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It's always been legal.Can someone point me at the laws that made it illegal? I admit I have no knowledge, but I find it incomprehensible that a country that trumpets freedom as it's raison d'etre would make...freedom, illegal.
i'm not sure it ever was officially. the cpusa has been around for decades and eugene v. debs (yeah, i know. he was not a communist, but a socialist) was imprisoned for awhile, but it wasn't officially because he was a socialist. it was for sedition because he opposed our entry into ww1. some states may have had a few weird laws, but yeah, i really don't recall it ever being officially illegal to be a communist in the usa.
Then how did McCarthy get away with it?
because of the fear that communists = spies for joseph stalin.
^ What he said.i'm not sure it ever was officially. the cpusa has been around for decades and eugene v. debs (yeah, i know. he was not a communist, but a socialist) was imprisoned for awhile, but it wasn't officially because he was a socialist. it was for sedition because he opposed our entry into ww1. some states may have had a few weird laws, but yeah, i really don't recall it ever being officially illegal to be a communist in the usa.
because of the fear that communists = spies for joseph stalin.
Not when treason is the matter.Surely HUAC was in direct contravention of the first amendment?
Surely HUAC was in direct contravention of the first amendment?
Not when treason is the matter.
Nothing can stop the American people from voting to be communist.
And if they ever do that, then that decision is irreversible.
But it's highly unlikely to happen.
on a less serious note i've always found it funny that grampa walton was a bisexual communist who was blacklisted during the mccarthy era. this is mainly because my parents loved that show and they really hate it when i remind them of his less than wholesome reality. they're such prudes.
McCarthy (or really "McCarthyism" ) relied on many laws that were later declared unconstitutional. My recollection is the California 'Loyalty Laws' requiring certain oaths and not taking the oath being a reason for doing time in jail were some of the ones most used and found not constitutional.
I didn't think that membership in the CP was actually illegal but I was wrong:
The Communist Control Act (68 Stat. 775, 50 U.S.C. 841-844) is a piece of United States federal legislation, signed into law by Dwight Eisenhower on 24 August 1954, which outlawed the Communist Party of the United States and criminalized membership in, or support for the Party or "Communist-action" organizations and defined evidence to be considered by a jury in determining participation in the activities, planning, actions, objectives, or purposes of such organizations.
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How is believing in a certain philosophy treason? Does the constitution regulate thought? Is the American system so fragile that belief in another way is treason?
It's actually not a less serious note. A good actor had his career destroyed because RW fascist bastards abused your constitution.
The American system isn't "fragile," ... can we not talk about how small UK mens' dicks are? Because it's putting me off.
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Well, good for you.
No, it wasn't about philosophy, it was about treason.
The American system isn't "fragile," ... can we not talk about how small UK mens' dicks are? Because it's putting me off.