The Long Black and Red Scare

This chapter summarizes the impact of World War I and the Red Summer of 1919 in order to suggest the profound effect of anti-Communism on the black freedom movement prior to the Cold War era. It explores the connections between blacks and Communists, and documents some of the fierce opposition to those connections, both real and imagined. The most intense red scare periods followed US involvement in war, when higher expectations for black rights confronted post-war reaction, including suppression of civil liberties. The long black and red scare had done its job, disrupting the movement in profound ways, destroying organizations, driving out committed activists, and separating issues of black liberation from economic justice, civil liberties, and foreign affairs. While black activists commitment to 'Bolshevism' was clearly exaggerated in order to suppress legitimate demands and challenges to oppression, African American radicals did indeed receive inspiration from Communists in the early twentieth century as the latter aggressively challenged colonialism and racism.