# Anti-Communism Anti-Communism is the contemporary American political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical-tradition substantially-organized around substantively-systematic political-opposition to Communist political-philosophical-tradition, Communist actually-existing-regimes, and Communist-adjacent political-coalition-environments. The tradition substantially-extends across approximately a century of American political-history with substantially-multiple substantively-distinct phases: substantial pre-WWII First-Red-Scare (1917-1920) political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical infrastructure-development; substantial mid-20th-century Cold-War-era Second-Red-Scare (1947-1957) political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical infrastructure-development substantially-canonical case is [[McCarthyism]]; substantial post-McCarthyism mainstream-respectable anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational infrastructure-development across the post-1957 Cold-War period; substantial post-Cold-War continued anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical infrastructure-development across the post-1991 period; substantial contemporary 2010s-onward anti-Communism rhetorical-political-deployment within broader contemporary American right-coded political-rhetorical-environment. The tradition matters for the KB substantially across multiple registers: 1. **Foundational tradition for [[Movement Conservatism]].** Anti-Communism is one of the principal foundational political-philosophical-and-political-coalition-organizational traditions for contemporary American Movement Conservatism. Tracking the tradition is essential to engaging with the broader contemporary American Movement Conservatism political-coalition-and-organizational analytical-literature. 2. **Foundational tradition for [[McCarthyism]] historical-political-rhetorical-environment.** Anti-Communism is the foundational tradition for the mid-20th-century McCarthyism historical-political-rhetorical-environment. Tracking the tradition is essential to engaging with the broader contemporary American McCarthyism historical-political-rhetorical analytical-literature. 3. **Foundational tradition for contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-deployment of "communism" / "socialism" / "Marxism" pejorative-vocabulary.** Anti-Communism is the foundational tradition for the contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-deployment of "communism" / "socialism" / "Marxism" pejorative-vocabulary against mainstream-Democratic political-coalition personnel, against progressive political-coalition personnel, against academic-and-cultural-progressive infrastructure. Tracking the tradition is essential to engaging with broader contemporary American right-coded political-rhetorical-environment analytical-literature. ## Historical Phases **Pre-WWII First Red Scare (1917-1920).** Substantial post-[[1917 Russian Revolution]] American political-cultural-environment substantially-developed initial anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational infrastructure. Substantial 1919-1920 Palmer Raids substantially-organized federal-law-enforcement political-targeting against suspected Communist-and-anarchist political-coalition personnel; substantial 1919 Centralia Massacre and adjacent political-violence infrastructure-development across the period. **Inter-WWII anti-Communism (1920-1939).** Substantial inter-WWII anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational-infrastructure-development across multiple substantively-distinct American political-coalition-environments. Substantial Hearst-newspaper-network-anti-Communism political-cultural-infrastructure; substantial American Catholic-political-coalition anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational-infrastructure; substantial pre-WWII America First Committee anti-interventionist-and-anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational-infrastructure. **WWII-era complications (1941-1945).** Substantial WWII-era American political-cultural-environment substantially-complicated by Soviet-WWII-Allied-coalition political-cooperation. The substantial-political-cooperation substantially-suspended substantial portion of American anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational infrastructure across the 1941-1945 WWII-period. **Second Red Scare / McCarthyism (1947-1957).** Substantial post-WWII American political-cultural-environment substantially-developed substantial Second Red Scare political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical infrastructure. Substantial [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC) substantial political-investigation infrastructure; substantial Hollywood Blacklist substantial professional-political-persecution infrastructure; substantial [[Joseph McCarthy]] senatorial-investigation infrastructure; substantial broader [[McCarthyism]] political-cultural-environment infrastructure-development. The substantial Second Red Scare substantially-coincided with substantial Cold-War-era foreign-policy-coalition political-philosophical-development. **Movement Conservatism integration (1955-1991).** Substantial post-McCarthyism American Movement Conservatism substantially-integrated anti-Communism as principal political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical-commitment. Substantial [[William F. Buckley Jr.]]'s *National Review* (1955+) substantially-integrated anti-Communism as principal political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical-commitment within broader fusionist-conservative political-coalition-organizational-infrastructure. Substantial Reagan-era Cold-War foreign-policy substantially-organized around anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical-commitment. **Post-Cold-War continued anti-Communism (1991+).** Substantial post-Cold-War continued American anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical-development. The substantial-continuation substantially-includes: substantial continuing-attention to remaining actually-existing-Communist regimes (China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos); substantial post-1991 historical-political-cultural-environment substantially-organized around analytical-political-evaluation of Cold-War-era American anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational-and-political-philosophical-commitment; substantial post-Cold-War American foreign-policy-coalition political-philosophical-development around post-Cold-War political-cultural-environment-and-geopolitical-strategic-environment. **Contemporary 2010s-onward anti-Communism rhetorical-deployment.** Substantial 2010s-onward American right-coded political-rhetorical-deployment of "communism" / "socialism" / "Marxism" pejorative-vocabulary across multiple substantively-distinct contemporary right-coded political-coalition-and-political-philosophical-environments. The substantial-deployment substantially-extends pre-1991 anti-Communism political-rhetorical-vocabulary into post-Cold-War American political-coalition-environment with substantial-mischaracterizations of contemporary American political-coalition-personnel (mainstream-Democratic political-coalition personnel, progressive political-coalition personnel, academic-and-cultural-progressive infrastructure substantially-characterized as substantively-Communist-and-Marxist political-coalition personnel despite substantively-non-Communist-and-non-Marxist political-philosophical-and-political-coalition-commitments). ## Why It Matters for the KB **Foundational tradition for [[Movement Conservatism]] documentary anchor.** Anti-Communism is one of the principal foundational political-philosophical-and-political-coalition-organizational traditions for contemporary American Movement Conservatism. Tracking the tradition is essential to engaging with the broader contemporary American Movement Conservatism political-coalition-and-organizational analytical-literature. **Foundational tradition for [[McCarthyism]] historical-political-rhetorical-environment.** Anti-Communism is the foundational tradition for the mid-20th-century McCarthyism historical-political-rhetorical-environment. Tracking the tradition is essential to engaging with the broader contemporary American McCarthyism historical-political-rhetorical analytical-literature. **Foundational tradition for contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-deployment of "communism" / "socialism" / "Marxism" pejorative-vocabulary.** Anti-Communism is the foundational tradition for the contemporary right-coded political-rhetorical-deployment of "communism" / "socialism" / "Marxism" pejorative-vocabulary. Tracking the tradition is essential to engaging with broader contemporary American right-coded political-rhetorical-environment analytical-literature. ## See Also - [[McCarthyism]] — the principal mid-20th-century historical-political-rhetorical-environment case - [[Movement Conservatism]] — the principal contemporary American political-coalition-organizational tradition - [[Communism]] — the substantive-target political-philosophical-and-political-economic-framework - [[Socialism]] — adjacent substantive-target political-philosophical-and-political-economic-framework - [[Marxism]] — adjacent substantive-target political-philosophical-framework - [[Cultural Marxism]] — the contemporary conspiratorial-framework substantially-derivative of broader anti-Communism political-coalition-organizational tradition - [[Fellow Traveler]] — adjacent contemporary historical-political-rhetorical-vocabulary