It refers to two periods of strong development of anti-communism in the United States. The term is also often used to describe the political atmosphere that favored political persecution and civil rights violations.
Both periods were characterized by the criminalization of communist or anarchist political opinions, the widespread dread of a communist infiltration of the American government or of an anarchist or communist revolution that could overthrow the current capitalist order in the United States, imposing a communist dictatorship, as in the USSR. This pervasive dread gave rise to aggressive investigations and (especially between 1917 and 1920) the arrest of ideologically suspicious people or in some way associated with communist or socialist movements.
The main concepts of this philosophy include Ru (humaneness), righteousness, propriety/etiquette, loyalty, and filial piety, along with strict adherence to social roles.
