Rise of Socialism & Communism: Impact on Post-WWI America

1. SSUSH16 Investigate how political, economic, and cultural developments after WWI led to a shared national identity.

2. Explain how fears of rising communism and socialism in the United States led to the Red Scare and immigrant restriction. SSUSH16a

3. Rise of socialism & communism: • Karl Marx developed a theory that those who were oppressed would rise up and start revolutions, overthrow their oppressors, & establish new political & economic ideas (capitalists vs. workers) • Workers would get tired of low wages & poor working conditions • Lead to a dictatorship in which all workers would share the means of production & distribution (communism)

4. Rise of socialism & communism: • The number of labor unions rose during WW I because workers liked the idea of controlling the economy • Usually led by communists, unions began using strikes as a means of trying to gain better working conditions, which often turned violent • The fear of the spread of communism in the US was heightened by Marx’s idea of a worker revolution.

5. Rise of Socialism & Communism: • Many Americans feared that capitalism and democracy were in danger from communist threats • The wave of fear and action to protect the US from such a crisis became known as “the Red Scare.” • Most Americans were united to protect the nation’s identity and keep it away from communism.

6. The Red Scare • The danger became increasingly worse after a series of bombings sponsored by a group of Italian anarchists. • The Communists were blamed for sending bombs through the postal system as a way of disrupting the American way of life • General Attorney A. Mitchell Palmer began arresting hundreds of people suspected of being communists (known as the “Palmer Raids”

7. Palmer Raids • Led by future FBI Director J Edgar Hoover. • Targeted Russian workers suspected of radical activity. • 556 people were deported • accused Palmer of arresting people based on their beliefs rather than their actions • Many raids were conducted without search warrants

8. Restrictions on Immigration: As a way of limiting “radicals” Congress passed laws limiting foreign immigration to the US Beliefs that led to restrictions on immigration: • People born in the US were superior to immigrants, specifically those from Eastern and southern Europe. • America should keep its traditional culture intact • Anti-immigrant, Anti-Jewish, & Anti-Catholic all helped to the lead to the revival of the KKK, not just in the South but throughout the nation

9. Restrictions on Immigration: Emergency Quota Act and National Origins Act • Limits that cut new immigration in half. • Established a quota system which set limits on the number of immigrants who could enter the US from each country. • Aimed at drastically reducing immigration from eastern and southern Europe • Example: Immigrants from Italy: • Pre-WWI: 200,000 • 1921: 40,000 • 1924: 4,000

10. SSUSH16b: Describe the effects of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments.

11. 18th Amendment: 1919: banned the manufacturing, sale, and transportation of alcohol • Goal of the Temperance movement. • It became patriotic during WWI to abstain from drinking alcohol to help preserve grain for troops. • The 2 of the most popular beer makers in the US (Pabst and Busch) were owned by German immigrants. Anti-German sentiment after WWI led to more support for Prohibition. • Supporters of prohibition thought that it would reduce unemployment, domestic violence, and poverty.

12. Prohibition: Those in favor: Those opposed: Known as “wets” Believed the ban on alcohol did not stop people from drinking Believed Prohibition helped create an atmosphere hypocrisy & increased organized crime • Known as “drys” • Believed Prohibition improved individuals, helped strengthen families, & created better societies • Social drinking & liver disease decreased during Prohibition

13. Effects of Prohibition: • Led to the rise of organized crime • Illegal networks created by mobsters to make alcohol in homemade stills or smuggle it in from other countries. • Alcohol smugglers were known as “bootleggers” • Secret drinking establishments were created called “speakeasies”. • Government worked to stop bootleggers & shut down speakeasies, but they were short-handed & the demand for alcohol was too great. • Organized crime used its increased wealth to move into other illegal activities such as gambling, prostitution, and extortion. • 18th amendment repealed in 1933 by the 21st amendment.

14. Nineteenth Amendment (1920) Women’s Suffrage: The right to vote

15. 19th Amendment: • Goal of the women's suffrage movement • Women’s suffrage movement groups originally tied their cause to that of African-American suffrage. • Acknowledgement that women had the same rights of citizenship as men. • Ratified as gratitude for women’s economic contributions during WWI

16. 19th Amendment: Effects • Politicians had to recognize and address the concerns and issues of women voters. • Greater expressions of freedom, independence, and assertiveness: • More women joined the work force and became “career women” • More women smoked and drank in public • Stopped wearing restrictive clothing • “Flappers” were fashionable young women who wore lipstick, short hair, and straight, simple dresses. • More women began to go out on the town and on dates without chaperones.

17. SSUSH16c. Examine how mass production & advertising led to increasing consumerism, including Henry Ford & the automobile.

18. Economic Prosperity in the 1920s: Boom Times • Manufacturing Profits and Production soared in the 1920s. • Republican Presidents conservative policies (lower taxes, less regulation) led to more consumer spending. • Higher tariffs on imported goods protected American manufacturing. • Mass production and advertising led to increased consumerism. • Consumerism increased demand for goods, which led to increased production, more jobs, higher wages, and more spending. • Installment buying (credit) allowed consumers to spend beyond their means.

19. Mass Production and Advertising Mass Production • Use of Machines to manufacture of large numbers of an identical product in a short period of time. • Division of labor and specialization along an assembly line allowed products be made quicker and cheaper. • Efficiency caused the price of goods to decrease making them more affordable to a larger population of consumers.

20. Mass Production and Advertising Examples: • Newspapers • Magazines • Street signs and billboards • Sponsorship of radio programs • Mail order catalogs. Advertising • Mass production required mass consumption. • Growth of advertising informed potential consumers while creating demand for goods and services. • Ad agencies studied psychology to develop specialized slogans and ads to attract new customers. • National culture of consumerism

21. Automobiles The product that most transformed American life in the 1920s • Ford’s assembly line made the Model T affordable to middle class. • By the end of the 1920s, there was 1 car for every 6 Americans. Impact on other industries and culture: • Stimulated manufacturers of steel, glass, and rubber. • Infrastructure: roads and bridges, gas stations, gasoline, oil • School busses, trucks for shipping. • Interstate travel, vacations, roadside motels, restaurants • Suburbs

22. Henry Ford

23. Henry Ford’s Assembly Line

24. SSUSHd. Describe the impact of radio and the movies as a unifying force in the national culture

25. Radio and Motion Pictures More leisure time gave people more time for entertainment • By 1930, more than half of US population was going to the Movies once a week. • More than half of American families owned a radio. • Radio and Movies helped form a national culture as millions listened to the same voices on radio and saw the same stories at the theater. • Radio was free because programs were paid for by advertisers. • Films revealed how others lived and movie stars became role models.

26. The 1920’s Popular Culture: • Known as the first “modern era” • Americans enjoy more leisure time, weekends, & more money for fun • Included baseball games, movies, radio, and picnics

27. Radio • The first radio broadcasts were the relay the 1920 Presidential Election results • Radio companies such as CBS and NBC were formed in the 1920s • Radio plays, sports events, musical concerts and the news. • Radio allowed listeners to listen to the world series live and get instant updates on news stories for the first time. • Radio provided a way for families to come together to listen to broadcasts

28. Movies • With more income & free time, Americans looked for new entertainment • Huge movie palaces and small local theaters became America’s place for cultural learning • First movies were silent, benefited immigrants • Movies in the 1920s helped show “modern” lifestyles to Americans • Charlie Chaplin: most famous comedian of the time

29. SSUSH16e: Describe the emergence of modern forms of cultural expression including the origins of jazz and the:

30. Modernist Movement: 1920s helped cause a break from restrictive morals and social rules of Victorian culture & lead to the Modernist Movement • Women enjoyed greater freedom. • Inspired by European artists, American artists work became more impressionist, abstract, geometric, & created the art deco style. • People became more open in expressing their feelings. • African American culture flourished, making important contributions to modern forms of cultural expression

31. Harlem Renaissance Developed out of the Great Migration • First significant artistic movement coming out of Black culture. • Originated within a concentration of African Americans in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. • Artists and intellectuals found new ways to explore the historical experiences of black America and the contemporary experiences of black life in the urban North. • African-American artists and intellectuals rejected imitating the styles of Europeans and white Americans and instead celebrated black dignity and creativity.

32. Langston Hughes: • a leader of the Harlem Renaissance • one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. • First published in 1921 in The Crisis — official magazine of the NAACP — "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", which became Hughes's signature poem • He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue“.

33. Marcus Garvey • Jamaican Immigrant • Established Universal Negro Improvement Association • “Black is Beautiful” – People of African heritage should take pride in their race. • Opposed cooperation with whites, encouraging independent black businesses like stores, hotels, restaurants, newspapers. • Started “back to Africa” movement • Eventually convicted of mail fraud and deported back to Jamaica.

34. Jazz music: • First true American music • 1920s is referred to as the “Jazz Age” • Born in the Deep South, believed to have originated from slaves from West Africa combined with Western musical instruments & techniques • Famous jazz musicians of the time included Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington