployment as well as to use
13832-505: The power of eminent domain to seize land or materials to engage in public works. Title II, Section 204 explicitly provided $ 400 million for the construction of public highways, bridges, roads, railroad crossings, paths, and other transportation projects. Title II, Section 208 authorized the president to expend up to $ 25 million to purchase farms for the purpose of relocating individuals living in overcrowded urban areas (such as cities) to these farms and allowing them to raise crops and earn
13965-643: The prospect of American-educated Chinese students bringing their knowledge back to "Red China" as an unacceptable threat to American national security, and laws such as the China Aid Act of 1950 and the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 gave significant assistance to Chinese students who wished to settle in the United States. Despite being naturalized, however, Chinese immigrants continued to face suspicion of their allegiance. The general effect, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison scholar Qing Liu,
14098-447: The purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; [and] (2) that no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing... . Title I, Section 7(b) permitted the establishment of standards regarding maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and working conditions in
14231-571: The radical, anarchist foundations of the IWW, which contends that all workers should be united as a social class and that capitalism and the wage system should be abolished. In June 1917, as a response to World War I, Congress passed the Espionage Act to prevent any information relating to national defense from being used to harm the United States or to aid her enemies. The Wilson administration used this act to make anything "urging treason"
14364-549: The rights of marginalized African American workers: "The advancement of the workers generally is inseparably bound up with the advancement of the Negroes." The TUUL viewed class struggle as a unifying experience for all workers. Beginning in 1928, when the TUUL the organization helped organize between 40,000 and 60,000 workers. The TUUL organized more than a dozen unions including the National Miners Union (NMU),
14497-506: The senate, citing 81 separate cases, and made accusations against suspected communists. Although he provided little or no evidence, this prompted the Senate to call for a full investigation. Senator McCarran introduced the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950 that was passed by the U.S. Congress and which modified a great deal of law to restrict civil liberties in the name of security. President Truman declared
14630-658: The slogans " The Yanks Are Not Coming " and "Hands Off", set up a "perpetual peace vigil" across the street from the White House and announced that Roosevelt was the head of the "war party of the American bourgeoisie". By April 1940, the party Daily Worker ' s line seemed not so much antiwar as simply pro-German. A pamphlet stated the Jews had just as much to fear from Britain and France as they did Germany. In August 1940, after NKVD agent Ramón Mercader killed Trotsky with an ice axe , Browder perpetuated Moscow's fiction that
14763-403: The statement of the general aims of rehabilitation, correction, and expansion described in section 1. In view of the scope of that broad declaration and of the nature of the few restrictions that are imposed, the discretion of the President in approving or prescribing codes, and thus enacting laws for the government of trade and industry throughout the country, is virtually unfettered. We think that
14896-466: The strength of congressional investigation committees, and weakening the Smith Act. In the 1957 case Yates v. United States and the 1961 case Scales v. United States , the Supreme Court limited Congress's ability to circumvent the First Amendment, and in 1967 during the Supreme Court case United States v. Robel , the Supreme Court ruled that a ban on communists in the defense industry
15029-404: The tension surrounding the idea of a possible communist takeover died down. From 1955 through 1959, the Supreme Court made several decisions which restricted the ways in which the government could enforce its anti-communist policies, some of which included limiting the federal loyalty program to only those who had access to sensitive information, allowing defendants to face their accusers, reducing
15162-463: The thousands of resident aliens arrested and deported. In July 1920, Palmer's once-promising Democratic Party bid for the U.S. presidency failed. Wall Street was bombed on September 16, 1920, near Federal Hall National Memorial and the JP Morgan Bank . Although both anarchists and communists were suspected as being responsible for the bombing, ultimately no individuals were indicted for
15295-506: The vision of a democratic and activist trade unionism, which was bolstered by the TUUL, ultimately provided a bridge and a training ground for CPUSA trade union activists when they reentered the AFL in 1934. Former TUUL members played a role in organizing the CIO unions during the 1930s. The TUUL unions' struggle marks the inception of the CPUSA's commitment to building industrial unionism in the United States. National organizations (As of 1931) Others Red Scare A Red Scare
15428-573: The workers. These successes, however, did not necessarily lead to a long-term membership increases or organizational stability for the TUUL's unions. The TUUL was dismantled in 1935 when the Comintern switched to the Popular Front strategy. CPUSA organizers then joined the industrial union movement under the Congress of Industrial Organizations , where they applied skills developed during
15561-651: The years 1947 to 1956. It also was the template for several state legislatures' loyalty acts, such as California's Levering Act . The House Committee on Un-American Activities was created during the Truman administration as a response to allegations by Republicans of disloyalty in Truman's administration. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and the committees of Senator Joseph McCarthy ( R. , Wisc. ) conducted character investigations of "American communists" (actual and alleged), and their roles in (real and imaginary) espionage, propaganda, and subversion favoring
15694-482: Was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also established a national public works program known as the Public Works Administration (PWA). The National Recovery Administration (NRA) portion was widely hailed in 1933, but by 1934 business opinion of
15827-461: Was also a major force behind a major modification of the law criminalizing making false statements . The Depression began in the United States in October 1929 and grew steadily worse to its nadir in early 1933. President Herbert Hoover feared that too much intervention or coercion by the government would destroy individuality and self-reliance, which he considered to be important American values. His laissez-faire views appeared to be shared by
15960-637: Was convinced that federal activism was needed to reverse the country's economic decline. In his first hundred days in office, the Congress enacted at Roosevelt's request a series of bills designed to strengthen the banking system, including the Emergency Banking Act , the Glass–Steagall Act (which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ), and the 1933 Banking Act . The Congress also passed
16093-440: Was devoted to industrial recovery, authorizing the promulgation of industrial codes of fair competition, guaranteed trade union rights, permitted the regulation of working standards, and regulated the price of certain refined petroleum products and their transportation. Title II established the Public Works Administration , outlined the projects and funding opportunities it could engage in. Title II also provided funding for
16226-560: Was devoted to industrial recovery. Title I, Section 2 empowered the President to establish executive branch agencies to carry out the purposes of the Act, and provided for a sunset provision nullifying the Act in two years. The heart of the Act was Title I, Section 3, which permitted trade or industrial associations to seek presidential approval of codes of fair competition (so long as such codes did not promote monopolies or provide unfair competition against small businesses) and provided for enforcement of these codes. Title I, Section 5 exempted
16359-612: Was externally driven, Foster explained to his associate from the United Mine Workers of America , Powers Hapgood at the time of the change, declaring "Powers, the Communist Party decided that policy. As a good Communist I just have to go along." The TUUL was founded at a convention held in Cleveland, Ohio , on August 31, 1929. The TUUL emerged out the Trade Union Education League (TUEL), which
16492-561: Was founded by William Zebulon Foster in 1920. The TUEL attempted to create an "amalgamation of the trade unions" by forging alliances, organizing unity conferences, winning control of different local unions as well as city and state labor federations. The TUEL aimed to provide leadership for numerous local, as well as regional, industry-wide strikes. In 1928, the Communist International finally encouraged League members to abandon their "boring from within" strategy. In 1929,
16625-423: Was moving on its own industrial legislation. In the Senate, Robert F. Wagner , Edward P. Costigan , and Robert M. La Follette, Jr. were promoting public works legislation, and Hugo Black was pushing short-work-week legislation. Motivated to work on his own industrial relief bill by these efforts, Roosevelt ordered Moley to work with these Senators (and anyone else in government who seemed interested) to craft
16758-605: Was not affected by the Supreme Court's decision in Schechter Poultry, the failure of the section led directly to passage of the National Labor Relations Act in July 1935. Historian Alan Brinkley stated that by 1935 the NIRA was a "woeful failure, even a political embarrassment." Many liberals, probably including Roosevelt, were quietly relieved by its demise. However, New Dealers were worried by
16891-473: Was not convincing enough to persuade an overwhelmingly urban liberal Democratic Congress. As Kenneth Finegold and Theda Skocpol have correctly pointed out, congressional Democrats were eager to consolidate their electoral majorities by supporting and enacting prolabor legislation. With the urban industrial working class becoming a major electoral bloc for urban Democrats, it is not surprising that pressures from industrial workers, both employed and unemployed, played
17024-715: Was preoccupied with the perception that national or foreign communists were infiltrating or subverting American society and the federal government . The first Red Scare in the United States accompanied the Russian Revolution of 1917 (specifically, the October Revolution ) and subsequent communist revolutions in Europe and beyond . Citizens of the United States in the years of World War I (1914–1918) were intensely patriotic; anarchist and left-wing social agitation aggravated national, social, and political tensions. Political scientist and former member of
17157-605: Was the Washington, D.C. , house of U.S. Attorney General Palmer, where the explosion killed the bomber, who (evidence indicated) was an Italian-American radical from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . Afterwards, Palmer ordered the U.S. Justice Department to launch the Palmer Raids (1919–21). He deported 249 Russian immigrants on the " Soviet Ark ", formed the General Intelligence Unit – a precursor to
17290-496: Was the least-intrusive and yet most effective method for achieving national planning and economic improvement. Some work on an industrial relief bill had been done in the weeks following Roosevelt's election, but much of this was in the nature of talk and the exchange of ideas rather than legislative research and drafting. The administration, preoccupied with banking and agriculture legislation, did not begin working on industrial relief legislation until early April. Congress, however,
17423-401: Was to simultaneously demand that Chinese (and other Asian) students politically support the American government yet avoid engaging directly in politics. The Second Red Scare profoundly altered the temper of American society. Its later characterizations may be seen as contributory to works of feared communist espionage, such as the film My Son John (1952), about parents' suspicions their son
17556-709: Was unconstitutional. In 1995, the American government declassified details of the Venona Project following the Moynihan Commission , which when combined with the opening of the USSR Comintern archives, provided substantial validation of intelligence gathering, outright spying, and policy influencing, by Americans on behalf of the Soviet Union, from 1940 through 1980. Over 300 American communists, whether they knew it or not, including government officials and technicians that helped in developing
17689-420: Was very strong in 1933, but had collapsed by mid-1934. Many studies conclude, however, that business support for NIRA was never uniform. Larger, older businesses embraced the legislation while smaller, newer ones (more nimble in a highly competitive market and with less capital investment to lose if they failed) did not. This is a classic problem of cartels, and thus NIRA codes failed as small business abandoned
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