The red scare
... people who got pay cuts or sacked from less skilled labour. Historians argue that the strikes in America were caused by economic hardship –Wartime production was being scaled down, so less workers needed. Race riots appeared in 25 towns, even police in Boston went on strike, with looters roaming the city. Many Americans saw the strikes as dangerous signs of communist interference. Communism meant state control of agriculture and industry, taking it away from its owners – this alarmed Americans. 3) However, some threats were actually real, and not all fears were unjustified. Many immigrants in the USA held radical political beliefs. Anarchists were spreading propaganda throughout American cities, calling for an overthrow of the government. In April 1919 a bomb was planted in a church in Milwaukee, ...