Establish Housing Cooperatives - 1 Influence, 39
The cities of America are filled with abandoned buildings, houses that hold no one and factories that produce nothing. You order these buildings seized from the few men who still guard them. You order them turned out to the people who need homes. The homeless are gathered and offered shelter, persuaded or cajoled or even threatened into it. You even hear a few reports of savage beatings being inflicted on those who refuse the shelter.
But people at least have a roof over their heads...if not anything else. Criticism of the results in various party newspapers and the publishing of ample complaints of the homeless has led to several Red Guards and SPA organizers taking initiative in some cities to add greater comfort to these new cooperatives by setting up privacy curtains, bringing in beds and blankets, and painting the spaces to make them more cheerful.
More difficult and less frequent are the efforts to make these newly-established cooperatives into proper communities, where the inhabitants democratically manage them. It generally does not go well.
The reaction to even these efforts have been decidedly mixed. You are being critiqued for poor planning, and the actions of the Red Guards who were overly aggressive are being used to tar the entire movement. Factions in the party are arguing fiercely about what is to be done, both with this failure and the way party newspapers published it.
The failure, and the shame of it burns in your guts. You want to silence the criticism, to yell that you were doing the best, and you didn't order anyone beaten or threatened. It's not your fault!
You decide to...
[] Praise the party papers for their willingness to criticize you. +++Stress, +1 Influence, ???
[] Offer a defensive explanation. +Stress, ???
[] Be silent and let them say what they will. -1 Influence
[] Crack down on the criticism and do your best to enforce the party line. ---Stress, +2 Influence, ???
Furthermore, the nature of the cooperatives established is...less than ideal. It might be best to stop throwing good money after bad, stop trying to house people (you won't have them thrown out, you aren't monsters), and come back with a better plan. Or you could start working to fix your mistakes, despite the cost.
[] Pull back and admit failure. +++Stress, -1 Influence, ???
[] Commit the money needed to improve these cooperatives into something barely livable. -10 Resources, +Stress, ???
Result: Poor-quality, poorly-managed housing cooperatives managed in formerly abandoned buildings. Mixed gains and losses of support.
Establish Tenant's Unions - 1 Influence, 20
The CSA takes your proposal for the establishment of tenant's unions, where people living together would strike to get better conditions from their landlords and democratically elect leadership responsible for addressing grievances and sponsoring programs very well. Unfortunately, the two factions of the CSA that take it best are the Tobkin faction and the AFL. And so they take responsibility for the implementation of this program.
Daniel Tobkin is a dedicated socialist and the leader of one of the largest, most organized, and most powerful unions. He is also rapaciously corrupt. The AFL is perhaps the most bourgeoisie faction of the Combined Syndicates, utterly determined to refuse any revolution except one by the ballot.
You can at least rest assured that the tenant's unions will be competently run.
Results: -1 Resources per month as they go to strike funds and paying for various repairs and activities, tenant's unions are established.
Welcoming Committees - 1 Authority
The prejudices of the unions work in your favor. Of course the former farmers newly arriving in cities will need help and support from the more advanced section of the working class, from the revolutionary unions and the vanguard party.
But the results speak for themselves.
Henry was hungry. He hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast, which had been nothing more than some cornmeal shared with his sister. His parents had said they weren't hungry, but something told him they might be lying...even though Momma and Poppa always said lying was a sin.
As the car they had taken ground to a halt, Henry stared up in awe at the city. It was enormous. Buildings stretched up taller than any tree, and below them swarmed...so many people, more than he could count. More than Mr. Jenkins could, and he was always bragging about his edu-ca-tion at a uni-vers-it-y.
Then he saw a red flag with the grain-and-gear on it, and below stood a woman yelling at the crowd. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but it was probably mean, since people were throwing money into her jar then running off.
Henry turned to point her out to Poppa, who had driven off one of her kind with a shotgun, but then he saw Poppa speaking nervously to another man with a red armband.
"Of course you don't have to come with me, I'm not the law. He-heck," the man glanced apologetically at Momma, "you can just go to the kitchen without me and they'll feed you too, you don't even need to come with me for that. It's just that you don't know the city, so it might take you longer to find it. I'm offering directions, nothing more."
His parents exchanged cautious looks, and Poppa's gaze swept across the street. He hunched over the wheel and nodded to the man.
"Where do we go?'
A few minutes later, they were sitting in the weirdest church ever. There was no steeple, and apparently, they didn't really have services in it, just church dinners...for anyone who came, even if they weren't members.
The stew wasn't anywhere near as good as his Momma's cooking, but he was so hungry it didn't matter, and it was the most he had in a single meal for a week!
As he ate, the man spoke with his parents.
"There's a fair few jobs, and as long as you join the union we'll take care of you even if you lose it. And if your boss is a right bast-sorry ma'am, if your boss doesn't treat you right the union has your back. We'll even make sure your landlord doesn't rip you off, keep an eye on your kids for you if your missus wants to work, the tenant's union side of things even does plays and shows if you join..."
Henry's eyes went wide. He had always wanted to be in a play...and he didn't even have to beg. His parents said yes to the man and he gave them an address.
Result: Welcoming committees established for recruiting migrants to the city.
Ally With Farmer-Labor - 2 Influence, 85+22 = 107
Norman warns you well in advance of your meetings that Farmer-Labor is heavily splintered. While you will be able to get their left fringe fairly easily, the larger center will likely demand concessions, and there is also a strongly anti-revolution faction as well as a Longist faction. Both of those will likely split off entirely if your alliance is too strong and will actively strengthen your enemies. It will be a careful balance of concessions made and concessions demanded if you wish to bring the entire party into even a soft alignment with you.
The careful dance of negotiations stretches out over days. You meet in their offices and at galas where you find yourself coldly ignored by most, but at last, you suspect everyone is ready and meet with Senator Shipstead, the sole Farmer-Labor senator and so the leader. Given that he has voted with you for the Payment and Relief Bill and walked out with you in protest of MacArthur's butchery, you expect you know what faction he is in. But you are surprised to find how cool he is to you.
Still, he relays what the leadership wants, and a bit more prodding finds out what the various factional demands are..
You propose your agreement.
Farmer-Labor will...
[] Run fusionist tickets in states you both have influence. 1 point.
[] Agree to common policy in the Senate and House of Representatives. 2 points
[] Provide expertise and assistance for reaching out to rural communities. 1 point.
[] Endorse you for the presidency. 5 points.
[] Form common voting blocs in state governments. 7 points.
[] Encourage and support the establishment of rural unions and similar organizations. 8 points.
And you will...
[] Promise not to initiate any revolution. -3 points.
[] Agree to work towards ending price ceilings. - 5 points.
[] End or reduce rural foreclosure. -2 points.
[] Cede contested areas to Farmer-Labor campaigns. -7 points.
[] Agree to work towards rural relief bills. -10 points.
(Given what you have gathered and what Norman has told you, the left-wing of Farmer-Labor will join you for any deal with less than 10 points, the center will join for somewhere between 8-3, and the anti-revolutionary and Longist wings will join for between 4- -2.)
Eviction Moratorium - 1 Influence,13+10 = 23
The most radical factions of the SPA question why you don't simply have the tenant's unions block all the evictions. They also generally question if electoralism is a valid tactic at all.
You hope this proves them wrong. The Congress bill, if it passed, would benefit many other workers. But it didn't pass. In fact, not even all the members of your own party voted for it, for one reason or another.
And so the bill dies, but you make sure it dies loud, and use the momentum from that to ensure smaller-scale bills pass in several states, despite the howling and outrage of landlords and conservatives.
Result: Small-scale anti-eviction bills passed in SPA-dominated states, lots of attention given to it.
Questions and Answers - 1 Influence, 29
This is probably something you should have done months ago, but between the various fires you have had to put out you haven't had time. You ask a few writers for the Red Banner to put together an article, listing common bugbears people have about socialism and then providing ample rebuttals, as well as adding definitions for commonly misunderstood terms like "private property."
Result: Recruitment and propagandizing dramatically easier.
Expand Soup Kitchens - 1 Authority
The final push to expand the soup kitchens finishes. The quality is often lacking, the quantity even more so, especially as prices continue to rise. But the food is hot and it fills your belly, and the kitchens have become a fairly safe place to sit and eat, to meet with friends, or get out of the rain. Even a few of the new cooperatives have had kitchens attached, with the people staying often encouraged to volunteer occasionally.
Result: -4 Resources per turn, significant boost to your popularity in urban areas.
Credit to the Unions -1 Influence, 35
With the initial proposal passed comes all the other details that making such an organization require. A committee is formed for the CSA, bankers are spoken to, members of existing credit unions are found and spoken to, and slowly a charter is drawn up, creating a fairly simple skeleton: unions and governments can create credit unions with the consent of their members, and each one can set their own policy but are required to maintain a certain reserve, while a greater CSA credit union will serve as a lender of last resort.
Report from Subordinates
The Coordination Committee has some unfortunate news. While their efforts at establishing new polling stations and doing mass registration in party-dominated areas have been successful, several lawsuits have been directed at these attempts in places where your political machine is less entrenched, such as Philadelphia and New Jersey. Even worse, they have found police departments entrenching everywhere they haven't been fully socialized, either as official departments, or if the reactionary officers have been purged as "self-defense groups" and "private security" for various neighborhoods. Clashes with the Red Guards have already begun to step up.
Senator Thomas has been hard at work. While most of his attention has been dedicated to laying the groundwork for anti-racism laws, meeting with governors and state senators and working with the Legislative Committee, he has also spent several days speaking with members of Farmer-Labor. He was the one to advise you of their splintering, in fact...
The Legislative Committee, despite their vicious arguing, has managed to actually get things done. Unfortunately, what they have gotten done is setting price ceilings. While this has kept the price of food from rising further, it has also further driven farmers into poverty and radicalized many against you. And worse, the laws are popular enough you will likely be unable to go against them for some time.
Personal Attention: Eviction Moratorium
You decide that spending time traveling the country to get bills passed would take too long, and take a less direct approach instead, going to Congress to get the SPA to make waves about eviction there. You demand a bill, the newspapers get headlines, and quite a few get passed.
Result: +10 to Eviction Moratorium
Choose A Focus: On the Farms
The rural focus you have begun is seen in a questionable light. "The farmer has no revolutionary potential!" some exclaim, but you insist. You cannot control a country with the cities alone, or even the cities and the railways in between. Conservative, stubborn, and benighted they may be, you know from history that peasants are quite willing to revolt. You just need to make sure the inevitable revolt goes in the right direction. Though the organizers and agitators you ask go with reluctance and sometimes never return, recruitment in some rural areas begins, and slowly the legacy of the Grange rises once again.
This will not be tolerated, you know. The ruling classes rely on a divided working class. Farmers and laborers together, white and black, they will not allow such a thing. They will try and fight you.
They will lose.
Result: 1 month left.
