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

The Secession-from-State Crisis, also known by charming names such as "Red November" (referring to the various strikes, blood, and the red-tinted snow that fell in New England due to dust storms) or "The November Uprisings", has been nothing short of a catastrophe for the Hoover Administration. Faith has been shaken in the reliability of National Guard units across the country at a time when the army is still suffering from both the Payment Army and the Midwest Loyalty Camp scandals. While it is tempting to see any loss for the Capitalists as a victory for the working class, and to further trumpet the victories gained across the country while the eyes of the nation were elsewhere, the implications of the uprisings themselves deserve focus and study of what it means for the future.

The primary sites of the November Uprisings were in Indiana, West Virginia, and Virginia, with smaller scale risings elsewhere in the country, primarily the Midwest. While this report will hardly cover every nuance, and ignores the large-scale strike actions that were also occurring, it is my hope that it will at least give a more detailed look into the events where blood flowed the most freely.

Indiana
Most directly relevant to us is Indiana. While it is a significant part of the Red Belt, the state has overall been considered the least reliable and the most in danger of Counterrevolution, with the greatest concern being from the Indiana Klan, which enjoyed significant general popularity, support from the non-SPA portions of the state legislature, and de-facto control of many small towns (as agitators within rural Indiana tragically discovered.) Legislation against anti-reactionary militias has helped significantly in weakening the Klan, but it was far from destroyed.

David Curtiss Stephenson's declaration of a "State of Free Indiana" can in many ways be considered a blessing in disguise. Stephenson and the Indiana Klan (or at least those most fanatical or militant followers willing to openly declare and fight for secession) were now rebels and traitors in the eyes of the USA. The Red Guard was thus able to drive Stephenson and the Indiana Klan's core out of the state, robbing them of much of their leadership and discrediting the Klan in the eyes of many.

While this has left us with a greater ability to make inroads into southern Indiana, the Klan's grassroots support remains present and must be dealt with. The efforts of the Teamster's Union and Coordination Committee have been of great assistance in securing this region, but until the KKK is discredited or destroyed in the state, I do not believe we will be able to rest easy.

On that note, we have been approached by a number of people who claim to have been… sexually assaulted by D.C. Stephenson, or relatives who have suffered that fate, with the parents of one Madge Oberholtzer speaking on behalf of their daughter who died in 1925 from injuries inflicted on her. All say that they were intimidated into silence as the Klan grew ever-more militant and aggressive in reaction to the rise of Syndicalism. With Stephenson and the KKK's most loyal followers gone however, they are willing to speak out against the Klan and provide testimony, if the SPA can guarantee their safety and deliver justice. Furthermore, the efforts of the Teamster's Union have borne tremendous fruit, and local county officials across Indiana, terrified by the Free State Uprising, are practically falling over each other to sell out their fellows as having taken bribes or made deals with the Klan, and have even implicated a significant number of Republican officials and politicians.

Nauseating as it is to contemplate, this does provide us with an opportunity to break the Indiana Klan and inflict another blow on our opponents, while also providing at least some measure of justice to the victims. The Indiana Klan is generally seen by the white populace of Indiana as a defender of (white) women and upstanding paragons of justice, something entirely at odds with the growing piles of evidence we are amassing. While there will always be those who will dismiss anything endorsed by a Syndicalist, this remains the best opportunity we will likely ever have to shatter public perception of the KKK, and hit the Republican party with yet another scandal. What this does to the America First Party will likely depend on the actions of Pelley and Long, which are a struggle to predict even at the best of times, but it is at least unlikely to be to the benefit of the Silver Legion.

In short, we have made significant gains in Indiana from the events of November, ones we can hopefully use to fully secure the state, or at least ensure that none of our opponents can solidify a foothold here.

West Virginia/Virginia
The situation further east is much more murky, with what information we do have coming secondhand, often from newspapers or rumors spreading to sympathetic coal miners. Therefore, much of what has been written here is based heavily on speculation rather than hard facts.

Things seem to have started over a mixture of protests against new state laws and mutterings of "Syndicalist Tyranny" (while the SPA does not dominate the legislature in the Virginias, there is enough of a presence in West Virginia at least that our policies can still be passed with sufficient negotiations.) While we lack any truly reliable information we currently believe that these initial protests occurred from reactionary parts of the population motivated by some combination of religious and cultural fervor against the SPA's recent successes, and what is seen as a government too weak to do anything against them.

Regardless of the origin, what is certain is that things rapidly deteriorated from mostly nonviolent protests to gunfire. Federal sources claim the protestors themselves struck first, while those less sympathetic to the government say that the violence started when army units and policemen fired into the crowds. Whatever the case, there was soon a situation where these new "free states" were being formed by armed militias, joined by a significant number of defectors from state National Guard units. The army was then deployed in earnest, stripping down virtually every garrison that hadn't already seen men redeployed to handle the Bleeding Midwest.

Predictably, the rebels were no match for Federal army units that outnumbered them several times over and had the benefit of armor and aircraft support in open warfare, but the army has proven far less effective in actually subduing the rebellion, as significant collateral damage and the inability of the BOI to suppress rebellious sentiment means that shootings and sabotage often start up as soon as the bulk of the army is gone.

The relationship between these events and the America First Party is unknown, though Long himself has proven adept at deflecting outright accusations of association without ever fully denying it. Regardless, I would argue that these would-be rebels have AFP sympathies if nothing else, and would likely be more aligned with Long than they would be with anyone else. With the Federal inability to uproot the rebellion's grassroots, this means that we can likely expect an uptick of AFP (and by extension, either Minutemen or Silver Legion) activity in the two states.

Virginia itself has been accepted as a battleground between Long and the Federal Government for some time now, but West Virginia is a greater concern for us directly. We have a major though not dominating presence in the legislature and the coal miner Unions are affiliated with the CSA, and this raises the possibility that if the BOI's incompetence continues, we will end up having to deal with these militias to secure the state. While currently there are too many eyes from the government and army watching to do much, it is something that must be kept in mind once some other crisis inevitably happens and causes eyes to turn towards it instead of the Virginias.

Other Incidents
If our information on the events inside the Virginias is secondhand at best, then our information on the smaller scale uprisings outside of the main three is nonexistent. We are fairly certain that the majority have occurred in the Midwest, with a smaller number in rural New England, but we have little other information. There are rumors ranging from Green Mountain Boys destroying radio towers to utter insanity such as farmworker caravans conglomerating into Mongol-like hordes that seek to burn down all civilization. But we have no coherent picture outside of an overall dissatisfaction with the government, though it can be assumed that the outrage over MacArthur's Loyalty Camps has not yet died down in the Midwest.

Street Brigades: 1 Influence, 47+10 = 57

The cities of America have been ravaged by years of depression and months of chaos. Roads have gone without repair, buildings have been turned into burned-out shells, statues lie where they were toppled. Dust and grit coats some, while others shiver under blankets of snow. Soot stains their walls like the smeared drawings of a child.

Criminal gangs have taken over neighborhoods then been rooted out with truncheon and shotgun. Battles between political militias have raged for days on end. Street cleaners and sanitation workers have walked out of their jobs and left the filth to pile up.

The decay has been fought in places, where neighborhoods and unions organized cleanings and repairs, where communities banded together to aid each other. The devastation has lessened just slightly through the efforts of so many.

But there is always more to be done. That could easily be my motto, you think with a wry smile, pressing some gravel into a pothole alongside thousands of others, working under the steady and reassuring supervision of the Red Guards and the police. Your back aches and you have blisters on your hand, but you press on. All around you, men and women who have endured far harsher conditions are working eagerly, buoyed by the promise of hot meals and fair pay.

Camera bulbs flash as photos of you and the workers around you are snapped, and you occasionally pause to offer a few answers to the questions of eager reporters - after they have been inspected to make sure they aren't hiding anything.

And at the end of the day, so weary you can barely walk, you end your meal early and stand up to deliver a speech. You explain why they are being paid to work in such a way. You applaud them for their dedication and determination. And you make them a promise. A promise of self-determination and self-management. A promise of good treatment and mutual aid. A promise that they will not be abused.

Then you climb down from the stage and begin to shake hands. You meet Earl, a former firefighter. You meet David and Dana, a pair of siblings who joined the brigade to earn enough money to feed their ailing mother. You meet William, just released from jail after a Red Guards raid on the bar he and a few other resentful newcomers met in. You give them a smile, some words of encouragement, and then you leave and collapse into bed.

And meanwhile, the labor goes on.

It's practically a nationwide phenomenon, as those who would have had nothing to do but drift and make trouble find new ways to spend their time and energy. Roads are repaved, rubble is removed, ruins are repaired.

And care is taken to make sure that those who labor can enjoy the fruits of it. Free lectures on Marxism and Syndicalism are offered, and at the end of each one the laborers are encouraged to take advantage of the gardens, the housing cooperatives, the tenant's unions, and more.

Result: Labor brigades formed in many cities. They are very popular among the new-to-the-city, despite some accusations of corruption in their operation. -2 Resources per month.



Mass Recruiting, Pt. 1: 1 Influence, 70+10 = 80

The CSA has many old hands at recruiting in its ranks, but never before have they had access to so many methods of doing it. Radio broadcasts sweep across the nation, filling people's ears with promises. "Join a union and fight for your rights! It's your patriotic duty to organize! The boss needs you, you don't need him! Together we bargain, separately we beg! We can do it together!"

Slogans fill the airwaves, along with more cerebral persuasion as speakers list out the benefits for unionization, comparing the IWW to the Committees of Correspondence that first opposed the tyranny of King George III.

Every strike features those watching having pamphlets describing the benefits unions have fought so hard for shoved into their hands. Cities are blanketed with posters, so many that the ink begins to run out in a dozen places. Anti-union organizations are attacked from every angle. Their buildings are blanketed with hostile propaganda (and in one memorial case, sewn shut during the night by textile workers), their speakers are shouted down, their rallies broken up. The tactics of reactionaries are turned on them as they find themselves subject to mockery and harassment,

And much to their shock, with the material conditions no longer in their favor, they have no power.

Threats to fire anyone who organizes fall on deaf ears. And then it is the workers making the threats, and the bosses who have to capitulate.

Across the country, union membership rises...and then it explodes. Organized and radicalized, vast masses of workers join the IWW and various affiliates. The AFL sees their ranks grow, even as their members demand greater change and greater progress.

Even the small towns where unionization was de facto illegal until recently and on the farms of the Midwest see new unions and chapters forming.

You could say a thousand words, to describe the vast tsunami of support, but five will do: "NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR" spelled out on a Pennsylvania field by hundreds of people and photographed from above.

Result: Small gains in support from the AFL-CIO, the IWW Mountain Men, the IWW Main Affiliates, The Teamster's Union, and Regional Unions. Increase in size of the AFL-CIO, both IWW factions, the Red Grange, and the SPU. +5 Resources per month.


Forcing Concessions: 1 Influence, 1 Gravitas, 7+33+10 = 50

You send a directive out to the unions. "Gain concessions," you tell them. You are not an adventurist. You will not strike until the iron is red hot, you will not light the match until the tinder is good and dry.

Not all are as restrained as you. Isolated factory occupations and revolutionary tribunals spark off throughout the country, provoking a wave of outcry and backlash.

Not everyone is successful. Factory ownership has begun to consolidate into cartels, and many of these cartels are willing to simply write off their smaller plants and leave them to the workers or the elements.

Not everyone is capable. Some strikes are broken, the Red Guards detachments overcome, the workers forced back to their economic slavery with bruised bodies and battered spirits and no victory to show for it.

But enough triumph to make an impression. Wages are raised, hours are shortened. Major automobile companies are forced to grant generous worker's compensation and agree with union representatives on any terminations. The mining corporations of West Virginia are made to put enormous quantities of money into making the coal shafts safer to dig in.

It is not the grand victory you hoped for. You are roundly criticized from every corner - for being too radical and for not being radical enough, for being too controlling and for not being controlling enough, for investing too much time and money and for not investing enough. But you are praised as well, in a grudging fashion usually, but it is praise nevertheless.

You don't gain anything. But the workers did. So that's something. You tell yourself it's enough.

Result: Some concessions gained for some workers, no net change in support from anywhere. New actions unlocked.


Take the Docks: 2 Influence, 66+75 = 141

The docks of New York City are guarded by private security and the remnants of militias. They huddle in the buildings and behind piles of crates, the gates locked and barricaded. Outside, the dockworkers and longshoremen gather.

"Normally, we're the ones on the inside," Alex comments. The pistol feels heavy in his hands. He never shot anyone before the Red 13th when it seemed like every thug in the city was trying to break the strike, but he had picked it up from a comrade's cold hands and he hadn't let it out of his sight for the week since.

They were taking the docks. They were seizing the means of production. They were...he swallowed his fear, shoved down the memories of screaming and gunfire. They were going to fight.

He could see faint flutters of movement. Men in ragged police uniforms, in white hoods, in ordinary worker's outfits with gray armbands were gathering.

Behind him were more workers. But here they weren't just workers. They were soldiers. They were Red Guards. They were heroes of the Revolution.

He swallowed, and tasted electricity in the air. All around him, people stiffened. And then someone raised a scrap of white cloth.

He stood there, stunned, and didn't even realize when he dropped the pistol. People were shouting, arguing terms.

It didn't matter. They weren't going to fight. No one was going to die.

He said a silent prayer, then wondered if syndicalists could pray. Then he prayed again.

The gates opened. The enemy walked out and walked through the Red Guards and left, scattering amongst the city, leaving behind their weapons and what scraps of courage they still had.

And the workers take the docks.

They don't take down the American flag, for they are still Americans. But they raised a red one beside it. And the sailors from the French Commune cheered them, half for the victory of the workers and half because now they could finally get off the ship.

Syndicalist ships pay no docking fees now. German ones pay double. And bits of goods vanish into thin air, only to reappear. Soup kitchens find themselves with extra food, housing cooperatives with extra blankets, factories with fresh raw materials that no one ordered. And in some of these missing crates, there are guns, and bullets, and manuals.

Red Guards patrol it, daring customs agents to speak against them. Some try.

They die screaming in burning houses. Companies the unions don't like find the fees for transporting goods doubling and doubling again.

The docks belong to the CSA. And while workers struggle for their liberation, they will never be lost.
Result: Docks of New York City are claimed by the CSA. +5 Resources per month. Dramatically easier to gain access to goods or supplies, 1/2 actions for Syndintern Relations completed. Slight increase in corruption due to the easy opportunities.


Revolutionary Guards: 1 Influence, 94+5 = 99
You have arranged for security from the Red Guards and from trustworthy police departments already, and you doubled these measures after the latest assassin was foiled. But it's not enough for you to feel your family is safe, not after that fucking bastard tried to kill your daughter.

Threats could come from any direction after all. And you can't always have a wall of Red Guards between you and people.

Two hundred men are recruited. Only the most trusted and tested are even considered, and you personally speak with every single one before accepting them.

Not all of them are to guard you, of course. Norman gets his own detail, and the Combined Syndicates, and the SPA Congressional delegation all have men and women dressed as secretaries and assistants with guns hidden in their jackets to keep them safe.

You already feel better, seeing Comrade Isaac sitting outside the children's room in the SPA offices when you leave Flora there.

While the Revolutionary Guard were initially proposed as a force to counter infiltration and subversion along with protecting important figures, the recent spate of assassination attempts and the incredible BOI incompetence demonstrated has led some to reconsider their priorities, you included.

[] The Revolutionary Guard is ready to do its most basic duty, and that is good enough. Action ends immediately, the Revolutionary Guard will only serve as clandestine bodyguards.

[] The Revolutionary Guard must protect more than just the leadership, it must protect the Revolution itself. Actions continues as originally described: 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.


Encourage the Correspondence: 1 Influence, 56

The correspondence begins to grow on a regular basis, and it gradually expands. Revolutionary organizations in Canada, the West Indies, and Latin America have been communicating in haphazard fashion with those in Spain, the French Commune, and the Union of Britain for some time, but the seizure of the New York docks and your encouragement has had an explosive effect on the sheer number of letters transported.

It's not just grand plans of international solidarity and infighting among different tendencies of the left anymore. It's people commiserating, making friends, even playing chess in the mail (you tried it, and lost within five moves).

It's a beautiful thing, the way the world grows connected and international workers stand together. Proposals for encouragement of further shows of solidarity such as refusing to load ships heading towards Canada and marches in honor of the Bolsheviks are bandied about in union halls and party headquarters as people grow more aware of the coming world revolution.

You help Hannah with the spelling as she writes to her friend Alasne from Bilbao, and you smile to see her so happy to hear about another girl's day.

Result: Correspondence grows more widespread, more internationalist sentiment in the SPA and the CSA.


Socialist Radio Networks: 1 Influence, 75

The radio network is at last fully functional. From anywhere in the Red Belt, you can tune in on one of several stations to hear SPA-endorsed news, discussions, and entertainment. In many places, there are additional local stations established, but they are not as widespread due to limited capital.

There are also several more stations connected to the greater network to varying degrees serving areas cut off from the strongholds of socialism such as Boston and Seattle.

For the first time, a year after you first began to consider the idea, you are interviewed and people from Iowa to Connecticut can hear the answers you give as you speak.

You have the facts on your side, so you pound the facts. You have the truth on your side, so you pound the truth. You have history on your side, so you pound history. And just for emphasis you pound the table.

"The Revolution will come no matter how the champions of capital fight it. Nothing can stop the workers of the world. There's going to be a second Declaration of Independence soon enough, a Declaration of Independence from Want and Oppression and Exploitation," you prophesize, and you dare the world to prove you wrong.

Result: Radio network established, located primarily in the Red Belt. Actions for expansion or increased use of radio propaganda established.



Report from the Coordination Committee: 2 Influence on Limited Local Elections, 100+15+20+10 = 145

The Ku Klux Klan overplayed their hand when they declared the State of Free Indiana, having struck fear into the hearts of many ordinary Americans with their grandiose proclamations of the destruction of syndicalist tyranny. Even local policing forces decided the fanatics who followed Stephenson were too extreme and began attacking the militias they had often allowed to operate unhindered. Red Guards assistance was often required in these battles, especially in the Indiana heartland where the police often found themselves divided.

After the dust settled and the blood dried, the more respectable faces of the SPA and CSA moved in, offering protection from any resurgence of the Klan, economic revitalization, and a better future. They also revealed allegations of vicious abuse the Klansmen often inflicted on anyone they could. With protection from retaliation assured, many women, including those deemed "respectable" came forth to report the horrific treatment they endured and kept silent about out of fear, in some cases for years.

The Teamster's Union trumpeted these accusations from the rooftops, in some cases against the wishes of the women involved, leading to a collapse of support for the brutal organization, at least within the Red Belt where they were already tottering.

Meanwhile, efforts at expanding your influence in rural and small-town America has continued, with the heavy-handed reactions of the federal government again providing you with fertile ground as its supporters are deposed in favor of yours. This even extends into a few towns in Kentucky and western Virginia, areas where you had minimal presence until now.

Result: Action completed with major successes, including a slight increase in support in western Virginia and northern Kentucky.


Report from the State Legislative Committee: 2 Influence on Agricultural Subsidies, 94+48-25= 117

The inexperience of the bureaucracy would ordinarily have been a problem, so the state legislatures decided to make things as simple as possible. Previous records of taxpayers and companies were examined, with instructions to err on the side of giving more money out.

While this has led to some waste and inefficiency, giving out more money than was strictly needed was deemed the lesser evil. The influx of cash helps bolster flagging factories, support struggling cooperatives, and give those who have lost nearly everything one last cushion to try and improve their situation. And despite the "waste" some decry it as, the money is put to good use, especially when several newly established farming cooperatives in Ohio begin a mass order of farming equipment and expand the land cultivated.

Result: Large subsidies given out, increase in support, inexperienced civil service penalty slightly reduced.

Report from Norman Thomas: 2 Influence on Community Outreach, 23+41+5 = 69 ,1 Influence on Prayer and Rest, 28

Norman, exhausted from an intense few months and demoralized by federal intransigence and the increasing violence in America, spent a week doing outreach, focusing on areas where your influence is newest, in the backwoods hamlets of Appalchia and the rural towns of Ohio and Indiana and Kentucky. There, he visits churches and says prayers, speaks soothingly to those unsettled, offers aid and comfort to the lost and confused. He does what he does best for two weeks, then returns to New York City. He spends the rest of the month there, walking through parks and praying for peace.

You fear it will be a long time before it comes.

Result: Reassurances given to the unsteady, and a man looks for peace.

Report from Butler: 1 Influence on Instilling Discipline, Pt.1, 67+10 = 77,1 Influence on An Investigation Arm, 37

For the third month in a row, Butler works to wrangle the Red Guards. The importance has been drilled into their heads through lectures and explanations and stories from professional soldiers, and the majority of them at least accept Butler's right to command them and the importance of what he is insisting on. The damage the KKK's lack of discipline did to their position also helped him make his points.

But now that discipline must be instilled. The drills are arduous, the challenges painful, but the Red Guards push through them determinedly, following the commands of their sergeants no matter how difficult.
And gradually they begin to accept the necessity of reporting malicious behavior, even if their definitions of malicious are occasionally questionable.

Result: A system for reporting misbehavior is established, the discipline of the Red Guards is slowly increasing.

Spend Time With Your Family

Once you gave your interview, you decided to take some time for yourself and your family. The three of you drove up to a resort near Troy, in the beautiful Adirondacks. Hannah had her nose pressed to the window for nearly two thirds of the drive, watching the coursing Hudson and the towering mountains

She spent nearly the entire time running around the resort, enjoying the lake and the trails, sketching views from the roof and learning about the wild creatures of America, which left you and Louise to spend plenty of time together.

You made sure to get a suite of course, to reduce the risks such action could involve.

And for two whole weeks, none of you worry about politics or unionization or assassins. You simply enjoy yourselves.

It is truly a pity you have to leave.

Result: Significant loss in stress, improvement to health, your family is happier.

Choose A Focus: In the Cities

The cities are the heart and soul of the socialist movement in America. This is where the workers labor in factories, this is where battles are fought with Pinkertons and police. This is where strikes are planned, reactionaries are defeated, unions are organized.

And this is where your victory will come from, from the advanced and disciplined and organized workers. As they support you, you will support them in turn.

Experiments in economic democracy and planning, government reform, the expansion of dual power, cultural revolutions, all will come from the cities.

Result: Focus completed.

A/N: @Chimeraguard's omake is canon as a draft of an internal SPA report. The omake reward is +15 to the next action for smearing your opponents.