Which term refers to the fear of communism in the United States?

• A. Bolshevik Revolution
• B. Red Scare
• C. McCarthyism
• D. Capitalism

Answer: (B)

Red Scare describes the fear of communism that swept the United States. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Americans worried that communist ideas could spread to the U.S., leading to suspicion, political repression, and government investigations of suspected radicals. The term covers periods of intense anti-communist sentiment, including the era after World War I and the much more heated 1950s climate tied to McCarthyism. The Bolshevik Revolution is the event that sparked the fear, not the fear itself, while McCarthyism is a specific campaign within the later period. Capitalism is simply the economic system opposed to communism, not a fear. So the term that refers to the fear itself is Red Scare.