To Struggle and Strive: The Combined Syndicates of America in 1932. A Kaiserreich Quest
- Thread starter notbirdofprey
- Start date
- Historic
- Pronouns
- They/Them
In theory. If it's granted at 2/1, then we could afford to dip 3 Influence into the Organizer/Organizing Committee if it gets back six in return.
The Red Army Faction
| Faction | Ideology | Cooperation | |
| Red Army Faction | They are something of a mixed group, with no official program or line similar to the SPA as a whole. They are strongly anti-racist, anti-misogynist, and anti-nativist, although conversations with the few you have met suggests that does not extend to being pro-minorities, pro-women, or pro-immigrant. Most of all they are anti-capitalists, tending to lean orthodox with strong components of anarchism and syndicalism in their program, staying united through the neccessities of their struggles. In a few places, they have even allied with particularly radical Progressives or Longists. | Grudging | |
| Abilities | |||
| Name | Flavor Text | Cost | Effect |
| At Butler's Command | The members of the Red Army Faction are not soldiers by nature, but this isn't a soldier's fight right now. Ask them to assist the Red Guards and Union Defense Committees in hunting reactionaries and attacking counterrevolutionaries, and they will lend fury and firepower to the cause. | Minor | Gain 1 temporary Influence, can only be used for launching open attacks on reactionary groups |
| At Schenk's Command | Schenk already commands the Red Army Faction, at least partly. If you lean on him, he will direct them to help a project that's in their area of expertise. It doesn't take much leaning either. | Insignificant | Gain 1 temporary Influence, can only be used on short-term spying or terror actions |
| A Minor Operation (Write-in) | Have the Red Army Faction direct their efforts to something simple, like assassinating a city mayor, sabotaging an isolated railway, or conducting a similarly minor operation. | Insignificant | The Red Army Faction attempts a minor operation at your direction. |
| A Moderate Operation | Have the Red Army Faction direct their efforts to something moderately complex, like assassinating several city officials, bombing a train station, or conducting a similarly moderate operation. | Minor | The Red Army Faction attempts a moderate operation at your direction. |
| A Major Operation | Have the Red Army Faction direct their efforts to something major, like assassinating a governor, bombing an army base, or conducting a similarly major operation. | Moderate | The Red Army Faction attempts a major operation at your direction. |
| Local Class War | The Red Army Faction has cells of supporters throughout the nation, in addition to roving groups and the leadership. When multiple of these groups converge on a single area, the result is a great many anti-syndicalist corpses. | Major | The Red Army Faction launches a series of attacks on reactionaries and capitalists throughout a particular geographic area, eliminating opposition to the workers. |
| Make Connections | While the Red Army Faction regularly recruits on their own, they can concentrate that recruiting on a particular place at your request. | Minor | The Red Army Faction will work to establish cells in a particular area at your direction. |
| Shorten the Leash | Even with the most egregious forms of violence forbidden by your agreement, RAF members frequently engage in unsavory practices like dealing with organized crime to acquire weaponry, brutal interrogation, and desecration of the dead. Make it clear such things will not be accepted if they wish to keep working with you. | Major | The Red Army Faction will restrain themselves temporarily at your request. |
| Let Slip the Hounds of War | Sometimes, there is no choice but violence. Sometimes, the only thing you can do is take an eye for an eye. Sometimes, you must let slip the hounds of war. | None | The Red Army Faction will cease restraining themselves at your request. With pleasure. |
- Location
- USA
We shouldn't be afraid to use them, but we should also constantly keep in mind that we had to explicitly tell them not to target fellow socialists. Their definitions of acceptable force and what constitutes a valid target are quite different and we should always be careful to remember that.
June 1934
It's a warm summer night. The heat suffocates him, it presses down on him like a blanket. He gasps for breath, trying to move, but he can't, something is holding him down. He thrashes desperately, clawing at the darkness.
Something grabs him. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" some horror shrieks, its voice piercing and pleading and scraping like rust on rust.
To his shock, he realizes it's him.
"Wake up, wake up comrade, it's just a nightmare!" someone yells.
He finds himself wrapped in a crushing grip, and then another. He keeps struggling, but gradually the panic fades and he remembers where he was.
Gradually, he stills and his comrades release him. Even in the dark, he can see the concern on their faces. He tastes self-loathing as bitter and acidic as vomit.
"It's alright, we've got you," brave, kind Samuel says, reaching out and laying a hand on his forearm.
He leans into the contact, not sure if it's the desire to feel his skin on Samuel's or simply wishing for a human touch.
"I...I was back...in the..."
Someone began to rub his back and his eyes began to prickle with tears.
"We know. It's alright. You just hit your head down there, that's all. You're a wounded soldier," Samuel says.
"And more importantly, you are our comrade."
He tried to explain that he wasn't worth it, that he was more than just wounded, but he couldn't find the words.
So instead he asked them to stay with him.
And they did, every single one.
And the next morning he tied on his red armband just like they did.
Maybe Samuel was right and he was a wounded soldier.
But he had been wounded before, and he had still fought for a racketeer's pocketbooks. He had a better cause now, and he wasn't going to do any less for it.
But Samuel had made him promise to find a doctor who knew head wounds. He would write to the Party once his shift was done, he decided. They might know someone he could go to.
For now, he had strikers to protect.
Rumors and News
June is a month of chaos. Devastating dust storms have swept across the Great Plains, far more intense than anything the region has experienced. Rain black with soil fell on the Rockies, while thousands of tons of soil were sent flying west fast enough to strip flesh from bone. The amount of dead...you don't want to think about that. Syndicalist farming cooperatives, Longist church towns, federal loyalty camps, isolated rural communities, all have suffered horribly. Fresh waves of refugees have begun to depart, but where they will go no one knows.
But people are working to help as much as possible. While SPA cadres are already raising funds, Long is turning his party machinery to the task, and the federal army is once more marching in to distribute food and medical aid and use their engineering expertise to defy nature.
And taking the lead is a broad coalition. All three splinters of Farmer-Labor, Progressives, machine bosses, Democrats, Republicans, politicians, and community leaders of every stripe have begun working together in the worst affected areas to try and maintain some stability. This has included an effective truce on paramilitary action, which is already fraying. But it has not broken yet.
Elements of the federal government have seized on this as a great American triumph, ably using it as propaganda fodder and proclaiming how this proves that all that's needed are some bare minimum reforms. Rumors have immediately begun spreading through the capital and beyond, helpfully relayed by the compliant bourgeoisie press, of politicians moved by the display of cross-party unity and desire for change working on a secret committee to present a grand bill to solve all America's problems.
And while all this is ongoing, the more credulous or deluded Americans fail to notice local reactionaries seizing power and enacting vicious campaigns of suppression against dissidents with the tacit approval of the government. The form it takes varies, as southern Dixiecrats rally together to crush any hope of black liberation and seize power from Longists, while Creel works with local party machines in the West to bewilder socialists and Longists alike with dazzling deceptions and relentless propaganda.
What Long is up to you aren't quite sure. He is evidentially planning something: Century has noted that he has had extensive close-doored meetings with at least twenty different people, ranging from leaders of the Redeemed KKK to leaders of the New Orleans colored community. He seems to have found some degree of accommodation with the more racist elements of Southern politics, but skirmishes between Minutemen, including the rare black unit, and federal police and paramilitaries continues. Individual Democrats are constantly shifting their allegiances, particularly in cities, while in the rural areas dedication to Huey Long stays strong no matter what.
In more exciting news, a brief leak suggesting the general staff was planning to launch an attack on Argentina and Chile has led to hasty backpedaling, with MacArthur claiming it was nothing more than a training exercise. Honestly, he's probably telling the truth, but no one is in a mood to believe him.
Meanwhile, it appears the Red Army Faction has gone international. A series of attacks have been carried out throughout Canada, striking soldiers, police, and Special Constables who particularly distinguished themselves in the crushing of the Winnipeg General Strike, the Cape Breton Commune, and the West Canadian Revolutionary Government. Those heroes of capital have been stabbed, shot, splattered with acid, and burned in the past month, with two dozen dead and several more severely injured. How many attacks are actually the RAF and how many are imitators is somewhat unclear, but no matter what it is an impressive act of revenge, and it has provoked a severe reaction by the Canadian government, including police opening fire on one assassin as he fled into a crowded Catholic church.
Needless to say, the current government is losing some popularity.
Your attention, as ever, is more on the struggle in America. The party has managed to come through the latest crisis reasonably well and it's stronger than ever. Your popularity grows steadily in urban and rural areas both, with hostility to nativism spreading wherever IWW firebrands speak. Regrettably, extending that logic to their black brothers appears to be a bridge too far for many, albeit not for all. Still, continued progress on that front will require serious effort. You are certain of it.
The Totalists appear to have made their last gasp for relevance before dissolving almost utterly. Some join the Fosterites, others meld back into the Centrists, and Browder and a few others end up joining the Parliamentarians in the hopes of acting as pressure to push them leftward.
And of course, the political violence throughout the country continues spiraling.
Across the Deep South, urban Longist offices, America First facilities, and AFP-friendly companies are coming under attack, ranging from crude paintings to broken windows to firebombings. Police responses are split and largely ineffectual as the departments fight among themselves about if they should care or not. You aren't even certain if this is something the Democrats are doing deliberately or if this is an expression of grassroots anger.
Meanwhile, the Red Guards and Union Defense Committees and various militias continue their campaign to defeat the capitalists. Democrats and Republicans alike come under attack. Homes are vandalized, offices are destroyed, property is seized. Rumors have leaked of a possible "counterrevolution" coming from the rural areas of various SPA-controlled states, leading some Red Guards to attempt to identify and arrest those counterrevolutionaries, but others stood to protect innocent workers from what would likely be a lynching.
The situation was resolved without bloodshed, and Butler assures you things are under control.
Finally, you see clear evidence of the Red Army Faction at work. While they have only taken responsibility for a few of the attacks on the capitalist parties, they have been hard at work elsewhere, launching several raids in Montana on mining bosses and their thugs.
And you begin reading through old reports, wondering how many attacks you assumed were spontaneous or were missing information on the perpetrators were the work of Schenk's comrades.
And within the ranks of those aware of your reactionary problem, methods to be used and measures to be taken are debated. As long as they remain, they will be a potential thorn in your side materially and politically.
Mexico is stabilizing as the Cristero Quasi-War begins to slowly die down and Zapata's grand reforms continue, with French and British aid both helping him develop the economy even as his health fails.
Unrest continues in India as the National Parliament election results in an intensely divided government, the dysfunction growing further hampered when some of the more radical syndicalists boycott to protest caste restrictions and government hostility. You wish them the best of luck.
Plans from Subordinates
The Coordination Committee is working to organize a broad response to the famine, preparing towns and cities from Minnesota to West Virginia for an influx of refugees and working to establish and expand stores of food.
The State Legislative Committee, terrified by the specter of famine, are primarily focused on setting price ceilings, but they also intend to expend some effort on re-hiring bureaucrats and establishing the democratic oversight committees.
Norman Thomas is splitting his efforts between continuing his efforts to see the railways fall into the grip of the workers and challenging the federal government through political grandstanding and showboating.
Smedley Butler is continuing his efforts to instill discipline in the undisciplined.
Charles Schenk is finishing establishing and organizing the more externally focused subdepartments of the Commission for Defending the Revolution and working to identify the leadership of the many reactionary groups that must be dealt with.
Ben Stevens is aiming to direct as much aid as possible to those affected by the famine.
The Propaganda Committee, aside from continuing their previous efforts, are working on expanding outreach to farmers and farmworkers alike.
And the SPA Cadres are working to expand and establish public library systems, to agitate and protest against even the specter of yet another costly intervention, and to turn the housing cooperatives from improvised installations to true homes for all who need them.
You have 10 Influence and 2 Gravitas total. 0 Gravitas and 0 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You have 2 Semi-Temporary for Militant actions. You are currently taking no focus.
+10 to the next 2 rural organization or agitations actions. +5 to all rural actions.
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 twice per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate's priorities (change order, add one, remove one). This will have a political cost if used on the SPA Cadres.
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.
Call on the RAF: Talk to Schenk, let him know what you need, he goes somewhere to talk to the RAF leadership, and whatever you asked for gets accomplished. You try not to think anything more of it. Cost: Cooperation from the RAF. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Cooperation allows.
Throw Your Weight Around: You are the leader of the SPA, the man who helped lead the Seattle and Chicago General Strikes to success, the man the Syndintern has trusted with bringing about the Revolution. Though you are democratically elected, you have undeniable authority. Authority you truly prefer not to use...unless you absolutely have to. Cost: -9 Relations with all factions of the SPA, narrative effects. The cost will change as you use it for better or worse. DC: 0. Time: 1 month. Result: Temporarily convert 1 Gravitas to 1 Authority.
Handle Tobin: Tobin is up to something. Most likely its just run-of-the-mill corruption, but there's a possibility, a strong one, that he is knowingly working with the BOI. It's time to find out personally. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Meet with Tobin, lay out what you know, demand an explanation.
Adjust Your Priorities: Long-term commitments are risky in the chaotic situation the American nation is in. Temporarily stepping back from them would allow you to handle crises as they come back. Cost: Minor penalties to targeted action. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: De-commit Influence from selected action, narrative penalties.
Choose A Focus: You are currently taking no foci.
Something grabs him. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" some horror shrieks, its voice piercing and pleading and scraping like rust on rust.
To his shock, he realizes it's him.
"Wake up, wake up comrade, it's just a nightmare!" someone yells.
He finds himself wrapped in a crushing grip, and then another. He keeps struggling, but gradually the panic fades and he remembers where he was.
Gradually, he stills and his comrades release him. Even in the dark, he can see the concern on their faces. He tastes self-loathing as bitter and acidic as vomit.
"It's alright, we've got you," brave, kind Samuel says, reaching out and laying a hand on his forearm.
He leans into the contact, not sure if it's the desire to feel his skin on Samuel's or simply wishing for a human touch.
"I...I was back...in the..."
Someone began to rub his back and his eyes began to prickle with tears.
"We know. It's alright. You just hit your head down there, that's all. You're a wounded soldier," Samuel says.
"And more importantly, you are our comrade."
He tried to explain that he wasn't worth it, that he was more than just wounded, but he couldn't find the words.
So instead he asked them to stay with him.
And they did, every single one.
And the next morning he tied on his red armband just like they did.
Maybe Samuel was right and he was a wounded soldier.
But he had been wounded before, and he had still fought for a racketeer's pocketbooks. He had a better cause now, and he wasn't going to do any less for it.
But Samuel had made him promise to find a doctor who knew head wounds. He would write to the Party once his shift was done, he decided. They might know someone he could go to.
For now, he had strikers to protect.
Rumors and News
June is a month of chaos. Devastating dust storms have swept across the Great Plains, far more intense than anything the region has experienced. Rain black with soil fell on the Rockies, while thousands of tons of soil were sent flying west fast enough to strip flesh from bone. The amount of dead...you don't want to think about that. Syndicalist farming cooperatives, Longist church towns, federal loyalty camps, isolated rural communities, all have suffered horribly. Fresh waves of refugees have begun to depart, but where they will go no one knows.
But people are working to help as much as possible. While SPA cadres are already raising funds, Long is turning his party machinery to the task, and the federal army is once more marching in to distribute food and medical aid and use their engineering expertise to defy nature.
And taking the lead is a broad coalition. All three splinters of Farmer-Labor, Progressives, machine bosses, Democrats, Republicans, politicians, and community leaders of every stripe have begun working together in the worst affected areas to try and maintain some stability. This has included an effective truce on paramilitary action, which is already fraying. But it has not broken yet.
Elements of the federal government have seized on this as a great American triumph, ably using it as propaganda fodder and proclaiming how this proves that all that's needed are some bare minimum reforms. Rumors have immediately begun spreading through the capital and beyond, helpfully relayed by the compliant bourgeoisie press, of politicians moved by the display of cross-party unity and desire for change working on a secret committee to present a grand bill to solve all America's problems.
And while all this is ongoing, the more credulous or deluded Americans fail to notice local reactionaries seizing power and enacting vicious campaigns of suppression against dissidents with the tacit approval of the government. The form it takes varies, as southern Dixiecrats rally together to crush any hope of black liberation and seize power from Longists, while Creel works with local party machines in the West to bewilder socialists and Longists alike with dazzling deceptions and relentless propaganda.
What Long is up to you aren't quite sure. He is evidentially planning something: Century has noted that he has had extensive close-doored meetings with at least twenty different people, ranging from leaders of the Redeemed KKK to leaders of the New Orleans colored community. He seems to have found some degree of accommodation with the more racist elements of Southern politics, but skirmishes between Minutemen, including the rare black unit, and federal police and paramilitaries continues. Individual Democrats are constantly shifting their allegiances, particularly in cities, while in the rural areas dedication to Huey Long stays strong no matter what.
In more exciting news, a brief leak suggesting the general staff was planning to launch an attack on Argentina and Chile has led to hasty backpedaling, with MacArthur claiming it was nothing more than a training exercise. Honestly, he's probably telling the truth, but no one is in a mood to believe him.
Meanwhile, it appears the Red Army Faction has gone international. A series of attacks have been carried out throughout Canada, striking soldiers, police, and Special Constables who particularly distinguished themselves in the crushing of the Winnipeg General Strike, the Cape Breton Commune, and the West Canadian Revolutionary Government. Those heroes of capital have been stabbed, shot, splattered with acid, and burned in the past month, with two dozen dead and several more severely injured. How many attacks are actually the RAF and how many are imitators is somewhat unclear, but no matter what it is an impressive act of revenge, and it has provoked a severe reaction by the Canadian government, including police opening fire on one assassin as he fled into a crowded Catholic church.
Needless to say, the current government is losing some popularity.
Your attention, as ever, is more on the struggle in America. The party has managed to come through the latest crisis reasonably well and it's stronger than ever. Your popularity grows steadily in urban and rural areas both, with hostility to nativism spreading wherever IWW firebrands speak. Regrettably, extending that logic to their black brothers appears to be a bridge too far for many, albeit not for all. Still, continued progress on that front will require serious effort. You are certain of it.
The Totalists appear to have made their last gasp for relevance before dissolving almost utterly. Some join the Fosterites, others meld back into the Centrists, and Browder and a few others end up joining the Parliamentarians in the hopes of acting as pressure to push them leftward.
And of course, the political violence throughout the country continues spiraling.
Across the Deep South, urban Longist offices, America First facilities, and AFP-friendly companies are coming under attack, ranging from crude paintings to broken windows to firebombings. Police responses are split and largely ineffectual as the departments fight among themselves about if they should care or not. You aren't even certain if this is something the Democrats are doing deliberately or if this is an expression of grassroots anger.
Meanwhile, the Red Guards and Union Defense Committees and various militias continue their campaign to defeat the capitalists. Democrats and Republicans alike come under attack. Homes are vandalized, offices are destroyed, property is seized. Rumors have leaked of a possible "counterrevolution" coming from the rural areas of various SPA-controlled states, leading some Red Guards to attempt to identify and arrest those counterrevolutionaries, but others stood to protect innocent workers from what would likely be a lynching.
The situation was resolved without bloodshed, and Butler assures you things are under control.
Finally, you see clear evidence of the Red Army Faction at work. While they have only taken responsibility for a few of the attacks on the capitalist parties, they have been hard at work elsewhere, launching several raids in Montana on mining bosses and their thugs.
And you begin reading through old reports, wondering how many attacks you assumed were spontaneous or were missing information on the perpetrators were the work of Schenk's comrades.
And within the ranks of those aware of your reactionary problem, methods to be used and measures to be taken are debated. As long as they remain, they will be a potential thorn in your side materially and politically.
Mexico is stabilizing as the Cristero Quasi-War begins to slowly die down and Zapata's grand reforms continue, with French and British aid both helping him develop the economy even as his health fails.
Unrest continues in India as the National Parliament election results in an intensely divided government, the dysfunction growing further hampered when some of the more radical syndicalists boycott to protest caste restrictions and government hostility. You wish them the best of luck.
Plans from Subordinates
The Coordination Committee is working to organize a broad response to the famine, preparing towns and cities from Minnesota to West Virginia for an influx of refugees and working to establish and expand stores of food.
The State Legislative Committee, terrified by the specter of famine, are primarily focused on setting price ceilings, but they also intend to expend some effort on re-hiring bureaucrats and establishing the democratic oversight committees.
Norman Thomas is splitting his efforts between continuing his efforts to see the railways fall into the grip of the workers and challenging the federal government through political grandstanding and showboating.
Smedley Butler is continuing his efforts to instill discipline in the undisciplined.
Charles Schenk is finishing establishing and organizing the more externally focused subdepartments of the Commission for Defending the Revolution and working to identify the leadership of the many reactionary groups that must be dealt with.
Ben Stevens is aiming to direct as much aid as possible to those affected by the famine.
The Propaganda Committee, aside from continuing their previous efforts, are working on expanding outreach to farmers and farmworkers alike.
And the SPA Cadres are working to expand and establish public library systems, to agitate and protest against even the specter of yet another costly intervention, and to turn the housing cooperatives from improvised installations to true homes for all who need them.
You have 10 Influence and 2 Gravitas total. 0 Gravitas and 0 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You have 2 Semi-Temporary for Militant actions. You are currently taking no focus.
+10 to the next 2 rural organization or agitations actions. +5 to all rural actions.
The current economic situation is confused and disordered. While capitalist exchanges have been totally replaced in some places, in others they have been merely supplanted or supplemented. The detrimental effects are already being felt as people revert to bartering and swapping. Some sort of reform must be made, within 3 months. (From the Syndicalists and Orthodox. +10 to the next Union action, +Relations with the Syndicalists, +Relations with the Orthodox, +Relations with the Center, -Strength to the Center, +support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW if completed. -Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Center,-support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, loss of income if failed).
Liberation cannot just be economic. The chains of capital weigh on the mind as well, in the forms of patriarchy, racism, imperialism, and more. Just as we advocate for the breaking of the chains of capital, so must these chains be broken. And the party and syndicates are both united behind us on this. Make 4 significant steps on the path of social justice within 5 months. (From the Syndicalists, the Orthodox, the Anarchists, the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA. + Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, +Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, +1 Temporary Influence for Union actions, -support the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, -Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor if completed. +Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, +support with the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, +1 Temporary Influence for rural-focused Union actions, -Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, -Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, if failed.
California is one of the largest states in America, with an enormous population, a powerful industrial base, and a vast agricultural heartland. It also features some of the most powerful opposition to the workers' movements, thanks to endless bombardments of propaganda, foreign support from many parties, and the judicious use of force. But the workers there are nevertheless ripe for organization...and an election is coming up. Make major gains in popular and political support in the Golden State. (From the Parliamentarians, the Center, the Orthodox, the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster's Union. ++ Support from the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster's Union, ++ Relations with the Parliamentarians, the Center, and the Orthodox, +2 temporary Influence if completed.)
The South has been a heartland of reactionary politics since the War of Independence, but there is great potential for socialist support within its cultural boundaries. The steelworkers of Birmingham are no less oppressed than their northern counterparts, while sharecroppers white and black are horrifically exploited. Political power in those states is all but impossible, but the organizing of workers can lead to great things nonetheless. By the upcoming election, gain significant support within the South. (From the Syndicalists, Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, the Red Grange, the IWW MA, and the IWW MM. +++ Support from the IWW MA, ++Support from the Red Grange and the IWW MM, ++Relations with the Syndicalists and Ultraleft-Farmer Labor, +1 temporary Influence for two months if completed.)
While severe corruption of course can not be tolerated, a little simply greases the wheels. And perhaps more importantly, harshly rooting out everyone who has any sort of misconduct on their record creates all sorts of dangerous images, painting the one responsible as a power-crazed madman purging his political enemies on minor charges and of the body being purged as riddled with larceny. Best to wait a few months before taking further measures to root out corruption...say, taking no actions against it for 2 months. (From the Teamster's Union, ++ support from the Teamster's Union if completed, --support from the Teamster's Union, -2 to all actions for one month if failed.)
This Frankenstein of an economic system cannot be maintained. Food prices are beginning to rise, while staple goods are becoming overwhelmingly common, resulting in sharp price drops. Tooling and machinery is getting much rarer, spare parts are becoming in short supply...nothing is serious yet, but there are all sorts of worrying trends. Take steps to reform and stabilize the economy within 6 months. (From the Syndicalists and Orthodox. +10 to the next two Union actions, +Relations with the Syndicalists, +Relations with the Orthodox, +Relations with the Center, -Strength to the Center, +support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, increase in popular support if completed. -Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Center,-support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, loss of income, severe decrease in popular support if failed)
The investigation revealed a far more serious presence of reactionaries in nearly every city and town than previously believed. Often built around church groups and other social institutions, they could serve as a potential nucleus for unrest, sabotage, counterrevolution, and potentially a white terror. All who are aware of this are in agreement: one way or another, this must be dealt with as soon as possible. Currently, people are debating what the best method will be. (No penalties or bonuses for using harsh or conciliatory methods. ++support from all CSA factions when completed. Minor losses of support in the CSA if the reactionaries cause problems until then.)
The American education system was carefully designed to serve the will of the capitalists as part of their effort to ensure their dominance. From deliberately enforced inequality to classroom structures designed to make children acquiesce to the abuses of capitalism, no portion of it was left unscathed. We shall create an education system with higher ideals, for adults and children alike. Accurate history and economic science will be taught alongside art and music and math, and none shall be denied any knowledge. All it needs is to be built. Which will hopefully commence soon. Start 3 education-related actions within 8 months. (+Support from the AFL-CIO, ++ support from the IWW MM, slight increase in popular support if completed. --support from the IWW MM if failed.)
Liberation cannot just be economic. The chains of capital weigh on the mind as well, in the forms of patriarchy, racism, imperialism, and more. Just as we advocate for the breaking of the chains of capital, so must these chains be broken. And the party and syndicates are both united behind us on this. Make 4 significant steps on the path of social justice within 5 months. (From the Syndicalists, the Orthodox, the Anarchists, the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA. + Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, +Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, +1 Temporary Influence for Union actions, -support the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, -Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor if completed. +Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, +support with the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, +1 Temporary Influence for rural-focused Union actions, -Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, -Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, if failed.
California is one of the largest states in America, with an enormous population, a powerful industrial base, and a vast agricultural heartland. It also features some of the most powerful opposition to the workers' movements, thanks to endless bombardments of propaganda, foreign support from many parties, and the judicious use of force. But the workers there are nevertheless ripe for organization...and an election is coming up. Make major gains in popular and political support in the Golden State. (From the Parliamentarians, the Center, the Orthodox, the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster's Union. ++ Support from the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster's Union, ++ Relations with the Parliamentarians, the Center, and the Orthodox, +2 temporary Influence if completed.)
The South has been a heartland of reactionary politics since the War of Independence, but there is great potential for socialist support within its cultural boundaries. The steelworkers of Birmingham are no less oppressed than their northern counterparts, while sharecroppers white and black are horrifically exploited. Political power in those states is all but impossible, but the organizing of workers can lead to great things nonetheless. By the upcoming election, gain significant support within the South. (From the Syndicalists, Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, the Red Grange, the IWW MA, and the IWW MM. +++ Support from the IWW MA, ++Support from the Red Grange and the IWW MM, ++Relations with the Syndicalists and Ultraleft-Farmer Labor, +1 temporary Influence for two months if completed.)
While severe corruption of course can not be tolerated, a little simply greases the wheels. And perhaps more importantly, harshly rooting out everyone who has any sort of misconduct on their record creates all sorts of dangerous images, painting the one responsible as a power-crazed madman purging his political enemies on minor charges and of the body being purged as riddled with larceny. Best to wait a few months before taking further measures to root out corruption...say, taking no actions against it for 2 months. (From the Teamster's Union, ++ support from the Teamster's Union if completed, --support from the Teamster's Union, -2 to all actions for one month if failed.)
This Frankenstein of an economic system cannot be maintained. Food prices are beginning to rise, while staple goods are becoming overwhelmingly common, resulting in sharp price drops. Tooling and machinery is getting much rarer, spare parts are becoming in short supply...nothing is serious yet, but there are all sorts of worrying trends. Take steps to reform and stabilize the economy within 6 months. (From the Syndicalists and Orthodox. +10 to the next two Union actions, +Relations with the Syndicalists, +Relations with the Orthodox, +Relations with the Center, -Strength to the Center, +support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, increase in popular support if completed. -Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Center,-support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, loss of income, severe decrease in popular support if failed)
The investigation revealed a far more serious presence of reactionaries in nearly every city and town than previously believed. Often built around church groups and other social institutions, they could serve as a potential nucleus for unrest, sabotage, counterrevolution, and potentially a white terror. All who are aware of this are in agreement: one way or another, this must be dealt with as soon as possible. Currently, people are debating what the best method will be. (No penalties or bonuses for using harsh or conciliatory methods. ++support from all CSA factions when completed. Minor losses of support in the CSA if the reactionaries cause problems until then.)
The American education system was carefully designed to serve the will of the capitalists as part of their effort to ensure their dominance. From deliberately enforced inequality to classroom structures designed to make children acquiesce to the abuses of capitalism, no portion of it was left unscathed. We shall create an education system with higher ideals, for adults and children alike. Accurate history and economic science will be taught alongside art and music and math, and none shall be denied any knowledge. All it needs is to be built. Which will hopefully commence soon. Start 3 education-related actions within 8 months. (+Support from the AFL-CIO, ++ support from the IWW MM, slight increase in popular support if completed. --support from the IWW MM if failed.)
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. Or to defend yourself and your decisions. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 1 Resource 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 the topic. The 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 Socialist 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 and county governments alongside even more widespread but less official influence. You even control most 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 from 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. However, given the likely federal determination to show strength, such a provocative action could be risky. Cost: Backlash from within and without the Party, possible legal challenges. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/75/120/185. 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 number of changes to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times. Cannot be done for SPA Cadres
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: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/140. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.
The International Question: With contact made with the Syndintern, they will soon begin encouraging internationalist behavior. Considering the amount of assistance you will need for them, it would be wise to help support revolutions in Canada and in the various client states of America, along with taking part in the broader Syndintern in less overt ways. Gauging the positions of various factions on this will help you understand your position. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Find out the position of all factions of the SPA and CSA on internationalism.
Display your Dedication: You are being accused of weakness, softness, and cowardice. Despite all you have suffered and sacrificed, it is not enough for some. Fine then, you will show them how much the cause means to you. A whirlwind tour across the country, visiting every union and party office you can meet, will provide the proof and silence their accusations. From Seattle to New York City, from Portland to Houston, anywhere men and women struggle for their liberation you will stand in their support. Cost: No Personal Action next month. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Gain Relations with all SPA factions.
Squeeze the Fosterites: The newest group in the SPA has a dangerous ideology, one that threatens to provoke a reactionary alliance that could deal painful blows to your cause. The more mainstream factions recognize this, and would likely be willing to cooperate with you to hammer the divides in them and pressure them to return to the fold (with a price in mind, of course. Such is politics). Those who resist this pressure will be embittered, but they are going to be a minority of a minority. What harm can they do? Cost: Will further radicalize any remaining Fosterites, will politically indebt you to other factions, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/100. Result: Begin campaign to marginalize the Fosterites, will have options on how to handle it until it ends.
Pro-Liberation Politics: The anti-racism program must be built on. The party's ideological limitations on the matter must be removed. There is more to be done...there is always more to be done. Some will back you to the hilt on this, others will oppose it to the end, but you must trust that the desire for unity triumphs over factional bickering...and you will spend some time laying the groundwork first before announcing your new proposals since they will likely be controversial. Cost: Relations with party factions, support in the CSA. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/25/50/75/125. Result: Lay the groundwork for and then propose modifications to the party line to further support anti-discrimination measures. Higher Relations will mean better results.
Shore Up Support: You have sensed a slight chilling of your relations with the CSA, although many in their ranks are still your determined and dedicated allies. But you cannot predict how everything will fall out, and so rather than take their assistance for granted, you will spend some time speaking and working with them, making sure they know they are appreciated and hearing requests. It's simply part of being a leader, unfortunately, even if it's one you don't enjoy. Cost: Slight increase to Stress, time spent schmoozing is time not spent building up to a Revolution. Time: Until ended. DC: 10/25/40/50. Result: Reduced negative impact of actions on CSA support, hear requests and suggestions from your supporters.
Assistant Adjustment: Even as your assistants work to make sure their views are supported by the party machinery, they are also being genuinely helpful in managing the fractious ranks and building towards the coming revolution. You could always use a few more...or perhaps you need to remove someone. Cost: Political turmoil, modification to bonuses. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Options to change assistants.
Speak for Liberty: While the SPA is at least somewhat united behind you, your willingness to push for social revolution has had the anarchists in the party and their similarly socially left allies be some of your most enthusiastic supporters, despite their relatively small numbers. If you want to make use of that support, you will need to help them. Speak on the topic of liberty, encourage support for racial minorities, demand women's liberation...perhaps go so far as to say homosexuality is acceptable. Let them know they have an ally in you. Cost: Political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 50. Result: Increase in Strength and Relations of Anarchists.
Condemn Atrocities: If you wish to keep the violent and vicious Fosterites from gaining strength, you need to lay the groundwork before you break them. Make it part of the SPA program to condemn excessive brutality, the murder of non-combatants and innocents, and wanton destruction. While the language will mostly be used against capitalists and Longists, it can also be applied to the sort of things they advocate for, making a useful cudgel against your enemies in the party. Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60/90. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.
Insist on their Effectiveness: Though the Fosterites have had some of their bloodlust slaked, they are still demanding more blood, more death, more destruction. They appear to have no compromise in them..let's see if they have any common sense. While they may decry these reforms as cowardice and giving in to bourgeois demands to muzzle the workers and "suppress their righteous rage until the flame of revolution gutters out," you are doing nothing of the sort! You are simply trying to make them a more capable and organized force, an army capable of winning the revolution you all want. Cost: Some political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/60/80. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.
Divide and Defeat: The Fosterites are united only by their insistence that you go faster, that you birth the revolution sooner - and that like all births, that it be bloody and painful. And so the right pressures, ever so gently applied, can leave them broken and adrift, eliminating a potential political threat and greatly weakening an adventurist segment of the SPA. The pressures are asking what they want, which might be a dangerous question if you don't have a good answer... Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys and weakens the RAF. Time: 2 months. DC: 35/70/100/120. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.
Back Up Butler: Butler has done an excellent job of reforming and expanding the Red Guard, turning it from a barely-controlled paramilitary into an effective force However, some of the changes he has made have been contentious, and he plans more. Some have begun suggesting you should rid yourself of him...something which you have no intentions of doing so. Make that clear, and make it crystal clear that Smedley Butler has your full confidence. Cost: Loss of CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/20. Result: Increase to Smedley Butler's Influence
Command the Cadres: The SPA Cadres have been enjoying their newfound independence and will be reluctant to give it up again even temporarily, but you are liked and respected enough that they will do it. Even if they will complain. Cost: Political impact depends on what you choose. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Adjust SPA Cadre actions as you see fit.
Organizational Reform: With yet another intra-party spat developing, you find yourself getting frustrated. You need to take measures for preventing these sorts of problems from arising again...along with making sure reformist sentiments and corruption don't set themselves back in. Clear out the deadwood, impress your authority upon the leadership, and get everyone working together for the greater good of the workers. Cost:???. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100/125. Result: Reduced chance of further political crises, +1 Gravitas, reduction in Stress.
Ban the Nativists: With anti-nativist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of nativists influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CSA Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge nativists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.
Standards of Integrity: With the removal and punishment of many corrupt individuals, it's time to make sure they and their ilk don't come back into power. You tried to push through higher standards of integrity and behavior for people running on SPA tickets or on the SPA payroll, including requiring them to publish their finances for all to scrutinize, but it floundered due to a lack of momentum. So you will get behind things and push. Cost: Loss in Relations with all factions, loss of support from the Teamster's Union. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/55. Result: Pass reforms to make it harder to be corrupt in the future.
Push for Moderation: So far, actual resistance from these reactionaries has been minimal and easily dealt with. There's no need to step things up and provide martyrs or risk radicalizing them. They should be marginalized and propagandized against, but they should not be repressed. They aren't threatening enough to require it. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Nonviolent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.
Meet Them With Violence: Already these reactionaries have resisted the seizure of the means of production and protested against the transformation of society. They are receiving support from far more dangerous groups as well. They are obstacles before the tide of history, and they must be swept away. And we shall not hesitate in doing the sweeping. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Violent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.
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. Or to defend yourself and your decisions. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 1 Resource 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 the topic. The 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 Socialist 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 and county governments alongside even more widespread but less official influence. You even control most 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 from 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. However, given the likely federal determination to show strength, such a provocative action could be risky. Cost: Backlash from within and without the Party, possible legal challenges. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/75/120/185. 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 number of changes to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times. Cannot be done for SPA Cadres
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: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/140. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.
The International Question: With contact made with the Syndintern, they will soon begin encouraging internationalist behavior. Considering the amount of assistance you will need for them, it would be wise to help support revolutions in Canada and in the various client states of America, along with taking part in the broader Syndintern in less overt ways. Gauging the positions of various factions on this will help you understand your position. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Find out the position of all factions of the SPA and CSA on internationalism.
Display your Dedication: You are being accused of weakness, softness, and cowardice. Despite all you have suffered and sacrificed, it is not enough for some. Fine then, you will show them how much the cause means to you. A whirlwind tour across the country, visiting every union and party office you can meet, will provide the proof and silence their accusations. From Seattle to New York City, from Portland to Houston, anywhere men and women struggle for their liberation you will stand in their support. Cost: No Personal Action next month. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Gain Relations with all SPA factions.
Squeeze the Fosterites: The newest group in the SPA has a dangerous ideology, one that threatens to provoke a reactionary alliance that could deal painful blows to your cause. The more mainstream factions recognize this, and would likely be willing to cooperate with you to hammer the divides in them and pressure them to return to the fold (with a price in mind, of course. Such is politics). Those who resist this pressure will be embittered, but they are going to be a minority of a minority. What harm can they do? Cost: Will further radicalize any remaining Fosterites, will politically indebt you to other factions, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/100. Result: Begin campaign to marginalize the Fosterites, will have options on how to handle it until it ends.
Pro-Liberation Politics: The anti-racism program must be built on. The party's ideological limitations on the matter must be removed. There is more to be done...there is always more to be done. Some will back you to the hilt on this, others will oppose it to the end, but you must trust that the desire for unity triumphs over factional bickering...and you will spend some time laying the groundwork first before announcing your new proposals since they will likely be controversial. Cost: Relations with party factions, support in the CSA. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/25/50/75/125. Result: Lay the groundwork for and then propose modifications to the party line to further support anti-discrimination measures. Higher Relations will mean better results.
Shore Up Support: You have sensed a slight chilling of your relations with the CSA, although many in their ranks are still your determined and dedicated allies. But you cannot predict how everything will fall out, and so rather than take their assistance for granted, you will spend some time speaking and working with them, making sure they know they are appreciated and hearing requests. It's simply part of being a leader, unfortunately, even if it's one you don't enjoy. Cost: Slight increase to Stress, time spent schmoozing is time not spent building up to a Revolution. Time: Until ended. DC: 10/25/40/50. Result: Reduced negative impact of actions on CSA support, hear requests and suggestions from your supporters.
Assistant Adjustment: Even as your assistants work to make sure their views are supported by the party machinery, they are also being genuinely helpful in managing the fractious ranks and building towards the coming revolution. You could always use a few more...or perhaps you need to remove someone. Cost: Political turmoil, modification to bonuses. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Options to change assistants.
Speak for Liberty: While the SPA is at least somewhat united behind you, your willingness to push for social revolution has had the anarchists in the party and their similarly socially left allies be some of your most enthusiastic supporters, despite their relatively small numbers. If you want to make use of that support, you will need to help them. Speak on the topic of liberty, encourage support for racial minorities, demand women's liberation...perhaps go so far as to say homosexuality is acceptable. Let them know they have an ally in you. Cost: Political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 50. Result: Increase in Strength and Relations of Anarchists.
Condemn Atrocities: If you wish to keep the violent and vicious Fosterites from gaining strength, you need to lay the groundwork before you break them. Make it part of the SPA program to condemn excessive brutality, the murder of non-combatants and innocents, and wanton destruction. While the language will mostly be used against capitalists and Longists, it can also be applied to the sort of things they advocate for, making a useful cudgel against your enemies in the party. Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60/90. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.
Insist on their Effectiveness: Though the Fosterites have had some of their bloodlust slaked, they are still demanding more blood, more death, more destruction. They appear to have no compromise in them..let's see if they have any common sense. While they may decry these reforms as cowardice and giving in to bourgeois demands to muzzle the workers and "suppress their righteous rage until the flame of revolution gutters out," you are doing nothing of the sort! You are simply trying to make them a more capable and organized force, an army capable of winning the revolution you all want. Cost: Some political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/60/80. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.
Divide and Defeat: The Fosterites are united only by their insistence that you go faster, that you birth the revolution sooner - and that like all births, that it be bloody and painful. And so the right pressures, ever so gently applied, can leave them broken and adrift, eliminating a potential political threat and greatly weakening an adventurist segment of the SPA. The pressures are asking what they want, which might be a dangerous question if you don't have a good answer... Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys and weakens the RAF. Time: 2 months. DC: 35/70/100/120. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.
Back Up Butler: Butler has done an excellent job of reforming and expanding the Red Guard, turning it from a barely-controlled paramilitary into an effective force However, some of the changes he has made have been contentious, and he plans more. Some have begun suggesting you should rid yourself of him...something which you have no intentions of doing so. Make that clear, and make it crystal clear that Smedley Butler has your full confidence. Cost: Loss of CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/20. Result: Increase to Smedley Butler's Influence
Command the Cadres: The SPA Cadres have been enjoying their newfound independence and will be reluctant to give it up again even temporarily, but you are liked and respected enough that they will do it. Even if they will complain. Cost: Political impact depends on what you choose. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Adjust SPA Cadre actions as you see fit.
Organizational Reform: With yet another intra-party spat developing, you find yourself getting frustrated. You need to take measures for preventing these sorts of problems from arising again...along with making sure reformist sentiments and corruption don't set themselves back in. Clear out the deadwood, impress your authority upon the leadership, and get everyone working together for the greater good of the workers. Cost:???. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100/125. Result: Reduced chance of further political crises, +1 Gravitas, reduction in Stress.
Ban the Nativists: With anti-nativist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of nativists influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CSA Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge nativists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.
Standards of Integrity: With the removal and punishment of many corrupt individuals, it's time to make sure they and their ilk don't come back into power. You tried to push through higher standards of integrity and behavior for people running on SPA tickets or on the SPA payroll, including requiring them to publish their finances for all to scrutinize, but it floundered due to a lack of momentum. So you will get behind things and push. Cost: Loss in Relations with all factions, loss of support from the Teamster's Union. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/55. Result: Pass reforms to make it harder to be corrupt in the future.
Push for Moderation: So far, actual resistance from these reactionaries has been minimal and easily dealt with. There's no need to step things up and provide martyrs or risk radicalizing them. They should be marginalized and propagandized against, but they should not be repressed. They aren't threatening enough to require it. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Nonviolent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.
Meet Them With Violence: Already these reactionaries have resisted the seizure of the means of production and protested against the transformation of society. They are receiving support from far more dangerous groups as well. They are obstacles before the tide of history, and they must be swept away. And we shall not hesitate in doing the sweeping. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Violent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.
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.
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: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/120. 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.
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: 0/10/20/30/40/50/75/100/110/120. Result: Large, one-time boost to Resources.
Mass Recruiting, Pt. 2: The sheer mass and organization of the working class gives you a potent tool for further empowering the American socialist cause. The overwhelming pro-SPA propaganda has begun countering the decades of mystification the American workers have undergone, but there are still many groups who stubbornly resist the tide of revolution. Some, such as the petty capitalists and highly-paid workers, need an explanation of the benefits of your cause. Some, such as reactionary churches, need to be exposed for the falsehoods they spread. But for some, financial and material incentives will be needed to secure their support, along with reminders as to the fate of class traitors. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Further increase to size of the unions.
Mass Organization: With the unions growing in size on a daily basis, measures need to be taken to ensure the democratic control of the unions is maintained. Through vote-buying, carefully designed structures, and coercion, corrupt bosses maintain their positions, while other leadership figures openly advocate for reformism or racism. The Revolution will not succeed with dedicated leadership from dedicated syndicalists. The political fight caused by this will be long and bloody and painful, but it will secure your position in the party, hopefully without causing too much splintering or outcry. Cost: Significant losses of support from party factions and the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/100/160. Result: Grip on party politics strengthened, subvote, actions to follow up unlocked.
Medical Assistance: A small trickle of doctors and nurses have begun to join party ranks, motivated by a mix of fear, hope, and the fact that the SPA seems to be the only faction with some sort of direction in many cities. While this has led to some ad-hoc benefits, such as the formation of Nurse's Unions and the establishment of small clinics that offer discounts to SPA members, there is nothing widespread yet. Encourage and cultivate the development of such systems to make your urban supporters healthier and heartier. Cost: -2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/25/50. Result: Easier access to medical assistance for your urban supporters.
Negotiate With Bosses: With the capitalists left destitute by the sudden loss of their property, they are denied much of their strength and leverage and reduced to begging for scraps. While some find it amusing and want to leave them dependent on charity and others want to force them into the street brigades, some propose a more humane alternative: giving them small pensions and encouraging them to integrate as workers. This kind treatment would not officially be dependent on them agreeing to give up any legal claim to the property they supposedly owned. But there would be that implication. Cost: Some minor displeasure from the left of the party, 4 Resources, -3.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Decrease in complaints from former factory owners about you, reduction in unrest.
Rural-Urban Exchanges: The current system of interaction between farming cooperatives and worker-run factories is ad-hoc and limited by the capitalist framework both currently function in, but frameworks can be worked around. Simply arranging for direct transfers of materials, food, and products between mines, factories, and farms would be the easiest way to solve this problem, and the least controversial. Many are concerned that this would not be capable of handling the complexities of a modern, industrial economy however. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20. Result: Establishment of more formalized and direct exchanges between worker-run facilities, increase in economic efficiency.
Socialist Markets: An alternate proposal, one popular among the more Orthodox wings of the party, is that workers at these facilities could be given labor vouchers representing the value of their work. These vouchers could then be exchanged for products at markets. The main difference between this and conventional finance is that the value of vouchers would be decided democratically and that they cannot be accumulated. Cost: Decrease in support and relations with the syndicalist wings of the SPA and CSA, 5 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in income, establishment of labor voucher-based markets in locations with a strong SPA presence. Gain of support and relations with orthodox wings of the SPA and CSA. Increase in economic efficiency. Reduced strength of the Center, increased strength of the Orthodox.
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? The widespread establishment of these grows ever more vital as the toll of being forced to pay ridiculous fees for the use of capitalist's services and the inefficiencies of going without begin to take their toll. Cost: loss of support from TUUL and ASA, loss of relations with the Orthodox. 5 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/50/80. 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 and Strength for the Syndicalists. Increase in economic efficiency. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.
Rationalize Production Schemes: With the vast number of factories seized, different product schematics, manufacturing methods, and research facilities are now in the property of the workers. Though some of the men responsible for the more cutting edge possibilities are reluctant to work with "filthy Reds," sufficient bribery has overcome such concerns. Begin working to integrate the best of each factory and develop further innovations to turn the existing industrial base into the greatest in the world! Cost: 4 Resources, -4 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin integrating the segmented knowledge and innovations of the various companies and improving on their work.
Arms Production: The Red Guards need more and better weapons. They need ammunition. They need grenades and uniforms. They need vehicles to transport them and fuel to supply them. An army is an incredibly difficult thing to supply, but you will need to support one. While you can't make anything heavier than mortars currently, small arms can be produced in significant quantities. It's time to start arming the forces of revolution so that they can match the foot soldiers of reaction and the servants of capital. Cost: 8 Resources, -6 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/70/120. Result: Begin producing large quantities of weapons, Red Guards better armed and equipped, unlock new options to supply and train them.
Union-Integrated Planning: Currently, each factory and farm does as it sees best. While the creation of any market system would help coordinate their operations indirectly, doing so effectively would require the return of the profit motive and economic labor discipline. An alternative proposal, to be done separately or in combination, would be to create an Office of Economic Planning, responsible for creating 3-month production targets with the democratic input and experienced guidance of the workers. Such plans would be complex things, but they would also enable great economic efficiency. Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/100/165. Result: Establishment of a democratic department for handling economic planning. Must establish what the goals of that planning are soon after. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.
Appoint an Outreach Manager: With efforts at denying you support growing in numbers and sophistication, you need to develop your advocacy among workers in response. From the imported Chinese scabs and desperate Okies of California to the suffering smallholder farmers of the Great Plains to the exploited miners and factory workers to the American heartland, there are millions just waiting to join your cause...if only they could be persuaded of their exploitations and educated of their class interests. Cost: Influence, loss of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Appointment of a subordinate responsible for outreach and agitation, vote on how much to commit to them, potential gains in Support or Relations.
The Farmworker's Union: With the slowly growing awareness of the importance of the rural population, some have proposed providing the Red Grange with some assistance in expanding their organization to be on industrial lines and thus begin including rural farmworkers of every variety, from the tenant-sharecroppers of the South to the wandering, poverty-stricken Okies of the west and all the types in between. Such assistance would always be very welcome, even if some think it can be better used elsewhere. Cost: 3 Resources, loss of IWW MA and IWW MM support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40. Result: Increased support from the Red Grange, increased Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, increased popularity in rural areas.
The Agricultural Worker's Union: With the slowly growing awareness of the importance of the rural population, some have proposed providing the Red Grange with some assistance in expanding their organization to be on industrial lines and thus begin including rural farmworkers of every variety, from the tenant-sharecroppers of the South to the wandering, poverty-stricken Okies of the west and all the types in between. Such assistance would always be very welcome, even if some think it can be better used elsewhere. For instance, the IWW pointed to their already existing Agricultural Worker's Union, arguing that it should instead be expanded to include tenant farmers. Needless to say, the Red Grange disagreed. Cost: 3 Resources, loss of Red Grange support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40. Result: Increased support from both factions of the IWW, increased popularity in rural areas.
Meat and Potatoes: The rising prices of food have begun to cut painfully into the budgets of the local party branches, who are primarily responsible for running the soup kitchens. Until prices go back down, the party as a whole could take on greater responsibility and purchase the food for the soup kitchens, getting a better price through sheer size. Cost: - 3 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: No drop in quality of quantity of food given out as charity, probable future increases of quantity and quality.
The Union Home: The housing cooperatives serve adequately, but they were never meant to be a long-term solution. Improvements have been made, but it is time to begin the next step and work on providing dignified homes for the homeless. The construction unions stand ready to do their part! Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 10/35/60/90. Result: Construction of large quantities of apartments to house people for free.
Refugee Rescuing: Overwhelmed and undermaintained railways have been blocked by mountains of dust, broken trains, and debris. Bridges have collapsed. Roads have been rendered impassable. And anywhere these disasters have been avoided, there are too many people trying to flee for all to escape. Local authorities are doing all that they can, and doing it far better than any would expect, but it's not enough. So the Combined Syndicates of America will march to the rescue. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Assistance will be given to help refugees get out of the Dust Bowl, arrangements will be made to resettle or house them.
Famine Relief: The sheer devastation of the dust storms has denuded entire counties, often forcing people to flee in every direction. The result has been a catastrophic loss of food production in many places, leading to many former farmers being on the verge of starvation. While aid from existing authorities is already being distributed, more would be better and the opportunity to demonstrate the moral superiority of socialism cannot be denied. Send shipments of wheat and potatoes and corn from areas that are unaffected, and let the hungry be fed. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Significant food shipments organized by the SPA.
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.
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: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/120. 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.
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: 0/10/20/30/40/50/75/100/110/120. Result: Large, one-time boost to Resources.
Mass Recruiting, Pt. 2: The sheer mass and organization of the working class gives you a potent tool for further empowering the American socialist cause. The overwhelming pro-SPA propaganda has begun countering the decades of mystification the American workers have undergone, but there are still many groups who stubbornly resist the tide of revolution. Some, such as the petty capitalists and highly-paid workers, need an explanation of the benefits of your cause. Some, such as reactionary churches, need to be exposed for the falsehoods they spread. But for some, financial and material incentives will be needed to secure their support, along with reminders as to the fate of class traitors. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Further increase to size of the unions.
Mass Organization: With the unions growing in size on a daily basis, measures need to be taken to ensure the democratic control of the unions is maintained. Through vote-buying, carefully designed structures, and coercion, corrupt bosses maintain their positions, while other leadership figures openly advocate for reformism or racism. The Revolution will not succeed with dedicated leadership from dedicated syndicalists. The political fight caused by this will be long and bloody and painful, but it will secure your position in the party, hopefully without causing too much splintering or outcry. Cost: Significant losses of support from party factions and the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/100/160. Result: Grip on party politics strengthened, subvote, actions to follow up unlocked.
Medical Assistance: A small trickle of doctors and nurses have begun to join party ranks, motivated by a mix of fear, hope, and the fact that the SPA seems to be the only faction with some sort of direction in many cities. While this has led to some ad-hoc benefits, such as the formation of Nurse's Unions and the establishment of small clinics that offer discounts to SPA members, there is nothing widespread yet. Encourage and cultivate the development of such systems to make your urban supporters healthier and heartier. Cost: -2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/25/50. Result: Easier access to medical assistance for your urban supporters.
Negotiate With Bosses: With the capitalists left destitute by the sudden loss of their property, they are denied much of their strength and leverage and reduced to begging for scraps. While some find it amusing and want to leave them dependent on charity and others want to force them into the street brigades, some propose a more humane alternative: giving them small pensions and encouraging them to integrate as workers. This kind treatment would not officially be dependent on them agreeing to give up any legal claim to the property they supposedly owned. But there would be that implication. Cost: Some minor displeasure from the left of the party, 4 Resources, -3.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Decrease in complaints from former factory owners about you, reduction in unrest.
Rural-Urban Exchanges: The current system of interaction between farming cooperatives and worker-run factories is ad-hoc and limited by the capitalist framework both currently function in, but frameworks can be worked around. Simply arranging for direct transfers of materials, food, and products between mines, factories, and farms would be the easiest way to solve this problem, and the least controversial. Many are concerned that this would not be capable of handling the complexities of a modern, industrial economy however. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20. Result: Establishment of more formalized and direct exchanges between worker-run facilities, increase in economic efficiency.
Socialist Markets: An alternate proposal, one popular among the more Orthodox wings of the party, is that workers at these facilities could be given labor vouchers representing the value of their work. These vouchers could then be exchanged for products at markets. The main difference between this and conventional finance is that the value of vouchers would be decided democratically and that they cannot be accumulated. Cost: Decrease in support and relations with the syndicalist wings of the SPA and CSA, 5 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in income, establishment of labor voucher-based markets in locations with a strong SPA presence. Gain of support and relations with orthodox wings of the SPA and CSA. Increase in economic efficiency. Reduced strength of the Center, increased strength of the Orthodox.
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? The widespread establishment of these grows ever more vital as the toll of being forced to pay ridiculous fees for the use of capitalist's services and the inefficiencies of going without begin to take their toll. Cost: loss of support from TUUL and ASA, loss of relations with the Orthodox. 5 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/50/80. 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 and Strength for the Syndicalists. Increase in economic efficiency. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.
Rationalize Production Schemes: With the vast number of factories seized, different product schematics, manufacturing methods, and research facilities are now in the property of the workers. Though some of the men responsible for the more cutting edge possibilities are reluctant to work with "filthy Reds," sufficient bribery has overcome such concerns. Begin working to integrate the best of each factory and develop further innovations to turn the existing industrial base into the greatest in the world! Cost: 4 Resources, -4 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin integrating the segmented knowledge and innovations of the various companies and improving on their work.
Arms Production: The Red Guards need more and better weapons. They need ammunition. They need grenades and uniforms. They need vehicles to transport them and fuel to supply them. An army is an incredibly difficult thing to supply, but you will need to support one. While you can't make anything heavier than mortars currently, small arms can be produced in significant quantities. It's time to start arming the forces of revolution so that they can match the foot soldiers of reaction and the servants of capital. Cost: 8 Resources, -6 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/70/120. Result: Begin producing large quantities of weapons, Red Guards better armed and equipped, unlock new options to supply and train them.
Union-Integrated Planning: Currently, each factory and farm does as it sees best. While the creation of any market system would help coordinate their operations indirectly, doing so effectively would require the return of the profit motive and economic labor discipline. An alternative proposal, to be done separately or in combination, would be to create an Office of Economic Planning, responsible for creating 3-month production targets with the democratic input and experienced guidance of the workers. Such plans would be complex things, but they would also enable great economic efficiency. Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/100/165. Result: Establishment of a democratic department for handling economic planning. Must establish what the goals of that planning are soon after. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.
Appoint an Outreach Manager: With efforts at denying you support growing in numbers and sophistication, you need to develop your advocacy among workers in response. From the imported Chinese scabs and desperate Okies of California to the suffering smallholder farmers of the Great Plains to the exploited miners and factory workers to the American heartland, there are millions just waiting to join your cause...if only they could be persuaded of their exploitations and educated of their class interests. Cost: Influence, loss of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Appointment of a subordinate responsible for outreach and agitation, vote on how much to commit to them, potential gains in Support or Relations.
The Farmworker's Union: With the slowly growing awareness of the importance of the rural population, some have proposed providing the Red Grange with some assistance in expanding their organization to be on industrial lines and thus begin including rural farmworkers of every variety, from the tenant-sharecroppers of the South to the wandering, poverty-stricken Okies of the west and all the types in between. Such assistance would always be very welcome, even if some think it can be better used elsewhere. Cost: 3 Resources, loss of IWW MA and IWW MM support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40. Result: Increased support from the Red Grange, increased Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, increased popularity in rural areas.
The Agricultural Worker's Union: With the slowly growing awareness of the importance of the rural population, some have proposed providing the Red Grange with some assistance in expanding their organization to be on industrial lines and thus begin including rural farmworkers of every variety, from the tenant-sharecroppers of the South to the wandering, poverty-stricken Okies of the west and all the types in between. Such assistance would always be very welcome, even if some think it can be better used elsewhere. For instance, the IWW pointed to their already existing Agricultural Worker's Union, arguing that it should instead be expanded to include tenant farmers. Needless to say, the Red Grange disagreed. Cost: 3 Resources, loss of Red Grange support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40. Result: Increased support from both factions of the IWW, increased popularity in rural areas.
Meat and Potatoes: The rising prices of food have begun to cut painfully into the budgets of the local party branches, who are primarily responsible for running the soup kitchens. Until prices go back down, the party as a whole could take on greater responsibility and purchase the food for the soup kitchens, getting a better price through sheer size. Cost: - 3 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: No drop in quality of quantity of food given out as charity, probable future increases of quantity and quality.
The Union Home: The housing cooperatives serve adequately, but they were never meant to be a long-term solution. Improvements have been made, but it is time to begin the next step and work on providing dignified homes for the homeless. The construction unions stand ready to do their part! Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 10/35/60/90. Result: Construction of large quantities of apartments to house people for free.
Refugee Rescuing: Overwhelmed and undermaintained railways have been blocked by mountains of dust, broken trains, and debris. Bridges have collapsed. Roads have been rendered impassable. And anywhere these disasters have been avoided, there are too many people trying to flee for all to escape. Local authorities are doing all that they can, and doing it far better than any would expect, but it's not enough. So the Combined Syndicates of America will march to the rescue. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Assistance will be given to help refugees get out of the Dust Bowl, arrangements will be made to resettle or house them.
Famine Relief: The sheer devastation of the dust storms has denuded entire counties, often forcing people to flee in every direction. The result has been a catastrophic loss of food production in many places, leading to many former farmers being on the verge of starvation. While aid from existing authorities is already being distributed, more would be better and the opportunity to demonstrate the moral superiority of socialism cannot be denied. Send shipments of wheat and potatoes and corn from areas that are unaffected, and let the hungry be fed. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Significant food shipments organized by the SPA.
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: 4 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 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: 10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.
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: 1 Resource. Time: 2 months. DC: 30. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.
Acquire Explosives: The Syndintern has access to large stocks of a variety of explosives. In addition, there are many ways of making things that can blow up when you have access to vast amounts of industry. Begin stockpiling explosives for use in defensive or offensive actions, although giving them to inexperienced Red Guards could be risky. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Acquire small but growing and highly eclectic stockpiles of explosives.
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: 25/75/125. 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.
Security Procedures: The protection of leadership is the duty of the Revolutionary Guard, but there are not enough of those brave men to protect everyone. So it will be up to the Red Guards to protect union halls and party offices. To do so successfully will require the development of better security procedures than standing outside the front door. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/30/50. Result: Improved security for SPA facilities.
(2 Semi-Temporary Influence Committed) A Democratic Chain of Command?: The Bolsheviks increasingly relied on a fairly conventional military structure as the Russian Revolutionary War dragged on, while the Black Army had a system of soldier's councils and recallable officers. Both schools of thought have inspired the structure of various Red Guards cells, along with other sources such as the federal army, the militias of the American Independence War, and the forces of the Third Internationale. Devising a system that will be understandable, egalitarian, democratic, and above all effective must be a priority, even if it will not be possible to pressure all Guards units into following it, let alone the various splinter groups. Cost: ?? Time: 1 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Choices on how to structure the Red Guards and how much pressure to use for spreading it, dramatic increase in the effectiveness of the Red Guards.
A Red Terror: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. You have allowed reactionary militias to prosper in places, and the miners of Montana and the workers of New York City have both paid the price for it. In the Midwest and West Virginia, preachers thunder brimstone sermons and incite their followers to arms against you. Collapsing Klan remnants and their equally violent offspring cling to power in Indiana and Ohio and the Dakotas. And everywhere federal agents and police attempt to suppress the Revolutionary Spirit. It is time to cleanse your holdings of them. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/30/50/70/90/110/150/190. Result: Begin operations to shut down remnants of reactionary and capitalist military forces begin
(2 Butler Influence) Instilling Discipline, Pt. 2: The Red Guards are still an irregular force. Only a small portion has experience serving in the military, and an even smaller part is able to devote their full time to fighting and training and drilling. But it is time to fix that. Working with respected figures among their ranks, it is time to raise expectations and tighten standards, to increase the number of exercises, to begin honing the force, This will doubtless cause some to leave, or form their own organizations, but as long as they accept a degree of oversight over their operations, that is acceptable. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/80/110. Result: Improved discipline of the Red Guards.
Honor of the Regiment: One way to encourage good behavior of the Red Guards is to have that behavior reflect on something larger than themselves but more digestible than the syndicalist cause: their unit. Encouraging pride in the larger Red Guards groupings, the creation of distinct uniforms, and the utilization of unique symbology will hopefully create a spirit of socialist brotherhood between the members of the Red Guards groupings, and this spirit can be used through propaganda to make some of the more volatile individuals think twice. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Create larger Red Guards units with a greater sense of esprit de corps.
A Show of Strength: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. Reactionary militias are growing bolder, feeling empowered by the collapse of order. Wherever you are weak, they grow powerful, and this cannot be tolerated. Striking a few of these groups, such as some of the Green Mountain Boys who live close to your stronghold, will let your point be made with relatively little bloodshed. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60/75/90. Result: Launch a few operations to attack some easy targets.
Create Oversight Committees: One thing the capitalist "democracy" of America got right was making sure the military is entirely controlled by the civilian government. While de jure this is true for the Red Guards, it is not always de facto. One way to fix this would be to create committees of mixed soldiers and civilians that severe misbehavior can be reported to and that would generally provide oversight and direction. This may well be a controversial effort, but it will definitely be popular with some segments. Cost: Loss of Relations with Totalists and Ultra-Ultraleft, loss of Support from TUUL, SPU, and the Teamster's Union, potentially upsetting to Red Guards Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create oversight committees, greater control over Red Guards, increase in support from ASA, IWW, and AFL-CIO, gain in Relations from every other faction.
Making Bankers Bleed: While most banks have collapsed under the strain of crisis and depression, several have been consolidated into larger enterprises that 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.
Purchase More Arms: Relatively few arms factories were seized, but some were, and already Red Guards units have begun to benefit, but the acquisition of weapons for them is an often haphazard process and only a few units have even standard rifles. But it would be easy enough for larger quantities to be purchased and distributed so that the vast throngs of syndicalist soldiers have good guns and adequate ammunition. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/25. Result: Better-equipped Red Guards.
Distribute Trainers: There are only so many skilled, experienced veterans who can serve as a training cadre. While there are plenty of men who survived the Legation Wars and the various Latin American Interventions, only some of them are willing and able to assist you. But equally, there are only so many camps set up. One proposed alternative is to send the trainers to the Red Guards instead of the other way around. Cost: Somewhat weakens the training cadre. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/60/80. Result: Trainers dispersed, slow improvement in the Red Guards.
Raiding Reactionary Groups: The most powerful and organized reactionary groups have been identified. Their threat cannot be tolerated, and so it must be suppressed. They will be surrounded in their churches, attacked in their homes, arrested at their workplaces. They will be purged. Hopefully, the remainder will take the hint and cease being a thorn in our side, or we will have to purge them too. Cost: Possibility of provoking unrest, collateral damage, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/80/120. Result: Attack and break up the most notable counterrevolutionary organizations identified previously.
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: 10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.
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: 1 Resource. Time: 2 months. DC: 30. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.
Acquire Explosives: The Syndintern has access to large stocks of a variety of explosives. In addition, there are many ways of making things that can blow up when you have access to vast amounts of industry. Begin stockpiling explosives for use in defensive or offensive actions, although giving them to inexperienced Red Guards could be risky. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Acquire small but growing and highly eclectic stockpiles of explosives.
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: 25/75/125. 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.
Security Procedures: The protection of leadership is the duty of the Revolutionary Guard, but there are not enough of those brave men to protect everyone. So it will be up to the Red Guards to protect union halls and party offices. To do so successfully will require the development of better security procedures than standing outside the front door. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/30/50. Result: Improved security for SPA facilities.
(2 Semi-Temporary Influence Committed) A Democratic Chain of Command?: The Bolsheviks increasingly relied on a fairly conventional military structure as the Russian Revolutionary War dragged on, while the Black Army had a system of soldier's councils and recallable officers. Both schools of thought have inspired the structure of various Red Guards cells, along with other sources such as the federal army, the militias of the American Independence War, and the forces of the Third Internationale. Devising a system that will be understandable, egalitarian, democratic, and above all effective must be a priority, even if it will not be possible to pressure all Guards units into following it, let alone the various splinter groups. Cost: ?? Time: 1 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Choices on how to structure the Red Guards and how much pressure to use for spreading it, dramatic increase in the effectiveness of the Red Guards.
A Red Terror: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. You have allowed reactionary militias to prosper in places, and the miners of Montana and the workers of New York City have both paid the price for it. In the Midwest and West Virginia, preachers thunder brimstone sermons and incite their followers to arms against you. Collapsing Klan remnants and their equally violent offspring cling to power in Indiana and Ohio and the Dakotas. And everywhere federal agents and police attempt to suppress the Revolutionary Spirit. It is time to cleanse your holdings of them. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/30/50/70/90/110/150/190. Result: Begin operations to shut down remnants of reactionary and capitalist military forces begin
(2 Butler Influence) Instilling Discipline, Pt. 2: The Red Guards are still an irregular force. Only a small portion has experience serving in the military, and an even smaller part is able to devote their full time to fighting and training and drilling. But it is time to fix that. Working with respected figures among their ranks, it is time to raise expectations and tighten standards, to increase the number of exercises, to begin honing the force, This will doubtless cause some to leave, or form their own organizations, but as long as they accept a degree of oversight over their operations, that is acceptable. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/80/110. Result: Improved discipline of the Red Guards.
Honor of the Regiment: One way to encourage good behavior of the Red Guards is to have that behavior reflect on something larger than themselves but more digestible than the syndicalist cause: their unit. Encouraging pride in the larger Red Guards groupings, the creation of distinct uniforms, and the utilization of unique symbology will hopefully create a spirit of socialist brotherhood between the members of the Red Guards groupings, and this spirit can be used through propaganda to make some of the more volatile individuals think twice. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Create larger Red Guards units with a greater sense of esprit de corps.
A Show of Strength: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. Reactionary militias are growing bolder, feeling empowered by the collapse of order. Wherever you are weak, they grow powerful, and this cannot be tolerated. Striking a few of these groups, such as some of the Green Mountain Boys who live close to your stronghold, will let your point be made with relatively little bloodshed. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60/75/90. Result: Launch a few operations to attack some easy targets.
Create Oversight Committees: One thing the capitalist "democracy" of America got right was making sure the military is entirely controlled by the civilian government. While de jure this is true for the Red Guards, it is not always de facto. One way to fix this would be to create committees of mixed soldiers and civilians that severe misbehavior can be reported to and that would generally provide oversight and direction. This may well be a controversial effort, but it will definitely be popular with some segments. Cost: Loss of Relations with Totalists and Ultra-Ultraleft, loss of Support from TUUL, SPU, and the Teamster's Union, potentially upsetting to Red Guards Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create oversight committees, greater control over Red Guards, increase in support from ASA, IWW, and AFL-CIO, gain in Relations from every other faction.
Making Bankers Bleed: While most banks have collapsed under the strain of crisis and depression, several have been consolidated into larger enterprises that 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.
Purchase More Arms: Relatively few arms factories were seized, but some were, and already Red Guards units have begun to benefit, but the acquisition of weapons for them is an often haphazard process and only a few units have even standard rifles. But it would be easy enough for larger quantities to be purchased and distributed so that the vast throngs of syndicalist soldiers have good guns and adequate ammunition. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/25. Result: Better-equipped Red Guards.
Distribute Trainers: There are only so many skilled, experienced veterans who can serve as a training cadre. While there are plenty of men who survived the Legation Wars and the various Latin American Interventions, only some of them are willing and able to assist you. But equally, there are only so many camps set up. One proposed alternative is to send the trainers to the Red Guards instead of the other way around. Cost: Somewhat weakens the training cadre. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/60/80. Result: Trainers dispersed, slow improvement in the Red Guards.
Raiding Reactionary Groups: The most powerful and organized reactionary groups have been identified. Their threat cannot be tolerated, and so it must be suppressed. They will be surrounded in their churches, attacked in their homes, arrested at their workplaces. They will be purged. Hopefully, the remainder will take the hint and cease being a thorn in our side, or we will have to purge them too. Cost: Possibility of provoking unrest, collateral damage, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/80/120. Result: Attack and break up the most notable counterrevolutionary organizations identified previously.
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 just as staunchly secular, 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 Anarchists, loss of support from Jews and other religions. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Protestant 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 loss of CSA support, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/120. 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: 3 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 broaden 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.
The Worker's School: There are many subjects not taught in great detail to the workers through the American education system. Leadership, management, socialist ideology...and of course anything behind the most basic parts of math, science, and history, not to mention various less immediately practical subjects. Creating schools for adults, or training wandering schoolteachers to help them, is yet another way to expand your influence and benefit the workers. Cost: 2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Establish schools for adult workers.
(2 Propaganda Committee Influence) 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: 1 month. DC: 10/50/80. Result: The creation of posters and pamphlets to help spread your message, increased ease of recruiting.
(2 Propaganda Committee Influence) 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: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/60/100. Result: Expanded newspaper distribution, easier recruiting and organizing
Photos for All: Photography is an incredibly powerful medium for displaying the impact of events upon people. The Dust Bowl, the Bleeding Midwest, the many deprivations and horrors caused by capitalism...and the triumphs wherever such things are fought would all make excellent subjects for photography. The camera can spread your message and make another potent tool in your arsenal. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Expanded use of photography in propaganda.
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.
Expand Rural Propaganda: Speeches and radio messages are already being broadcast, describing in broad terms your goals, your successes, and denigrating your rivals. The news of the ever-growing syndicalist movement will surely persuade many, but there are certainly other tacks to be taken. Encouraging more agitators and investing more time into propagandizing rural areas will doubtless increase your support in the farms of the country to greater levels, hopefully squeezing out Long and the hostile remnants of Farmer-Labor. Cost: 2 Resources, may cost support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Increased and better propaganda directed at rural areas.
Anti-Longist Propaganda: The Longists are ideologically incoherent, propped up by those they claim to oppose, corrupt, violent, brutal, prejudiced, openly favor the Confederacy and vilify heroes such as John Brown and Thomas Paine, and above all else they are ineffective. While their influence has been mostly expunged from areas you dominate, they still have some presence in parts of several states, most notably New York and the rest of rural New England. Target them. List their failures, condemn their faults, give them no rhetorical respite. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Increased anti-Longist propaganda.
Pillory Capitalist Greed: The Longists and the Federalists agree on one thing: capitalism is here to stay. They desperately seek to keep the same failing system, and they will spend as much blood as they need to in order to preserve their hierarchies and privileges. Capitalist greed is behind every death from want or violence since at least 1925. Politicians love to proclaim millions have died to syndicalism and revolutions. It is time to count the tally killed by capitalism and reaction. It is time to lay out the contradictions of capitalism and destroy any denial or defense. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in general anti-capitalist propaganda.
Against the Opium: Religion has historically played a large role in American life, and the chaos of the Great Depression has led to something of a revival for its most unusual and esoteric branches. Many churches are strongly reactionary, offering pie in the sky for empty bellies on earth. And many are corrupt as well. Stephenson had pastors helping him, and reaping the sick "benefits" of his brutal actions. Publicize these sins, demand an accounting, and begin breaking the stranglehold of religion on American thought. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Increase in anti-church propaganda.
Radio Debates: One of the many potential uses of the new radio networks is to publicize debates between syndicalists and their opposition. The concept has attracted a great deal of interest, since such arguments were an important part of Lincoln's electoral victories. There is also a great deal of debate in how they are to be structured...Cost: Variable. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30. Result: Votes on how to structure the debates.
The Moral of the Story: The radio is also being popularly used for entertainment, and there is the occasional show you like to listen to in order to relax. There's no reason the SPA can't sponsor a few shows about bands of thieves stealing from robbers, the ordinary adventures of hard-working laborers, or perhaps a grand tale of an alien world wracked by civil war...Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create socialist-themed radio entertainment.
Street Art: Such artwork can be created in many other cities where you have a presence as well...it will probably go better if you don't have to deal with hostile police and "citizen's groups." You will create murals and graffiti in every style imaginable, showing the sins of capitalism and the glories of what will come after. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50/70. Result: Create socialist street art throughout SPA-controlled or influence areas.
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: 15/30/45/60. Result: Expand community gardens with other (cheap) community activities and facilities, encourage interaction between different groups.
Challenge the Instability: The evident failures of bourgeois democracy are displayed before all of America: a president and a vice-president dead or incapacitated, no one able to determine who or how they should be replaced, state governments frantically banding together, federal authority beginning to vanish, rising unrest in America's colonies...what sort of nation could accept this, what sort of system could allow this? And what alternative is there? All these questions are to be answered. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/30/45/60/90. Result: Condemn the failures of the United States government, explain why your proposal is a superior alternative.
There is Power in a Union: Strength can be its own sort of comfort in dark and dangerous times. And you have strength aplenty. While there are many who might fear you, the alternatives are equally terrifying. Promise them protection, promise them safety as members of the CSA, promise them peace and stability, as much as can be gained. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Convince people to join you to protect themselves from various other threats.
Anti-Americanization: While the melting pot is a lovely concept, it also means that meaningful elements of various individual cultures are destroyed or appropriated. To resist such trends will require meaningful and long-term effort, but a start can be made through advocacy over the use of autonomy to establish holidays celebrating ancient customs and adding languages such as German, Yiddish, and Finnish to the days of schoolchildren so the tongues of their ancestry are not lost. Cost: 1 Resource, loss of support from socially conservative factions. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/20/30/60/90. Result: Agitate for expressions of local cultural heritage.
Offer an Alternative: The internal pink unions of the SPA have largely evaporated. The reformist, class-collaborationist unions supported by the SPU have begun dissolving themselves, primarily merging with the more confrontational AFL-CIO. But in many cases, their members have been left adrift, with damaged worldviews and betrayed feelings. Now they are vulnerable to capitalist or reactionary subversion...but they can also be convinced to take a more radical stance. There just needs to be a place for them. Cost: Increased strength to the AFL-CIO. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/70/100. Result: Disaffected moderate workers recruited into the AFL-CIO and propagandized to be more radical, increase in AFL-CIO support.
Street Theater: Work and labor are all well and good, but people need to relax and be entertained as well. And so entertainment shall be provided. Plays, skits, comedy groups, all shall be created. And of course, aside from the classic and common sorts of entertainment, some of it will have an edge to it as the entertainers seek to provoke thought and encourage the questioning of the current order. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/55/85/100. Result: Establish small traveling syndicalist entertainment groups.
Youth Groups: Children are the future. They must be protected and nurtured and educated, given the tools they need to succeed in a world that changes more and more by the day. And if their parents can't care for them, there needs to be an alternative. An extension of the existing childcare institutions, informal practices, and an alternative to the Boy Scouts all in one has been proposed: The Young Worker's League (the name was chosen to avoid coming down on the syndicalist vs. socialist debate). Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resourcer per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/75. Result: Establishment of youth groups and clubs.
Catholic Liberation: The Catholic church is a powerful reactionary force, particularly after the savage anti-clericalism of the Italian Revolution. But many of its adherents are syndicalists or at least progressives, and the Irish and Italian voting blocs have allowed themselves to be courted by the SPA despite unease from some segments of the party. Now it is time to take that relationship to the next step, and this begins by reducing anti-clerical tendencies in the party and presenting a face friendly to the Catholic church in theory, if not in practice. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, Totalists, and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from Protestants. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Catholics, increased ease of recruitment.
Anti-Olson Approaches: Olson has already begun working to secure his power base through the remains of the Progressive Party and Farmer-Labor, reaching out to Federal and even Longist groups to increase the strength of his reformist movement. While outside of Minnesota his position remains precarious (and even within the state), he is growing stronger. And so that base must be cut away. Attacks on his character, attacks on his politics, attacks on his record, any and all will be used to dismantle his support, although a degree of care must be taken for these attacks to not be blatantly sponsored by the SPA leadership. Only a degree though, it can be an open secret. Cost: Increased tensions with Olson. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/60/75. Result: Decreased support for reformism.
Against All Racism: Racism is not something you will tolerate, nor is it acceptable to the CSA. While proclamations can only have so much impact, it is worthwhile to make them, especially if they can be followed up by action. But simply speaking against it will count for something. Cost: Decreased support from the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/60/105. Result: Racism and discrimination are condemned, chance of action being taken independently of you.
Encourage the Seizures: There will be no cowardice in the SPA. You are seizing factories because the system they operate under is inherently unjust, and the workers of the world will be rectifying that. And if you don't like it, stay out of their way. Rally the workers to your banner, radicalize them, and go forth! Take the means of production, for the Revolution nears every day! Cost: Very provocative. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Increased support and radicalization within the party, more enthusiasm for seizing factories and other facilities.
We're Singing on the Radio: With the developing core of singers and musicians working for the SPA, and the fairly robust radio network, the next step is obvious. Begin recording that music and adding it to the currently news-focused radio networks to make them more entertaining to listen to. Cost: -0.1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 10. Result: Begin recording various songs and playing them on the SPA radio network, adding them to whatever the individual stations have managed.
The Growing Pie: Yet another possible propaganda angle to approach would be the economic benefits of syndicalism. When all the workers are united and capitalist and banker leeches are no longer siphoning off the hard-earned profits of the workers for their own ends, we can expand the amount of wealth and industry for all, no matter their color or faith or place of origin. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Begin spreading propaganda about the economic benefits of syndicalism and socialism.
Religious Freedom: While you will not go so far as to demand the inclusion of religious symbology and rhetoric into the propaganda of the SPA, you will make it clear that you stand unswervingly for religious freedom. Many workers share many faiths, from Catholicism to Episcopalianism to Baptism, to say nothing of the minority religions of the country. And you promise that none shall be oppressed or suppressed. Cost: 1 Resource. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Begin spreading propaganda in favor of religious freedom and tolerance, hopefully countering the rumors describing you as a bunch of church-burning lunatics.
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 loss of CSA support, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/120. 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: 3 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 broaden 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.
The Worker's School: There are many subjects not taught in great detail to the workers through the American education system. Leadership, management, socialist ideology...and of course anything behind the most basic parts of math, science, and history, not to mention various less immediately practical subjects. Creating schools for adults, or training wandering schoolteachers to help them, is yet another way to expand your influence and benefit the workers. Cost: 2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Establish schools for adult workers.
(2 Propaganda Committee Influence) 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: 1 month. DC: 10/50/80. Result: The creation of posters and pamphlets to help spread your message, increased ease of recruiting.
(2 Propaganda Committee Influence) 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: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/60/100. Result: Expanded newspaper distribution, easier recruiting and organizing
Photos for All: Photography is an incredibly powerful medium for displaying the impact of events upon people. The Dust Bowl, the Bleeding Midwest, the many deprivations and horrors caused by capitalism...and the triumphs wherever such things are fought would all make excellent subjects for photography. The camera can spread your message and make another potent tool in your arsenal. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Expanded use of photography in propaganda.
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.
Expand Rural Propaganda: Speeches and radio messages are already being broadcast, describing in broad terms your goals, your successes, and denigrating your rivals. The news of the ever-growing syndicalist movement will surely persuade many, but there are certainly other tacks to be taken. Encouraging more agitators and investing more time into propagandizing rural areas will doubtless increase your support in the farms of the country to greater levels, hopefully squeezing out Long and the hostile remnants of Farmer-Labor. Cost: 2 Resources, may cost support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Increased and better propaganda directed at rural areas.
Anti-Longist Propaganda: The Longists are ideologically incoherent, propped up by those they claim to oppose, corrupt, violent, brutal, prejudiced, openly favor the Confederacy and vilify heroes such as John Brown and Thomas Paine, and above all else they are ineffective. While their influence has been mostly expunged from areas you dominate, they still have some presence in parts of several states, most notably New York and the rest of rural New England. Target them. List their failures, condemn their faults, give them no rhetorical respite. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Increased anti-Longist propaganda.
Pillory Capitalist Greed: The Longists and the Federalists agree on one thing: capitalism is here to stay. They desperately seek to keep the same failing system, and they will spend as much blood as they need to in order to preserve their hierarchies and privileges. Capitalist greed is behind every death from want or violence since at least 1925. Politicians love to proclaim millions have died to syndicalism and revolutions. It is time to count the tally killed by capitalism and reaction. It is time to lay out the contradictions of capitalism and destroy any denial or defense. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in general anti-capitalist propaganda.
Against the Opium: Religion has historically played a large role in American life, and the chaos of the Great Depression has led to something of a revival for its most unusual and esoteric branches. Many churches are strongly reactionary, offering pie in the sky for empty bellies on earth. And many are corrupt as well. Stephenson had pastors helping him, and reaping the sick "benefits" of his brutal actions. Publicize these sins, demand an accounting, and begin breaking the stranglehold of religion on American thought. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Increase in anti-church propaganda.
Radio Debates: One of the many potential uses of the new radio networks is to publicize debates between syndicalists and their opposition. The concept has attracted a great deal of interest, since such arguments were an important part of Lincoln's electoral victories. There is also a great deal of debate in how they are to be structured...Cost: Variable. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30. Result: Votes on how to structure the debates.
The Moral of the Story: The radio is also being popularly used for entertainment, and there is the occasional show you like to listen to in order to relax. There's no reason the SPA can't sponsor a few shows about bands of thieves stealing from robbers, the ordinary adventures of hard-working laborers, or perhaps a grand tale of an alien world wracked by civil war...Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create socialist-themed radio entertainment.
Street Art: Such artwork can be created in many other cities where you have a presence as well...it will probably go better if you don't have to deal with hostile police and "citizen's groups." You will create murals and graffiti in every style imaginable, showing the sins of capitalism and the glories of what will come after. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50/70. Result: Create socialist street art throughout SPA-controlled or influence areas.
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: 15/30/45/60. Result: Expand community gardens with other (cheap) community activities and facilities, encourage interaction between different groups.
Challenge the Instability: The evident failures of bourgeois democracy are displayed before all of America: a president and a vice-president dead or incapacitated, no one able to determine who or how they should be replaced, state governments frantically banding together, federal authority beginning to vanish, rising unrest in America's colonies...what sort of nation could accept this, what sort of system could allow this? And what alternative is there? All these questions are to be answered. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/30/45/60/90. Result: Condemn the failures of the United States government, explain why your proposal is a superior alternative.
There is Power in a Union: Strength can be its own sort of comfort in dark and dangerous times. And you have strength aplenty. While there are many who might fear you, the alternatives are equally terrifying. Promise them protection, promise them safety as members of the CSA, promise them peace and stability, as much as can be gained. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Convince people to join you to protect themselves from various other threats.
Anti-Americanization: While the melting pot is a lovely concept, it also means that meaningful elements of various individual cultures are destroyed or appropriated. To resist such trends will require meaningful and long-term effort, but a start can be made through advocacy over the use of autonomy to establish holidays celebrating ancient customs and adding languages such as German, Yiddish, and Finnish to the days of schoolchildren so the tongues of their ancestry are not lost. Cost: 1 Resource, loss of support from socially conservative factions. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/20/30/60/90. Result: Agitate for expressions of local cultural heritage.
Offer an Alternative: The internal pink unions of the SPA have largely evaporated. The reformist, class-collaborationist unions supported by the SPU have begun dissolving themselves, primarily merging with the more confrontational AFL-CIO. But in many cases, their members have been left adrift, with damaged worldviews and betrayed feelings. Now they are vulnerable to capitalist or reactionary subversion...but they can also be convinced to take a more radical stance. There just needs to be a place for them. Cost: Increased strength to the AFL-CIO. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/70/100. Result: Disaffected moderate workers recruited into the AFL-CIO and propagandized to be more radical, increase in AFL-CIO support.
Street Theater: Work and labor are all well and good, but people need to relax and be entertained as well. And so entertainment shall be provided. Plays, skits, comedy groups, all shall be created. And of course, aside from the classic and common sorts of entertainment, some of it will have an edge to it as the entertainers seek to provoke thought and encourage the questioning of the current order. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/55/85/100. Result: Establish small traveling syndicalist entertainment groups.
Youth Groups: Children are the future. They must be protected and nurtured and educated, given the tools they need to succeed in a world that changes more and more by the day. And if their parents can't care for them, there needs to be an alternative. An extension of the existing childcare institutions, informal practices, and an alternative to the Boy Scouts all in one has been proposed: The Young Worker's League (the name was chosen to avoid coming down on the syndicalist vs. socialist debate). Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resourcer per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/75. Result: Establishment of youth groups and clubs.
Catholic Liberation: The Catholic church is a powerful reactionary force, particularly after the savage anti-clericalism of the Italian Revolution. But many of its adherents are syndicalists or at least progressives, and the Irish and Italian voting blocs have allowed themselves to be courted by the SPA despite unease from some segments of the party. Now it is time to take that relationship to the next step, and this begins by reducing anti-clerical tendencies in the party and presenting a face friendly to the Catholic church in theory, if not in practice. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, Totalists, and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from Protestants. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Catholics, increased ease of recruitment.
Anti-Olson Approaches: Olson has already begun working to secure his power base through the remains of the Progressive Party and Farmer-Labor, reaching out to Federal and even Longist groups to increase the strength of his reformist movement. While outside of Minnesota his position remains precarious (and even within the state), he is growing stronger. And so that base must be cut away. Attacks on his character, attacks on his politics, attacks on his record, any and all will be used to dismantle his support, although a degree of care must be taken for these attacks to not be blatantly sponsored by the SPA leadership. Only a degree though, it can be an open secret. Cost: Increased tensions with Olson. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/60/75. Result: Decreased support for reformism.
Against All Racism: Racism is not something you will tolerate, nor is it acceptable to the CSA. While proclamations can only have so much impact, it is worthwhile to make them, especially if they can be followed up by action. But simply speaking against it will count for something. Cost: Decreased support from the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/60/105. Result: Racism and discrimination are condemned, chance of action being taken independently of you.
Encourage the Seizures: There will be no cowardice in the SPA. You are seizing factories because the system they operate under is inherently unjust, and the workers of the world will be rectifying that. And if you don't like it, stay out of their way. Rally the workers to your banner, radicalize them, and go forth! Take the means of production, for the Revolution nears every day! Cost: Very provocative. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Increased support and radicalization within the party, more enthusiasm for seizing factories and other facilities.
We're Singing on the Radio: With the developing core of singers and musicians working for the SPA, and the fairly robust radio network, the next step is obvious. Begin recording that music and adding it to the currently news-focused radio networks to make them more entertaining to listen to. Cost: -0.1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 10. Result: Begin recording various songs and playing them on the SPA radio network, adding them to whatever the individual stations have managed.
The Growing Pie: Yet another possible propaganda angle to approach would be the economic benefits of syndicalism. When all the workers are united and capitalist and banker leeches are no longer siphoning off the hard-earned profits of the workers for their own ends, we can expand the amount of wealth and industry for all, no matter their color or faith or place of origin. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Begin spreading propaganda about the economic benefits of syndicalism and socialism.
Religious Freedom: While you will not go so far as to demand the inclusion of religious symbology and rhetoric into the propaganda of the SPA, you will make it clear that you stand unswervingly for religious freedom. Many workers share many faiths, from Catholicism to Episcopalianism to Baptism, to say nothing of the minority religions of the country. And you promise that none shall be oppressed or suppressed. Cost: 1 Resource. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Begin spreading propaganda in favor of religious freedom and tolerance, hopefully countering the rumors describing you as a bunch of church-burning lunatics.
State Minority Rights: It is clear that there will be no progress on civil rights while the undemocratic and incompetent Hoover regime still controls the White House and Congress is so divided and disunited. Not unless that progress comes on the state level. Fortunately, there are multiple states willing and eager to pass various forms of equality-related laws, from sweeping bans of voting impediments to the abolishment of discriminatory laws to mandates to prevent abuse and discrimination. There will be backlash for pushing this, from allies and enemies both, but moral and practical imperatives drive you to pursue it nevertheless. Socialization requires liberation. Liberation requires equality. Cost: Likely loss of support, loss of support from conservative factions of the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/80/120. Result: Pass significant anti-discrimination laws, increase in support from socially left factions, gains in support from minority populations.
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 has 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: 55/100/150. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.
Working With Republicans: A scant few Republicans have shown themselves to be potential allies, at least on legislative matters. Their party has for now absorbed the Progressives, creating a fragile and unstable union that could explode at any moment...and you might just be able to pick up the pieces. Insurgent Republicans and former Progressives have praised your advocacy for the recent, defeated laws. And they know together you will be stronger. Approaching them could be worthwhile. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/90/150. Results: You convince some members of the Republican Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.
The Reformist Coalition: Recent events have given rise to a broad, vaguely left-of-center coalition determined to see stability returned to the nation. They have worked tirelessly to aid those harmed by the recent dust storms, winning much adulation and support for it. And already they are working to begin passing reforms in many states and even on a federal level. Nearly every party has people aligned with this coalition, and they are growing stronger every day. They may well capture the working class's energy and direct it from revolution to reform. And that cannot be allowed. While their recent growth is impressive, they are still relatively marginal, especially in strongly SPA areas. As such, they can be dealt with through co-opting and absorption, with reforms meant to diffuse the power of the working-class instead turned to strengthen it. Cost: Loss of support from those opposed to electoralism. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/75/100. Result: Segments of the growing coalition co-opted, increase in support from those who favor electoralism.
Co-Opt the Machines: While the political machines in SPA-controlled areas have been dismantled thoroughly, some yet remain. Halt their gradual dismantlement and co-opt them into your service instead, helping you gain votes in some contested towns and cities. Of course, embracing them means embracing their shadier side as well. Cost: Increase in corruption, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/25/40/50. Result: Increase in popular support, the Teamster's Union likes it.
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. The current crisis means that keeping as many farms as possible viable could be quite important, if conditions worsen enough to provoke a general famine as opposed to simply rising prices. Cost: Very mild loss of support with both factions of the IWW. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/55/70. 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.
Limited Food Prices: Action must be taken to prevent food prices from rising out of control. Once more price controls will be adjusted and expanded to allow the vast populations who labor tirelessly in mines and factories to eat. It's a familiar dance to many. Cost: Mild loss of support from the Red Grange, minor loss of Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/50/60. Result: Food prices stabilize, gain in Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Centrists, gain in support from the ASA, both factions of the IWW, and the Regional Unions.
Assist the Refugees: While worker-based action will certainly alleviate the conditions of the incoming refugees, a combination of distance and limited resources means there is only so much they can do. But there are plenty of state governments where the socialists, even if they cannot control the government, can push for the refugees to be aided. This isn't a political consideration. This is a human one. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/50/65. Result: Refugees aided, some increase in popular support.
Sewer Socialism: American infrastructure is doing...poorly. Neglect and violence has led to bridges beginning to crumble, railways needing repair, and roads vanishing from dust and rain. The repairs will be costly and take a long time, but they can begin relatively simply by passing some spending bills in SPA-controlled states. Adjustments can be made to the infrastructure for the benefit of the workers, as well. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Infrastructure development begins.
(2 Norman Thomas Influence) Railway Socialism: The most essential piece of infrastructure is perhaps the rails. These are what tie together the mines and farms and factories and allow an industrial economy to function. Control of the rail hubs was what gave the Bolsheviks many initial successes in the Russian Civil War, it kept the British revolution safe from the initial attempts at crushing them, and it was vital in the establishment of the French Commune as well. Even during the Slaver's War, the Union's superior rail network was vital. And if state governments are the ones repairing the rails and operating them, perhaps they should be the ones owning them...Cost: Expensive. Time: 2 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Begin massive railway repair program, seize the rails thus repaired through "legal" methods.
Political Grandstanding: With Capitol Hill effectively dead due to the sheer dysfunction, now it is time to turn the Senate and House seats you control into bully pulpits. In committee and on the floor, you and yours will go on the attack through speeches and shouts. This is not a bid for passing a bill or an attempt to whip up some political support. This is an attempt to expose the social, economic, and political order of the United States as the blood-soaked horror it is from the very top. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/115/150. Result: Increase in popular support, the humiliation of all your political opposition.
A Juneteenth Celebration: June 19th is the day the Emancipation Proclamation was passed, one of the greatest acts of one of the greatest American presidents. After his defeat, a conspiracy of reactionaries, bankers, and capitalists did what they could to crush the legacy of Lincoln and suppress the successes of Reconstruction. With limited support in the Deep South, we cannot undo that harm at its source, but we can enshrine this day as a holiday across many states, making a clear statement of our beliefs and attitudes that will stand alongside our anti-lynching laws. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Pass laws declaring June 19th to be a state-wide holiday in several states, increase in support among black people.
The Big Bill: Capitol Hill is always rife with rumors, many of which are patently ridiculous. But you, Thomas, and Schenk think there might be something to one in particular. Democrats and Republicans and members of all three Farmer-Labor splinters have been exchanging significant looks, having hushed conversations, and meeting privately. Supposedly, Senators Wagner, Garner, and Moses have been working together to write a bill, along with many other major political figures like Quentin Roosevelt, James Watson, and Robert LaFollette Jr. Whatever this bill is, it will be bad news. Find out more and begin working to stop its passage. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/65/100. Result: Find more about this "big bill"
Demand Non-Intervention: Rumors of another US Army intervention in South America are spreading as well, provoking discontent and anger from everyone. These rumors are almost certainly false, even MacArthur has said so with his typical arrogance and utter lack of tact. But you can force the US to officially commit to a policy of non-intervention. This will likely result in a pullback of US support for several South and Central American juntas and boost your popularity among isolationists with broad support. But even with as much hostility to the idea of intervention, it will take a great deal of effort to pass. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 75/125. Result: Anti-intervention bill passed with broad support from several parties.
Bureaucratic Modifications: With the changes proposed, begin hiring bureaucrats subject to democratically elected committees designed to ensure that corruption, malfeasance, and obstructionism cannot take root in them. This will hopefully dramatically improve the efficacy of every state government where reactionaries were purged and curtail the influence of any who were missed...which is an unlikely proposition. Still, having another hedge against them feels useful. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25. Result: Dramatically reduced penalty from bureaucratic inexperience, improved efficacy of state governments.
Patronage Networks: Patronage is a reality of any political system, no matter how reformers rail against it. It has even begun popping up in the newly cleansed state bureaucracies, to say nothing of unions or the small-town governments on your side. So it must be dealt with and used to your advantage. Beginning to create and use these networks will also allow you to have at least a degree of control...which means you will be one making bargains with slimy bastards. Joy. Cost: Stress, increase to corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Increase to support in the CSA, increase to support from the Teamster's Union, slight increase to popular support. Enhances effects of Assistants Adjustment
Anti-Corruption Agencies: Corruption is a double-edged sword, and one that could cut you deeply. It is time to start taking measures to protect yourself, first by beginning to work with state governments to establish organizations that will purge corruption within elected and unelected offices...and making sure these organizations are resistant to the lure of corruption themselves. Cost: Slight loss of support in the CSA, slight decrease to support from the Teamster's Union. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90/120. Result: Slight increase in popular support, slight reduction in corruption, further actions for reducing it unlocked.
Local Autonomy Programs: The first implementation of the principles of local autonomy will begin. A relatively simple set of legislation will be passed, allowing school districts to choose to have optional "Cultural Enrichment" classes where students will learn the language, history, and traditions of their ancestors and granting municipalities permission to have local paperwork and signage in any language they desire, so long as English is also prominently available. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/25/50. Result: The first beginnings of local cultural autonomy.
State Nationalizations: Huey Long has already done it, and so has the federal government and its supporters. It is time for the government of the workers to begin directly intervening in the economy. State-backed investors will purchase commanding shares in certain factories and facilities, transferring part-ownership to the workers and coordinating the economic functioning in order to bolster the state as a whole...and in order to better equip the workers for the inevitable backlash. This can be combined with subsidies and a variety of other economic tools to greatly strengthen the influence of workers in the economy. Cost: Possible minor backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/80/100. Result: Increase to income, some factories taken over by the workers and the states under the cover of law. Expand subsidies to workplaces, unlock further options for government intervention in the economy, possibly ease other economic reforms. Increase in support from ASA and increase in relations with the Orthodox.
Strengthen the Justifications: With flimsy laws providing flimsier protection, it's clear they need to be fixed. Though fierce opposition has begun rallying, with everything from filibusters to bribery to harassment being attempted to keep the seizures from having actual legal justification. There are even threats of the army being called in to restore order, threats that are not followed through on only because of the fear of a full-on civil war. Strengthen the justifications, encourage the seizures, and prepare for the class war. Cost: Minor losses in CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: The legal basis for factory seizure is strengthened.
State Police Forces: With the National Guards hampered, there are other potential forces that could be used to suppress us...or used to crush reactionaries. To that end, the state police forces will be secured, their leadership replaced with trusted syndicalists, Red Guards will be hired, and they will be shifted to being under Congressional influence even as their arms are improved and their procedures revamped. Cost: Possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: State police forces have their loyalty secured.
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 has 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: 55/100/150. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.
Working With Republicans: A scant few Republicans have shown themselves to be potential allies, at least on legislative matters. Their party has for now absorbed the Progressives, creating a fragile and unstable union that could explode at any moment...and you might just be able to pick up the pieces. Insurgent Republicans and former Progressives have praised your advocacy for the recent, defeated laws. And they know together you will be stronger. Approaching them could be worthwhile. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/90/150. Results: You convince some members of the Republican Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.
The Reformist Coalition: Recent events have given rise to a broad, vaguely left-of-center coalition determined to see stability returned to the nation. They have worked tirelessly to aid those harmed by the recent dust storms, winning much adulation and support for it. And already they are working to begin passing reforms in many states and even on a federal level. Nearly every party has people aligned with this coalition, and they are growing stronger every day. They may well capture the working class's energy and direct it from revolution to reform. And that cannot be allowed. While their recent growth is impressive, they are still relatively marginal, especially in strongly SPA areas. As such, they can be dealt with through co-opting and absorption, with reforms meant to diffuse the power of the working-class instead turned to strengthen it. Cost: Loss of support from those opposed to electoralism. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/75/100. Result: Segments of the growing coalition co-opted, increase in support from those who favor electoralism.
Co-Opt the Machines: While the political machines in SPA-controlled areas have been dismantled thoroughly, some yet remain. Halt their gradual dismantlement and co-opt them into your service instead, helping you gain votes in some contested towns and cities. Of course, embracing them means embracing their shadier side as well. Cost: Increase in corruption, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/25/40/50. Result: Increase in popular support, the Teamster's Union likes it.
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. The current crisis means that keeping as many farms as possible viable could be quite important, if conditions worsen enough to provoke a general famine as opposed to simply rising prices. Cost: Very mild loss of support with both factions of the IWW. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/55/70. 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.
Limited Food Prices: Action must be taken to prevent food prices from rising out of control. Once more price controls will be adjusted and expanded to allow the vast populations who labor tirelessly in mines and factories to eat. It's a familiar dance to many. Cost: Mild loss of support from the Red Grange, minor loss of Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/50/60. Result: Food prices stabilize, gain in Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Centrists, gain in support from the ASA, both factions of the IWW, and the Regional Unions.
Assist the Refugees: While worker-based action will certainly alleviate the conditions of the incoming refugees, a combination of distance and limited resources means there is only so much they can do. But there are plenty of state governments where the socialists, even if they cannot control the government, can push for the refugees to be aided. This isn't a political consideration. This is a human one. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/50/65. Result: Refugees aided, some increase in popular support.
Sewer Socialism: American infrastructure is doing...poorly. Neglect and violence has led to bridges beginning to crumble, railways needing repair, and roads vanishing from dust and rain. The repairs will be costly and take a long time, but they can begin relatively simply by passing some spending bills in SPA-controlled states. Adjustments can be made to the infrastructure for the benefit of the workers, as well. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Infrastructure development begins.
(2 Norman Thomas Influence) Railway Socialism: The most essential piece of infrastructure is perhaps the rails. These are what tie together the mines and farms and factories and allow an industrial economy to function. Control of the rail hubs was what gave the Bolsheviks many initial successes in the Russian Civil War, it kept the British revolution safe from the initial attempts at crushing them, and it was vital in the establishment of the French Commune as well. Even during the Slaver's War, the Union's superior rail network was vital. And if state governments are the ones repairing the rails and operating them, perhaps they should be the ones owning them...Cost: Expensive. Time: 2 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Begin massive railway repair program, seize the rails thus repaired through "legal" methods.
Political Grandstanding: With Capitol Hill effectively dead due to the sheer dysfunction, now it is time to turn the Senate and House seats you control into bully pulpits. In committee and on the floor, you and yours will go on the attack through speeches and shouts. This is not a bid for passing a bill or an attempt to whip up some political support. This is an attempt to expose the social, economic, and political order of the United States as the blood-soaked horror it is from the very top. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/115/150. Result: Increase in popular support, the humiliation of all your political opposition.
A Juneteenth Celebration: June 19th is the day the Emancipation Proclamation was passed, one of the greatest acts of one of the greatest American presidents. After his defeat, a conspiracy of reactionaries, bankers, and capitalists did what they could to crush the legacy of Lincoln and suppress the successes of Reconstruction. With limited support in the Deep South, we cannot undo that harm at its source, but we can enshrine this day as a holiday across many states, making a clear statement of our beliefs and attitudes that will stand alongside our anti-lynching laws. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Pass laws declaring June 19th to be a state-wide holiday in several states, increase in support among black people.
The Big Bill: Capitol Hill is always rife with rumors, many of which are patently ridiculous. But you, Thomas, and Schenk think there might be something to one in particular. Democrats and Republicans and members of all three Farmer-Labor splinters have been exchanging significant looks, having hushed conversations, and meeting privately. Supposedly, Senators Wagner, Garner, and Moses have been working together to write a bill, along with many other major political figures like Quentin Roosevelt, James Watson, and Robert LaFollette Jr. Whatever this bill is, it will be bad news. Find out more and begin working to stop its passage. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/65/100. Result: Find more about this "big bill"
Demand Non-Intervention: Rumors of another US Army intervention in South America are spreading as well, provoking discontent and anger from everyone. These rumors are almost certainly false, even MacArthur has said so with his typical arrogance and utter lack of tact. But you can force the US to officially commit to a policy of non-intervention. This will likely result in a pullback of US support for several South and Central American juntas and boost your popularity among isolationists with broad support. But even with as much hostility to the idea of intervention, it will take a great deal of effort to pass. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 75/125. Result: Anti-intervention bill passed with broad support from several parties.
Bureaucratic Modifications: With the changes proposed, begin hiring bureaucrats subject to democratically elected committees designed to ensure that corruption, malfeasance, and obstructionism cannot take root in them. This will hopefully dramatically improve the efficacy of every state government where reactionaries were purged and curtail the influence of any who were missed...which is an unlikely proposition. Still, having another hedge against them feels useful. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25. Result: Dramatically reduced penalty from bureaucratic inexperience, improved efficacy of state governments.
Patronage Networks: Patronage is a reality of any political system, no matter how reformers rail against it. It has even begun popping up in the newly cleansed state bureaucracies, to say nothing of unions or the small-town governments on your side. So it must be dealt with and used to your advantage. Beginning to create and use these networks will also allow you to have at least a degree of control...which means you will be one making bargains with slimy bastards. Joy. Cost: Stress, increase to corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Increase to support in the CSA, increase to support from the Teamster's Union, slight increase to popular support. Enhances effects of Assistants Adjustment
Anti-Corruption Agencies: Corruption is a double-edged sword, and one that could cut you deeply. It is time to start taking measures to protect yourself, first by beginning to work with state governments to establish organizations that will purge corruption within elected and unelected offices...and making sure these organizations are resistant to the lure of corruption themselves. Cost: Slight loss of support in the CSA, slight decrease to support from the Teamster's Union. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90/120. Result: Slight increase in popular support, slight reduction in corruption, further actions for reducing it unlocked.
Local Autonomy Programs: The first implementation of the principles of local autonomy will begin. A relatively simple set of legislation will be passed, allowing school districts to choose to have optional "Cultural Enrichment" classes where students will learn the language, history, and traditions of their ancestors and granting municipalities permission to have local paperwork and signage in any language they desire, so long as English is also prominently available. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/25/50. Result: The first beginnings of local cultural autonomy.
State Nationalizations: Huey Long has already done it, and so has the federal government and its supporters. It is time for the government of the workers to begin directly intervening in the economy. State-backed investors will purchase commanding shares in certain factories and facilities, transferring part-ownership to the workers and coordinating the economic functioning in order to bolster the state as a whole...and in order to better equip the workers for the inevitable backlash. This can be combined with subsidies and a variety of other economic tools to greatly strengthen the influence of workers in the economy. Cost: Possible minor backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/80/100. Result: Increase to income, some factories taken over by the workers and the states under the cover of law. Expand subsidies to workplaces, unlock further options for government intervention in the economy, possibly ease other economic reforms. Increase in support from ASA and increase in relations with the Orthodox.
Strengthen the Justifications: With flimsy laws providing flimsier protection, it's clear they need to be fixed. Though fierce opposition has begun rallying, with everything from filibusters to bribery to harassment being attempted to keep the seizures from having actual legal justification. There are even threats of the army being called in to restore order, threats that are not followed through on only because of the fear of a full-on civil war. Strengthen the justifications, encourage the seizures, and prepare for the class war. Cost: Minor losses in CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: The legal basis for factory seizure is strengthened.
State Police Forces: With the National Guards hampered, there are other potential forces that could be used to suppress us...or used to crush reactionaries. To that end, the state police forces will be secured, their leadership replaced with trusted syndicalists, Red Guards will be hired, and they will be shifted to being under Congressional influence even as their arms are improved and their procedures revamped. Cost: Possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: State police forces have their loyalty secured.
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 reduced support in the CSA based on the decisions. Time: 5 months. DC: 0. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.
Judicial Reform: One of the matters most clamored for is judicial reform. The American justice system is incredibly corrupt, designed to allow the wealthy to skate away from criminal cases and lawsuits with equal ease, and the courts have long been a tool to prevent workers from liberating themselves. Lawyers, judges, juries...all will need replacement, reform, or renovation come the Revolution. Begin working out alternatives. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin coming up with a multitude of options for judicial reform.
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: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Chance of further losses Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of increase in support.
On the Women's Question: Women's liberation must be part of the revolution. Some advocate for the complete destruction of the institution of the family...they may go a bit far, but you understand where they are coming from. There are things you can do to help them achieve true equality. Some of them are obvious, like removing infantilizing laws that restrict women's rights and tearing down barriers that prevent women from working. What else can you do? Cost: Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for women's liberation.
Justice for Jim Crow: The institution of slavery and its ideological legacies and descendants have left their marks upon even the most liberated black communities in America. Not only are they still frequently denied full equality under the law, but they frequently are forced to endure neglect or hostility from the police, charity organizations, and even the Red Guards. They have been systematically stripped of social, political, and economic power, and even when they acquire it violent attacks soon deprive them again, such as during the Sack of Tulsa. Steps must be taken to address these inequities, to dismantle Jim Crow and see justice done. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for racial justice.
Relations with Reservations: There are scattered Native American reservations across the country, full of people who haven't been citizens until recently, who have been forced off their homes and into desolate places, who have had their history and culture defaced and desecrated. In many ways, the imperialism and colonialism inflicted upon them is America's first sin. You don't know what they want, you don't know what they need. You will have to begin asking those questions. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Native Americans.
Help for Hispanics: As the SPA grows in influence in the American Southwest, awareness of the historical mistreatment the Hispanic population of the United States has endured. Just as with the Native Americans and the colored populations, you need to open a dialogue with these groups. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Hispanic Americans.
Develop a Radicalization Pipeline: The newest unions are staunchly conservative on social and economic issues. Advocating for better wages and shorter hours seems to be a step too far for many, let alone more unusual proposals like requiring factories to have childcare facilities and compensation for injuries or outright revolution. While the Great Depression has affected them, and they have heard of the various horrors inflicted upon workers by the government, both matters are distant to them. The cruelties of capitalism need to be brought home to them. They need to be persuaded that there must be a revolution. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Begin developing strategies for en masse radicalization.
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.
Justice and Violence: Violence is one of the eternal topics people argue about. When is it acceptable, why is it acceptable, what limits should there be? Some proclaim it all equally abhorrent, others insist it is always necessary. The SPA has an ample variety of attitudes, some of which are counterproductive. The cowardice of the SPU and the bloodthirst of the Fosterites both threaten the revolution. The correct course is obviously somewhere in between the extremes: self-defense is obviously acceptable, and so is violence in the pursuit of justice, but you must decide where the lines are...and when they should be crossed. Cost: Varies. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Decide what sorts of violence are acceptable and when, develop a more defined thesis on it.
Appoint a Committee of Ideology: This will be a contentious group whose arguments will echo throughout the party, but those arguments will be necessary for the building of a true socialist state. Economy, law, social organization, the role of religion and race, the question of minorities, internationalism, centralism, federalism, and councilism...all these things need to be discussed. And you don't have the time to do it, so you will have to get other people to do it for you. Cost: Likely to decrease the Strength of the Center, will occasionally make decisions you don't like. Will have to commit Influence and Gravitas. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create subordinate to handle various Intellectual actions, vote on how much to commit.
Why the Resistance?: The recent revelations have concerned many in the ranks of the party. The sheer amount of remaining reactionary influence could serve as a serious threat to the security of the future worker's state. So it is worth finding out what has caused it. It cannot all be caused by class interests or federal support, there has to be something else causing it...Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/110/165. Result: Begin working to figure out what's caused the hostility to seemingly sudden hostility in SPA supporting areas and how it can be handled.
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 reduced support in the CSA based on the decisions. Time: 5 months. DC: 0. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.
Judicial Reform: One of the matters most clamored for is judicial reform. The American justice system is incredibly corrupt, designed to allow the wealthy to skate away from criminal cases and lawsuits with equal ease, and the courts have long been a tool to prevent workers from liberating themselves. Lawyers, judges, juries...all will need replacement, reform, or renovation come the Revolution. Begin working out alternatives. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin coming up with a multitude of options for judicial reform.
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: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Chance of further losses Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of increase in support.
On the Women's Question: Women's liberation must be part of the revolution. Some advocate for the complete destruction of the institution of the family...they may go a bit far, but you understand where they are coming from. There are things you can do to help them achieve true equality. Some of them are obvious, like removing infantilizing laws that restrict women's rights and tearing down barriers that prevent women from working. What else can you do? Cost: Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for women's liberation.
Justice for Jim Crow: The institution of slavery and its ideological legacies and descendants have left their marks upon even the most liberated black communities in America. Not only are they still frequently denied full equality under the law, but they frequently are forced to endure neglect or hostility from the police, charity organizations, and even the Red Guards. They have been systematically stripped of social, political, and economic power, and even when they acquire it violent attacks soon deprive them again, such as during the Sack of Tulsa. Steps must be taken to address these inequities, to dismantle Jim Crow and see justice done. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for racial justice.
Relations with Reservations: There are scattered Native American reservations across the country, full of people who haven't been citizens until recently, who have been forced off their homes and into desolate places, who have had their history and culture defaced and desecrated. In many ways, the imperialism and colonialism inflicted upon them is America's first sin. You don't know what they want, you don't know what they need. You will have to begin asking those questions. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Native Americans.
Help for Hispanics: As the SPA grows in influence in the American Southwest, awareness of the historical mistreatment the Hispanic population of the United States has endured. Just as with the Native Americans and the colored populations, you need to open a dialogue with these groups. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Hispanic Americans.
Develop a Radicalization Pipeline: The newest unions are staunchly conservative on social and economic issues. Advocating for better wages and shorter hours seems to be a step too far for many, let alone more unusual proposals like requiring factories to have childcare facilities and compensation for injuries or outright revolution. While the Great Depression has affected them, and they have heard of the various horrors inflicted upon workers by the government, both matters are distant to them. The cruelties of capitalism need to be brought home to them. They need to be persuaded that there must be a revolution. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Begin developing strategies for en masse radicalization.
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.
Justice and Violence: Violence is one of the eternal topics people argue about. When is it acceptable, why is it acceptable, what limits should there be? Some proclaim it all equally abhorrent, others insist it is always necessary. The SPA has an ample variety of attitudes, some of which are counterproductive. The cowardice of the SPU and the bloodthirst of the Fosterites both threaten the revolution. The correct course is obviously somewhere in between the extremes: self-defense is obviously acceptable, and so is violence in the pursuit of justice, but you must decide where the lines are...and when they should be crossed. Cost: Varies. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Decide what sorts of violence are acceptable and when, develop a more defined thesis on it.
Appoint a Committee of Ideology: This will be a contentious group whose arguments will echo throughout the party, but those arguments will be necessary for the building of a true socialist state. Economy, law, social organization, the role of religion and race, the question of minorities, internationalism, centralism, federalism, and councilism...all these things need to be discussed. And you don't have the time to do it, so you will have to get other people to do it for you. Cost: Likely to decrease the Strength of the Center, will occasionally make decisions you don't like. Will have to commit Influence and Gravitas. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create subordinate to handle various Intellectual actions, vote on how much to commit.
Why the Resistance?: The recent revelations have concerned many in the ranks of the party. The sheer amount of remaining reactionary influence could serve as a serious threat to the security of the future worker's state. So it is worth finding out what has caused it. It cannot all be caused by class interests or federal support, there has to be something else causing it...Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/110/165. Result: Begin working to figure out what's caused the hostility to seemingly sudden hostility in SPA supporting areas and how it can be handled.
A Black Budget: Given the likelihood of the Commission for Revolutionary Defense being involved in some less-than-savory affairs, it may be worth siphoning some money into hidden accounts so that it can be put to use but remain harder to use. Paying spies from sources that aren't clearly your coffers, purchasing equipment or information from organized crime, serving as a place to deposit money made from bank robberies...there are many possible uses. Cost: -2 to -2.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Resources available that can be put to use for covert operations and remain obscure.
Taking a Peek: With the sudden revelation of Schenk's dual loyalties, you find yourself wondering who else has friends or interests you should be worried about. You wonder if you can trust Schenk to do the investigation...you wonder who else you could trust to do it. You hate how shaken you feel about this...but he's not likely to try and hide any corruption or betrayal he uncovers from you. You are fairly confident of that. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find information about chosen subordinate.
Someone Else to Spy: With Schenk's loyalties suddenly in doubt, you find yourself...concerned about what he's been doing, especially regarding the more inward-facing side of things. The Revolutionary Defense Committee having his attitudes would be potentially very unfortunate. You aren't going to fire him, but you are going to be looking to curtail his influence, and one way would be to focus him more externally and find someone else to take care of the more day-to-day duties for the Committee and leave the Commission to him. Cost: -1 or 2 Influence, may annoy Schenk and the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create an internally-focused Intrigue subordinate, vote on who they are.
The Revolutionary Guard's Loyalties: You need to make sure the Revolutionary Guard is at least not entirely influenced by Schenk and the RAF. They were created before him, and you have never seen any sign of such attitudes from them, but he does have at least nominal influence over them, since the Commission appoints the Committee, who selects the Guard, who elect the Commission...although Schenk has just been appointing the people elected. Does that mean he thinks they already share his views? Was he trying to avoid suspicion? Was it a commitment to internal democracy? Or was he simply too focused on other matters? You will have to go around Schenk, or try to anyway, but you have to find out. Cost: Risk of annoying Schenk or the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find out the Revolutionary Guard's loyalties. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what's up.
Identify the Leadership: The reactionary organizations did not spring up fully formed like Athena from Zeus's forehead. They had help and support and leadership, and that all needs to be found, however they are dealt with in the end. Targeted arrests, assassinations, or suppression, all will be simpler the more we know about them. And given that these groups behave more like social clubs or lobbying organizations, it shouldn't be hard to find out plenty. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/55. Result: Find out more about these reactionary groups.
Infiltrate The Enemy Within: There are reformists within the SPA, from those who think capitalism can be voted away to those who genuinely don't want to end capitalism. Many of these have links to outside organizations. These links need to be identified, and the traitors who are using them. They don't necessarily need to be dealt with like other enemies, but we need to be aware of them so we can keep undercutting their support. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75. Result: Find more about reformists within the SPA, Left-Farmer-Labor, the Progressives, and the coalition they may be forming. Find out more about Olson's plans.
Find the Red Army Faction: You can't leave this alone. You need to know who else is aligned with the RAF, and where they have their headquarters and where they draw their funding from...just in case the worst happens. What exactly the worst is changes from day to day, but you know being able to find the RAF will be helpful no matter what nightmare scenario you are picturing. Cost: Risk of seriously upsetting Schenk or the RAF. Time: ??. DC: High. Result: Find who else supports the RAF, find out where they are. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what's up.
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: 20/40/60/80. Result: Increase to income.
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.
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.
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: 10/25/??. 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: 10/??/??. 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. The steady sidelining of officers with syndicalist sympathies has left you with fewer avenues, although the recruiting spree does offer fresh opportunities for entering the lower ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 2 months. DC: 40/80/?/??. Result: Make contacts within the military.
Find What They Want: The Syndintern has begun making contact with you, but not on a steady basis. You need to arrange a more reliable system of meeting with their representatives if you want to change that. And you need to change it if you want to get a good idea of what they want and gain access to the extensive support they could provide. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10. Result: Gain access to Syndintern Mandates and Syndintern Abilities
Steal Weaponry: The National Guards of several states are in total disarray. Extensive orders have been placed in other states for more equipment. But federal troops are securing the majority of depots, with strict orders and intense security procedures. Only a few SPA and AFP dominated states have resisted the federal commands, leaving fewer points of access for these thefts...and those points are certainly being watched. Cost: Risk of discovery, 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/??/??/???. Result: Begin creating stockpiles of weapons and equipment such as grenades, machine guns, mortars, etc.
Into the Navy: Another possibility for infiltration is the navy. A scheme to try and stabilize a few coastal cities has been passed, and the fleet is being expanded, meaning new sailors are being recruited. This is a perfect opportunity to begin slipping syndicalists into their ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/??/??. Result: Make contacts within the military.
(3 Schenk Influence) A Program of Subversion: The SPA has neglected the possibilities of infiltrating and subverting hostile organizations. Pink unions, anti-syndicalist militias, and rival political parties are all viable targets for the sowing of dissent, fostering of splits, and eventual destruction. But to do so effectively, we must build up our capacity for identifying those who can deceive, for preparing tactics and methods, for establishing lines of communication. Cost: -1 Resource per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Set up training program for political infiltrators and agent provocateurs, improve efficacy of spying.
Hunt Infiltrators: The Longists and Federalists have doubtless begun infiltrating us, trying to sow division and sabotage our efforts. Perhaps this has already begun bearing fruit, or perhaps it will become a problem in days to come. Either way, the spies must be found and removed. With limited sources of information, it may prove difficult, but it is a task that must be accomplished as soon as possible. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/100. Result: Begin hunting for spies within the CSA.
Propaganda of the Deed: There are many tools for spreading syndicalism and disrupting reactionaries. Bombs and guns are excellent at doing both. By demonstrating the spirit of revolution, weakening the forces the oppressors can bring to bear, and striking fear into the hearts of those who stand against us, we shall strengthen the cause! The class war shall come and end the conflicts of history, and no price is too great to pay it! Cost: -3 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/35/50/65/90. Result: Begin a campaign of political bombings and assasinations.
Protective Measures: With violence rising by the day, measures must be taken to protect the leaders of the revolution. The Guard must be expanded, with the new members set to providing protection wherever needed. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/55/85. Result: Recruit more bodyguards.
Sabotage Records: An alternate proposal to outright attacking bankers and factory owners is infiltrating courthouses, banks, and other such locations and then destroying the records, usually in the guise of a robbery to avoid attention. While less likely to satisfy the bloodlust of some and not as punishing to the enemies of the workers, it does have some benefits. Cost: -1 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/50/80. Result: Begin destroying records of mortgages, factory ownership, etc.
Robin Hood Revolutions: The Bosheviks funded themselves through bank robberies before they were able to seize power. While the size and strength of the SPA mean such tactics are no longer needed, they could still be useful. A campaign of public, armed theft will do much to demoralize our class enemies and tie up their investigation and intelligence resources. Cost: -1 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: Begin a campaign of bank robberies, increase to income.
Union Entryism: Not every factory has been seized, not every union is a revolutionary one. In particular, there are several states with growing industrial bases that have minimal SPA support. Infiltrating these areas and their factories will be important, especially since many of these factories are responsible for producing the equipment needed by the slowly reforming Federal Army. It will be a difficult task for those agents assigned, one which will need a great deal of skill, but it will be an invaluable one for us and for the Syndintern. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/???/???. Result: Pink unions and non-unionized factories infiltrated, especially in states where support is lacking.
Spies in the House: The rich have servants. Maids, nannies, handymen, butlers, gardeners... all are trusted to go into people's homes, to stay there with minimal supervision, and sometimes even to assist in more discrete functions. And while they are typically members of the labor aristocracy, they are just as often subjected to cruel abuses of all kinds. And so many of them may well be willing to aid you, giving you access to an invisible but dense information network...although it is also possible that the BOI and Longists will have anticipated this and established counters. Cost: 0.1 Resources per Influence invested. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??. Result: Find and recruit spies and informants among servants.
Rooting Out Domestic Enemies: Of course, a similar approach could be done to members of the SPA who hire unionized domestic workers, to say nothing of the countless secretaries, aids, and functionaries who are vital for keeping the vast infrastructure of the party running. Anyone of them could be turned into a spy. So it may well be worth gently vetting those individuals for potentially troublesome sympathies and ties.If any evidence of spying is found...They cannot be allowed to subvert our revolution. Cost: Will piss a lot of people off. Time: 1 month. DC: ???/???/???. Result: Find spies and informants among your own servants.
Preparing for a Kornilov Affair: When the tides of revolution rose in Russia, the force of counterrevolution attempted everything they could to stop it, including a military coup. The Kornilov Affair was a defeat for the reactionaries thanks to the preparations of the Soviet, preparations we have barely begun. We need to expand our military, infiltrade Longist and Federal forces, seize the rails..but for the coup itself, we need to secure methods of evacuation for SPA members in Washington lest we suffer the fate of the Last Bolsheviks.Cost: Mildly annoy some people in Washington. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??. Result: Begin preparing to evacuate leaders of the SPA and allies such as Reed and Thomas in event of a coup or purge.
Taking a Peek: With the sudden revelation of Schenk's dual loyalties, you find yourself wondering who else has friends or interests you should be worried about. You wonder if you can trust Schenk to do the investigation...you wonder who else you could trust to do it. You hate how shaken you feel about this...but he's not likely to try and hide any corruption or betrayal he uncovers from you. You are fairly confident of that. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find information about chosen subordinate.
Someone Else to Spy: With Schenk's loyalties suddenly in doubt, you find yourself...concerned about what he's been doing, especially regarding the more inward-facing side of things. The Revolutionary Defense Committee having his attitudes would be potentially very unfortunate. You aren't going to fire him, but you are going to be looking to curtail his influence, and one way would be to focus him more externally and find someone else to take care of the more day-to-day duties for the Committee and leave the Commission to him. Cost: -1 or 2 Influence, may annoy Schenk and the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create an internally-focused Intrigue subordinate, vote on who they are.
The Revolutionary Guard's Loyalties: You need to make sure the Revolutionary Guard is at least not entirely influenced by Schenk and the RAF. They were created before him, and you have never seen any sign of such attitudes from them, but he does have at least nominal influence over them, since the Commission appoints the Committee, who selects the Guard, who elect the Commission...although Schenk has just been appointing the people elected. Does that mean he thinks they already share his views? Was he trying to avoid suspicion? Was it a commitment to internal democracy? Or was he simply too focused on other matters? You will have to go around Schenk, or try to anyway, but you have to find out. Cost: Risk of annoying Schenk or the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find out the Revolutionary Guard's loyalties. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what's up.
Identify the Leadership: The reactionary organizations did not spring up fully formed like Athena from Zeus's forehead. They had help and support and leadership, and that all needs to be found, however they are dealt with in the end. Targeted arrests, assassinations, or suppression, all will be simpler the more we know about them. And given that these groups behave more like social clubs or lobbying organizations, it shouldn't be hard to find out plenty. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/55. Result: Find out more about these reactionary groups.
Infiltrate The Enemy Within: There are reformists within the SPA, from those who think capitalism can be voted away to those who genuinely don't want to end capitalism. Many of these have links to outside organizations. These links need to be identified, and the traitors who are using them. They don't necessarily need to be dealt with like other enemies, but we need to be aware of them so we can keep undercutting their support. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75. Result: Find more about reformists within the SPA, Left-Farmer-Labor, the Progressives, and the coalition they may be forming. Find out more about Olson's plans.
Find the Red Army Faction: You can't leave this alone. You need to know who else is aligned with the RAF, and where they have their headquarters and where they draw their funding from...just in case the worst happens. What exactly the worst is changes from day to day, but you know being able to find the RAF will be helpful no matter what nightmare scenario you are picturing. Cost: Risk of seriously upsetting Schenk or the RAF. Time: ??. DC: High. Result: Find who else supports the RAF, find out where they are. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what's up.
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: 20/40/60/80. Result: Increase to income.
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.
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.
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: 10/25/??. 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: 10/??/??. 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. The steady sidelining of officers with syndicalist sympathies has left you with fewer avenues, although the recruiting spree does offer fresh opportunities for entering the lower ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 2 months. DC: 40/80/?/??. Result: Make contacts within the military.
Find What They Want: The Syndintern has begun making contact with you, but not on a steady basis. You need to arrange a more reliable system of meeting with their representatives if you want to change that. And you need to change it if you want to get a good idea of what they want and gain access to the extensive support they could provide. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10. Result: Gain access to Syndintern Mandates and Syndintern Abilities
Steal Weaponry: The National Guards of several states are in total disarray. Extensive orders have been placed in other states for more equipment. But federal troops are securing the majority of depots, with strict orders and intense security procedures. Only a few SPA and AFP dominated states have resisted the federal commands, leaving fewer points of access for these thefts...and those points are certainly being watched. Cost: Risk of discovery, 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/??/??/???. Result: Begin creating stockpiles of weapons and equipment such as grenades, machine guns, mortars, etc.
Into the Navy: Another possibility for infiltration is the navy. A scheme to try and stabilize a few coastal cities has been passed, and the fleet is being expanded, meaning new sailors are being recruited. This is a perfect opportunity to begin slipping syndicalists into their ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/??/??. Result: Make contacts within the military.
(3 Schenk Influence) A Program of Subversion: The SPA has neglected the possibilities of infiltrating and subverting hostile organizations. Pink unions, anti-syndicalist militias, and rival political parties are all viable targets for the sowing of dissent, fostering of splits, and eventual destruction. But to do so effectively, we must build up our capacity for identifying those who can deceive, for preparing tactics and methods, for establishing lines of communication. Cost: -1 Resource per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Set up training program for political infiltrators and agent provocateurs, improve efficacy of spying.
Hunt Infiltrators: The Longists and Federalists have doubtless begun infiltrating us, trying to sow division and sabotage our efforts. Perhaps this has already begun bearing fruit, or perhaps it will become a problem in days to come. Either way, the spies must be found and removed. With limited sources of information, it may prove difficult, but it is a task that must be accomplished as soon as possible. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/100. Result: Begin hunting for spies within the CSA.
Propaganda of the Deed: There are many tools for spreading syndicalism and disrupting reactionaries. Bombs and guns are excellent at doing both. By demonstrating the spirit of revolution, weakening the forces the oppressors can bring to bear, and striking fear into the hearts of those who stand against us, we shall strengthen the cause! The class war shall come and end the conflicts of history, and no price is too great to pay it! Cost: -3 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/35/50/65/90. Result: Begin a campaign of political bombings and assasinations.
Protective Measures: With violence rising by the day, measures must be taken to protect the leaders of the revolution. The Guard must be expanded, with the new members set to providing protection wherever needed. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/55/85. Result: Recruit more bodyguards.
Sabotage Records: An alternate proposal to outright attacking bankers and factory owners is infiltrating courthouses, banks, and other such locations and then destroying the records, usually in the guise of a robbery to avoid attention. While less likely to satisfy the bloodlust of some and not as punishing to the enemies of the workers, it does have some benefits. Cost: -1 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/50/80. Result: Begin destroying records of mortgages, factory ownership, etc.
Robin Hood Revolutions: The Bosheviks funded themselves through bank robberies before they were able to seize power. While the size and strength of the SPA mean such tactics are no longer needed, they could still be useful. A campaign of public, armed theft will do much to demoralize our class enemies and tie up their investigation and intelligence resources. Cost: -1 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: Begin a campaign of bank robberies, increase to income.
Union Entryism: Not every factory has been seized, not every union is a revolutionary one. In particular, there are several states with growing industrial bases that have minimal SPA support. Infiltrating these areas and their factories will be important, especially since many of these factories are responsible for producing the equipment needed by the slowly reforming Federal Army. It will be a difficult task for those agents assigned, one which will need a great deal of skill, but it will be an invaluable one for us and for the Syndintern. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/???/???. Result: Pink unions and non-unionized factories infiltrated, especially in states where support is lacking.
Spies in the House: The rich have servants. Maids, nannies, handymen, butlers, gardeners... all are trusted to go into people's homes, to stay there with minimal supervision, and sometimes even to assist in more discrete functions. And while they are typically members of the labor aristocracy, they are just as often subjected to cruel abuses of all kinds. And so many of them may well be willing to aid you, giving you access to an invisible but dense information network...although it is also possible that the BOI and Longists will have anticipated this and established counters. Cost: 0.1 Resources per Influence invested. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??. Result: Find and recruit spies and informants among servants.
Rooting Out Domestic Enemies: Of course, a similar approach could be done to members of the SPA who hire unionized domestic workers, to say nothing of the countless secretaries, aids, and functionaries who are vital for keeping the vast infrastructure of the party running. Anyone of them could be turned into a spy. So it may well be worth gently vetting those individuals for potentially troublesome sympathies and ties.If any evidence of spying is found...They cannot be allowed to subvert our revolution. Cost: Will piss a lot of people off. Time: 1 month. DC: ???/???/???. Result: Find spies and informants among your own servants.
Preparing for a Kornilov Affair: When the tides of revolution rose in Russia, the force of counterrevolution attempted everything they could to stop it, including a military coup. The Kornilov Affair was a defeat for the reactionaries thanks to the preparations of the Soviet, preparations we have barely begun. We need to expand our military, infiltrade Longist and Federal forces, seize the rails..but for the coup itself, we need to secure methods of evacuation for SPA members in Washington lest we suffer the fate of the Last Bolsheviks.Cost: Mildly annoy some people in Washington. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??. Result: Begin preparing to evacuate leaders of the SPA and allies such as Reed and Thomas in event of a coup or purge.
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.
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 twice per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate's priorities (change order, add one, remove one). This will have a political cost if used on the SPA Cadres.
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.
Call on the RAF: Talk to Schenk, let him know what you need, he goes somewhere to talk to the RAF leadership, and whatever you asked for gets accomplished. You try not to think anything more of it. Cost: Cooperation from the RAF. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Cooperation allows.
Throw Your Weight Around: You are the leader of the SPA, the man who helped lead the Seattle and Chicago General Strikes to success, the man the Syndintern has trusted with bringing about the Revolution. Though you are democratically elected, you have undeniable authority. Authority you truly prefer not to use...unless you absolutely have to. Cost: -9 Relations with all factions of the SPA, narrative effects. The cost will change as you use it for better or worse. DC: 0. Time: 1 month. Result: Temporarily convert 1 Gravitas to 1 Authority.
Handle Tobin: Tobin is up to something. Most likely its just run-of-the-mill corruption, but there's a possibility, a strong one, that he is knowingly working with the BOI. It's time to find out personally. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Meet with Tobin, lay out what you know, demand an explanation.
Adjust Your Priorities: Long-term commitments are risky in the chaotic situation the American nation is in. Temporarily stepping back from them would allow you to handle crises as they come back. Cost: Minor penalties to targeted action. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: De-commit Influence from selected action, narrative penalties.
Choose A Focus: You are currently taking no foci.
The Union Forever! - Through the most difficult and darkest days, it was the unions that kept the revolutionary spirit alive. Let the unions stand forever. No reactionary or capitalist can defeat the people, united. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain national spirit The Union Forever (Effect: +1 Strength to the Left faction per month).
A Lot of Chutzpah - Part of propaganda is not...lies exactly, but occasionally de-emphasizing certain aspects of your end goal for the sake of quieting opposition. It might take a lot of chutzpah to say yes out of one side of your mouth and no out of the other, but it also takes a lot of chutzpah to overthrow capitalism. Time: 1 month. Effect: +2 Appeal per month for white Americans, -1 Appeal per month for black, Jewish, and immigrant Americans.
The Failing Middle Class - The wealthy proletariat and the petit bourgeoisie are major backbones for MacArthur and the Democrat-Republicans. But as the economy grows worse, many fall into poverty and so become easier to radicalize. Time: 1 month. Effect: +10 to the next roll involving recruiting the wealthy.
Union Recruiting - Not every worker has chosen to join a union. Some are scabs, some are scared, some are reactionaries. Regardless, with tensions rising every day, the threat they pose to the Revolution grows. Pressure can be applied through the carrot and the stick to see them join unions and develop class consciousness. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 union recruiting actions gain +5 to their roll.
Blitz the Soldiers - The current US Army and Air Force are powerful despite their small size. Well-trained and led by a skilled corp of officers who have cut their teeth in dozens of imperialist actions, they could deal significant damage to the Revolutionary cause...unless their soldiers could be convinced to join us. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 actions for recruiting or co-opting soldiers gain +5 to their roll.
Political Alliances - Victories must be won not just on the battlefield, but in the halls of the rich and powerful. They must be convinced to side with you against Long's insanity and MacArthur's tyranny. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain the national spirit of Political Alliances (Effect: +1 Strength for the Right faction per month).
Form Spartacus Columns - the KKK and the Silver Legion, to name just a few, inflict all sorts of horrific violence upon sharecroppers, and that is leaving aside the abuse they receive from police and frequent incidents of mob violence. Between a lack of weapons and a lack of organization, little can be done against them. Your strikers have defeated soldiers, paramilitaries, and police. They can do it as well. Time: 1 month. Effect: Easier to arm and organize the sharecroppers.
Establish Community Organizations - The social life of these small rural towns often revolve around reactionary churches. Co-opting these existing institutions or creating new ones will be essential to solidifying your control. Time: 2 months. Effect: Gain +5 to the next 3 Cultural actions that affect rural areas.
Promises of Equality - You believe in equality, and the dignity of all. You know you are not alone in this belief, but convincing the sharecroppers will be difficult. You are probably not the first to make such promises to them. Time: 1 month. Effect: Increased support among black people.
A Lot of Chutzpah - Part of propaganda is not...lies exactly, but occasionally de-emphasizing certain aspects of your end goal for the sake of quieting opposition. It might take a lot of chutzpah to say yes out of one side of your mouth and no out of the other, but it also takes a lot of chutzpah to overthrow capitalism. Time: 1 month. Effect: +2 Appeal per month for white Americans, -1 Appeal per month for black, Jewish, and immigrant Americans.
The Failing Middle Class - The wealthy proletariat and the petit bourgeoisie are major backbones for MacArthur and the Democrat-Republicans. But as the economy grows worse, many fall into poverty and so become easier to radicalize. Time: 1 month. Effect: +10 to the next roll involving recruiting the wealthy.
Union Recruiting - Not every worker has chosen to join a union. Some are scabs, some are scared, some are reactionaries. Regardless, with tensions rising every day, the threat they pose to the Revolution grows. Pressure can be applied through the carrot and the stick to see them join unions and develop class consciousness. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 union recruiting actions gain +5 to their roll.
Blitz the Soldiers - The current US Army and Air Force are powerful despite their small size. Well-trained and led by a skilled corp of officers who have cut their teeth in dozens of imperialist actions, they could deal significant damage to the Revolutionary cause...unless their soldiers could be convinced to join us. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 actions for recruiting or co-opting soldiers gain +5 to their roll.
Political Alliances - Victories must be won not just on the battlefield, but in the halls of the rich and powerful. They must be convinced to side with you against Long's insanity and MacArthur's tyranny. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain the national spirit of Political Alliances (Effect: +1 Strength for the Right faction per month).
Form Spartacus Columns - the KKK and the Silver Legion, to name just a few, inflict all sorts of horrific violence upon sharecroppers, and that is leaving aside the abuse they receive from police and frequent incidents of mob violence. Between a lack of weapons and a lack of organization, little can be done against them. Your strikers have defeated soldiers, paramilitaries, and police. They can do it as well. Time: 1 month. Effect: Easier to arm and organize the sharecroppers.
Establish Community Organizations - The social life of these small rural towns often revolve around reactionary churches. Co-opting these existing institutions or creating new ones will be essential to solidifying your control. Time: 2 months. Effect: Gain +5 to the next 3 Cultural actions that affect rural areas.
Promises of Equality - You believe in equality, and the dignity of all. You know you are not alone in this belief, but convincing the sharecroppers will be difficult. You are probably not the first to make such promises to them. Time: 1 month. Effect: Increased support among black people.
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Okay, I think this month should still be Juneteenth, but with Butler's boost and also some economic stuff to balance it out. But I'd have to think about exactly what that'd look like. It's late, after all.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Okay, we need to take something this turn (probably rural urban exchanges again.) And if we're not taking it this turn, either Socialist Markets or Union Shop needs to be taken next turn.
And I... would also be in favor of a longer moratorium because I need to go to bed now.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and from results last turn, an Exercise action is mandatory.
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A Juneteenth Celebration: June 19th is the day the Emancipation Proclamation was passed, one of the greatest acts of one of the greatest American presidents. After his defeat, a conspiracy of reactionaries, bankers, and capitalists did what they could to crush the legacy of Lincoln and suppress the successes of Reconstruction. With limited support in the Deep South, we cannot undo that harm at its source, but we can enshrine this day as a holiday across many states, making a clear statement of our beliefs and attitudes that will stand alongside our anti-lynching laws. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Pass laws declaring June 19th to be a state-wide holiday in several states, increase in support among black people.
--1 dice
The Big Bill: Capitol Hill is always rife with rumors, many of which are patently ridiculous. But you, Thomas, and Schenk think there might be something to one in particular. Democrats and Republicans and members of all three Farmer-Labor splinters have been exchanging significant looks, having hushed conversations, and meeting privately. Supposedly, Senators Wagner, Garner, and Moses have been working together to write a bill, along with many other major political figures like Quentin Roosevelt, James Watson, and Robert LaFollette Jr. Whatever this bill is, it will be bad news. Find out more and begin working to stop its passage. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/65/100. Result: Find more about this "big bill"
-2 dice
Justice for Jim Crow: The institution of slavery and its ideological legacies and descendants have left their marks upon even the most liberated black communities in America. Not only are they still frequently denied full equality under the law, but they frequently are forced to endure neglect or hostility from the police, charity organizations, and even the Red Guards. They have been systematically stripped of social, political, and economic power, and even when they acquire it violent attacks soon deprive them again, such as during the Sack of Tulsa. Steps must be taken to address these inequities, to dismantle Jim Crow and see justice done. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives such as the SPU. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for racial justice.
--2 dice
State Minority Rights: It is clear that there will be no progress on civil rights while the undemocratic and incompetent Hoover regime still controls the White House and Congress is so divided and disunited. Not unless that progress comes on the state level. Fortunately, there are multiple states willing and eager to pass various forms of equality-related laws, from sweeping bans of voting impediments to the abolishment of discriminatory laws to mandates to prevent abuse and discrimination. There will be backlash for pushing this, from allies and enemies both, but moral and practical imperatives drive you to pursue it nevertheless. Socialization requires liberation. Liberation requires equality. Cost: Likely loss of support, loss of support from conservative factions of the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/80/120. Result: Pass significant anti-discrimination laws, increase in support from socially left factions, gains in support from minority populations.
--2 dice
Why the Resistance?: The recent revelations have concerned many in the ranks of the party. The sheer amount of remaining reactionary influence could serve as a serious threat to the security of the future worker's state. So it is worth finding out what has caused it. It cannot all be caused by class interests or federal support, there has to be something else causing it...Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/110/165. Result: Begin working to figure out what's caused the hostility to seemingly sudden hostility in SPA supporting areas and how it can be handled.
--2 dice
Rural-Urban Exchanges: The current system of interaction between farming cooperatives and worker-run factories is ad-hoc and limited by the capitalist framework both currently function in, but frameworks can be worked around. Simply arranging for direct transfers of materials, food, and products between mines, factories, and farms would be the easiest way to solve this problem, and the least controversial. Many are concerned that this would not be capable of handling the complexities of a modern, industrial economy however. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20. Result: Establishment of more formalized and direct exchanges between worker-run facilities, increase in economic efficiency.
--1 dice
Union-Integrated Planning: Currently, each factory and farm does as it sees best. While the creation of any market system would help coordinate their operations indirectly, doing so effectively would require the return of the profit motive and economic labor discipline. An alternative proposal, to be done separately or in combination, would be to create an Office of Economic Planning, responsible for creating 3-month production targets with the democratic input and experienced guidance of the workers. Such plans would be complex things, but they would also enable great economic efficiency. Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/100/165. Result: Establishment of a democratic department for handling economic planning. Must establish what the goals of that planning are soon after. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.
--2 dice
*****
Okay, this would be twelve dice...
--1 dice
The Big Bill: Capitol Hill is always rife with rumors, many of which are patently ridiculous. But you, Thomas, and Schenk think there might be something to one in particular. Democrats and Republicans and members of all three Farmer-Labor splinters have been exchanging significant looks, having hushed conversations, and meeting privately. Supposedly, Senators Wagner, Garner, and Moses have been working together to write a bill, along with many other major political figures like Quentin Roosevelt, James Watson, and Robert LaFollette Jr. Whatever this bill is, it will be bad news. Find out more and begin working to stop its passage. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/65/100. Result: Find more about this "big bill"
-2 dice
Justice for Jim Crow: The institution of slavery and its ideological legacies and descendants have left their marks upon even the most liberated black communities in America. Not only are they still frequently denied full equality under the law, but they frequently are forced to endure neglect or hostility from the police, charity organizations, and even the Red Guards. They have been systematically stripped of social, political, and economic power, and even when they acquire it violent attacks soon deprive them again, such as during the Sack of Tulsa. Steps must be taken to address these inequities, to dismantle Jim Crow and see justice done. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives such as the SPU. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for racial justice.
--2 dice
State Minority Rights: It is clear that there will be no progress on civil rights while the undemocratic and incompetent Hoover regime still controls the White House and Congress is so divided and disunited. Not unless that progress comes on the state level. Fortunately, there are multiple states willing and eager to pass various forms of equality-related laws, from sweeping bans of voting impediments to the abolishment of discriminatory laws to mandates to prevent abuse and discrimination. There will be backlash for pushing this, from allies and enemies both, but moral and practical imperatives drive you to pursue it nevertheless. Socialization requires liberation. Liberation requires equality. Cost: Likely loss of support, loss of support from conservative factions of the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/80/120. Result: Pass significant anti-discrimination laws, increase in support from socially left factions, gains in support from minority populations.
--2 dice
Why the Resistance?: The recent revelations have concerned many in the ranks of the party. The sheer amount of remaining reactionary influence could serve as a serious threat to the security of the future worker's state. So it is worth finding out what has caused it. It cannot all be caused by class interests or federal support, there has to be something else causing it...Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/110/165. Result: Begin working to figure out what's caused the hostility to seemingly sudden hostility in SPA supporting areas and how it can be handled.
--2 dice
Rural-Urban Exchanges: The current system of interaction between farming cooperatives and worker-run factories is ad-hoc and limited by the capitalist framework both currently function in, but frameworks can be worked around. Simply arranging for direct transfers of materials, food, and products between mines, factories, and farms would be the easiest way to solve this problem, and the least controversial. Many are concerned that this would not be capable of handling the complexities of a modern, industrial economy however. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20. Result: Establishment of more formalized and direct exchanges between worker-run facilities, increase in economic efficiency.
--1 dice
Union-Integrated Planning: Currently, each factory and farm does as it sees best. While the creation of any market system would help coordinate their operations indirectly, doing so effectively would require the return of the profit motive and economic labor discipline. An alternative proposal, to be done separately or in combination, would be to create an Office of Economic Planning, responsible for creating 3-month production targets with the democratic input and experienced guidance of the workers. Such plans would be complex things, but they would also enable great economic efficiency. Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/100/165. Result: Establishment of a democratic department for handling economic planning. Must establish what the goals of that planning are soon after. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.
--2 dice
*****
Okay, this would be twelve dice...
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Also, I think this should be our Focus:
Anti-Foreclosure Teams - The most immediate threat to the remaining farmers are foreclosures. There are a variety of methods of dealing with this problem, from paying the banks to driving off their agents to buying the property at auction then returning it. Begin doing so in mass. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain +10 to all actions involving resisting foreclosure or eviction.
Anti-Foreclosure Teams - The most immediate threat to the remaining farmers are foreclosures. There are a variety of methods of dealing with this problem, from paying the banks to driving off their agents to buying the property at auction then returning it. Begin doing so in mass. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain +10 to all actions involving resisting foreclosure or eviction.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[] Plan: Juneteenth and Economic Strides Forward
-[] Rural-Urban Exchanges (1 Gravitas)
-[] Union-Integrated Planning (2 Influence)
-[] Appoint Union Representative (1 Influence)
-[] State Minority Rights (1 Influence, 1 Gravitas)
-[] A Juneteenth Celebration (1 Influence)
-[] Justice for Jim Crow (2 Influence)
-[] Why the Resistance? (2 Influence)
-[] Find What They Want (1 Influence)
-[] Personal: Exercise
-[] Free--Tweak Priority (x2), first get Thomas to drop the grandstanding plan, and then get him to invest effort into figuring out 'The Big Bill.'
-[] Free: Handle Tobin
-[] Free: Call on the RAF.
--[] Get them to do the Sabotage Records action if possible.
-[] Focus: Promises of Equality.
This leaves one dice. It can either be spent trying to help with the famine crisis... or we can pick the "Union Rep" action to help get more subordinates. I'm undecided.
-[] Rural-Urban Exchanges (1 Gravitas)
-[] Union-Integrated Planning (2 Influence)
-[] Appoint Union Representative (1 Influence)
-[] State Minority Rights (1 Influence, 1 Gravitas)
-[] A Juneteenth Celebration (1 Influence)
-[] Justice for Jim Crow (2 Influence)
-[] Why the Resistance? (2 Influence)
-[] Find What They Want (1 Influence)
-[] Personal: Exercise
-[] Free--Tweak Priority (x2), first get Thomas to drop the grandstanding plan, and then get him to invest effort into figuring out 'The Big Bill.'
-[] Free: Handle Tobin
-[] Free: Call on the RAF.
--[] Get them to do the Sabotage Records action if possible.
-[] Focus: Promises of Equality.
This leaves one dice. It can either be spent trying to help with the famine crisis... or we can pick the "Union Rep" action to help get more subordinates. I'm undecided.
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Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
If we have a spare die, I say we use it to contact the Syndintern.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
That would be a good idea, my only... okay, not worry, we could also drop Backing Up Butler for Union Rep and then use that dice for Syndintern. How about that? Butler has enough dice/bonuses for his Discipline action for now, I think?
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Mmm, I kinda want Butler to get his boost so he has a better chance of passing the higher DCs.
Plus.... @notbirdofprey could we use the Backing up Butler action to assign him another influence as well? Since we do want to start bolstering up our military forces further, so giving Butler a boost there seems like it could be useful.
You will need to do Back Up Butler before you can make him more influential.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Ah yeah... here's another one we probably need to take relatively soon. Before they all get absorbed by some other faction.
Of course, we can't really do that without sacrificing some other major stuff we're planning on doing. Unless we wanted to sacrifice getting a Union Rep and contacting the Syndintern I suppose. Or gambling with a single die on some of the stuff we have 2 dice on.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
We keep on putting off the Syndintern, and we currently have an Influence Surplus and thus can probably spend either 2 or 3 (and thus give them either 4 or 6 effectively) in order to open up a lot of long-term possibilities for the Union Rep.
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Seconded for the longer moratorium
As far as I can tell our subordinates are currently taking the following actions.
[X] Plan: Promises and Cooperation.
Party Actions
-[X] Back Up Butler:Cost: Loss of CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/20. Result: Increase to Smedley Butler's Influence. (1 influence)
Union Actions
-[X] Appoint Union Representative: 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. (1 influence)
-[X] Rural-Urban Exchanges: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20. Result: Establishment of more formalized and direct exchanges between worker-run facilities, increase in economic efficiency. (1 influence)
-[X] Union-Integrated Planning: Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/100/165. Result: Establishment of a democratic department for handling economic planning. Must establish what the goals of that planning are soon after. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists. (2 influence)
Militant Actions
(2 Semi-Temporary Influence Committed) A Democratic Chain of Command?:Cost: ?? Time: 1 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Choices on how to structure the Red Guards and how much pressure to use for spreading it, dramatic increase in the effectiveness of the Red Guards.
-[X] Raiding Reactionary Groups: Cost: Possibility of provoking unrest, collateral damage, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/80/120. Result: Attack and break up the most notable counterrevolutionary organizations identified previously. (1 Influence)
Cultural Actions
-[X] Offer an Alternative: Cost: Increased strength to the AFL-CIO. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/70/100. Result: Disaffected moderate workers recruited into the AFL-CIO and propagandized to be more radical, increase in AFL-CIO support. (1 Gravitas)
Political Actions
-[X] State Minority Rights: Cost: Likely loss of support, loss of support from conservative factions of the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/80/120. Result: Pass significant anti-discrimination laws, increase in support from socially left factions, gains in support from minority populations. (2 Influence)
-[X] Local Autonomy Programs: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/25/50. Result: The first beginnings of local cultural autonomy. (1 Gravitas)
Intellectual Actions
-[X] Justice for Jim Crow: Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives such as the SPU. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for racial justice. (1 Influence)
Intrigue Actions
-[X] Find What They Want: Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10. Result: Gain access to Syndintern Mandates and Syndintern Abilities (1 Influence)
-[X] Personal: Exercise
-[X] Free--Tweak Priority (x2), first get Thomas to drop the grandstanding plan, and then get him to invest effort into figuring out 'The Big Bill.'
-[X] Free: Handle Tobin
-[X] Free: Call on the RAF.
--[X] At Butler's Command: Get them to do the Raiding Reactionary Groups alongside our action if possible (Gain 1 temporary Influence, can only be used for launching open attacks on reactionary groups)
--[X] At Schenk's Command: Get them to do the Sabotage Records action if possible. (Gain 1 temporary Influence, can only be used on short-term spying or terror actions)
-[X] Focus: Promises of Equality.
The Coordination Committee is taking the following actions
-Assist the Refugees: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/50/65. Result: Refugees aided, some increase in popular support. (I think?)
-Refugee Rescuing: Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Assistance will be given to help refugees get out of the Dust Bowl, arrangements will be made to resettle or house them.
- Meat and Potatoes: Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: No drop in quality of quantity of food given out as charity, probable future increases of quantity and quality.
The State Legislative Committee is taking these actions:
-Limited Food Prices: A Cost: Mild loss of support from the Red Grange, minor loss of Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/50/60. Result: Food prices stabilize, gain in Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Centrists, gain in support from the ASA, both factions of the IWW, and the Regional Unions.
-Bureaucratic Modifications: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25. Result: Dramatically reduced penalty from bureaucratic inexperience, improved efficacy of state governments.
-Create Oversight Committees: Cost: Loss of Relations with Totalists and Ultra-Ultraleft, loss of Support from TUUL, SPU, and the Teamster's Union, potentially upsetting to Red Guards Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create oversight committees, greater control over Red Guards, increase in support from ASA, IWW, and AFL-CIO, gain in Relations from every other faction.
Norman Thomas is taking:
-Railway Socialism: Cost: Expensive. Time: 2 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Begin massive railway repair program, seize the rails thus repaired through "legal" methods.
-Political Grandstanding: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/115/150. Result: Increase in popular support, the humiliation of all your political opposition. (noting both plans change this to investigating the 'big plan' instead)
Smedley Butler is taking:
-Instilling Discipline, Pt. 2:. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/80/110. Result: Improved discipline of the Red Guards.
Charles Schenk is taking:
-A Program of Subversion:Cost: -1 Resource per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Set up training program for political infiltrators and agent provocateurs, improve efficacy of spying.
-Identify the Leadership: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/55. Result: Find out more about these reactionary groups.
Ben Stevens is taking this action twice.
-Famine Relief: Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Significant food shipments organized by the SPA.
The Propaganda Committee is taking:
- Posters and Pamphlets: Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/80. Result: The creation of posters and pamphlets to help spread your message, increased ease of recruiting.
-Newspaper Distribution: V. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/60/100. Result: Expanded newspaper distribution, easier recruiting and organizing
-Expand Rural Propaganda:. Cost: 2 Resources, may cost support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Increased and better propaganda directed at rural areas.
And the SPA Cadres are taking these actions:
-Public Libraries: Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.,
-Demand Non-Intervention:Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 75/125. Result: Anti-intervention bill passed with broad support from several parties.
-The Union Home: Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 10/35/60/90. Result: Construction of large quantities of apartments to house people for free.
-Assist the Refugees: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/50/65. Result: Refugees aided, some increase in popular support. (I think?)
-Refugee Rescuing: Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Assistance will be given to help refugees get out of the Dust Bowl, arrangements will be made to resettle or house them.
- Meat and Potatoes: Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: No drop in quality of quantity of food given out as charity, probable future increases of quantity and quality.
The State Legislative Committee is taking these actions:
-Limited Food Prices: A Cost: Mild loss of support from the Red Grange, minor loss of Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/50/60. Result: Food prices stabilize, gain in Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Centrists, gain in support from the ASA, both factions of the IWW, and the Regional Unions.
-Bureaucratic Modifications: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25. Result: Dramatically reduced penalty from bureaucratic inexperience, improved efficacy of state governments.
-Create Oversight Committees: Cost: Loss of Relations with Totalists and Ultra-Ultraleft, loss of Support from TUUL, SPU, and the Teamster's Union, potentially upsetting to Red Guards Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create oversight committees, greater control over Red Guards, increase in support from ASA, IWW, and AFL-CIO, gain in Relations from every other faction.
Norman Thomas is taking:
-Railway Socialism: Cost: Expensive. Time: 2 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Begin massive railway repair program, seize the rails thus repaired through "legal" methods.
-Political Grandstanding: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/115/150. Result: Increase in popular support, the humiliation of all your political opposition. (noting both plans change this to investigating the 'big plan' instead)
Smedley Butler is taking:
-Instilling Discipline, Pt. 2:. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/80/110. Result: Improved discipline of the Red Guards.
Charles Schenk is taking:
-A Program of Subversion:Cost: -1 Resource per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Set up training program for political infiltrators and agent provocateurs, improve efficacy of spying.
-Identify the Leadership: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/55. Result: Find out more about these reactionary groups.
Ben Stevens is taking this action twice.
-Famine Relief: Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Significant food shipments organized by the SPA.
The Propaganda Committee is taking:
- Posters and Pamphlets: Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/80. Result: The creation of posters and pamphlets to help spread your message, increased ease of recruiting.
-Newspaper Distribution: V. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/60/100. Result: Expanded newspaper distribution, easier recruiting and organizing
-Expand Rural Propaganda:. Cost: 2 Resources, may cost support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Increased and better propaganda directed at rural areas.
And the SPA Cadres are taking these actions:
-Public Libraries: Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.,
-Demand Non-Intervention:Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 75/125. Result: Anti-intervention bill passed with broad support from several parties.
-The Union Home: Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 10/35/60/90. Result: Construction of large quantities of apartments to house people for free.
[X] Plan: Promises and Cooperation.
Party Actions
-[X] Back Up Butler:Cost: Loss of CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/20. Result: Increase to Smedley Butler's Influence. (1 influence)
Union Actions
-[X] Appoint Union Representative: 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. (1 influence)
-[X] Rural-Urban Exchanges: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20. Result: Establishment of more formalized and direct exchanges between worker-run facilities, increase in economic efficiency. (1 influence)
-[X] Union-Integrated Planning: Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/100/165. Result: Establishment of a democratic department for handling economic planning. Must establish what the goals of that planning are soon after. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists. (2 influence)
Militant Actions
(2 Semi-Temporary Influence Committed) A Democratic Chain of Command?:Cost: ?? Time: 1 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Choices on how to structure the Red Guards and how much pressure to use for spreading it, dramatic increase in the effectiveness of the Red Guards.
-[X] Raiding Reactionary Groups: Cost: Possibility of provoking unrest, collateral damage, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/80/120. Result: Attack and break up the most notable counterrevolutionary organizations identified previously. (1 Influence)
Cultural Actions
-[X] Offer an Alternative: Cost: Increased strength to the AFL-CIO. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/70/100. Result: Disaffected moderate workers recruited into the AFL-CIO and propagandized to be more radical, increase in AFL-CIO support. (1 Gravitas)
Political Actions
-[X] State Minority Rights: Cost: Likely loss of support, loss of support from conservative factions of the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/80/120. Result: Pass significant anti-discrimination laws, increase in support from socially left factions, gains in support from minority populations. (2 Influence)
-[X] Local Autonomy Programs: Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/25/50. Result: The first beginnings of local cultural autonomy. (1 Gravitas)
Intellectual Actions
-[X] Justice for Jim Crow: Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives such as the SPU. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for racial justice. (1 Influence)
Intrigue Actions
-[X] Find What They Want: Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10. Result: Gain access to Syndintern Mandates and Syndintern Abilities (1 Influence)
-[X] Personal: Exercise
-[X] Free--Tweak Priority (x2), first get Thomas to drop the grandstanding plan, and then get him to invest effort into figuring out 'The Big Bill.'
-[X] Free: Handle Tobin
-[X] Free: Call on the RAF.
--[X] At Butler's Command: Get them to do the Raiding Reactionary Groups alongside our action if possible (Gain 1 temporary Influence, can only be used for launching open attacks on reactionary groups)
--[X] At Schenk's Command: Get them to do the Sabotage Records action if possible. (Gain 1 temporary Influence, can only be used on short-term spying or terror actions)
-[X] Focus: Promises of Equality.
This is a slightly different focus.
It strikes against the reactionaries, instead of investigating them first.
The plan addresses the mandates, promises, and creates opportunities for cooperation, both with subordinates (butler/ the union representative), and the Synditern.
We have 3 extra influence that we cannot use currently. Considering that our subordinates are force multipliers, this plan invests in them. Even if we spend more than we have currently - the actions both we and our subordinates are taking should work to increase our support enough that we will likely have further excess influence to spend.
It closes out several actions which are very low DC and have been around for a long time -- and will be useful (i.e. mandates and rewards from the Synditern).
It takes a number of social justice actions, but we should also take several next turns, alongside investment in California. It only gives 1 influence to some of these actions, trusting our +15 bonus will get us over the line on most of them.
Finally, we also promised to begin stepping up the campaign against reactionaries and to begin working to marginalize reformists within the party to the RAF. This plan starts that and leverages the likely increase in support to have them take two actions in support of us. This will as well fulfill the mandate to deal with the reactionaries.
Note we currently have the following bonuses:
+15 to social justice actions
+5 to religion and history related actions, +10 to managing the SPA and CSA
+10 to Union organizing, militant, and education actions,-5 to negotiations with bosses,
+10 to the next 2 rural organization or agitations actions. +5 to all rural actions.
It strikes against the reactionaries, instead of investigating them first.
The plan addresses the mandates, promises, and creates opportunities for cooperation, both with subordinates (butler/ the union representative), and the Synditern.
We have 3 extra influence that we cannot use currently. Considering that our subordinates are force multipliers, this plan invests in them. Even if we spend more than we have currently - the actions both we and our subordinates are taking should work to increase our support enough that we will likely have further excess influence to spend.
It closes out several actions which are very low DC and have been around for a long time -- and will be useful (i.e. mandates and rewards from the Synditern).
It takes a number of social justice actions, but we should also take several next turns, alongside investment in California. It only gives 1 influence to some of these actions, trusting our +15 bonus will get us over the line on most of them.
Finally, we also promised to begin stepping up the campaign against reactionaries and to begin working to marginalize reformists within the party to the RAF. This plan starts that and leverages the likely increase in support to have them take two actions in support of us. This will as well fulfill the mandate to deal with the reactionaries.
Note we currently have the following bonuses:
+15 to social justice actions
+5 to religion and history related actions, +10 to managing the SPA and CSA
+10 to Union organizing, militant, and education actions,-5 to negotiations with bosses,
+10 to the next 2 rural organization or agitations actions. +5 to all rural actions.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Plan: Juneteenth and Economic Strides Forward
-[X] Rural-Urban Exchanges (1 Gravitas)
-[X] Union-Integrated Planning (2 Influence)
-[X] Appoint Union Representative (1 Influence)
-[X] State Minority Rights (1 Influence, 1 Gravitas)
-[X] A Juneteenth Celebration (1 Influence)
-[X] Justice for Jim Crow (2 Influence)
-[X] Why the Resistance? (2 Influence)
-[X] Find What They Want (1 Influence)
-[X] Personal: Exercise
-[X] Free--Tweak Priority (x2), first get Thomas to drop the grandstanding plan, and then get him to invest effort into figuring out 'The Big Bill.'
-[X] Free: Handle Tobin
-[X] Free: Call on the RAF.
--[X] Get them to do the Sabotage Records action if possible.
-[X] Focus: Promises of Equality.
-[X] Rural-Urban Exchanges (1 Gravitas)
-[X] Union-Integrated Planning (2 Influence)
-[X] Appoint Union Representative (1 Influence)
-[X] State Minority Rights (1 Influence, 1 Gravitas)
-[X] A Juneteenth Celebration (1 Influence)
-[X] Justice for Jim Crow (2 Influence)
-[X] Why the Resistance? (2 Influence)
-[X] Find What They Want (1 Influence)
-[X] Personal: Exercise
-[X] Free--Tweak Priority (x2), first get Thomas to drop the grandstanding plan, and then get him to invest effort into figuring out 'The Big Bill.'
-[X] Free: Handle Tobin
-[X] Free: Call on the RAF.
--[X] Get them to do the Sabotage Records action if possible.
-[X] Focus: Promises of Equality.
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan: Juneteenth and Economic Strides Forward
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Plan: Juneteenth and Economic Strides Forward
- Location
- Somewhere in the area
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
@notbirdofprey is this table accurate for our subordinate's actions before any tweaks?
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| The Coordination Committee | Meat and Potatoes: (1 dice) Refugee Rescuing: (1 dice) | DC: 0. DC: 35/70/105. |
| The State Legislative Committee | Limited Food Prices: (2 dice) Bureaucratic Modifications: (2 dice) | DC: 30/50/60. DC: 25. |
| Norman Thomas | Railway Socialism: (2 dice) Political Grandstanding: (2 dice) | DC: 30/60/90. DC: 75/115/150. |
| Smedley Butler | Instilling Discipline, Pt. 2: (2 dice) | DC: 25/50/80/110. |
| Charles Schenk | A Program of Subversion: (2 dice) Identify the Leadership: (1 dice) | DC: 45/90/135. DC: 15/35/55. |
| Ben Stevens | Famine Relief: (1 dice) Famine Relief: (1 dice) | DC: 15 DC: 15 |
| The Propaganda Committee | Posters and Pamphlets: (2 dice) Newspaper Distribution: (2 dice) Expand Rural Propaganda: (2 dice) | DC: 10/50/80. DC: 15/30/45/60/100. DC: 40/80/120. |
| SPA Cadres | Public Libraries: (1 dice) The Union Home: (2 dice) Agitate for Non-Intervention: (1 dice) | DC: 10/40/70/100. DC: 10/35/60/90. DC: 40/50/60 |
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Ben Stevens is doing Famine Relief twice, effectively.