Read more
Zusatztext “ Absorbing , comprehensive, and timely” — Kirkus Reviews , Starred Review Informationen zum Autor Albert Marrin Klappentext From National Book Award Finalist and Sibert Honor Author Albert Marrin, a timely examination of Red Scares in the United States, including the Rosenbergs, the Hollywood Ten and the McCarthy era. In twentieth century America, no power--and no threat--loomed larger than the communist superpower of the Soviet Union. America saw in the dreams of the Soviet Union the overthrow of the US government, and the end of democracy and freedom. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of the United States attempted to use deep economic and racial disparities in American culture to win over members and sympathizers. From the miscarriage of justice in the Scotsboro Boys case, to the tragedy of the Rosenbergs to the theatrics of the Hollywood Ten to the menace of the Joseph McCarthy and his war hearings, Albert Marrin examines a unique time in American history...and explores both how some Americans were lured by the ideals of communism without understanding its reality and how fear of communist infiltration at times caused us to undermine our most deeply held values. The questions he raises ask: What is worth fighting for? And what are you willing to sacrifice to keep it? Filled with black and white photographs throughout, this timely book from an award-author brings to life an important and dramatic era in American history with lessons that are deeply relevant today. Leseprobe I FRIGHTENED VICTORS The people are shivering in their boots over Bolshevism, and they are far more scared of Lenin than they ever were of the Kaiser [German emperor]. We seem to be the most frightened victors that the world ever saw. --Walter Lippmann, journalist (1919) RED OCTOBER Lenin bided his time. After arriving in Petrograd, he planned and plotted, aided by German money equal to $1 billion in today’s dollars. Secret German funding was critical, enabling the Bolsheviks to buy a printing plant, publish newspapers, turn out protest signs reading “The Germans Are Our Brothers,” and pay agitators to undermine morale in the army. “Lenin’s entry into Russia successful,” noted a German army intelligence report. “He is working exactly as we would wish.”1 In October 1917--“Red October”--Lenin gave the word. Bands of armed Bolsheviks called Red Guards, joined by radicalized soldiers, sailors, and workers from the soviets, swung into action. In a series of swift moves, they stormed government buildings, taking control of the capital. But instead of allowing free elections, as millions had hoped, the Bolsheviks began to reshape Russian society. Ruthlessly tearing the economy from private hands, they ordered businesses and factories, buildings and land, seized and declared public property. Depositors could only withdraw a small amount from their bank accounts each month; safe-deposit boxes were broken open and valuables confiscated for “the people’s use.” An edict forbade hiring anyone for wages, because employing others in order to profit from their labor was deemed “class exploitation.” Private trade, even for small-shop keepers, was abolished. To feed the newly created Red Army, “food brigades,” teams of activists sent from the cities, forced peasants to turn over much, and in many cases all, of their crops. Infuriated peasants reacted by cutting open food thieves’ bellies and filling them with grain as a sign of contempt. The Red Army retaliated, smothering rebels hiding in forests, including women and children, with poison gas. For Lenin, there was no such thing as an honest difference of opinion. He was an aggressively intolerant man, whose nature didn’t allow for suffering “idiots.” The Bolshevik leader, an aide noted, “didn’t give a damn for the opinions of others.” He saw no reason to, for Marxism was hi...
