Deporting the Red Menace: Russian Immigrants, Progressive Reformers, and the First Red Scare in Chicago
thesis
posted on 2010-04-19, 00:00authored bySuzanne Orr
DEPORTING THE RED MENACE: RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS, PROGRESSIVE REFORMERS, AND THE FIRST RED SCARE IN CHICAGO, 1917-1920AbstractbySuzanne Elizabeth OrrThrough a case study of Chicago, this dissertation examines the role of humanitarianism in arguments against the government's plan to deport foreign-born radicals during the First Red Scare of 1919-1920. Russian immigrants and Progressive reformers framed their discussions about deportation and the protection of aliens in terms of preserving the integrity of the family and protecting men's roles as providers.Progressive reformers had a long-standing interest in helping Chicago's Russian-speaking immigrants adjust to American life. Government agents, however, began investigating the activities of Russian immigrants at the same moment as members of the Russian community engaged in fierce internal debates about U.S. involvement in the First World War and the meaning of the Russian Revolution. After federal and local government officials decided to raid radical organizations to combat sedition, immigrants and progressive reformers both protested the raids on humanitarian as well as legal grounds. While government agents insisted that the raids helped defend American democracy and institutions like the family, reformers and immigrants emphasized how arrest and deportation damaged immigrant families and communities. Progressive reformers succeeded in forcing federal officials to mitigate their harsh stance toward aliens arrested in the raids. Their humanitarian arguments ultimately explain why Assistant Secretary of Labor Louis Freeland Post, a former Chicago progressive, cancelled over a thousand immigrants' deportation warrants in the spring of 1920.Including immigrants and reformers in the story of the First Red Scare reestablishes the connection between opposition to the Red Scare and Progressive-era reform. Immigrants who felt terrorized by the government and had their lives disrupted by the antiradicals' deportation campaign often expressed their concerns in practical ways. Reformers listened because of their vested interest in protecting families and helping immigrants make a home in America. Seriously considering reformers' arguments about mitigating hardship and protecting dependent women and children shows the significant effect of humanitarianism on the implementation of U.S. deportation policy. The vitality of reformers' humanitarian ideas during the Red Scare suggest a potential alternative to the harsh and legalistic system of deportation law that emerged over the course of the twentieth century.