the racial riots against blacks resulted from a variety of postwar social tensions related to the demobilization of veterans of world war i, both black and white, an economic slump, and competition for jobs and housing among ethnic european americans and african americans. in addition, it was a time of labor unrest in which some industrialists used black people as strikebreakers, increasing resentment. the riots were extensively documented in the press, which, along with the federal government, feared socialist and communist influence on the black civil rights movement following the bolshevik revolution in russia. they also feared foreign anarchists, who had bombed homes and businesses of prominent business and government leaders.