So I've been thinking about the "First Red Scare" in the wake of the October Revolution and the end of the first World War, and how the threat of radical Leftists and foreign "subversives" (usually conflated with one another, naturally) became the pretext for the American ruling class to violently suppress and destroy organizations of the radical Left - with the Palmer Raids being perhaps the most infamous example of the US government's brutal crackdown in the late 1910s and into the 1920s.

Yet in spite of this dramatic crackdown, the radical/revolutionary Left only continued to grow throughout the 1920s - the CPUSA in particular. By the time the Depression begins and FDR is elected in 1932, the Commies had a truly historic opportunity for real power, influence, and - plausibly - for a revolution. And FDR and his Democratic and liberal supporters certainly took notice. Hence, (some) of the most "left-wing" parts of the New Deal were implemented, albeit often considerably watered-down to appease business interests.

My first question on this topic: What role did the rise of the USSR (specifically in the 1920s) play in building - or rather, rebuilding - the American Left, in light of the impact of the crackdowns in the First Red Scare? Because it seems to me that during the inter-war period and WWII, when the US government was not (generally speaking) sniffing out any HINT of "Pink" or "Red" as a matter of an explicit, systematic, well-organized official policy - policy, of course, that was absolutely central both in the context of foreign policy AND in the domestic context as well.

Just trying to articulate some of my thoughts here, and get a discussion going that can bring more clarity and focus to these points (and others).