This Is How A Police State Protects “Secrets” - Marcy Wheeler/Salon

[JonLP24]

9. Espionage Act

Censorship
Revolt of Unemployed The act was, on the whole, inoffensive -- even to radicals -- and most of it remains on the books today. What infuriated liberals and radicals, however, was the power of censorship it gave to the Postmaster General. The federal official could declare "unmailable" any material which, in his opinion, violated the act.

Wartime Raids and Mass Arrests
At the same time, the government stepped up its campaign against radicals. The nation was at war in Europe -- and a draft had been reintroduced for the first time since the Civil War. Military recruitment posters -- like James Montgomery Flagg's famous pointing Uncle Sam -- were striking a patriotic chord with the American public. On September 5, 1917, federal agents raided Industrial Workers of the World offices nationwide. On September 28, 166 people who were (or had been) active in the I.W.W. were accused of trying to "cause insubordination, disloyalty, and refusal of duty in the military and naval forces" -- in violation of the Espionage Act. One hundred and one defendants were found guilty, and received prison sentences ranging from ten days to twenty years.

More Anti-Radical Sentiment
The Espionage Act was evidently effective in prosecuting the I.W.W. and any others opposing conscription. In 1918, it was used to send labor leader and former presidential candidate Eugene Debs to jail for a decade, because of a speech he delivered. Yet in some quarters, the law was still deemed insufficient to deal with the problem of radicalism, and particularly with the influence of the I.W.W. in the Northwest.

Silencing Radical Voices
J. Edgar Hoover On January 16, 1918, the chairman of House Judiciary Committee introduced a bill which became known as the Sedition Act. This more wide-ranging law would establish penalties for speaking against the American government, constitution, flag, or uniform; interfering with wartime production; promoting the cause of America's enemies; inciting refusal of military duty; obstructing military recruitment, and more. It also criminalized advocating or suggesting any of these activities, so that a radical public speaker like Emma Goldman became a target. According to Alice Wexler, the war provided an excuse "for the prosecution of labor activists, dissidents, and radicals -- especially the anarchists, Wobblies, and left-wing socialists -- who had gained considerable strength during the previous decade."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/e_redscare.html

Police state indeed.