"Although many of the women had been in the United States for only a short time and could not manage much English, they had already grasped the power of that mo

"Although many of the women had been in the United States for only a short time and could not manage much English, they had already grasped the power of that most American form of expression: protest" i'm sorry, what ?? Does the writer truely believe people in eastern europe at the turn of the 20th century didn't know how to protest ?? Has he ever heard of anarchism and communism ?