Red Scare 1919

Literary Digest, 7/5/1919 - reserve

1919 - After the armistice, demobilization and reconversion affected the 9 million workers in war industries, and the 4 million soldiers that left the armed forces. Unemployment surged upward until summer of 1919. There were 3600 strikes in 1919 involving 4 million workers. The cost of living was 99% higher in 1919 than in 1914 due to inflation; food prices up 84%, clothing up 114%, furniture up 125%. High costs too much even for Sandow to hold up. The "overalls revolution" gained support during the year to protest high clothing prices.

1919 Jan. 1 - The Spartacist League in Germany led a communist revolution in Berlin, but it was suppressed by the Weimar Republic with the help of the Friecorps that killed Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg. Ludwig Martens represented the Soviet Commissariate of Foreign Affairs in New York World Tower Building, funded by Moscow, distributed literature of the Third International. The Bolsheviks supported the revolution in Germany, communist government in Hungary.

1919 Jan. 21 - Seattle general strike of 1919 grew out of the Seattle shipyard workers strike of Jan. 21 against the Emergency Fleet Corporation. The strike was supported by the Seattle Central Labor Council led by radical James A. Duncan, who formed a General Strike Committee representing 110 local unions and led by a15-member Committee chaired by Duncan. The general strike began Feb. 6, but the Committee exempted garbage and laundry and milk trucks and essential industries such as coal and water. Mayor Ole Hanson called for troops from Camp Lewis and faced the strikers with 1500 police and 1500 troops. The AFL urged strikers to back down, and the strike ended Feb. 10. Hanson became a celebrity, resigned as mayor with its $7500 salary, went on a national speaking tour that earned him $38,000. The Justice Department of A. Mitchell Palmer arrested 54 radicals that had been involved in the Seattle strike and they were sent East on the "Red Special" to Ellis Island, but later released for lack of evidence, except three who were deported in May 1919.

1919 Feb. 4 - Senate resolution gave authority to the Overman Judiciary Subcommittee that had been investigating German propaganda to focus on Bolshevik propaganda, causes of Seattle strike, and Feb. 2 radical meeting at Poli Theater in DC by Albert Rhys Williams, held hearings Feb. 11 to Mar. 10, took testimony from 24 witnesses, and issued 1200-page report. On Mar. 26, the New York state legislature authorized Lusk Committee to investigate Bolshevism in NY labor movement, led by Clayton R. Lusk, with chief cousel Charles Newton, assistant counsel Archibald Stevenson, held hearings starting June 12, the same day as the raid on the World Tower Building offices of Ludwig Martens and the Russian Soviet Bureau, seized publications, and Lusk Committee claimed there were 50 radical publications in NY City . On June 21 the state police raided the Rand School that had been founded 1906 by abolitionist Carie Rand to study Socialism and was owned by the American Socialist Society, the Left Wing Socialists. Also the police raided the HQ of IWW and seized more radical literature but no arrests or real evidence of treason was uncovered.

1919 March - Victor Berger won election in Nov. 1918 to House of Representatives from Wisconsin, but found guilty of violating Espionage Act in Jan. 1919 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, won appeal for release on bail. Charles Schenck was general secretary of Socialist Party, found guilty, appealed to Supreme Court but Oliver Wendell Holmes declared in March 1919 that Schenck's words advising draftees to avoid the draft "create a clear and present danger"

1919 Mar. 29 - Non-Partisan League of western farmers founded by Arthur Townley to create state-owned grain elevators gained control North Dakota legislature, had 200,000 members in 13 states.

1919 May 1 - May Day bombings planned, many sent in mail as packages. Apr. 28, package sent to Ole Hanson's office but leaked and discovered. Apr. 29, explosion from package sent to home of former Sen. Thomas Hardwick in Atlanta blew of hands of maid. Apr. 30, 16 packages discovered in New York post office due to insufficient postage, and 18 other packages intercepted that were marked "Novelty - A Sample" with Gimbel Brothers return address. There were a total of 36 individuals targeted for May 1. On that day, many radical parades broken up, riots in NYC, Boston. That night the house of A. Mitchell Palmer was dynamited and FDR across the street called police, bomb thrower had blown himself up on front steps, was an Italian from Philadelphia, found parts of two left legs.

1919 June 13 - At AFL national convention in Atlantic City, Samuel Gompers and AFL joined the attack on radicalism, argued that trade unionism was a barrier against bolshevism, refused to support a general srike in support of convicted radical Tom Mooney planned for July 4. However, the convention did vote support for the Plumb plan for government ownership of railroads that was proposed in Feb. by Glenn Plumb of the Railroad Brotherhoods. Rep. Thetus Sims of Tenn introduced a bill in Congress Aug. 2 to implement the Plumb Plan, but it was opposed by the railroad companies.

1919 June 21 - Socialist Party in American divided into Left and Right wings on the issue of the immediacy of revolution. By May 1919, 30,000 Socialists supported the Left Wing, but were expelled from the Socialist party. The Left Wing faction met in New York City June 21 and planned to capture the Socialist convention in Chicago in September, but the Left Wing was split into native language and foreign language factions. The native language faction failed to take over the Chicago convention, so they instead formed the Communist Labor Party, led by John Reed and NY state legislator Benjamin Gitlow and William B. Lloyd son of Henry Demarest Lloyd. The foreign languagge faction formed the American Communist party Sept. 1. Both communist groups had a membership of 70,000 taken from the old Socialist Party.

1919 Aug. 1 - A. Mitchell Palmer created the General Intelligence Division in the Bureau of Investigation in the Justice Dept headed by J. Edgar Hoover, later to become the FBI. Hoover had worked at the Library of Congress, created an index file of 200,000 cards.

1919 Aug. 15 The AFL granted charter membership to the Boston policemen, but Commissioner Edward Curtis suspended 19 leaders of the new union, and the policemen voted to begin a strike Sept. 9 unless the city recognized their new union and negotiated a new contract that would give them a wage increase from the pay of $1600 per year.

1919 Sept. 9 - Boston Police Strike began when 1117 of 1544 officers walked out. The rise in crime and looting and gang violence caused a backlash against the police. Citizen volunteers were put under the command of loyal policemen to enforce a curfew. Mayor Peters called out 5000 National Guard troops to patrol Boston, fought against several riots Sept. 10 using machine guns. On Sept. 11, Mass. Gov. Calvin Coolidge took command, refused to reinstate the strikers, refused plea from Samuel Gompers to arbitrate, saying "There is not right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time." Cooldige became a national hero as Ole Hansen had been earlier in the year.

1919 Sept. 22 - Steel strike began led by the steelworker's National Committee, led by William Z. Foster. The unskilled steel workers wanted wage increases beyond the $1466 average, when minimum subsistence income for family of five was $1575, and wanted the 8-hour day instead of the 12 hours per day 7 days per week, and collective bargaining and an end to company unions. The strike began with 275,000 steel workers walking out the first day, growing to 365,000 by the end of the first week. The riot at Gary, Indiana, Oct. 4 caused Gov. James Goodrich to call out the state militia and Gen. Leonard Wood to bring regular army troops and to put Gary under martial law. The army raided radical homes and buildings Oct. 15 arresting several dozen and seizing radical literature. The strike eventually ended jan. 8, 1920 with no gains for labor and $112 m lost wages and 20 dead.

1919 Oct. 28 - Volstead Act passed to enforce the 18th Amendment that had been ratified Jan. 16 and required prohibition to begin Jan. 16, 1920. German brewer identified with foreign anarchist as danger to the country.

1919 Nov. 1 - Coal strike was the third great strike of 1919, began with the walkout of 394,000 coal miners. John L. Lewis led the UMW to call for a strike Nov. 1, but A. Mitchell Palmer issued an injunction Oct. 30 based on the wartime Lever Act, but the strike went forward. Woodrow Wilson offered a mediation plan and the strike ended Dec. 10, and a commission would give the miners a 27% pay raise but not the 8-hour day.

1919 Nov. 7 - Palmer raid across the nation on the Union of Russian Workers, led to arrest of 250 in 12 cities

1919 Nov. 8 - Lusk Committee with 700 police raided 73 radical centers, arrested 500

1919 Nov. 10 - Supreme Court upheld conviction of Jacob Abrams and six others for violating the Sedition Act, invoking the "clear and present danger" principle fo the Schenck case

1919 Nov. 11 - Armistice day massacre in Centralia, Washington, when a mob from the town parade broke in the union hall of the IWW, but the Wobblies shot and killed the intruders, The Wobblies were arrested, but Wesley Everest tried to run away, was hunted down by the townspeople and killed, the coroner ruling that "Everest broke out of jail, went to the Chehalis River bridge, and committed suicide. He jumped off with a rope around his neck and then shot himself full of holes." (Hayes, p. 260) The Centralia Massacre began a series of raids and arrests of Wobblies on the West Coast.

1919 Nov. 22 - House Committee on Immigration found that the federal government had arrested 600 aliens, but deported only 60

1919 Nov. 25 - Raid on the Russian People's House in NY found secret chamber with material to make 100 bombs

1919 Dec. 19 - Victor Berger won reelection to the Wisconsin Fifth District, winning 25,802 votes from labor and wets as well as socialists, after the House of Representatives excluded him from Congress Nov. 10 after debate on the resolution introduced May 19 by Frederick Dallinger of MA. When Berger tried to take his seat in Jan., Congress again excluded him 330-6, and the Fifth District was unrepresented for the next year.

1919 Dec. 21 - Palmer deported 249 who had been detained at Ellis island on the Buford, the "Soviet Ark" as it was called by the press, bound for Finland, including Emma Goldman and Alex Berkman

1920 Jan. 2 - Palmer raids arrested 4000 Communists in 33 cities in 23 states, resulting in 2720 deportations.

1920 - By the start of the year, 24 states had passed Red Flag laws, and during 1920 8 more states would do so. California had a Red Flag law and laws prohibiting syndicalism and sedition, and would arrest 500 violators, including Wellesley graduate Mrs. Anita Whitney, arrested Nov. 29, 1919, and convicted Feb. 1920, sentenced 1-14 yrs in San Quentin.

1920 Jan. 7 - New York state legislature removed 5 Socialists members who had never been convicted of any crime (unlike Berger in Wisconsin). In April, the state legislature passed five antiradical laws, making membership in the Socialist Party illegal, requiring loyalty oath from teachers, required licensing of private schools, established a State Bureau of Investigation. These laws were vetoed by Gov. Al Smith, but passed over his veto.

1920 January was the high tide of the Red Scare, and afterwards the hysteria declined. Palmer predicted massive demonstrations for May 1 that failed to materialize. In May, twelve prominent attorneys (including Harvard professors Dean Pound, Zachariah Chaffee, and Felix Frankfurter, who later became a Supreme Court Justice and a proponent of Sacco and Vanzetti's innocence) issued a report detailing the Justice Department's violations of civil liberties



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revised 12/1/06 by Schoenherr | WWI Timeline | Links | Topics | Maps | Reserve