Final answer:
Worker unrest during the early 20th century, marked by strikes and labor actions, fueled the Red Scare in the United States due to fears of a leftist revolution as seen in Russia. This led to the Palmer Raids—a government crackdown on supposed radicals that involved serious civil liberties violations and fed into nativist attitudes.
Step-by-step explanation:
How Worker Unrest Fueled the Red Scare
The Red Scare was a period of intense fear and paranoia towards potential threats from anarchism and Communism that swept through the United States between 1919 and 1920. Worker unrest, particularly in the wake of labor strikes and actions by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), contributed greatly to the fervor. Economic instability and labor unrest led business leaders and government officials to fear the possibility of a leftist revolution akin to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer took advantage of this unrest to label union leaders as 'Reds,' conflating labor disputes with anti-American sentiments. This scenario set the stage for the Palmer Raids, a series of government actions aimed at capturing, detaining, and deporting so-called radicals, often without due process.
Worker strikes were seen as the beginnings of potential revolutionary movements, causing panic among the upper echelons of the government and the industrialists. This period also included egregious violations of civil liberties, with raids and deportations carried out against immigrants and laborers, fueling nativism and xenophobia. The aftermath resulted in a heightened sense of distrust and the eventual formation of the American Civil Liberties Union to combat the government's disregard for individual rights.