00:00In the United States, political tensions are escalating as socialist-backed candidates
00:05continue to gain ground in key primary races, while the Trump administration intensifies
00:10its focus on what it describes as far-left extremism, calling it a threat to the country.
00:16A correspondent, Dan Albright, has more details.
00:22...or anti-imperialist, or communist, or anarchist, or Marxist,
00:27but the fundamental character is always the same.
00:30The language sounds like it's from the Cold War, but it comes as socialists are achieving
00:36some of their most significant electoral victories in generations.
00:40After Zoran Mamdani's victory in New York, DSA-backed candidates have defeated Democratic
00:46establishment choices in several closely-watched races, while socialists are mounting major
00:51campaigns elsewhere in the country.
00:54When I say worker, you say power!
00:56Worker!
00:57Power!
00:57Worker!
00:58People are tired of this sort of Democrat-Republican, um, you know, hegemony, where they know that
01:07both parties are really co-opted by corporate power and big money.
01:10Their material conditions are deteriorating, and they're looking for different answers than
01:14the ones that have been offered to them.
01:16Those victories have fueled a political and media frenzy.
01:19This is a full-blown communist revolution.
01:23You want to completely destroy the traditional American way of life?
01:25Abolish the borders.
01:25Abolish law enforcement.
01:26Communism is everywhere.
01:28But the rhetoric is also becoming government policy.
01:31President Trump's NSPM-7 directs federal terrorism task forces to investigate political organizations,
01:38their funding and supporting nonprofit networks.
01:41The administration has also launched an international campaign against alleged far-left terrorism and
01:47threatened immigration consequences for those it accuses of supporting targeted movements.
01:52Maybe it's worse than our scare.
01:55I mean, what we're talking about is a crackdown by the federal government, and that means we're in a moment
02:04of full-blown political repression.
02:08In the Prairieland case, terrorism charges against anti-ice protesters produced sentences of 30 to 100 years,
02:16including a 30-year sentence in a case where prosecutors presented possession of anarchist magazines as evidence.
02:23Federal authorities and members of Congress have also targeted media outlets, peace organizations,
02:29and activists over alleged foreign influence, including travel to Cuba and Iran.
02:35As people have struggled under capitalism.
02:38After the 1886 Haymarket affair, anarchists were prosecuted largely around their political beliefs,
02:45and four were executed.
02:46During the Palma raids of 1919 and 20, the government arrested and deported suspected anarchists, communists,
02:53and union labor organizers.
02:55The Cold War Red Scare then used investigations and blacklists to destroy unions, careers, and the civil rights movement.
03:02The similarities to McCarthyism that I do want to focus on is the collaboration of civil society.
03:13That's what made McCarthyism so powerful during the 1950s and early 60s.
03:21It was the willingness of employers, of movie studios, of corporations, of local school systems, of universities.
03:34You know, but today there is opposition.
03:37And that's really important.
03:40Trump and conservative commentators frequently describe the Democratic Socialists as communists.
03:46These are hardcore, godless communists.
03:49This is the most serious threat to our country since its existence.
03:53This is the classic divide-and-conquer tactic, where they're going to try to find some way to, like, wedge
04:00and cleavage us.
04:03And, like, we can't do that, right?
04:05I mean, they were just talking about that at this rally.
04:08They're going to continue to find, you know, ideological reasons to suppress people on the left.
04:13We have to stand together.
04:15From Boston, Dan Albright, Telesor English.
04:18From Boston, Dan Albright, Telesor English.
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