Their Daily Dread: Russian Orthodox Christians in Red Scare Detroit, 1918–1920

Abstract

Abstract After World War I, Americans shifted xenophobic fears of German “Huns” to Russian “Reds.” Historians have largely ignored, however, that among the thousands of Slavic immigrants targeted in the ensuing First Red Scare were adherents of the Russian Orthodox Church. One example was on Detroit's east side, where ethnic Russian automotive workers used the spiritual, social, and educational resources of All Saints Russian Orthodox Church and a parish-affiliated fraternal organization, the Russian National Home, to advance in the Motor City's competitive labor market. Yet the Russian Revolutions of 1917 altered neighborhood dynamics, manifesting political disagreements that fractured the congregation. In April 1919, federal agents arrested thirteen men from the All Saints community, using sworn affidavits from other parishioners to allege the men constituted a dangerous “soviet” plotting to seize the church for revolutionary purposes. Exploring lived experiences in one immigrant neighborhood adversely affected by the Red Scare, this article excavates links between Russian Orthodox Christians and the Progressive Era political left. It also explores how amid heightened nativism, immigrants themselves seized on the federal government's zeal to root out “Reds,” wielding the full power of the Red Scare surveillance and deportation state to police the boundaries of their own religious community.