To Struggle and Strive: The Combined Syndicates of America in 1932. A Kaiserreich Quest

Samuel had been a dockworker for many years, spending long hours every day hauling crates into ships and out of ships. His back ached in the evening every day as he trudged back to the apartment he rented, his hands were torn and callused, and all for barely enough pay to cover rent and food. His roof leaked, his room stank of sewage, his boots were perpetually falling apart. Such was his lot in life. He had no choice but to accept it, and to try and do the right thing and hope he got lucky.

He stayed away from whiskey and wine. When the gangs came around, he kept his head down and stayed away from them too. He was polite to police, gave the occasional spare penny to beggars, and went to church every Sunday. He knew as long as he kept it up, he had a chance. He kept a notebook, filling it with plans for the business he would make when he saved up enough. He stayed at work late and came early. He did everything he should do.

When the Great Crash came, it didn't matter. He and a hundred other men were fired that very first day, and he found himself joining an immense crowd of listless men waiting by the docks or in the park, hoping for work. Some days he found it, sweeping streets or hauling trash or working the docks for less than ever. Some days he found nothing, and became just another beggar.

He moved into a smaller, dirtier apartment, and rented half of it out to another man. He skipped meals some days. He sold his notebook, and admitted to himself he would never be rich.

The indignity of it gnawed at him. But compared to the might of Rockefeller and Morgan and all the other titans of industry who had built their way up from nothing, he was a gnat. He voted for men who promised to fix things, and they never kept their promise. He saw friends join the gangs, shooting each other over who got to rob the corner stores, their blood staining the boots he had to wear again the next day because he had nothing else.

He saw the wrath and rage grow day by day, as the hammer-and-sickle and the grain-and-gear began to decorate walls, as red flags began to wave, as strident letters were published in newspapers and nailed to the doors of businesses. He stayed away from that nonsense.

He saw the retaliation, as police and Pinkertons came by the dozen to break up rallies and arrest "foreign subversives." He saw them falter and flail. He saw a pastor beaten for trying to protect his homeless flock, he saw nursing mothers hauled into the back of police wagons.

They weren't protectors of order and defenders of the American way anymore. He didn't know what they were.

Work kept drying up. Days went by where he did nothing but wander the streets in a hopeless daze. He stopped going to church, he started drinking when he had the money to buy booze.

People still fought, but Samuel didn't bother. More red flags went up, and he ignored them. The police kept hunting syndicalists, and he didn't care.

Soup kitchens were established, and then they were destroyed by gangs when they couldn't pay protection or found themselves overwhelmed by the swarms of the hungry. Homeless shelters formed and then the homeless were turned back onto the street. Samuel ignored it all.

People raved about what was the cause, about why things got so bad, about the politicians and the ideologies and the religions which would save them, and new gangs began to form around it. People wrapped red or blue or white around their arms and battled in the streets. Samuel didn't listen.

In 1930, he didn't bother voting. He didn't even realize there had been an election. But someone new had won, and suddenly the city was revitalizing itself. The soup kitchens and food banks started getting funding, the rare job he managed to find paid better, the gangs began to weaken as men with red armbands and billy clubs began patrolling the streets.

The syndicalists were here, and it seemed they had something worth saying.


Ben lived on the outskirts of town. "Trash" and "scum" they had called him, from the day he was born. He wore scraps of cloth his mother had sewn together, and missed school half the days every week so he could help his Pa work on the farm.

His Pa was always drunk, always in debt, and always mad about those two things. The only days he wasn't being mean to Ben were the days he went out at night and came back smelling of soot and blood. At first, Ben didn't know what his Pa was doing. Then he didn't care, so long as it kept the belt away from his back and the fist from his mother's cheek.

He was almost a man when he first heard about Huey Long. Everyone had laughed at the idea, and called him a filthy red and worse things. It was impossible, he would never amount to anything. He was a man when he heard about the Great Crash.

It didn't make sense to him. Some syndicalists had taken over another country and now it seemed like half the town's money had vanished.

His father kept going out, but now he was even meaner when he came back. The other sharecroppers began to vanish, and men and dogs were sent to bring them back.

Then people stopped being able to afford the dogs, and the farms began to die. The cotton and tobacco withered, and other people began to leave. The wind started stripping the loose soil, splattering it across the houses and streets.

Men in sound trucks started showing up, offering to help them find work, offering to help them get things back under control. The sheriff formed a posse and chased them off, but they kept coming back, and there were more of them every time.

His Pa got recruited into the posse late in '32, and then things got worse. Again, some syndies had killed people in another country and they suffered for it, and no one would do anything to help.

His Pa got meaner and meaner, and Ben stopped being able to hear out of one ear.

Then one day it was the posse that got driven off, and some trucks arrived with a doctor and some pigs to butcher and tough-looking men everyone called "sir" who said they were looking for people who wanted to be Minutemen.

The Longists were here, and it seemed they had something worth saying.


The syndicalists told Samuel that the wealth of the world was unjustly stolen from him, that he deserved a fair share of the value he created, that he should have a home and food, that his vote should matter, that his voice was important. He listened, and he wrapped a red band around his arm and joined their strikes and burned the police station to ash when the pigs tried to stop them.

The Longists told Ben that he was as good as any other man, that he deserved a fair share of the wealth, that he was important. He listened, and he put on a grey hat and went to battle against and alongside sheriffs and Klansmen both.

The syndicalists told Samuel that the world was full of reactionaries, that they would try to destroy the glorious world they were making, that they would need to fight lest they be slaughtered and enslaved. He listened, and he vowed to be ready when the day of reckoning came.

The Longists told Ben that the syndicalists would be coming to destroy the social order and the Unionists were coming to make them kneel, that both were trying to destroy the American dream, that they would need to fight lest they be slaughtered or enslaved or cast adrift in a world gone mad. He listened, and he vowed to be ready when the day of reckoning came.


Sparks are falling across America, finding dry tinder aplenty as men and women of every race and class and faith and origin find themselves growing radicalized, furious at the failures of their governments. They cry out for bread and roses, for shared wealth, for the protection of the American way, for steering a steady course. They rally to each other, seeking unity, seeking solutions, seeking shelter. They meet and march and rage and riot, attacking enemies real and perceived.

Newspapers from around the world describe the faltering titan as it stumbles ever onwards, bereft of direction and bloodied by scandal and slaughter. Nations around the world have begun seeking opportunities in the seeming impending collapse of the vast nation, searching for potential puppets and allies.

Rumors and News

The SPA and the Red Guards have had an undeniably successful month. The housing cooperatives are gradually turning into functional, albeit rough communities, with their own Red Guards and governing councils. The shelters are still substandard, but they have been greatly improved by widespread efforts. Perhaps more importantly from a political perspective, the efforts of the Red Guards to organize the areas they are protecting and develop class consciousness have had greater success, with small farmer's associations forming to discuss ways to advance their class interests. For the time being, the remaining Red Guards are enthusiastic about their duty, especially after several publicized incidents of attempted reactionary violence by sheriffs and paramilitaries against these new organizations.

Meanwhile, Huey Long is solidifying his hold across the South. Careful political maneuvering by him and his supporters has led to the sidelining of several opponents, while several others were forced to flee for their lives. Clashes and economic warfare continue, but the momentum is turning in the favor of Longist groups as wealthy backers begin to supply the Minutemen and Silver Legion. Even as his grip tightens, his movement becomes more fractious, as competing strains within it begin to crystallize.

He has even begun gaining support in New England, as a group in upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire calling themselves the Green Mountain Boys has formed to advocate for Long.

Ground has broken on several more German factories in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, employing many formerly destitute workers. Many of these workers are Minutemen, it seems.

The federal government has not moved to condemn these events, or the similar ones in California as several Japanese companies purchase empty land and ruined factories and begin working to revitalize them for a variety of purposes. Instead, aside from some more vicious political infighting, they have concentrated on further stabilizing the Midwest, constructing vast refugee camps. Only those willing to swear loyalty oaths are allowed to stay in them, and access is highly restricted, leading to more lurid rumors damaging the federal government's credibility, even as MacArthur receives praise from the bourgeoisie for his handling of the crisis.

Another letter has come from Canada. "We have a friend on the inside," it reads. News of further unrest and more strikes comes as well, as the liberal bloc in Parliament attempts to negotiate. Quebecois nationalists have begun agitating as well, demanding greater autonomy or even independence.


Plans from Subordinates

The Coordination Committee is looking to begin removing centers of reaction such as the leadership of reactionary militias, hostile town governments, and other such groups and figures. It will be a long and complicated process, involving many approaches and likely taking several months.

Norman Thomas is planning to continue his campaign of speeches and advocacy for black Americans and other minority groups, especially those who live in areas that lean towards the Longists.

The Legislative Committee is planning to expand the wealth tax laws and use the funds to directly subsidize farmers, as well as mines and factories run "in accordance with democratic principles."

Butler, meanwhile, is looking immediately to take charge on the matter of instilling discipline in the disorganized Red Guards and establish a more organized system of reporting, discovering, and punishing misbehavior.

You have 6 Influence and 1 Authority total. 0 Authority and 0 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You are not currently taking any foci.

Mandates: Successfully propagandize towards farmers in 1 month (from The Syndicalists). Make contact with the Syndintern in 3 months (from the Center). Begin expanding the unions in 3 months (from the Orthodox). Expand your propaganda apparatus in 3 months (from the Parliamentarians).

Party Actions

Hold a Rally: It's a classic for every political party for a reason. There's nothing quite like a grand rally with banners waving and people cheering to make you seem unstoppable and to gather more support. The demonstration of the energy and might of the working class will have the capitalists shaking in their boots. It is a message to your supporters as well, that all the power of the SPA stands behind them. Here is what it says: Let your foes try and stop you. They will be ground under your heel. Cost: 1 Resources and a risk of backlash and hostile interruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/50/85/120. Results: Variable change in support, chance of intimidating your enemies. Can synergize with other actions.

Wave the Red Banner: The Red Banner is not the only SPA-affiliated or favoring publication, but it is the only one produced by the Party itself. And it is immensely popular. New ones go out constantly, but you could write an article of your own and make a special edition. This would receive extra attention and possibly some new readership, allowing you to make your opinions heard and sway the hearts and minds of others. You could shape the narrative on something, make an argument for or against a particular course of action, attack an enemy or uplift an ally. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 2 Resources and a risk of backlash. May be additional costs depending on the topic. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100/150. Results: Variable change in support or party factions, results depend on topic. Topic must be written in. Some examples: "The importance of unity in the socialist cause," "The corruption of the Hoover administration," "Why feminism and socialism must go together," and "Why Farmer-Labor should unify with the SPA." Can synergize with other actions.

Send Social Agitators To: Nearly every street corner in Chicago, New York City, and Seattle has a man or woman standing on a crate and telling the passerby of the virtues of the cause and encouraging them to donate. They are often beaten brutally by the bourgeois or by police (and just as often protected by their listeners), but they nevertheless persist, determined to gain recruits and funds for the cause. Some of these agitators are amateurs doing it in their spare time, but quite a few are dedicated and skilled speakers. Sending these speakers in significant numbers to an area can turn your foe's supporters against them, especially if it is followed up upon with meaningful organization. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support there. Unlock actions to follow up on the agitation.

Create Shadow Government: You have had a brilliant idea: Though you lack power at the federal level, the Socialist Party has substantial control of many mayorships, county governments. You even effectively control some states of the Steel Belt. Creating a forum to help these various governments cooperate and resolve disputes will be useful, especially if you have further requests of these governments. You have only discussed this concept briefly, but the idea of the Interstate Committee of Socialist Governments (name subject to change) has dazzled many. Especially since it will help you gain influence over their legal codes, voting laws, and National Guard armories. Cost: Significant and dangerous backlash from within and without the Party, possible legal challenges. Time: 3 months. DC: 70/140/180/240. Results: Various states and lower-level governments integrated into a coordinated body, many new possibilities available, although the body could be unwieldy.

Support Faction: The party is more than a little divided, even if everyone is determined to stick together, they still clash frequently, with each other and with you. Spending some time and effort backing a particular faction in these debates could gain you some gratitude, which is always a valuable currency. Cost: Risk of losing Influence or Authority. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Increase Relations and Strength of selected faction, chance of gaining Influence.

Make Changes To Subordinates: You do not have the time or capability to make all the decisions involved with bringing the Revolution to America, and so you have trusted subordinates to help. Occasionally, you will need to redirect their efforts, invest more in their success, or even replace them immediately. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Make any change to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times.

Party Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Extremely low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/120/180. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

Open Investigation: If a subordinate is unpopular or incompetent, you can begin publically looking into their performance. This can wash off some of the reflected stink, particularly if you find something, but if there is no evidence of wrongdoing or fraud that can only make the situation worse or lead to questions of your judgement. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Some chance of finding problems with chosen subordinate, options to deal with problems, chance of +1 Influence.

Support Subordinate: Expressing confidence in a subordinate, either by offering direct aid or by giving material support, can boost their performance, especially if there isn't a structural reason for their failures. Cost: Write-in. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Positive modifier to chosen subordinate, chance of them gaining positive trait.

Acquire Expertise: You are only one man, you cannot know or do everything. Having trusted subordinates who can do part of the work helps, but so too does having trusted advisors, people who can offer you advice for dealing with things you don't quite understand. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Find assistant for chosen subject who can give significant bonuses and penalties to rolls and other situations.

Push for Rural Assistance: The priority for most of the SPA are the urban areas and the mining strongholds. Between the fact that most farmers are petty producers and their famed social conservatism, there is relatively little concern for their fates beyond vague acknowledgements. Even the rural relief bills many are advocating for are primarily focused on keeping a large supply of food for the cities available. Despite the revolutionary potential of many rural groups, they are being effectively abandoned to be turned into the footsoldiers of reaction. Though it will strain the limits of your position, insisting on more effort will hopefully encourage the party to give more thought to farmers and farmworkers. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 2 months. DC: 40/80. Result: Unlock new actions focusing on supporting and recruiting among farmers,

Anarchist Organizations: Anarchists are no longer as prominent a scare-word as they once were. Socialism and syndicalism are the new words to make the bourgeoisie and their running dogs wet themselves in fear. The reduced propaganda against them makes them potentially quite useful...and you remember hearing that the Black Army was highly popular among Ukranian peasants. Perhaps approaching them to form an Anarchist Grange may help you gain support in the Bleeding Midwest. And if they fail, most of the party will be unconcerned. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: You and the CSA select a rural-focused organizer from The Anarchist faction, gain in Strength for the Anarchists.

Union Actions

Send Union Organizers To: While agitators can disrupt other political organizations and explain why you are better, to actually gain support of the kind that makes people spend blood and gold and sweat on your behalf requires a different approach. Establishing that takes time, but sending union organizers to an area can make for a start. In many ways, the risks these organizers take is even greater than that of the agitators, especially if there is sufficient hostility to socialism already. Some have literally been tarred and feathered...Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and gain temporary support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization.

Appoint Union Representative: There are dozens of unions, many with hundreds or thousands of chapters. A rare few even have branches in Canada, with a rarer few having branches in Mexico. The Combined Syndicates serves as a forum to allow them to coordinate and cooperate, but the vagaries of time and travel mean that the larger meetings are often sparsely attended. Electing (although your influence will help make it an effective appointment) a representative to help manage the syndicates, smooth over disputes, and ensure all voices are heard would reduce the growing pains the CSA is suffering from. However, the notion is not entirely popular...Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Subvote to determine who you will support for Union Representative and how much to invest in them.

Prepare Rural Unions: Rural areas are utterly lacking in the sort of density mines or cities have that labor organizers and workers used to create their powerful unions. A new approach will need to be devised, or more likely multiple to approach the different situations you will doubtless encounter. Perhaps some of the newer unions or the Montant and Colorado miners have some insight? Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/25/50/75/100. Result: Improved chance of success for actions in rural areas.

Establish Community Gardens: The cities of America are filled with vacant lots and crumbling buildings. Reclaiming the buildings will have to be part of a larger effort, but the lots can be used to the benefit of the people by establishing gardens. Though they will take many months, the fresh vegetables will improve the quality of the food served by the soup kitchens...and hopefully reduce expenses. Former farmers are already beginning improvised efforts at creating these gardens, and earning a great deal of praise for doing so. Cost: 4 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/20/40/60. Result: +4 Resources per turn after 3 months.

Mutual Aid Foundations: While directly expanding the soup kitchens would benefit many, a less costly alternative would be the establishment of mutual aid organizations to ensure that people are fed. Since they are less directly dependent on the SPA buying food for them, they will be cheaper for you to maintain, but still serve to provide relief to the struggling masses and help expose them to socialist ideals. The examples of such institutions being created in Chicago have helped show the way. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Improve quality of food kitchens. +0.5 Resources per month

Union Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Very low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/120/150. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

Union Charities, Donations: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the charitable endeavors of the SPA. Doing so would ease the logistical strain providing for so many causes, but not every union is entirely dedicated to socialist ideals, especially not when it comes to the outsiders who will inevitably come seeking aid. Cost: Increased risk of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: +X Resources per month.

Union Charities, Fundraising: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the financial resources at your command through direct donations and holding fundraising events. It may somewhat aggravate your supporters, but as long as you are using the money for their benefit there won't be more than grumbling. Cost: A new mandate. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: +X Resources per month.

A Union Shop: Socialized stores have become common in Chicago as workers inspired by the strike or owners compelled by it create democratically run stores. Though mocked by some on the left and some in the more syndicalist wing as "market socialism" and accused of not removing the profit motive, even their strongest critics cannot deny they serve a useful person during this transitory phase. Begin encouraging local unions to establish shops along these lines, and ask for a small cut of the proceeds perhaps? Cost: Small chance of -1 Influence, loss of relations with the Orthodox. 5 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/35/70/100. Result: Increase in income, establishment of market cooperatives in locations with a strong SPA presence. Small chance of gaining +1 Influence, increase to relations with the Syndicalists.

Social Bonds: With the credit unions established, one immediate possibility to secure desperately needed funds is a simple scheme inspired by ones begun then abandoned during the Weltkrieg. Ask people to buy Labor Bonds, which can be redeemed at a later date for an amount equal to their purchase value. The money raised in the meantime can be put to use for any number of programs or initiatives. Cost: You will have to pay them back in a year. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/75/100/125/150. Result: Large, one-time boost to income.

Street Brigades: Another proposal to deal with the immense number of potential scabs, reactionaries-in-waiting, and unemployed workers that are flocking to the city is to hire them for various jobs neglected by the municipal government such as fire services for poorer neighborhoods, street-cleaners, and other such tasks. While potentially costly, the work and the pay will fill their bellies and salve their pride, while giving them opportunities to be exposed to socialist rhetoric. Cost: -2 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60. Result: Begin recruiting unemployed workers into labor brigades and exposing them to socialist rhetoric.

Militant Actions

Additional Weapons: The armaments of your "regular" Red Guards are highly irregular, and the "irregulars" who sometimes join in during protests or strikes are even worse off. Beginning to create armories of weapons will help equip both. The first step will be to acquire things like billy clubs and batons, both to avoid attracting unfortunate attention and because stockpiling guns in the current climate is needlessly risky...Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/30/45/60. Result: Create stockpiles of "non-lethal" weapons for the use of the Red Guards.

Establish Sporting Clubs: The wholesale purchase of firearms and ammunition by individuals draws attention. But sporting clubs, shooting ranges, and similar institutions doing so would not be a concern. Create a network of these companies as a means of subtly acquiring not just equipment for the Red Guards, but a way for them to train. Cost: 10 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/20/60/100. Result: Increased armaments for Red Guards, ease of training Red Guards increased, further actions to arm and equip Red Guards unlocked.

Instilling Discipline, Pt.1: Every branch of the Red Guards contains at least a few who do it more or less full-time. These are some of your most dedicated and radical supporters, and when the time comes they are the ones who will form the hard core of the Red Army. So they are the ones who need training and discipline the most. Based on what you saw of the Bolsheviks in Russia, the first thing that men who wish to be soldiers must be taught is discipline. And so that is what the training shall begin with. Regrettably, the fury in them at the moment will make it harder to convince them not every rich man is their mortal enemy. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 4 months. DC: 0/40/90. Result: Improve discipline of Red Guards.

Arm the Police: In the cities where you control the government, the attitudes of the police have shifted dramatically. They are now proud and determined supporters of their fellow workers against the ravages of capital. While they will need further restructuring to truly socialize them, that will have to wait until after the revolution. For now, you must prepare to fight it. Taking measures to increase the discipline and armaments of friendly policing departments will strengthen your control of the cities. Cost: Loss of relations with the Anarchists, Syndicalists, and Parliamentarians. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.

Go Hunting: In every city and town of America you face enemies. Hostile police forces, reactionary militias, mercenaries and Pinkertons hired by capitalists, and more. They all seek to oppress and suppress the workers. This cannot be borne. While the Red Guards continually battle in the streets, protecting protests, defending meetings, guarding agitators and organizers, they only rarely go on the offensive, and keep it strictly to retaliatory strikes on those most responsible for attacks. Asking for a more general attack would help weaken opposition, and perhaps see some justice done. Cost: Reduces support, reduces relations with the Parliamentarians, chance of it going badly. Time: 1 month. DC: 20. Results: Red Guards begin attacking class enemies, chance of gaining Resources, Support, Influence...

Street Medics: One of the tactics used by the heroes of the Shanghai Uprising was the establishment of street medics, noncombat members of the Left-KMT who helped keep injured members in the fight and provided aid and comfort before the soldiers of the Legation Cities resorted to bloodier measures. Implementing such measures could be useful...Cost: 4 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 30. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.

Toll Fees: With your control of railways and the strength of your paramilitaries in many transportation hubs, you could easily gain substantial incomes by insisting on donations for those passing through, although you will need to make sure there are exceptions for those who already support you or who it would be dangerous to stop. Cost: Decrease in support among moderates, increase in corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase to income.

Scab Intimidation: The scabs and reactionary militias are outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed. This may change as refugees continue flowing into the cities and capitalists fund their running dogs, but for now you have the advantage, and you must seize it. The Red Guards will defeat and drive off these "self-defense groups" and "protectors of the American way" and "private security forces" and show them that they are as dust before the tides of history. Cost: Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/?/?. Result: Reactionary militias and scab groups defeated and destroyed in areas you are strong.

Keep Supporting Left-Farmer-Labor: Though it may displease them, their work in the Midwest is not yet complete. Left-Farmer-Labor is not yet secure, the area is not stable, there are still lurking reactionaries and dangers. Have the Red Guards stay in the areas they protect for a time longer, and discourage the trickle of desertions that has already begun. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100. Result: Red Guards encouraged to stay in the Midwest.

Stop Supporting Left-Farmer-Labor: The Red Guards are not happy with the reception they have received in the Midwest, and the worst of the danger has passed for the rural workers. Already, some are returning to their home cities to continue the struggle there. They have done all they have been asked to do, now it is time to encourage them to leave and carry on their struggle. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Red Guards withdraw from the Midwest, letting any established organizations take over independently.

An Investigation Arm: With the increasing size and activity of the Red Guard, malcontents and informers are likely slipping in, taking advantage of your activities to line their pockets or using their positions to gather information. Neither can be allowed. To counter them, some have proposed the creation of an anonymous reporting system and selecting some trustworthy individuals to investigate these reports. Though generally unpopular, you can see the potential benefits. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Reduction in corruption, increased chance of catching spies.

Take the Docks: In many cities, the powerful Dockworker's Unions could stop the transfer of goods at will, or smuggle goods past customs inspectors. While this is mostly used for their own benefit, it could be a potent measure to increase the party's resources and power. Unfortunately, given the suspicion being directed at the docks currently, such an action could provoke severe crackdowns that would have significant support. Cost: Severe risk of backlash, will likely increase corruption. DC: 0/40/80/120. Results: Gain income, easier smuggling, new options unlocked.

Striking Soldiers: The news that several hundred soldiers have gone on strike has been greatly celebrated in the SPA. Even if it is not truly solidarity, it is a seed that can be watered. Careful efforts on approaching the soldiers who have gone on strike can be begun, hopefully before they are broken up or thrown in prison by untrusting army officers who are desperate to protect their class privilege. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/80/120/160. Result: increase to the number and quality of the Red Guards.

Cultural Actions

Christian Socialism: Most Americans are Christians, and despite the words of the Constitution it is widely considered a Christian nation. Given that many churches are staunchly opposed to socialism while socialism is a staunchly secular ideology, this could be troublesome. Fortunately, this Gordian knot can be cut rather easily. The concept of "Christian socialism" and claiming that Christ himself would be a socialist is simple enough, with ample support for this notion coming directly from the Bible. Combining this message with a few displays of piety will help reduce criticism from the pulpit, although significant portions of organized religion will doubtless remain hostile. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Left, loss of support from Jews and other religions. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Christians, increased ease of recruitment.

The American Revolution, Pt.2: The first connections are drawn, the first pieces of theory are created. Now it's time to poke holes in them and see where it doesn't hold up, either to your ideals or to reality. Your ideas are published, but now it's time to see how people have torn them apart so that you can make them better. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/35/70/120. Result: Refine the results of The American Revolution, Pt. 1

Organize Education: Education is a necessity for workers. Reading, writing, 'rithmetic, critical thinking and understanding history, the skills and knowledge so they can labor and explain why they labor, all these are vital. American schools are fundamentally capitalist institutions, but alternatives can be established. Cost: -3 Resources, -1 Resources per turn. Time: 6 months. DC: 0/25/50/100. Result: Create a system of cheap socialist private schools.

Organize Childcare, Pt. 2: You have designed your improvements to the ad hoc system of childcare, now it is time for the implementation to begin. All this will really involve is producing guides and perhaps some propaganda, but it will help. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/45/75. Result: Encourage the creation of more equal and better-designed childcare institutions.

Public Libraries: While libraries are a common and immensely popular institution, they can be improved in a number of ways, from increasing the resources available to them to broadening the services provided to include rentable instruments and instruction programs. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.

Songs of the Revolution: The Internationale. The Preacher and the Slave. This Land is Your Land. Solidarity Forever. Many are the songs of the socialist movement. Let everyone hear them. Establish choirs and wandering musicians and every other way to spread your message through song there is. Cost: 3 Resources, -0.5 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50/70/90/ Results: Easier recruiting, increase to morale among the party.

Unity In The Melting Pot: The Socialist Party and the IWW have long used multilingual speakers to reach out to immigrants. With the end of the Weltkrieg and the defeat of the Bolsheviks, thousands from Eastern Europe have flocked to America's shores to find conditions no better, while others have come north with Central and South America. Reaching out to those groups will be essential. The multilingual program will be expanded, to begin. Cost: None.
Time: 3 months. DC: 5/45/90. Results: Easier recruiting, increased support among immigrants.

Socialist Radio Networks: Huey Long has used the radio to spread his reactionary babble to thousands of Americans. We can do the same. Through speeches and interviews, your message can be broadcast. While some may turn off the radio rather than hear the truth, the more you reach the more you can convince. The first step will be to purchase...whatever it is that produces radio waves for broadcasts. That was never something you needed to learn in school. With migrant hordes crossing the land east and west, a way to reach them grows increasingly important. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 5/25/50/75. Results: Significantly easier recruiting, increased support.

Posters and Pamphlets: The speeches you give reach only those who hear you. Your speeches written down reach all who can read...but they are a bit too long for a poster discreetly put up or a pamphlet smuggled behind a boss's back. Beginning to create and produce snappy slogans and logos for posters and pamphlets will help you in the propaganda war, especially given the number of virulently anti-socialist publications that will smear you and your movement in any way possible. The lack of any organized system for spreading your message has led to several individuals starting up their own newspapers and similar operations to express support for socialism and syndicalism, albeit with a somewhat critical attitude to you. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 10/50/80. Result: The creation of posters and pamphlets to help spread your message, increased ease of recruiting.

Newspaper Distribution: Various socialist and syndicalist newspapers are produced by SPA members, affiliates, and allies, ranging in quality from the professional The Red Banner made using the equipment formerly belonging to The Chicago Tribune to smeared sheets being printed in basements. Not only do they allow for the expounding of your political program and views, but they perform a variety of community functions. Setting up new printing presses and newsstands can only help you spread your message. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/15/30/45/60/100. Result: Expanded newspaper distribution, easier recruiting and organizing

Propagandize The Rural Areas: Farmers are intensely reactionary. The Southern smallholder made the greatest contribution to the Confederate armies during the War of the Slave Power, the yeomen resisted the creation of a bourgeois democracy during the War of American Independence. But with multiple crises of capital ravaging them economically, perhaps some can be persuaded to support you and join the most advanced segments of the working class. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Begin propagandizing farmers.

Propagandize Professionals: Doctors and lawyers and managers, all have been greatly affected by this latest crisis. More than a few have been forced into breadlines and soup kitchens alongside the workers they have once looked down on. Approaching them, convincing them to join their cause, will give you access to their skills, which are undeniably useful and valuable. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100. Result: Begin propagandizing destitute professionals.

Political Actions

Minority Rights: Norman has begun championing the rights of various minorities who are abused and mistreated throughout America. In the current system, actually doing so is an impossible task. If nothing else, the AFP and Democratic Senators would filibuster any such bill to death, and many of the Republicans are little better. But making noise about it can help push the state legislatures into doing something, as well as draw attention to your cause from the oppressed. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/5/30/55/80/105. Result: Gain increased support from minorities, begin passing state-level anti-discrimination laws.

Impeachment: If President Hoover has been unable to leave the White House grounds for two months, he is clearly no longer fit for office. The two-thirds majority impeachment requires is veritably impossible to achieve, but even making noises about it could help gain you support and allies, especially if you are high-profile enough. Some in your party consider it nothing but a waste of time, others feel it is a tactical error. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Syndicalists. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/40/90/200. Results: The Socialist Party initiates an impeachment motion for Hoover, chance of gaining legislative allies or support.

Poach the Democrats: The Democrats have traditionally been a party pulled in many directions - Bourbon conservatives, progressives, Southern populists, and union members, political machines - and while a significant portion of all these factions have left, there are always remnants, such as the Roosevelt family. The party as a whole rejects you wholeheartedly, but individual members can be convinced to change their allegiance. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/120/180. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.

Press the Progressives: The Progressive Party is now the second-weakest in America. Even the newly formed America First Party has surpassed them. They hold a few scattered seats in the west and Midwest and little more. This weakness is also what makes them vulnerable. They will collapse as a national party without intervention, you suspect. And you can offer this intervention. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45. Results: You convince some members of the Progressive Party to switch allegiance to you.

Pro-Worker Legislation: It would ordinarily be unlikely to pass, at least on a federal level, but demanding it will make a statement in and of itself. And you will not just push this legislation on a federal level. These laws will focus on the things workers have fought for. Better wages, workplace safety, price caps for company stores...with the stroke of a pen, they can be spread across the country, and it will be the SPA that will take the lion's share of the credit. Unfortunately, the current mood in Congress is intensely hostile to you. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Syndicalists. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/90/100/120. Results: You pass worker-protection laws on the state and possibly federal level and can gain varying amounts of support.

Party Lawyers: Many potentially vital laws are being held up in the courts. And frankly, you have a shortage of good lawyers. There are some willing to work for free from dedication to the cause, but most lack the wealth for that or are entirely uninterested in working for you. But enough filthy lucre can solve that problem. Cost: 1 Resource, -1 Resource per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 40. Results: Hire some lawyers to help defend the laws you get passed.

Local Elections: Mayors, sheriffs, county judges. All positions of undeniable importance to the people who elect them. Beginning a campaign to get favorable individuals elected into those positions in the areas you don't completely dominate will help set favorable ground for future elections or revolutionary actions. With the chaotic situations in many Midwestern states, the potential leverage is immense. It is highly likely there will be attempts by corrupt sheriffs and mayors to disrupt any rural organizations unless that danger is countered through the creation of favorable local governments. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/30/75. Results: Increase support on the local level.

Staff State Offices: The state bureaucracies are often intensely hostile to the efforts of the SPA, but while they are an obstacle they are one who can be defeated, or at least gone around. Beginning to hire loyal socialists and syndicalists will allow you to gradually begin purging these hostile organizations. The expertise and loyalty of these offices is a vital resource, one often denied to your supporters. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/45/90. Results: Begin gradually purging and replacing hostile burueacrats, slow enough that there should be minimal loss of institutional knowledge.

Intellectual Actions

The Legacy of John Brown: John Brown was a revolutionary martyr who fought for freedom. Abraham Lincoln sought to bring freedom to the enslaved. They would support you in your struggle to bring liberation to all. You will insist on it. You will quote them to say so. You might have to be a bit selective in doing so, but it won't matter. Cost: None... Time: 1 month. DC: 5. Result: Increased efficacy of The American Revolution actions.

Create an Educational Program: Designing a socialist education program will be just one of the many questions you have to answer after the revolution. There are important differences in content and teaching style and likely other things as well. Begin looking into who is an expert in such things and start drawing up the broad strokes of what a curriculum will cover. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Begin designing an education program.

A Socialist Structure, Pt. 1: How will the economy work? Will currency be abolished? How will you ensure racial equality? Though there are examples to look forward to from Britain and France, you will need to begin creating your own answers to these questions. Plans must be made, although they will be by necessity vague. But creating the most basic framework for what form American socialism will take will help ease your path forward. Cost: Probable loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence. Time: 6 months. DC: No roll. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.

Who Supports Who?: If you looked out the window to see New York City, you would think nine in ten supported you. You are not fool enough to think that, of course. The Payment Army alone disproves that, let alone the bullying your daughter has experienced, the endless attempts at suppression, the thousands of letters denouncing you. Beginning to get an accurate count will be vital for effectively directing your efforts. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Get a general idea of where your support is strong and weak and what people are concerned about.


Against the Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism is a virulent problem in this country. Father Coughlin spews anti-Semitic bile, many claim Jews are behind every problem and especially the syndicalists, even some of your party members and unionized workers mislike them. Countering these narratives may cost, but it is a worthy effort. Cost: Likely loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of +1 Influence.

Proletarian Unity: The workers of the world must be united. There are false divisions embedded deep into the American psyche. Racism is the greatest but by no means the only one. Target these divides, weld them together as best you can. Make promises of restitution and justice, publicize what you stand for. It will be difficult and potentially dangerous, but you have to start somewhere. Cost: Likely loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence, chance of losing support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/125. Result: Counter racist narratives, increase support from minorities, small chance of +1 Influence.

Create a Curriculum: For a socialist school system to exist, there must be a socialist curriculum, Having students elect their teachers seems faintly ridiculous, but there can be other ways for them to be exposed to the SPA's ideals from a young age, and there should certainly be a different emphasis on what is taught. No gender divide for one. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Creation of curriculum, improved results and lowered difficulty for Organize Education.

The Legacy of the Grange: The Grange was a vaguely socialist, mixed-race organization for farmers to help them progress and grant assistance through a variety of methods, from community support to political activism. The sudden rise of Farmer-Labor and the current devastation has caused it to decline greatly. But it can rise again, better and stronger. With Farmer-Labor on your side, a remnant of the Grange is as well. Begin a program of revitalization and create a new ideology for it. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100. Result: New, more socialist/syndicalist/anarchist/some form of leftist ideology for the Grange, new options for dealing with it unlocked.

Intrigue Actions

Siphon Party Funds: The first step in performing covert actions is to acquire funds to do so. Simply taking money directly from the party treasury strikes you as a bad idea, as the resulting vanishing will be wide open for anyone who looks. So instead you will arrange for a few dribbles of cash to vanish into an account you can use for off-the-books problem-solving. Cost: -0.1 Resources per month. Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/35/70. Result: +0.1 Resources per turn goes into a dark fund you can draw upon for covert ops.

Siphon State Funds: With nearly unfettered access to many state governments and party loyalists being installed in treasury departments across the nation, you have an opportunity to enhance the party's financial position by arranging for subtle fund transfers from the government funds. There will likely need to be some sort of...shell to hide the directness of the money transfer. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/100. Result: Increase to income.

Hire an Assistant Secretary: You need someone who is good at this sort of thing. Someone trustworthy, loyal and competent. That's going to be really hard to find...but at the same time it is undeniably necessary. How would you even begin to find that? Cost: Risky...and you will have to commit an Authority to them. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??/????. Result: Find some potential spymasters, can delegate Influence or Authority to them.

Sending Spies: Particularly given your purging of the police and the increasing difficulties the capitalists are having with oppressing the workers in areas dominated by syndicalists, there is something of a low-level exodus going on from the north, which means there is an opportunity to get eyes and ears in the lower level of the National Guards, U.S. Army, and hostile militias, to name a few possibilities. Cost: Risk of discovery, risk to the spies. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Write-in where you send the spy.

Newspaper Analysts: With the increasing influx of information, often heavily conflicting, getting an idea of what is going on in the country grows more difficult every day. Arranging for a few party members to subscribe to dozens of newspapers and compare them so they can brief you will be child's play compared to some of the things you have organized. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Improvement to Rumors and News section.

Revolutionary Guards: People have been threatening to kill you and your family and other leaders for a long time. You have developed protection against overt attacks, but perhaps it is time to begin developing a more covert sort of protection as well. Cost: - 2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Create organization of plainclothes bodyguards for you, your family, and other important figures. Unlock additional counterintelligence actions.

Send Covert Organizers: Unions cannot operate openly everywhere. Particularly in the South and Midwest, efforts to organize are met with bombs, knives, and bullets. Or worse. You have vivid memories of the results of your trip to Wilmington...But people still organize, they still fight. Sending covert assistance can lead to an increase to your strength in an area, and help increase the chances of more overt intervention. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators/organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support while increasing your own support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization/agitation.

Covert Investigation: Quietly looking into the behavior of a subordinate might allow you to remove them before they can become an embarrassment, or simply confirm their innocence without risking giving the impression they have lost your confidence. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Find any wrongdoing for chosen subordinate.

Ears in the Party: To better keep abreast of movements in the Party and the doings of your subordinate, cultivating a small network of...trusted friends to let you know what they hear could be managed. Flora will probably have to be the one managing them, but you feel she is trustworthy. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Lower difficulty of actions involving intelligence within the SPA.

Create Shell Corporations: To help with some of your more...unpleasant deeds, you can avoid scrutiny by purchasing a few false companies and helping you to conceal any unfortunate money trails. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??. Result: Increase chances of avoiding discovery for embezzlement actions.

Infiltrate the Army: With the contacts Butler has given you, you now have a simple way of infiltrating the army. Selecting volunteers from the Red Guards and having them sign up will enable you to gain some low-level infiltration, while going through the men he introduced you to will enable you to hear rumors and gossip from higher-levels. MacArthur is certainly planning to use the army against you, you must find out how. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/50/?/??. Result: Make contacts within the military.

Contact with the French and British: With the ports opened to French and British ships, the possibility of contact with your fellow syndicalists has just grown dramatically easier. The providing of support for you during the Revolution is a guarantee, what is less likely is them assisting you during this lead-up due to the difficulty of it, but the Syndintern will surely be able to provide something. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??. Result: Contact the Syndintern

Personal Actions

Work Overtime: Although your heart and mind ache at the thought, the cause needs you. It will be stressful, it will be upsetting to your wife and daughter, you can feel your very soul revolting at the thought of spending even more hours working...but you must. The workers of the world demand it! No matter what it costs you. Cost: Severely stressful, unhealthy, bad for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: +1 temporary Influence.

Personal Attention: If you spend a few hours working on a particular task, it will likely go smoother. It will cut into the time you would normally spend with your family or your books, but it is a sacrifice you will have to make. Cost: Stressful, not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Small dice and narrative bonus to chosen action.

Exercise: You have gotten slightly out of shape thanks to the stress of the election. Getting back in shape would be good for your health and your image...and if you ever get the chance to punch Huey Long in his fat face or strangle MacArthur, it will help then too. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, improvement to health.

Spend Time With Your Family: Your daughter Hannah misses you, as does your wife Louise. Spending some extra time with them this month will make up for all the times you missed doing it during the campaign season. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Major decrease in stress, good for your family.

Write: You have been working on another book about your own thoughts and beliefs about socialism and syndicalism, as well as on a few poems, memoirs, and some other odds and ends. Spending some time working on that will help order your thoughts and ease your burdens. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, possibility of new traits.


Free Actions


Tweak a Subordinate's Priorities: While those who are working with you are scattered across the country, between the train and the telegram they are within reach. Requesting a minor change to their priorities is a simple matter. Cost: May pick only once per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate's priorities (change order, add one, remove one).

Ask For a Favor: Party members already sacrifice their time and money and sometimes their health and their life, but you must ask for more. Though it will cost some precious goodwill, continued success will bring it back, and so you can confidently ask for favors. Cost: Variable amount of Relations, changes in Strength of factions. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Relations and Strength allows.

Choose A Focus: You are currently taking no focus.


A/N: two hour moratorium.

+0 Anarchist Organizations, +30 Send Union Organizers, +25 Establish Community Gardens, +0 Socialist Radio Networks, +15 Propagandize the Rural Areas, +0 Propagandize the Rural Areas

+5 Limited Local Elections x2,

+0 Giving Speeches x3

+0 Expanding Wealth Taxes, +0 Socialist Subsidies

+10 Instilling Discipline x2, +0 on A Reporting System

Anarchist Organizations: DC: 0/10+/Variable. 1 Influence, 3

You sent some letters out, made a few calls, and tried to speak with some prominent anarchists, like Leonard Abbott, Emma Goldman, Abraham Isaak, Edna Millay, Sam Dolgoff, and an up-and-coming, fairly controversial fellow from Indiana who calls himself William London.

Unfortunately, they have all decided to be holding a conference on anarchism and syndicalism this month in Seattle and so are unavailable to meet with you and the CSA.

You spent about half an hour cursing when you learned that. None of them are available, not a single famous anarchist is around and you aren't silly enough to put your weight behind someone without influence of their own.

While this could be rather embarrassing for you, it's largely viewed as a sideshow, so it doesn't hurt your standing at all. It's just a frustrating waste of time.
Result: Influence cost recouped, +Stress, action can be re-attempted next month.


Send Union Organizers To: (The Midwest areas protected by the Red Guards) DC: 0/10/50. 1 Influence, 24+30 =54

You take quite a bit of care with selecting the organizers, working with the AFL and the IWW to make sure the people who will be giving the Midwest a detailed introduction to socialism and unionization are acceptable to the strongly conservative farmers but are willing and able to reveal their revolutionary potential. You also have them meet with Farmer-Labor representatives and refugees from the Dust Bowl and Bleeding Midwest who have joined your cause to try and learn more about rural life. You attend a few of those meetings yourselves, curious to hear more about a part of America you are largely unfamiliar with.

You cannot imagine living without electricity all your life.

After two weeks of preparation, they leave, traveling to dozens of small towns. From the reports you have received from various Red Guards, you think they will encounter basically stable towns with slowly forming unions and collectives.

The small village of Dozenberry had seen better days, Edward thought. He had expected the dust being everywhere and the washed-out, faded look. He had expected the place to be in disrepair, given the articles in The Vanguard and The Red Banner.

But he had not expected to see a church burnt to ashes, the smell of kerosene and something that he tried not to compare to roasting pork seemingly lingering in the air, a grain-and-gear sign drawn with charcoal on one of the few intact pieces of wood.

"What in Christ's name happened here?" he asked.
The Red Guard who had offered to escort him...Daniel, no Darrell glanced over and spat on the ground.

"Minutemen, comrade. They said some girl was attacked by one of our own and tried to whip up a mob against us. They were making torches, you see, were planning on burning us out of the homes we were staying in. Some of our brothers heard about it from the new mayor, and they came along to put a stop to it. In the confusion, well, there was a lot of kerosene and a lot of gunfire. Not a good combination."

Edward nodded. "The new mayor?" he asked.

"The old one was in the church."

"And the girl?"

"Never was one, comrade. Do you really think we would stoop to such behavior?" Darrell asked, sounding wounded.

The two of them walked through the Main Street, huge puffs of dust rising up with every step, rising up to paint Edward's knees brown. They headed towards a new building, the cleanest in town. It had the look of something freshly and hastily constructed.

"The folks interested in organizing a farming collective are in there," Darrell said, jerking his chin towards it, "and I will be waiting right outside. You need anything, just holler."

Edward nodded in return and strolled outside, glad to be getting a start on what he had come for.

There were six people in the building, sitting on benches. There were a pair of wizened couples and two young men who seemed like they had only begun shaving in the past year.

"Good day to all of you, I'm Edward. And who are all you folk?" he asked politely.

They introduced themselves and discussed what they wanted. Most of all, it seemed to be a return to normalcy. They wanted their crops to grow and their homes to be safe. They didn't seem to have greater ambitions than that, but a bit more prodding got him hints of grander ideas and greater concerns.

They seemed to have an idyllic vision of the entire town being made into one grand farm, where everyone would own an equal share of the whole thing. They wanted to pool everyone's money to buy new tractors and rebuild the damaged area. They wanted to form their own Red Guards.

And they wanted to get a new church, and a new priest.

"What happened to the old priest?" he asked after he had judged there to have been enough discussion for the day.

If nothing else, he was getting hungry, hungry enough he almost missed the answer. "Father Conten was in the church when it burned down too."

He stayed in Dozenberry for another week, helping lay the seeds for this vision, working with them to try and anticipate problems, to recruit more support from the other farmer's, to try and work the state anticipations that were supposed to be helping farmers but seemed barely functional, and then he traveled to another town. First, though, he sent a letter outlining further possible actions for assisting the development of these organizations such as providing arms, helping them acquire tools and seeds, and providing assistance in resisting foreclosures and land seizures.

Result: Small gains in support in parts of the Midwest, more information on the situation in those areas of the Midwest, further actions unlocked.

Establish Community Gardens: DC: 0/20/40/60. 1 Influence, 33+25 = 58

The sheer number of former farmers makes the concept of community gardens much more popular. Sign-up sheets go up in soup kitchens, cafeterias, and housing cooperatives across the nation. And they are rapidly filled. Unemployed workers who want to fill their time, children who are eager to avoid chores through...different chores, and enthusiastic socialists eager to take part in even the most mild of revolutionary activities all join, but the overwhelming majority of volunteers are those who have worked the soil before.

You visit one of the gardens being established in Central Park and you see grown men crying as they carefully press carrots and potatoes into the soil.

And you see an opportunity to do more as well...

You see the potential to bring people together.

Result: The gardens are a massive hit, options unlocked to further integrate rural immigrants into the city through social activities, action continues for 2 more months.

Socialist Radio Networks: DC: 5/25/50/75. 1 Influence, 25

You can operate a radio yourself just fine, no matter what Louise says. You only broke one, and that was because as soon as you turned it on a gunshot came over the airwaves. It's not your fault.

But that doesn't mean you feel remotely qualified with setting up a radio network that will reach across America. Or across a state.

So you pay someone else to do it for you.

With much celebration from within the party, the expansion of your propaganda networks kicks into high gear. The small-scale individual radio operators will hopefully be included in the new network, but now they will have more support and more reach.

Once the construction of the radio towers and broadcasting stations finish, anyway.

In the meantime, people are beginning to discuss how to handle these smaller radio networks. You think they should be made part of the greater whole, but some are advocating for letting them handle their own organization. Yet others propose leaving the details of the organization vague but creating a system of content guides and editors to improve the quality of these broadcasts. An anti-Catholic screed and an incredibly clumsy attempt at advocacy for sexual liberation make you see the sense in their proposals. All these ideas will be included in the eventual organization, in all likelihood, but what do you think is the priority.

[] Creating a single unified forum for the cooperation and organization of radio operators, hosts, and pundits. This will increase the effectiveness of their efforts, as they will have easy access to support and advice, even if most of it will come from telegrams and letters.

[] Ensuring the independence of various small operators, both to help create a diversity of viewpoints and opinions and to prevent accusations of stifling free expression.

[] Setting and enforcing standards to directly improve quality and prevent the creation of counterproductive narratives and the delivery of false information.

Result: Beginning of construction of a radio network and setting up of other infrastructure.

Propagandize The Rural Areas: DC: 0/30/60/90. 2 Influence, 52+15+74 = 141
The SPA does not have the tools, the experience, or the local support to do a truly effective job of propagandizing to rural smallholders outside of a select few areas where farmers and miners mix or where the Dust Bowl has ravaged them. But the agitators and advocates that travel out to farms and ranches across the United States manage to overcome these obstacles.

"We're here to help," they say.

"We just want a fair deal," they proclaim.

"We are following in the footsteps of Lincoln and Washington," they announce.

"Are you willing to help us?" they ask.

It's not all as easy as that, of course. They are met with suspicion, with hostility, occasionally with thrown stones or worse. But more often they are met with cold questions and verbal sallies, and these can be handled much easier.

Explanations are given, falsehoods are countered, assurances are made.

And the rather public efforts of the Socialist Party on behalf of farmers do help. Especially since it's not socialists who are trying to fight the aid that's supposed to be given out.

There are a few places where hostility remains intense, such as northern New York and southern Indiana, but the various rural populations have generally shifted towards a more "wait and see" attitude towards syndicalism.

You doubt you will be getting many votes or membership dues, let alone Red Guards from these areas, at least not without investing more effort though.

And you aren't certain if you can afford that.

Result: General increase to your popularity in rural areas

The Legacy of the Grange: 1 Authority

The first meeting of the New Grange, or the "Red Grange" as the New York World and the San Francisco Examiner dub it, takes place in a rented hall in Des Moines. You couldn't make it personally, but you sent one of your friends and allies, Bob Minor to represent you and the SPA as a whole. He wrote you a letter describing the event, with a cartoon showing a bunch of farmers wandering around blindfolded, groping for the entrance to a building labeled "The Future" hastily sketched in one corner.

The crowd was mixed. Dedicated socialists and syndicalists who had never been to a farm, Farmer-Labor politicians in suits and ties, priests and preachers who had lost their churches to famine or fire, and a few uneducated farmers from the most established cooperatives, and every single group had their own idea for how the Grange would be structured, who would lead it, what the membership requirements should be, and why it should exist.

"Some people want a union, some people want a political party, and some of them want a social group, Jack. I managed to convince them that it should have some teeth. They are pooling money for weapons, and setting up letter-writing campaigns. Outside of that, I doubt they will be doing much that's useful."

He also mentioned that they seemed to like their new nickname. You suspect he is being a little pessimistic, given that and the fact that they are already sending representatives to the Combined Syndicates.

Result: The Red Grange formed.

Report from the Coordination Committee: 2 Influence on Limited Local Elections, 17+47+10 = 74

With laws in place to allow for the harassment and defeat of reactionary militias and the overwhelming strength of the Red Guards, supported by various less-formal militias, the removal of their last vestiges of official power in various syndicalist strongholds. Massive recall campaigns are organized, with the remaining judges, police commissioners, and other such individuals picketed day and night, surrounded by shouting crowds demanding they step down.

Few have the strength of will to resist the people, and those few are dealt with more directly. With their offices empty, new elections are held and dedicated socialists and syndicalists have begun to fill in these gaps.

Now they must look to areas where the workers are less organized and politically active, in various smaller cities and rural regions.

The prospect of doing so, however, has left them stretched thin. They want your support in doing so. Your collaboration and coordination will make what is likely to be a difficult endeavor significantly easier.

[] You will have my assistance. Must commit at least 1 Influence to Local Elections next month. The action will have increased efficacy.

[] I can't, I am sorry.

Report from Norman Thomas: 3 Influence on Giving Speeches, 64+86+32 = 182

Norman has left Washington for the time being, instead looking to bring attention to the SPA's advocacy for social and political justice through a highly advertised speaking store. He began every speech with a heartfelt prayer, and continued onwards in that theme, arguing for Christian kindness and mercy, accusing the KKK and other organizations of "taking a hearth fire made to warm the cold and making it a brand of torment."

Norman is not a truly great orator, he cannot whip up a crowd as you can, but he is intelligent and earnest and steadfast, and that is plenty. He meets questions and objections with peaceful and patient rebuttals, he demonstrably practices what he preaches, he does everything he can to show that he is not bearing false coin...and people respond. It's much warmer than you expected, really.

But that's only where Norman can go himself. The increasing violence inflicted by Minutemen and other dangerous organizations has left him understandably cautious of entering their heartlands. He does not go further south than Kentucky, and even there he is careful, traveling in a secured train with a small escort.

But it is in Chicago where danger strikes. At the Holy Name Cathedral, a young man approached him to shake his hand and then pulled out a knife. One of the guards intervened and clubbed the knife away, and Norman escaped uninjured.

The would-be assassin couldn't say the same. He died before he made it ten steps, mobbed by an enraged crowd.

Norman apologized to the Archdiocese for the resulting mess, both from the death and because some unruly youths apparently blamed the church.


Report from the Legislative Committee: 1 Influence on Expand Wealth Taxes, 39, 1 Influence on Socialist Subsidies, 38

You...question their priorities. Passing these laws is important, and the subsidies will be useful in a variety of ways. But the state bureaucracies are utterly gutted, and actually making these laws work is unlikely to go well.

They are passed, in the limited, watered-down form that is becoming common as various members find themselves getting cold feet or the few remaining hostile representatives manage to resist the SPA.

Report from Smedley Butler: 2 Influence on Instilling Discipline, 91+29+20 = 140, 1 Influence on A Reporting System, 52

Butler goes to meet with Red Guards, and the results are rather like what happens when someone lobs a grenade in a crowded room. He goes apoplectic, cursing the men he met for a solid hour, raging at them, calling them unfit to so much as sweep streets. He calls them disgraces, he calls them cowards and bullies and thugs, he has endless contempt for them.

But he also says that they can be made into soldiers.

The former VFW men and the experienced and organized veteran cadres form the backbone of his efforts to make that change. Standards of behavior, dress, and manner are set. Meetings are firmly scheduled twice a week, consisting of an affirmance of their commitment, drills, discussions of why and how to fight, and then personal unit business.

Butler's trusted men, the former VFW, are the ones put in charge of making sure this is followed, and that any disciplinary matters are handled appropriately. He has already begun turning up evidence of Guards behaving inappropriately and covering it, either by claiming their victims were reactionaries or pressuring their comrades into covering for them.

Butler is incensed upon finding out, you are incensed, and he begins a full investigation into the matter, no matter the vicious outcry it spawns from many factions of the CSA.


Personal Action: Spend Time With Your Family

You manage to make time for your family again this month. Hannah is thriving, learning new lessons, including how to swear, unfortunately. Louise only found out about that when Hannah asked her mother to "pass the fucking peas" in the middle of dinner.

The poor girl was sent up to her room without supper, and then you had to speak to her about appropriate times for cursing and try to pry out where exactly she learned that word.

As enjoyable as fatherhood is, it is not always relaxing.

You even managed to snatch some time for just you and Louise, the two of you spending half a Wednesday afternoon attending a concert in Central Park as a small band set up and played a dozen songs for tips. The two of you danced together, first trying the stately steps you were both taught as children, then imitating the youths when that proved too slow for the songs.

You kick up your legs and swing your arms and chuckle at how ridiculous the two of you look together, then wander back home to find you have the house to yourselves for another hour or so.

Ask a Favor: Syndicalists: Organize Mutual Aid, Centrists: Organize Mutual Aid

You are determined to see success in the first major rural organization. You have staked quite a bit on the idea that farmers and farmworkers, as they are now, have revolutionary potential. So you spend even more of your capital on it. Perhaps it is throwing good money after bad, but you are determined not to falter.

So you ask for some favors, for some people to take extra time to help set up meetings between the organizers and the refugees from the Midwest who can help prepare them. It seems to be helpful.

Choose A Focus: Seek Out the Sharecropper

In terms of direct connections to the areas populated by the oppressed sharecroppers, you have little. Geographically and demographically, they are not your base. They are isolated from you by geography, infrastructure, and repression. But you have an indirect connection. Throngs of Africans have traveled north, and have been welcomed into the IWW and other organizations. They still face discrimination and hostility, but the SPA is actively combating it, and encouraging the migrants to join in the struggle.
And these migrants have family back home. It is these people you seek out, asking them to write favorably of the SPA and let their families know you are coming.

You can only hope it will help when you send organizers and revolutionaries to them.

Result: Focus completed, ease and effectiveness of actions in sharecropper-dominated areas increased.