Vouchers typically expire a year from when they are issued
To Struggle and Strive: The Combined Syndicates of America in 1932. A Kaiserreich Quest
- Thread starter notbirdofprey
- Start date
- Historic
- Location
- Lake Wobegon
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Generally speaking, you want to minimize savings in an economy, since it means part of the economy is idle for long periods and its reactivation is disruptive. There are various ways to enable big-ticket spending without economic actors having to accumulate savings. For instance, capitalism relies on joint-stock ownership to make many small capitals available for large projects, and credit to enable consumption. Security against emergencies can be provided by insurance. As has been pointed out, socialism centralizes ownership of means of production in the hands of the whole people and administration of same, as well as of credit and insurance, in the hands of the state. This makes it possible to simply distribute means of subsistence to households without their having to pay for it, and to simply mobilize means of production for any project desired by the people.
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- Location
- A haze of forgetfulness
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It would result in the opposite of mindless consumption though since you can't just buy whatever you want endlessly like rich people do. You buy what you can with the vouchers you earn and some extra stuff to keep your QOL enjoyable. The "consumerism" aspect of capitalism is dismantled.
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- Location
- France
- Pronouns
- She/They
Trying to regulate what people do with vouchers behind the government's back seem like a nightmare. It's much easier to put an expiration date than to police every single exchange to ensure there's no one who take a cut of a group's income and sit on them, for an example that recreates capitalism a lot more clearly than a single worker saving his.
With modern electronic means, you could make them impossible to exchange outside of stores, which would cut that out, but they're a concept that predate computers, and an expiry date means they can't sit into extortion schemes forever, they have to be spent. It's not foolproof, but it does make it harder to run a parallel exploitative economy on them by ensuring they can't circulate, even if the people exchanging them aren't abiding by the rules on destructing vouchers because it's not official purchases.
If you need a car, chances are you'd either get one funded through your job (if needed daily) or take rentals (if only needed sporadically). Though this is before the full suburbianization of the US so a lot of workers will use public transportation. In rural areas, they're more likely to prioritize something that can double as an agriculture implement at first, which would be funded by the farming coops.
Edit: as for planning, I think we should do the crackdown on corruption. I think it's good to have it continuously ongoing so that it doesn't have room to develop, at least until a healthy culture around it can develop.
[] Plan no backsliding on my watch
-[] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
-[] [SAC] Crack down on graft. While not a likely major source of our troubles, the still extant corruption of many is likely mildly reducing the efficiency of repairs. Cracking down on it with a justifiable excuse might have a beneficial impact, as well as allowing us to clamp down on corruption.
-[] [PASS] Stand aside. The representatives of the workers have made their choice, if the workers oppose it they can use recalls and other measures to ensure the original plan or something similar is passed.
-[] [VOUCH] Use propaganda and encouragement to push people to look to the future - you may lose some value, but what comes will make it all worth it.
I also don't think moratorium on expiration of vouchers is a good idea. I can be convinced to swap to the gold one if people think it's better. But please, no storage.
We don't want a huge stack of vouchers accumulating through the war and being unleashed on our post war recovery.
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[X] Plan no backsliding on my watch
-[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
-[X] [SAC] Crack down on graft. While not a likely major source of our troubles, the still extant corruption of many is likely mildly reducing the efficiency of repairs. Cracking down on it with a justifiable excuse might have a beneficial impact, as well as allowing us to clamp down on corruption.
-[X] [PASS] Stand aside. The representatives of the workers have made their choice, if the workers oppose it they can use recalls and other measures to ensure the original plan or something similar is passed.
-[X] [VOUCH] Use propaganda and encouragement to push people to look to the future - you may lose some value, but what comes will make it all worth it.
I want to take a moment and accuse @Nyvis of reading my mind from literally half the globe away from me.
-[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
-[X] [SAC] Crack down on graft. While not a likely major source of our troubles, the still extant corruption of many is likely mildly reducing the efficiency of repairs. Cracking down on it with a justifiable excuse might have a beneficial impact, as well as allowing us to clamp down on corruption.
-[X] [PASS] Stand aside. The representatives of the workers have made their choice, if the workers oppose it they can use recalls and other measures to ensure the original plan or something similar is passed.
-[X] [VOUCH] Use propaganda and encouragement to push people to look to the future - you may lose some value, but what comes will make it all worth it.
I want to take a moment and accuse @Nyvis of reading my mind from literally half the globe away from me.
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[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
[X] [SAC] Crack down on graft. While not a likely major source of our troubles, the still extant corruption of many is likely mildly reducing the efficiency of repairs. Cracking down on it with a justifiable excuse might have a beneficial impact, as well as allowing us to clamp down on corruption.
[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
[X] [SAC] Crack down on graft. While not a likely major source of our troubles, the still extant corruption of many is likely mildly reducing the efficiency of repairs. Cracking down on it with a justifiable excuse might have a beneficial impact, as well as allowing us to clamp down on corruption.
[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
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Shadows
Sacred Priestess of the Benevolent Dice Gods
- Location
- USS Civilian, DDG-214
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] [SAC] Request more economic aid from the SyndIntern. Instead of shipping us tanks, they could ship us power plants, rails, and other industrial support. Of course, that means we are getting less weaponry, which has its own costs.
[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
We made an agreement. We stick to it. We're not the capitalists. Let's prove it.
[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
We made an agreement. We stick to it. We're not the capitalists. Let's prove it.
- Location
- USA
[X]Plan The International Revolution
-[X] [SAC] Request more economic aid from the SyndIntern. Instead of shipping us tanks, they could ship us power plants, rails, and other industrial support. Of course, that means we are getting less weaponry, which has its own costs.
-[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
-[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
-[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
This is socialism. It's a movement by and for the working class. The moment we start telling ourselves that we need to start dictating to the working class and tell them what's best for them, and how best to improve their lives, the revolution is lost. We made a clear promise to our workers to improve their lives and it is critical that we keep it - not because it was a promise, but because that promise was made at their behest.
Besides, I am very much not convinced that we have a major shortfall in labor. We have a huge reserve of refugees we can tap as a labor pool to offset the reduction in working hours, and safety standards are not negotiable, no matter how much some beancounter says it will slow down production. The best we can do for the moment is to try and fill the gaps with assistance from our comrades abroad and work to keep spinning up our productive forces so we have a material basis that we can bounce back from once thing start to fail.
-[X] [SAC] Request more economic aid from the SyndIntern. Instead of shipping us tanks, they could ship us power plants, rails, and other industrial support. Of course, that means we are getting less weaponry, which has its own costs.
-[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
-[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
-[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
This is socialism. It's a movement by and for the working class. The moment we start telling ourselves that we need to start dictating to the working class and tell them what's best for them, and how best to improve their lives, the revolution is lost. We made a clear promise to our workers to improve their lives and it is critical that we keep it - not because it was a promise, but because that promise was made at their behest.
Besides, I am very much not convinced that we have a major shortfall in labor. We have a huge reserve of refugees we can tap as a labor pool to offset the reduction in working hours, and safety standards are not negotiable, no matter how much some beancounter says it will slow down production. The best we can do for the moment is to try and fill the gaps with assistance from our comrades abroad and work to keep spinning up our productive forces so we have a material basis that we can bounce back from once thing start to fail.
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[X]Plan The International Revolution
Working overtime won't actually increase productivity that much. Shorter more frequent shifts between people is more efficient than one shift working twice as long.
Working overtime won't actually increase productivity that much. Shorter more frequent shifts between people is more efficient than one shift working twice as long.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
[X]Plan The International Revolution
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
Guess I'm just a dirty reactionary then, since it still sounds lousy to me. Feels like it requires a significant level of trust in the government and the economy always being stable and willing to provide for you which I'm not a huge fan of. But that's probably more a critique of socialism in general than labor vouchers, and this is probably getting off topic. Anyways, votes.
[X] The International Revolution
[X] The International Revolution
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I mean, in the case of a lot of goods America has a complete abundance. Wanting it to be less centralized is good, of course, but the problem tends not to be, "There's not enough food for everyone" or "There's no possible way everyone could just be given a house" or "Universal Healthcare isn't possible there's a real scarcity there" or etc, etc.
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
[X]Plan The International Revolution
- Location
- A haze of forgetfulness
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X]Plan The International Revolution
Hakazin
Serpent Admirer
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, to explain the concept in terms that most of this forum is probably familiar with, consider Orks in Warhammer 40K. The Teef Economy operates by very similar principles to labor vouchers: they're earned through forms of labor available to anyone (Krumpin' anuvver boy 'til 'is teef fall out.), are exchanged for consumer goods that are in limited supply (Nasty sharp choppas! Big mean dakka-dakka!) while basic necessities are guaranteed (If ya drop yer shoota, jus' nab annuver from 'da pile.), and degrade/expire after a set period of time (Teef rot quick-like, see?).
That last part is important, because it's what differentiates vouchers from money. If the vouchers (Teef!) expire after limited use, that means they can't be divorced from the labor process and turn into a pure medium of exchange (Dat means shiny stuff, fer da boyz.). If that happens, then bad actors can game the system to get more and more vouchers for less and less labor until a proto-bourgeoisie has developed (Yer kan't jus' get a big pile uv teef togetha, give da otha boyz a few so dey'll do stuff fer yer, an' den sit on 'da rest all lazy-like. Dat's cheatin!), necessitating intervention to prevent a potential backslide into capitalism. Said intervention would likely be a mess for reasons you can probably guess (Da 'umie means 'der'd be a right propa scrap. I sez it's more fun 'dat way, but den again, I'z no 'umie.), so it's better to render the scenario impossible from the get-go (An' dat's why we krump any git 'oo sez shiny stuff is betta than teef!).
MordredRaal
Agitating
- Pronouns
- She/They
[X] The International Revolution
- Location
- Somewhere in the area
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[X] Plan: The International Revolution V2
-[X] [SAC] Less infrastructure in the West. The Rockies are absolutely atrocious to move or work in, especially during winter, which means we can effectively abandon them to the local councils with the exception of some minimal east-west connections, greatly saving resources but annoying some of our supporters.
-[X] [SAC] Request more economic aid from the SyndIntern. Instead of shipping us tanks, they could ship us power plants, rails, and other industrial support. Of course, that means we are getting less weaponry, which has its own costs.
-[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
-[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
-[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
This is basically The International Revolution except I also reduce the infrastructure in the West, as it's an incredibly expensive use of resources in a hostile environment to work in (the Rockies in winter + strong federalist resistance). At the current moment I think they'd be better used strengthening the infrastructure in the main areas we control, such as the Red Belt and the Prairies.
-[X] [SAC] Less infrastructure in the West. The Rockies are absolutely atrocious to move or work in, especially during winter, which means we can effectively abandon them to the local councils with the exception of some minimal east-west connections, greatly saving resources but annoying some of our supporters.
-[X] [SAC] Request more economic aid from the SyndIntern. Instead of shipping us tanks, they could ship us power plants, rails, and other industrial support. Of course, that means we are getting less weaponry, which has its own costs.
-[X] [SAC] Encourage the worker's patch jobs. We can keep things going without making serious sacrifices by pushing for more patch jobs and temporary repairs. Although we will have to pay the price for the deliberate shoddiness of many of these efforts, we will be able to pay that price after our victory.
-[X] [PASS] You have an agreement with the Worker's Opposition, and fear the watering down of their proposal to be a sign of a deformation of the revolution. Push for the original measure to be passed.
-[X] [VOUCH] A temporary moratorium on all expirations during the war will make the problem moot.
This is basically The International Revolution except I also reduce the infrastructure in the West, as it's an incredibly expensive use of resources in a hostile environment to work in (the Rockies in winter + strong federalist resistance). At the current moment I think they'd be better used strengthening the infrastructure in the main areas we control, such as the Red Belt and the Prairies.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] The International Revolution
Vote closed
November Crisis Week 4 Politics and Diplomacy
The CAS is as energetic as you have ever seen it. Gone is the initial terror and recriminations, when even the most radical delegates feared immediate suppression at the hands of MacArthur. Gone is the desperation to form some sort of army, to gather some sort of granary, that united revolutionaries and reformists in choosing to hang together rather than separately. Now there are recriminations and regrets, but there is also great enthusiasm as people review thousands of letters sent up by party cadres and union locals, delighting in or denouncing the many changes that have been made from individual enthusiasm. Linguistic reforms have been pushed by enthusiastic women looking to remove the privilege of being the default from the word "man," teachers have introduced democracy into schools, local councils have abolished marriage as a legal institution, and some have even proposed reforming the calendar like the Jacobins of old.
It's heady to hear about all the changes people are making. They are recognizing their bigotries and prejudices as obstacles, they are pushing for liberation in every sphere possible. It's haphazard and inefficient, with every locality having different priorities and different approaches, but its still a beautiful thing to see. Syndicalists, Marxists, and anarchists are united in their approval, even as some in their ranks join other factions in fearing that this is too much, too fast, that it might provoke a backlash, that some of the proposals might not be good ideas...there are so many objections, and you honestly find them tiresome, even as you force yourself to acknowledge the concerns. It's not just members of the CAS who are worried, there have been complaints from workers about some of the changes, especially the various calendar modifications. Some of those worry you too, honestly. Who thought it was a good idea to make the week ten days long and not add in further rest days?
But in truth, that backlash is hardly significant, and it will remain unimportant so long as you remain victorious. The CAS is already discussing a number of rules, including formalizing it being legal for women to join the Revolutionary Army, a number of reforms to clamp down on racial discrimination, the decriminalization of all consenting sexual relationships between adults, sweeping changes to education, the expansion of funding for revolutionary art, and more.
The mood is bubbling over with enthusiasm, and reform after reform is all but certain to be passed. How well they will be followed and maintained is a different question, but it's one that must be dealt with later. Now, what sort of reform will you focus on first.
[][FUT] Further the cause of sexual liberation. Undo the archaic and stifling laws that shame people, formally legalize and regulate prostitution, and begin providing legal support to those who do not conform to their sex.
[][FUT] Formally abolish marriage as a legal institute, recognize alternative partnerships, and begin sponsoring more socialist-friendly institutions of childcare and the family life, as well as further research into family life for the future.
[][FUT] Formally democratize education, introduce radical new methods of teaching and discipline, and transform every aspect of schooling from primary school to university.
[][FUT] Support provocative and revolutionary art in both method and meaning, from turning entire buildings into canvases worked by hundreds to abolishing all censorship on what can be shown on film.
[][FUT] Break the temporal power churches have, begin to establish a true separation between church and state. Mandate all education be secular, strip away the protections of priests, and begin experimenting with alternatives to traditional religion.
The streets of Baton Rouge were filled with protestors. They carried signs and flags, mingling the symbols of Long's government and the "revolutionary rascals" up north. It was a strangely mixed crowd, with dockworkers and dislocated farmers rubbing shoulders with disaffected bureaucrats and the remnants of the old Louisiana upper crust. None of the groups liked each other, and some of them didn't even like the slogans they were shouting, but draping yourself in red was a reliable way to avoid the attention of the Minutemen.
Long looked down on the crowd from the hastily set-up podium and smiled wide. Things weren't exactly predictable, and so much was up to chance, but he did love gambling. And right now, the dice were coming up the way he wanted.
His mind drifted as he made the usual speech, giving platitudes and charm, and distributing ample largesse, then meeting the demands of the crowd in a way that made it seem like a gift from him to them. There would be more licenses for newspapers tomorrow, and more of them would be critical of him and his allies, but that wasn't going to shake him.
He was the Kingfish, and these protests wouldn't do more than ruffle his feathers. He was already making arrangements for a fallout with Earl should that be needed, and preparing a plane for the absolute worst.
Over the objections of his bodyguards, he descended into the crowd, slapping backs and shaking hands, turning his attention to the matter at hand so that he could enjoy the adulation and excitement. Despite the protests speckling his centers of power, despite the growing organizations calling for an end to corruption, he was beloved by nearly all.
And he didn't intend to lose that.
Minneapolis trembled beneath the boots of hundreds of marchers, marchers he had organized and rallied. Samuel listened to their shouts and smiled sharply. It seems Olson's attempts at holding back the tide had failed, even with the desperate compromises that had been made. The revolution was coming to Minnesota too, even if the process was slow and fitful, for most wanted to see MacArthur defeated first. Indeed, he had argued with his comrades about that, but his desire to keep up the pressure on capitalists had triumphed.
And so once more, revolutionaries marched through the city streets, cheering and chanting. The snow couldn't stop them, as their endless tramping feet packed it down and the presence of so many seemed to warm the air. Once more, they stood outside the state capitol building, demanding the right to have the fruits of their own labor, demanding greater contributions to the war effort, demanding an end to corruption in the rationing system.
Once more, they called on people to join them, and once more some answered.
A crowd boiled in the streets, large enough for their shouts to shake the world, large enough to make police and militias look nervous, but they recognized the faces of their comrades and chose to hold back. This was not a counterrevolutionary plot, but workers demanding more.
Samuel leapt up onto a convenient pile of crates, probably from someone else's rally and began to speak. Much of what he was saying was drowned out by the crowd, but he made sure they understood the thrust of his demands. And then boldly he strode forth and took a sheet of paper, labeled with his every demand, and strode forth to the very doors of the capitol building, ice crunching underfoot with every step.
No one moved to stop him. He hammered it onto the doors, reading off every line to the applause and shouting of the crowd, then he swept down and joined his supporters once more. His victory was inevitable.
William stood and watched with the rest of his militia as the would-be revolutionaries made fools of themselves, shouting like a bunch of unruly. He would have left for the fighting in the south, but he feared that if someone didn't keep an eye on things, some of Olson's Boys would start a fight with he people shouting and raving and things would unravel.
So he had persuaded his comrades to stay here and watch. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, he didn't want the revolution to fail, he just wanted people to think. He had read Reed's book on the Russian Revolution, and learned the importance of working with even those who might not be ideologically perfect from the failures of the Bolsheviks.
Unfortunately, it sometimes seemed he was the only one who thought that.
But at least the protests ended peacefully after a few more pieces of paper had been slapped up. Those would be left alone, he would make sure of it.
Someone had to keep the peace while the fighting went on and the revolutionaries struggled against reaction.
The union meeting hall at Fargo had not been silent for years. It was a hub of the city, as important as city hall, and it was far more vibrant. Political debates and dances occupied the public sections day and night, while the backrooms were full of committees and organizations planning strikes and protests.
But this night, it was louder than ever. Rumors had spread of all sorts of insanity, and people were trying to decide what to do about it. Did they need to arm themselves? Should they take to the barricades? They didn't even have barricades!
The arguments went back and forth, and people grew increasingly tense. Someone had cut the telegraph lines that led to Minneapolis, and that silence had turned from an irritant to an omen for many.
Emma blew on a cigarette and contemplated the only thing that was certain: that there had been a protest in Minneapolis. She didn't even know what the protest had been for, not for certain. There was too much rumor floating around. She guessed it was one in favor of Olson, the man had certainly managed to gain some popularity, even as everything fell apart around him.
But for Olson or against him, it might have been dispersed by violence. And that meant something would have to be done...unless people were panicking of course.
She gnawed on her cigarette, watched the smoke rise, and tried to judge the mood. If she was too aggressive, she would start a fight no one needed. If she as too peaceful, she would be recalled and someone else would be put in her place.
She thought of things she had said before and got up to speak. Maybe things would be kept on course...
The news of the spread of revolutionary groups in Longist and Progressive territory is met with applause from many of the delegates, with the more radical ones proving far more enthusiastic in their approval. You are well aware that neither Long nor Olson desire a full transition to the dictatorship of the working class, and that there are elements in the CAS who would resist that as well.
But they will be defeated eventually, you are confident of that, whether on a battlefield or on a convention floor. And some of the concerns people have raised about the ardor of the groups are valid: Long and Olson could be dangerous enemies, and if you are forced to turn on them, that would prove damaging both militarily and politically.
But they are potential enemies already, and internal revolutions would prevent them from doing any more harm or forcing any more compromises on you.
But they are keeping to their agreements, at least the letter of them, with both beginning a transition to pseudo-socialist economics, limited by both the material conditions and their own desires. You doubt either of them intends to transition themselves out of power, but that might happen regardless.
With that in mind, you issue a directive to the would-be revolutionaries who live under the nominal control of your allies, calling upon them to...
[][FOC] Focus on organizing and laying a groundwork for a rival political group to contest their dominance.
[][FOC Focus on agitating for a faster economic and political transition.
[][FOC Focus on encouraging a military victory as fast as possible, for the civil war is leading to the deaths of thousands from disease and hunger, let alone the deaths on the battlefield.
[][FOC] Focus on preparations for enduring a crackdown and overthrowing your allies of convenience.
It's heady to hear about all the changes people are making. They are recognizing their bigotries and prejudices as obstacles, they are pushing for liberation in every sphere possible. It's haphazard and inefficient, with every locality having different priorities and different approaches, but its still a beautiful thing to see. Syndicalists, Marxists, and anarchists are united in their approval, even as some in their ranks join other factions in fearing that this is too much, too fast, that it might provoke a backlash, that some of the proposals might not be good ideas...there are so many objections, and you honestly find them tiresome, even as you force yourself to acknowledge the concerns. It's not just members of the CAS who are worried, there have been complaints from workers about some of the changes, especially the various calendar modifications. Some of those worry you too, honestly. Who thought it was a good idea to make the week ten days long and not add in further rest days?
But in truth, that backlash is hardly significant, and it will remain unimportant so long as you remain victorious. The CAS is already discussing a number of rules, including formalizing it being legal for women to join the Revolutionary Army, a number of reforms to clamp down on racial discrimination, the decriminalization of all consenting sexual relationships between adults, sweeping changes to education, the expansion of funding for revolutionary art, and more.
The mood is bubbling over with enthusiasm, and reform after reform is all but certain to be passed. How well they will be followed and maintained is a different question, but it's one that must be dealt with later. Now, what sort of reform will you focus on first.
[][FUT] Further the cause of sexual liberation. Undo the archaic and stifling laws that shame people, formally legalize and regulate prostitution, and begin providing legal support to those who do not conform to their sex.
[][FUT] Formally abolish marriage as a legal institute, recognize alternative partnerships, and begin sponsoring more socialist-friendly institutions of childcare and the family life, as well as further research into family life for the future.
[][FUT] Formally democratize education, introduce radical new methods of teaching and discipline, and transform every aspect of schooling from primary school to university.
[][FUT] Support provocative and revolutionary art in both method and meaning, from turning entire buildings into canvases worked by hundreds to abolishing all censorship on what can be shown on film.
[][FUT] Break the temporal power churches have, begin to establish a true separation between church and state. Mandate all education be secular, strip away the protections of priests, and begin experimenting with alternatives to traditional religion.
The streets of Baton Rouge were filled with protestors. They carried signs and flags, mingling the symbols of Long's government and the "revolutionary rascals" up north. It was a strangely mixed crowd, with dockworkers and dislocated farmers rubbing shoulders with disaffected bureaucrats and the remnants of the old Louisiana upper crust. None of the groups liked each other, and some of them didn't even like the slogans they were shouting, but draping yourself in red was a reliable way to avoid the attention of the Minutemen.
Long looked down on the crowd from the hastily set-up podium and smiled wide. Things weren't exactly predictable, and so much was up to chance, but he did love gambling. And right now, the dice were coming up the way he wanted.
His mind drifted as he made the usual speech, giving platitudes and charm, and distributing ample largesse, then meeting the demands of the crowd in a way that made it seem like a gift from him to them. There would be more licenses for newspapers tomorrow, and more of them would be critical of him and his allies, but that wasn't going to shake him.
He was the Kingfish, and these protests wouldn't do more than ruffle his feathers. He was already making arrangements for a fallout with Earl should that be needed, and preparing a plane for the absolute worst.
Over the objections of his bodyguards, he descended into the crowd, slapping backs and shaking hands, turning his attention to the matter at hand so that he could enjoy the adulation and excitement. Despite the protests speckling his centers of power, despite the growing organizations calling for an end to corruption, he was beloved by nearly all.
And he didn't intend to lose that.
Minneapolis trembled beneath the boots of hundreds of marchers, marchers he had organized and rallied. Samuel listened to their shouts and smiled sharply. It seems Olson's attempts at holding back the tide had failed, even with the desperate compromises that had been made. The revolution was coming to Minnesota too, even if the process was slow and fitful, for most wanted to see MacArthur defeated first. Indeed, he had argued with his comrades about that, but his desire to keep up the pressure on capitalists had triumphed.
And so once more, revolutionaries marched through the city streets, cheering and chanting. The snow couldn't stop them, as their endless tramping feet packed it down and the presence of so many seemed to warm the air. Once more, they stood outside the state capitol building, demanding the right to have the fruits of their own labor, demanding greater contributions to the war effort, demanding an end to corruption in the rationing system.
Once more, they called on people to join them, and once more some answered.
A crowd boiled in the streets, large enough for their shouts to shake the world, large enough to make police and militias look nervous, but they recognized the faces of their comrades and chose to hold back. This was not a counterrevolutionary plot, but workers demanding more.
Samuel leapt up onto a convenient pile of crates, probably from someone else's rally and began to speak. Much of what he was saying was drowned out by the crowd, but he made sure they understood the thrust of his demands. And then boldly he strode forth and took a sheet of paper, labeled with his every demand, and strode forth to the very doors of the capitol building, ice crunching underfoot with every step.
No one moved to stop him. He hammered it onto the doors, reading off every line to the applause and shouting of the crowd, then he swept down and joined his supporters once more. His victory was inevitable.
William stood and watched with the rest of his militia as the would-be revolutionaries made fools of themselves, shouting like a bunch of unruly. He would have left for the fighting in the south, but he feared that if someone didn't keep an eye on things, some of Olson's Boys would start a fight with he people shouting and raving and things would unravel.
So he had persuaded his comrades to stay here and watch. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, he didn't want the revolution to fail, he just wanted people to think. He had read Reed's book on the Russian Revolution, and learned the importance of working with even those who might not be ideologically perfect from the failures of the Bolsheviks.
Unfortunately, it sometimes seemed he was the only one who thought that.
But at least the protests ended peacefully after a few more pieces of paper had been slapped up. Those would be left alone, he would make sure of it.
Someone had to keep the peace while the fighting went on and the revolutionaries struggled against reaction.
The union meeting hall at Fargo had not been silent for years. It was a hub of the city, as important as city hall, and it was far more vibrant. Political debates and dances occupied the public sections day and night, while the backrooms were full of committees and organizations planning strikes and protests.
But this night, it was louder than ever. Rumors had spread of all sorts of insanity, and people were trying to decide what to do about it. Did they need to arm themselves? Should they take to the barricades? They didn't even have barricades!
The arguments went back and forth, and people grew increasingly tense. Someone had cut the telegraph lines that led to Minneapolis, and that silence had turned from an irritant to an omen for many.
Emma blew on a cigarette and contemplated the only thing that was certain: that there had been a protest in Minneapolis. She didn't even know what the protest had been for, not for certain. There was too much rumor floating around. She guessed it was one in favor of Olson, the man had certainly managed to gain some popularity, even as everything fell apart around him.
But for Olson or against him, it might have been dispersed by violence. And that meant something would have to be done...unless people were panicking of course.
She gnawed on her cigarette, watched the smoke rise, and tried to judge the mood. If she was too aggressive, she would start a fight no one needed. If she as too peaceful, she would be recalled and someone else would be put in her place.
She thought of things she had said before and got up to speak. Maybe things would be kept on course...
The news of the spread of revolutionary groups in Longist and Progressive territory is met with applause from many of the delegates, with the more radical ones proving far more enthusiastic in their approval. You are well aware that neither Long nor Olson desire a full transition to the dictatorship of the working class, and that there are elements in the CAS who would resist that as well.
But they will be defeated eventually, you are confident of that, whether on a battlefield or on a convention floor. And some of the concerns people have raised about the ardor of the groups are valid: Long and Olson could be dangerous enemies, and if you are forced to turn on them, that would prove damaging both militarily and politically.
But they are potential enemies already, and internal revolutions would prevent them from doing any more harm or forcing any more compromises on you.
But they are keeping to their agreements, at least the letter of them, with both beginning a transition to pseudo-socialist economics, limited by both the material conditions and their own desires. You doubt either of them intends to transition themselves out of power, but that might happen regardless.
With that in mind, you issue a directive to the would-be revolutionaries who live under the nominal control of your allies, calling upon them to...
[][FOC] Focus on organizing and laying a groundwork for a rival political group to contest their dominance.
[][FOC Focus on agitating for a faster economic and political transition.
[][FOC Focus on encouraging a military victory as fast as possible, for the civil war is leading to the deaths of thousands from disease and hunger, let alone the deaths on the battlefield.
[][FOC] Focus on preparations for enduring a crackdown and overthrowing your allies of convenience.