REPUBLICANS have been accused of bringing back the “red scare” in the US state of Florida after Governor Ron de Santis signed a law requiring teaching staff to declare their political affiliations.

Writing in People’s World on Monday, Amiad Horowitz said that the state government has been increasing attacks on democracy by “using the state education system to spread anti-communist ideology.”

The new legislation will require schools to carry out a survey of their staff, which will not be anonymous.

It will not not be used for purposes of hiring, firing and promotions, Mr de Santis has insisted.

It also allows pupils to film teachers so they are able to sue them.

Mr de Santis has previously accused teachers of “indoctrinating students” with left-wing ideology, with Florida schools becoming what he claims are “socialism factories.”

“Such laws are a callback to the infamous blacklists of the McCarthyite 1950s, during which professionals were banned from work in many fields and persecuted because they were communists or suspected of being communists,” Mr Horowitz wrote.

“At its height, thousands of Americans were banned or shunned from their places of work, and even more were intimidated into keeping their thoughts secret to avoid such a fate.

“People were intimidated or blackmailed into falling in line with anti-communism.”

Teaching unions have warned of an “all-out assault” on teachers’ freedom and ability to teach their students as they have been trained to do so, amid a culture of intimidation.

The law is the latest in a Republican-led attack on education throughout the United States.

Two weeks ago Florida banned schools from teaching critical race theory — an analysis of racial inequality in law and public policy — with other states set to follow.