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

You sit at the kitchen table in your DC home, feeling lonely. But as you pore over the pages of the various newspapers you subscribe to, you know that keeping your family in New York was the right thing to do.

The streets here are wide by most standards, but they are far too narrow to accommodate the vast throngs of Red Guards, Minutemen, police, and soldiers, all of whom clash in the street on a near-daily basis. These conflagrations are small, but they grow every day, and more and more soldiers are being recruited to keep order, to suppress these bloody battles.

Even so, there are districts of the city where the order is being kept by paramilitaries. Small ones, and distant from the centers of power, but they exist, and endless rumors swirl that MacArthur will be moving to suppress them, but so far he has been distracted by endless crises elsewhere.

You have seen the scars left behind. You have seen the rivers of blood shed. And in your mind's eye you see what causes them...


Paul and Ryan and Steve and Billy and Patrick had all gotten together, drinking at their usual bar, the drinks half off and the barmaids giving them swooning looks thanks to the prominent red armbands they wore. They bent their heads together and came to a plan. The widow three blocks down had been letting Minutemen stay in her house and given them food.

That couldn't be tolerated. Paul knew that, even if his friends called him yellow. But the widow was also nice to him, and he didn't want to hurt her. So they agreed to just give her a warning...a brick or two through her windows and some letters in her mailbox. Nothing like when they had handled those police bastards who had tried to infiltrate them. He swallowed at the memory, and shook away the sound of screams that hadn't been anything a man could make.

They wrote a dozen letters, and had the other patrons contribute some of their own. There were so many they didn't all fit in the mailbox properly, and the door was left hanging open. Then they took up bricks and began to throw them, shattering the windows on the neat brown home, shards of glass scattering everywhere.

Seconds after that, four burly men had charged out. "That's my Ma's house, you bastards!" one shouted, and then battle was joined. Paul swung his fist and one man collapsed, and then he felt a strangely light punch to his belly and fell down.

"Wha..." he said, dazed.

"You stabbed Paul!" someone shouted.

The world turned darker. Figures, no longer visible as anything but vague shadows indistinguishable from each other, multiplied across the scene, limbs waving like the tentacles of some great beast. Incoherent roars and snarls echoed through his pain. He closed his eyes and began to sob...it was too much, it was all too much. Then, like a miracle, he heard one clear sentence.

"This is all that bitch's fault."

Paul couldn't find the strength to disagree.


Two hundred Longists marched down the avenue. Cheering crowds lined the street in places, but far more looked on with sullen indifference, or alarm. Ervin was in that last group. He was the police officer in charge of keeping this thing peaceful, and he knew full well Longists were incapable of that. He was a good American. He paid his taxes, voted in elections, kept his nose clean and behaved like a proper man. And if everyone else did the same, this country wouldn't be having these problems. The fucking reds and the damn Longists should just sit down, shut up, and let sober men handle things.

But they weren't going to, and so Ervin had to keep the peace and protect ordinary Americans from these radicals. And right now, that protection meant keeping this march from getting violent...

And all of a sudden they had stopped in their tracks in front of a newspaper stand. "All for Long, or all is lost! All for Long, or all is lost!" they chanted, screaming like angry apes.

He wasn't sure what had gotten them to act like this, but it had to be stopped. He blew his whistle sharply, and then they turned to him. "Right, you lot," he snapped, barely restraining himself from spitting, "Move along and stop terrifying the man."

"The man is a liar and a thief peddling false information!" one of the crowd called.

"Then sue him for libel. Handle things like civilized people, you damn fools, or you'll handle them from a jail cell!" he spat back.

One of his officers coughed. "Should we be so rough with them sir?" the man asked softly.

Ervin ignored him. He was either a coward or a sympathizer, and neither could be tolerated.

The Longists snarled insults at him, but he held firm, confident they would back down. They were bullies, they would crumple once met with strength.

There was something flying through the air. It impacted the ground before him and bounced, slamming into his shin. "Aaagh!" he shouted.

There was a gunshot.

Someone screamed. The street went dead silent.

"Get the pigs!" someone else shouted.

"Fire at will!" Ervin shouted back...but the crowd had more men than they had bullets, and the officers who were supposed to watch his back knew it too.

They melted away, firing wildly as they fled, bullets cutting down Longists and onlookers alike as a wall of flesh sped towards them.

Within seconds the street had turned into a scene out of a nightmare. Men and women were fleeing in dozens of directions, colliding with each other, panic spreading like the Spanish Flu. He saw the newspaper man who had started everything somehow stand untouched, an island of impossible peace. He saw a window shatter, glass flying through the air.

He saw his fellow officers flee with all their strength.

Those who didn't run fast enough were trampled.

Ervin turned towards an alley, trying to sprint through the crowd, pulling past snatching hands as he desperately sought any exit.

Something slammed into his leg, the same one that the rock had hit. He collapsed, looking up to see the grim face of an old woman, a grey pin on her dress. She was holding a heavy cane.

"You union men always did cause such trouble," she said.

Then the Longists caught up to him.

The last thing he saw was the officer who had tried to warn him being smashed against a wall, his head breaking open. Then there was another gunshot, and he saw nothing.


Red flags flew everywhere. Symbols of their godless faith decorated the buildings like some savage painting their huts. Sylvester kept his eyes locked straight ahead. He would never come to this part of town, no matter what, but his daughter had gone missing and a trusted friend had seen her heading this way.

Sylvester preferred to let them rot in their own sin, and only intervene to prevent them from launching their crusades against whatever they had decided meant one was bourgeoisie, but that wasn't an option today. So he walked in and sought out whoever was their mayor or tsar or commune leader or whatever they called him.

He much preferred an honest president, a man who could be trusted to do the right thing for Americans. The only problem was finding someone...if the Democrats or Republicans didn't find a better option, he might just have to hold his nose and vote for a rabble rouser like Long. Anything to keep the Red Terror from American shores.

Then he saw his daughter...and there was a...

"Get your filthy hands off her!" he roared, charging forwards.

The son of a whore stood up, shocked. His daughter started to shout something, but the blood was roaring in his ears and nothing mattered except keeping her safe.

His fist connected, pain lancing up his arm even as blood poured down the dirty syndicalist's face, but he had attracted attention, armed men with hostile expressions and red armbands approaching far too close.

He tried to tell them off for endangering his daughter so and for their attitudes when the wind was knocked out of him. His hands went to his stomach and came away wet. Someone was crying and screaming, someone else was shouting.

The last thing he heard was an unfamiliar voice saying "He had a weapon."


With grim resolve, you shove away the papers. You can't do anything about the murders and fires and riots, you can't make the bloodshed halt. The city - and the nation - will suffer until it escapes from the confines of capitalism. All you can do is make that transition as swift as possible.

You rise and reach for the phone, punching in a number.

"Yes Norman, I know it's late, but I want to go over your planned speech for tomorrow. Are you sure bringing up Reconstruction like that is a good idea? We have to persuade the Democrats if we are going to pass the anti-lynching bill, convince them that they will benefit electorally from this. Bringing up Reconstruction means if they vote for it they will get tarred with that brush..."


Rumors and News

Longist militias have begun launching a series of attacks on those they deem "enemies of America'' or "agents of the syndicalist threat." Men in motley mixes of grey and white and green clash with police and hired security forces, shattering them in one bloody defeat after another. The targets are greatly varied - black communities, Catholic churches, and Jewish neighborhoods are all terrorized, but the predominant focus is upon the Bourbon elite of the South. One crude Minutemen explained the reasoning rather crudely: "They tried to make us like niggers, only we aren't like them. We fight back."

Many of these attacks have been conducted with the aim of liberating wealth and sharing it among the Minutemen and their families, although doubtless a significant portion is ending up in Long's coffers. This wealth typically includes factories, which are then sold to allies such as Ford.

Meanwhile, Long has used these attacks to portray him as a moderate. In the Senate, he argues that Americans are threatened by you on one side and Pelley on the other, and that some reforms must be made and deadwood cast out lest all of America be destroyed. With the growing power of the SPA, some have begun to consider the wisdom in acquiescing to his demands.

However, it seems that not all of the political establishment is willing to give what they see as a surrender. A block of Senators and Congressmen, led by John Garner, have declared they will only pass economic reform bills if they come with a massive expansion to various internal investigation and security forces.

This has not been...taken well, to put it simply. Bertrand Snell called them an "arrogant band of highwaymen demanding an entire nation stand and deliver security and prosperity for their own selfish power."

When Garner tried to defend himself, he was shouted down with a barrage of curses until Vice President Curtis came to his aid. Despite the power of the Cactus Clique, it seems that it may well be possible to pass some form of relief on the federal level.

In addition to the political battles in Washington, the army has been tarred. Not only have a series of daring exposes come from brave reporters who infiltrated the camps to report on rampant abuse, arbitrary rules, and conditions that make Hoovervilles seem like luxurious Manhattan Penthouses, but General MacArthur has been involved in another massacre when a group of preachers of a peculiar splinter church (there have been quite a few of those in recent years) attempted to bring food and spare clothing to one of the camps but were gunned down at the general's orders.

The reaction to these two incidents has been explosive. Garner's home in Texas was burned down by Longist militias, and MacArthur was burned in effigy from Richmond to New Orleans. The reactionaries seem to have well and truly divided themselves.

In Canada, Canadian liberals are making a stand against what they describe as overreach and the abuse of power by the king. They make a symbolic walkout of Parliament in protest, and then promptly begin negotiating with the reactionaries for concessions.

And unrest in Quebec has been sharply curtailed by the deployment of the Mounties, who have blanketed the province so suddenly that all the air has been sucked away from the fires of defiance.

However, your attention is drawn south, to affairs within the United States and the party as a whole. Various initiatives are going successfully, as credit union branches are opened, gardens dug, and cooperatives improved. The Red Guards once more take an active role in organizing and supporting the new farming cooperatives, typically by supplying weapons and providing advice on handling disputes. These successes are propagandized as widely as possible, but the relatively limited reach of current methods is making this difficult. And the Red Guards are beginning to get tired, the trickle of their members returning to the city and their struggles there is steadily growing. However, they are typically leaving on good or at least cordial terms, which is something.

Affairs within the party are proving more difficult. It began with Harry Haywood, one of the leaders of the Orthodox faction, proposing a resolution committing to a firm stance on Negro liberation and expanding the policy of agrarian revolution to the south. Important members of the Syndicalist faction attacked his ideas as impractical, and then accused him of wishing to bring the "slaughter of Haiti" to American shores.

The disgraceful argument raged for half a day, ending when Browder proposed a vote to tighten the party line on matters of race and then expel anyone who disagrees. He compared those who deviated to lepers during his speech, which seemed to make people think he was being sardonic. You aren't so certain. Regardless, everyone agreed they were being ridiculous, and the mood generally seems to have changed to favor encouraging or at least including a harder tack on race issues.

In other affairs throughout the country, an attempted strike in Los Angeles was suppressed by the police and private security forces, but also through a degree of conciliation, with the pay cuts that had prompted the strike modified and reduced somewhat.

The Green Mountain Boys have continued to make trouble, attacking several would-be organizers and agitators and blowing up a radio tower, accusing it of sending "Satanic syndicalist mind-control waves." You suppose from a certain point of view, they aren't wrong.

A German book about a soldier's adventures in the Congo has been published. It is a lurid and improbable tale, featuring ancient, still-inhabited cities ruled by winged Africans, dragons and dinosaurs, a lost tribe of Israel, and a tribe of Africans blessed by the jungle spirits. It also contains substantial veiled criticism of Mittelafrika, earning it acclaim and opposition from various corners of the world.

A series of strikes in Spain have led to several successes as the CNT-FAI grows in power. A correspondence between several leaders of the CSA and Spanish union has begun lately.


Plans from Subordinates


With your cooperation secured, the Coordination Committee intends to begin removing and replacing the remaining local politicians who are unwilling to come to an accommodation with the new order.

The State Legislative Committee, having been hamstrung by resistance from bureaucracy for long enough, is preparing to go over, around, or through them. They are viciously debating the possible replacement structures, such as creating elected councils responsible for implementing the various laws or simply hiring new officials.

Thomas has been shaken by his experience, but with the current kerfuffle in Congress, there will never be a better time to push for minority rights and worker protection on a federal level. Even a failure to pass those will be seen as a success, due to generating outrage that will fuel your support.

And Butler is continuing his efforts to whip the Red Guards into shape. Every day he bulldozes over resistance and discovers concealed crimes, but gradually the paramilitary improves under the stern leadership of Butler and the VFW.


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



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 support within the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Increase Relations and Strength of selected faction, chance of gaining support within the CSA.

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: None. 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: Varies 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.

Establish a Budget: While some of your subordinates have their own budgets to draw on, Butler does not. The standard expenditures towards the Red Guards are covering most of his needs, but without financial support there is only so much that can be done. Looking to the future, Butler has suggested you set aside some funds for him and other subordinates to use at their discretion. Cost: X Resources, -Y Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Chosen amount of Resources with chosen Resource income is set aside for the use of subordinates. It may be later modified as a Free Action.

Expand the Party Line: The recent "lively debate" has greatly shaken the SPA. While part discipline and your mutual needs held the party together this time, there is no guarantee that will continue, and a split at this time will be disastrous. The current party line names racial issues as a high priority, but one secondary to economic justice for all. A vote to tweak the language in the party platform to be more expansive would inflame some tempers, but it would soothe far more. If you can get the vote through without drawing on your position too much. If bringing up the issue doesn't reignite the argument all over again. If Browder doesn't reveal he was being entirely serious. If. Cost: -5 Relations with all factions. Potential for further unrest. Using Authority is dangerous. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/80/160/240. Result: +10 Relations with Anarchists, Syndicalists, and Centrists, +5 Relations to Orthodox and Parliamentarians, increase to Appeal with minority groups, slightly increased party unity.

Encourage the Correspondence: The developing correspondence between the CSA and the CNT-FAI is good to see. The international proletariat must be united to free all the world. Begin writing letters of your own, and encouraging other leading figures in the SPA and CSA to do the same. Advice can be shared, questions answered, burdens relieved...and you know the CNT has Syndintern contacts. It would be impossible for it to be otherwise. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/5/10/20. Result: Increased internationalist sense within the SPA, potential for further benefits.

Showcase Successes and Suffering: Your recent focus on the rural areas has earned you a great deal of criticism. Bringing your reasoning to the CSA and showing the benefits of this focus, both to the cause as a whole and to the people you have helped, can counter accusations of throwing away money and resources. It may also support the dwindling and flagging Red Guards in the Midwest, many of whom are likely to leave soon. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100. Result: Increased support from the Red Grange, possible support from other factions, decreased loss of support for rural actions.


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: -1 Influence, potential loss of support from the CSA. 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.

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. Gain support from IWW MA and MM.

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. Gain support from the Teamster's Union.

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: loss of support from TUUL and ASA, 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. Gain of support from IWW, Teamster's Union, and Regional Unions, increased 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 Resources.

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.

Form Farmer's Cooperatives: The newly organized farmer's cooperatives are young and fragile. They need tractors, fertilizer, organizational support, and more. The Red Grange is struggling to assist with these matters, lacking finances and reach. And the Dust Bowl continues to ravage the Great Plains. Government subsidies are being delayed and disappeared by hostile civil servants and damaged infrastructure. The party must take care of it's newest members. Cost: 4 Resources, moderate loss of support within the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/20/40/60/80/100/120. Result: Expand and strengthen farmer cooperatives, gain Relations with Ultraleft Farmer Labor and support from the Red Grange.

Seed Donations: The devastating droughts and dust storms have not just uprooted soil and those who work it, but the plants that grow in it. Losses due to spoilage, bad weather, and desperation have put many seed stocks at critically low levels. Fortunately, the French Commune has a far more robust agricultural sector that has largely recovered from the ravages of the Weltkrieg. They are willing to ship over stocks of seeds for a relatively low price in gold and some better quality machine tools. These shipments can then be transferred to farmers. Cost: 2 Resources, slight loss of support within the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60. Result: Slightly expand and strengthen farmer cooperatives, slight gain of Relations for Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and support from the Red Grange.

Special Foods: The gardens mostly produce simple crops like potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes. While they have definitely improved the quality of the soups and stews and other meals served at the various people's kitchens, spices and herbs are in short supply for those kitchens. It should be relatively simple to purchase some mint plants and various others to add them to these new gardens. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/30/50. Result: Improve quality of meals at soup kitchens, gain support from The Teamster's Union, the SPU, and the AFL-CIO.

Mass Recruiting, Pt. 1: The cities are dense places, heaving with workers. Most of them are already unionized, but some have resisted the pressure of the CSA and remained separate. Some have even managed to avoid entanglement with reactionary groups. Through propaganda, demonstrations, and door-to-door recruiting, these remaining individuals can be brought into the unions and encouraged to take up the cause. Growths in union membership will strengthen your hand as the dues increase and the workers become more radicalized and organized. And soon, they will throw off their chains. Cost: Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60/90. Result: Small gains in support from the AFL-CIO, the IWW Mountain Men, The Teamster's Union, and Regional Unions. Increase in income. Expansion of unions due to recruitment.


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.

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: 3 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: 0/30/60/90/120. 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: 0. Result: Red Guards withdraw from the Midwest, letting any established organizations take over independently.

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: 0/25/50/100. Results: Gain income, easier smuggling, new options unlocked.

Gunrunning to the Midwest: You have small stockpiles of weapons and improvised explosives. While these are typically used by the Red Guards when attacking reactionaries and defending strikers, they may be put to better use defending the newest adherents to socialism. Given the control the unions have over many railyards, transportation will not be a problem. Cost: 2 Resources. Slight loss of support in the CSA. -5 Relations with the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/5/10. Result: Send weapons and explosives to the farming cooperatives, gian in support from the Red Grange.

Making Bankers Bleed: While most banks have collapsed under the strain of crisis and depression, several have been consolidated into larger enterprises which are more effectively able to withstand bank runs and anti-foreclosure efforts. But these banks have offices and vaults in cities throughout America, cities dominated by the Red Guards and friendly police forces. Steal their gold, destroy their paperwork, execute their corrupt leadership. Make them understand that there will be no place for men like Morgan and Fargo. Cost: Likely to provoke a severe reaction, loss of support from AFL-CIO and SPU, loss of Relations with the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/25/50/100. Result: One-time influx of Resources, records of debt destroyed, bourgeoisie terrorized.

Formal Trials: The most basic investigations Butler and his loyal men have completed have turned up a cesspool of corruption within the Red Guards. Bribery, theft, racketeering, abusing innocent men and women, brutality, rape, harassment, and every vice known to man. Currently, while most important figures know at least some of the details, no one knows about all of them. Butler wants all the dirty laundry aired, with teams of Red Guards, VFW, and police arresting the guilty and exposing their crimes. You question if that is the tactically best decision, but you recognize the principle behind it. And there is something to be said for being honest, and something else for getting it over with..You want to tell him to go ahead. You know it's the right thing to do. But what if it costs you the Revolution?.Cost: Relations drop with everyone, especially the Totalists, loss of support with all factions in the CSA. Chance of backlash. Likely to weaken the Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/40/80/120/160. Result: Probable gains in support from the SPU and AFL-CIO, probable gain in Relations with the Parliamentarians. Infighting. Removal of criminal elements. Make a principled stance. Make it easier for Jack to meet his daughter's eyes. End the risk of someone else leaking how bad things are. ???

Target Rural Reactionaries: Even in towns protected by the Red Guards, there are various hostile elements that remain.Hostile local militias, criminal gangs ranging from corrupt families who treat their towns life fiefdoms to bandits who resemble the villains of a Western movie, Longist groups, tendrils of the KKK and similar organizations, and more all threaten the newly converted socialists...many of whom may well convert back if sufficiently intimidated. While there has been something of a truce in the Midwest after the army moved in, some in the party speculate that they are merely seeking an opportunity, and should be defeated before they find one. Cost: Probable backlash, loss of support from the SPU, slight loss of support from the AFL-CIO. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/5/25/50/75/100/125. Result: Destroy hostile forces in some sections of the Midwest, gain relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox, gain support from both factions of the IWW, strengthen farming cooperatives.


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.

(1 Influence Committed) 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: 2 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 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.

Public Life: The gardens have begun to bring people together who were formally separate: members of different tenant's unions now work together to turn an abandoned ruin into a fruitful garden, people from all walks of life relax in them when they can do so without interrupting work, and the recent arrivals and old hands can come together over an appreciation of fresh vegetables. This is a success worth building on. While people are adding to these gardens already, asking musicians to play by them or setting up benches and tables on the edge, or even segregating spaces for children to play, you could encourage this effort to spread thousands of miniature parks alongside the gardens to help encourage the entwining of various communities. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60. Result: Expand community gardens with other (cheap) community activities and facilities, encourage interaction between different groups.


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 and possibly federal-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.

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: 0/20/40/50/75/80/100. 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 bureaucrats, slow enough that there should be minimal loss of institutional knowledge.

Cut Out the Rot: As an alternative to slowly replacing the resisting bureaucrats, they could be purged in one fell swoop. Their behavior has given ample evidence for malfeasance and corruption, and even those not directly involved are certainly complicit as part of a corrupt system. You do not have the time to slowly winnow them away, and there is no benefit from avoiding sabotage that is already happening. Remove them all, to prison or to the bread lines, and replace them with trusted individuals. Cost: Malus to implementing state laws and ordinances. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/60/120. Results: Replace all the hostile bureaucrats as fast as possible.

Agricultural Subsidies: Another potential way to bolster the farming cooperatives, and farmers in general, is to expand the subsidies to them. The state governments have enough money for it, and considering the behavior of several other governments, only a hypocrite would complain if they went even moderately into debt. Given that the factions which most disdain your rural focus also disdain electoralism, this will be exceedingly unpopular with some sections. Cost: Minus Relations with Syndicalists, loss of support with both factions of the IWW. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/25/50. Result: Expand agricultural subsidies, gain in support from The Teamster's Union, the Red Grange and Regional Unions. Gain in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor.

Expand Socialist Subsidies: The newly established subsidies for businesses that maintain certain standards of behavior have been decried as excessive interventionism, but they have also kept many fed and warm, and the value generated has been far more than the governments have been put in. Expand these subsidies to expand the impact...and possibly allow for the reasonable establishment of additional revenue streams by taking advantage of these policies. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/45/75. Result: Expand subsidies to workplaces, unlock further options for government intervention and business establishment.


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.

Document Rural Life: Farmers live vastly different lives than urban workers. And even within that broad category, there is a vast gulf of distance between a Midwestern smallholder, an Appalachian backwoods farmer, and a Southern sharecropper. Documenting some of their experiences, their cultures, their hardships and abuses that they endure under capitalism, and their desires for themselves and their children could help overcome gaps of understanding and painful clashes that have bedeviled your efforts in rural propaganda and organizing. It might be seen as a boondoggle by some, but it also may add weight to your argument. Cost: Small loss of support within the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60. Result: Reduced difficulty of rural organization and propagandization.


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. Them providing 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: Four hour moratorium.

Rolls:

Expand the Party Line with +10, +0, +0. Encourage Correspondence with +15. Minority Rights with +20. Local Elections with +15. Socialist Radio Networks with +5.

Coordination Committee: 2 Influence on Limited Local Elections, +5, +5

Norman Thomas: Federal Pro-Worker Legislation, 2 Influence on Minority Rights. +10, +10, +10

State Legislative Committee: 2 Influence on Cut Out the Rot: +0, +0

Smedley Butler: Instilling Discipline, Pt.1 and An Investigation Arm. +10