What is blacklisting and who or what was responsible for it?

Answer 1

Blacklisting is the practice of refusing to hire, or firing someone from his job whose opinions do not agree with management or whose connections with various organizations are deemed to be against the opinion of the industrialists and/or the government. It was used early in the industrial development of the United States when workers were attempting to organize into labor unions to demand safe working conditions, decent pay, and protection from unfair or unsafe industrial working conditions. It is also closely associated with the Cold War era and the period of McCarthyism when workers in many occupations, including movie stars, screen writers, directors and producers, authors and other intellectual persona were accused of being Communists or "fellow travelers." Lists of suspected Union members and organizers, or lists of suspected Communists were often circulated among business and government officials.