What Is A Blacklist?

No one knows exactly what caused The Great Depression of the 1930s, but it hit us and the whole world hard. Real hard. People were hungry and scared. A book had been written several decades prior by a guy named Karl Marx that was influential in how smart people looked at economics. That book was twisted by the Russians during their revolution into something called "Communism" during and after World War I.

During the darkest days of the depression, in the early 1930s, lots and lots and lots of Americans, many of them of European ancestry with relatives back home in the mother countries, looked to Russia (now the Soviet Union) as a beacon of hope in a troubled world. Largely, these Americans were fools, because Lenin and the other Russian leaders of the period and the periods to come were hardly Marxists. These men were fascists, no better than Hitler.

In America, something called the Communist Party started holding meetings, formed by intellectuals in order to figure out. What. The. Fuck. Was. Going. On. Very innocent stuff. How do we fix the shithole we're in? That was the question those folks were asking themselves and their friends in the 1930s. Nothing much came of all those meetings.

World War II started. About six months into our involvement, during the summer of 1942, we knew we were going to win. And the politicking in Washington and London started. What kind of world will we live in once we kick Tojo and Hitler's asses? The war was won incredibly quickly (look it up), the bombs were dropped on Japan in order to intimidate Russia, and life in America was good.

Or so most thought. Businessmen and politicians remembered those meetings held by the "communists" in the US during the 1930s. How do we fuck them and make ourselves look better? How do we prevent a Soviet invasion of Los Angeles? Or Portland, Maine? Or Iowa?

Meetings were held in Washington following the end of WWII (some were actually held during the war), in the mid to late 1940s: "The Russians are going to attack us!" (This was never a possibility because during WWII Russia had lost over ten million soldiers and countless civilians and didn't even HAVE THE BOMB (look it up). But politics in the US is dirty, dirty business. "How do I make myself look good and fuck my enemies? Oh. That's right: Communism BAD. America good. We'll hold some meetings of our own!

The Congressmen asked those intellectuals who led the meetings back in the 1930s, "Who was there? What was said?" The writers and artists didn't know what to do. Do I answer these stupid, pointless questions? If I do answer them, do I answer them honestly? If I answer, do I give them ALL the names, or just guys I didn't like?" That kind of stuff. The writers and artists who didn't answer to the liking of the politicians were put on what came to be known as "blacklists." These blacklists were probably only written down at FBI headquarters, but they were lists nonetheless. "You cannot hire this guy and that woman and this other guy, or we will fuck the holy shit out of your business." That's how the lists worked. Radio, art buyers, cinema. All were almost destroyed by the blacklists. But people went along with them because, well, they had mortgages to pay and food to buy and two cars to pay for. "I feel bad for Zero and Paddy, but shit, I've got my own problems. I'll pray for them, but I won't say a word out loud for them."