Isaac's day began with gunfire. He had been one of the many to slip into Sacramento and the ring of camps that surrounded it in the days before the rest came, and so he had known what was coming. As the bullets of the Red Guards split the air, he was diving out of the ragged canvas tent.
The plan had seemed insane when he first heard it. Flee north, disguised as refugees, and then take what was probably the most heavily defended city in California, with more soldiers just an hour or two away by rail.
But somehow it was working. Or it seemed to be, at least. All he could really tell was that there were gunshots and screams and people shouting for the Red Guards to advance. But that didn't matter. He knew what his job was.
As the tent city erupted into bedlam, he fled through it, elbowing shouting men and wailing children out of his way, pushing deeper, towards Sacramento proper. Overhead, he saw a plane flying south, and then an engine exploded and it came crashing to earth. Isaac hoped the pilot was still alive when it hit the ground.
From the distance came the ominous thunder of artillery. Dirt began to fountain up somewhere behind him, but he paid it no heed. He had a destination he needed to get to, and some men he needed to kill.
He broke from the maze of cloth shanties to the cleared ground between it and the city proper. The guards who manned it were gone, presumably to fight the obvious danger. He scrabbled in a guard post briefly, finding what he needed, then he rushed on.
He caught glimpses of the pandemonium in the city as he charged forward, shouting that he had orders at every obstacle. The well-to-do and the poor alike were running back and forth or sheltering wherever they could find cover. Soldiers and police were standing in a daze, like they had never expected to do any fighting, just massacring helpless revolutionaries after they had been bombed to oblivion. A pair of tanks were trying to growl their slow way forth, but a messy traffic accident had stopped them as the commanders argued with two men in suits.
But none of it mattered. Everyone in California knew where the commanders of the National Guard and the Emergency Military worked, just across from the building where the filthy rich fat cats of the government made their laws about how only they could steal. Concealing his snarl of hatred and his bundle of grenades, he made his way up to the main entrance. Two trembling boys with rifles in their hands tried to challenge him.
"Listen, I have an urgent message direct from the front line, and I need to get it to the very top now!" he roared at them, and they backed away and let him pass.
As he rushed through the packed, spartan halls of the new Military Office, he smirked as he realized what he said was technically true, and wondered if any of the others sent on this mission were having such good luck.
He put both considerations out of his mind.
He found the room he was looking for. He pulled a pin, making someone shout, then he threw it.
Suddenly, he was on the ground. He couldn't quite lift his head, but he could still see a terrified, obese man, holding a pistol in a trembling hand. He could hear the screams of agony. He realized he could move his arm, just a little.
He pulled another pin.
Juanita was overseeing the further destruction of the Sacramento rail and cursing in Spanish the whole while. It had been half her plan that had seen them take the city, but she hadn't imagined the carnage.
She thought she knew war. She had skirmished with police for months before things fell apart, she had led soldiers in bloody clashes with the National Guard and with local militias, she had seen the results of bombing runs and strafing attacks on encampments and towns as they fought against horrible odds in the liberated territory of California.
But she had never faced such a concentration of horrors as in the past day. They had disguised themselves as a ragtag horde of civilians, fleeing the blood and chaos of civil war and revolution. On the ground, their disguise would have failed, but from the sky it held and there weren't enough soldiers to investigate every group.
They had attacked at dawn, artillery smashing the airfield and the train station and then sweeping across fortified positions. Machine guns and mortars had reaped a bloody harvest among half-occupied positions. Deaths in the leadership had left their enemies in disarray.
And still, at least a third of the men and women who had followed here were being buried in mass graves dug by the former of capitalists of the city, the architects of all this suffering, of the shell craters in city streets and the bloody ruins of refugee tents.
And the remaining two-thirds, who still followed her and her fellow commanders, worked grimly to gather supplies and allies, to prepare bomb shelters and flak batteries, to build barricades and destroy railroads.
Spare rifles were being pressed into the hands of workers and the children of workers as they were roughly schooled in the basics of fighting, loot was gathered, resistance crushed. She knew there was cruelty in what they were doing, she knew some of her followers were destroying churches and doing worse, but she couldn't make herself care.
She had shed too much blood to allow herself to compromise. They would be victorious, or they would die under the boot of capital. She would allow no third option.
Penny was starting to get used to things in her new home. The lack of space was unpleasant, and it stank, but she had found warm crevices she could curl up in, and more importantly, she had found people to be with. Her parents spent most of the day gone, working at the massive factories that surrounded their maze of apartments, and they never had much to say when they were home. But the crowded building she lived in meant there were always people around, and she had found some companions among them.
There were other children whose parents were mostly absent, cripples who had gotten shoved into some out-of-the-way apartments, and a few stubborn men who refused to support what they called "the socialist regime."
None of them were very kind, but none of them were very mean, either, and they all had interesting things to say. There was a stinky room by a furnace that they liked to gather in, hiding from the enthusiasm of some of the refugees and the prodding of the "checkers" to talk and tell stories.
She and some of the others had begun to make a tale together, planning it during meals, telling the saga of the Lost Children, who awoke bewildered in a land of impossible terrain and dense fog, finding strange creatures like the ones in Alice in Wonderland.
The battlecruiser Saratoga seethed with tension. It was in the decks, in the bulkheads, in the stink of dust and rain that filled the air. In the distance, so close it seemed like he could touch it, sat the city of New Orleans in her all glory.
Simon stared out at it and clenched his fists. He knew what was going on there, he knew the suffering he was inflicting. The sailors had headed into the city every so often for the past week, first openly and then sneaking out when opportunities presented themselves. The city was starving, and it was all the fault of the Navy who was bravely standing aside.
He wasn't a socialist. He wasn't even a Longist. But he heard that MacArthur had seized power at gunpoint, heard it from the mouth of Long's enemies even, and that didn't sit right with him. But he didn't know what he was supposed to do about it.
Then it seemed his question was answered. There was shouting from nearby, and a crowd of men burst onto the deck. Two officers were retreating from them, cowed and trembling, and Simon felt a surge of disgust.
It went against his every instinct, against the laws which had been hammered into him time in and time out. But all the same, he found himself stepping forward, joining the crowd, shouting his own outrage.
It seemed to last for an eternity, just them venting rage at officers, but then another showed up with a band of loyal men carrying bayoneted rifles.
What came next he only remembered in dreams. There was screaming, and gunfire, and running, and the feeling of a rifle wrenching in his hands, the stink of spilled guts, the howling of madmen with no hope but death. And then there was silence, and a flag coming down.
Celia worked in the Capitol Building. She was new, but so were most of the staff. Quite a few of the old ones had died or disappeared in the chaos, and no one would dare expect Congress to keep the building clean and the papers organized by themselves.
So plenty more had been hired, and shockingly little had been done to make sure the new staff was honest and loyal to the decrepit regime. Celia was a proud socialist, and she wasn't the only one working there. She couldn't afford to leave, and the work kept her busy without contributing to much to the suffering of the working class.
And more importantly, she could spy on the going-ons in the Capitol, even if she didn't have a way to deliver the information. Even if it didn't seem very important.
The Congressmen and Senators prattled with each other and hosted industrialists fleeing justice, they made laws banning radicalism and unionization, they stood up and gave speeches denunciating Comrade Reed and Commander Butler and the heroic Red Guards.
They didn't even realize how little they mattered.
And that was so infuriating.
Situation Report
America continues to bleed. The skies across half the country have turned red, as dust from the ravaged Midwest fills the cloudy sky and drizzles down in a mix of freezing rain, snow, and sleet. The horrible weather only worsens the many afflictions of the nation. Outbreaks of the flu ravage cities, severe enough to disable many healthy adults and carve swathes through the very old and very young. With it comes other diseases as an overstretched medical system begins to break down. Hospitals are overwhelmed, clinics are collapsed, entire towns are shut down by the sheer number of sick and dying.
The only bright spot is that sufficient food is being shipped into the country that you are no longer under the immediate threat of famine, even with the many refugees still fleeing into the country. However, that tide has slowed to a degree, even if the violence that incited so many to run has not.
The cold and the dust are perhaps being seen as greater threats than the militias, bandits, and fighters roaming the nation.
But those fighters are still clashing. Skirmishes and conflicts continue to erupt as ragged bands of riflemen strike at their foes and groups of bandits plunder the vulnerable. Despite the devastation, the fighting is only intensifying, even as frontlines begin to solidify. Isolated pockets of hostility continue to plague every faction, but as houses are turned into strongpoints and fields into trench lines, they become increasingly irrelevant.
But not completely. A spate of attacks have been launched on centers of socialist administration by diehard reactionaries. Most of these attacks have been concentrated in the west. While many were foiled by Red Guards and Revolutionary Guards, some have succeeded, including several additional assasination attempts. Schenck is already organizing crackdowns to ensure those responsible will not be able to try again.
These attacks are mostly being ignored by the CAS, who are much more interested in spirited debates on a number of topics and the many reports of success and failure that stream in daily from every front. With fresh influxes of food coming in, the demands for additional grain requisitions have died down, and more attention is devoted to ensuring industrial production continues. The nation's infrastructure is still being strained, and the bad weather has not helped. But the workers are growing increasingly confident in their control of the nation and their victory, and in several cases have launched successful offensives, including in Texas and the Northwest.
Long continues facing issues with his open corruption, but he has successfully clamped down on some of his opponents. The Louisiana legislature has passed a series of decrees that have given the Kingfish the legal cover he needs to seize several politicians and other figures who have notable anti-Long stances, while his loyal administrators and legbreakers have moved in to ensure the loyalty of a number of cities. The implementation of land reform and a series of other pro-worker measures have ensured the loyalty of the countryside, while Long's support for a number of militant revolutionary groups in the Black Belt has kept the sections he occupies under control.
Most importantly, the Kingfish has made a series of personal appeals to the sailors blockading New Orleans, and combined with the dissatisfaction of many sailors at the situation, a mutiny has begun. Reports are garbled, but it seems a significant portion of the task force in the city has revolted and joined Long, while another portion has simply run their ships aground and refused to fight any American.
The news of this mutiny has caused chaos across the country, particularly in Texas, where the "Kingfisher Fleet" first sailed to. Corpus Christi has thrown out the marines garrisoning it, and an unstable pro-Long alliance of various forces has seized control over much of the Texan coast.
Olson has managed to secure his position better, however some of the local figures who initially supported him have switched sides, leaving him with a series of running sores that local Red Guards have dealt with. Despite that, he is more secure than ever, and his troops are beginning to recruit, taking advantage of an influx of equipment from the factories of the Red Belt.
Although the forces of revolution (and their reluctant allies) are growing stronger, the armies of capitalism are growing as well. A series of temporary measures have been adopted by the DC government, dividing the nation into "military districts" and creating corporatist bodies in each one, as advocates of the California Model finally win the support of MacArthur. Those districts under federal control have seen a number of measures implemented to better secure them.
However, the New Orleans Mutiny has shaken federal confidence in their Navy. Several high-ranking admirals were sacked, and the Navy as a whole has been subordinated to army control. Rumors of additional measures such as the stationing of Marines on every ship have drifted out, but the truth of them is hard to confirm.
The National Popular Front and their radical policies have also started gaining popularity, with General Moseley appointing a number of their members to his "Advisory Boards." How much support they actually have is unclear in all respects except that their supporters are eager foot soldiers for capitalism and have launched a number of bloody assaults.
These assaults have become increasingly common in the Black Belt and California, among a number of areas, but the Red Guards, Minutemen, and other militias are proving determined and resilient. The immense amounts of support both uprisings have been given have each allowed them to achieve some notable successes.
Despite much of central California being all but abandoned by the Red Guards there, forces under the command of Colonel Evan and Commander Juanita were able to successfully infiltrate Sacramento and then seize it. Other Red Guards forces struck north, driving through Oregon, crushing inexperienced police departments and Pinkertons. Other Red Guards retreated south, towards San Diego, which came under the control of workers after elements of the Mexican military deserted to aid their comrades. These elements have brought with them their own airforce, negating the main advantage of the California National Guard. However, there is now serious nationalist and capitalist resistance making life difficult for the revolutionaries in southern California.
In the Black Belt, the victories consisted mostly of survival. While some territory was gained along the coast, the full might of the US Army being available to the capitalists meant that massive gains could not be held. However, major evacuations were successfully organized, and the countryside seeded with resistance bands that have resulted in entire sections of the region being effectively abandoned except for troop transit.
Both uprisings have done better than they ought to, by any metric. But the news from areas re-occupied by capitalists is universally grim. And just as grim is the news from Boston, where the workers are starving, the blockade remains strong, and the National Guardsmen are rapidly losing patience with the Boston Commune. But they have not dared to attack the city yet, and so hope remains...
Priorities
You have four priority slots. In addition, you can actively de-prioritize up to four actions in order to gain a slot, one slot per de-prioritized action. Your subordinates will also be prioritizing actions, which will be noted. Everything will be done, this is just choosing what's most important.
[] Integrate new trainers: With experienced soldiers from the Unity Army and Olson's Boys coming into the nexus of training camps in Michigan, the number of militiamen and fresh volunteers who can be trained to a more professional standard has greatly increased, but care must be taken to ensure these less-than-revolutionary trainers do not struggle with inoculating respect for the democratic nature of soldier's councils or teaching their trainees the nature of class warfare.
[] Organize the Combined Staff: Butler is unquestionably the chief commander of all soldiers fighting for freedom and liberty, but the staff and upper leadership have been greatly expanded by the integration of two new armies and their top generals. Making sure there are minimal teething issues and conflicts will greatly improve the efficacy of all the army's (and those of the air force and the navy) endeavors.
[] Support the Black Belt Uprising: The revolutionaries of the Black Belt are fighting determinedly, and with support from Longists and socialists, they have held their ground and evacuated large numbers of the most vulnerable to safer territory. The entirety of the Deep South has been turned into a morass of bloodshed, sucking away reactionary lives and bullets, even if it comes at a terrible cost. With some of the new artillery and armored cars being produced in the factories of Detroit and Toledo, they can do more than just hold.
[] Support the Northern California Uprising: The Southern California revolt has been cut off from us, but those brave fighters have received ample support from our comrades south of the Rio Grande. It is the Red Guards in the north that we must focus our attention on now. Send men, send guns, send everything we can, help them hold Sacramento and secure northern California.
[] Prepare partisan commands: We will lose territory to the federalists. That has been made clear by Chief Revolutionary Commander Butler, in a speech some have called defeatist. However, he has also made it clear that just because they have gained territory, he does not intend to make it easy for them to hold it, and that he trusts the workers and farmers of the nation will assist in him that. To that end, Butler is working to prepare underground cells in vulnerable territories to wreak havoc upon capitalist occupiers.
[] Expand equipment stockpiles: Bluntly, the military can never have enough guns, enough howitzers, enough shells, enough bullets. Even if there were a hundred rifles for every soldier, Butler would still want more. But there are not a hundred rifles for every soldier, although there are relatively few dire shortages. Still, preparations must be made for the inevitable losses of combat.
[] Improve backline logistics: While access to weaponry and ammunition is important, there are other important concerns that must be dealt with. The transport of massive quantities of food, uniforms, and other vital sundries must be prepared and organized, something Butler and his staff are working on. It is also a concern of the Economic Planning Commission.
[] Prepare defenses: Though massive, fixed fortifications like the fortress of Liege did not serve their intended purpose in the Weltkrieg, trench lines and other structures were absolutely vital during it. Many in Butler's staff think this war will be won in trenches like those of the German army, and hope to begin constructing lines like the vaunted Hindenburg Line in areas where they anticipate federal attack. Given the news from Canada, this will also include the construction of defenses and naval fortifications on the northern border. This is a major priority of Butler.
[] Ready motorized forces: Others in Butler's staff argue that wars are not won on the defensive, and have a host of innovations to unleash on the capitalists, ranging from armored trains, to cars with armor welded on, to purpose-built tanks. They argue that they will be able to break through enemy lines and exploit those failures using their advanced, well-equipped armies. Preparation and organization of these forces is another major priority for Butler.
[] General maintenance: Even with continued, dedicated efforts to keep electricity available, housing constructed, and factories repaired, the strain of the fighting is leading to things beginning to break down. Invest more resources in maintenance and keep the economic engine running as smoothly as possible. The Economic Planning Commission is dedicating a portion of its analysts and advisors to this area.
[] Coal, rail, and steel: You have the coal to keep factories running, the steel to feed them, and the rail to transport the materials in and the products out. The industrial might of the Red Belt is your single biggest advantage, and it must be kept. Expand the foundries, dig the mines deeper, construct new factories for railcars and rolling stock. Keep things going. This is a major priority for the Office of Communications and the Economic Planning Commission.
[] Working improvements: Improving the conditions of the working class, even under the rigors of an all-out revolutionary war, was a demand of the coalition running the CAS. It will cost time, time that perhaps cannot be spared, but reducing hours, expanding breaks, and distributing more safety equipment are all relatively cheap measures to fulfill your promises.
[] Expand luxury production: Another part of your promises and a way to weaken the influence of the black market both, further attention can be devoted to the production of various luxuries such as perfume and musical instruments for civilian use. As per previous agreements, most of these enterprises are market-based, making their expansion rather controversial.
[] Expand military production: Even more important than luxury goods or arguably even food is military production: bullets and rifles, artillery and shells, tanks and planes...the many tools of war all require extensive machinery and training to be produced. Increase the production of every bit of weaponry, turn the Red Belt into the Arsenal of the Revolution, and drown the capitalists under a steel tide. The Economic Planning Commission has them as their highest priority.
[] Prepare for winter: This winter is a bitter one. It is a winter of bloody conflict and refugee hordes. And it is also a winter of terrible storms, and it is only November. Food, shelter, fuel, and hope are in short supply. Those vital substances must be stockpiled and gathered, and measures taken to keep spirits high and bodies functioning. Ben Stevens and various local party cadres are working to minimize the hardships of the coming months, although their efforts may well be a snowball against an avalanche.
[] Prevent overexploitation: Even as desperately needed food is gathered, reports trickle in of conflict, and CAS representatives protest and complain. Measures must be taken to clamp down on abuse by Red Guards, to ensure enough seed grain is left behind for farming families, and to give them adequate compensation, lest we get a renewed Fix-the-Price movement, or worse, a Green Army. It is also a major demand of part of your coalition.
[] Maintain medicinal supplies: With quarantines established, those who are sick must be cured too. What antibiotics that can be produced will be distributed, doctors and nurses press ganged, whatever that can be done will be done to keep the sick alive, at any cost except for the revolution.
[] Reinforce quarantines: With disease after disease ripping its way through America, a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions has begun. Everyone is suffering, from coast to coast, and immediate measures need to be taken to prevent any of the several potentially catastrophic diseases from getting worse. Antibiotics cannot cure many of them, and there are not many viable vaccines. The only possible solution is to enact mass quarantines.
[] Rehome refugees: The hordes of refugees that have inundated the Red Belt need to be housed, they need to be fed, they need to be put to work. Their current status is a humanitarian and logistical nightmare. Ben Little, working with various members of the Committee for Education who have chosen to assist with more immediate concerns, is already trying to resolve this thorny knot.
[] Put refugees to use: Part of resolving that problem is getting refugees back to something more like ordinary life. Wherever there are gaps in our production lines, they can fill in to help keep the factories running. It will empty the camps, give them a sense of normalcy and something to occupy their time, and help keep the economy running. For those refugees who are simply capitalists fleeing gunfire, or their supporters, it can also give them a route for becoming good socialist workers.
[] Deal with production shortfalls: Another part of handling the wartime economy will be dealing with shortfalls. There have already been empty shelves, but it's likely to get worse before it gets better. A variety of proposals for helping deal with this problem have been suggested, ranging from propaganda encouraging people to reuse whatever they can to the sponsorship of artisanal production facilities for people to work in during their free time.
[] The continuing revolution: With many basic questions settled and the revolution not seemingly in immediate danger of being crushed by a horde of raving reactionaries, now is the time for the revolution to continue in every sphere. Social, economic, political, and cultural, all shall be completely transformed! It is time to break the chains!
[] Examine what's been done: The chaos of the November Crisis has led to many individuals leading a variety of revolutionary initiatives, from the bands of artists using the rubble of Wall Street to make sculptures to the college professors transforming life on their campuses. The revolution is being led from below, to the resounding approval of all in the CAS. But it would be wise to investigate some of what has already been done.
[] Back allied workers: Long struggles with corruption, Olson with moderation. And with both allowing CAS-affiliated organizations to agitate and organize within their territory, we have an opportunity to rally those dissatisfied with their regime and increase our support across the nation. It is both a moral duty and a practical opportunity to assist the workers of Louisiana and Minnesota in their struggle for true liberation.
[] Condemn the capitalists: We all know who is to blame for this horrible situation. It is the fault of the capitalists, in their myriad awful forms. Continue the early propaganda campaigns, and attack those who oppose us, using propaganda and information as weapons in a war for the hearts and minds of the workers. This is a task the Propaganda Committee has great experience with, and one they will continue doing.
[] Prepare morale boosters: The mood in much of the country is grim, and for good reason. But despair is as dangerous a weapon as a gun in the hands of capitalists. Songs, stories, news articles, even films if they can be made, all must be used to keep the flame of the working class alive! And the Propaganda Committee is on the job!
[] Call for peace: We do not desire war. We do not want to kill so many sons and daughters of the working class, whether through bullets or blockades. We merely wish to see the will of the people expressed in a democratic fashion. The moral high ground is an advantage we must do our best to keep by emphasizing our desire for peace even as we prepare for war, a task the Propaganda Committee is working hard to accomplish.
[] Anti-discrimination propaganda: Racism, misogyny, the socialism of fools, all are tools used by the ruling classes to divide and disrupt the working class. We must stand together, united. We must make it clear pogroms and discrimination are not accepted and warn that when you burn a church, destroy a synagogue, or provoke a race riot, you are serving the anti-socialist cause. The Propaganda Committee and the Education Committee are both seeking to accomplish this task.
[] Revolutionary inspiration: We must do more than attack our enemies, we must give hope and strength to our supporters. Through inspiring posters and heroic imagery, we will encourage the workers of the nation to go further and work harder, to break the chains that capital has placed on their minds and overcome their weaknesses.
[] Speaking to soldiers: Part of our propaganda campaign will be tailored at the soldiers and sailors who might well crush our nation. Hopefully, they can be pulled away from such idiocy and serve the people instead of slaying them. Through behind enemy lines agitation, leaflet campaigns, and other methods, we will subvert and destroy the armies of capitalism and turn their soldiers to our side.
[] Canadian comrades: Canada is falling into chaos. The navy was badly damaged in a battle outside Iceland, and rumors are spreading about King Edward VIII inviting in German troops to help intervene in America. Strikes and riots are paralyzing city after city, Quebec is aflame, and soldiers are deserting. The Union of Britain and the Commune of France have both been backing the underground revolutionaries, and Schenck's men have gotten in touch with them. It's time to light a fire.
[] Operation Paul Revere: Even as America's northern neighbor falls into chaos, it prepares to intervene in the revolution. Combined with the noose of ships and National Guards surrounding Boston, their target is obvious. We shall do our best to replicate the legend of Paul Revere and rouse the workers of the Northeast to overthrow their oppressors by supplying and supporting underground revolutionary and Longist groups.
[] Maintain order: The situation is...chaotic. In the sudden vacuum, groups have begun using factory seizures as excuses for looting, cruel attacks on capitalists have begun, bandits and militias have made nuisances of themselves, and there have been cases of pogroms and other violence. Red Guards and other forces must be used to keep order and prevent such senseless violence.
[] Infiltrate hostile forces: The enemy's workers, soldiers, and populations are all rendered vulnerable to infiltration and disruption. Agents can be sent among them, to fraternize and organize and report back. Refugee columns will be seeded, contacts will be subverted, vulnerabilities will be exploited. Charles Schenck is busily directing his spies to that end, but there are so many places that they are needed...
[] Internal infiltration: There will be resistance to our efforts to create a more just and equitable society. Although many groups that oppose us have been driven out or defeated, others have merely gone to ground. They must be found, infiltrated, and broken apart, or we will face an exhausting and expensive resistance from counterrevolutionaries.
[] Naval co-option: One area that must be a special priority is to expand the infiltration of the Navy. Ships are blockading nearly every port, and armed sailors and Marines are patrolling sections of Long Island, Seattle, much of the Texas coast...which means they are vulnerable to persuasion. They must be persuaded to join our cause, lest our cities be pounded to rubble beneath their guns.
[] Maintain security: Even as we infiltrate the enemy, let us not forget that the enemy can do the same to us. The men who tried to kill you may have had inside information, and there are countless other vulnerabilities in our ranks. Charles Schenck is working with the Revolutionary Guard to secure as much as he can.
[] Crush reactionary resistance: Bands of organized reactionaries who have managed to avoid earlier suppression must be defeated. Agents of the Commission of Revolutionary Defense will lead investigations, targeting known supporters and suspicious individuals. Their hiding places will be besieged, their suppliers cut off, their allies defeated. They will not be allowed to impede the American Revolution.
[] Spend time with your family: Your wife is still in the hospital. She'll survive, although there will be a scar. Your daughter is spending every second she can with her. You know both are horribly wounded by the attempted murder, and you ache to comfort them and be comforted in turn...but you don't know if you can find the time...
[] Try and sleep: The stress is starting to get to you. You are having nightmares about Petrograd and Moscow. You need to sleep. People make bad decisions when they are tired. You need to sleep.
Dilemmas and Decisions
As November comes to an end and the final day of the MacArthur Ultimatum approaches, a question grips the CAS. Should the revolution be formally, officially declared, or should our intent and action be considered to speak loud enough, without pompous proclamations as though we lack confidence in our principles?
[] [DEC] Write a declaration.
[][DEC] Our actions speak for ourselves.
Meanwhile, prior decisions are to be revisited. With the New Orleans Mutiny and a steady weakening in the various blockades, the amount of aid that can be sent by the SyndIntern is increasing dramatically, even as German efforts at interdiction increase. Guns, planes, pilots, food, medical supplies, and more are flowing into your territory in vast quantities, although it can never truly be enough. Mindful of internal attitudes, the SyndIntern has requested to know if you want a further military intervention, or if the Mexican deserters and their planes are currently sufficient.
[] [SYND] The struggle must be an international one. Send every soldier you can spare!
[] [SYND] We do not wish to appear as foreign puppets. A moderate intervention would be ideal.
[] [SYND] The aid you have already given us is enough. Advisors and material support are enough, we do not need your army as well.
The investigation on the Black Market has been completed. Organized criminal elements appear to be using it as an attempt to claw back some power and influence, but mostly it appears to be relatively harmless, with people using it to acquire minor consumer goods that are hard to find otherwise: new decks of playing cards, billiards balls, perfume, porcelain dolls, and other such things. They have sent forth a few recommendations.
[] [BLACK] Legitimize it. This will be approved of by many Syndicalists, as it represents a compromise with material conditions that do not allow for the total abolition of the market, but it may aggravate Marxists and Fosterites.
[] [BLACK] Track it. The presence of organized crime is concerning, but nothing else about it is really important. Have Schenck keep an eye on it, but other than that leave it alone.
[] [BLACK] Ignore it. It does not matter in the slightest. In time it will wither away, it is not even worth suppressing. This will please the Marxists, but annoy the Syndicalists.
Finally, as a small air force consisting mostly of a hundred French and British planes begins to fly, the besieged pilots have approached you with another offer: they are to serve as trainers in a supervised role in an independent airforce, and in exchange, you get the planes, the pilots, and the airbases.
[] [PLANE] It seems a fair deal.
[] [PLANE] Negotiate further. Your leverage will only increase, although they might start getting desperate...
