Of Commies, Witches and Crucibles

1. Of Commies, Witches and Crucibles

3. McCarthyismHere’s how it all started: WWII • The allies (America, Britain, etc.) enter into an uneasy and reluctant alliance with Russia to effectively surround Germany and end the war. February 1945 • Yalta Conference: Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill agreed on free elections in all Eastern European nations.

4. McCarthyismHere’s how it all started: July 1945 • Potsdam Conference: Stalin reneged on allowing free elections and left armies in Eastern Europe to make it a buffer zone. Russia was perceived as expansionist. March 1946 • A speech delivered by Churchill signaled the official start of the Cold War.

5. Senator Joseph McCarthy is responsible for falsely accusing many of Communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy

6. Era of McCarthyismLate 1940’s and mid-1950’s • Widespread congressional investigations take place. • HUAC (House on un-American Activities Committee) is established. It is first chaired by Edward J. Hart 1945–1946 • McCarthyism= A mid-twentieth century political attitude characterized chiefly by opposition to elements held to be subversive and by the use of tactics involving personal attacks on individuals by means of widely publicized indiscriminate allegations especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges. • *A time when national security took precedence over ordinary law.

7. Elements of McCarthyism • “A Guide to Anti-Communist Action” published • secret informants • blacklisting • individual rights impaired • loyalty oaths • books seen as “threats to the free world” were purged from school libraries • book publishing restricted • Hollywood began making “safe” movies • professors shrank from teaching controversial topics • “Is Your Neighbor a Communist?” pamphlets

8. Legacy ofMcCarthyism • build-up of a nuclear arsenal • disastrous involvement in Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam • Communist party was virtually dissolved • liberal, left wing decidedly weakened • decline in quality of art and literature, particularly movies • push for national health insurance dissipated • effective public criticism of American foreign policy became non-existent • FBI’s secret program harassing political dissenters in 60’s-70’s • Watergate-related felonies of the 1970’s • Iran-Contra scandals of the 1980’s • continuing impaired relations with Cuba, China, North Korea

9. I have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names

15. "What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out if they are pro-America or anti-America." Michelle Bachmann 10/17/08

16. McCarthyism = Witch Hunt A witch hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials. "Witch-hunt." Wikipedia. 10 May 2010. Web. 13 May 2010

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18. Without Further Ado. . . I present to you, fascinating backgroundinfoonwitchcraftandwitchcraft trials.

19. Witchcraft– When it Wasn’t(Or Earlier in History – People were smarter) • In the 8th century St Boniface declared that belief in witches was unchristian. • The 9th century German emperor Charlemagne decreed the death penalty for anyone who burnt someone to death as a witch. • It was decreed that belief in night-flying was an hallucination • In later centuries various European rulers would declare that there was no such thing as witch-craft.

20. Then, Well, People Went CrazyFirst the clerics. . . • By the end of the 15th century the Papacy itself would decree that witches did in fact exist. • the Canon Law Capitulum Episcopi made witchcraft no longer a superstition which could not be acted against but a heresy. • Pope John XXII was the first to instruct the inquisitors to proceed against witches because he personally lived in continual terror of them. • In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a historical papal bull which marked the beginning of official action against suspected witches • Protestant reformers also accepted the danger of witches and witchcraft.

21. In 1486, Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches) was published as a text to provide instruction on how to detect and deal with witches

22. . . . then the Academics • Because there was now papal approval, supersition quickly evolved into theory. • By 1450 the first books on the theology of witchcraft began to appear in Spain, declaring that witchcraft was itself a new heresy. • This grew into demonology or study of witchcraft. • Various academics and monks pondered such the difficult aspects of witchcraft such as how the devil could actually impregnate a witch. • Did he first have to take the form of a woman, be impregnated by a man (succubus) and then pass the impregnation on to the woman (incubus)? SMART PEOPLE ACTUALLY STUDIED THIS!

23. . . . then the general population (and greed, envy, jealousy) • 14th century - Black Plague killed more men than women, so witches were blamed • 15th century - epidemics of syphilis in Europe were believed to be caused by witches • Witches were believed to cause a variety of misfortunes called “maleficium” • Causing beer or cheese to spoil • Causing a family cow to dry up • Causing the deaths of people, particularly children • Causing food poisoning and sickness

24. . . . a belief in a real, tangible devil • Witches were believed to sign a contract with the Devil and possibly sleep with him • Witches were believed to participate in regular “Witch’s Sabbaths” where there was wild, naked dancing and orgies with demons

25. Witches were all somehow spawned by the devil and participated in bizarre supernatural activities. • They anointed themselves with "devil's grease" made from the fat of murdered babies. • This enabled them to slip through cracks and key-holes and down chimneys. • It gave them the ability to fly at night on broomsticks and so participate in the witches' sabbath or meeting with the devil, at first weekly but later almost on a nightly basis. • At the sabbath, all danced in honor of their Dark Lord and played on macabre instruments like skulls and human bones. • They kissed the devil in his many forms. Then they would have sex with the devil, write in his book, cast spells and feast on grisly meals.

26. . . . Social intolerance • What is social intolerance? Social intolerance is a process by which one person or group hates or shuns another person or group due to differences they possess. Social intolerance is a process, which advances from feelings, which occur as responses to one or more environmental factors. Environmental factors could spark fear, which is normally a major reason for prejudice’s birth. • Ugly, poor, outspoken, childless women • People who don’t agree with the majority • People who look different • Midwives

27. . . . and, finally, good old-fashioned misogyny • Suspected witches were overwhelmingly women • Usually middle-aged to elderly • Unmarried • “Humble” social status (beggars) • Somewhat less fertile than other women • Disagreeable, aggressive, or self-assertive personalities • The unattractive or deformed

28. Religious Leaders, Academics, Greed, Envy, Misogyny, Fear of the Devil Combined to Create Hysterical Cries of Witchcraft

29. And Innocent People Die • 16th and 17th centuries - witch crazes in Europe killed over 10,000 women • Salem, MA over 140 people accused and over 20 people executed

30. Salem Witch TrialsElements of Witchcraft/Witches • “Tests” were used to determine if someone was a witch • the “devil’s mark” ( an oddly shaped mole) • the water test • weighing against a bible • spectral evidence Example of spectral evidence

31. Salem Witch TrialsContributions to Belief in Witches • Misogyny and sexism • Social and religious upheaval as a result of the religious wars • Women’s struggle for more influence and power in society • Economic pressures • “Scape-goating” after personal or widespread misfortune • The spread of disease and its accompanying climate of fear • Fear of and belief in a physical, tangible devil

32. Witch-maniaComes Full Circle Witch-mania began to collapse during the late-17th century. • A new spirit of religious toleration began to form. Witch-mania became a spent force. • 18th century (Age of Enlightenment) writers such as Voltaire railed against superstition and witchcraft and made believers in such superstition appear as fools.

33. Dance Break http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L1tr0PIx20

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35. The Crucible

36. A vessel, usually porcelain, used for melting material that requires a high degree of heat * Makes metal strong through intense heat and pressure * Removes impurities from the “base” ore * Imagery of fire, heat, pressure, burning, passion, hellfire throughout the play

37. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller in 1953 as an allegory for McCarthyism or the so called Red Scare. Wanting to point out to the world the amazing parallel between the unjust Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and the Red Scare from 1948 to 1956, Miller wrote The Crucible to make a powerful statement about the dangers of hysteria and the dehumanization that can result.

38. . . .of three teenage girls: Abigail Adams Mercy Lewis Mary Warren Who brought disaster to Salem, MA a tiny (at the time) Puritan village 15 miles north of Boston It all started with the improper behavior. . .

39. Born in Harlem 1915 More of an athlete than a student in school Worked as a common laborer – farmhand, warehouse clerk, waiter and truck driver Went to Univ. of Michigan to take journalism and playwriting courses But first, Arthur Miller

40. Death of a Salesman, 1949 – won the Pulitzer Prize The Crucible, 1953 – won the Tony award for best play Considered one of the most gifted playwrights in the 40’s and 50’s Major Plays and Prizes

41. In that year, the State Dept. refused to issue him a passport to attend the European opening of The Crucible. The grounds were that he was suspected of supporting the Communist movement 1954 – Became America’s Most Controversial Playwright

42. Miller - a Liberal, but not a Communist • A very political person, a liberal thinker politically and economically • Denied any involvement or sympathy with the Communist party • However, HUAC (House UnAmerican Affairs Committee) called Miller to a meeting • Under interrogation he refused to name Communist sympathizers • Found guilty of contempt • Later released

43. Analogy: Salem Witch Trials of 1692 compared to the Communist “witch hunt” of the 1950’s • “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?”

44. The Crucible exposes the ignorance produced by mass hysteria. Miller wrote the play as a response to the McCarthy investigations during the 1950’s of communism in the government. The play’s main conflict centers around the rights of an individual versus those in authority. The central theme of the play deals with an individual’s search for self-awareness and self-realization through commitment. Literary and Critical Overview

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46. Surely, People Don’t Still Believe in Witches?! YES THEY DO

47. Consequently

48. South African Pupils Burn ‘Witches' to DeathWednesday, 5 September 2007 Two South African women have been burned to death after a group of students accused them of bewitching their high school with evil spirits. Msaba Zungu and Thabitha Thusi, both 60, were seized from their homes near Manguzi in KwaZulu-Natal province. Students and adults dragged them to a sports field where they were doused with petrol and set alight on Sunday. Investigators said Ms Zungu died at the scene and Ms Thusi succumbed to her burns injuries on Monday. Police captain Jabulani Mdletshe told BBC News: "On 17 August, students at the high school began to cry randomly and did not know why. They held meetings and decided the problem was these two women who had cast a bad muthi (spell) on the school.”

49. Union Says Jealousy Behind ‘Witchcraft' Murders Jealousy may have been at the centre of the murder of two women accused of bewitching a KwaZulu-Natal school. Teachers’ Union spokesperson Thompson explained, "What happened is a case of witchcraft that started last year. This woman that was killed ... she has a female child studying grade 12 and was the only child passing. The other students were failing." He said the girl's grandmother was known to be an umthakathi (traditional healer). He said the girl's classmates decided to take action against the umthakathi, whom they blamed for their failures at school. London Mail and Guardian online MIRANDA ANDREW SOUTH AFRICA 7 Sept 07

50. India's Jharkhand state October 2009 Five women were accused of causing harm, a suspicion bolstered by local witchfinders and a cleric. A mob dragged them before a large crowd, where they were stripped and beaten until the authorities intervened. They were lucky. Every year hundreds of Indians, mostly women, are murdered by their neighbours, usually in the most atrocious manner. Malcolm Gaskill guardian.co.uk 5 April 2010