Expand Party Bureaucracy: 1 Influence, 89+10 = 99
The party has recruited many thousands of people from every walk of life. The membership rolls have grown longer every day as federal suppression efforts falter and the decaying economic conditions radicalize the people. And that means there are plenty of people to recruit to work for the party. A series of new positions are opened, with the more experienced getting promoted and the rest filling in below. Some experiments are done, as some branches include circles and horizontal hierarchies and other, more unusual structures.
You sit at your desk, reviewing the numbers, and find yourself smirking with amusement. Your enemies are fond of comparing you to an all-consuming octopus. And now you have even more arms...
Result: +2 to the Influence cap.
Publicize Accomplishments: 2 Gravitas, 19+15=34
Ten thousand battles have been fought, from coast to coast. Blood has run thick on city streets, and not just the blood of hapless victims. Political and economic concessions have been won through political maneuvering and main strength.
And you make sure people know it. Radio broadcasts describe the increase in the standard of living and the better working conditions for those in heavily socialized factories. Posters showcase socialists and workers breaking their chains and striking down capitalists and police.
But there isn't enough to go around, and too much can be laid at your feet by the foolish or malevolent. Your propaganda apparatus isn't strong enough to overcome it all.
But it's strong enough to fight back.
Result: Some increases in propaganda about your successes and how you have benefitted the workers, enough to fight growing hostile narratives but not enough to win.
Establish a Propaganda Team: 1 Influence, 62+10=72
Fortunately, this particular weakness is already being fought. You have already begun looking to find someone to manage the propaganda side of things. Several individuals have already expressed interest...instead of an individual responsible, there will have to be a committee. The question is who will you appoint? And how many? As for how it will be structured...well, that is no question at all. There is only one possible way: democratically.
Paul Robeson wants to use the committee to ensure that the cause of social justice sees the advocacy it deserves. Birch Wilson is a professional writer and editor who wants to use the written word to break the chains on worker's minds and does not trust the radio to do it. A. J. Muste seeks to use it as a venue for encouraging workers to organize. Eugene O' Neill wants to encourage the growth of a truly proletarian cultural movement. Even your wife is hoping to get involved and spread support for women's liberation.
Who will focus on what needs focusing? Who is competent? Who will get you the support you need from the SPA and CSA? And who will you ask?
(Each member of the committee will add their own bonuses to the total bonus from the committee and have their own interests. For each member of the committee, you will lose 1 Influence and the committee will gain 2. Vote in plan format.)
[] Paul Robeson is a newcomer to the socialist cause after performing in Chicago and finding himself to be "treated like a man." He is a singer and an actor, hoping to develop new art and encourage the rise of social justice. Politically, he is fairly aloof, but somewhat favors the AFL-CIO and the IWW MA.
[] Birch Wilson is a curmudgeonly journalist you are very familiar with, having worked with him many times. He is a skilled writer and editor, favoring pamphlets and newspapers above all else. If you get him drunk enough, he will rant about how radios are foolish nonsense and express concern about how the social revolution is alienating insecure voters...and how that can be alleviated.
[] Albert Goldman is one of the fiercest proponents of a worker's revolution in the SPA, and very interested in the creation of a new socialist economy run entirely by the people. He is a leading Marxist thinker and hopes to work to make that more palatable to the ordinary American.
[] Louise is hoping to get more involved with the socialist movement, beyond being one of your most able allies. You want her to do it too, ideally without it looking like nepotism. She is smart as a whip though, and will definitely impress. And refine the efforts of the committee as a whole. She is also very understandably interested in women's liberation, although she wants to avoid being the "women's member."
[] A. J. Muste is a longtime member of the SPA and a popular union organizer. Having led the textile workers of Lawrence to great success in 1919, he has gone from strength to strength since, focusing on religious communities and immigrants. He hopes to continue that as a member of the Propaganda Team, and will undoubtedly be a great asset despite his occasional hesitancy on some of the more extreme proposals.
[] Eugene O'Neill is a proud and occasionally...difficult man who Louise is very fond of. He is a playwright who favors tragedies in which idealistic men struggle to hold onto their hopes and gradually sink into despair. But he does want to write more optimistic plays...and he wants to create an entirely new culture by and of and for the workers of the world, an internationalist and liberated culture..perhaps something so revolutionary will be what is needed to reach out to those who reject it. Or perhaps it will be a series of expensive flops.
Against Pink Unionism: 1 Influence, 99+15=114
You condemn the practice of pink unionism in the strongest possible terms. You do it in the CSA, shouting down SPU delegates when they try to interrupt you. You do it over the radio, denouncing it as shameful cowardice. Speech after speech, argument after argument, you paint it as a move by a cabal of greedy capitalists who have been working against the worker's movement for years. You list all the times people have tried to defuse the worker's movements before and ask why the brave and intelligent and class-conscious men and women of America are falling for it this time.
And you allow its defenders no chance to actually counter your organizations. Accusation after accusation you hurl at them in open debate, barely bothering to make sure yours are accurate as you drown them with sheer volume and enthusiasm, the tide of your supporters washing over any remaining resistance.
Anywhere the SPA can martial a force, pink unionism dies a slow, agonizing death as its members leave, its organizers are attacked, its meetings are picketed and broken up.
And that's applauded as its advocates quietly shift their positions or drop out of the SPA entirely...You have made it clear that reform is not and can not be enough. The only victory acceptable is a total one.
If only you had the strength to enforce that in California.
Incidentally, Century reports your advocacy has had an impact in Longist circles, although the nature of it remains unclear. More trouble for the America First Party can only be to your benefit, however.
Result: Strong measures have been taken to stamp down the specter of reformism within the SPA.
Election Campaigns: 1 Influence, 14+5=19
The start of the campaigns is less of a sprint and more of a jerky stumble as politicians begin to energize their bases. Caucuses and conventions are prepared, rallies are held, speeches are given. Competing candidates debate each other as different philosophies of syndicalism and socialism and anarchism clash. Vast amounts of effort are spent on electoral propaganda, to the complaints of syndicalists who feel working within the system is a waste of time.
It's a long time until November, but hopefully, the early start will give you an advantage. And hopefully, the workers will triumph in the ballot box.
In the meantime, you have to do what you can to increase their chances of success. And there is one thing that immediately comes to mind that needs to be discussed...
While the injection of funding is welcome, it is not enough to sustain an intense campaign..and there is the question of who it should go to.
How much do you spend? The more you invest, the more you will please those who support electoralism, concern those who view it as a viable tactic, and anger those who oppose it.
[] 5 Resources per month.
[] 10 Resources per month.
[] Write-in Resources per month.
You must also decide how it is to be distributed, which will also likely have political impacts..
[] Favorably.
-[] To the ASA aligned candidates
-[] To the IWW Main Affiliates candidates
-[] To the AFL-CIO candidates
-[] To the Teamster's Union candidates
-[] To the Red Grange candidates
-[] Write-in your criteria, subject to veto.
[] Equally among all candidates
[] Withhold funding until a candidate is chosen for the general election
Expanding Electoralism: 1 Influence, 74+10=84
You are the unquestioned leader of the SPA. You may still face opposition and arguing, but when you want to make something happen, it happens. And right now, you want to empower the State Legislative Committee and Norman Thomas so they keep enacting legislation and targeting hostile politicians so that a socialist agenda can be better implemented for the good of all the nation and all the peoples of the world.
It takes several arguments and far too much time to make the arrangements, but with the expansion of the State Legislative Committee, the creation of regional sub-committees, and the volunteering of several other Senators and representatives to assist Norman Thomas, both groups are empowered significantly.
Result: -2 Influence, +1 Influence for Norman Thomas, +2 Influence for the SLC.
Anti-Corruption Investigation: 1 Influence, 73+0=73
As the piles of evidence grow higher, you begin to insist on receiving increasingly regular reports on who is guilty and what they did. Name after name is found, the paper proof providing incontrovertible proof of bribery and embezzlement. And many more dramatic sins as well, office affairs and backstabbing, Senators using campaign funds for debauchery...honestly, it's nothing unusual. You expected far worse.
What you did not expect is the widespread nature of the corruption, as it has been left to fester for far too long. Patronage networks and backscratching have allowed several major figures to maintain control of segments of the party, while bribery and pork are rampant in the CSA. Some of the financial records suggest thousands of dollar's worth of property and currency have been squirreled away by several figures. Including some you counted among your allies.
As much as you want to see them all sent to prison, the loss of so much expertise, the public revelations of scandals for elected figures, and the sudden losses of support from your allies could be crippling in these dangerous and unpredictable months.
You will need to decide what can be handled internally and what needs to be made public, what can be harshly punished and what you must let slide for expediency's sake.
Your political allies, primarily in the Teamsters and the center of the SPA, have been heavily engaged in what are effectively machine politics, using their dominance over institutions such as the soup kitchens to encourage people to vote for their candidates and frequently collecting extensive sums of money in the process, although at least a portion of those funds went to things like improving the accommodations in housing cooperatives.
Numerous Congresspeople in every house of every legislature have received bribes of various flavors, misused public money, and committed several egregious abuses of power.
Meanwhile, many party bureaucrats and elected officials of every stripe have been proven corrupt, in ways that run the gamut from small to serious. (Note: while the range of punishments is generally similar for mild to harsh, the main difference is where the lines are drawn. Mild means slaps on the wrist like compensation and apologies for most, while harsh means nearly everyone will be facing at least some jail time.)
Your allies will be...
[] [ALLIES1] handled internally.
[] [ALLIES1] have their crimes made public
And their punishments will be...
[] [ALLIES2] mild. They are needed in their current position, and so you will push for leniency wherever possible.
[] [ALLIES2] moderate. The most egregious offenders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, while others will be given gentler treatment.
[] [ALLIES2] harsh. Corruption of any stripe cannot be tolerated.
The politicians will be...
[] [POL1] handled internally.
[] [POL1] have their crimes made public
And their punishments will be...
[] [POL2] mild. They are needed in their current position, and so you will push for leniency wherever possible.
[] [POL2] moderate. The most egregious offenders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, while others will be given gentler treatment.
[] [POL2] harsh. Corruption of any stripe cannot be tolerated.
The various party officials will be...
[] [OFFICIAL1] handled internally.
[] [OFFICIAL1] have their crimes made public
And their punishments will be...
[] [OFFICIAL2] mild. They are needed in their current position, and so you will push for leniency wherever possible.
[] [OFFICIAL2] moderate. The most egregious offenders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, while others will be given gentler treatment.
[] [OFFICIAL2] harsh. Corruption of any stripe cannot be tolerated.
Personal Attention: Against Pink Unionism.
Blood will be shed over the matter of reform, and tears. But perhaps you can prevent it from coming to that....or mitigate the damage, at least. You are faintly aware of the irony of doing harm reduction by attacking a system that ostensibly serves the same purpose...but you put such uncomfortable thoughts aside.
And you began spilling ink.
And you make it personal. You describe the horrible sacrifices millions have made to the kings of rail and mine and toil, you paint images of the suffering inflicted on those who struggled against them. And then you ask the workers of the nation a few simple questions.
"Are you such cowards that you will throw away what so many have fought for so you can get scraps from your master's table?"
"Why do you surrender so easily? Do you think you will be allowed to keep what power they give you without being able to make them?"
"What have the Pink Unions done for you lately?"
Focus: Organize the Farmworkers
The farmers of the nation are unquestionably vital to its functioning, given that they provide a majority of the food. And they have been neglected for too long by the SPA, allowing other organizations to get their hooks into them.
But the Red Grange rises to the challenge, and organizers and agitators bravely enter hostile territory to speak, risking beatings, imprisonment, and lynchings to rally Okies and Arkies and all the destitute farmworkers of the nation. As dust storms lash the Great Plains and dark clouds spread like a plague, your cause spreads with them.
Result: Focus completed.
Report from the Coordination Committee: 2 Influence on Prepare Small-Town Unions, 15+51+15=80
The continuous economic failures of America have affected the scattered towns no less than the major cities, but the cheaper costs of living insulated them. Militias clashed and skirmished, but the massive battles and bloody wars happened elsewhere. News of slaughters and savagery and strikes came, but it was always suffused with an air of unreality. And so many of these "townie syndicalists" were able to keep a pretense of normalcy up, even as they waved red flags and advocated for revolutionary changes, if not the revolution itself.
But the second disappearance of a President and the wave of factory seizures forced them to confront reality.
And now that pretense has been shattered and the broken fragments burned to ash. Many who might otherwise have kept marching for better wages and worker's shares in factories are left with enormous gaps in their worldview, gaps that could leave them vulnerable to any number of false consciousnesses. And so a massive propaganda effort is conducted to fill them in. Organizers and speakers are drafted from city after city to speak on a variety of topics, encouraging them to view these dislocations as an inevitable part of capitalism and to participate in the dismantlement of the system.
Many references are made to the Boston Tea Party and the War of Independence as these often reformist leaning unions are encouraged to push further, to fight harder. In some cases, it goes badly, and the counterrevolutionary forces earn some minor victories.
In others though...
Barbara wore her red sash proudly as she marched down Main Street, past the shuttered shops and to the town hall. A thin line of police stood, barring the path of her and the rest of the local Syndicalists Women's chapter. A few old men stared aghast from the sidewalks, gaping in horror at the sight of women in trousers. She wasn't quite happy with it for herself, but this was the uniform of the liberated woman...even if she felt even more eyes on her sometimes.
But here and now, those gazes made her feel strong. The police tried to shout them down, then they drew their batons, but they lacked the cruelty to beat women they had known since childhood.
Especially when those women had batons of their own, and were backed up by an armed contingent of Red Guards.
The town hall was seized without a single injury except for when poor Martin tripped over a loose cobblestone. Beside the American flag, the SPA banner waved proudly. The police station was occupied, the mayor shoved into jail, and fresh elections were announced.
And in the space of a night, another great victory for the syndicalist cause was won.
Central Pennsylvania, southern New York, northern Virginia, eastern Oregon, and western Indiana. Iowa and Nebraska and the Dakotas and Oklahoma. Everywhere your influence spreads, as seeds planted long ago begin to find themselves being watered by the horrible material conditions. Soon the entire country will be bright red. Soon...but not soon enough.
Because the forces of reaction will be on the move as well. And many of these newly syndicalist settlements are horribly vulnerable. Their counterrevolutionary elements are potent, their organizations are fragile, their militias are few. Despite the many successes and the growing power of the "townie syndicalists" (a phrase you hope will no longer be used as a term of contempt), some are already viewing their failures as inevitable and making plans for how to use the martyrdom and brutality as propaganda against those responsible.
You can only pray that these bright lights won't be snuffed out...and do what you can to aid them, of course.
Report from the State Legislative Committee: 1 Influence on Legitimize Seizures, 39-15=24, 1 Influence on Party Lawyers, 19-20=-1
As capitalists wring their hand over their lost property and look for any savior from the socialists, every state with its government instruments dominated begins looking to use that control to justify the seizures on grounds that would serve to deflect and diffuse hostilities, a vital move given the stirrings of the federal army and the growing divides between the reformist and revolutionary wings of the party.
To that end, teams of lawyers are hired, with the best and brightest being recruited straight from law school.
"Best and brightest" proves to be a relative term. The laws drafted are either loose enough to allow any sort of theft or strict enough to never have their conditions satisfied. The contracts various factory owners are drafted into get torn to shreds in court case after court case, with workers defying the resulting demands of the state...
Condemnation and scorn is heaped upon them and you by your rivals and enemies, while serious internal questions are being asked about the performance of the State Legislative Committee, although their stellar successes deflect most of the criticism.
Without the thinnest fig leaf of legal justification, the support for these strikes and seizures begin to fade. Even SPA heartlands see protests and arguments against continuing the seizures as counterrevolutionary forces continue to organize, circling the workers of America like hungry sharks.
Report from Norman Thomas: 1 Influence on Condemn MacArthur, 82+10=92, 2 Influence on Speak With Floyd, 39+97+10=146+10 = 156
Douglas MacArthur is an easy target. He is lacking in allies, lacking in support, and lacking in competence. He is a blowhard and a fool. And he speaks in third person!
Norman makes nearly all these points in a vicious speech on the Senate floor, naming him a coward and a bully, holding him personally responsible for the deaths of so many who were felled by disease within his Loyalty Camps or were massacred by his soldiers as they marched to be given their pay. Even his erstwhile defenders are silent, at least until Hoover arrives and manages to briefly put Norman on the backfoot by claiming continued efforts to agitate and provoke harsh reactions is to blame instead of MacArthur.
"You are like children smashing your heads against rocks, then running your mother and blaming your brother."
Had it been anyone else making that point, they might have changed the tides of support. Instead, Hoover is driven from the chamber with a chorus of booes and Thomas makes a proposal: to pass a non-binding resolution to remove MacArthur from the military.
The motion fails, with Huey Long offering nothing but tepid opposition to it. But every newspaper, even ones that would ordinarily back MacArthur, have sought to cover the congressional drama...and such is Norman's oratory that many find themselves agreeing with the accusations made.
And soon, MacArthur is being called into the White House for long discussions as rumors of a shakeup in the army ranks begin to rise...
And as some names like Hof, Preston, and Malone are bandied about, in a quiet restaurant backroom Floyd and Thomas meet.
The two of them enter, stiffly shake hands, and sit down facing each other. Their gazes bore into each other. Their hands tighten into white-knuckled fists.
And they have a long, cordial conversation.
While topics wander from the weather to their health to baseball to mocking the Kaiser, they soon turn to business.
Floyd is a progressive, and a staunch one. He is dedicated to a number of causes, many of which he and the SPA see eye to eye on, from strengthening unions to nationalizing natural resources. He is even tolerant of a degree of violence, which is more than some SPA members can say.
But every man has his lines, and Floyd's is a difficult one. He is terrified of the "Bolshevikization" of America. Ten Days That Shook the World made one impression on him: that revolution will devastate a country. And he believes that even victory will come at far too high a price. At least with the current conditions.
However, he is not foolish enough to break with you, not yet. He does want you to push for reform and dual-power over the destruction of the state, but he's willing to work with you, probably in the hopes of poaching your support. Of course, it will allow you to do the same to him...
Report from Charles Schenk: 2 Influence on Canadian Contacts, 4+69=73+10 = 83, 1 Influence on A Program of Subversion, 93+10=103
While the initial links have shown themselves to be relatively solid, with loyal syndicalists or blackmailed guards ably assisting the movement of all forms of cargo, problems have begun to show themselves. The Canadian Border Patrol is a fairly messy organization, with plenty of gaps that your allies can slip through, but it is also one where other groups can do the same, and various others are trying to stop it...
You are going to lose more people than you would like. And there will be a perpetual risk of the whole thing getting rolled over. But that is simply part of spycraft, Schenk assures you.
In the meantime, he begins preparing for attacking your enemies in all manner of cunning ways. Those willing and able are recruited and given basic training. They are taught how to lie, how to catch lies, how to observe details. Men and women are both encouraged to join. Backstories are established. Scenarios are planned. Weaknesses are identified. Schenk is determined to leave no stone unturned in his quest to disrupt and destroy your enemies. Even former agent provocateurs are brought in to give advice on how to discredit and defame other groups.
Report from Ben Stevens: 2 Influence on Form Farmer's Cooperatives, 98+14+30=142
Reluctantly, Ben agrees to hold off on actively building up rural combat units. Instead, he spends his time traveling throughout the Midwest. From Iowa to Oklahoma, he reaches out to isolated communities, many of whom have already had some familiarity with syndicalism and anarchism thanks to previous efforts. Many of them are also familiar with the persecutions reactionaries can inflict.
So he works with them to rebuild shattered communities, to forge new ties, and arranges for the purchasing of tools and equipment and seeds and livestock. The harm inflicted cannot be undone, but he is determined to do what he can.
You went on one of his trips briefly, visiting Kansas, just outside of Topeka. You are taken on a tour of a newly established farming commune, a pleasant, cheerful place with a graveyard far too large for the number of people who live in it and a freshly built church built with burned timbers.
Ben's eyes are heavy with sorrow as he sees the same thing, but his voice remains steady as a rock as he discusses handling childcare for the many young of the commune.
As the two of you depart, he turns to you. "Promise me they will be protected. Or you can find someone else to do the things the Syndicates don't give a damn about."
Report from SPA Cadres: 2 Influence on Against Pink Unionism, 71+42 = 113, 1 Influence on Further Factory Seizures, 3+10 = 13, 1 Influence on Mutual Aid Foundations, 70+10 = 80.
Where your words falter, others take up the cause, championing transformation and revolution over reform. The pink unions are attacked. Their leaders are denigrated, scandal after scandal is pulled forth (and some of them are even true). Their impotence is ridiculed and mocked. Political cartoons appear, showing the pink unions as easily bribed and swindled by capitalists who collapse when met with the stalwart opposition of syndicalists.
The endless mockery, the political suffocation of reformists, leads to many losing their positions of power within the SPA. Deprived of ever more organizational strength, some leave in a slow trickle to more mainstream groups or stay as marginalized ghosts. And with the irrelevance of the largest faction of reformists in the CSA assured, some begin working on a more directly revolutionary project.
More factories fall into the hands of their workers, but it's a painful struggle now. Capitalists have found time to evacuate machinery, fortify buildings, and flee with what wealth they can. Gold reserves of several major banks are transferred from their original homes to cities viewed as safer such as San Francisco, Washington DC, and Denver. Meanwhile, bourgeois propaganda machinery has been portraying these seizures as acts of criminal violence accompanied by horrific debauchery, launching vicious and slanderous accusations upon the brave men and women who have taken the means of production into their own hands.
Between the sudden injections of wealth into various areas and the artificially generated hostility, this latest wave of seizures has done severe damage to your strength in many areas as workers begin to drift away from SPA-aligned organizations. You know it will be temporary. The capitalist's greed will soon drive those who have spurned you back into your orbit. But it is a painful setback.
And while it is ongoing, still other cadres dedicate themselves to bettering the material conditions of the oppressed and starving.
The soup kitchens have been amply funded, enough to ensure there is plenty of...tolerable food. The gardens have added a small but welcome influx of fresh vegetables. And experience has led to an improvement in the quality of the cooks. However, fresh meat and other products are frequently lacking and the resulting meals...to be frank, they are often awful.
Thus, the establishment of mutual aid organizations, where people group their skills and funds together to supply food and cook it, often rotating duties and exchanging as needed, has been met with relief. While it is already a common practice, these groups often left some out through neglect or deliberate exclusion, but the encouragement of SPA figures has broken some of these barriers...although it also means you have become aware of their existence, and this awareness has begun to filter up the SPA hierarchies.
In any case, the SPA's coffers are being spared somewhat as communities work to feed themselves directly and morale is improving as people find themselves with something to look forward to that is not mediocre stew.
