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Sat 13 Sep, 2025 05:00 pm
In 1917 began some of the worst history in the United Statees of A America documented in American Midnight by Adam Hochschild.
"Hochschild argues that this period — often overshadowed by the war itself and the “Roaring Twenties” — was one of the darkest for American democracy. In those years, free speech, labor organizing, and dissent were brutally suppressed, while racism and xenophobia surged. It was a moment when the U.S. came close to abandoning many of its democratic ideals."
"Repression of Dissent
The Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918) were used to jail critics of the war, including socialist leader Eugene V. Debs.
The federal government, working with vigilante groups, silenced newspapers, censored mail, and encouraged mob violence against dissenters.
Racial Violence and White Supremacy
The “Red Summer” of 1919 saw widespread white mob attacks on Black communities.
The Ku Klux Klan revived with new force, capitalizing on nativism and racism.
Labor Strikes and Class Conflict
Workers staged major strikes for better pay and working conditions.
Business and government branded strikers as Bolsheviks or traitors, and often broke strikes with violence.
The First Red Scare
Fear of anarchists and communists fueled mass arrests and deportations.
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer launched the “Palmer Raids,” rounding up thousands without due process."
So today with the assaination of the American right wing extremisist a full
reprise of the above moves forward. Its just modernised by being done "online".
People tend to forget such parts of our history.