To Struggle and Strive: The Combined Syndicates of America in 1932. A Kaiserreich Quest
- Thread starter notbirdofprey
- Start date
- Historic
- Location
- Minnesota
[X] Plan: Juneteenth and Economic Strides Forward
Vote closed
Reed: +5, +12, +0, +10, +15, +0, +15, +20, +0, +7, +0, +0, +20, +0
Coordination Committee: +5, +5
State Legislative Committee: -12,+0, -12, +0
Norman Thomas: +0, +0, +10, +0
Smedley Butler: +10, +0
Charles Schenk: +10, +10, +0
Ben Stevens: +5, +5
Propaganda Committee: +5, +0, +5, +0, +10, +0
SPA Cadres: +5, +0, +0, +0
The RAF: +15-10
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- Location
- Somewhere in the area
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
Actions
| Rural-Urban Exchanges | 55+5=60 | DC: 20. |
| Union-Integrated Planning (2 months remain) | 10+26+12=48 | DC: 45/100/165. |
| Appoint Union Representative | 8+10=18 | DC: 0/Variable/Variable. |
| State Minority Rights | 99+2+15=116+5=121 | DC: 25/80/120. |
| A Juneteenth Celebration | 5+15=20 | DC: 0. |
| Justice for Jim Crow | 70+72+20=162 | DC: 20/40/80/100. |
| Why the Resistance? | 90+11+7=108+5=113 | DC: 55/110/165. |
| Find What They Want | 48=48 | DC: 10. |
| A Democratic Chain of Command? | 17+82+20=119 | DC: 30/60/90. |
Subordinate Actions
| The Coordination Committee | Meat and Potatoes: 17+5=22 Refugee Rescuing: 82+5=87 | DC: 0. DC: 35/70/105. |
| The State Legislative Committee | Limited Food Prices: 75+21-12=84 Bureaucratic Modifications: 79+65-12=132 | DC: 30/50/60. DC: 25. |
| Norman Thomas | Railway Socialism: 4+96=100 The Big Bill: 95+4+10=109 | DC: 30/60/90. DC: 25/65/100. |
| Smedley Butler | Instilling Discipline, Pt. 2: 60+54+10=124 | DC: 25/50/80/110. |
| Charles Schenk | A Program of Subversion: 6+1+10=16 Identify the Leadership: 60+10=70 | DC: 45/90/135. DC: 15/35/55. |
| Ben Stevens | Famine Relief: 39+5=44 Famine Relief: 64+5=69 | DC: 15 DC: 15 |
| The Propaganda Committee | Posters and Pamphlets: 56+39+5=100 Newspaper Distribution: 52+19+5=76 Expand Rural Propaganda: 16+66+10=92 | DC: 10/50/80. DC: 15/30/45/60/100. DC: 40/80/120. |
| SPA Cadres | Public Libraries: 23+5=28 The Union Home: 47+89=136 Agitate for Non-Intervention: 72=72 | DC: 10/40/70/100. DC: 10/35/60/90. DC: 40/50/60. |
Associate Actions
| Red Army Faction | Sabotage Records: 24+15-10=29 | DC: 15/35/50/80. |
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Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Well, Union-Integrated Planning is off to a bumpy start, and Schenk screwed up somewhere.
But overall, not a terrible turn. We've had better ones certainly, but we've also had far worse ones.
But overall, not a terrible turn. We've had better ones certainly, but we've also had far worse ones.
June 1934 Results Pt. 1
Rural-Urban Exchanges: 1 Gravitas, 55+5 = 60
The delicate networks of trade that an industrial economy depends on are slowly reforged over the month.
The middlemen are installed in more and more places. In some, they are elected by the strike committees that have taken over factories. In others, they are hired by farming cooperatives or factories - many former bourgeoise find themselves taking on these roles, usually with appropriate supervision. Still other places have teamsters and railworkers taking responsibility for handling shipments.
It's economic anarchy, but it's functioning. There are backlogs and delays of everything, but store shelves are staying mostly stocked and factories are managing to stay running.
Socialism and syndicalism are triumphing as capitalism totters under mortal blow after mortal blow.
That is not to say it is still without problems. Communication is often inefficient, leading to long waits in which supplies run low and machines run to a halt.
Worse, the multiple mediums of exchange every enterprise must interact with has proven to be a confusing and difficult to manage system. Shipments are misdelivered accidentally or on purpose dozens of times per day in many cities, leading to frequent discontent, and the prices on many goods are still higher than they were before.
But they have been lowering and stabilizing, both positive signs. There needs to be more done of course, but not as much as Hoover or Long would have you believe.
Result: More efficient, but still messy, set of arrangements for the exchange of goods between various enterprises established.
Union-Integrated Planning: 2 Influence, 10+26+12 = 48
In a dingy room in a half-abandoned Chicago hotel, nearly two hundred men (and more than a few women) gather. Papers are laid out on the table. A massive map of the country covers half of it, cities and railways and mining centers and farmland laid out, some circled in red. On the other half are piles of diagrams and charts and tables, all covered in scrawls and ink stains.
"There's too much information, we can't possibly process it all," someone observes, typing frantically on a mechanical calculator.
"We need to decentralize," someone else comments.
The first planning session has come to an agreement after several hours of trying to collate all the available information: with their current level of resources, it was impractical to make any sort of grand plan.
Three alternatives were proposed, with varying degrees of popularity.
The first was to decentralize and have many independent planning commissions with an overall committee responsible purely for keeping track of the various targets and informing people of them. This proposal was broadly popular among many, for reasons both ideological and practical. Both syndicalists and orthodox socialists view this as a potential transition to their favored economic system, while those more pragmatically-inclined see numerous opportunities to do well by doing good.
The second was to broaden the planning commission. Instead of making specific goals for each sector of the economy, they would be responsible for instead creating general priorities that would be up to the individual industries and unions to follow. This is less popular for many reasons.
Last and least popular with the CSA, a significant increase to the budget of the planning commission would allow them to better handle the enormous task. With this swell of resources, they would be able to finance multiple branch offices and supply themselves with ample calculators and computers.
You decide to throw your weight behind...
[] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
[] Expand the budget. This endeavor will employ incredible numbers of educated people and huge quantities of resources, but if that is what is required to see it through properly, so be it. (-5 Resources, upkeep increases to -4 Resources a month.)
Appoint Union Representative: 1 Influence, 8+10 = 18
The Combined Syndicates are rather unwieldy due to their sheer size and chaotic structure. Lines of authority conflict, committees have overlapping jurisdictions, many unions ignore the CSA when it suits them too, delegates find themselves with conflicting instructions, vital sessions are half-attended.
It mostly works off grit, determination, and good faith. Even when members might not like each other, there is a sense of mutual respect and a desire for cooperation that keeps everything functional. And that sense has created a peculiar culture within the CSA.
So your proposal to create what is effectively an equivalent of the Speaker of the House with broadly similar power and authority clashes badly with that culture.
You push it through nonetheless. Many owe their positions to you, others simply feel obligated out of respect. The vote is a close-thing even then, passing only by a dozen votes.
And so you dare not attempt to press for a favored candidate.
Fortunately, the CSA itself is able to agree on a broadly popular individual: Frank Little, one of the IWW's most dedicated and passionate organizers, still bearing the scars of an attempted murder. His election is met with applause.
However, no matter how popular he is, various union groups and subcommittees and commissions, and other sections of the increasingly byzantine CSA are not happy with his appointment. They had championed their own candidate, a nobody you suspect was supported on the basis that he would not interfere, and they are not pleased with his utter failure.
That's a problem for another day. Now there is the question of Little. You truly admire the man and having a good working relationship will make him more effective, but the CSA values its independence. Being too close may annoy them.
[] Greet him formally, ensure the distance between party and union is maintained. (Commit 1 Influence. Little will have 2 Influence. Minimal CSA impact.)
[] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[] Greet him as a comrade and ally. Take him completely into your confidence. (Commit 2 Influence. Little will have 4 Influence. Major CSA Impact.)
Result: Some loss of support with the CSA, gain Frank Little (+3 to all Union actions) as subordinate for Union actions, gain spirit Passive Bureaucratic Resistance (-3 to all Union actions)
State Minority Rights: 1 Influence, 1 Gravitas, 99+2+15=116+4=120
The Reverend King stood silently, overcome with shock and sheer joy. His life had been a struggle. He had fled the South after his college had been ransacked by the KKK, taking his family, including his young son, north. Even here, in the lands that had fought to destroy slavery, he encountered vicious racism. And so he had stood against it with his flock, and in his faith he had found strength.
But to his joyous surprise, they did not stand alone. There were so many men and women willing to aid him in fighting racism, so long as it was done under the red banner. They seemed to have no desire to discriminate. In their ranks were Jews and Christians, blacks and whites, people of the East and the West. All that united them was their politics and their zeal. It made him a bit uncomfortable at times, for he could see it turned against the little church he had founded for those like him so easily, but it was that same zeal that made them such wonderful allies.
And he needed those allies, to keep the church safe, to protect his family, to guard him and his flock when they entered a segregated restaurant and sat themselves in the white section and refused to be moved.
And now he and those allies had triumphed. And as his shock faded, he straightened and began to speak.
"Brothers and sisters, I wish to thank you all. We have struggled against the forces of oppression and segregation. We have suffered many losses and drank of the bitter cup of defeat. But the Lord has smiled upon us. Free at last! Free at last! Thank G-d Almighty, we're free at last!"
And the congregation joined him. And right in the middle of the street, to the amazement of the newsboys who had told them, they began to sing "Hallelujah."
It takes the remaining conservatives and moderates by surprise. Despite all their arguing, all their virulence and eloquence, despite appeals to reason and proclamations of doom, something many thought would never happen has begun to sweep the nation.
Bill after bill is drafted in state after state. Suits are filed by the dozen in courts. The topic is on nearly everyone's lips: Equal rights for all.
Signs with quotes from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution underlined are waved, marches where black workers and white walk side by side and hand in hand are held, defiant speeches are given before schools and buses and restaurants are forcibly desegregated.
And the best part is that most of the momentum surged up from below. When word of the bills trickled down, many conservatives expected rage and fury to divide the Socialist Party of America, that daring to break the color line would break you. Instead, it has only further unified and galvanized the working class.
When a judge delivers his verdict, declaring "separate but equal a travesty and a falsehood. Forced separations mean forced inequality" the cheers and whoops and the singing of "John Brown's Body" were not organized.
When the final "Aye" was delivered on a bill banning discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, place of origin, and ancestry in Seattle, the celebrations that shook the city were not pre-planned.
Photos of the spontaneous demonstrations and articles describing the "racial madness" that overtook so many cities and even many smaller, more rural places covered the country within the week.
The message was delivered loud and clear. And if some don't like what they hear? They can measure their strength against what was just shown.
They will be found wanting.
Result: Despite fierce but disorganized opposition, broad civil rights bills have been passed and all manner of discriminatory laws have been struck down. This provoked a massive and largely spontaneous demonstration of support from the majority of SPA supporters, although it has also provoked immense hostility among some.
A Juneteenth Celebration: 1 Influence, 5+15=20
One bill that slipped by almost unnoticed was declaring June 19th, the day the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, a holiday and encouraging people to reflect upon the evils of slavery and racism and work against them, especially on that day.
Slightly embarrassing, not one state actually manages to get the bill passed before Juneteenth. You suppose you can't fault people wanting to get the substantive bills that forbade voter suppression and segregation or mandated affirmative action for minorities first.
But it does mean that people won't be paying attention to this new holiday for a year or so, by which point most of the impact will have faded.
Result: Juneteenth was made a holiday...after June 19th.
Justice for Jim Crow: 2 Influence, 70+72+20=162
Even as laws are being passed to grant what has been denied for far too long, representatives of many organizations are gathering in Chicago to discuss it. The fact that this conference is being sponsored by the SPA turns many away, but the massive wave of bills passed does attract attention even from those who ordinarily spurn you...and you insist that no one who is willing to contribute in good faith and isn't a security risk is turned away.
Members of the National Negro Business League, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People all attend in large numbers, despite being disinterested or even opposed to syndicalism.
And that is to say nothing of all the leftist organizations that attend. Representatives of Red Guards units, union leaders, the Colored Communist Party, the Black Brigade, the African Liberation Group, and many, many, many members of the Socialist Party Party of America are everywhere in the convention.
You visit as well, recognizing the importance of this occasion.
There are panels and speeches and celebrations. There are memorials for the many that have fallen in the struggle for civil rights. There are denunciations of the KKK, Black Legion, the Silver Legion, and the White Citizenship League.
And because politics is what it is, there are plenty of opportunities to impress people on the power of syndicalism: Red Guard drills, tours of the worker-owned factories throughout Chicago, and more.
You depart satisfied, having made yet another unquestionable statement.
And then you read a report on the results of the conference. It's much longer than you expected.
The first few pages are nothing you did not expect. They discuss the need to defeat white supremacist groups, highlight the importance of expanding and exporting voting rights and banning segregation to other states and advocate for the formation of political and social institutions to protect black rights.
It's the rest that catches you by surprise. Housing reform, economic compensation for the depredations of slavery and generations of inequity, cultural exchanges, exposure programs, policing reforms, the modification of the 13th Amendment, transformations to education..there's much further to go than you had expected.
The next several pages after all the proposed changes are listed out describe an ideology that has been growing in popularity called Intersectional Socialism. You read through it carefully, taking notes in the margins. It argues that the racial and gender barriers instituted by capitalism will remain, not just because of conscious biases but because the legacy of such discrimination will remain for generations even when being actively fought.
It also emphasizes that class, race, and gender all have their own elements of discrimination and oppression. A wealthy black capitalist is still a victim just as much as a poor white worker is. There are situations in which wealth matters more than race, and situations where the opposite is true.
You'll have to think about this.
Result: Many new actions
Why the Resistance?: 2 Influence, 90+11+7=108+4 = 112
With a general awareness of large numbers of reactionaries remaining who have not yet chosen to use peaceful or violent means of resistance but are beginning to organize spreading, there is ample support for crushing them...but there is equal popularity in the idea of recruiting them and bringing them over to join you.
Either way, knowing what's caused this sudden surge is worthwhile. And so the least threatening party members are sent to many towns and neighborhoods and are asked to do surveys. Meanwhile, anti-syndicalist preachers, elected officials, capitalists, and other figures of local importance are conversed with.
The information gathered is...enlightening.
The first and most important point is that the support for full-on revolution is not as popular as you would expect given the broad support behind general strikes and factory seizures. Every step forward on the road to revolution has alienated some who would rather stay behind. For some its tactical, for others its ideological, and some will simply oppose any revolution no matter what.
This is one type of reactionary.
The second and third types are both racists, albeit to a different degree. One actively opposes any sort of right for minorities and sees nothing wrong with Jim Crow. The other type would love to invest huge sums in the Black Belt...and have all the black people stay there. Again, each step you take forward causes more.
This is another.
Fourth are the socially conservative. Mothers scared of their daughters being "loose," husbands angered at the loss of control over their wives, preachers denigrating the decline of traditional values. In many of these, there is a strong streak of fear, particularly regarding the atheist to anti-theist nature of the SPA platform.
This is the last type of reactionary.
Aside from the angry capitalists and the like. There's nothing unexpected there.
They have different goals and different methods. But their organizations will be collapsed and co-opted, broken by the might of the people. Even if there is ample evidence that they are being offered advice and support from the federal government. Evidence you are keeping hidden for now.
You've learned plenty that's important. But probably the most significant thing is that all these groups have been varying degrees of present for a long time. It's just that they haven't been organized enough to matter at all until recently.
Result: More detailed understanding of what's caused this sudden upsurge of anti-syndicalism.
Find What They Want: 1 Influence, 48
There are plenty of French and British scattered throughout the country. That makes it relatively simple to find the representatives of the Third International and arrange for the transportation of some ambassadors.
Already the tighter relationship has borne fruit in the form of small shipments of French rifles and British machine guns. But with support comes expectation, expectations you will have to meet.
Result: Syndintern Mandates and Syndintern Abilities unlocked.
Butler is...satisfied with the way the regular Red Guards have been performing and how they are organized. He still compares them very disfavorably to his Marines, but he says "they'll toughen up plenty soon enough. The ones who survive anyway."
It's the more professional and well-equipped soldiers who have his attention now. Butler aims to turn them into a true elite and then expand them enough that they can be the backbone of a force to defend democracy.
To that end he has proposed yet another radical reform:
He wants to bring the Blair Brigade and the Wheatland Avengers into a centralized command and turn them into the nuclei of expanded professional soldiers, held to a higher standard and organized separately from the ordinary Red Guards.
And with the stroke of a pen and a few words in the right ears, the measure is passed. There have been so many changes already, what's one more?
Result: Red Guards command reformed, establishment of a separate and somewhat more professional force based around the Blair Brigade, Wheatland Avengers, and those who have been through the training camps.
Personal Action: Exercise
You run. And you sweat. Your lungs burn, your legs ache. Your bodyguards are barely breathing hard.
You maybe should have done this a while ago.
You lift weights, the metal making your hands ache. Your arms tremble with each painstaking repetition.
You probably should have done this a while ago.
You swing at the bag, knuckles raw and red as you duck and weave. Your hair is plastered to your head, your chest is heaving. Your trainer calls "Time" and you collapse, utterly spent.
You definitely should have done this a while ago.
Result: Health improved, steam let off.
Focus: Promises of Equality
Another declaration is signed on June 20th, 1934.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, no matter their color or creed, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, Prosperity, Self-Determination, and the pursuit of Happiness, That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of the Negro denied the rights and liberties that should have been long since granted and the Worker oppressed and starved by plutocratic capitalism. But through their own organization and agitation, many rights and privileges have been won in several states of the Union. This is to be applauded, but it is also to be seen as a step on a long path.
And should the forces of capital, reaction, and racism attempt to bar us, they shall be defeated just as the British were.
Result: Focus completed.
Report from the Coordination Committee: 1 Influence on Meat and Potatoes, 17+5=22, 1 Influence on Refugee Rescuing, 82+5=87
Immense amounts of funds are spent purchasing food. The staples are focused on: relatively little meat is bought despite the name of the propaganda campaign that comes with it, in favor of cheaper but equally filling alternatives, including huge quantities of Canadian corn.
Such a major purchase of course encounters complications. Slow deliveries lead to some kitchens shutting down on a temporary basis, and there are numerous quality issues. In several cases, the supplies delivered were infested with weevils.
It is by no means a perfect situation. But it is far better than the alternative.
And there are plenty who need to be fed. A refugee chain has been established. As people flee the dust, they find themselves being passed from camp to camp until they arrive somewhere with room for them to stay. They are boarded in churches and fed from the backs of trucks, they are sheltered in schools and protected by mingled bands of soldiers and farmers.
It's utter chaos, but it's chaos that is being handled for now.
Report from the State Legislative Committee: 2 Influence on Limited Food, 75+21-12=84, Prices, 2 Influence on Bureaucratic Modifications, 79+65-12=132
Part of that handling is the modification of price controls, lowering the ceiling somewhat to keep them from spiraling out of control. An additional law is passed in some of the worst affected states that more severely punishes price gouging.
They are implemented smoothly, prices changing across the country as though a switch was flicked. Though many farmers who escaped the wrath of the Dust Bowl are pushed closer to destitution, it is a minor cost when compared to the specter of starvation.
And just as smoothly, the laws are instituted that grant a degree of oversight over the many state bureaucrats. At every level of employment, small councils are elected and paid similar to jurors, but they are given the task of reviewing complaints and investigating corruption.
There are still serious teething issues to work out: corruption among the councils, lack of expertise and familiarity, and bureaucrats avoiding difficulty by the simple measure of bribing the councilmembers.
Even so, as experienced and professional bureaucrats are hired, many in the SPA feel they will be kept in line by these councils.
Of course, some are concerned by these changes, but they are outweighed and outvoted and left to sulk.
Report from Norman Thomas: 2 Influence on Railway Socialism, 4+96=100, 2 Influence on the Big Bill, 95+4+10=109
With the issue raised, Norman begins pushing it on various state governments. He and his many political allies turn all their charm and persuasion onto many Congressmen and Senators. And while there are some stumbles and some recalcitrance, the painful process of getting such a serious bill passed despite the efforts of slowly dwindling reactionary groups begins.
Meanwhile, Norman himself is spending time snooping in Washington itself. He greases palms, makes offers, and has guarded conversations at increasingly frantic galas. And slowly he begins to paint a picture of this potentially deadly bill.
By all accounts, it is absolutely enormous. An aide who managed to catch a glimpse compared it to a segment of the Talmud in size. Which didn't clear it up for you, until Flora drew a rectangle that took up half your desk to show its length and width and used your thickest book to give you an idea of its depth.
You sincerely hope that he's exaggerating.
Norman's investigation continued past that, to see what it could be. Along the way, he found indications that the group working on it might extend further than you thought, perhaps including all parties but yours. Or perhaps not. That would be a great many people to satisfy.
After nearly three weeks of investigating, he has gathered more information on the bill. It is a messy compromise, but a potent one. It is designed to be easily modified, with pre-written alternate sections. And while Norman doesn't see too much of a problem with what he has found of its contents, it terrifies you.
This bill is an enormously interventionist reform. It sets sharp limits on working hours, mandates worker's compensation, establishes government-backed pension funds, and more.
If it is passed, it may well badly damage your momentum. But if you fight it openly you create a massive vulnerability. Propaganda is always at its most dangerous when it is the truth.
So you decide to make some arrangements.
One quick meeting with Floyd and you see there's plenty more to be concerned about. Because for every reform to benefit the workers, there is one that seems to be aiming at the second round of the Palmer Raids, often in cloaked language you have to puzzle out.
Perhaps the only beneficial thing is that the bill includes some surprisingly progressive language on racial matters.
You doubt the Dixiecrats know about this. And that gives you an option.
Maybe.
You can tell them. You will have to do so privately or risk the censure of the party. But letting them know means they will fight against it.
[] Take the risk. You'll deal with the devil. And the Dixiecrats aren't that much worse. (Will unlock actions to arrange and hide the meeting. + Stress)
[] You will stand by your principles.
Report from Smedley Butler: 2 Influence on Instilling Discipline, Pt.2, 60+54+10=124
You barely even need to read the reports anymore. You trust Butler, perhaps more than you should. You trusted Schenk too, after all...and he could easily become a potential Napoleon.
But you don't see any evidence of that currently. He's busily whipping reluctant Red Guards into shape, demanding higher and higher standards, pushing more men and a few women through the training camps, working to expand the armaments available to your comrades...and most of all refusing to tolerate any slackness.
There are a few different categories among the names. Some are priests and pastors, or even one or two rabbis wary of the socialism of fools. Some are mayors and police chiefs and council members forced down from their stolen thrones. Some are...quite possibly KKK members, or at least inclined that way. Some are capitalists.
And some have no visible grievance except perhaps an unfortunate encounter with Red Guards.
Regardless, you know where they live.
The majority of Schenk's attention, however, is on finishing preparing his spy ring. Unfortunately, there was a serious accident that has greatly hampered his efforts. Several experts he had recruited to serve as teachers and some of his would-be spies died in a fire. While suspicious, he has deemed it to have a natural cause.
This has set him back a month and created a hole in the ranks he has only barely managed to fill. But things are partly ready anyway. Ready enough he's charging SPA accounts for it.
Report from Ben Stevens: 1 Influence on Famine Relief, 39+5=44, 1 Influence on Red Grange Contributions, 64+5=69
Understandably so, the famine takes up the majority of Ben Steven's attention this month. You suspect he will be similarly distracted next month.
He spends SPA resources like water, purchasing all the food that can be spared, and arranging for it to be shipped to refugee camps and isolated towns, seeking to fill every empty belly.
And when that's enough he goes to the Red Grange and convinces them to spend their strike fund on the same thing.
Literal tons of food are purchased and sent forth.
It's not enough. But it's more than it could be.
Report from the Propaganda Committee: 2 Influence on Posters and Pamphlets, 56+39+5=100, 2 Influence on Newspaper Distribution, 52+19+5=76+5 = 81, 2 Influence on Expand Rural Propaganda, 16+66+10=92
Production lines for pamphlets are set up, organized groups to vet content are formed, writers and designers are hired. Every possible consideration is made to ensure this propaganda will be as influential as possible.
The pamphlets discuss many topics, providing short explanations and punchy visuals as they condemn capitalism and racism. Every matter that SPA propaganda has already emphasized gets at least one run of pamphlets.
And with them comes posters. Black arms and white arms, clasped together, both wearing the red armband. A great mass of people united in a wave crashing down on their oppressors. Chains being broken. George Washington handing a torch to Abe Lincoln who hands it to you. Swarms of eagles attacking capitalists.
You are impressed at the sheer variety.
And with these new posters comes new papers. More than five different nationwide socialist newspapers are formally established, experienced reporters and muckrakers getting split up to staff them all. And as part of the effort, funding is given to many independent newspapers ranging in tendency from syndicalist to communist to anarchist. Even a few social democratic and progressive newspapers get some funding.
The program is deliberately designed to appeal to as many different groups as possible. There are magazines for homemakers, papers for farmers, and tabloids for factory workers. However, each major paper has one or two article series, comic strips, and advice columns in common in the hopes of building ties between groups.
And it's the Farmer's Gazette that gets the most attention this month. Hundreds of issues are printed out, each one detailing the enormous efforts you are making to feed the desperate farmers. And each one contains a shocking exposé of the roots of the problem: capitalism.
Since capitalism is so pervasive, any problem can be blamed on it. But it truly did massively exacerbate the drought.
And it's not just newspapers that hammer this line. Song and speech and sound trucks are all used to combat the capitalist realism and reaction that span the Great Plains. And no propaganda piece is more effective than when it is delivered with a filling meal. Especially when those who prove disruptive have to wait at the end of the line.
While the thrust of the effort is in the Midwest, some effort is spared out in California and the Deep South. Even a few reservations receive very brief visits.
Report from the SPA Cadres: 1 Influence on Public Libraries, 23+5=28, 2 Influence on A Union Home, 47+89=136, 1 Influence on Agitate for Non-Intervention, 72
The existing library system is deemed largely sufficient by many in the cadres. Funds are raised to purchase some fresh crops of books, consisting roughly equally of dime novels, leftist theory, and children's books.
This has provoked some annoyance by many who were hoping for more, including your wife and daughter. Hannah has gone to speak on the matter at a party meeting. You are so incredibly proud of her. And they didn't even know who she was (at first.)
However, the cadres did have a good reason for distraction. Driven by the waves of refugees and the complaints about the cooperatives, unions and cadres have gathered together to prepare a massive effort to build housing. It will not be truly high-quality housing, but it will be much better. The apartments are small, but they have electricity and a few basic amenities, while many others can be used in common.
Given concerns about lacking expertise, highlighted by a few unfortunate incidents involving excessive eagerness, most of this month's effort went to the logistics of stockpiling materials and arranging for construction teams to travel. The brigades make it easier, given the sheer number of hands that can help with the parts that require only unskilled labor.
The remainders of their effort are spent on strikes and protests against further interventions. While there is no further government commentary on the matter, it does win you some reasonably positive publicity.
Call on the RAF: At Schenk's Command, Sabotage Records, 24+15-10=29
From the report you get, the RAF is not lacking in skill or courage.
One band went on a raid in Texas, robbing a bank with many mortgage records in broad delight, waving red banners. Upon being surrounded, they set the records room aflame with them in it.
Another group successfully took a bank in the dead of night, gunning down a dozen guards and splattering the marble floors with their blood before seizing the tellers as hostages and forcing their way out, records of debts and bags of cash in town.
Yet a third briefly paralyzed Los Angeles by seizing three banks at once and leading a prison break of captured agitators at the same time.
These are undeniably impressive acts...but there aren't that many of them. The RAF is limited to a cell or two in a few cities, and many were unlikely to perform such a public operation.
So while the propaganda value is worthwhile, there's a limited material impact. And getting the most out of that propaganda would require you to publicly associate with the RAF.
And you have no desire to do that.
The delicate networks of trade that an industrial economy depends on are slowly reforged over the month.
The middlemen are installed in more and more places. In some, they are elected by the strike committees that have taken over factories. In others, they are hired by farming cooperatives or factories - many former bourgeoise find themselves taking on these roles, usually with appropriate supervision. Still other places have teamsters and railworkers taking responsibility for handling shipments.
It's economic anarchy, but it's functioning. There are backlogs and delays of everything, but store shelves are staying mostly stocked and factories are managing to stay running.
Socialism and syndicalism are triumphing as capitalism totters under mortal blow after mortal blow.
That is not to say it is still without problems. Communication is often inefficient, leading to long waits in which supplies run low and machines run to a halt.
Worse, the multiple mediums of exchange every enterprise must interact with has proven to be a confusing and difficult to manage system. Shipments are misdelivered accidentally or on purpose dozens of times per day in many cities, leading to frequent discontent, and the prices on many goods are still higher than they were before.
But they have been lowering and stabilizing, both positive signs. There needs to be more done of course, but not as much as Hoover or Long would have you believe.
Result: More efficient, but still messy, set of arrangements for the exchange of goods between various enterprises established.
Union-Integrated Planning: 2 Influence, 10+26+12 = 48
In a dingy room in a half-abandoned Chicago hotel, nearly two hundred men (and more than a few women) gather. Papers are laid out on the table. A massive map of the country covers half of it, cities and railways and mining centers and farmland laid out, some circled in red. On the other half are piles of diagrams and charts and tables, all covered in scrawls and ink stains.
"There's too much information, we can't possibly process it all," someone observes, typing frantically on a mechanical calculator.
"We need to decentralize," someone else comments.
The first planning session has come to an agreement after several hours of trying to collate all the available information: with their current level of resources, it was impractical to make any sort of grand plan.
Three alternatives were proposed, with varying degrees of popularity.
The first was to decentralize and have many independent planning commissions with an overall committee responsible purely for keeping track of the various targets and informing people of them. This proposal was broadly popular among many, for reasons both ideological and practical. Both syndicalists and orthodox socialists view this as a potential transition to their favored economic system, while those more pragmatically-inclined see numerous opportunities to do well by doing good.
The second was to broaden the planning commission. Instead of making specific goals for each sector of the economy, they would be responsible for instead creating general priorities that would be up to the individual industries and unions to follow. This is less popular for many reasons.
Last and least popular with the CSA, a significant increase to the budget of the planning commission would allow them to better handle the enormous task. With this swell of resources, they would be able to finance multiple branch offices and supply themselves with ample calculators and computers.
You decide to throw your weight behind...
[] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
[] Expand the budget. This endeavor will employ incredible numbers of educated people and huge quantities of resources, but if that is what is required to see it through properly, so be it. (-5 Resources, upkeep increases to -4 Resources a month.)
Appoint Union Representative: 1 Influence, 8+10 = 18
The Combined Syndicates are rather unwieldy due to their sheer size and chaotic structure. Lines of authority conflict, committees have overlapping jurisdictions, many unions ignore the CSA when it suits them too, delegates find themselves with conflicting instructions, vital sessions are half-attended.
It mostly works off grit, determination, and good faith. Even when members might not like each other, there is a sense of mutual respect and a desire for cooperation that keeps everything functional. And that sense has created a peculiar culture within the CSA.
So your proposal to create what is effectively an equivalent of the Speaker of the House with broadly similar power and authority clashes badly with that culture.
You push it through nonetheless. Many owe their positions to you, others simply feel obligated out of respect. The vote is a close-thing even then, passing only by a dozen votes.
And so you dare not attempt to press for a favored candidate.
Fortunately, the CSA itself is able to agree on a broadly popular individual: Frank Little, one of the IWW's most dedicated and passionate organizers, still bearing the scars of an attempted murder. His election is met with applause.
However, no matter how popular he is, various union groups and subcommittees and commissions, and other sections of the increasingly byzantine CSA are not happy with his appointment. They had championed their own candidate, a nobody you suspect was supported on the basis that he would not interfere, and they are not pleased with his utter failure.
That's a problem for another day. Now there is the question of Little. You truly admire the man and having a good working relationship will make him more effective, but the CSA values its independence. Being too close may annoy them.
[] Greet him formally, ensure the distance between party and union is maintained. (Commit 1 Influence. Little will have 2 Influence. Minimal CSA impact.)
[] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[] Greet him as a comrade and ally. Take him completely into your confidence. (Commit 2 Influence. Little will have 4 Influence. Major CSA Impact.)
Result: Some loss of support with the CSA, gain Frank Little (+3 to all Union actions) as subordinate for Union actions, gain spirit Passive Bureaucratic Resistance (-3 to all Union actions)
State Minority Rights: 1 Influence, 1 Gravitas, 99+2+15=116+4=120
The Reverend King stood silently, overcome with shock and sheer joy. His life had been a struggle. He had fled the South after his college had been ransacked by the KKK, taking his family, including his young son, north. Even here, in the lands that had fought to destroy slavery, he encountered vicious racism. And so he had stood against it with his flock, and in his faith he had found strength.
But to his joyous surprise, they did not stand alone. There were so many men and women willing to aid him in fighting racism, so long as it was done under the red banner. They seemed to have no desire to discriminate. In their ranks were Jews and Christians, blacks and whites, people of the East and the West. All that united them was their politics and their zeal. It made him a bit uncomfortable at times, for he could see it turned against the little church he had founded for those like him so easily, but it was that same zeal that made them such wonderful allies.
And he needed those allies, to keep the church safe, to protect his family, to guard him and his flock when they entered a segregated restaurant and sat themselves in the white section and refused to be moved.
And now he and those allies had triumphed. And as his shock faded, he straightened and began to speak.
"Brothers and sisters, I wish to thank you all. We have struggled against the forces of oppression and segregation. We have suffered many losses and drank of the bitter cup of defeat. But the Lord has smiled upon us. Free at last! Free at last! Thank G-d Almighty, we're free at last!"
And the congregation joined him. And right in the middle of the street, to the amazement of the newsboys who had told them, they began to sing "Hallelujah."
It takes the remaining conservatives and moderates by surprise. Despite all their arguing, all their virulence and eloquence, despite appeals to reason and proclamations of doom, something many thought would never happen has begun to sweep the nation.
Bill after bill is drafted in state after state. Suits are filed by the dozen in courts. The topic is on nearly everyone's lips: Equal rights for all.
Signs with quotes from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution underlined are waved, marches where black workers and white walk side by side and hand in hand are held, defiant speeches are given before schools and buses and restaurants are forcibly desegregated.
And the best part is that most of the momentum surged up from below. When word of the bills trickled down, many conservatives expected rage and fury to divide the Socialist Party of America, that daring to break the color line would break you. Instead, it has only further unified and galvanized the working class.
When a judge delivers his verdict, declaring "separate but equal a travesty and a falsehood. Forced separations mean forced inequality" the cheers and whoops and the singing of "John Brown's Body" were not organized.
When the final "Aye" was delivered on a bill banning discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, place of origin, and ancestry in Seattle, the celebrations that shook the city were not pre-planned.
Photos of the spontaneous demonstrations and articles describing the "racial madness" that overtook so many cities and even many smaller, more rural places covered the country within the week.
The message was delivered loud and clear. And if some don't like what they hear? They can measure their strength against what was just shown.
They will be found wanting.
Result: Despite fierce but disorganized opposition, broad civil rights bills have been passed and all manner of discriminatory laws have been struck down. This provoked a massive and largely spontaneous demonstration of support from the majority of SPA supporters, although it has also provoked immense hostility among some.
A Juneteenth Celebration: 1 Influence, 5+15=20
One bill that slipped by almost unnoticed was declaring June 19th, the day the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, a holiday and encouraging people to reflect upon the evils of slavery and racism and work against them, especially on that day.
Slightly embarrassing, not one state actually manages to get the bill passed before Juneteenth. You suppose you can't fault people wanting to get the substantive bills that forbade voter suppression and segregation or mandated affirmative action for minorities first.
But it does mean that people won't be paying attention to this new holiday for a year or so, by which point most of the impact will have faded.
Result: Juneteenth was made a holiday...after June 19th.
Justice for Jim Crow: 2 Influence, 70+72+20=162
Even as laws are being passed to grant what has been denied for far too long, representatives of many organizations are gathering in Chicago to discuss it. The fact that this conference is being sponsored by the SPA turns many away, but the massive wave of bills passed does attract attention even from those who ordinarily spurn you...and you insist that no one who is willing to contribute in good faith and isn't a security risk is turned away.
Members of the National Negro Business League, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People all attend in large numbers, despite being disinterested or even opposed to syndicalism.
And that is to say nothing of all the leftist organizations that attend. Representatives of Red Guards units, union leaders, the Colored Communist Party, the Black Brigade, the African Liberation Group, and many, many, many members of the Socialist Party Party of America are everywhere in the convention.
You visit as well, recognizing the importance of this occasion.
There are panels and speeches and celebrations. There are memorials for the many that have fallen in the struggle for civil rights. There are denunciations of the KKK, Black Legion, the Silver Legion, and the White Citizenship League.
And because politics is what it is, there are plenty of opportunities to impress people on the power of syndicalism: Red Guard drills, tours of the worker-owned factories throughout Chicago, and more.
You depart satisfied, having made yet another unquestionable statement.
And then you read a report on the results of the conference. It's much longer than you expected.
The first few pages are nothing you did not expect. They discuss the need to defeat white supremacist groups, highlight the importance of expanding and exporting voting rights and banning segregation to other states and advocate for the formation of political and social institutions to protect black rights.
It's the rest that catches you by surprise. Housing reform, economic compensation for the depredations of slavery and generations of inequity, cultural exchanges, exposure programs, policing reforms, the modification of the 13th Amendment, transformations to education..there's much further to go than you had expected.
The next several pages after all the proposed changes are listed out describe an ideology that has been growing in popularity called Intersectional Socialism. You read through it carefully, taking notes in the margins. It argues that the racial and gender barriers instituted by capitalism will remain, not just because of conscious biases but because the legacy of such discrimination will remain for generations even when being actively fought.
It also emphasizes that class, race, and gender all have their own elements of discrimination and oppression. A wealthy black capitalist is still a victim just as much as a poor white worker is. There are situations in which wealth matters more than race, and situations where the opposite is true.
You'll have to think about this.
Result: Many new actions
Why the Resistance?: 2 Influence, 90+11+7=108+4 = 112
With a general awareness of large numbers of reactionaries remaining who have not yet chosen to use peaceful or violent means of resistance but are beginning to organize spreading, there is ample support for crushing them...but there is equal popularity in the idea of recruiting them and bringing them over to join you.
Either way, knowing what's caused this sudden surge is worthwhile. And so the least threatening party members are sent to many towns and neighborhoods and are asked to do surveys. Meanwhile, anti-syndicalist preachers, elected officials, capitalists, and other figures of local importance are conversed with.
The information gathered is...enlightening.
The first and most important point is that the support for full-on revolution is not as popular as you would expect given the broad support behind general strikes and factory seizures. Every step forward on the road to revolution has alienated some who would rather stay behind. For some its tactical, for others its ideological, and some will simply oppose any revolution no matter what.
This is one type of reactionary.
The second and third types are both racists, albeit to a different degree. One actively opposes any sort of right for minorities and sees nothing wrong with Jim Crow. The other type would love to invest huge sums in the Black Belt...and have all the black people stay there. Again, each step you take forward causes more.
This is another.
Fourth are the socially conservative. Mothers scared of their daughters being "loose," husbands angered at the loss of control over their wives, preachers denigrating the decline of traditional values. In many of these, there is a strong streak of fear, particularly regarding the atheist to anti-theist nature of the SPA platform.
This is the last type of reactionary.
Aside from the angry capitalists and the like. There's nothing unexpected there.
They have different goals and different methods. But their organizations will be collapsed and co-opted, broken by the might of the people. Even if there is ample evidence that they are being offered advice and support from the federal government. Evidence you are keeping hidden for now.
You've learned plenty that's important. But probably the most significant thing is that all these groups have been varying degrees of present for a long time. It's just that they haven't been organized enough to matter at all until recently.
Result: More detailed understanding of what's caused this sudden upsurge of anti-syndicalism.
Find What They Want: 1 Influence, 48
There are plenty of French and British scattered throughout the country. That makes it relatively simple to find the representatives of the Third International and arrange for the transportation of some ambassadors.
Already the tighter relationship has borne fruit in the form of small shipments of French rifles and British machine guns. But with support comes expectation, expectations you will have to meet.
Result: Syndintern Mandates and Syndintern Abilities unlocked.
A Democratic Chain of Command: 2 Influence, 17+82+20=119
The chain of command has grown in sophistication, the Red Guard has expanded in size. You might not match them against the Army in a fair fight, but you don't think Butler is planning on having any of those.Butler is...satisfied with the way the regular Red Guards have been performing and how they are organized. He still compares them very disfavorably to his Marines, but he says "they'll toughen up plenty soon enough. The ones who survive anyway."
It's the more professional and well-equipped soldiers who have his attention now. Butler aims to turn them into a true elite and then expand them enough that they can be the backbone of a force to defend democracy.
To that end he has proposed yet another radical reform:
He wants to bring the Blair Brigade and the Wheatland Avengers into a centralized command and turn them into the nuclei of expanded professional soldiers, held to a higher standard and organized separately from the ordinary Red Guards.
And with the stroke of a pen and a few words in the right ears, the measure is passed. There have been so many changes already, what's one more?
Result: Red Guards command reformed, establishment of a separate and somewhat more professional force based around the Blair Brigade, Wheatland Avengers, and those who have been through the training camps.
Personal Action: Exercise
You run. And you sweat. Your lungs burn, your legs ache. Your bodyguards are barely breathing hard.
You maybe should have done this a while ago.
You lift weights, the metal making your hands ache. Your arms tremble with each painstaking repetition.
You probably should have done this a while ago.
You swing at the bag, knuckles raw and red as you duck and weave. Your hair is plastered to your head, your chest is heaving. Your trainer calls "Time" and you collapse, utterly spent.
You definitely should have done this a while ago.
Result: Health improved, steam let off.
Focus: Promises of Equality
Another declaration is signed on June 20th, 1934.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, no matter their color or creed, that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, Prosperity, Self-Determination, and the pursuit of Happiness, That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Such has been the patient sufferance of the Negro denied the rights and liberties that should have been long since granted and the Worker oppressed and starved by plutocratic capitalism. But through their own organization and agitation, many rights and privileges have been won in several states of the Union. This is to be applauded, but it is also to be seen as a step on a long path.
And should the forces of capital, reaction, and racism attempt to bar us, they shall be defeated just as the British were.
Result: Focus completed.
Report from the Coordination Committee: 1 Influence on Meat and Potatoes, 17+5=22, 1 Influence on Refugee Rescuing, 82+5=87
Immense amounts of funds are spent purchasing food. The staples are focused on: relatively little meat is bought despite the name of the propaganda campaign that comes with it, in favor of cheaper but equally filling alternatives, including huge quantities of Canadian corn.
Such a major purchase of course encounters complications. Slow deliveries lead to some kitchens shutting down on a temporary basis, and there are numerous quality issues. In several cases, the supplies delivered were infested with weevils.
It is by no means a perfect situation. But it is far better than the alternative.
And there are plenty who need to be fed. A refugee chain has been established. As people flee the dust, they find themselves being passed from camp to camp until they arrive somewhere with room for them to stay. They are boarded in churches and fed from the backs of trucks, they are sheltered in schools and protected by mingled bands of soldiers and farmers.
It's utter chaos, but it's chaos that is being handled for now.
Report from the State Legislative Committee: 2 Influence on Limited Food, 75+21-12=84, Prices, 2 Influence on Bureaucratic Modifications, 79+65-12=132
Part of that handling is the modification of price controls, lowering the ceiling somewhat to keep them from spiraling out of control. An additional law is passed in some of the worst affected states that more severely punishes price gouging.
They are implemented smoothly, prices changing across the country as though a switch was flicked. Though many farmers who escaped the wrath of the Dust Bowl are pushed closer to destitution, it is a minor cost when compared to the specter of starvation.
And just as smoothly, the laws are instituted that grant a degree of oversight over the many state bureaucrats. At every level of employment, small councils are elected and paid similar to jurors, but they are given the task of reviewing complaints and investigating corruption.
There are still serious teething issues to work out: corruption among the councils, lack of expertise and familiarity, and bureaucrats avoiding difficulty by the simple measure of bribing the councilmembers.
Even so, as experienced and professional bureaucrats are hired, many in the SPA feel they will be kept in line by these councils.
Of course, some are concerned by these changes, but they are outweighed and outvoted and left to sulk.
Report from Norman Thomas: 2 Influence on Railway Socialism, 4+96=100, 2 Influence on the Big Bill, 95+4+10=109
With the issue raised, Norman begins pushing it on various state governments. He and his many political allies turn all their charm and persuasion onto many Congressmen and Senators. And while there are some stumbles and some recalcitrance, the painful process of getting such a serious bill passed despite the efforts of slowly dwindling reactionary groups begins.
Meanwhile, Norman himself is spending time snooping in Washington itself. He greases palms, makes offers, and has guarded conversations at increasingly frantic galas. And slowly he begins to paint a picture of this potentially deadly bill.
By all accounts, it is absolutely enormous. An aide who managed to catch a glimpse compared it to a segment of the Talmud in size. Which didn't clear it up for you, until Flora drew a rectangle that took up half your desk to show its length and width and used your thickest book to give you an idea of its depth.
You sincerely hope that he's exaggerating.
Norman's investigation continued past that, to see what it could be. Along the way, he found indications that the group working on it might extend further than you thought, perhaps including all parties but yours. Or perhaps not. That would be a great many people to satisfy.
After nearly three weeks of investigating, he has gathered more information on the bill. It is a messy compromise, but a potent one. It is designed to be easily modified, with pre-written alternate sections. And while Norman doesn't see too much of a problem with what he has found of its contents, it terrifies you.
This bill is an enormously interventionist reform. It sets sharp limits on working hours, mandates worker's compensation, establishes government-backed pension funds, and more.
If it is passed, it may well badly damage your momentum. But if you fight it openly you create a massive vulnerability. Propaganda is always at its most dangerous when it is the truth.
So you decide to make some arrangements.
One quick meeting with Floyd and you see there's plenty more to be concerned about. Because for every reform to benefit the workers, there is one that seems to be aiming at the second round of the Palmer Raids, often in cloaked language you have to puzzle out.
Perhaps the only beneficial thing is that the bill includes some surprisingly progressive language on racial matters.
You doubt the Dixiecrats know about this. And that gives you an option.
Maybe.
You can tell them. You will have to do so privately or risk the censure of the party. But letting them know means they will fight against it.
[] Take the risk. You'll deal with the devil. And the Dixiecrats aren't that much worse. (Will unlock actions to arrange and hide the meeting. + Stress)
[] You will stand by your principles.
Report from Smedley Butler: 2 Influence on Instilling Discipline, Pt.2, 60+54+10=124
You barely even need to read the reports anymore. You trust Butler, perhaps more than you should. You trusted Schenk too, after all...and he could easily become a potential Napoleon.
But you don't see any evidence of that currently. He's busily whipping reluctant Red Guards into shape, demanding higher and higher standards, pushing more men and a few women through the training camps, working to expand the armaments available to your comrades...and most of all refusing to tolerate any slackness.
Report from Charles Schenk: 1 Influence on Identify the Leadership,60+10=70, 2 Influence on A Program of Subversion, 6+1+10=16
Most of them made it easy. If they really feared a Red Terror, doubtless they would be far less bold. Or perhaps this is a strange sort of courage and they hoped to make themselves martyrs. Regardless, while the list of names is far too long, you can at least take comfort in the knowledge that it's unlikely it's missing many.There are a few different categories among the names. Some are priests and pastors, or even one or two rabbis wary of the socialism of fools. Some are mayors and police chiefs and council members forced down from their stolen thrones. Some are...quite possibly KKK members, or at least inclined that way. Some are capitalists.
And some have no visible grievance except perhaps an unfortunate encounter with Red Guards.
Regardless, you know where they live.
The majority of Schenk's attention, however, is on finishing preparing his spy ring. Unfortunately, there was a serious accident that has greatly hampered his efforts. Several experts he had recruited to serve as teachers and some of his would-be spies died in a fire. While suspicious, he has deemed it to have a natural cause.
This has set him back a month and created a hole in the ranks he has only barely managed to fill. But things are partly ready anyway. Ready enough he's charging SPA accounts for it.
Report from Ben Stevens: 1 Influence on Famine Relief, 39+5=44, 1 Influence on Red Grange Contributions, 64+5=69
Understandably so, the famine takes up the majority of Ben Steven's attention this month. You suspect he will be similarly distracted next month.
He spends SPA resources like water, purchasing all the food that can be spared, and arranging for it to be shipped to refugee camps and isolated towns, seeking to fill every empty belly.
And when that's enough he goes to the Red Grange and convinces them to spend their strike fund on the same thing.
Literal tons of food are purchased and sent forth.
It's not enough. But it's more than it could be.
Report from the Propaganda Committee: 2 Influence on Posters and Pamphlets, 56+39+5=100, 2 Influence on Newspaper Distribution, 52+19+5=76+5 = 81, 2 Influence on Expand Rural Propaganda, 16+66+10=92
Production lines for pamphlets are set up, organized groups to vet content are formed, writers and designers are hired. Every possible consideration is made to ensure this propaganda will be as influential as possible.
The pamphlets discuss many topics, providing short explanations and punchy visuals as they condemn capitalism and racism. Every matter that SPA propaganda has already emphasized gets at least one run of pamphlets.
And with them comes posters. Black arms and white arms, clasped together, both wearing the red armband. A great mass of people united in a wave crashing down on their oppressors. Chains being broken. George Washington handing a torch to Abe Lincoln who hands it to you. Swarms of eagles attacking capitalists.
You are impressed at the sheer variety.
And with these new posters comes new papers. More than five different nationwide socialist newspapers are formally established, experienced reporters and muckrakers getting split up to staff them all. And as part of the effort, funding is given to many independent newspapers ranging in tendency from syndicalist to communist to anarchist. Even a few social democratic and progressive newspapers get some funding.
The program is deliberately designed to appeal to as many different groups as possible. There are magazines for homemakers, papers for farmers, and tabloids for factory workers. However, each major paper has one or two article series, comic strips, and advice columns in common in the hopes of building ties between groups.
And it's the Farmer's Gazette that gets the most attention this month. Hundreds of issues are printed out, each one detailing the enormous efforts you are making to feed the desperate farmers. And each one contains a shocking exposé of the roots of the problem: capitalism.
Since capitalism is so pervasive, any problem can be blamed on it. But it truly did massively exacerbate the drought.
And it's not just newspapers that hammer this line. Song and speech and sound trucks are all used to combat the capitalist realism and reaction that span the Great Plains. And no propaganda piece is more effective than when it is delivered with a filling meal. Especially when those who prove disruptive have to wait at the end of the line.
While the thrust of the effort is in the Midwest, some effort is spared out in California and the Deep South. Even a few reservations receive very brief visits.
Report from the SPA Cadres: 1 Influence on Public Libraries, 23+5=28, 2 Influence on A Union Home, 47+89=136, 1 Influence on Agitate for Non-Intervention, 72
The existing library system is deemed largely sufficient by many in the cadres. Funds are raised to purchase some fresh crops of books, consisting roughly equally of dime novels, leftist theory, and children's books.
This has provoked some annoyance by many who were hoping for more, including your wife and daughter. Hannah has gone to speak on the matter at a party meeting. You are so incredibly proud of her. And they didn't even know who she was (at first.)
However, the cadres did have a good reason for distraction. Driven by the waves of refugees and the complaints about the cooperatives, unions and cadres have gathered together to prepare a massive effort to build housing. It will not be truly high-quality housing, but it will be much better. The apartments are small, but they have electricity and a few basic amenities, while many others can be used in common.
Given concerns about lacking expertise, highlighted by a few unfortunate incidents involving excessive eagerness, most of this month's effort went to the logistics of stockpiling materials and arranging for construction teams to travel. The brigades make it easier, given the sheer number of hands that can help with the parts that require only unskilled labor.
The remainders of their effort are spent on strikes and protests against further interventions. While there is no further government commentary on the matter, it does win you some reasonably positive publicity.
Call on the RAF: At Schenk's Command, Sabotage Records, 24+15-10=29
From the report you get, the RAF is not lacking in skill or courage.
One band went on a raid in Texas, robbing a bank with many mortgage records in broad delight, waving red banners. Upon being surrounded, they set the records room aflame with them in it.
Another group successfully took a bank in the dead of night, gunning down a dozen guards and splattering the marble floors with their blood before seizing the tellers as hostages and forcing their way out, records of debts and bags of cash in town.
Yet a third briefly paralyzed Los Angeles by seizing three banks at once and leading a prison break of captured agitators at the same time.
These are undeniably impressive acts...but there aren't that many of them. The RAF is limited to a cell or two in a few cities, and many were unlikely to perform such a public operation.
So while the propaganda value is worthwhile, there's a limited material impact. And getting the most out of that propaganda would require you to publicly associate with the RAF.
And you have no desire to do that.
Those civil rights bills and option to delve into intersectionality is amazing. I think minority outreach is going great. We're on the right track in that regard.
Edit: Hopefully we can ensure the CSA realizes that churches in black communities often acted as community centers and mutual aid organizations. They have a very different dynamic to other churches because they're as oppressed as their parish. There's no special treatment given to them. We can use them as vehicles to spread revolutionary messages and aid.
Edit: Hopefully we can ensure the CSA realizes that churches in black communities often acted as community centers and mutual aid organizations. They have a very different dynamic to other churches because they're as oppressed as their parish. There's no special treatment given to them. We can use them as vehicles to spread revolutionary messages and aid.
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I knew this would happen! First women wear pants and now coloured People are not shot at for sitting in The back of a bus! What is next? Allowing gays to be public about who They Love?! (Obsly sarcasm, loving The updates as Always)
- Location
- Somewhere in the area
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
[X] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
[X] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
Tabascoheath
Unkempt, Evil-eyed Charlatan, and Pseudo-Mystic
- Location
- Your Nearest Orbital Habitat
[X] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
[X] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] Take the risk. You'll deal with the devil. And the Dixiecrats aren't that much worse. (Will unlock actions to arrange and hide the meeting. + Stress)
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] Take the risk. You'll deal with the devil. And the Dixiecrats aren't that much worse. (Will unlock actions to arrange and hide the meeting. + Stress)
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Ergh. I'm concerned about the effectiveness of either Total Decentralization or Broad Oversight. Total Decentralization sounds like it could result in a lot of parallel work, and broadening doesn't sounds efficient at all.
But Expand the Budget would increase the upkeep to -4 Resources a month instead of -2, and right now we're on 5.7 resources a month, so we'd be having to find more income sources ASAP or we wouldn't be able to afford a lot of other urgent stuff. @notbirdofprey does our standing income include the initial -2 from Central Planning?
No, it doesn't.
DocMatoi
Theoretical Lover of Girls
- Location
- within 2 hours of the White House
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
so long as we're all pulling in roughly the same direction, we'll be okay
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
so long as we're all pulling in roughly the same direction, we'll be okay
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
- Location
- Denmark
[X] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
[x] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[x] You will stand by your principles.
[x] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[x] You will stand by your principles.
- Location
- Minnesota
[X] Broad oversight. The determination of the people, freed from the chains of capitalism, will make up for any shortcomings or inefficiencies.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
[X] Total decentralization. To attempt to plan the entire office with a single committee and their subordinates is utterly impractical.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.
[X] Greet him as a representative of the will of the people just as you are. (Commit 1 Gravitas. Little will have 3 Influence. Moderate CSA impact.)
[X] You will stand by your principles.