July 1933
Sarah wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but she knew it wasn't going to be good. Officer Wilson had come around to tell them about the meeting, and said he and other police were going to visit all the farms. The mayor had gotten some sort of important letter and he wanted everyone to hear it.
Hopefully, it was good news, but Sarah had seen the orange sky and the dead crops on the way into town. The same things she had seen every day for months. It broke all the hope she had left, and replaced it with bitter understanding. She and her husband would have to leave and go...somewhere. They had family in other places, but no one was any better off. The dust was everywhere in the country, it seemed like, and all the powerful people didn't care.
But the mayor had asked, and hearing what he had to say was a better way to waste time than cleaning what would be dirty in a minute anyway. Grit stinging her eyes and abrading her feet, she walked on past an abandoned tractor and a rotting cow being pecked at by crows and the sign that welcomed strangers to town, now stripped entirely of its careful paint job.
The neat road of the town was covered in piles of silt and dirt, getting blown here and there as the breeze eddied them around. All the signs on the stores were gone, the windows were boarded up or stood open, the shattered glass resembling jagged maws. The only place that had any life was the church. She and her husband staggered in.
The whole town was gathered here, and not just the people who lived in town but dozens of families from miles around. She saw the Janson clan, who owned a dozen farms scattered about, were all there wearing gray armbands. Both pastors and all four policemen had faded red somewhere on them. Everyone was thin and ragged, with worn and torn and grimy clothes. The air was thick and dusty and humming with tension.
Sarah swallowed. Looking around, not a single face seemed friendly. Everyone was pinched and suspicious and measuring the others. Her husband had brought a gun along, and he was far from the only one. Knives were in abundance too. What was the world coming too, that so many walked into a church with instruments of death?
And what was happening to her, that she found herself accepting it with nothing more than faint stirrings of disgust?
The mayor trudged up to the podium, a faint smile on his face. "My friends and fellow townsmen, it seems we have good news. Congressmen Lahler, formerly of Farmer-Labor and now of Left-Farmer-Labor, has assured us we will be receiving aid. I know many of you were planning on leaving, or have already left..."
He looked sorrowful briefly, but forced himself to go on, sucking in a deep breath, letting out a hacking cough, and then managing to continue.
"But he has sent letters with the bill he intends to see passed. Having read it...it's unprecedented. And he has assured me at least a full third of the state house stands with him, between the various Farmer-Labor affiliates and the SPA..."
Tom Janson stood up not two feet from her. "So you want us to trust some syndicalist thief to do right for us? The same ones who tried to say we can't sell our crops for anything like a fair price?"
Billy Carpenter leaned forward from behind the mayor, hand resting on the butt of his gun. "My cousins went to the city, the one the SPA took over. He says they are giving free food to any man or woman who comes to them. That's right Christian of them, more Christian than you are!"
Tom flushed. "You Red son of a gun! You've no right to speak to me like that!"
"Speak to you like what? Like you are a damn fool who couldn't find his nose with his hand?"
Tom growled something Sarah refused to hear.
"Pig!" Billy shot back, face turning redder than his handkerchief
"Bolshevik!"
"Madman!"
"Liar!"
"Bastard!" Billy spat, then he paled.
"Sorry Tom, you know I didn't mean it like that..."
Tom had been born three months after his mother's wedding, and rumors had dogged him all his life that his mother's husband wasn't the father.
For a moment, the world was still. Then Tom took a single step forwards, something flashed in his hand, Billy's head tore open and the loudest thunderclap she had ever heard ripped from the church.
She stared as Billy, Billy who had walked her home from church once upon a time and used his coat as an umbrella for her...Billy was dead. She blinked, trying to understand...
The Jansons fled as a group, guns out, and then the police chased after them. She heard more gunshots, but they seemed distant and far away. Her husband shook her, his mouth moving. She felt something warm trickle out of her ear.
Slowly, her hearing began to recover, enough to make out what was being said. "I am going to see that son of a bitch pay," her husband murmured.
She shook her head, violently. She didn't want to see more people die, she had heard stories of feuds and fights that killed hundreds...her arms wrapped around herself as she shivered, picturing their tiny town and pleasant farm covered in shell holes and raked with machine-gun fire like Belgium had been in the Weltkrieg. She pictured soldiers fighting back and forth over it, dying again and again as their blood soaked the ground until no crops could take root. She saw her husband and Tom and Billy wearing uniforms, fighting and dying and rotting until she couldn't tell who was who.
She closed her eyes and fell backward as vague sounds of chaos passed through her mind.
She saw nothing as arguments in the church erupted into violence. She saw nothing as her husband scooped her up and carried her away from the bleeding and the dying. She saw nothing as a stray bullet struck him in the back and tore through his spine. She saw nothing as her head smacked against the corner of an empty store. She saw nothing as the two of them lay together, dust storms ripping at their skin and thirst slowly killing them.
She opened her eyes just in time to see a hundred United States soldiers march in and restore order to a dead town.
Rumors and News
The news of your alliance with Farmer-Labor hits the CSA like a bomb thrown into a union meeting. You are shouted at for nearly five minutes, and then some begin shouting to defend you. You come far closer to having to break up a fistfight than you would have liked before you can explain yourself.
Bluntly, in a few brief words, you defend your decision, appealing to Marxism, humanity, politics, and simple common sense. It is accepted, begrudgingly, with your support significantly threatened should there be bad results from this decision, such as rural immigrants to the cities becoming scabs or forming reactionary militia. A process that is already beginning.
Farmer-Labor has handled things even worse. The party has fully split into five factions: Farmer-Labor, the American Farmers Party, True Farmer-Labor, and Left-Farmer-Labor, to say nothing of the party members who have switched to you outright. Farmer-Labor and Left-Farmer-Labor maintain the alliance with you. The American Farmers Party has chosen to work with the AFP. And True Farmer-Labor has done their best to maintain legislative independence. The result has turned the states they so briefly turned into a literal and metaphorical battleground. The images you see in newspapers remind you of ones from your history books, showing Bleedin' Kansas. And the violence and the continuing dust storms only accelerate the flight from rural areas, the destitute farmers bringing their increasingly radicalized or reactionary politics with them.
The Democratic, Republican, and True Farmer-Labor, along with a few increasingly irrelevant fifth parties, have begun making efforts to handle the crises, seemingly becoming aware of the situation in the country for the first time. Many of these destitute farmers are recruited into the army, along with a bare minimum of screening, and then they are given simple public works tasks. Discussions of some form of alliance have begun in the top ranks of the party, and for the first time a relief bill is introduced into Congress with seemingly serious consideration, although it is trapped in committee where it is being virulently debated. You have read the bill and find it pathetically mild. But it seems to have assuaged some criticism from the progressive wings of the party.
Even better for them, some Japanese and Australasian companies have begun to invest in some Pacific Coast cities, although they appear to have demanded significant security measures in the process.
Meanwhile, Long continues struggling to get a handle on his party. Federalist militias and police forces have begun attacking the Minutemen in parts of the South, while True Farmer-Labor has effectively driven his allies out of Oklahoma and Kansas. A rumored deal with several German companies in some southern cities has fallen through completely.
You have heard nothing but ominous silence from your allies and friends north of the Canadian border.
In other news, Ford has pulled out of his factory project, apparently being forced to by his stockholders. An investigation by Red Guards revealed that Ford was apparently trying to diversify into rifles and bullets.
[Slight gain of support in rural areas, intense violence in rural areas, increase in support in urban areas even as other political groups gain support as well.]
Plans from Subordinates
The crisis has led to a dramatic shift in priorities for the Coordination Committee. The rise of reactionary militias threaten to undo their efforts, and they are pouring immense amounts of time and effort into stopping it.
The farming relief bills have become even more important, even as available Farmer-Labor expertise makes the subject matter much simpler. The new plans include state programs to provide seeds, farming equipment, and teachers for new methods...and new ideologies.
Although Thomas initially planned on continuing his previous efforts, the violence in the Midwest has caused him to change his course as well. He intends to...do something. "I don't know how I can help, Jack, but I know I have to," he told you, face the color of ash.
You have 8 Influence and 2 Authority total. 0 Authority and 1 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You are currently taking On the Farms.
Mandates: Successfully propagandize towards farmers in 3 months (from The Syndicalists).
Party Actions
Hold a Rally: It's a classic for every political party for a reason. There's nothing quite like a grand rally with banners waving and people cheering to make you seem unstoppable and to gather more support. The demonstration of the energy and might of the working class will have the capitalists shaking in their boots. It is a message to your supporters as well, that all the power of the SPA stands behind them. Here is what it says: Let your foes try and stop you. They will be ground under your heel. Cost: 1 Resources and a risk of backlash and hostile interruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/50/85/120. Results: Variable change in support, chance of intimidating your enemies. Can synergize with other actions.
Wave the Red Banner: The Red Banner is not the only SPA-affiliated or favoring publication, but it is the only one produced by the Party itself. And it is immensely popular. New ones go out constantly, but you could write an article of your own and make a special edition. This would receive extra attention and possibly some new readership, allowing you to make your opinions heard and sway the hearts and minds of others. You could shape the narrative on something, make an argument for or against a particular course of action, attack an enemy or uplift an ally. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 2 Resources and a risk of backlash. May be additional costs depending on the topic. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100/150. Results: Variable change in support or party factions, results depend on topic. Topic must be written in. Some examples: "The importance of unity in the socialist cause," "The corruption of the Hoover administration," "Why feminism and socialism must go together," and "Why Farmer-Labor should unify with the SPA." Can synergize with other actions.
Send Social Agitators To: Nearly every street corner in Chicago, New York City, and Seattle has a man or woman standing on a crate and telling the passerby of the virtues of the cause and encouraging them to donate. They are often beaten brutally by the bourgeois or by police (and just as often protected by their listeners), but they nevertheless persist, determined to gain recruits and funds for the cause. Some of these agitators are amateurs doing it in their spare time, but quite a few are dedicated and skilled speakers. Sending these speakers in significant numbers to an area can turn your foe's supporters against them, especially if it is followed up upon with meaningful organization. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support there.
Create Shadow Government: You have had a brilliant idea: Though you lack power at the federal level, the Socialist Party has substantial control of many mayorships, county governments. You even effectively control some states of the Steel Belt. Creating a forum to help these various governments cooperate and resolve disputes will be useful, especially if you have further requests of these governments. You have only discussed this concept briefly, but the idea of the Interstate Committee of Socialist Governments (name subject to change) has dazzled many. Especially since it will help you gain influence over their legal codes, voting laws, and National Guard armories. Cost: Significant and dangerous backlash from within and without the Party, possible legal challenges. Time: 3 months. DC: 70/140/200/250. Results: Various states and lower-level governments integrated into a coordinated body, many new possibilities available, although the body could be unwieldy.
Condemn Reactionary Judges: The situation in many streets resembles a powder keg. There are gathering crowds, ready to strike. They are growing hungrier. They are growing angrier. Even your soup kitchens can stave that off for so long...and judges are preventing relief. Speaking on this matter will ensure the people's ire is properly directed and may inspire some changes of heart. The violence it may cause will be almost unnoticed against the bloody backdrop of the Midwest. Cost: Small risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/15/20/25/30. Results: Legal challenges for relief laws cleared away.
Support Faction: The party is more than a little divided, even if everyone is determined to stick together, they still clash frequently, with each other and with you. Spending some time and effort backing a particular faction in these debates could gain you some gratitude, which is always a valuable currency. Cost: Risk of losing Influence or Authority. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Increase Relations and Strength of selected faction, chance of gaining Influence.
Make Changes To Subordinates: You do not have the time or capability to make all the decisions involved with bringing the Revolution to America, and so you have trusted subordinates to help. Occasionally, you will need to redirect their efforts, invest more in their success, or even replace them immediately. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Make any change to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times.
Party Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Extremely low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/120/180. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.
Open Investigation: If a subordinate is unpopular or incompetent, you can begin publically looking into their performance. This can wash off some of the reflected stink, particularly if you find something, but if there is no evidence of wrongdoing or fraud that can only make the situation worse or lead to questions of your judgement. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Some chance of finding problems with chosen subordinate, options to deal with problems, chance of +1 Influence.
Support Subordinate: Expressing confidence in a subordinate, either by offering direct aid or by giving material support, can boost their performance, especially if there isn't a structural reason for their failures. Cost: Write-in. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Positive modifier to chosen subordinate, chance of them gaining positive trait.
Acquire Expertise: You are only one man, you cannot know or do everything. Having trusted subordinates who can do part of the work helps, but so too does having trusted advisors, people who can offer you advice for dealing with things you don't quite understand. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Find assistant for chosen subject who can give bonuses and penalties to rolls and other situations.
Push for Rural Assistance: The priority for most of the SPA are the urban areas and the mining strongholds. Between the fact that most farmers are petty producers and their famed social conservatism, there is relatively little concern for their fates beyond vague acknowledgements. Even the rural relief bills many are advocating for are primarily focused on keeping a large supply of food for the cities available. Despite the revolutionary potential of many rural groups, they are being effectively abandoned to be turned into the footsoldiers of reaction. Though it will strain the limits of your position, insisting on more effort will hopefully encourage the party to give more thought to farmers and farmworkers. Cost: -1 Influence, -1 Authority. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/90. Result: Unlock new actions focusing on supporting and recruiting among farmers,
Integrate Farmer-Labor: The new recruits from Farmer-Labor and Left-Farmer-Labor are truly eager to support you in any way they can, even if some are reluctant at the prospect of violent revolution, just as you once were. The political structure of the CSA and SPA are not entirely welcome to them however, especially since they do not formally represent any unions. Making some slight changes to the party will allow them to help you with rural outreach. Cost: Loss of Relations with all factions except the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Increased efficacy for various rural-related actions.
Anarchist Organizations: Anarchists are no longer as prominent a scare-word as they once were. Socialism and syndicalism are the new words to make the bourgeoisie and their running dogs wet themselves in fear. The reduced propaganda against them makes them potentially quite useful...and you remember hearing that the Black Army was highly popular among Ukranian peasants. Perhaps approaching them to form an Anarchist Grange may help you gain support in the Bleeding Midwest. And if they fail, most of the party will be unconcerned. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: You and the CSA select a rural-focused organizer from The Anarchist faction, gain in Strength for the Anarchists.
Union Actions
Send Union Organizers To: While agitators can disrupt other political organizations and explain why you are better, to actually gain support of the kind that makes people spend blood and gold and sweat on your behalf requires a different approach. Establishing that takes time, but sending union organizers to an area can make for a start. In many ways, the risks these organizers take is even greater than that of the agitators, especially if there is sufficient hostility to socialism already. Some have literally been tarred and feathered...Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and gain temporary support there.
Appoint Union Representative: There are dozens of unions, many with hundreds or thousands of chapters. A rare few even have branches in Canada, with a rarer few having branches in Mexico. The Combined Syndicates serves as a forum to allow them to coordinate and cooperate, but the vagaries of time and travel mean that the larger meetings are often sparsely attended. Electing (although your influence will help make it an effective appointment) a representative to help manage the syndicates, smooth over disputes, and ensure all voices are heard would reduce the growing pains the CSA is suffering from. However, the notion is not entirely popular...Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Subvote to determine who you will support for Union Representative and how much to invest in them.
Prepare Rural Unions: Rural areas are utterly lacking in the sort of density mines or cities have that labor organizers and workers used to create their powerful unions. A new approach will need to be devised, or more likely multiple to approach the different situations you will doubtless encounter. Perhaps some of the newer unions or the Montant and Colorado miners have some insight? Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/25/50/75/100. Result: Improved chance of success for actions in rural areas.
Establish Community Gardens: The cities of America are filled with vacant lots and crumbling buildings. Reclaiming the buildings will have to be part of a larger effort, but the lots can be used to the benefit of the people by establishing gardens. Though they will take many months, the fresh vegetables will improve the quality of the food served by the soup kitchens...and hopefully reduce expenses. Cost: 5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: +2 Resources per turn after 3 months.
Mutual Aid Foundations: While directly expanding the soup kitchens would benefit many, a less costly alternative would be the establishment of mutual aid organizations to ensure that people are fed. Since they are less directly dependent on the SPA buying food for them, they will be cheaper for you to maintain, but still serve to provide relief to the struggling masses and help expose them to socialist ideals. The examples of such institutions being created in Chicago have helped show the way. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Improve quality of food kitchens.
Union Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Very low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/120/150. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.
Union Charities, Donations: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the charitable endeavors of the SPA. Doing so would ease the logistical strain providing for so many causes, but not every union is entirely dedicated to socialist ideals, especially not when it comes to the outsiders who will inevitably come seeking aid. Cost: Increased risk of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: +X Resources per month.
Union Charities, Fundraising: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the financial resources at your command through direct donations and holding fundraising events. It may somewhat aggravate your supporters, but as long as you are using the money for their benefit there won't be more than grumbling. Cost: A new mandate. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: +X Resources per month.
A Union Shop: Socialized stores have become common in Chicago as workers inspired by the strike or owners compelled by it create democratically run stores. Though mocked by some on the left and some in the more syndicalist wing as "market socialism" and accused of not removing the profit motive, even their strongest critics cannot deny they serve a useful person during this transitory phase. Begin encouraging local unions to establish shops along these lines, and ask for a small cut of the proceeds perhaps? Cost: Small chance of -1 Influence, loss of relations with the Syndicalists. 5 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/35/70/100. Result: Increase in income, establishment of market cooperatives in locations with a strong SPA presence. Small chance of gaining +1 Influence, increase to relations with the Right.
(1 Influence Committed) Credit to the Unions: The major banking services are dominated by capitalists and often hostile to socialists, while the poor are forced into debt to dangerous loansharks. Credit unions are a low-cost and democratically structured alternative to both. While there have been credit unions in the country since the turn of the century, they have become significantly more prominent thanks to the general strike. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Establishment of credit unions, reduced cost and increased efficacy for other Union actions, gain ability to take loans.
Push for Reduced Hours: With an enormous influx of unemployed workers, the capitalists of the cities are able to find fresh sources of scabs, or else they suffer and languish without any work. Reviving a measure used before would help fix both these. The union workers would reduce their hours, working less time and therefore requiring more workers. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Amount of unemployed workers is reduced.
Support Housing Cooperatives: The existing housing cooperatives are...poorly designed. Often ill-equipped, uncomfortable, utterly lacking in privacy, and frequently without many or any basic amenities, you have been rightfully pilloried for their quality. Even with the recent and substantial influx of support, they have not improved as much as you would expect. Further investments, for them and the Tenant's Unions, will hopefully allow the situation to get better. Cost: 5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100. Result: Improvement in living conditions, increase in support.
Create Mobile Aid Teams: A proposal recently made was to form small groups equipped with money and food and send them out to approach the hordes of wandering farmers and give them support. While it will not fully counter the barrage of reactionary news they hear from Long's sound trucks, it will potentially strengthen your arguments by backing them with visible charity. Cost: -2 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Increase popularity among rural populations.
Unionized Only!: As the number of potential scabs in the cities increase, measures need to be taken to prevent them from diluting the power of the unions and stealing their hard-won benefits. Begin establishing "union-shops" in the factories, forcing the owners to promise that they will not hire anyone if they are not willing to join the unions. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90/135. Result: Increase the amount of people in unions.
Militant Actions
Additional Weapons: The armaments of your "regular" Red Guards are highly irregular, and the "irregulars" who sometimes join in during protests or strikes are even worse off. Beginning to create armories of weapons will help equip both. The first step will be to acquire things like billy clubs and batons, both to avoid attracting unfortunate attention and because stockpiling guns in the current climate is needlessly risky...Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/30/45/60. Result: Create stockpiles of "non-lethal" weapons for the use of the Red Guards.
Establish Sporting Clubs: The wholesale purchase of firearms and ammunition by individuals draws attention. But sporting clubs, shooting ranges, and similar institutions doing so would not be a concern. Create a network of these companies as a means of subtly acquiring not just equipment for the Red Guards, but a way for them to train. Cost: 10 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/20/60/100. Result: Increased armaments for Red Guards, ease of training Red Guards increased, further actions to arm and equip Red Guards unlocked.
Instilling Discipline, Pt.1: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) Every branch of the Red Guards contains at least a few who do it more or less full-time. These are some of your most dedicated and radical supporters, and when the time comes they are the ones who will form the hard core of the Red Army. So they are the ones who need training and discipline the most. Based on what you saw of the Bolsheviks in Russia, the first thing that men who wish to be soldiers must be taught is discipline. And so that is what the training shall begin with. Regrettably, the fury in them at the moment will make it harder to convince them not every rich man is their mortal enemy. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 4 months. DC: 20/60. Result: Improve discipline of Red Guards.
Encourage Veteran Recruitment: The recent veterans from the Legation Cities have not all signed up to join your ranks. And there are a fair few older veterans of other wars and "police actions" who could be perhaps convinced to join you. They have heard of the Payment Army and they are angry. Their experience and familiarity with combat will help stiffen and strengthen the Red Guards, although some could be traitors...Cost: Small loss of Relations with the Right and Left. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/50/100. Results: Recruit veteran soldiers, bonuses to other actions.
Integrate the VFW: With Butler on your side, the VFW is yours for the taking. Formally integrating them into the Red Guards will give you a significant increase in the number of experienced soldiers in your ranks. The organizational merging involved is going to be somewhat complicated given the number of differences in structure, but increasing the strength of your paramilitaries will be vital for your success. Cost: Loss of relations with the Parliamentarians, Gain in Relations for all other factions. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.
Arm the Police: In the cities where you control the government, the attitudes of the police have shifted dramatically. They are now proud and determined supporters of their fellow workers against the ravages of capital. While they will need further restructuring to truly socialize them, that will have to wait until after the revolution. For now, you must prepare to fight it. Taking measures to increase the discipline and armaments of friendly policing departments will strengthen your control of the cities. Cost: Loss of relations with the Anarchists, Syndicalists, and Parliamentarians. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.
Veteran Cadres: With veteran soldiers having joined your rank in large numbers and more looking to rally to the red banner, it is time to truly take advantage of their expertise and begin forming cadres so that they can better develop the skills and discipline of your Red Guard. You are well aware that they will not be the equal of U.S. Army soldiers for some time, but closing the gap even slightly will be a major advantage. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30. Result: Lower DC and improve Results for training actions.
Go Hunting: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) In every city and town of America you face enemies. Hostile police forces, reactionary militias, mercenaries and Pinkertons hired by capitalists, and more. They all seek to oppress and suppress the workers. This cannot be borne. While the Red Guards continually battle in the streets, protecting protests, defending meetings, guarding agitators and organizers, they only rarely go on the offensive, and keep it strictly to retaliatory strikes on those most responsible for attacks. Asking for a more general attack would help weaken opposition, and perhaps see some justice done. Cost: Reduces support, reduces relations with the Parliamentarians, chance of it going badly. Time: 1 month. DC: 30. Results: Red Guards begin attacking class enemies, chance of gaining Resources, Support, Influence...
Street Medics: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) 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: 5 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 40. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.
Toll Fees: With your control of railways and the strength of your paramilitaries in many transportation hubs, you could easily gain substantial incomes by insisting on donations for those passing through, although you will need to make sure there are exceptions for those who already support you or who it would be dangerous to stop. Cost: Decrease in support among moderates, increase to corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase to income.
Scab Intimidation: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) 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.
Supporting Left-Farmer-Labor: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) The Midwest bleeds, and with it your allies. While Farmer-Labor desires to maintain significant independence and has refused any notion of you protecting them with the Red Guards, Left-Farmer-Labor has promised to accept any aid you can spare. Assassinations and small-scale attacks are mostly the way of things...your Blair Brigade will show them a new way of fighting, while Red Guards will defend the people and help create new militias. Cost: Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/??/???. Results: Left-Farmer-Labor and Farmer-Labor do better in the Midwest, reactionaries impacted negatively.
Strongly Supporting Left-Farmer-Labor: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) The Midwest bleeds, and with it your allies. While Farmer-Labor desires to maintain significant independence and has refused any notion of you protecting them with the Red Guards, Left-Farmer-Labor has promised to accept any aid you can spare. Assassinations and small-scale attacks are mostly the way of things...your Blair Brigade will show them a new way of fighting, while Red Guards will defend the people and help create new militias. And any and every man and woman who volunteers will be armed and sent to protect the just and the righteous, just as slaving filibusters were defeated by volunteers from Union states so many years ago.Cost: Severe risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/??/???. Results: Left-Farmer-Labor and Farmer-Labor do significantly better in the Midwest, reactionaries massively impacted negatively.
An Investigation Arm: With the increasing size and activity of the Red Guard, malcontents and informers are likely slipping in, taking advantage of your activities to line their pockets or using their positions to gather information. Neither can be allowed. To counter them, some have proposed the creation of an anonymous reporting system and selecting some trustworthy individuals to investigate these reports. Though generally unpopular, you can see the potential benefits. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Reduction in corruption, increased chance of catching spies.
Take the Docks: In many cities, the powerful Dockworker's Unions could stop the transfer of goods at will, or smuggle goods in past customs inspectors. While this is mostly used for their own benefit, it could be a potent measure to increase the party's resources and power. Unfortunately, given the suspicion being directed at the docks currently, such an action could provoke severe crackdowns that would have significant support. Cost: Severe risk of backlash, will likely increase corruption. DC: 0/50/100/140. Results: Gain income, easier smuggling, new options unlocked.
Recruit Butler: Butler is on your side. While currently he is still the head of the VFW, he may be willing to take up a position under you as the commander of the Red Guards. He is widely respected, famously popular, and a skilled and disciplined leader. His influence will be invaluable for strengthening your paramilitaries and preparing for the bloody conflict to come. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Commit 1 Influence to Butler, get him as a subordinate.
Striking Soldiers: The news that several hundred soldiers have gone on strike has been greatly celebrated in the SPA. Even if it is not truly solidarity, it is a seed that can be watered. Careful efforts on approaching the soldiers who have gone on strike can be begun, hopefully before they are broken up or thrown in prison by untrusting army officers who are desperate to protect their class privilege. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/60/100/140. Result: increase to the number and quality of the Red Guards.
Cultural Actions
Christian Socialism: Most Americans are Christians, and despite the words of the Constitution it is widely considered a Christian nation. Given that many churches are staunchly opposed to socialism while socialism is a staunchly secular ideology, this could be troublesome. Fortunately, this Gordian knot can be cut rather easily. The concept of "Christian socialism" and claiming that Christ himself would be a socialist is simple enough, with ample support for this notion coming directly from the Bible. Combining this message with a few displays of piety will help reduce criticism from the pulpit, although significant portions of organized religion will doubtless remain hostile. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Left, loss of support from Jews and other religions. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Christians, increased ease of recruitment.
The American Revolution, Pt.2: The first connections are drawn, the first pieces of theory are created. Now it's time to poke holes in them and see where it doesn't hold up, either to your ideals or to reality. Your ideas are published, but now it's time to see how people have torn them apart so that you can make them better. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/35/70/120. Result: Refine the results of The American Revolution, Pt. 1
Organize Education: Education is a necessity for workers. Reading, writing, 'rithmetic, critical thinking and understanding history, the skills and knowledge so they can labor and explain why they labor, all these are vital. American schools are fundamentally capitalist institutions, but alternatives can be established. Cost: -3 Resources, -1 Resources per turn. Time: 6 months. DC: 0/25/50/100. Result: Create a system of cheap socialist private schools.
Organize Childcare, Pt. 2: You have designed your improvements to the ad hoc system of childcare, now it is time for the implementation to begin. All this will really involve is producing guides and perhaps some propaganda, but it will help. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/45/75. Result: Encourage the creation of more equal and better-designed childcare institutions.
Public Libraries: While libraries are a common and immensely popular institution, they can be improved in a number of ways, from increasing the resources available to them to broadening the services provided to include rentable instruments and instruction programs. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.
Songs of the Revolution: The Internationale. The Preacher and the Slave. This Land is Your Land. Solidarity Forever. Many are the songs of the socialist movement. Let everyone hear them. Establish choirs and wandering musicians and every other way to spread your message through song there is. Cost: 3 Resources, -0.5 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50/70/90/ Results: Easier recruiting, increase to morale among the party.
Unity In The Melting Pot: The Socialist Party and the IWW have long used multilingual speakers to reach out to immigrants. With the end of the Weltkrieg and the defeat of the Bolsheviks, thousands from Eastern Europe have flocked to America's shores to find conditions no better, while others have come north with Central and South America. Reaching out to those groups will be essential. The multilingual program will be expanded, to begin. Cost: None.
Time: 3 months. DC: 5/45/90. Results: Easier recruiting, increased support among immigrants.
Socialist Radio Networks: Huey Long has used the radio to spread his reactionary babble to thousands of Americans. We can do the same. Through speeches and interviews, your message can be broadcast. While some may turn off the radio rather than hear the truth, the more you reach the more you can convince. The first step will be to purchase...whatever it is that produces radio waves for broadcasts. That was never something you needed to learn in school. With migrant hordes crossing the land east and west, a way to reach them grows increasingly important. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 5/25/50/75. Results: Significantly easier recruiting, increased support.
Posters and Pamphlets: The speeches you give reach only those who hear you. Your speeches written down reach all who can read...but they are a bit too long for a poster discreetly put up or a pamphlet smuggled behind a boss's back. Beginning to create and produce snappy slogans and logos for posters and pamphlets will help you in the propaganda war, especially given the number of virulently anti-socialist publications that will smear you and your movement in any way possible. The lack of any organized system for spreading your message has led to several individuals starting up their own newspapers and similar operations to express support for socialism and syndicalism, albeit with a somewhat critical attitude to you. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 10/50/80. Results: The creation of posters and pamphlets to help spread your message, ease of recruiting.
Propagandize The Rural Areas: Farmers are intensely reactionary. The Southern smallholder made the greatest contribution to the Confederate armies during the War of the Slave Power, the yeomen resisted the creation of a bourgeois democracy during the War of American Independence. But with multiple crises of capital ravaging them economically, perhaps some can be persuaded to support you and join the most advanced segments of the working class. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Begin propagandizing farmers.
Propagandize Professionals: Doctors and lawyers and managers, all have been greatly affected by this latest crisis. More than a few have been forced into breadlines and soup kitchens alongside the workers they have once looked down on. Approaching them, convincing them to join their cause, will give you access to their skills, which are undeniably useful and valuable. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/110. Result: Begin propagandizing destitute professionals.
Political Actions
Impeachment: If President Hoover has been unable to leave the White House grounds for two months, he is clearly no longer fit for office. The two-thirds majority impeachment requires is veritably impossible to achieve, but even making noises about it could help gain you support and allies, especially if you are high-profile enough. Some in your party consider it nothing but a waste of time, others feel it is a tactical error. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Syndicalists. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/40/90/200. Results: The Socialist Party initiates an impeachment motion for Hoover, chance of gaining legislative allies or support.
Poach the Democrats: The Democrats have traditionally been a party pulled in many directions - Bourbon conservatives, progressives, Southern populists, and union members, political machines - and while a significant portion of all these factions have left, there are always remnants, such as the Roosevelt family. The party as a whole rejects you wholeheartedly, but individual members can be convinced to change their allegiance. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/90/130. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.
Press the Progressives: The Progressive Party is now the second-weakest in America. Even the newly formed America First Party has surpassed them. They hold a few scattered seats in the west and Midwest and little more. This weakness is also what makes them vulnerable. They will collapse as a national party without intervention, you suspect. And you can offer this intervention. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/40/70. Results: You convince some members of the Progressive Party to switch allegiance to you.
Pro-Worker Legislation: It would ordinarily be unlikely to pass, at least on a federal level, but demanding it will make a statement in and of itself. And you will not just push this legislation on a federal level. These laws will focus on the things workers have fought for. Better wages, workplace safety, price caps for company stores...with the stroke of a pen, they can be spread across the country, and it will be the SPA that will take the lion's share of the credit. Unfortunately, the current mood in Congress is intensely hostile to you. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Syndicalists. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/90/100/120. Results: You pass worker-protection laws on the state and possibly federal level and can gain varying amounts of support.
State-Level Agriculture Bills: With the increasingly large dust storms and the damage to the soil in the Great Plains, measures need to be taken to ensure the cities remain fed and that the farmers do not suffer unduly. The experience and expertise of Farmer-Labor has already greatly assisted in preparing bills to serve both urban and rural workers. Cost: May lose support in rural areas. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80. Results: Pass laws in various states to ensure that food remains affordable and provide limited relief for farmers.
Party Lawyers: Many potentially vital laws are being held up in the courts. And frankly, you have a shortage of good lawyers. There are some willing to work for free from dedication to the cause, but most lack the wealth for that or are entirely uninterested in working for you. But enough filthy lucre can solve that problem. Cost: 1 Resource, -1 Resource per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 40. Results: Hire some lawyers to help defend the laws you get passed.
Local Elections: Mayors, sheriffs, county judges. All positions of undeniable importance to the people who elect them. Beginning a campaign to get favorable individuals elected into those positions in the areas you don't completely dominate will help set favorable ground for future elections or revolutionary actions. With the chaotic situations in many Midwestern states, the potential leverage is immense. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/40/80. Results: Increase support on the local level.
Staff State Offices: The state bureaucracies are often intensely hostile to the efforts of the SPA, but while they are an obstacle they are one who can be defeated, or at least gone around. Beginning to hire loyal socialists and syndicalists will allow you to gradually begin purging these hostile organizations. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/45/90. Results: Begin gradually purging and replacing hostile burueacrats, slow enough that there should be minimal loss of institutional knowledge.
Expand the Eviction Moratorium: The current anti-eviction laws are rather weak, although if they are any stronger they will almost certainly be struck down by the courts. But passing more will help nonetheless. You may not approve of all of Andrew Jackson's decisions, especially not the one you are thinking of, but you may well end up paraphrasing him. Let the states expand their protections until none may be removed from their home by force, and let the courts try and stop you. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/25/50/75. Result: Pass stronger and broader state-level eviction moratoriums.
Farmer Relief Funds: Broader rural relief laws that will address the causes of the Dust Bowl are all well and good, but right now more direct aid is needed. Simply throwing money at the problem is sloppy, inefficient, vulnerable to all forms of conviction...and the simplest policy that can be passed. It's also recommended by some members of Farmer-Labor in the worst affected areas. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40. Result: Pass subsidies for farmers.
Anti-Reactionary Laws: To give a backing of legitimacy to your efforts to act against the reactionary militias, laws can be passed to make them into threats to peace and order. Partisan wording will ensure they do not apply to your Red Guards, who can then go and conduct a citizen's arrest. Cost: Chance of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/20/40/60. Result: Reduce size of reactionary militias, reduce backlash for acting against them.
Wealth Taxes: The federal relief bill you passed has dramatically eased the financial costs of the states working to protect their people, but they will run out eventually. The grants were large, but the state's income streams have not changed. Correct that, by passing savage wealth and inheritance taxes that will ensure the upper-class pay their fair share. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50. Result: Begin passing state-level wealth taxes.
Intellectual Actions
The Legacy of John Brown: John Brown was a revolutionary martyr who fought for freedom. Abraham Lincoln sought to bring freedom to the enslaved. They would support you in your struggle to bring liberation to all. You will insist on it. You will quote them to say so. You might have to be a bit selective in doing so, but it won't matter. Cost: None... Time: 1 month. DC: 5. Result: Increased efficacy of The American Revolution actions.
Create an Educational Program: Designing a socialist education program will be just one of the many questions you have to answer after the revolution. There are important differences in content and teaching style and likely other things as well. Begin looking into who is an expert in such things and start drawing up the broad strokes of what a curriculum will cover. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Begin designing an education program.
A Socialist Structure, Pt. 1: How will the economy work? Will currency be abolished? How will you ensure racial equality? Though there are examples to look forward to from Britain and France, you will need to begin creating your own answers to these questions. Plans must be made, although they will be by necessity vague. But creating the most basic framework for what form American socialism will take will help ease your path forward. Cost: Probable loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence. Time: 6 months. DC: No roll. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.
Who Supports Who?: If you looked out the window to see New York City, you would think nine in ten supported you. You are not fool enough to think that, of course. The Payment Army alone disproves that, let alone the bullying your daughter has experienced, the endless attempts at suppression, the thousands of letters denouncing you. Beginning to get an accurate count will be vital for effectively directing your efforts. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Get a general idea of where your support is strong and weak and what people are concerned about.
Against the Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism is a virulent problem in this country. Father Coughlin spews anti-Semitic bile, many claim Jews are behind every problem and especially the syndicalists, even some of your party members and unionized workers mislike them. Countering these narratives may cost, but it is a worthy effort. Cost: Likely loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of +1 Influence.
Proletarian Unity: The workers of the world must be united. There are false divisions embedded deep into the American psyche. Racism is the greatest but by no means the only one. Target these divides, weld them together as best you can. Make promises of restitution and justice, publicize what you stand for. It will be difficult and potentially dangerous, but you have to start somewhere. Cost: Likely loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence, chance of losing support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/125. Result: Counter racist narratives, increase support from minorities, small chance of +1 Influence.
Create a Curriculum: For a socialist school system to exist, there must be a socialist curriculum, Having students elect their teachers seems faintly ridiculous, but there can be other ways for them to be exposed to the SPA's ideals from a young age, and there should certainly be a different emphasis on what is taught. No gender divide for one. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Creation of curriculum, improved results and lowered difficulty for Organize Education.
The Legacy of the Grange: The Grange was a vaguely socialist, mixed-race organization for farmers to help them progress and grant assistance through a variety of methods, from community support to political activism. The sudden rise of Farmer-Labor and the current devastation has caused it to decline greatly. But it can rise again, better and stronger. With Farmer-Labor on your side, a remnant of the Grange is as well. Begin a program of revitalization and create a new ideology for it. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100. Result: New, more socialist/syndicalist/anarchist/some form of leftist ideology for the Grange, new options for dealing with it unlocked.
Intrigue Actions
Siphon Party Funds: The first step in performing covert actions is to acquire funds to do so. Simply taking money directly from the party treasury strikes you as a bad idea, as the resulting vanishing will be wide open for anyone who looks. So instead you will arrange for a few dribbles of cash to vanish into an account you can use for off-the-books problem-solving. Cost: -0.1 Resources per month. Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/35/70. Result: +0.1 Resources per turn goes into a dark fund you can draw upon for covert ops.
Siphon State Funds: With nearly unfettered access to many state governments and party loyalists being installed in treasury departments across the nation, you have an opportunity to enhance the party's financial position by arranging for subtle fund transfers from the government funds. There will likely need to be some sort of...shell to hide the directness of the money transfer. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/100. Result: Increase to income.
Hire an Assistant Secretary: You need someone who is good at this sort of thing. Someone trustworthy, loyal and competent. That's going to be really hard to find...but at the same time it is undeniably necessary. How would you even begin to find that? Cost: Risky...and you will have to commit an Authority to them. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??/????. Result: Find some potential spymasters, can delegate Influence or Authority to them.
Foreign Assistance: The success of the French and the British (and the Italians and Mexicans) gives you hope, both because they prove it is possible for socialism to triumph (you almost despaired of that after Russia) and because it means that you can call on them for assistance. Funds, trainers, spies...you don't know what you can get till you ask. Cost: Risk of discovery, possible favors. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Gain some form of foreign support.
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: No roll. Result: Improvement to Rumors and News section.
Revolutionary Guards: People have been threatening to kill you and your family and other leaders for a long time. You have developed protection against overt attacks, but perhaps it is time to begin developing a more covert sort of protection as well. Cost: - 2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Create an organization of plainclothes bodyguards for you, your family, and other important figures. Unlock additional counterintelligence actions.
Send Covert Organizers: Unions cannot operate openly everywhere. Particularly in the South and Midwest, efforts to organize are met with bombs, knives, and bullets. Or worse. You have vivid memories of the results of your trip to Wilmington...But people still organize, they still fight. Sending covert assistance can lead to an increase in your strength in an area, and help increase the chances of more overt intervention. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators 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.
Covert Investigation: Quietly looking into the behavior of a subordinate might allow you to remove them before they can become an embarrassment, or simply confirm their innocence without risking giving the impression they have lost your confidence. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Find any wrongdoing for chosen subordinate.
Ears in the Party: To better keep abreast of movements in the Party and the doings of your subordinate, cultivating a small network of...trusted friends to let you know what they hear could be managed. Flora will probably have to be the one managing them, but you feel she is trustworthy. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Lower difficulty of actions involving intelligence within the SPA.
Create Shell Corporations: To help with some of your more...unpleasant deeds, you can avoid scrutiny by purchasing a few false companies and helping you to conceal any unfortunate money trails. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??. Result: Increase chances of avoiding discovery for embezzlement actions.
Infiltrate the Army: With the contacts Butler has given you, you now have a simple way of infiltrating the army. Selecting volunteers from the Red Guards and having them sign up will enable you to gain some low-level infiltration, while going through the men he introduced you to will enable you to hear rumors and gossip from higher levels. MacArthur is certainly planning to use the army against you, you must find out how. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/125/??/???. Result: Make contacts within the military.
Contact with the French and British: With the ports opened to French and British ships, the possibility of contact with your fellow syndicalists has just grown dramatically easier. The providing of support for you during the Revolution is a guarantee, what is less likely is them assisting you during this lead-up due to the difficulty of it, but the Syndintern will surely be able to provide something. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??. Result: Contact the Syndintern
Personal Actions
Work Overtime: Although your heart and mind ache at the thought, the cause needs you. It will be stressful, it will be upsetting to your wife and daughter, you can feel your very soul revolting at the thought of spending even more hours working...but you must. The workers of the world demand it! No matter what it costs you. Cost: Severely stressful, unhealthy, bad for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: +1 temporary Influence.
Personal Attention: If you spend a few hours working on a particular task, it will likely go smoother. It will cut into the time you would normally spend with your family or your books, but it is a sacrifice you will have to make. Cost: Stressful, not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Small dice and narrative bonus to chosen action.
Exercise: You have gotten slightly out of shape thanks to the stress of the election. Getting back in shape would be good for your health and your image...and if you ever get the chance to punch Huey Long in his fat face or strangle MacArthur, it will help then too. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, improvement to health.
Spend Time With Your Family: Your daughter Hannah misses you, as does your wife Louise. Spending some extra time with them this month will make up for all the times you missed doing it during the campaign season. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Major decrease in stress, good for your family.
Write: You have been working on another book about your own thoughts and beliefs about socialism and syndicalism, as well as on a few poems, memoirs, and some other odds and ends. Spending some time working on that will help order your thoughts and ease your burdens. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, possibility of new traits.
Free Actions
Tweak a Subordinate's Priorities: While those who are working with you are scattered across the country, between the train and the telegram they are within reach. Requesting a minor change to their priorities is a simple matter. Cost: May pick only once per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate's priorities (change order, add one, remove one).
Ask For a Favor: Party members already sacrifice their time and money and sometimes their health and their life, but you must ask for more. Though it will cost some precious goodwill, continued success will bring it back, and so you can confidently ask for favors. Cost: Variable amount of Relations, changes in Strength of factions. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Relations and Strength allows.
Choose A Focus: You are currently taking On the Farms. There is 1 month Left
Hopefully, it was good news, but Sarah had seen the orange sky and the dead crops on the way into town. The same things she had seen every day for months. It broke all the hope she had left, and replaced it with bitter understanding. She and her husband would have to leave and go...somewhere. They had family in other places, but no one was any better off. The dust was everywhere in the country, it seemed like, and all the powerful people didn't care.
But the mayor had asked, and hearing what he had to say was a better way to waste time than cleaning what would be dirty in a minute anyway. Grit stinging her eyes and abrading her feet, she walked on past an abandoned tractor and a rotting cow being pecked at by crows and the sign that welcomed strangers to town, now stripped entirely of its careful paint job.
The neat road of the town was covered in piles of silt and dirt, getting blown here and there as the breeze eddied them around. All the signs on the stores were gone, the windows were boarded up or stood open, the shattered glass resembling jagged maws. The only place that had any life was the church. She and her husband staggered in.
The whole town was gathered here, and not just the people who lived in town but dozens of families from miles around. She saw the Janson clan, who owned a dozen farms scattered about, were all there wearing gray armbands. Both pastors and all four policemen had faded red somewhere on them. Everyone was thin and ragged, with worn and torn and grimy clothes. The air was thick and dusty and humming with tension.
Sarah swallowed. Looking around, not a single face seemed friendly. Everyone was pinched and suspicious and measuring the others. Her husband had brought a gun along, and he was far from the only one. Knives were in abundance too. What was the world coming too, that so many walked into a church with instruments of death?
And what was happening to her, that she found herself accepting it with nothing more than faint stirrings of disgust?
The mayor trudged up to the podium, a faint smile on his face. "My friends and fellow townsmen, it seems we have good news. Congressmen Lahler, formerly of Farmer-Labor and now of Left-Farmer-Labor, has assured us we will be receiving aid. I know many of you were planning on leaving, or have already left..."
He looked sorrowful briefly, but forced himself to go on, sucking in a deep breath, letting out a hacking cough, and then managing to continue.
"But he has sent letters with the bill he intends to see passed. Having read it...it's unprecedented. And he has assured me at least a full third of the state house stands with him, between the various Farmer-Labor affiliates and the SPA..."
Tom Janson stood up not two feet from her. "So you want us to trust some syndicalist thief to do right for us? The same ones who tried to say we can't sell our crops for anything like a fair price?"
Billy Carpenter leaned forward from behind the mayor, hand resting on the butt of his gun. "My cousins went to the city, the one the SPA took over. He says they are giving free food to any man or woman who comes to them. That's right Christian of them, more Christian than you are!"
Tom flushed. "You Red son of a gun! You've no right to speak to me like that!"
"Speak to you like what? Like you are a damn fool who couldn't find his nose with his hand?"
Tom growled something Sarah refused to hear.
"Pig!" Billy shot back, face turning redder than his handkerchief
"Bolshevik!"
"Madman!"
"Liar!"
"Bastard!" Billy spat, then he paled.
"Sorry Tom, you know I didn't mean it like that..."
Tom had been born three months after his mother's wedding, and rumors had dogged him all his life that his mother's husband wasn't the father.
For a moment, the world was still. Then Tom took a single step forwards, something flashed in his hand, Billy's head tore open and the loudest thunderclap she had ever heard ripped from the church.
She stared as Billy, Billy who had walked her home from church once upon a time and used his coat as an umbrella for her...Billy was dead. She blinked, trying to understand...
The Jansons fled as a group, guns out, and then the police chased after them. She heard more gunshots, but they seemed distant and far away. Her husband shook her, his mouth moving. She felt something warm trickle out of her ear.
Slowly, her hearing began to recover, enough to make out what was being said. "I am going to see that son of a bitch pay," her husband murmured.
She shook her head, violently. She didn't want to see more people die, she had heard stories of feuds and fights that killed hundreds...her arms wrapped around herself as she shivered, picturing their tiny town and pleasant farm covered in shell holes and raked with machine-gun fire like Belgium had been in the Weltkrieg. She pictured soldiers fighting back and forth over it, dying again and again as their blood soaked the ground until no crops could take root. She saw her husband and Tom and Billy wearing uniforms, fighting and dying and rotting until she couldn't tell who was who.
She closed her eyes and fell backward as vague sounds of chaos passed through her mind.
She saw nothing as arguments in the church erupted into violence. She saw nothing as her husband scooped her up and carried her away from the bleeding and the dying. She saw nothing as a stray bullet struck him in the back and tore through his spine. She saw nothing as her head smacked against the corner of an empty store. She saw nothing as the two of them lay together, dust storms ripping at their skin and thirst slowly killing them.
She opened her eyes just in time to see a hundred United States soldiers march in and restore order to a dead town.
Rumors and News
The news of your alliance with Farmer-Labor hits the CSA like a bomb thrown into a union meeting. You are shouted at for nearly five minutes, and then some begin shouting to defend you. You come far closer to having to break up a fistfight than you would have liked before you can explain yourself.
Bluntly, in a few brief words, you defend your decision, appealing to Marxism, humanity, politics, and simple common sense. It is accepted, begrudgingly, with your support significantly threatened should there be bad results from this decision, such as rural immigrants to the cities becoming scabs or forming reactionary militia. A process that is already beginning.
Farmer-Labor has handled things even worse. The party has fully split into five factions: Farmer-Labor, the American Farmers Party, True Farmer-Labor, and Left-Farmer-Labor, to say nothing of the party members who have switched to you outright. Farmer-Labor and Left-Farmer-Labor maintain the alliance with you. The American Farmers Party has chosen to work with the AFP. And True Farmer-Labor has done their best to maintain legislative independence. The result has turned the states they so briefly turned into a literal and metaphorical battleground. The images you see in newspapers remind you of ones from your history books, showing Bleedin' Kansas. And the violence and the continuing dust storms only accelerate the flight from rural areas, the destitute farmers bringing their increasingly radicalized or reactionary politics with them.
The Democratic, Republican, and True Farmer-Labor, along with a few increasingly irrelevant fifth parties, have begun making efforts to handle the crises, seemingly becoming aware of the situation in the country for the first time. Many of these destitute farmers are recruited into the army, along with a bare minimum of screening, and then they are given simple public works tasks. Discussions of some form of alliance have begun in the top ranks of the party, and for the first time a relief bill is introduced into Congress with seemingly serious consideration, although it is trapped in committee where it is being virulently debated. You have read the bill and find it pathetically mild. But it seems to have assuaged some criticism from the progressive wings of the party.
Even better for them, some Japanese and Australasian companies have begun to invest in some Pacific Coast cities, although they appear to have demanded significant security measures in the process.
Meanwhile, Long continues struggling to get a handle on his party. Federalist militias and police forces have begun attacking the Minutemen in parts of the South, while True Farmer-Labor has effectively driven his allies out of Oklahoma and Kansas. A rumored deal with several German companies in some southern cities has fallen through completely.
You have heard nothing but ominous silence from your allies and friends north of the Canadian border.
In other news, Ford has pulled out of his factory project, apparently being forced to by his stockholders. An investigation by Red Guards revealed that Ford was apparently trying to diversify into rifles and bullets.
[Slight gain of support in rural areas, intense violence in rural areas, increase in support in urban areas even as other political groups gain support as well.]
Plans from Subordinates
The crisis has led to a dramatic shift in priorities for the Coordination Committee. The rise of reactionary militias threaten to undo their efforts, and they are pouring immense amounts of time and effort into stopping it.
The farming relief bills have become even more important, even as available Farmer-Labor expertise makes the subject matter much simpler. The new plans include state programs to provide seeds, farming equipment, and teachers for new methods...and new ideologies.
Although Thomas initially planned on continuing his previous efforts, the violence in the Midwest has caused him to change his course as well. He intends to...do something. "I don't know how I can help, Jack, but I know I have to," he told you, face the color of ash.
You have 8 Influence and 2 Authority total. 0 Authority and 1 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You are currently taking On the Farms.
Mandates: Successfully propagandize towards farmers in 3 months (from The Syndicalists).
Party Actions
Hold a Rally: It's a classic for every political party for a reason. There's nothing quite like a grand rally with banners waving and people cheering to make you seem unstoppable and to gather more support. The demonstration of the energy and might of the working class will have the capitalists shaking in their boots. It is a message to your supporters as well, that all the power of the SPA stands behind them. Here is what it says: Let your foes try and stop you. They will be ground under your heel. Cost: 1 Resources and a risk of backlash and hostile interruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/50/85/120. Results: Variable change in support, chance of intimidating your enemies. Can synergize with other actions.
Wave the Red Banner: The Red Banner is not the only SPA-affiliated or favoring publication, but it is the only one produced by the Party itself. And it is immensely popular. New ones go out constantly, but you could write an article of your own and make a special edition. This would receive extra attention and possibly some new readership, allowing you to make your opinions heard and sway the hearts and minds of others. You could shape the narrative on something, make an argument for or against a particular course of action, attack an enemy or uplift an ally. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 2 Resources and a risk of backlash. May be additional costs depending on the topic. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100/150. Results: Variable change in support or party factions, results depend on topic. Topic must be written in. Some examples: "The importance of unity in the socialist cause," "The corruption of the Hoover administration," "Why feminism and socialism must go together," and "Why Farmer-Labor should unify with the SPA." Can synergize with other actions.
Send Social Agitators To: Nearly every street corner in Chicago, New York City, and Seattle has a man or woman standing on a crate and telling the passerby of the virtues of the cause and encouraging them to donate. They are often beaten brutally by the bourgeois or by police (and just as often protected by their listeners), but they nevertheless persist, determined to gain recruits and funds for the cause. Some of these agitators are amateurs doing it in their spare time, but quite a few are dedicated and skilled speakers. Sending these speakers in significant numbers to an area can turn your foe's supporters against them, especially if it is followed up upon with meaningful organization. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support there.
Create Shadow Government: You have had a brilliant idea: Though you lack power at the federal level, the Socialist Party has substantial control of many mayorships, county governments. You even effectively control some states of the Steel Belt. Creating a forum to help these various governments cooperate and resolve disputes will be useful, especially if you have further requests of these governments. You have only discussed this concept briefly, but the idea of the Interstate Committee of Socialist Governments (name subject to change) has dazzled many. Especially since it will help you gain influence over their legal codes, voting laws, and National Guard armories. Cost: Significant and dangerous backlash from within and without the Party, possible legal challenges. Time: 3 months. DC: 70/140/200/250. Results: Various states and lower-level governments integrated into a coordinated body, many new possibilities available, although the body could be unwieldy.
Condemn Reactionary Judges: The situation in many streets resembles a powder keg. There are gathering crowds, ready to strike. They are growing hungrier. They are growing angrier. Even your soup kitchens can stave that off for so long...and judges are preventing relief. Speaking on this matter will ensure the people's ire is properly directed and may inspire some changes of heart. The violence it may cause will be almost unnoticed against the bloody backdrop of the Midwest. Cost: Small risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/15/20/25/30. Results: Legal challenges for relief laws cleared away.
Support Faction: The party is more than a little divided, even if everyone is determined to stick together, they still clash frequently, with each other and with you. Spending some time and effort backing a particular faction in these debates could gain you some gratitude, which is always a valuable currency. Cost: Risk of losing Influence or Authority. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Increase Relations and Strength of selected faction, chance of gaining Influence.
Make Changes To Subordinates: You do not have the time or capability to make all the decisions involved with bringing the Revolution to America, and so you have trusted subordinates to help. Occasionally, you will need to redirect their efforts, invest more in their success, or even replace them immediately. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Make any change to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times.
Party Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Extremely low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/120/180. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.
Open Investigation: If a subordinate is unpopular or incompetent, you can begin publically looking into their performance. This can wash off some of the reflected stink, particularly if you find something, but if there is no evidence of wrongdoing or fraud that can only make the situation worse or lead to questions of your judgement. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Some chance of finding problems with chosen subordinate, options to deal with problems, chance of +1 Influence.
Support Subordinate: Expressing confidence in a subordinate, either by offering direct aid or by giving material support, can boost their performance, especially if there isn't a structural reason for their failures. Cost: Write-in. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Positive modifier to chosen subordinate, chance of them gaining positive trait.
Acquire Expertise: You are only one man, you cannot know or do everything. Having trusted subordinates who can do part of the work helps, but so too does having trusted advisors, people who can offer you advice for dealing with things you don't quite understand. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Find assistant for chosen subject who can give bonuses and penalties to rolls and other situations.
Push for Rural Assistance: The priority for most of the SPA are the urban areas and the mining strongholds. Between the fact that most farmers are petty producers and their famed social conservatism, there is relatively little concern for their fates beyond vague acknowledgements. Even the rural relief bills many are advocating for are primarily focused on keeping a large supply of food for the cities available. Despite the revolutionary potential of many rural groups, they are being effectively abandoned to be turned into the footsoldiers of reaction. Though it will strain the limits of your position, insisting on more effort will hopefully encourage the party to give more thought to farmers and farmworkers. Cost: -1 Influence, -1 Authority. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/90. Result: Unlock new actions focusing on supporting and recruiting among farmers,
Integrate Farmer-Labor: The new recruits from Farmer-Labor and Left-Farmer-Labor are truly eager to support you in any way they can, even if some are reluctant at the prospect of violent revolution, just as you once were. The political structure of the CSA and SPA are not entirely welcome to them however, especially since they do not formally represent any unions. Making some slight changes to the party will allow them to help you with rural outreach. Cost: Loss of Relations with all factions except the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Increased efficacy for various rural-related actions.
Anarchist Organizations: Anarchists are no longer as prominent a scare-word as they once were. Socialism and syndicalism are the new words to make the bourgeoisie and their running dogs wet themselves in fear. The reduced propaganda against them makes them potentially quite useful...and you remember hearing that the Black Army was highly popular among Ukranian peasants. Perhaps approaching them to form an Anarchist Grange may help you gain support in the Bleeding Midwest. And if they fail, most of the party will be unconcerned. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: You and the CSA select a rural-focused organizer from The Anarchist faction, gain in Strength for the Anarchists.
Union Actions
Send Union Organizers To: While agitators can disrupt other political organizations and explain why you are better, to actually gain support of the kind that makes people spend blood and gold and sweat on your behalf requires a different approach. Establishing that takes time, but sending union organizers to an area can make for a start. In many ways, the risks these organizers take is even greater than that of the agitators, especially if there is sufficient hostility to socialism already. Some have literally been tarred and feathered...Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and gain temporary support there.
Appoint Union Representative: There are dozens of unions, many with hundreds or thousands of chapters. A rare few even have branches in Canada, with a rarer few having branches in Mexico. The Combined Syndicates serves as a forum to allow them to coordinate and cooperate, but the vagaries of time and travel mean that the larger meetings are often sparsely attended. Electing (although your influence will help make it an effective appointment) a representative to help manage the syndicates, smooth over disputes, and ensure all voices are heard would reduce the growing pains the CSA is suffering from. However, the notion is not entirely popular...Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Subvote to determine who you will support for Union Representative and how much to invest in them.
Prepare Rural Unions: Rural areas are utterly lacking in the sort of density mines or cities have that labor organizers and workers used to create their powerful unions. A new approach will need to be devised, or more likely multiple to approach the different situations you will doubtless encounter. Perhaps some of the newer unions or the Montant and Colorado miners have some insight? Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/25/50/75/100. Result: Improved chance of success for actions in rural areas.
Establish Community Gardens: The cities of America are filled with vacant lots and crumbling buildings. Reclaiming the buildings will have to be part of a larger effort, but the lots can be used to the benefit of the people by establishing gardens. Though they will take many months, the fresh vegetables will improve the quality of the food served by the soup kitchens...and hopefully reduce expenses. Cost: 5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: +2 Resources per turn after 3 months.
Mutual Aid Foundations: While directly expanding the soup kitchens would benefit many, a less costly alternative would be the establishment of mutual aid organizations to ensure that people are fed. Since they are less directly dependent on the SPA buying food for them, they will be cheaper for you to maintain, but still serve to provide relief to the struggling masses and help expose them to socialist ideals. The examples of such institutions being created in Chicago have helped show the way. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Improve quality of food kitchens.
Union Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Very low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/120/150. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.
Union Charities, Donations: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the charitable endeavors of the SPA. Doing so would ease the logistical strain providing for so many causes, but not every union is entirely dedicated to socialist ideals, especially not when it comes to the outsiders who will inevitably come seeking aid. Cost: Increased risk of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: +X Resources per month.
Union Charities, Fundraising: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the financial resources at your command through direct donations and holding fundraising events. It may somewhat aggravate your supporters, but as long as you are using the money for their benefit there won't be more than grumbling. Cost: A new mandate. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: +X Resources per month.
A Union Shop: Socialized stores have become common in Chicago as workers inspired by the strike or owners compelled by it create democratically run stores. Though mocked by some on the left and some in the more syndicalist wing as "market socialism" and accused of not removing the profit motive, even their strongest critics cannot deny they serve a useful person during this transitory phase. Begin encouraging local unions to establish shops along these lines, and ask for a small cut of the proceeds perhaps? Cost: Small chance of -1 Influence, loss of relations with the Syndicalists. 5 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/35/70/100. Result: Increase in income, establishment of market cooperatives in locations with a strong SPA presence. Small chance of gaining +1 Influence, increase to relations with the Right.
(1 Influence Committed) Credit to the Unions: The major banking services are dominated by capitalists and often hostile to socialists, while the poor are forced into debt to dangerous loansharks. Credit unions are a low-cost and democratically structured alternative to both. While there have been credit unions in the country since the turn of the century, they have become significantly more prominent thanks to the general strike. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Establishment of credit unions, reduced cost and increased efficacy for other Union actions, gain ability to take loans.
Push for Reduced Hours: With an enormous influx of unemployed workers, the capitalists of the cities are able to find fresh sources of scabs, or else they suffer and languish without any work. Reviving a measure used before would help fix both these. The union workers would reduce their hours, working less time and therefore requiring more workers. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Amount of unemployed workers is reduced.
Support Housing Cooperatives: The existing housing cooperatives are...poorly designed. Often ill-equipped, uncomfortable, utterly lacking in privacy, and frequently without many or any basic amenities, you have been rightfully pilloried for their quality. Even with the recent and substantial influx of support, they have not improved as much as you would expect. Further investments, for them and the Tenant's Unions, will hopefully allow the situation to get better. Cost: 5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100. Result: Improvement in living conditions, increase in support.
Create Mobile Aid Teams: A proposal recently made was to form small groups equipped with money and food and send them out to approach the hordes of wandering farmers and give them support. While it will not fully counter the barrage of reactionary news they hear from Long's sound trucks, it will potentially strengthen your arguments by backing them with visible charity. Cost: -2 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Increase popularity among rural populations.
Unionized Only!: As the number of potential scabs in the cities increase, measures need to be taken to prevent them from diluting the power of the unions and stealing their hard-won benefits. Begin establishing "union-shops" in the factories, forcing the owners to promise that they will not hire anyone if they are not willing to join the unions. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90/135. Result: Increase the amount of people in unions.
Militant Actions
Additional Weapons: The armaments of your "regular" Red Guards are highly irregular, and the "irregulars" who sometimes join in during protests or strikes are even worse off. Beginning to create armories of weapons will help equip both. The first step will be to acquire things like billy clubs and batons, both to avoid attracting unfortunate attention and because stockpiling guns in the current climate is needlessly risky...Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/30/45/60. Result: Create stockpiles of "non-lethal" weapons for the use of the Red Guards.
Establish Sporting Clubs: The wholesale purchase of firearms and ammunition by individuals draws attention. But sporting clubs, shooting ranges, and similar institutions doing so would not be a concern. Create a network of these companies as a means of subtly acquiring not just equipment for the Red Guards, but a way for them to train. Cost: 10 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/20/60/100. Result: Increased armaments for Red Guards, ease of training Red Guards increased, further actions to arm and equip Red Guards unlocked.
Instilling Discipline, Pt.1: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) Every branch of the Red Guards contains at least a few who do it more or less full-time. These are some of your most dedicated and radical supporters, and when the time comes they are the ones who will form the hard core of the Red Army. So they are the ones who need training and discipline the most. Based on what you saw of the Bolsheviks in Russia, the first thing that men who wish to be soldiers must be taught is discipline. And so that is what the training shall begin with. Regrettably, the fury in them at the moment will make it harder to convince them not every rich man is their mortal enemy. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 4 months. DC: 20/60. Result: Improve discipline of Red Guards.
Encourage Veteran Recruitment: The recent veterans from the Legation Cities have not all signed up to join your ranks. And there are a fair few older veterans of other wars and "police actions" who could be perhaps convinced to join you. They have heard of the Payment Army and they are angry. Their experience and familiarity with combat will help stiffen and strengthen the Red Guards, although some could be traitors...Cost: Small loss of Relations with the Right and Left. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/50/100. Results: Recruit veteran soldiers, bonuses to other actions.
Integrate the VFW: With Butler on your side, the VFW is yours for the taking. Formally integrating them into the Red Guards will give you a significant increase in the number of experienced soldiers in your ranks. The organizational merging involved is going to be somewhat complicated given the number of differences in structure, but increasing the strength of your paramilitaries will be vital for your success. Cost: Loss of relations with the Parliamentarians, Gain in Relations for all other factions. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.
Arm the Police: In the cities where you control the government, the attitudes of the police have shifted dramatically. They are now proud and determined supporters of their fellow workers against the ravages of capital. While they will need further restructuring to truly socialize them, that will have to wait until after the revolution. For now, you must prepare to fight it. Taking measures to increase the discipline and armaments of friendly policing departments will strengthen your control of the cities. Cost: Loss of relations with the Anarchists, Syndicalists, and Parliamentarians. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.
Veteran Cadres: With veteran soldiers having joined your rank in large numbers and more looking to rally to the red banner, it is time to truly take advantage of their expertise and begin forming cadres so that they can better develop the skills and discipline of your Red Guard. You are well aware that they will not be the equal of U.S. Army soldiers for some time, but closing the gap even slightly will be a major advantage. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30. Result: Lower DC and improve Results for training actions.
Go Hunting: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) In every city and town of America you face enemies. Hostile police forces, reactionary militias, mercenaries and Pinkertons hired by capitalists, and more. They all seek to oppress and suppress the workers. This cannot be borne. While the Red Guards continually battle in the streets, protecting protests, defending meetings, guarding agitators and organizers, they only rarely go on the offensive, and keep it strictly to retaliatory strikes on those most responsible for attacks. Asking for a more general attack would help weaken opposition, and perhaps see some justice done. Cost: Reduces support, reduces relations with the Parliamentarians, chance of it going badly. Time: 1 month. DC: 30. Results: Red Guards begin attacking class enemies, chance of gaining Resources, Support, Influence...
Street Medics: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) 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: 5 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 40. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.
Toll Fees: With your control of railways and the strength of your paramilitaries in many transportation hubs, you could easily gain substantial incomes by insisting on donations for those passing through, although you will need to make sure there are exceptions for those who already support you or who it would be dangerous to stop. Cost: Decrease in support among moderates, increase to corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase to income.
Scab Intimidation: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) 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.
Supporting Left-Farmer-Labor: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) The Midwest bleeds, and with it your allies. While Farmer-Labor desires to maintain significant independence and has refused any notion of you protecting them with the Red Guards, Left-Farmer-Labor has promised to accept any aid you can spare. Assassinations and small-scale attacks are mostly the way of things...your Blair Brigade will show them a new way of fighting, while Red Guards will defend the people and help create new militias. Cost: Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/??/???. Results: Left-Farmer-Labor and Farmer-Labor do better in the Midwest, reactionaries impacted negatively.
Strongly Supporting Left-Farmer-Labor: (Benefits from Veterans in the Red Guards) The Midwest bleeds, and with it your allies. While Farmer-Labor desires to maintain significant independence and has refused any notion of you protecting them with the Red Guards, Left-Farmer-Labor has promised to accept any aid you can spare. Assassinations and small-scale attacks are mostly the way of things...your Blair Brigade will show them a new way of fighting, while Red Guards will defend the people and help create new militias. And any and every man and woman who volunteers will be armed and sent to protect the just and the righteous, just as slaving filibusters were defeated by volunteers from Union states so many years ago.Cost: Severe risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/??/???. Results: Left-Farmer-Labor and Farmer-Labor do significantly better in the Midwest, reactionaries massively impacted negatively.
An Investigation Arm: With the increasing size and activity of the Red Guard, malcontents and informers are likely slipping in, taking advantage of your activities to line their pockets or using their positions to gather information. Neither can be allowed. To counter them, some have proposed the creation of an anonymous reporting system and selecting some trustworthy individuals to investigate these reports. Though generally unpopular, you can see the potential benefits. Cost: -1 Influence. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Reduction in corruption, increased chance of catching spies.
Take the Docks: In many cities, the powerful Dockworker's Unions could stop the transfer of goods at will, or smuggle goods in past customs inspectors. While this is mostly used for their own benefit, it could be a potent measure to increase the party's resources and power. Unfortunately, given the suspicion being directed at the docks currently, such an action could provoke severe crackdowns that would have significant support. Cost: Severe risk of backlash, will likely increase corruption. DC: 0/50/100/140. Results: Gain income, easier smuggling, new options unlocked.
Recruit Butler: Butler is on your side. While currently he is still the head of the VFW, he may be willing to take up a position under you as the commander of the Red Guards. He is widely respected, famously popular, and a skilled and disciplined leader. His influence will be invaluable for strengthening your paramilitaries and preparing for the bloody conflict to come. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: Commit 1 Influence to Butler, get him as a subordinate.
Striking Soldiers: The news that several hundred soldiers have gone on strike has been greatly celebrated in the SPA. Even if it is not truly solidarity, it is a seed that can be watered. Careful efforts on approaching the soldiers who have gone on strike can be begun, hopefully before they are broken up or thrown in prison by untrusting army officers who are desperate to protect their class privilege. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/60/100/140. Result: increase to the number and quality of the Red Guards.
Cultural Actions
Christian Socialism: Most Americans are Christians, and despite the words of the Constitution it is widely considered a Christian nation. Given that many churches are staunchly opposed to socialism while socialism is a staunchly secular ideology, this could be troublesome. Fortunately, this Gordian knot can be cut rather easily. The concept of "Christian socialism" and claiming that Christ himself would be a socialist is simple enough, with ample support for this notion coming directly from the Bible. Combining this message with a few displays of piety will help reduce criticism from the pulpit, although significant portions of organized religion will doubtless remain hostile. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Left, loss of support from Jews and other religions. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Christians, increased ease of recruitment.
The American Revolution, Pt.2: The first connections are drawn, the first pieces of theory are created. Now it's time to poke holes in them and see where it doesn't hold up, either to your ideals or to reality. Your ideas are published, but now it's time to see how people have torn them apart so that you can make them better. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/35/70/120. Result: Refine the results of The American Revolution, Pt. 1
Organize Education: Education is a necessity for workers. Reading, writing, 'rithmetic, critical thinking and understanding history, the skills and knowledge so they can labor and explain why they labor, all these are vital. American schools are fundamentally capitalist institutions, but alternatives can be established. Cost: -3 Resources, -1 Resources per turn. Time: 6 months. DC: 0/25/50/100. Result: Create a system of cheap socialist private schools.
Organize Childcare, Pt. 2: You have designed your improvements to the ad hoc system of childcare, now it is time for the implementation to begin. All this will really involve is producing guides and perhaps some propaganda, but it will help. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/45/75. Result: Encourage the creation of more equal and better-designed childcare institutions.
Public Libraries: While libraries are a common and immensely popular institution, they can be improved in a number of ways, from increasing the resources available to them to broadening the services provided to include rentable instruments and instruction programs. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.
Songs of the Revolution: The Internationale. The Preacher and the Slave. This Land is Your Land. Solidarity Forever. Many are the songs of the socialist movement. Let everyone hear them. Establish choirs and wandering musicians and every other way to spread your message through song there is. Cost: 3 Resources, -0.5 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50/70/90/ Results: Easier recruiting, increase to morale among the party.
Unity In The Melting Pot: The Socialist Party and the IWW have long used multilingual speakers to reach out to immigrants. With the end of the Weltkrieg and the defeat of the Bolsheviks, thousands from Eastern Europe have flocked to America's shores to find conditions no better, while others have come north with Central and South America. Reaching out to those groups will be essential. The multilingual program will be expanded, to begin. Cost: None.
Time: 3 months. DC: 5/45/90. Results: Easier recruiting, increased support among immigrants.
Socialist Radio Networks: Huey Long has used the radio to spread his reactionary babble to thousands of Americans. We can do the same. Through speeches and interviews, your message can be broadcast. While some may turn off the radio rather than hear the truth, the more you reach the more you can convince. The first step will be to purchase...whatever it is that produces radio waves for broadcasts. That was never something you needed to learn in school. With migrant hordes crossing the land east and west, a way to reach them grows increasingly important. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 5/25/50/75. Results: Significantly easier recruiting, increased support.
Posters and Pamphlets: The speeches you give reach only those who hear you. Your speeches written down reach all who can read...but they are a bit too long for a poster discreetly put up or a pamphlet smuggled behind a boss's back. Beginning to create and produce snappy slogans and logos for posters and pamphlets will help you in the propaganda war, especially given the number of virulently anti-socialist publications that will smear you and your movement in any way possible. The lack of any organized system for spreading your message has led to several individuals starting up their own newspapers and similar operations to express support for socialism and syndicalism, albeit with a somewhat critical attitude to you. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 10/50/80. Results: The creation of posters and pamphlets to help spread your message, ease of recruiting.
Propagandize The Rural Areas: Farmers are intensely reactionary. The Southern smallholder made the greatest contribution to the Confederate armies during the War of the Slave Power, the yeomen resisted the creation of a bourgeois democracy during the War of American Independence. But with multiple crises of capital ravaging them economically, perhaps some can be persuaded to support you and join the most advanced segments of the working class. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Begin propagandizing farmers.
Propagandize Professionals: Doctors and lawyers and managers, all have been greatly affected by this latest crisis. More than a few have been forced into breadlines and soup kitchens alongside the workers they have once looked down on. Approaching them, convincing them to join their cause, will give you access to their skills, which are undeniably useful and valuable. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/110. Result: Begin propagandizing destitute professionals.
Political Actions
Impeachment: If President Hoover has been unable to leave the White House grounds for two months, he is clearly no longer fit for office. The two-thirds majority impeachment requires is veritably impossible to achieve, but even making noises about it could help gain you support and allies, especially if you are high-profile enough. Some in your party consider it nothing but a waste of time, others feel it is a tactical error. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Syndicalists. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/40/90/200. Results: The Socialist Party initiates an impeachment motion for Hoover, chance of gaining legislative allies or support.
Poach the Democrats: The Democrats have traditionally been a party pulled in many directions - Bourbon conservatives, progressives, Southern populists, and union members, political machines - and while a significant portion of all these factions have left, there are always remnants, such as the Roosevelt family. The party as a whole rejects you wholeheartedly, but individual members can be convinced to change their allegiance. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/90/130. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.
Press the Progressives: The Progressive Party is now the second-weakest in America. Even the newly formed America First Party has surpassed them. They hold a few scattered seats in the west and Midwest and little more. This weakness is also what makes them vulnerable. They will collapse as a national party without intervention, you suspect. And you can offer this intervention. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/40/70. Results: You convince some members of the Progressive Party to switch allegiance to you.
Pro-Worker Legislation: It would ordinarily be unlikely to pass, at least on a federal level, but demanding it will make a statement in and of itself. And you will not just push this legislation on a federal level. These laws will focus on the things workers have fought for. Better wages, workplace safety, price caps for company stores...with the stroke of a pen, they can be spread across the country, and it will be the SPA that will take the lion's share of the credit. Unfortunately, the current mood in Congress is intensely hostile to you. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Syndicalists. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/90/100/120. Results: You pass worker-protection laws on the state and possibly federal level and can gain varying amounts of support.
State-Level Agriculture Bills: With the increasingly large dust storms and the damage to the soil in the Great Plains, measures need to be taken to ensure the cities remain fed and that the farmers do not suffer unduly. The experience and expertise of Farmer-Labor has already greatly assisted in preparing bills to serve both urban and rural workers. Cost: May lose support in rural areas. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80. Results: Pass laws in various states to ensure that food remains affordable and provide limited relief for farmers.
Party Lawyers: Many potentially vital laws are being held up in the courts. And frankly, you have a shortage of good lawyers. There are some willing to work for free from dedication to the cause, but most lack the wealth for that or are entirely uninterested in working for you. But enough filthy lucre can solve that problem. Cost: 1 Resource, -1 Resource per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 40. Results: Hire some lawyers to help defend the laws you get passed.
Local Elections: Mayors, sheriffs, county judges. All positions of undeniable importance to the people who elect them. Beginning a campaign to get favorable individuals elected into those positions in the areas you don't completely dominate will help set favorable ground for future elections or revolutionary actions. With the chaotic situations in many Midwestern states, the potential leverage is immense. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/40/80. Results: Increase support on the local level.
Staff State Offices: The state bureaucracies are often intensely hostile to the efforts of the SPA, but while they are an obstacle they are one who can be defeated, or at least gone around. Beginning to hire loyal socialists and syndicalists will allow you to gradually begin purging these hostile organizations. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/45/90. Results: Begin gradually purging and replacing hostile burueacrats, slow enough that there should be minimal loss of institutional knowledge.
Expand the Eviction Moratorium: The current anti-eviction laws are rather weak, although if they are any stronger they will almost certainly be struck down by the courts. But passing more will help nonetheless. You may not approve of all of Andrew Jackson's decisions, especially not the one you are thinking of, but you may well end up paraphrasing him. Let the states expand their protections until none may be removed from their home by force, and let the courts try and stop you. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/25/50/75. Result: Pass stronger and broader state-level eviction moratoriums.
Farmer Relief Funds: Broader rural relief laws that will address the causes of the Dust Bowl are all well and good, but right now more direct aid is needed. Simply throwing money at the problem is sloppy, inefficient, vulnerable to all forms of conviction...and the simplest policy that can be passed. It's also recommended by some members of Farmer-Labor in the worst affected areas. Cost: Chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40. Result: Pass subsidies for farmers.
Anti-Reactionary Laws: To give a backing of legitimacy to your efforts to act against the reactionary militias, laws can be passed to make them into threats to peace and order. Partisan wording will ensure they do not apply to your Red Guards, who can then go and conduct a citizen's arrest. Cost: Chance of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/20/40/60. Result: Reduce size of reactionary militias, reduce backlash for acting against them.
Wealth Taxes: The federal relief bill you passed has dramatically eased the financial costs of the states working to protect their people, but they will run out eventually. The grants were large, but the state's income streams have not changed. Correct that, by passing savage wealth and inheritance taxes that will ensure the upper-class pay their fair share. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50. Result: Begin passing state-level wealth taxes.
Intellectual Actions
The Legacy of John Brown: John Brown was a revolutionary martyr who fought for freedom. Abraham Lincoln sought to bring freedom to the enslaved. They would support you in your struggle to bring liberation to all. You will insist on it. You will quote them to say so. You might have to be a bit selective in doing so, but it won't matter. Cost: None... Time: 1 month. DC: 5. Result: Increased efficacy of The American Revolution actions.
Create an Educational Program: Designing a socialist education program will be just one of the many questions you have to answer after the revolution. There are important differences in content and teaching style and likely other things as well. Begin looking into who is an expert in such things and start drawing up the broad strokes of what a curriculum will cover. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Begin designing an education program.
A Socialist Structure, Pt. 1: How will the economy work? Will currency be abolished? How will you ensure racial equality? Though there are examples to look forward to from Britain and France, you will need to begin creating your own answers to these questions. Plans must be made, although they will be by necessity vague. But creating the most basic framework for what form American socialism will take will help ease your path forward. Cost: Probable loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence. Time: 6 months. DC: No roll. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.
Who Supports Who?: If you looked out the window to see New York City, you would think nine in ten supported you. You are not fool enough to think that, of course. The Payment Army alone disproves that, let alone the bullying your daughter has experienced, the endless attempts at suppression, the thousands of letters denouncing you. Beginning to get an accurate count will be vital for effectively directing your efforts. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Get a general idea of where your support is strong and weak and what people are concerned about.
Against the Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism is a virulent problem in this country. Father Coughlin spews anti-Semitic bile, many claim Jews are behind every problem and especially the syndicalists, even some of your party members and unionized workers mislike them. Countering these narratives may cost, but it is a worthy effort. Cost: Likely loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of +1 Influence.
Proletarian Unity: The workers of the world must be united. There are false divisions embedded deep into the American psyche. Racism is the greatest but by no means the only one. Target these divides, weld them together as best you can. Make promises of restitution and justice, publicize what you stand for. It will be difficult and potentially dangerous, but you have to start somewhere. Cost: Likely loss of relations, chance of -1 Influence, chance of losing support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/125. Result: Counter racist narratives, increase support from minorities, small chance of +1 Influence.
Create a Curriculum: For a socialist school system to exist, there must be a socialist curriculum, Having students elect their teachers seems faintly ridiculous, but there can be other ways for them to be exposed to the SPA's ideals from a young age, and there should certainly be a different emphasis on what is taught. No gender divide for one. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Creation of curriculum, improved results and lowered difficulty for Organize Education.
The Legacy of the Grange: The Grange was a vaguely socialist, mixed-race organization for farmers to help them progress and grant assistance through a variety of methods, from community support to political activism. The sudden rise of Farmer-Labor and the current devastation has caused it to decline greatly. But it can rise again, better and stronger. With Farmer-Labor on your side, a remnant of the Grange is as well. Begin a program of revitalization and create a new ideology for it. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100. Result: New, more socialist/syndicalist/anarchist/some form of leftist ideology for the Grange, new options for dealing with it unlocked.
Intrigue Actions
Siphon Party Funds: The first step in performing covert actions is to acquire funds to do so. Simply taking money directly from the party treasury strikes you as a bad idea, as the resulting vanishing will be wide open for anyone who looks. So instead you will arrange for a few dribbles of cash to vanish into an account you can use for off-the-books problem-solving. Cost: -0.1 Resources per month. Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/35/70. Result: +0.1 Resources per turn goes into a dark fund you can draw upon for covert ops.
Siphon State Funds: With nearly unfettered access to many state governments and party loyalists being installed in treasury departments across the nation, you have an opportunity to enhance the party's financial position by arranging for subtle fund transfers from the government funds. There will likely need to be some sort of...shell to hide the directness of the money transfer. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/100. Result: Increase to income.
Hire an Assistant Secretary: You need someone who is good at this sort of thing. Someone trustworthy, loyal and competent. That's going to be really hard to find...but at the same time it is undeniably necessary. How would you even begin to find that? Cost: Risky...and you will have to commit an Authority to them. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??/????. Result: Find some potential spymasters, can delegate Influence or Authority to them.
Foreign Assistance: The success of the French and the British (and the Italians and Mexicans) gives you hope, both because they prove it is possible for socialism to triumph (you almost despaired of that after Russia) and because it means that you can call on them for assistance. Funds, trainers, spies...you don't know what you can get till you ask. Cost: Risk of discovery, possible favors. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Gain some form of foreign support.
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: No roll. Result: Improvement to Rumors and News section.
Revolutionary Guards: People have been threatening to kill you and your family and other leaders for a long time. You have developed protection against overt attacks, but perhaps it is time to begin developing a more covert sort of protection as well. Cost: - 2 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Create an organization of plainclothes bodyguards for you, your family, and other important figures. Unlock additional counterintelligence actions.
Send Covert Organizers: Unions cannot operate openly everywhere. Particularly in the South and Midwest, efforts to organize are met with bombs, knives, and bullets. Or worse. You have vivid memories of the results of your trip to Wilmington...But people still organize, they still fight. Sending covert assistance can lead to an increase in your strength in an area, and help increase the chances of more overt intervention. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators 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.
Covert Investigation: Quietly looking into the behavior of a subordinate might allow you to remove them before they can become an embarrassment, or simply confirm their innocence without risking giving the impression they have lost your confidence. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Find any wrongdoing for chosen subordinate.
Ears in the Party: To better keep abreast of movements in the Party and the doings of your subordinate, cultivating a small network of...trusted friends to let you know what they hear could be managed. Flora will probably have to be the one managing them, but you feel she is trustworthy. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/??. Result: Lower difficulty of actions involving intelligence within the SPA.
Create Shell Corporations: To help with some of your more...unpleasant deeds, you can avoid scrutiny by purchasing a few false companies and helping you to conceal any unfortunate money trails. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??. Result: Increase chances of avoiding discovery for embezzlement actions.
Infiltrate the Army: With the contacts Butler has given you, you now have a simple way of infiltrating the army. Selecting volunteers from the Red Guards and having them sign up will enable you to gain some low-level infiltration, while going through the men he introduced you to will enable you to hear rumors and gossip from higher levels. MacArthur is certainly planning to use the army against you, you must find out how. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/125/??/???. Result: Make contacts within the military.
Contact with the French and British: With the ports opened to French and British ships, the possibility of contact with your fellow syndicalists has just grown dramatically easier. The providing of support for you during the Revolution is a guarantee, what is less likely is them assisting you during this lead-up due to the difficulty of it, but the Syndintern will surely be able to provide something. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??. Result: Contact the Syndintern
Personal Actions
Work Overtime: Although your heart and mind ache at the thought, the cause needs you. It will be stressful, it will be upsetting to your wife and daughter, you can feel your very soul revolting at the thought of spending even more hours working...but you must. The workers of the world demand it! No matter what it costs you. Cost: Severely stressful, unhealthy, bad for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: +1 temporary Influence.
Personal Attention: If you spend a few hours working on a particular task, it will likely go smoother. It will cut into the time you would normally spend with your family or your books, but it is a sacrifice you will have to make. Cost: Stressful, not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Small dice and narrative bonus to chosen action.
Exercise: You have gotten slightly out of shape thanks to the stress of the election. Getting back in shape would be good for your health and your image...and if you ever get the chance to punch Huey Long in his fat face or strangle MacArthur, it will help then too. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, improvement to health.
Spend Time With Your Family: Your daughter Hannah misses you, as does your wife Louise. Spending some extra time with them this month will make up for all the times you missed doing it during the campaign season. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Major decrease in stress, good for your family.
Write: You have been working on another book about your own thoughts and beliefs about socialism and syndicalism, as well as on a few poems, memoirs, and some other odds and ends. Spending some time working on that will help order your thoughts and ease your burdens. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, possibility of new traits.
Free Actions
Tweak a Subordinate's Priorities: While those who are working with you are scattered across the country, between the train and the telegram they are within reach. Requesting a minor change to their priorities is a simple matter. Cost: May pick only once per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate's priorities (change order, add one, remove one).
Ask For a Favor: Party members already sacrifice their time and money and sometimes their health and their life, but you must ask for more. Though it will cost some precious goodwill, continued success will bring it back, and so you can confidently ask for favors. Cost: Variable amount of Relations, changes in Strength of factions. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Relations and Strength allows.
Choose A Focus: You are currently taking On the Farms. There is 1 month Left
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).
In the Cities - The cities are already where you are strongest, but there are still bourgeoise who can be convinced to turn against their class and proletariat who can be given consciousness, to say nothing of the lumpen. Time: 1 month. Effect: Modify The Struggle Carries On! (+1 Appeal in Urban Areas per month)
On the Farms - The rural areas are often strongly conservative, but there are masses of people who can nevertheless be convinced to join the struggle for liberation. The key is to approach them properly. Time: 2 months. Effect: Modify The Struggle Carries On! (+0.5 Appeal in Rural Areas per month)
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).
In the Cities - The cities are already where you are strongest, but there are still bourgeoise who can be convinced to turn against their class and proletariat who can be given consciousness, to say nothing of the lumpen. Time: 1 month. Effect: Modify The Struggle Carries On! (+1 Appeal in Urban Areas per month)
On the Farms - The rural areas are often strongly conservative, but there are masses of people who can nevertheless be convinced to join the struggle for liberation. The key is to approach them properly. Time: 2 months. Effect: Modify The Struggle Carries On! (+0.5 Appeal in Rural Areas per month)
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).
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