Red-baiting
Encyclopedia
Red-baiting is the act of accusing, denouncing, attacking or persecuting an individual or group as communist
, socialist
, or anarchist
, or sympathetic toward communism, socialism, or anarchism. The word "red" in "red-baiting" is derived from the red flag
signifying radical
left-wing politics
. In the United States the term "red-baiting" dates from at least 1927. In 1928, black-listing by the Daughters of the American Revolution was charterized as a 'red-baiting relic'. It is a term commonly used in the United States
, and in United States history
, red-baiting is most often associated with McCarthyism
, which had its origins in the two historic Red Scare
periods of the 1920s (First Red Scare
) and 1950s (Second Red Scare). In the 21st century, red-baiting does not have quite the same effect it previously did due to the fall of Soviet-style Communism
, but some pundits have argued that notable events in current American politics indicates a resurgence of red-baiting consistent with the 1950s.
as early as the late 1870s when businessmen, religious leaders and editorial writers tried to rally middle class workers to oppose dissident railroad workers and again during the Haymarket affair
in the mid-1880s. Red-baiting was well established in the U.S. during the decade before World War I
. In the post-war period of 1919-1921 the U.S. government employed it as a central tactic in dealing with labor radicals, anarchists, communists, and foreign agents. These actions in reaction to the First Red Scare
, served as part of the organizing principle shaping counter-revolutionary policies and serving to institutionalize anti-communism
as a force in American politics.
The period between the first and second Red Scares was relatively calm owing to the success of government anti-communism, the suppressive effects of New Deal
policies on radical organized labor, and the patriotism
associated with total mobilization
during World War II
. Red-baiting reemerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s during the period known as the Second Red Scare due to mounting Cold War
tensions and the spread of communism abroad. U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy
's controversial red-baiting of suspected communists and communist sympathizers in the U.S. Department of State
, and the creation of an entertaintment industry blacklist
, led to the term “McCarthyism
” being coined to signify any type of reckless political persecution or witch-hunt
.
The history of anti-communist red-baiting in general and McCarthyism in particular continues to be hotly debated, and the political divisions this controversy creates continue to make themselves felt. Conservative critics contend that revelations such as the Venona project
decryptions and the FBI Silvermaster File
at least mute if not outright refute the charge that red-baiting in general was unjustified. Historian Nicholas von Hoffman
wrote in The Washington Post
that evidence revealed in the Venona project forced him to admit that McCarthy was "closer to the truth than those who ridiculed him".
Liberal
critics contend that, even if it was proven that the U.S. government was infiltrated by Soviet spies, McCarthy was censured by the U.S. Senate because he was in fact reckless and politically opportunistic, and his red-baiting ruined the lives of countless innocent persons. Historian Ellen Schrecker
wrote that "in this country, McCarthyism did more damage to the constitution than the American Communist Party ever did."
, but some pundits have argue that notable events in current American politics indicates a resurgence of red-baiting consistent with the 1950s. The United States government
's measures in 2008 to address the subprime mortgage crisis
, such as TARP, were not only criticized as “corporate welfare
” but red-baited as a “gateway to socialism”. Political activist and author Tim Wise
, however, argues that the emergence of red-baiting may be motivated by racism
towards U.S. President Barack Obama
and fear that the progressive
policies of his administration will erode white privilege in the United States.
Some commentators argue that red-baiting was used by John McCain
, Republican
presidential nominee
in the 2008 United States election
, when he argued that Democratic
nominee and current president Obama's improvised comments on wealth redistribution
to “Joe the Plumber
” was a promotion of “socialism
”. Journalist David Remnick
, who wrote the biography The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, countered that it should now be obvious that after one year in office Obama is a centre-left
president and the majority of his policies are in line with the center-left Democrat tradition; while, in July 2011, The Fiscal Times
columnist Bruce Barlett argues that an honest examination of the Obama presidency must conclude that he has in fact been a moderately conservative Democrat
and that it may take 20 years before Obama’s basic conservatism is widely accepted.
In April 2009, Spencer Bachus
claimed that 17 of his Congressional colleagues were socialists, but would only name one, Bernie Sanders
, who has been openly describing himself as a democratic socialist for years. Sanders countered that American conservatives blur the differences between socialism and communism
, between democracy
and totalitarianism
. He argued that the United States would benefit from a serious debate about comparing the quality of life
for the middle class
in the U.S. and in Nordic countries
with a long social-democratic
tradition like Sweden
, Norway
, and Finland
.
In May 2009, a number of conservative members of the Republican National Committee
were pressing the committee and by extension, RNC chairman Michael Steele, to officially adopt the position that the Democratic Party
is socialist. Over a dozen members of the conservative wing of the RNC submitted a new resolution, to be eventually voted on by the entire RNC, that would call on the Democratic party to rename itself the “Democrat Socialist Party.” If the RNC adopted this resolution, the RNC’s official view would become that Democrats are socialists.
From the resolution:
On Wednesday 20 May 2009, supporters of the resolution instead agreed to accept language urging Democrats to "stop pushing our country towards socialism and government control", thus ending a fight within the ranks of the Republican Party that reflected the divide between those who want a more centrist
message and those seeking a more aggressive, conservative voice, such as the one expressed by the Tea Party movement
. Frank Llewellyn, national director of Democratic Socialists of America
, argued that Republicans never really define what they mean by “socialism” and are simply engaging in the politics of fear
.
In July 2009, talk show host Glenn Beck
began to devote what would become many episodes on his TV and radio shows, focusing on President Obama's Director of White House Council on Environmental Quality, Van Jones
. Beck was especially critical of Jones' involvement in STORM
, a far-left groupuscule of professional revolutionaries
and therefore referred to him as a "communist-anarchist
radical". In September 2009, Jones resigned his position in the Obama administration, after a number of his past statements became fodder for conservative critics and Republican officials. Time magazine credited Beck with leading conservatives' attack on Jones, which Jones would characterize a "vicious smear campaign" and an effort to use "lies and distortions to distract and divide".
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, or anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, or sympathetic toward communism, socialism, or anarchism. The word "red" in "red-baiting" is derived from the red flag
Red flag
In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
signifying radical
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
. In the United States the term "red-baiting" dates from at least 1927. In 1928, black-listing by the Daughters of the American Revolution was charterized as a 'red-baiting relic'. It is a term commonly used in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and in United States history
History of the United States
The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The...
, red-baiting is most often associated with McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
, which had its origins in the two historic Red Scare
Red Scare
Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...
periods of the 1920s (First Red Scare
First Red Scare
In American history, the First Red Scare of 1919–1920 was marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism. Concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and alleged spread in the American labor movement fueled the paranoia that defined the period.The First Red...
) and 1950s (Second Red Scare). In the 21st century, red-baiting does not have quite the same effect it previously did due to the fall of Soviet-style Communism
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
, but some pundits have argued that notable events in current American politics indicates a resurgence of red-baiting consistent with the 1950s.
20th century
Red-baiting was employed in opposition to anarchists in the United StatesAnarchism in the United States
Anarchism in the United States spans a wide range of anarchist philosophy, from individualist anarchism to anarchist communism and other less known forms. America has two main traditions, native and immigrant, with the native tradition being strongly individualist and the immigrant tradition being...
as early as the late 1870s when businessmen, religious leaders and editorial writers tried to rally middle class workers to oppose dissident railroad workers and again during the Haymarket affair
Haymarket affair
The Haymarket affair was a demonstration and unrest that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a rally in support of striking workers. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting...
in the mid-1880s. Red-baiting was well established in the U.S. during the decade before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In the post-war period of 1919-1921 the U.S. government employed it as a central tactic in dealing with labor radicals, anarchists, communists, and foreign agents. These actions in reaction to the First Red Scare
First Red Scare
In American history, the First Red Scare of 1919–1920 was marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism. Concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and alleged spread in the American labor movement fueled the paranoia that defined the period.The First Red...
, served as part of the organizing principle shaping counter-revolutionary policies and serving to institutionalize anti-communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
as a force in American politics.
The period between the first and second Red Scares was relatively calm owing to the success of government anti-communism, the suppressive effects of New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
policies on radical organized labor, and the patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
associated with total mobilization
War effort
In politics and military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Red-baiting reemerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s during the period known as the Second Red Scare due to mounting Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
tensions and the spread of communism abroad. U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
's controversial red-baiting of suspected communists and communist sympathizers in the U.S. Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
, and the creation of an entertaintment industry blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
, led to the term “McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
” being coined to signify any type of reckless political persecution or witch-hunt
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...
.
The history of anti-communist red-baiting in general and McCarthyism in particular continues to be hotly debated, and the political divisions this controversy creates continue to make themselves felt. Conservative critics contend that revelations such as the Venona project
Venona project
The VENONA project was a long-running secret collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the majority during World War II...
decryptions and the FBI Silvermaster File
FBI Silvermaster File
The FBI’s Silvermaster file is a 162-volume compendium of some 26,000 pages of documents relating to the Bureau’s investigation of Communist penetration of the Federal government during the Cold War....
at least mute if not outright refute the charge that red-baiting in general was unjustified. Historian Nicholas von Hoffman
Nicholas von Hoffman
Nicholas von Hoffman is an American journalist and author. He wrote for the Washington Post. Later, TV audiences knew him as a "Point-Counterpoint" commentator for CBS's 60 Minutes, from which Don Hewitt fired him in 1974.-Biography:He is of German-Russian extraction, descendant of Melchior...
wrote in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
that evidence revealed in the Venona project forced him to admit that McCarthy was "closer to the truth than those who ridiculed him".
Liberal
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
critics contend that, even if it was proven that the U.S. government was infiltrated by Soviet spies, McCarthy was censured by the U.S. Senate because he was in fact reckless and politically opportunistic, and his red-baiting ruined the lives of countless innocent persons. Historian Ellen Schrecker
Ellen Schrecker
Ellen Wolf Schrecker, Ph.D. is a professor of American history at Yeshiva University. She is currently teaching and has received the Frederick Ewen Academic Freedom Fellowship at the Tamiment Library at NYU....
wrote that "in this country, McCarthyism did more damage to the constitution than the American Communist Party ever did."
21st century
In the 21st century, red-baiting does not have quite the same effect it previously did due to the fall of Soviet-style CommunismRevolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989 were the revolutions which overthrew the communist regimes in various Central and Eastern European countries.The events began in Poland in 1989, and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and...
, but some pundits have argue that notable events in current American politics indicates a resurgence of red-baiting consistent with the 1950s. The United States government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
's measures in 2008 to address the subprime mortgage crisis
Subprime mortgage crisis
The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....
, such as TARP, were not only criticized as “corporate welfare
Corporate welfare
Corporate welfare is a pejorative term describing a government's bestowal of money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations or selected corporations. The term compares corporate subsidies and welfare payments to the poor, and implies that corporations are much less...
” but red-baited as a “gateway to socialism”. Political activist and author Tim Wise
Tim Wise
Timothy Jacob Wise is an American anti-racist activist and writer. Since 1995 he has lectured at over 600 college campuses across the US...
, however, argues that the emergence of red-baiting may be motivated by racism
Racism in the United States
Racism in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era and the slave era. Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latin Americans...
towards U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
and fear that the progressive
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
policies of his administration will erode white privilege in the United States.
Some commentators argue that red-baiting was used by John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential nominee
Presidential nominee
In United States politics and government, the term presidential nominee has two distinct meanings.The first is the person chosen by the primary voters and caucus-goers of a political party to be the party's nominee for President of the United States...
in the 2008 United States election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, when he argued that Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nominee and current president Obama's improvised comments on wealth redistribution
Redistribution (economics)
Redistribution of wealth is the transfer of income, wealth or property from some individuals to others caused by a social mechanism such as taxation, monetary policies, welfare, nationalization, charity, divorce or tort law. Most often it refers to progressive redistribution, from the rich to the...
to “Joe the Plumber
Joe the Plumber
Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher , is a conservative activist, author, and commentator. A resident of Holland, Ohio, United States, he gained significant attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential election after he was videotaped questioning then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama about his small...
” was a promotion of “socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
”. Journalist David Remnick
David Remnick
David Remnick is an American journalist, writer, and magazine editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his book Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker magazine since 1998. He was named "Editor of the Year" by Advertising Age in 2000...
, who wrote the biography The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, countered that it should now be obvious that after one year in office Obama is a centre-left
Centre-left
Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...
president and the majority of his policies are in line with the center-left Democrat tradition; while, in July 2011, The Fiscal Times
The Fiscal Times
The Fiscal Times is an English-language digital news, news analysis and opinion publication based in New York, NY and Washington, D.C., founded and initially funded in 2010 by Peter G. Peterson, founder of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation...
columnist Bruce Barlett argues that an honest examination of the Obama presidency must conclude that he has in fact been a moderately conservative Democrat
Conservative Democrat
In American politics, a conservative Democrat is a Democratic Party member with conservative political views, or with views relatively conservative with respect to those of the national party...
and that it may take 20 years before Obama’s basic conservatism is widely accepted.
In April 2009, Spencer Bachus
Spencer Bachus
Spencer Thomas Bachus III is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party and the senior member of the Alabama U. S. House delegation...
claimed that 17 of his Congressional colleagues were socialists, but would only name one, Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives...
, who has been openly describing himself as a democratic socialist for years. Sanders countered that American conservatives blur the differences between socialism and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, between democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
. He argued that the United States would benefit from a serious debate about comparing the quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
for the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
in the U.S. and in Nordic countries
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
with a long social-democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
tradition like Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
.
In May 2009, a number of conservative members of the Republican National Committee
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
were pressing the committee and by extension, RNC chairman Michael Steele, to officially adopt the position that the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
is socialist. Over a dozen members of the conservative wing of the RNC submitted a new resolution, to be eventually voted on by the entire RNC, that would call on the Democratic party to rename itself the “Democrat Socialist Party.” If the RNC adopted this resolution, the RNC’s official view would become that Democrats are socialists.
From the resolution:
On Wednesday 20 May 2009, supporters of the resolution instead agreed to accept language urging Democrats to "stop pushing our country towards socialism and government control", thus ending a fight within the ranks of the Republican Party that reflected the divide between those who want a more centrist
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
message and those seeking a more aggressive, conservative voice, such as the one expressed by the Tea Party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
. Frank Llewellyn, national director of Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America is a social-democratic organization in the United States and the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, an international federation of social-democratic,democratic socialist and labor political parties and organizations.DSA was formed in 1982 by a merger of...
, argued that Republicans never really define what they mean by “socialism” and are simply engaging in the politics of fear
Culture of fear
Culture of fear is a term used by certain scholars, writers, journalists and politicians who believe that some in society incite fear in the general public to achieve political goals, for example......
.
In July 2009, talk show host Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
began to devote what would become many episodes on his TV and radio shows, focusing on President Obama's Director of White House Council on Environmental Quality, Van Jones
Van Jones
Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones is an American environmental advocate, civil rights activist, and attorney. Jones is a co-founder of three non-profit organizations. In 1996, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California non-governmental organization working for alternatives to violence...
. Beck was especially critical of Jones' involvement in STORM
Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement
In 2010, various right wing web sites and blogs posted a document that claims to describe the history of a group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement , which was supposedly a left wing revolutionary cadre-based organization based in the Bay Area of the United States.It is...
, a far-left groupuscule of professional revolutionaries
Professional revolutionaries
The concept of professional revolutionaries, alternatively called cadre, is in origin a Leninist concept used to describe a body of devoted communists who spend the majority of their free time organizing their party toward a mass revolutionary party capable of leading a workers' revolution...
and therefore referred to him as a "communist-anarchist
Anarchist communism
Anarchist communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, markets, money, private property, and capitalism in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct democracy and a horizontal network of voluntary associations and workers' councils with...
radical". In September 2009, Jones resigned his position in the Obama administration, after a number of his past statements became fodder for conservative critics and Republican officials. Time magazine credited Beck with leading conservatives' attack on Jones, which Jones would characterize a "vicious smear campaign" and an effort to use "lies and distortions to distract and divide".
See also
- Anti-anarchism
- Anti-communismAnti-communismAnti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
- Anti-Marxism
- Anti-socialism
- Crypto-communismCrypto-communismCrypto-communism is a pejorative term implying a secret support for, or admiration of, communism. The term is used to imply that an individual or group keeps this support or admiration hidden to avoid political persecution or political suicide.- See also :...
- Lavender baiting
- PROFUNCPROFUNCPROFUNC , which stands for "PROminent FUNCtionaries of the communist party", was a Government of Canada top secret plan to identify and intern Canadian communists and crypto-communists during the height of the Cold War.-History:...
- Race baiting