Editing Second Red Scare

The '''Second Red Scare''' was a period of [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] political repression in the [[United States of America|United States]] during the 1950s. During this period, U.S. authorities imprisoned hundreds of people and over 10,000 lost their jobs. Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] began the Second Red Scare in February 1950 when he claimed that over 200 [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]] officials were secretly [[Communism|communists]]. He later expanded his list to thousands of government officials. The Internal Security Act required communist and [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] organizations to report all of their members to the U.S. government. In 1954, [[United States Congress|Congress]] passed the [[Communist Control Act]], preventing communists from having passports or holding government office.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Politsturm]]|title=The Red Menace|date=2017-10-20|url=https://us.politsturm.com/the-red-menace/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812203332/https://us.politsturm.com/the-red-menace/|archive-date=2020-08-12|retrieved=2022-08-28}}</ref> By 1953, 39 states completely criminalized membership in revolutionary organizations.<ref name=":0233">{{Citation|author=Albert Szymanski|year=1984|title=Human Rights in the Soviet Union|chapter=The Land of the Free|page=175–178|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzaceazdmtb2y3qq27fve5ib3gk7uv2unt6ae2xss74xmfpur7k5uhl5m?filename=Albert%20Szymanski%20-%20Human%20Rights%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union_%20Including%20Comparisons%20with%20the%20U.S.A.-Zed%20Books%20Ltd.%20%281984%29.pdf|city=London|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|isbn=0862320186|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=C597B1232D9EA6B0F3DCB438D7E15A81}}</ref>

== Smith Act ==
The 1940 Smith Act was first used against the [[Communist Party of the United States of America|CPUSA]] in July 1948. The United States indicted 12 of 13 national board members, including [[William Z. Foster]], [[Eugene Denis]], [[Robert Thompson]], [[Benjamin Davis]], [[Henry Winston]], [[John Gates]], [[Gilbert Green]], and [[Gus Hall]]. All 12 defendants were convicted, and 11 were sentenced to the maximum five years in prison. Starting in 1951, trials began against local party leaders: 12 in [[State of California|California]], six in [[Michigan]], nine in [[Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]], and others were sentenced to five years. Prosecutors usually cited passages from the ''[[Library:Manifesto of the communist party|Communist Manifesto]]'' or ''[[Library:The state and revolution|State and Revolution]]'' to show that the defendants called for a violent [[revolution]]. 108 communists had been convicted by the end of 1956.<ref name=":0233" />

== References ==
[[Category:Anti-communism]]