Steer the Steady Course: 2 Influence, 1 Gravitas, 5+46+59+10 = 120
It's the longest month you have had since the last election season. The ranks of the SPA have exploded since then, and so has the ideological diversity. You make promises to some, assuring them that you are still dedicated to the revolution, but you convince them that they need to wait, that the moment is not yet here...and to others you had to egg them on, to push them to greater heights, as the situation devolved. Accusations echoed through SPA offices, as people called each others counterrevolutionaries and agent provocateurs and cowards and madmen. You run around again and again, pouring oil on troubled water, metaphorically banging people's heads together, soothing bruised egos, doing everything you can to keep people together.
You remind them of the years you have spent writing and fighting for the worker's cause, the rising tide of the revolution, the confidence you have in your success. You take every rhetorical weapon you have and wield it like a scalpel, cutting through demands to let the strikes continue and requests to make them end.
Browder, Flynn, Gitlow, Wilson, Thomas, LaGuardia, Norris, Sadler, Lewis...meeting after meeting, argument after argument, you bring people around to your point of view and they start bringing pressure down onto the lower ranks. And slowly, gradually, the strikes slow down.
It took endless hours of wrangling and dealing, but you created a working compromise, one that sees the strikes ease off slowly week by week and tensions within the party calm.
At the end of the month, you collapse into bed, too drained to even speak, but a smile spreads across your face.
You did it. You kept the party together.
Result: Strikes begin to slow down and slowly die off, party unity increased, increase in support from everyone.
Appoint a Red Grange Liaison: 1 Influence, 7
It's a chaotic month for more than just you. A vicious war of words and weapons is raging throughout the countryside as the Midwest begins to bleed once again, and the farmer's cooperatives are by no means excluded from this.
Most of the people you try to meet with are busy securing weapons purchases, organizing Red Guards units, meeting with various communities, and generally trying to keep things in SPA-controlled rural territory stable.
You do however eventually get Benjamin Stevens to meet with you. He's skinnier than he was when you last saw him, and he has a fresh scar on his wrist, but he's willing to do the job you give him.
He tells you his main priorities will be getting new recruits into the SPA's ranks and getting the Red Guards to protect them organized and equipped. Under the circumstances, you can't disagree.
Result: Gain subordinate Benjamin Stevens with the following trait: Rural soldier. (+10 to Sending Union Organizers to rural areas, +10 to actions involving recruiting, organizing, or supplying troops in rural areas)
Special Foods: 1 Temporary Union Influence, 50+5 = 55
It's nothing grand. There are no brave speeches or stirring songs, no dramatic ceremonies. Herbs are purchased and planted, sprouts of mint and basil and rosemary scattered across the slowly growing gardens, fresh sprigs of green rising from the earth. They flavor soups and stews, and occasionally a few leaves are taken for home use.
It's not something spoken widely of, but it's appreciated all the same. It shows that the SPA cares about more than their grand revolution.
Result: Morale of supporters improved, slight increase in support from the Teamster's Union, the SPU, and the AFL-CIO.
Codes of Conduct: 2 Influence, 84+28+10 = 122
There are many things a soldier must be. They must be brave, obedient, and disciplined. A member of the Red Guards must be all those things and more. They must also be politically aware and engaged, be a dedicated leftist, be compassionate to their enemies...but they must also be willing to kill those enemies on the field of battle. You and Butler, among others, spend a long time trying to create the code that will encourage those who fight for your cause to have all those traits.
First, there is the matter of how restrictive it is. Butler wants the code to be exactly the same for each unit, with no allowance for local variation. "An army should have the same rules for every soldier," he insists.
However, the decentralized nature of the Red Guards has left many of you with...concerns about how viable that would be, and fear the consequences of being so restrictive. A number of alternatives have been suggested. In the end, the decision is that...
[] [CENT] There will be one code for every unit.
[] [CENT] There will be a small set of possible codes to allow for some limited flexibility.
[] [CENT] Each section of the code will have a few permitted variants for the individual units to accept by voting.
[] [CENT] The published code will simply be an example for the units to follow.
Next, you need to decide what the code will emphasize most. There are a variety of possibilities, from the political nature of the struggle to the importance of good conduct towards surrendered enemies and civilians.
You decide to list which section will get the most emphasis...
[] [SECT] The political nature of the struggle
[] [SECT] Good conduct to your fellow soldiers, including honesty, fairness, and bravery
[] [SECT] Good conduct to civilians, including honesty, mercy, and compassion
[] [SECT] Obedience, order, and discipline
Lastly, you must decide how stern and harsh the proscribed punishments should be...
[] [STERN] Very harsh. Immediate execution for desertion, public executions for rape and looting, beatings for lesser misconduct.
[] [STERN] Moderately harsh. Public execution for desertion, beatings, imprisonment, and possible execution for rape and looting, beatings and verbal lecturing for lesser misconduct.
[] [STERN] Slightly harsh. Imprisonment, beatings, and possible execution for desertion, imprisonment, beatings, and possible execution for rape and looting, verbal lecturing and shaming for lesser misconduct.
Butler threatens to walk out and join the Longists if execution isn't at least a possibility for rape or desertion.
After the proposed code of conduct is published, it will be debated and argued about. Some may leave rather than follow it, some may submit their own modifications. The SPA and CSA will argue about it as well, especially since there is currently no official way for them to influence how the Red Guards interpret it's strictures. You will have to keep that in mind, lest you cause mass desertions or damage the fragile unity you have worked so hard to strengthen.
Anti-Corruption Investigation: 1 Influence, 51
You order a thorough investigation, practically a purge...but you want to make sure you have ample evidence in hand before you remove a single individual from their position.
Books are combed through, reports analyzed. Nearly a hundred people are recruited to read the immense quantities of paperwork produced. Already irregularities are being found and listed, stack after stack after stack of them. Many are likely to be simple errors, many more have reasonable explanations. But doubtless some of them are attempts at hiding bribes and theft and other incidents of corruption.
And those responsible will be punished. No matter their rank or position.
Result: Investigations have begun.
Internal Party Discipline: 1 Influence, 58+15 = 73
As the evidence is gathered, you decide to give everyone one last chance to shape up. You send a memo to every SPA branch office in the country, and you give a speech to the CSA. Both say the same thing.
"We are on the edge of something great and glorious. The machine of capital is shuddering and shrieking, its gears ground to a halt, its pipes cracked and rusted, its wires torn and frayed. But we must make certain that what we will build to replace it is better. None of us are perfect, and we should not expect perfection.
But I know some of you have taken bribes. Some have traded favors. Some have embezzled. Some have abused your powers and misused the trust your comrades have. And I am going to ask you to stop. We must be better than that. And we will not tolerate it."
To make your point clearer, you have a number of figures of varying ranks who didn't do a great job hiding their tracks tried and personally attend each one. Some are found innocent, some are found guilty. The guilty are punished fairly but severely.
You have made your point. Now it's time to see if people have listened.
Result: Despite alienating some supporters, you have made your point amply clear.
A Generous Gesture: 1 Influence, 49+10 = 59
The SPA Cadres are operating independently of each other, but at the same time they are beginning to coordinate and cooperate, working together with each other and with you. It's not the mighty smashing fist it once was. It's something else...it's like a pack of wolves, or the hundred heads of the hydra.
It's wonderful.
Result: SPA Cadres gain another Influence, action completes.
Unity in the Melting Pot: 1 Influence, 29+15 = 44 +4+15 = 63 (Omake)
Your efforts continue. Instructions are sent out to the SPA cadres and union branches, encouraging them to reach out to immigrant communities. More translators are recruited from various groups, especially the Chinese and Japanese. Ties between various communities are established. And every chance you get, you keep emphasizing the importance of unity and respect.
From north to south, from east to west, the workers of the world are one. And they must stand united if they are to throw off their chains. Every emphasis is put on how important this is. Mutual respect is the watchword of the day.
Sadler throws herself into agitating for it, speaking through the radio to ensure as many as possible can hear her fiery denunciations of "parochial concerns" and "accepting the artificial divisions of capitalism" and encouraging people to reach out to others they might not normally have.
There are still many vile legacies embedded in America's history, still many steps that need to be taken before there can be something resembling justice. And not everyone is moved by your entreaties. For every man who shares his lunch with an immigrant coworker or makes sure to invite them to a union meeting, there are two or three who simply ignore your words.
But it's a start. And that's more than enough.
Result: Existing prejudices are challenged, outreach to immigrant groups increased, efforts are being made even if they fall short of what would be ideal.
Personal Action: Spend Time With Your Family
The month might be a hectic one, but you make time for your family. And since you promised that you would attend one of the strikes in a show of solidarity, you decide to make a day of it. You are carrying your sign, one Hannah made for you. On your other side, Louise has her arm entangled with yours. Hannah skips alongside you, smiling and waving at the marching workers as you surround the clothing factory.
The guard takes one look at the large crowd of garment makers approaching and the even larger crowd behind them and takes off running so fast that his hat flies off.
The three of you hang around the strike for a bit more. You are dragooned into giving a speech, and you give a few lines to reporters. Hannah introduces you to a boy she met at the SPA officers who stutters and blushes as you shake his hand, and then the three of you depart for Central Park, to enjoy the music and gardens and the picnic you have arranged to be waiting for the three of you...
And for the rest of the day, the two most important women in your life are the only things you give a damn about.
Focus: Organize the Farmworkers
With your continued efforts in the rural areas of the country and the growing unrest (which has led to a painful spike in food prices), many have begun agreeing that there is a need to focus on organizing the dispossessed and desperate farmworkers and hired hands. Finally.
These people need syndicalism, they just don't know it yet. But though their cruel masters make significant efforts to prevent their radicalization, they will inevitably fail. The final conflict draws nearer by the day...
Result: 1 month left.
Report from the Coordination Committee: 2 Influence on Self-Defense Units, 97+56+15 = 168
The ranks of the Self-Defense Units explode. Hundreds of men, and more than a few women, sign up to protect their homes from the dozens of different threats. They might not have many weapons, or more training then the pointers local Red Guards gave them, but they are a welcome addition nonetheless as pinpricks of violence spring up across the country as people seek to settle feuds or gain advantages. You even hear the occasional rumor of entire sections of states falling under the effective control of warlords, although you dismiss such nonsense. This isn't China, things are nowhere near that bad.
Regardless of the truth, towns and villages and rural cooperatives are now far better defended during the petty conflicts...and if it comes to civil war, these self-defense forces might make the difference between victory and defeat.
Report from the State Legislative Committee: 2 Influence on Election Reform, 100+27-21 = 106
Election reform has begun. Bureaucrats look through voting rolls, cutting names out of those who are identified as potential reactionaries. New voting locations are opened in the heart of working-class neighborhoods, while old ones that favored the rich are removed and deemed unnecessary. Initiatives to encourage voting are begun, door-to-door volunteers combing through friendly neighborhoods to ensure people are inclined to vote the right way.
And one clever bureaucrat has a brilliant stroke of inspiration, establishing a Center For Election Security in New York City, where ballots are to be transported and then counted...by SPA-appointed staff, of course. The idea soon spreads across the country, with any SPA-influenced state gaining such a center in a place where its security can be guaranteed. The news is lost in the shuffle of papers and the chaos enveloping the country.
But it means you can effectively decide if you win a state election, and by how much...
Report from Norman Thomas: 3 Influence on Castigate the Federal Government, 67+39+54+10 = 170
While Norman is curious and thinks finding out what exactly is going on might be important, he agrees to suspend the investigation in favor of really making it clear how badly the federal government has messed up.
He starts by counting the list of major disasters since the election in 1932, the sort of events that were destabilizing to society and devastating to many: the Dust Bowl, the Bleeding Midwest, Long's Purge, the New York Rising, and many many more. General Strikes and riots, assassinations and uprisings, open gunfights in city streets and banditry in rural hinterlands. He describes the spate of self-immolating priests in Kentucky, the disease outbreak in Nevada, the bombing campaigns in the Black Belt.
Every crisis, many of which you barely remember, gets dragged up. And each time, Thomas demands to know what the federal government did to stop it, to address it, to fix it. And each time, the ranks of SPA supporters bellow out "Nothing!"
Speeches are given around the country, demanding that the government explain its lack of action. Hoover and Curtis are derided, and near the entirety of Congress is as well, but also the entire system, from the way a man could be elected despite being the most hated figure in the country to the total lack of setup to handle what happens if a President is sick or crippled. Every failure and flaw in the American system is listed.
And the servants of that corrupt, failing system, are not given a chance to hide away. People demand answers from their elected representatives, from the appointed judges, from civil servants, from anyone and everyone.
And the American government has no answers to give. As people seek any explanation, you prepare to give them one...and it must be given soon, lest they hear something else...
Report from Smedley Butler: 2 Influence on Establish Training Camps, 94+31+20 = 145
With his full attention on the training camps, the program is expanded in size and scope. More and more camps are constructed, a network running throughout a dozen states. Teachers are sent to each one, to create not just soldiers, but units skilled in many functions: former military engineers and officers, even a few pilots. Those who go through them are not just taught political theory and the art of soldiering, they are taught how to lead men in battle. Some are given experience with detonations, others with piloting. There are limits - shortages of weapons mean that they don't get as much experience on the range as Butler would like, and you have barely any heavy weapons at all, although a trickle does begin to gradually flow in from a few seized factories and the rare Syndintern shipment.
But though the training is hard, and has frustrating limitations, the men undergoing it undeniably become better soldiers, perhaps not as good as the professional volunteers of the Federal Army but more than a match for Pinkerton thugs and reactionary militias.
Report from Charles Schenk: 2 Influence on Canadian Contacts, 41+89 = 130, 1 Influence on Sending Spies to New Orleans, 84+10 = 94
"There are two ways for people to be snuck out of Canada: going through the sparsely populated plains, where the border is barely patrolled due to its great expanse and the low population. The obstacle here is more getting to the border, although the Canadian government is investing increasing amounts of money in fortifying their southern border as syndicalism rises to the south. (These fortifications would make a viable target for attack and sabotage. They are each fairly isolated from each other and have large amounts of arms. Sneak in, kill the soldiers, steal the weapons, blow up the base)
The second is more likely to be helpful to our northern comrades. Go through the cities. There is a significant, albeit decreasing, amount of traffic in between the US and Canada. As long as that is maintained, we can smuggle people through. I have begun working on establishing trusted contacts in the border guards and looking for reliable ways to conceal people..."
-Report from Charles Schenk on the Second Underground Railway.
You find a report from Charles on your desk one day. It doesn't look like the usual proposal for an attack on the New York Stock Exchange or seizure of federal arsenals...you open it, and find it to be his report on the Longist infiltration he said he would have an agent do...two days ago. You raise an eyebrow. That was fast.
The report is brief about who the agent is or why Schenk trusts him so, except to note that he is a "recent transplant to New Orleans" and has "swum in reactionary circles, although he has since repented of it." It also mentions you can ask Schenk for more information in private, but he doesn't want it written down.
You make a mental note to ask him later and then keep reading. The spy, codenamed Century, arrived in New Orleans and joined the America First Party, circulating in social functions and becoming a staffer for one of the Louisiana politicians who compete for Long's favor.
While currently, he is not in a position to do much more than send the occasional rumor your way, he has been able to give you some more information about Long's coalition.
First, and least awful, are the Longists. While they still want to maintain capitalism, and rarely care about social justice, they are not actively interested in maintaining the murderous injustices of Jim Crow and recognize the systemic inequalities of capitalism, which they propose to resolve through Long's "Share Our Wealth" program, which includes things like a mass redistribution of the property of "treasonous individuals," the establishment of state-managed food guarantees and healthcare, and other such initiatives. There are many not too different from them in your own ranks.
They are closely allied to the Populist faction, which is generally similar except they actively prioritize the suppression of minority populations and the maintenance of bourgeois morality.
Next, there are the Bourbons, primarily concerned with maintaining their own privileges. They are largely irrelevant, mostly urging on more suppression of minorities and little else. They have a staunch ally in the form of the White Nationalists, who similarly advocate for the "purification" of the American nation by enslaving and exterminating minority populations. They come in many forms, most of whom hate each other, something Long has exploited to keep them from growing too strong, to the point where he has recruited several units of all-colored Minutemen.
Finally, there are the Corporatists and the Fordists, both of whom support Long in the hopes that he can successfully suppress syndicalism and because they desire to reap the profits from being his favored servants. They tend to oppose "excessive" welfare measures, with the Fordists further opposing any reduction in the suppression of minorities.
Report from the SPA Cadres: 3 Influence on Factory Seizures, 4+6+31+10 = 51
This is not a month of honor and glory. There are no dynamic speeches, no heroic poses, no titanic battles of revolution against reaction.
What there is is a hundred little actions, each a pinprick...but enough pinprick holes will empty any container.
Managers and owners are kicked to the street, left to rot in the way that used to happen to their workers. They rant and rave impotently, howling in fury as the factories are taken over. First, it happens in Chicago, then in New York City, then Seattle, then Toledo, then Minnesota...then mines are seized as well. Copper and iron and coal flow into cities and goods of all kinds flow out. Tools and machinery, the things of industry yes, but also toys for children and lovingly-bound books...and guns and grenades to protect those fighting for their rights.
Where they can, police and militias and strikebreakers attack the masses in the midst of their uprising, but they are outnumbered and flagging, and for every leader they arrest or attack, another five rise up to urge the workers on harder.
Their boss watched impotently from the side of the street as they streamed into the factory, dozens of workers, laughing and cheering. A few stunned bodies were dragged off to one side and given rudimentary medical treatment before being handed over to the waiting police. Alex thought that if the fat bastard got any redder, his head would explode from the sheer amount of blood in it. "This. This. This. This is an outrage, damn you! This goes against the law, this goes against sanity! Who the hell do you think you are, to seize my?"
The boss kept speaking, his voice trembling with rage, until two of the cops decided they'd had enough and grabbed him, dragging him off behind the factory. There was a cry of pain, quickly muffled.
But Alex had more important things to think about as he paced through the factory doors, eventually settling down behind his machine.
"Alright, gents, there's been three dozen trucks requested for us to make. Let's get started!" their elected foremen shouted.
Someone else shouted out "Beer's on me if we finish before noon!"
Everyone laughed. And for the first time, Alex was smiling while he worked.
Still, not every seizure is a success. Some factories are too well defended, or the workers are too weak. In some cases, confusion and chaos and false consciousnesses and capital's promises have left workers divided, fighting amongst themselves. And even where the factories and mines were taken, even when the battles over control of rails were won, the workers often found themselves struggling to manage the exchanges and handle the aftermath of their conflicts, especially as the army, alarmed by the slew of attacks against private property, began to organize themselves, preparing to crush this uprising...at least until things began to slow, and MacArthur decided to applaud you for your show of sanity and "determination to make your fellows follow the rule of law before it has to be enforced on you."
Smug bastard. But you satisfy yourself by reading the reports of the attempted seizures, successes and failures both. You picture what happened in your mind...and you smile.
Members of the Security Division, twenty of them, formed a double line of gray-suited men in intimidating masks, carrying rifles with gleaming bayonets. As the crowd of workers advanced on them, they began to tremble, before their leader barked a command.
The barrels of their guns rose, each one trembling, as they began to back away, each man looking to make sure he wasn't alone against what appeared to be a rapacious horde.
Shots rang out, cutting into flesh and shattering bone, drawing great cries of fear and pain. But they also drew shouts of rage, and the crowd did not stop or slow. The wounded were hauled out of the way and the rest rushed forwards, swinging their clubs and stabbing their knives, and when the red haze faded from their minds, they found themselves in charge of the factory and twenty hunks of once-humanoid flesh.
Evan Jones, proud manager of a steel foundry, knew when to give up. His hands trembling, he handed the keyring to a man who he had once considered a friend. There was no malice in the gazes directed at him, just cool contempt. He started back and croaked out a single sound, his throat too dry for it to be a word.
But he was understood nevertheless. "This is necessary. We worked here, we sweated and bled. We have the right to own it, to decide our future democratically..."
Evan tried to ask where he would go now, what he could do. Three generations of his family, money and sweat and property were tied up in that foundry. That foundry he no longer owned.
"Why don't you join us? We could use an accountant, and you'll get to vote on how we run the foundry. You can still be part of things. Just because they've changed doesn't mean they are over."
Will strode out of the mine, white flag waving over his head. Behind him, forty men from the miner's union and their families sheltered in the tunnels, rifles and improvised grenades at the ready. Before him stood two hundred men, in uniforms of the Montana National Guard...but with the flag patches and labels switched out.
Their leader sneered down at him and stroked his mustache. " A red crawling out of his hole to surrender? It seems you have more sense than the rest of your comrades."
Will stiffened his back and stared up at the officer, wishing the bastard wasn't so tall. "By the laws of this state, we have the right to strike and occupy our workplace, and the National Guard is not to be called out unless given permission by Congress."
"We aren't the National Guards. We are hired men who work for the company that owns the mine. Exterminators, specifically."
The man leaned forward, baring his teeth. "They had a problem with rats and frogs sneaking across the ocean. So we were sent to clear out the mine. Do it yourself, or we'll do it for you."
As the two men spoke, trading threats and barbs, soldiers moved up, dragging up machine guns and mortars, piling up sandbags. Will could see they weren't going to give up...but he wasn't going to abandon the mine that was rightfully theirs, that they had already fought for once.
He retreated, promising to speak with his fellows about terms. He came back, asking for safe passage for women and children.
The commander of the National Guards stared at him with cold eyes. "If you didn't want your families to be involved, you should have kept them out of this rebellion. They are rebelling against the values of this country, they are rebelling against the laws of this country. Armed rebellion. You infected them with this insanity, you led them into it."
Will flinched away, and fled back. "You will all surrender, or there will be no further chances. Sergeant, launch a single round their way. Make it clear I am being serious."
The sergeant flinched at the command, but he gave the orders to the mortar crew all the same. He had them land it well short of the mine entrance, but he had them launch a shell all the same.
And he looked away as the miners walked out, and he looked away as they were led away in chains, men in one direction, women in another, children in a third.
Result: Many factories, farms, mines, and rails seized in a somewhat haphazard fashion, with the number of new seizures steadily dropping. The exchange of goods and services is currently somewhat chaotic, and will continue to be so until steps are taken to formalize it. +8 Resources per month. Your enemies grow more fearful, and begin readying themselves for war...
