Anarchist Exclusion Act

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anarchist Exclusion Act (German about: Anarchist Exclusion Act ) refers to two laws from 1901 to 1918 by the United States Congress adopted to those anarchist representing ideas, to prevent them from entering the United States.

The 1901 Act

The first Anarchist Exclusion Act, officially called An Act To regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States (German for example: A law for the regulation of the immigration of foreigners into the United States , ch. 1012), was passed by the 57th Congress of the United States passed on its last day of session on March 31, 1903 and renewed on June 29, 1906, shortly after the assassination attempt on US President William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz . Paradoxically, Czolgosz was not an immigrant, but a US-born son of Polish immigrants. The then President Theodore Roosevelt requested this law from Congress so that incoming people could be questioned about their political beliefs. The Anarchist Exclusion Act was the first immigration law since the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to target political views. The main aim of this was to prevent immigration,

“Who doubts or opposes any organized government; or who is a member of or is closely related to any organization that teaches or maintains doubts or opposition to any organized government. "

Immediately after a speech given by the Scottish anarchist John Turner at the Murray Hill Lyceum , he was arrested by immigration officials. A copy of Johann Most's Free Society and a memorial passage on the victims of the Haymarket riots were found on his manuscript . This was enough evidence to have him deported . Immediately after that event, Emma Goldman organized a free speech club to contest the deportation and won Clarence Darrow and Edgar Lee Masters for Turner's defense. After Goldman organized a gathering of those critical of the deportation at the Cooper Union , the New York Times published an editorial in support of the law and Turner's deportation. They called those who attended the meeting "ignorant and half-crazy dreamers" and proclaimed that it was the right of the country "in the opinion of Congress and many, probably most, of Americans to make it an obligation to expel him"

Darrow and Masters defended Turner in the US Supreme Court . They argued that the law was against the constitution and that Turner was a "philosophical anarchist" and therefore not a threat to the government. The court ruled against Turner and Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller wrote down the majority opinion in which he noted that the Bill of Rights did not apply to foreigners and that Congress had the right to refuse entry to anyone they did considered a country threat. Turner was the first person deported under the law.

The following year, 7,994 people were refused entry, including one accused of being an anarchist.

The 1918 Act

Anarchists and communists await their deportation in 1920

The second law, also known as the Immigration Act of October 16, 1918 , ch. 186 was passed on October 16, 1918. It specified

“That foreigners who are anarchists; Foreigners who believe or advocate overthrowing the United States Government or any form of law by force or violence; Foreigners who do not support or oppose organized government; Foreigners who teach or advocate murder of civil servants; Foreigners who teach or advocate illegal property destruction; Foreign nationals who are a member or affiliate of any organization who support, teach, or advocate the overthrow of the United States Government or any form of law by force or violence, or who have a duty, necessity, or correctness of the unlawful Assault or murder of police officers, as specific individuals or as a group, the United States government or any other organized government, by its or its nature, accepts or advocates, or advocates or teaches the unlawful destruction of property, from entering the United States will be excluded. "

In 1919 the New York Times reported that in the 1918 tax year two people "were expelled from the United States" and "37 were deported after being illegally found in that country."

Among those affected by the law were some better-known anarchists such as Luigi Galleani and some of his supporters who were responsible for a series of deadly bomb attacks in 1919 that peaked in 1919 and 1920. Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman , who were living in the United States at the time, were also banned under the law.

After over 4,000 alleged communists were arrested and slated for deportation, the Department of Labor refused to deport the bulk of them, and Labor Secretary William B. Wilson was threatened with charges for refusal. A total of 556 people were deported under the Anarchist Exclusion Act. It was revoked in 1952.

Literary reception

In his novel "Timofey Pnin", Vladimir Nabokov landed the main character of the same name in 1940 by ship in the United States. When entering the country, the customs officer asks him if he is an anarchist. The "practical, metaphysical, theoretical, mystical, abstract, individual or the social"? asks the main character - at a young age it all meant something to him. The customs officer imprisoned the harmless scholar for two weeks on Ellis Island .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Frederick Van Dyne : Citizenship of the United States . Wm. S. Hein Publishing, 1904/1980, ISBN 0-8377-1229-7 , p. 93.
  2. ^ Horace Greeley : The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1909, p. 131.
  3. ^ Sarah Vowell : Assassination Vacation . Simon and Schuster, 1999, ISBN 0-7432-6004-X , p. 220.
  4. ↑ Original: “who disbelieves in or who is opposed to all organized government, or who is a member of or affiliated with any organization entertaining or teaching such disbelief in or opposition to all organized government”.
  5. ↑ a b In Defense of Anarchy (English) (newspaper). In: New York Times , December 5, 1903, p. 8. Retrieved July 12, 2007. 
  6. ↑ a b John Chalberg : Emma Goldman: American individualist . HarperCollins, 1991, ISBN 0-673-52102-8 , pp. 85-86.
  7. ↑ Original: ignorant and half-crazy dreamers
  8. ↑ Original: in the belief of Congress and of many, probably of most, Americans', it makes it our duty - to exclude him.
  9. ^ Prescott Farnsworth Hall: Immigration and its effects upon the United States  (= American Public Problems). H. Holt, 1906, p. 240.
  10. ^ Remsen Crawford: New Immigrant Net: How Other Causes Have Anticipated Effect of the Dillingham Act (en) (newspaper). In: New York Times , July 10, 1921. Retrieved July 12, 2007. 
  11. ↑ Original: “that aliens who are anarchists; aliens who believe in or advocate the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law; aliens who disbelieve in or are opposed to all organized government; aliens who advocate or teach the assassination of public officials; aliens who advocate or teach the unlawful destruction of property; aliens who are members of or affiliated with any organization that entertains a belief in, teaches, or advocates the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law, or that entertains or teaches disbelief or opposition to all organized government, or that advocates the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers, either of specific individuals, or of officers generally, of the Government of the United States or any other organized government, because of his or their character, or that advocates or teaches the unlawful destruction of property, shall be excluded from admission into the United States ”
  12. ↑ Original: excluded from the United States
  13. ↑ Original: (t) hirty-seven were deported after being found illegally in this country.
  14. ↑ Alien Anarchists (en) . In: New York Times , December 15, 1919, p. 14. Retrieved July 12, 2007. 
  15. ^ Paul Avrich , The Anarchist Background , Princeton University Press (1996)
  16. ↑ US Department of Labor - History - Departmental Timeline ( Memento of July 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ Uwe Ebbinghaus: Who is Afraid of Anarchism? faz.net, January 30, 2012