Police rout Communists with tear gas, Washington, D.C., December 1, 1930

Police route Communists with tear gas at a demonstration during Congress opening.
Washington, D.C., December 1, 1930¹

Times Wide World Photos “Red Riot at Capitol” December 1, 1930³

A Protest Against “Discriminatory Legislation”

The demonstrators, claiming to be delegates to the “National Conference for the Protection of the Foreign Born”^4,5 had arrived at the capitol in groups of twos and threes and by a prearranged signal formed into a solid mass of several hundred with many bearing placards with inscriptions such as “Down With Discriminatory Legislation” and “Down With Fingerprinting of Aliens.” Just as Congress was convening at noon, the crowd was charged by about 20 Capitol Police who tore down the signs, trampling them underfoot. A fight broke out as the demonstrators resisted the police efforts to disperse the demonstrators. A detail of Metropolitan Police, as well as a number of spectators, rushed in to help the Capitol Police.

The police mixed in with the resisting radicals and a number of the officers had to use their clubs to ward off threatened attacks by members of the mob. With the struggling group surrounded by a constantly growing circle of excited spectators, the police began firing the tear gas devices, the explosions of which gave rise to false reports that shooting had begun. Agitators, police and many of the spectators were affected by the fumes of the gas and weeping was general. News and movie photographers were in the thick of things and they, too, suffered so much that picture taking was temporarily halted. Impromptu orators perched on the Capitol steps answered the tirades of the Communists. Shouts of “take them away,” “put them all in jail,” came from the men and women who jammed the steps and platforms of the building, while answering shouts of “down with empirialism” and “down with the dirty cowards” arose from the radicals.⁶

A police officer fires a tear gas pistol at demonstrators at the edge of the U.S. Capitol grounds December 1, 1930.⁷

Police use clubs and tear gas at the foot of the U.S. Capitol to break up a demonstration at the opening of the Third Session of the 71st Congress⁸

1. Harris & Ewing. “Police Route Communists with Tear Gas at Demonstration during Congress Opening.” Library of Congress, image December 1, 1930. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://www.loc.gov/….2016878950.
2. “Battle Reds as Congress Opens Session.” Indianapolis Times, December 1, 1930, page 1, col. 1.
3. “Times Wide World Photos. ‘Red Riot at Capitol.’” The Museum of Modern Art. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://www.moma.org…58742.
4. “American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born.” Wikipedia, as of May 26, 2021 edit. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/…Protection_of_Foreign_Born.
   • National Council for the Protection of the Foreign Born… seen by the US federal government as subversive for “protecting foreign Communists who come to this country,” thus “enabling them to operate here.
5. “Organize National Council for Protection of Foreign-Born.” News Release from the Workers Party of America Press Service. January 30, 1923. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://www.marxists.org/…wpa-natcouncilforeign.pdf.
6. “Police Use Tear Gas on Reds in Capitol Grounds.” The Evening Star. Washington, D.C. December 1, 1930, page 1.
7. “Cops Use Tear Gas on Immigration Protest: 1930.” Flickr. Image December 1, 1930. Accessed September 30, 2021 https://www.flickr.com/….
8. “Gas and Clubs Rout Protesters at Capitol: 1930.” Flickr. Accessed September 30, 2021. https://www.flickr.com.

This post is part of a continuing series of posts exploring the almost 16 years between the crash of the stock market and the end of World War 2—no limits, no specific focus.

Posts already prepared—both published and scheduled—are listed at Dust, drought, depression, and war – the posts.