Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and also Socialists. It was thought that the Wobblies and the Socialists were trying to overthrow the United States government. Wobblies, were persecuted against for speaking out against the capitalist system. Most of what they said, was only to attract attention, but it was taken seriously by the government. From the very beginning of the Red Scare, the Wobblies attacked by the government, because they were a symbol of radicalism. The government placed legislation, not only against the Wobblies, but also against Socialists and Communists. In 1917, the US government made a law which gave the Secretary of Labor the power to arrest or deport any alien advocating or teaching destruction of property or the overthrow of government by force. the government used deportation as a cure for the antigovernment views of its enemies. .
After all the unfair legislation passed by the government, everything was soon to become a disaster. All that everyone needed was for someone to take advantage of the anti-radical legislation, and that is what Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer did in the years 1919-1920. Palmer deported members of the IWW. His Palmer raids had two main targets, which were the Communist Party, and the Communist Labor Party. These two groups grew out of the IWW, and the largest of the three, the Socialist Party of America, .
had split because of a dilemma over World War I. This split occurred when Europe entered the war. This break up hurt the Socialist party. Many who were not Socialists opposed the .
draft, but the party was the point of opposition. These people became targets for attack by.
American nationalists and the American government. Members were lynched and important Socialist documents were burned. .
While all this was taking place, an American Communist Party was emerging from the remains of the Socialist Party. These Russian immigrants identified with the Bolshevik revolution in Mother Russia because of their similar lives of poverty and squalor.
