The film industry’s battle against left-wing influences, from the Russian Revolution to the Blacklist

Anti-radicalism in the United States has a long history. During World War I, it was transformed into anti-communism and became embedded in the political culture of the United States for the next seventy-plus years. There were many varieties of anti-communism, but it can be divided into two main categories: official or governmental, and unofficial or nongovernmental. This article traces the development of those varieties that most impacted the motion picture industry, led to the blacklisting of hundreds of employees, and cast a pall of censorship over moviemaking.