I have a potential idea. Investigative journalism is a thing that is taking off to certain degrees at various places, with Nellie Bly having became well known a decade or two ago by her Asylum Expose. And of course, Ida Tarbell is basically the founder, with the 1872 book on the full history of standard oil's rise, including the backroom deals and dirty tricks used to undermine the competition, something she is still working on, as it took till 1904 to fully finish the series on standard oil's history.
So, any ideas about the minuitmen branching out into the first serious investigative journalism that in Minutemen fashion, would walk the line between full-fledged detectives and reporters?
Seems really dangerous and absolutely something thatd start a fire under some folks ass...i fully support imvestagative journalism, especially if we can expose some dirty politicians for their crimes
So, any ideas about the minuitmen branching out into the first serious investigative journalism that in Minutemen fashion, would walk the line between full-fledged detectives and reporters?
So what, have the entire group become Noir detectives, fighting the good fight as knights in trench coats and otherwise being sam spade wanna bes... fighting the injustice in the system one case at a time?
Sweet jesus when you put it that way, it sounds downright awesome.
Depending on how things wind up going this coming turn, the SUS is looking at potentially starting up a journalism school, so you're far from the only ones thinking about that particular aspect of things.
So what, have the entire group become Noir detectives, fighting the good fight as knights in trench coats and otherwise being sam spade wanna bes... fighting the injustice in the system one case at a time?
Sweet jesus when you put it that way, it sounds downright awesome.
Well, they'd likely end up a sister organization. But considering the Minutemen, any investigative journalist group formed using the core ideas of the minutemen would probably indeed end up like that. And with the same spirit, there is a nonzero chance they may set up stuff like forensic science labs at some point to aid in their mission.
Donovan Carlyle was of the opinion that cities lived and died not by the industries that inhabited them, but by the men who kept it's streets clean and air clean. That idea, mixed with a general desperation for money, is what lead him to join The Orange Disciples city clean up program. Donovan was actually quite surprised upon taking up the task he always knew that cities generally were not all too clean just from living in Philly, but the shear mass of filth that accumulated upon the streets was astounding! Donovan hadn't just experienced the run of the mill horseshit or even puke from outside McGillin's, no he also had to contend with rotting food scraps tossed without a care, old napkins too ragged to be useful to the the babes they were made for, and possibly the most common offender old newspaper wrapped around some mysterious rotted meat.
Despite the...foulness of his chosen occupation Donovan found ways to make it more bearable, if not more profitable. taking inspiration from stories of plague doctors Donovan made a cloth mask that he filled with dried mint and lavender. That at least made the day to day stench slightly less nauseating. After saving up for months Donovan decided to purchase leather gloves to avoid touching the more unpleasant items. Eventually some of his colleges followed suit, at least they copied his mask idea.
It was in his seventh month working as a street cleaner that Donovan found what he considered to be a lucky find. A pocket watch smashed against some back alley wall, it's internals scattered hap-hazardously about. He spent a lot of time carefully gathering the internals of that watch, and spent even more time trying (and failing) to get the thing in working order. By the time he realized that the watch was a lost cause he had already started a collection of broken, but fixable, appliances ranging from pocket watches to children's wind-up toys. Donovan found joy not just in fixing these items, but also in breaking them down and finding out how the complex mechanism worked together to make simple motions. The tin toys, steel watches, and old bottles adorned his shelves, slowly adding more and more knickknacks found about his working days. when Christmas came around Donovan gifted a few of the repaired/lost toys to one of his younger nephews, leaving the rest to Disciple affiliated churches to hand out to those who couldn't afford such gifts. It was a move on his part not just to de-clutter his home, but also to help the people who helped him so much for the past year.
AN: NGL i straight up couldn't think of a way to end this. wanted to do something from the perspective of a trash collector but my brain kept giving me ideas to expand on, so i'm cutting it off here to avoid a fucking 1k word omake. As for any bonus...hmmm...increase support for anti-corruption bills?
The US government was saved from a fiscal crisis this year as Cleveland agreed to a plan brokered by industrialist J. P. Morgan in which they would buy gold directly from his and European banks, refilling the treasury.
Down south, conflict erupted in Cuba. Long a hotbed of revolutionaries and struggle against the oppressive Spanish rule, the conflict has finally entered open combat as revolutionaries lead by José Martí take over the east of the island, with uprisings failing in central and western Cuba. Martí would die soon after the uprising, but the rebels would continue on.
Lacking weapons, the revolutionaries would do hit and run attacks to steal them while taking more rural territory west. By the end of the year they harried the Spanish forced out of the countryside in the entire country, forcing them to stay in cities. Still, the Spanish had brought more men to the island and had better weaponry, leaving the war in a stalemate.
Americans watched the struggle with interest, seeing parallels to their own revolutionary war. By the end of the year Americans from all walks of life supported them. But only time would tell if this support would translate into action.
Eastern uprisings: 46, DC 20
Central uprisings: 63, DC 70
Havana uprising: 52, DC 90
In what news companies hailed a major victory for labor, several more major unions in California have joined the AFL. Claiming that they needed to work together against the impending threat of Asians immigrants and migrant labor driving down wages, they banded together in white-only unions. Still, many Captains of Industry believed this would hurt the fast growing west, which had long depended on their lower wages compared to the industrial heartland of the steel belt to compete, but was now almost fully unionized, and therefore had too high wages.
There was a prominent split in the black civil rights movement this year as Booker T. Washington gave the "Atlanta Compromise" speech, in which he proposed black progress through education and entrepreneurship rather than challenging segregation and disenfranchisement.
The Forty Acres Movement was split on the issue, with a minority agreeing with Washington but the majority calling for immediate political liberation, not only for itself, but also as necessary to achieve economic equality. Some northern civil rights activists prominently spoke against the speech as well, such as the up-and-coming professor (recently graduated from Harvard) Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois who argued that black Americans must take an equal role to white Americans in all aspects of society.
West Coast Union Association:
The WCUA began with setting up branch offices, primarily across the west from coast to mountains. But in preparation for a planned change this year, they also set up a few of them out East, in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York. All together, these would let local branches of the organization have official meeting places and allow for more local initiative.
Farm unions: 16d20 = 139, 550/550
The long-standing effort to unionize west coast farmers has completed, with dozens of new unions formed and associated this year. While there were plenty of farms that refused to unionize for one reason or another (often social conservatism conflicting with the union's Marxism and anti-racism) the overwhelming organized force of farmers on the west coast was aligned.
San Fransisco Credit Union: 77
The WCUA also set up a credit union in San Fransisco, which quickly had many union members latch onto and join. This would serve as a safe repository for the money of the workers of the city. The loss of customers for the local banks would also see them recover much less than in most cities, though it would remain to be seen if the trend would continue after the depression.
Approach Waite: 52 + 3 (The Valkyrie) = 55
The Populist Party had seen a sharp decrease in support this last election, with most voters shifting to the progressive factions of either the Democratic or Republican parties. The one exception was Colorado, which had been a stronghold of the party from the beginning. Still, many saw it as only a matter of time before the main two parties retook it.
And so the WCUA approached Governor Waite, who had sent in the militia in defense of the Colorado strikers just last year, proving his loyalty to the working class of Colorado who elected him, and had also manage to legalize women's suffrage in Colorado, an important progressive plank of the United Front.
It was a long negotiation, but eventually he agreed–he, and those in the Colorado Populist Party loyal to him, would switch parties to the Socialist Labor Party (newly associated with the United Front) in the next election. In one short announcement, a socialist party was suddenly on the national stage, going from something few had heard of to being likely to win the next election.
All-Continental Union Association: 57 + 3 (The Valkyrie) = 60
With the limited success of the strikes last year, many were advocating for further cooperation between radical unions in opposition to the AFL which has so far maintained its grip on the unions of this nation.
By the end of the year, the internal vote was in: the West Coast Union Association would rebrand. They would become the All-Continental Union Association, a name symbolizing that not only were they going pan-national, but also that class struggle recognized no state boundaries. In practice, for now, they would just expand to the rest of the United Front's radical areas, but a statement had been made.
The Land and Labor Reform Party:
Following a disastrous meeting between Party Leadership and the intellectual leadership of the LLRP during the Pullman Crisis of '94. Jack Olsen (party boss and political whip), Art Randolph (founder of the Sons of the Frontier and main fundraiser), and several of the more idealistic and even politically pragmatic members of the LLRP broke the party mold by promoting far more labor friendly and radical thinking to the Georgian Theory, without the blessing of Henry George (though there is rumor that he approves of the approach), after seeing the success of Jack Olsen's new political machine.
These so called radicals and reformers within the party would be considered moderates and even conservatives by more active labor reformers, however they still seek to change the party platform from within, and seeing the change in political winds, they see the most pragmatic choice. They were inspired by the optimism of the frontier where men and women could masters of their own destiny if they were given the chance. And they seek to do it again.
These labor reformers would explicitly support coops in shops, factories, and agriculture, and Land-to-the-Tiller, as well as environmental conservation. As such, their support base within the party consisted more of the workers rather than business owners.
This new faction would be opposed by the Orthodox Georgists, who believed that the land tax would be sufficient reform and were against the "folly of having workers do the jobs of managers".
At the same time, Gompers, the leader of the AFL, put out a statement in the news that he would prefer the LLRP over either of the two major parties. He deliberately didn't make it into any major news networks, but it still helped boost the LLRP in the eyes of the workers–and shift power towards the labor reformers faction.
Reach out on the streets: 25d20 = 267
Reach out to the farmworkers: 25d20 = 301
Reach out in the factories: 17d20 = 159
(72.7% increase in recruitment this turn)
The LLRP put their full effort into meeting with the people this pre-election cycle. With these constant attempts at reaching out to the people, and not the businessmen, along with the more worker-based labor reform faction, the party has seen a small shift in demographics away from their business supporters–and their money. While the mainstream American parties are largely elite-lead, the LLRP has begun to break that mold.
Sons of the Frontier Nebraska: 58
With some start-up capital, the Sons of the Frontier were able to expand their operations to Nebraska. Another rural state, they were particularly popular with middle-income city-dwellers who's young sons could afford not to work and wouldn't otherwise get experience in the wild.
North Dakota Campaign Group: 62
As the Populist Party began to disappear, many of the former activists and campaigners were able to be absorbed into the Land and Labor Reform Party as a group that focuses more on local interests rather than failing to compete on a national scale. By the end of the year, they were ready to do a full scale campaign in North Dakota.
The Revolutionary Federation of American Anarchists:
The anarchists began by greatly expanding their mutual aid efforts, setting them up in several more cities. They made sure to invest a great deal of effort and funds for this, buying up buildings for soup kitchens and members traveling from city to city to make sure everything stayed organized.
Boston: 45 + 2 (overspending) = 47
Buffalo: 46 + 2 (overspending) = 48
Other New York Cities: 65 + 2 (overspending) = 67
Connecticut Cities: 68 + 2 (overspending) = 70
Across the coast they set up networks in Connecticut cities and Boston, the local councils receiving visits from more experienced members to learn how to set up the networks. Connecticut in particular had many councils organizing mutual aid, and the help just aided them in making them efficient and accessible. They also went to upstate New York, fully setting up their system of dual power across the state.
This massive upscaling of their operations was only possible because of the depression, but none doubted that it was the right decision. With aid going throughout the North-East and doubtlessly continuing to spread, the federation grew at a breakneck pace. In the streets of cities anarchism soon came to mean "helping your neighbors", not bombing them.
Still, not all were convinced. Cops viewed the anarchists with suspicion, and arrested them with glee whenever possible. One incident even had a plainclothes officer infiltrate a meeting before being discovered and banned. Although dissent police officers were an essential part of forming the RFAA, the growing animosity between the anarchists and all cops was resulting in them being increasingly outsiders of the federation.
Throughout the cities of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, as well as Philadelphia and Boston, The Worker's Credit opened up new offices. The participants of the new mutual aid networks quickly took to using them along with many other less radical workers, since confidence in the banks was still at a low. Although this wasn't very useful as a recruiting tool, the managers maintained a majority of anarchists, and handling this much money was a type of power in it of itself, albeit one many anarchists were wary of.
Already there came calls to use it to begin replacing money with labor vouchers, to shed the tools the capitalists use to control the workers. But despite those enthusiastic calls the majority agreed that would require first seizing the factories and political control–something they were not yet ready to do.
Ship worker unions: 25d20 = 258, 400/400
Organizers in New York City have continued their work in the workplaces of ship workers, whether they be servicing ships or crewing them. Finally, the job is complete, with the majority of workers in New York unionized one way or another, with the rest either not wanting to work with the anarchists for it or too far under the control of their bosses.
Immigrant committee: 56 + 5 (The Worker's Post) = 61
New York City was the single largest source of immigrants to the United States, an oft poor and mistreated group that often found themselves at odds with the labor movement due to their use as scabs. But the anarchists sought to change that, establishing a well funded committee devoted to reaching out to new immigrants and integrating them into their networks of mutual aid and union contacts.
By the end of the year, the experience of an immigrant was far different than even a decade ago all across the North-East.
Instead of being fed and housed by Tammany Hall or some other crooked political group, they would find their new neighbors coming up to them with pamphlets (if they could read) and speaking in a language they knew, offering to help get them settled in and ensuring they got the bare necessities. In these times, there often weren't jobs to go around. But when there was an opening they were welcomed in and given a place in the local union and a well-paying job.
For those that fell through the cracks, they quickly learned through one of the few newspapers non-English speakers could read: The Worker's Post, which made sure to keep up articles about the anarchist's various programs and methods to find or make a local council.
They put so much effort into this that the existing immigrant welcoming groups of the futurists and the Friends of All Faiths were affected, now competing for helping the same people. Truly, it was a good time to be coming to America.
In other news the American Railway Union has voted to work in cooperation with the Striking Think Group founded by the AFAA, representing their full shift towards anarchism.
The Forty Acres Movement:
The Forty Acres Movement began by setting up branch offices across the Black Belt. With the organization so spread out, they had been simply rotating between members who owned property for local meetings, but as membership expanded having formal and consistent meeting areas grew to be useful in organizing.
Bartering: 52 + 3 (Southern America Credit Union) = 55
Volunteers skilled at bartering, as demonstrated with their previous success at buying out large farms, have begun training others in the skill. While they took a break in actually doing so this year to train, before long there was a solid group ready to cheaply buy farms and equipment for next year.
Additionally, with the boll weevil infestation, many cotton plantations having been going bankrupt. This has made it easier to buy more farms… while also hurting the income of many of your people.
Many Local: 48
National: 65
The rural nature of the organization resulted in arguments about whether they should invest in city based newspapers or regional ones. While they eventually decided on regional ones, catering more to their rural crowd, those ended with much less enthusiasm and ended up less popular. Newspapers such as Freedman's Journal or the Colored Tribune circulated throughout the black belt, letting all hear their stories.
The national newspaper, The Liberator's Advocate, on the other hand, grew to popularity across the nation as it publicized the crimes being committed to black Americans across the south. Voter suppression, sharecropping, lynchings, burnings, and more, with the Republican Party seemingly powerless to stop it. In particular it posted about the White League's terrorist actions, how they propagandized their racist creed and lead lynching parties across several states.
They could never be truly free, they declared, so long as they feared for their lives every day, as armed marauders sought to take that away from them for the crime of trying to live.
Protests: 61 + 5 (Mississippi newspaper) + 5 (the Liberator's Advocate) + 2 (Black Belt newspapers) + 3 (The Valkyrie) = 76
(White League -5% popularity)
Across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, protests against the White League swarmed the cities and farms. Both white and black people filled the streets as the they called for an end to their terrorist attacks, all upon the urging of the Forty Acres Movement.
Campaign defaming White League: 15d20 = 141
(14.1% reduced recruitment for the White League)
Speaking to the streets: 10d20 = 88
(8.8% increase in recruitment next turn)
They also made a public campaign defaming the White League, going door to door as well as publishing articles in popular newspapers about their evil deeds. They painted them as violent criminals and thugs, people that no reputable citizen would be seen with.
They also took the opportunity to go to the streets of cities and speak of themselves, making contacts in urban areas.
All in all, the White League was growing increasingly unpopular among their non-members. But still they terrorized the south, destroying the livelihoods and lives of freemen.
It was agreed: it was time to force a confrontation. They gave their best weapons that they had enough ammo for to their part time militia, who had been doing tactics training and therefore the best ready for combat. The rest used a variety of personal handguns, clubs, and bats, which they had been using in earlier, smaller skirmishes and intimidation.
Forcing a confrontation: 43
They found it in the form of some sort of initiation ritual. New members were going out to lynch some people as part of joining the organization, and when this plan was leaked the Defense Group had gone out to put a stop to it. But they had been looking for an opportunity, and so when they noticed a large part of the White League was nearby they hid a large part of their own force and sent messengers to any nearby militia on call.
When fighting broke out, both sides quickly received reinforcements, with the FAM having just barely more men in the fight, several hundred on both sides.
In the initial clash the White League foundered, not expecting it to be an even fight. The less trained or armed did surprisingly well on the FAM side, getting in close and making them panic.
Then the part-timers with melee weapons charged as a group into the center while those with handguns gave them covering fire, splitting up the White League. Tens of them were shot in the process, but the White League lost coordination as the fighting got more chaotic. First individuals and then large groups split off and ran, leaving the battlefield to the FAM.
Ten of them were dead, another 9 with critical injuries, and 15 injured enough that they would have to leave the militia for a long while. It was a heavy loss, but they saved lives. Every person that they would not kill while retreating and recovering from this loss was a life saved, and that made the difference.
After the fight the White League began to bleed members. Before many had thought of them as cruel and terrorists, but many white men and women in the south approved of it. But attacking and losing a battle, tails between their legs was an embarrassment, and to them, that was much worse.
By the end of the year they had lost a substantial part of their organization instead of growing as they had in years previous. Although they had the implicit support of state governments, this had always come in the form of looking the other way as they did what they want. Now that they had a greater foe and were the less popular of the two, they would have to change their methods.
The Society of Friends of All Faiths:
The Society made a leftwards turn this year as they focused strongly on building mutual aid groups among their followers.
Upstate New York: 51
In upstate New York, a system of mutual aid between towns was set up through local religious centers. This rural sort of mutual aid was different than the urban kind by nature, as people living in different towns don't know each other. Moreover there was less religious diversity, with the protestant churches effectively taking over this process.
Philadelphia Mutual Aid: 78
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, the poor of the city had heard of the mutual aid groups up North, and it didn't take much to convince SFAF members to make one more. This proved so effective that more people joined than expected, helping in recruitment efforts as they then moved onto joining the organization.
Philadelphia charitable aid: 37 + 4 (mutual aid network = 41
Setting up charitable aid proved to be more difficult, as in these times even the churches and synagogues were low on funds. Still, they managed to set it up, and soon a system was established for the more fortunate to donate old clothes, toys, etc. which the needy may take.
Stockpile guns: 3d20 = 32
The SFAF also secretly bought guns for training and use by their members. This militant action was hard fought within the organization, but those in favor of it eventually won out, especially with the increasing violence in the country. For now they had few members who properly knew how to use them, but they were prepared to change that.
Awareness Committee: 55
Finally they formed the Awareness Committee, which would be responsible for ensuring member churches, synagogues, etc. aren't under threat and for keeping track of groups opposed to minority religions. This committee would be headed by the most militant members of the organization, determined to keep people safe regardless of religion.
American People's Futurist Alliance:
The futurists began by expanding their operations in integrating immigrants into America, in exchange for their loyalty.
Immigrant operations: 60
The plans went well, almost perfect even, displacing many of the old party programs that had been trying to do the same. Except for the fact that many seemed uninterested in the futurist programs. Even the old Ellis Island program would send people off, only to have them stop along the way.
It took some investigating, but eventually they found the reason: some sort of anarchist troublemakers snatching up new immigrants, just like Tammany Hall did before their fall. In order to have the futurist programs run at full efficiency, they'd surely have to disrupt them in some way.
Parties of the rich: 28d20 = 267
(+7.8 funds per turn)
Representatives and leaders of the illustrious Futurist Alliance went to various parties and informal gatherings of old money and new, highlighting their contributions to American industry. Before long they had dozens more of investors as members, chipping in their part.
Factories of the cities: 15d20 = 182
(18.2% increase in recruitment next turn)
Some of the less well off members of the futurists went into factories, mainly ones of industrialists already associated with the organization and with their permission. They came advocating what the APFA can do for economic growth and the stability of industry, and therefore their livelihoods.
Steel Belt Fund: 65
Few were buying guns when they had more immediate needs, and so a major gun business in Cincinnati was nearing bankruptcy. With APFA aid, they managed to just barely stay solvent long enough to temporarily downsize and get back in the green. In thanks for the help, most of the investors have decided to join the futurists.
The Friends of the Huddled Masses:
The FHM began the year by sending organizers to finish helping the fishermen at canning factories form unions.
Canning factory unions: 4d20 = 41, 200/200
Throughout FHM influenced cities, canning factories (mainly staffed by Chinese workers) unionized. Now the majority of west coast Chinese workers were unionized and part of the Friends of Huddled Masses.
Power to the Factory Council: 51
They also divested more power into the Factory Management Council, giving it more autonomy and ability. Although it represented but a fraction of the organization as a whole, it was quickly growing, and represented to all their economic autonomy.
Several Chinese storeowners in San Gabriel Valley (the Chinese-majority region of Los Angeles) have come to the organization with a proposal: they would sell their stores, and in exchange would be allowed to keep working at them in exchange for a fair wage. With the depression they had each gone bankrupt, or close to being so, and were afraid the banks would take them anyway.
The Friends of Huddled Masses accepted. These would be the first of a chain of storefronts, able to preferentially get Friends' factory and town products and sell them.
West Coast Union Factories: 78 + 5 (Factory Management Council) + 3 (Pacific Credit Union) = 86
They also pour a massive amount of funds in working with the unions to buy out factories. Initially they start with canning factories, the one type of factory with large numbers of Chinese workers (as most workers worked in restaurant work, laundry, etc. which aren't factory work).
Then they get an opportunity to buy a refrigerated railcar factory in Los Angeles. Although currently mostly white union workers, they already worked closely with them, and the revolutionaries considered gaining control of such a critical industry to be paramount.
Revive China Society Preparations: 59 + 16 (funds/2) = 75, DC 80
The Revive China Society requested money and weapons from the Chinese communities abroad, and the American community answered. Vast amounts of funds and weapons were smuggled across the sea to Hong Kong, their base of operations.
Yet it was all for naught. Their plans were leaked to the Qing government, and the crackdown began. Revolutionaries were arrested and killed. Their base of operations in Guangzhou was raided by the Qing army, resulting in a firefight with the training revolutionaries while Lu Haodong, co-founder of the Revive China Society, destroyed important documents. Dozens of soldiers and revolutionaries were killed, and Lu Haodong was executed.
Sun Yat-sen went into exile around the world, visiting America for a short time to thank his sponsors and then to Europe, planning to once more raise money for his revolutionary party.
Restructure the party: 51
Now reaching a great size of over 100,000 members (with the entire west coast states having fewer than two million people), it seemed time to restructure the organization. With the initial proposal of having leadership chosen by the sub-organizations quickly ballooning in size as different factions disagreed on what to do, eventually three different plans were made:
The anarchist plan. Everyone in the organization organizes into councils and manage themselves, relevant councils elect an Economic Federal Council (towns, industry, and newspaper/credit union workers), a General Coordination Council (union workers, mutual aid members, etc) and a Yellow Scarves military council, which from there elect an overall council for organizational coordination.
The compromise plan. Re-organize the town committee and factory council into being sub-organizations like the Yellow Scarves. More autonomy to each committee for their own expertise and way of management and overall leadership is chosen by a meeting of delegates from each sub-organization, with an extra miscellaneous sub-organization purely for the purpose of representing those not in another one.
The industrialist plan. Re-organize the Yellow Scarves into being headed by a committee, putting it on equal grounds with the rest of the organization. Directives for each committee are given by the leadership and must be followed, but they have wide latitude in how they do it, reducing flexibility but increasing unity. Each committee's leadership is elected by their members like the Factory Management Council. Overall leadership is half chosen by each committee and half to be elected by the organization as a whole, since many members aren't part of a committee.
The Orange Disciples:
The Orange Disciples also attempted to lobby in several states this year to attempt for passing progressive laws.
Ohio Lobbying: 46 - 72 (funds) = 0
Pennsylvania Lobbying: 83 - 71 (funds) = 12
New York Lobbying: 48 - 75 (funds) = 0
It did not work out. Splitting their funds to so many projects simply meant that, compared to legislature's normal lobbying, it simply wasn't enough to make a difference considering that the legislatures were focused on other matters this year.
New York Labor Laws: 36 - 1 (funds) = 35
In New York City, on the other hand, worked much better, albeit not as well as they hoped. Mayor Theodore Roosevelt was on their side, but they simply did not manage to push through any major policy changes this year. Still, it may be possible to make some progress next year.
Cleveland Meeting: 36 + 12 (funds and effort) + 5 (The Orange Post) = 53
Orange Disciple activists, with quite a bit of funding, went to meet with the workers of Cleveland. Roughly organized and with no clear ideology, they were open to ideas. This is where the Orange Disciples came in, with ideas on laws and reforms that could prevent them from this terrible poverty ever again.
However, their efforts were not enough to convince the local government, which was strongly controlled by pro-business Republicans. Even the Democratic opposition had little interest, being more focused on poor rural folk. And at the same time, the locals were working with SUS on immediate alleviation of poverty through mutual aid and soup kitchens. So they decided to start a local branch of the Socialist Labor Party to run their own candidates in with a Christian socialist ideology next year. To them, these weren't divided loyalties at all: they primarily sought for women's suffrage and labor rights, causes being supported by both SUS and the Orange Disciples they spoke to.
The New American Patriots:
The New American Patriots began once again with speaking at schools, colleges, and universities.
Speaking: 1d20 = 9
(.9% increase in recruitment next turn)
This went about as well as ever, with them becoming well known on college campuses by now, having done this for years.
Loans: 49
This time their loan system for small businesses worked out, with them managing to save quite a few. These wouldn't have to be repaid for five years, by which time hopefully the depression will be long over.
Self defense instruction: 53
The New American Patriots subtly encouraged their members, both men and women, to seek out self defense instruction, resulting in a small group of members proficient in firearms. This would form the start of any future militia, should they choose to make one.
The Society for Universal Suffrage:
Annie Oakley made headlines once more as she and her husband moved from her home in Nutley, New Jersey, to Chicago. Well known for her sharpshooter skills and her performances in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, she was one of the most famous women in America.
Self-defense program: 54
Upon arrival, she met with the burgeoning self-defense group being organized by SUS. Using her fame and skills to quickly take point on the effort, they organized a program in which any woman could join, free if they couldn't afford the price. While also training unarmed self-defense (as women often were not allowed to carry a gun), Oakley also taught marksmanship and encouraged all participants to learn it and, if they could, carry a gun with them.
The program was a smashing success, as women flocked to learn from the famed celebrity herself.
Milwaukee: 55
Detroit: 42
Cleveland: 79
Other Illinois Cities: 62
SUS also worked to expand their mutual aid networks and soup kitchen efforts to other cities across the Great Lakes region. In the major cities of Milwaukee, Detroit, and Cleveland, party members made contacts and organized, setting up mutual aid networks in the region alongside organization. They also set up new soup kitchens, a major relief for the people. They also went to the rest of Illinois, establishing branches in every city large enough to sustain one.
In Cleveland in particular their efforts were taken by the locals with great enthusiasm. Only a year before the unemployed were rioting, the workers in solidarity with them, and so the soup kitchens were welcome and mutual aid taken to with great enthusiasm. In fact, it worked so well that even the local labor leaders and feminists who had been talking to the Orange Disciples, a christian activist organization, decided to join in. Thus the local branch of the SLP has a great preference towards peaceful reform and activism, rather than the militant revolution that SUS was founded for.
Domestic Abuse Support Committee: 38
They also set up a committee to continuously organize aid for women getting away from abusive situations using their institutions, getting them a job at a unionized workplace or one of their factories when possible. This went off to a slow start, with the committee having trouble finding the women, but eventually word spread, and they helped hundreds.
Credit Union Expansion: 77
They also expanded the Universal Credit Union to other Illinois cities as well as cities around Lake Michigan. These serviced workers in or supporting SUS, but many other people joined in as well, no longer trusting banks. In particular minorities preferred to use the credit union over banks, who often refused to loan to them or did so at unfavorable rates. As it was directly owned by SUS, it has also begun earning a small profit for them.
Spending a lot more funds this year, they managed to buy several more factories. First they focused on textiles, buying out a two bankrupt textile factories and employing hundreds of women.
Next, as the textile industry wasn't that large in Chicago, they had to move to another type of factory. With so much industry going out of business, a machine-shop providing the tools for them also was struggling. With this came the beginning of the ability to build more factories themselves, though until the end of the depression it would be more efficient to just buy them.
They made sure to make changes to how these factory were run as they had the previous year, ensuring that they stayed true to their socialist principles while staying owned by the organization.
AFL Union Talks: 58 + 5 (The Valkyrie) = 63
SUS members went to the workers of the unions of the AFL to try to convince them to join the socialist unions that cover their needs instead. In the strike last year the unions were split between the AFL unions who refused to strike and the more radical unions who did, and it was those radical unions who won concessions. This was enough for many workers to switch over, greatly reducing the AFL's influence in the area.
Uranus Gathering for People of Queer Orientation and Allies:
Uranus made a permanent renting agreement with the owners of a gay bar to have use of their basement. Now it serves as a permanent meeting place for their members.
The Minutemen:
This year, the Minutemen finally bought an official meeting house. In a rural town just a little ways from Pittsburgh, a farmhouse was remodeled as a large meeting room for the core members.
War game committee: 39
They also set up a committee to organize war game sessions, though they had trouble at first with too many people wanting to be in charge. Eventually they compromised, but in the process they've built up prestige for the job, which is currently the main leadership role for the group's activities. Some have suggested that, as the original Minutemen elected their leadership, that the modern day Minutemen should as well, though current leadership was skeptical.
Salon der Geschlechter:
Socialist Clubs Contacts: 58 + 5 (omake) = 63
The Salon der Geschlechter started making contacts in the Chicago ethnic socialist clubs, which have begun to already be meeting places for racial and women's rights. With the efforts of the Salon, they have also become centers of discussion on gender and sexuality, helped by queer folk within SUS such as Public Universal Friend the Second. Although some socialists are still against their "immorality", most are simply ignorant of what they are, and accepting when it comes down to it.
Southern People's Alliance:
The Southern People's Alliance, rapidly growing, spent all its efforts on organizing this year. They reached out to other interested farmers and invited them to the new organization, breaking apart the Farmer's Alliance in North Carolina in the process. They bought a large warehouse in central North Carolina which served as a meeting room where representatives from each part of the state met to discuss their path forward.
The United Front:
The United Front agreed to officially associate with the Socialist Labor Party as its electoralist political party. The RFAA was the lone dissenter on this, viewing it as a mere distraction to revolution, but did not break with the United Front over it so long as it remained a means to disrupt the state, not become it.
De Leon, prominent American Marxist and leader of the SLP, has taken a prominent role within the United Front. Notably he's in favor of centralizing the party into one organization and re-organizing the ACUA to be subordinate, but was aware he had more influence within the United Front than insisting and being out of it.
They also voted on a 10% income tax for overall organization use, whether that be supporting one organization's finances when in need or paying for election campaigning.
AN: I am putting a limit on the number of organizations. There is now a limit of 15, so no more new ones until enough old ones disappear.
Formed to organize cross-union support, sympathy strikes in particular.
Locale: California, The West, United Front areas
Supporters: Agricultural unions, migrant labor, and industrial unions.
Ideology: Marxism and Agrarian Socialism, not enforced.
Committees:
Striking Think Group: A group composed of union members who research past and current methods of striking to see what's the most effective. -2 funds per turn, +5 to actions involving striking.
Member Unions: Most small west coast farming unions, most west coast industrial unions (concentrated in Sacramento), Western Federation of Miners, most of the west coast guilds (Chinese trade unions), most Colorado unions (primarily services, smelters, and agricultural), western railroad workers
Property:
Los Angeles Main Office: +1 action
Western offices + New York, Chicago, New Orleans: +1 action
San Fransisco Credit Union: A credit union for the workers of San Fransisco, non-profit oriented. +3 to financial actions.
Continuous Actions:
San Fransisco Newspaper (The San Fransisco Worker): -2 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the California movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology in San Fransisco.
Teaching member unions: The federation sends teachers to each member union for best practices when striking as determined by the Striking Think Group. -5 funds per turn, +5 to actions involving striking by all member unions.
The Land and Labor Reform Party
Factions and Influence:
The Labor Reformers: 16%
Orthodox Georgists: 10%
Dues: Income
Formed as a Political Sucessor of the United Labor Party's Georgist Wing by followers of reformer, and thinker Henry George, they took to the idea of the Single Land Tax and its Anti-landlord tendencies on top of a few of his other ideas. The LLR formed following a massive fight between the party's founder and the Socialist Wing of the ULP, who insulted George as a "Weak Kneed Liberal fighting for Capitalism's folly" and the insuring brawl left a bar, two carriages and a streetlamp destroyed along with several injured. This led to the final break with the Socialist Wing and their supporters. Now free to chart a new course, they lean upon the works of Henry George and their founder for some direction. But the ideals and future is bright, and much can be done.
Locale: Michigan and loosely in The Dakota States and Minnesota
Supporters: Business and Farm Owners, Progressives, Internationalists?! Classical Federalists (AKA Small Government types?)
Ideology: Georgism (THE LAND), Progressiveism, Pro-Civil Rights, Private Property Ownership
Continuous Actions:
Lansing Newspaper (Demeter's Dream): -2 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the Michigan movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology in Lansing.
Michigan Campaigning Apparatus: +5 to election actions in Michigan, -21 funds per turn.
North Dakota Campaigning Apparatus: +5 to election actions in North Dakota, -2 funds per turn.
Affiliations:
The Sons of the Frontier, an organization in the Dakotas (1%), Minnesota (1%), and Nebraska (0%) which organizes group camping for hundreds of youth. Gives a stacking + .5% popularity (approval among non-party members) go per year up to 5 in the state.
The Revolutionary Federation of American Anarchists (RFAA)
Dues: Income
Formed from the descendants of European revolutionaries that fled from the continent following the failure of the revolutions of 1848, particularly those who adhered to the beliefs of Pierre-Josepth Proudhon and Mikhail Bakunin, the RFAA's goal is the total abolishment of the state and the dismantlement of capitalist institutions.
Locale: New York and other parts of the Upper East Coast
Supporters: European intellectuals, labour unions, factory workers, dissent police officers, ship workers
Ideology: Anarcho-Collectivism
Committees:
Striking Thinking Group: A group composed of anarchist union members who research past and current methods of striking to see what's the most effective, and bring that knowledge back to their unions. -2 funds per turn, +5 to actions involving striking among affiliated unions.
Immigrant Welcoming Committee: A committee that organizes members in reaching out to new immigrants and integrating them into their networks of mutual aid and union contacts. -25 funds per turn, +29% recruitment.
Property:
An owned office in New York (+1 action).
Owned offices and meeting places in cities and towns across the North-East. (+1 action).
The Worker's Credit: A credit union for the workers of the cities in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey and the cities Philadelphia and Boston, non-profit oriented. +4 to financial actions.
Garment Industry Factories (3 small): +3 funds per turn, owned by individuals and run democratically.
Affiliations: The ARU, New York industrial unions, most New York factory unions and ship worker unions
Continuous Actions:
New York Newspaper (The Worker's Post): -3 funds per turn. Printed in several languages. Bonus to ideological coherency within the New York movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology in New York City. +5 to actions related to immigrants.
Mutual Aid Networking and Soup Kitchens:
—New York: -24 funds per turn. +5 to rolls in New York cities. +48% recruitment.
—Connecticut: -8 funds per turn. +5 to rolls in Connecticut cities. +16% recruitment.
—Boston: -7 funds per turn. +3 to rolls in Boston. +14% recruitment.
The Forty Acres Movement:
Factions and influence:
United Left: 13%
Jeffersonians: 11%
Dues: Income
During the civil war, the slaves were promised freedom and land. They are no longer slaves now, but they never saw anything of the forty acres and the mule they were promised. Now they're forced to work for the rich white sons of former slavers as sharecroppers. How little has changed! But God gave the land to the people, not to the rich whites. It's time for things to change!
Ideology: Agrarianism; has a right-wing consisting of Jeffersonians and a left-wing consisting of a mix of Socialists and Anarchists.
Sub-Groups:
The Defense Group: Organizes groups with whatever they can get their hands on (bats, batons, guns, etc.) to work together to prevent lynchings and unlawful seizures of property.
-5 funds per turn
-1 action
-1659 militia (33 cadres)
—13 cadres part time, -13 funds per turn
—Militia groups elect their own leaders as well as delegates to the Defense Group Leadership, though currently make up a minority of the latter's leadership.
—Intimidation training: Allows for non-violent conflict resolutions. -1 fund per turn.
—Tactic training: Part time militia count as regulars. -3 funds per turn.
Committees:
The Biracial Cooperation Think-Group: -2 funds per turn. Allows for reaching out to poor white farmers.
Property:
Meeting offices across the rural black belt, including a central office in Atlanta: +2 actions
Tractor factory in a Louisiana Town: +2 funds per turn, managed with limited workplace democracy.
A few rural mills: For cooperative use. +1 funds per turn.
The Southern American Credit Union: A credit union primarily for African Americans, non-profit oriented. +3 to financial actions, +4 auto progress per turn to the independent farms action.
Continuous Actions:
Mississippi Newspaper: -2 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the Mississippi movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology in rural Mississippi. +5% recruitment.
National Newspaper (The Liberator's Advocate): -10 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the American movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology. +20% recruitment.
Black Belt Newspapers: -4 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the Black Belt movement, +2 to actions relating to ideology in the black belt.
Mutual aid network for members who own farms to sell food cheaply to those who cannot afford food, as well as town manufacturers buying/selling preferentially and cheaper within movement members. +5 to rolls regarding loyalty of members.
Paying off fines that could result in jail. -1 fund per turn, +2% recruitment.
New Orleans Soup Kitchen: -2 funds per turn, +4% recruitment.
Trained For Bartering: -1 funds per turn, +2 per die for buying out farms and stockpiling guns.
Associates:
Several New Orleans unions
Modifiers:
Boll Weevil Infestation: +2 per die for buying out farms, -5% income. This modifier will increase over time.
The Society of Friends of All Faiths
Factions and influence:
Socialist: 15%
Nonpolitical: 10%
The SFAF originated when a Quaker man in New York got lost in the Lower East Side and ended up sheltering from the rain in a kosher butcher shop, where he began a debate about religions with a rabbi. The two exchanged contact information and began writing letters, slowly introducing others to the philosophy Bernstein and Friend came up with during their correspondence exchanges.
Locale: Primarily New York City, with some support in the broader Mid-Atlantic region
Supporters: Jews, Quakers, Catholics, and other religious minorities
Ideology: The SFAF believes that all religions have at least a kernel of truth in them, and so deserve value and protection. As such, they advocate for tolerance, the protection of Catholics, Jews, and other such groups, and dialogues between different religious groups. The position of many of their members on the outside of society has led them to begin developing beliefs about the importance of community, the illegitimacy of unjust authority, and a number of other radical beliefs. In effect, they are advocates of pluralism and religious social democracy or socialism. Their platform explicitly opposes economic, social, and political injustices as well as unjust hierarchies.
Committees:
Immigrant Care Group: Sets up and helps integrate new arrivals to America. -5 funds per turn, +6% recruitment.
Awareness Committee: Ensures member churches, synagogues, etc. aren't under threat and keeps track of groups opposed to minority religions. -2 funds per turn, +5 to rolls detecting or finding enemy action.
Continuous Actions:
Cross-religion meetings, discussing theology and other topics. +5 to rolls preventing ideological fracturing among religious lines.
New York Newspaper (The New York Plurality): -2 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the New York movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology in New York City.
Mutual Aid Groups in New York City. -1 fund per turn. +1 to rolls in New York City. +2% recruitment.
Mutual Aid Groups in Philadelphia: -4 funds per turn. +4 to rolls in Philadelphia. +8% recruitment.
Upstate New York Religious Center Mutual Aid: -5 funds per turn. +5 to rolls in rural New York, additional +5 to rolls involving churches. +5% recruitment.
Church/Synagogue Soup Kitchens:
—New York City: -5 funds per turn. +10% recruitment.
—Philadelphia: -3 funds per turn. +6% recruitment.
Charitable Aid in Philadelphia: -3 funds per turn, +6% recruitment
Affiliations: Some churches and synagogues in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Newark, and nearby small cities. Several in upstate New York.
American People's Futurist Alliance:
Dues: Income
The rapid industrialization and technological development of the late 19th century caught the attention of a variety of up-and-coming inventors, industrialists, political reformers, and even the occasional revolutionary. A "Futurist Symposium" held at the 1878 World's Fair in Paris helped catalyze them into a political movement, of which the APFA is the American manifestation.
Locale: Major urban centers, especially in the Northeast, West Coast, and industrial Midwest
Supporters: Intellectuals, reformist/anti-machine politicians, immigrants (both wings); trade union leaders, feminists, civil rights advocates (left wing); industrial magnates, nationalist politicians, military officers (right wing)
Ideology: Technocracy, anti-corruption, education reform—the right wing advocates for "rational management" of politics as well as the economy and for the "technological and societal uplifting of primitive cultures", while the left wing backs socially progressive causes on the basis that bigotry and excessive hierarchy stifle the development of society.
Notable members:
Andrew Carnegie (+1 funds per turn)
Committees:
Anti-Machine Committee: Set up to replace machines in integrating immigrants into America in exchange for their loyalty. -2 funds per turn. +4% recruitment.
Industrial Union Committee: A committee that helps mediate between striking workers and industrial magnates. -1 funds per turn, striking unions get -3 to rolls but factory owners are more likely to accept their demands (applies to the Steel Belt).
The Anti-Corruption Think-Group: Drafts and modified legislation to be anti-corruption and pro-industry, both in local areas and federally. -2 funds per turn. +5 to actions regarding lobbying for such laws.
Associates: Several republican politicians in the Steel Belt, several small coal mines in the Steel Belt, most of the independent steel mills factories in the Steel Belt, moderate sized gun factory in Cincinnati.
Rich benefactors: +2.6 funds per turn
Continuous Actions:
Contacts on Ellis Island: Contacts subtly direct immigrants to the APFA. -5 funds per turn. +6% recruitment.
National Newspaper (Forwards Together!): -10 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the American movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology. +20% recruitment.
The American Dream Program: Helps immigrants and poor find well paying jobs, learn entrepreneurship, and get loans. -10 funds per turn, +10% recruitment, +5 to actions regarding loyalty of your members.
New England Immigrant Operations: Work with the Ellis Island contacts and American Dream Program to help integrate immigrants into America, in exchange for their loyalty. -8 funds per turn, +9% recruitment
The Friends of the Huddled Masses:
Factions and influence:
Anarchists: 13%
Industrialists: 13%
Dues: Income with delinquency
Created in response to the Page Act, Chinese Exclusion Act and longtime mistreatment of Chinese immigrants, what was once a loose coalition of advocacy groups and Chinese district associations on the West Coast has evolved into an organization dedicated to championing the rights of East Asian Immigrants in search of a better future.
Locale: California, Pacific Northwest, areas with large Chinese Immigrant populations (and a branch in New York City.)
Supporters: Chinese laborer, farmer, worker, and business owner populations
Ideology: Loose, pro labor, pro Chinese advocacy
Sub-organizations:
The Yellow Scarves: The militant arm of the Friends, they are a religious, communal, militant, proto-anarchist movement, unified by vague religious ideological trappings and a shared sense of disenchantment with their lot in life.
-1 action
-Infiltrations: Several west coast railroad unions.
-Faction: Anarchist
Committees:
Affiliated Town Coordination Committee: Helps affiliated towns coordinate trade and other things. Includes Locke, Walnut Grove, and other Chinese majority towns. -1 fund per turn, +5 to actions in affiliated towns.
-Consists solely of elected representatives from said towns.
Guild Coordination Committee: Coordinates affiliated guilds and helps them communicate with each other.
Factory Management Council: Manages owned factories and is elected from the factory workers. -1 funds per turn. -1 general action, +1 industrial action, +5 to industrial rolls.
-Faction: Industrialists
Property:
Los Angeles Meeting Hall (+1 action)
San Fransisco Canning Factories: +6 funds
Locke and Walnut Grove Lumber Yards: +1 funds.
San Gabriel Valley Stores: +1 funds
Los Angeles Railcar Factory: +2 funds
The Pacific Credit Union: A credit union for the workers of Los Angeles, non-profit oriented. +3 to financial actions. You may go up to -5 negative with your funds, to be repaid next turn.
Continuous Actions:
Mutual Aid Groups in San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles. -1 fund per turn. +1 to rolls in Los Angeles. +2% recruitment
Mutual Aid Groups in Sacramento. -1 fund per turn. +1 to rolls in Sacramento. +2% recruitment
Mutual Aid Groups in San Fransisco. -2 funds per turn. +2 to rolls in San Fransisco. +4% recruitment.
National Newspaper (The Friendly News): -10 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology. +20% recruitment.
Forging Certificates of Residence: Contacts in the government forge these certificates to allow a minor amount of immigration. -3 funds per turn.
Associates:
Most of the west coast guilds (Chinese trade unions) including canning factory unions, Chinese miner unions across the west (also in Western Federation of Miners)
The Orange Disciples:
Dues: Income with delinquency
The Orange Disciples have their genesis in the various abolitionist movements in various American churches. Their name is derived from Orange Scott, a founder of the Wesleyan church and a lifelong abolitionist. The Disciples have grown, bringing in members from various denominations who have been consistently speaking against slavery, racism, and (more recently) sexism and the lack of women's suffrage. Other causes have started to be taken up by the Disciples, but despite the ongoing fervor with which they speak up, the movement has firmly set itself as a non-violent group. They seek change, reformation, and transformation, albeit not explicitly seeking to connect to the Great Awakening movements.
Locale: While seeking nation-wide acceptance, they are currently strongest in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, with an eye toward spreading south through Virginia and the Carolinas, before moving out to the Midwest and beyond.
Supporters: While by no means hostile to non-Christians, the Orange Disciples movement is grounded in particularly Christian belief and theology. Its membership has Wesleyan, Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Mennonite, and Moravians, along with small numbers of other scattered denominations. They have a fairly equal mix of men and women in membership (due to their outstated support of women's rights and suffrage), and while still majority white they have a large segment that is a cross-section of other ethnicities, and a stated intention to continue to accept all members of the Church regardless of heritage.
Ideology: Fundamentally, the Orange Disciples focus on the idea of "speaking for those with little or no voice". Though slavery is now abolished, those who counted themselves as abolitionists now advocate for robust equal rights for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and all others. As well, women's rights are of major concern for them, and a growing force within the movement. Other areas of concern include labor laws and conditions (both for adults and even more for children), the conditions and treatments of prisoners, and immigrants. The Orange Disciples are, while not completely pacifistic, firmly opposed to the use of violence for their aims. The last couple of decades have shown them that it is difficult but possible to change things. As well, they have a keen understanding that they are not the lawful government, and thus believe there is a great inherent risk in utilizing force, especially lethal force, to enact their goals. They will stand in the path of violence but will never enact or support it themselves.
Committees:
The Legislation Think-Group: Drafts and modified legislation to be anti-racist, both in local areas and federally. -2 funds per turn. +5 to actions regarding lobbying for progressive laws.
Women's Suffrage Committee: A committee that focuses on advertising for a women's suffrage amendment in Ohio. -10 funds per turn, +16 to actions related to lobbying for women's suffrage.
Continuous Actions:
National Newspaper (The Orange Post): -10 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency within the American movement, +5 to actions relating to ideology. +20% recruitment.
City Cleanup Program: With local churches, pay the unemployed to clean up their cities. -10 funds per turn, +20% recruitment.
Affiliations: Very many churches across New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio
The New American Patriots
Originally fabricated out of whole cloth by scheming British business interests, it was hijacked by a small group of actual ideologues.
Locale: Started in New York but mostly moved to California.
Supporters: intellectuals
Ideology: espousing a nebulous nationalist semi-progressive ideology which could be categorized as pro-citizen and pro-American-Business with socialist (in reality socdem) leanings. Weirdly simultaneously pro-immigration and anti-foreigner. Big on this whole racial and religious equality thing so long as they're citizens.
Self-defense trained members: +5 total to the next militia roll, one use only.
Small business loans: Repayment beginning in 1900 of 3 funds a year for 4 years.
Affiliations:
A few small businesses in California.
The Society for Universal Suffrage
Founded by the scandalous and disgraced (yet not disowned) heiress to financier Emmerich Voight, Walpurga Voight, and her eclectic circle of friends and associates for the purpose of advancing their radical social and political ideals. This tightly-knit inner circle is often referred to as "the Valkyries" or "the Coven" by detractors and supporters alike. Its self-professed aims are the liberation of all peoples from tyranny, regardless of its form or excuse. It champions the cause of women, workers, and minorities, and decries the obvious 'divide and conquer' methods by which the powerful turn those causes against one another.
Locale: The Great Lakes Region, particularly in Chicago.
Supporters: Women, Feminists, Socialists, Racial Minorities, Internationalists; particularly among those who are in more than one of those categories, and/or are militant/radicalized.
Ideology: An early form of Intersectional Socialism derived from the implicit principles of the era's socialist, feminist, and anti-racist thinking, fused and formalized into an explicit tendency by Walpurga Voight. As formulated by Voight, the ideology is radical, militant, and uncompromising, refusing to accept attempts to divide and conquer, or to accept the liberation of workers or women or minorities being sacrificed for the sake of others.
Property:
Chicago Meeting Hall (+1 action)
Great Lakes Offices (+1 action)
The Universal Credit Union in (location name): A credit union for the workers of Illinois and other cities around Lake Michigan, non-profit oriented. +4 to financial actions. +1 funds per turn.
Farm Toolmaking Factory (1 medium): +2 funds per turn
Furniture Factory (1 small): +2 funds per turn
Textile Factory (2 medium): +4 funds per turn
Machine Shop (1 large): +4 funds per turn
Committees:
Domestic Abuse Support Committee: Continuously organizes aid for women getting away from abusive situations using their institutions, getting a job at a unionized workplace or one of their factories when possible. -5 funds per turn, +5% recruitment per turn.
Continuous Actions:
International Newspaper (The Valkyrie): -15 funds per turn. Bonus to ideological coherency, +5 to actions relating to ideology. +20% recruitment. Multilingual and international nature gives +5 to international outreach actions.
Mutual Aid Groups and Soup Kitchens:
-Illinois: -15 funds per turn. +5 to rolls in Illinois cities. +30% recruitment.
-Milwaukee: -4 funds per turn. +2 to rolls in Milwaukee. +8% recruitment.
-Detroit: -4 funds per turn. +2 to rolls in Detroit. +8% recruitment.
-Cleveland: -5 funds per turn. +3 to rolls in Cleveland. +10% recruitment. Christian-Reformist faction.
Self Defense Program: A program for teaching women self-defense, with Annie Oakley as a leader. -3 funds per turn, women in SUS areas have better self-defense skills, +1 per die to train militia action.
Affiliations: Various ethnic socialist clubs in Chicago serve as meeting places for local initiatives. +3 to rolls in Chicago.
Uranus Gathering for People of Queer Orientation and Allies
(Uranus because it's a fairly vague reference to the first and only issue of a periodical of the same name published in 1870 by Karl Friedrich Ulrichs)
The unjust treatment of people of various sexuality and gender identity. The term queer which has just come into use fairly recently has been adopted (before it could become a widespread slur) to use as an identifying term for the community as a whole.
Locale: New York
Supporters: Queer peoples regardless of skin colour or religion, supporters of queer rights
Ideology: Non-violent protestation though not unwilling to defend themselves if attacked, to help people understand themselves and express themselves and to learn more about various sexualities and genders (i.e. urning people, homophiles), equality for queer people
Property:
Basement of a gay bar used as a meeting place. +1 action.
The Minutemen
Beginnings: A relatively new movement which started as a group of military enthusiasts including some soldiers and even an officer or two. Starting off as just people with similar interests, the original group was formed around a new kind of game brought from the officer that was part of the army. But between the gaming sessions, and learning of more recent events, between the scandals, Custer's folly, and the complete mess that was the Union during the revolution, led to them to enter politics. And as part of that, they are seeking some way to try and find some way to be able to somewhat simulate combat, even if in an incomplete form to try and better understand it.
Locale: Largest group is in Pennsylvania.
Supporters: Military historians, people with military background or family in military. And relatively recently, hobbyists and others.
Ideology: Leaning a bit to the left, but they focus on cutting through the big business BS, ESPECIALLY in military matters. And they tend to carry the belief that understanding the topic is important.
Property:
Remodeled farmhouse near Pittsburgh: +1 action
Committees:
War Game Committee: Organizes war game sessions. -2 funds per turn, +2 per die for militia training.
Salon der Geschlechter (German for "Salon of the Sexes")
Circumstance of founding: The Chicago World Fair was a hotpot of intellectuals, travelers both domestic and foreign, and, most importantly, of leftist activists. While many an inspiring meeting happened during the day of the Fair, they did not all lead to such grand decisions as the foundation of the United Front. But still, some of them did lead to more than just friendships, and instead became the spark of something more lasting. One of those meetings happened between Magnus Hirschfeld, a young German doctor visiting the Fair, and parts of the homosexual subculture of Chicago. The Fair, with its massive protests and feeling of the possibility of changes, the prominence of the SUS and Walburga Voigt and her "Valkyries", all this and more provided the background for a diverse group of young minds discussing any and all topics related to the sexes and sexualities. What is a man? What does it mean to love? What kind of connection exists there between power and sex? Is there a difference between the exploitations a woman faces compared to a man? Why does it matter whether you are a man or a woman - and why do you have to be one of those two options? All these informal discussion brought forth the founding of a regular meeting, a Salon - for some reason or another called the Salon der Geschlechter - where intellectuals and workers of all colors, religions and nationalities come together to try and find answers (or at least new questions) to put into words and on paper. One central answer the Salon came up with through comparing the experiences from different countries and cultures: if you had to guess who was in charge, betting on the old white man was the way to go. And this was apparently true on any level of society, from the private household to the highest levels of government. As one of the American members put it in one of the first writings of the Salon: "We did throw off the rule of one far away king, fighting and bleeding and dying for our freedom, but still the young, the woman, those that are not white, all those that are other, have to bow down, not to a king far away, but to a king in our home, our school, our factory, our city hall. They rule not with armies, but with the power of laws, of customs, of words."
Locale: Chicago
Supporters: "queers" (homosexuals and people not conforming to the norms of society regarding the role of their sex), young intellectuals and workers, feminists
Ideology: Anti-Patriarchy, Internationalism, Proto-Intersectionalism, Sexual Liberation
Continuous Actions:
Contacts with various ethnic socialist clubs: Increased approval of queer people within SUS, +2% recruitment
Southern People's Alliance
Circumstance of Founding: Formed from members of the People's Party and Farmers' Alliance (Southern and Colored) who attended the Chicago World Fair and were intrigued by the United Front demonstrations, eventually turning outright towards Socialism. The economic hardship following the Panic of 1893 turned them from a series of informal debate clubs within the People's Party left wing into a full-fledged organization in and of itself.
Locale: US South
Supporters: Poor rural Whites, African Americans, former Farmers' Alliance members, People's Party radicals/left-wing, Railroad Workers
Ideology: Agrarianism, Cooperativism, Populism, Anti-Capitalism, and Agrarian Socialism. Specifically anti-racist, viewing racism as a tool of the Planter Aristocracy. Have a view of "Three Great Enemies": The Planter Aristocracy, the Banks, and the Railroad Companies.
Other Notes: Some internal disagreement between an Anarchist wing that seeks to emulate the direct action and parallel organization methods of the FAM, RFAA, and SUS, and an "Agrarian Marxist" Wing that hopes to transition the larger People's Party towards something that can be used as a vehicle to bring about Socialism (or formally split off the left-wing to serve the same purpose if that doesn't work.)
Property:
Central North Carolina Meeting Warehouse (+1 action)
Appalachian Brotherhood
After a recent bout of seasonal flooding from the north-west oil fields of Pennsylvania, to northern West Virginia coal mines, the intelligentista, farm workers, oil workers, steel workers, and mine workers of the region declared that the nonexistant response of the national or state authorities meant that the region was on its own. Half an effort of nation building, half an expression of the already unique regional cultures and conditions of the area, the group has a dream of being free and equal. From south-west new york, to the southern part of the mountain range, they have yelled the call of liberation for the colonized region of Appalachia from the imperialist USA.
Locale: Pittsburgh and the surrounding countryside
Supporters: Appalachian Folk of various stripes.
Ideology: From liberal parliamentarian democracy to anarchism the AB acts as a large-tent for anyone left of center that wants a free and equal Appalachia
Van der Linde Gang
Circumstance of Founding: A gang of outlaws in the west formed and led by the charismatic Dutch van der Linde. Initially just one outlaw gang amongst many, they have gained greater notoriety from a series of bank robberies and attacks on railroad and oil baron property, with Robin Hood-esque acts of giving significant amounts of their earnings to the impoverished winning them a small but growing number of supporters in the current environment of economic hardship and anti-establishment radicalization.
Locale: Western USA
Supporters: The impoverished, homeless, and lower classes, outlaws, cowboys, militant Native Americans, and basically anyone with a grudge against the authorities or general opposition to the spread of industry and "civilization" west.
Ideology: The general supporters seem to have little unified ideology aside from a general hostility towards the US government and/or Robber Barons. The gang's core on the other hand, preaches a philosophy with elements of Libertarianism, Anarchism, and Illegalism, something at-odds with the cult of personality that has also formed around Dutch. Also present is an overall anti-urbanization/industrialization viewpoint, and a nostalgia for the "Old" Wild West. Little of this is enforced in any particular way though.
United Front
A confederation of socialist organizations in the United States, it was founded during the world fair in Chicago where a unified effort of several leftist organizations was underwent to advertise their cause to the world.
Founding Members: The Society for Universal Suffrage, Forty Acres Movement, and Revolutionary Federation of American Anarchists
Other Members: All-Continental Union Association
Socialist Labor Party:
Colorado Campaigning Apparatus: +5 to election actions in Colorado, -4 funds per turn.
Colorado Populist Donation Drives: +5 funds per turn, lasts 3 years (until 1898)
Governor Waite: Due to his popularity, +5 to election rolls in Colorado.
Membership modifiers:
International Newspaper (The Valkyrie): +3 to actions related to ideology, +5% recruitment.
Ideological: Each part of the United Front is driven forward due to their strong ideals. Bonus to ideological coherency for each UF organization.
[X] Van der Linde Gang
-[X] Circumstance of Founding: A gang of outlaws in the west formed and led by the charismatic Dutch van der Linde. Initially just one outlaw gang amongst many, they have gained greater notoriety from a series of bank robberies and attacks on railroad and oil baron property, with Robin Hood-esque acts of giving significant amounts of their earnings to the impoverished winning them a small but growing number of supporters in the current environment of economic hardship and anti-establishment radicalization.
-[X] Locale: Western USA
-[X] Core Supporters: The impoverished, homeless, and lower classes, outlaws, cowboys, militant Native Americans, and basically anyone with a grudge against the authorities or general opposition to the spread of industry and "civilization" west.
-[X] Ideology: The general supporters seem to have little unified ideology aside from a general hostility towards the US government and/or Robber Barons. The gang's core on the other hand, preaches a philosophy with elements of Libertarianism, Anarchism, and Illegalism, something at-odds with the cult of personality that has also formed around Dutch. Also present is an overall anti-urbanization/industrialization viewpoint, and a nostalgia for the "Old" Wild West. Little of this is enforced in any particular way though.
[X] Appalachian Brotherhood
-[X] After a recent bout of seasonal flooding from the north-west oil fields of Pennsylvania, to northern West Virginia coal mines, the intelligentista, farm workers, oil workers, steel workers, and mine workers of the region declared that the nonexistant response of the national or state authorities meant that the region was on its own. Half an effort of nation building, half an expression of the already unique regional cultures and conditions of the area, the group has a dream of being free and equal. From south-west new york, to the southern part of the mountain range, they have yelled the call of liberation for the colonized region of Appalachia from the imperialist USA.
-[X] Pittsburgh and the surrounding countryside
-[X] Appalachian Folk of various stripes.
-[X] From liberal parliamentarian democracy to anarchism the AB acts as a large-tent for anyone left of center that wants a free and equal Appalachia
Hmm, to reduce the amount of factions (and therefore the amount of work our GM has to do), we could have the Uranus Gathering and Salon der Geschlechter merge. They share the same overall ideology on most points, with the only real difference being location (and that's not too big an issue imo.)
Hmm, to reduce the amount of factions (and therefore the amount of work our GM has to do), we could have the Uranus Gathering and Salon der Geschlechter merge. They share the same overall ideology on most points, with the only real difference being location (and that's not too big an issue imo.)
Kinda, but also not?
Uranus seems to be more like a support group thingy, while the Salon is intended to be a more angry-radical thing.
That said, while I'm not sure if the person who wrote up Uranus is around, I guess I'd be fine with merging Uranus and the Salon, if there's any way that makes sense...
Hmm, to reduce the amount of factions (and therefore the amount of work our GM has to do), we could have the Uranus Gathering and Salon der Geschlechter merge.
I don't think this accomplishes the goal. Reducing the number of organizations below the cap means that as many new organizations as are permitted will spring up to fill the open slots.
I don't think this accomplishes the goal. Reducing the number of organizations below the cap means that as many new organizations as are permitted will spring up to fill the open slots.
True, but we're currently over that cap at 16, 17 if the United Front counts.
I suppose if we need to reduce the number of factions though we could always put the Van der Linde Gang on the chopping block. I just made them because I was in a Red Dead Redemption mood and found that the timelines matched pretty well. But if they're more trouble for the GM than they're worth, they can suffer from a bad case of Basically their Canon Fate.
True, but we're currently over that cap at 16, 17 if the United Front counts.
I suppose if we need to reduce the number of factions though we could always put the Van der Linde Gang on the chopping block. I just made them because I was in a Red Dead Redemption mood and found that the timelines matched pretty well. But if they're more trouble for the GM than they're worth, they can suffer from a bad case of Basically their Canon Fate.
I don't think the UF counts, it's still an umbrella group at the moment (though fusion would place the number of organizations well below the cap).
To change the subject completely while still talking of the UF, it appears to have something of a Task before it, as the imperial beast slavers over the ripe carcass of Cuba. Do we have the wherewithal for a coordinated antiwar campaign?
I don't think the UF counts, it's still an umbrella group at the moment (though fusion would place the number of organizations well below the cap).
To change the subject completely while still talking of the UF, it appears to have something of a Task before it, as the imperial beast slavers over the ripe carcass of Cuba. Do we have the wherewithal for a coordinated antiwar campaign?
Well. While small, the Minutemen could serve to emphasize the question of what any goals of involvement would be. Essentially trying to heighten the specter of Imperialism, and trying to keep the politicians and such honest by stoking anti-imperialist sentiment...
Feel up to writing a bunch of distinguished university men gathered in a shady room, ominously using cryptic coded language. Candles flicker illuminating what looks like a ritual site. It's all very spooky and secretive.
Then a voice from upstairs calls her husband that dinner is ready and she made some extra just in case his friends want to stay for dinner. The illusion broken, they clarify in plain english if Geoff is absolutely sure about the debate materials because getting dinged by a fact checker would be super duper embarrassing.
Feel up to writing a bunch of distinguished university men gathered in a shady room, ominously using cryptic coded language. Candles flicker illuminating what looks like a ritual site. It's all very spooky and secretive.
Then a voice from upstairs calls her husband that dinner is ready and she made some extra just in case his friends want to stay for dinner. The illusion broken, they clarify in plain english if Geoff is absolutely sure about the debate materials because getting dinged by a fact checker would be super duper embarrassing.
UF people, our new national electoral vehicle has a general election coming up, and while the convention will choose its nominees, we as socialists know that the platform is as important or more. Please therefore find below, for your consideration, discussion, and revision, and based on its OTL 1896 program:
Affirmed at New York City,
July 4, 1896
The Socialist Labor Party of the United States, in convention assembled, enters its protest against and declares its intention to replace once and for all the capitalist system prevailing in the United States.
The industrial development of the country has obsoleted small private property, has transferred the natural wealth of the land and the ingenious machinery of production, and is daily transferring the wealth produced by labor, into the hands of a small class industrial and financial capitalists in control of gigantic trusts and combinations. The government of society has likewise passed into the hands of the same class, by means of its appropriation of public property, public franchises, and public functions. Democracy by masses of independent proprietors has been made impossible by the transfer of property and power to the capitalist class. The independent proprietors have been replaced by masses of dispossessed toilers, compelled to sell their labor in the factories and the fields. The capitalist class's regime over this working class has been one of misrule, corruption, and waste of human and natural power, which turns science and industry to the perpetuation of ignorance, division, and misery so that men, women, and children may be kept in bondage. Only the working class can abolish economic servitude and political dependence, by suppressing the capitalist property that is their cause and reconstituting it as common property.
Whereas the capitalist system, by its consolidation of property and of the working class on the one hand, and by its manifest failures of planless production, endemic commercial crisis, industrial war, and social disorder on the other, will have shortly prepared the conditions for its downfall; therefore be it
Resolved, that we call upon the people throughout the United States and the world to organize with a view to the replacement of the capitalist system by a cooperative commonwealth, in which every worker shall have the free exercise and full benefit of their faculties, multiplied by all the modern factors of civilization.
We call upon them to unite with us in a mighty effort to gain by all practicable means the political power.
Toward this end, as well as with a view toward the immediate improvement in the conditions of labor, we demand first of all:
Political Demands
That the people have the right to propose laws and vote upon all measures of importance, on the principle of referendum;
That the upper houses of the municipalities, counties, states, and United States be abolished and that proportional representation be introduced in the legislatures of the municipalities, counties, states, and United States;
That the veto of the executive powers of the municipalities, counties, states, and United States be abolished;
That the review of the laws, and the injunction of work stoppages, by the judicial powers of the municipalities, counties, states, and United States be abolished;
That municipalities, including the Federal District, have self-government;
That all public officers be subject to election, and recall by their respective constituents;
That all elections proceed by direct vote and secret ballot;
That suffrage in all elections throughout the United States be universal and equal among all adults 21 years of age or more, and wholly unabridged for any reason including but not limited to race, color, sex, or creed;
That denial of suffrage by municipalities, counties, states, and the United States, for any reason including but not limited to race, color, sex, or creed, be suppressed;
That suppression of political rights by terroristic means including but not limited to tarring-and-feathering, flogging, and hanging, or toleration of same, be suppressed;
That full or partial legal disability of any person on the grounds of race, color, sex, or creed be abolished;
That separate public accommodation for persons of different race, color, sex, or creed be suppressed;
That exclusion from the militia, Army, or Navy on account of race, color, sex, or creed be suppressed;
That election days be legal holidays;
That civil and criminal law be made uniform throughout the United States;
That justice be administered, and legal assistance be provided, free of charge; and
That capital punishment be abolished.
Social Demands
That the United States obtain possession of all railroads, canals, telegraphs, telephones and all other means of public transportation and communication—but no employee shall be discharged for political reasons;
That the municipalities shall obtain possession of local railroads, ferries, water works, gas works, electric plants, and all industries requiring municipal franchises—but no employee shall be discharged for political reasons;
That public lands of the United States, the states, counties, municipalities, and Indian Tribes be declared inalienable;
That public lands be subject to legislation providing for their scientific management and the prohibition of their natural resources' wastage;
That all land grants to corporations or individuals the conditions of which have not been complied with be revoked;
That patent be abolished and inventors instead compensated by the United States;
That progressive income taxes and inheritance taxes be instituted, exempting incomes less than one thousand dollars per year and estates of five thousand dollars respectively;
That the United States have the exclusive right to issue money, in banknotes as well as coins;
That wages be paid in solely lawful money of the United States;
That preferential schedules of wages on the grounds of race, color, sex, or creed be suppressed;
That preferential employment on the grounds of race, color, sex, or creed be suppressed;
That the convict labor system be abolished;
That the United States conduct regular inspections and maintain official statistics concerning the conditions of labor;
That the otherwise unemployed be employed by the municipalities, counties, states, and United States, at the prevailing wages therein;
That the maximum hours of labor per day be reduced by law to eight;
That all pauper, tramp, conspiracy and sumptuary laws be repealed and that workers have the unabridged right to combination;
That school education of all children under 14 years of age be compulsory, free of charge, integrated with respect at least to race, color, sex, and creed, and accessible to all by public assistance in meals, clothing, books, and so on where necessary;
That employment of children of school age be suppressed;
That employers be liable at law for injuries to workers' life and limb; and
That medical care, from birth through death, as well as burial, be free of charge and accessible to all by public assistance.