U.S. History B
Chapter 12 Section 1
I. Revolution Abroad and Reaction at Home
A. American reaction to war
1. Renewed isolationism
2. Resurgence of nativism
3. Political conservatism
B. Russian Revolution
1. 1917- people of Russia were starving, calling for end to war, soldiers
mutinied
2. March 15, 1917-Czar abdicated his throne
3. Provisional government replaced Czar
4. Vladimir I. Lenin- leader of Bolsheviks
a. seized power November 1917
b. established a state based on communism
5. March 1919 Third Communist International Meeting was held
a. advocated worldwide revolution, overthrow of capitalism
C. The Red Scare in the U.S.
1. 70,000 radicals join Communist Party in United States
a. called for abolishment of private property and gov’t ownership
of railroads and industry
2. Several dozen bombs mailed to government and business leaders
3. A. Mitchell Palmer- Attorney General
a. decided to take action against the “Red Scare”
D. The Palmer Raids
1. Appointed J. Edgar Hoover to the anti-radical division of the Justice
Department (later the FBI)
2. Palmer sent agents to arrest Communists, socialists and anarchists
a. ignored civil liberties: searches without warrants, arrests
without charges, arrested suspects’ visitors
b. deported foreign born radicals without trial
3. Palmer raids failed to uncover conspiracy
E. Sacco and Vanzetti
1. Shoemaker and fish peddler, Italian immigrants, anarchists, evaded
draft during WWI
2. Arrested for killing a factory paymaster and stealing $15,000
3. Both men had alibis, the evidence was circumstantial and the judge
made prejudicial remarks
4. The jury found them guilty
5. August 23, 1917-executed in the electric chair
II. A Time of Labor Unrest
A. Post WWI labor unrest explodes
1. 1919-3,000 strikes
2. Employers accused strikers of communism
B. Boston Police Strike
1. Police not given raises since start of WWI, cost of living had doubled
2. Sent representatives to commissioner who fired them all
a. remaining police went on strike
3. Calvin Coolidge-governor of Mass. Called in national guard
a. police called off strike
4. Commissioner fired all policemen, new hires received what strikers
wanted
5. Coolidge praised for saving Mass., became Harding’s running mate in
1920 election
C. Steel Mill Strike
1. Working conditions and hours intolerable at U.S. Steel
2. Company refused to meet with representativesa. 350,000 workers walked out
3. William Z. Foster-strike leader
a. militant organizer, member of IWW and AFL
b. management said strike was led by radicals
4. Steel companies hired strikebreakers and used force
a. 18 workers killed, hundreds injured
5. tried to link strikers to communists
6. January 1920-strike broken
7. Protestant interfaith committee published a report on working
conditions
a. steel companies created an 8 hour day, steelworkers had no
union
D. The Coal Miners’ Strike
1. John L. Lewis-President of United Mine Workers
a. November 1, 1919 called for strike to protest low wages and
long work days
2. AG Palmer got a court order sending miners back to work
a. Lewis declared strike over, but quietly encouraged it to continue
3. Mines stayed closed another month
4. President Wilson appointed an arbitrator
a. miners got 27% wage increase
b. did not get shorter days or weeks until 1930s
E. Labor Movement Loses Appeal
1. Reasons union membership declined
a. workforce made up of immigrants willing to work in poor
conditions
b. immigrants difficult to unionize because of language issues
c. farmers who had moved to cities were used to self reliance
d. most unions excluded African-Americans