No one is going into this election expecting things to be free and fair. Even if that was possible in a nation like America, the material conditions preclude it. This election will be practically existential in importance, and no one will be holding back come November 1st. Already, every campaign has been using smear tactics, harassment campaigns, and violence to improve their odds of success.
On election day, you expect those techniques to be used on an unheard of level. Experienced figures in the movement are anticipating everything from sabotaged voter registration, to ballots being discarded or faked, to voters being threatened, but there will be more subtle attacks as well. You can expect to see heavy use of the court system, economic blackmail, artificial restrictions on voting, and "errors" in the counting process. In several states, alarms have been deliberately raised by reactionaries about the possibility of the process being subverted, with deputized militias or federalized Guardsmen being used to "make sure" that doesn't happen.
Areas of concern include California, Texas, Colorado, the Deep South, the Midwest...it is impossible to know how much there could be.
But for every technique they use, you will have some of your own. And soon, you will begin deciding how to best apply them...
You consider the list of techniques carefully, crowded by advisors. Some warn you that the capitalists will hold nothing back, and insist the SPA must do the same. Others argue for restraint, claiming that the SPA must hold itself to a higher standard. Some from the right-flank argue that creating discrepancies in the vote will make you vulnerable to reactionary counter-attacks, and that maintaining good behavior is more important than anything else. All manners of compromise measures are proposed. In the end, you make a decision.
Despite its contentious nature, you are able to bring people around to it. The SPA will...
[] [VOTE] Hold nothing back. (???)
[] [VOTE] Limit the tactics used. (???)
-[] Write-in what tactics
[] [VOTE] Limit the areas pressure will be applied to. (???)
-[] Write-in what areas
[] [VOTE] Limit the areas and the tactics. (???)
-[] Write-in...
[] [VOTE] Hold yourself to a higher standard. Track incidents of voter fraud, but do not commit any. (??)
Despite the debates, all are united on one topic: hostile fraud cannot be allowed. Red Guards, Schenck's men, trustworthy police and paramilitaries, lawyers, and more, all are rallied to attack voter fraud wherever it appears. With all the preparation done, there is nothing to do but wait and hope...On the 1st of November, the election will begin.
Schenck and Flora work together with icy politeness as they find trustworthy individuals and ask them to keep an eye out for any troubling news. They feud on what to prioritize, they argue about how to approach recruits, they fight about what to offer.
Schenck wants to prioritize reformists, Flora wants to attack the corrupt. Schenck thinks religious affiliation is unimportant, Flora wants to keep it in mind.
You aren't sure how much of their hostility is genuine dislike, how much is political disagreement, and how much is professional disdain. But you do know both are competent enough not to let it get in their way.
A small network grows throughout SPA and CAS offices, formed through a mix of appeals to principal and to pocketbooks. A steady tide of information keeps flowing up, helping you keep your finger on the pulse of internal affairs and untangle the chaotic internal networks of favors and obligations.
Result: Internal intelligence network established, difficulty of internal intrigue actions reduced, more information on internal affairs gained.
Across the country, the party and the unions put their resources to work. Young boys and girls are sent to knock on door after door to find reluctant individuals who have, for whatever reason, failed to join a union or the SPA despite it being in their class and material interests. In addition, all manner of leverage is applied.
At workplaces, the promise of economic democracy and improved conditions is used to encourage union expansion and the alignment of more conservative organizations with the greater CAS. In some cases this recruitment is overt, in others it is subtler as Schenck's spies and those they recruit begin reaching out to future comrades inside factories where SPA influence is weak.
In cities, public pressure is used as mass rallies and propaganda are used to gather support, with speakers repeatedly using the failures of the American economy under capitalism and the previous, "moderate" attempts to reform it, all of which were unsuccessful entirely due to capitalist greed.
In towns, agitators trawl the streets, looking for people to speak to, to make them question what they have seen as the natural order.
And all this energy, all this enthusiasm is bent towards giving people the opportunity to vote, and the desire to vote red all down the ticket. Laws are pushed through legislature after legislature, ensuring easy registration and widespread access to mail-in and absentee voting.
With such effort expended on helping people vote, hopefully many will vote for the party that sought to aid them so.
Meanwhile, the various union recruiters use tactics of their own. All sorts of pressure is applied, for the CAS is a mighty and powerful organization, and its membership is rather sick of tolerating reactionaries in its midst. Under union pressure and the threat of seizure, some factories are transformed into union shops and those who refuse to join are fired. Cooperative housing grows cold and unfriendly to those who resist, and investigations by community check-in groups make sure that such stubbornness comes from a sound mind. Social, legal, financial, and more...every tactic that can be used is.
While the reactionary press howls criticism after criticism for such actions, some have more reasonable concerns. They feel that the methods used are undemocratic, and may be contributing to the presence of reactionary groups.
[] [UNION] Push the CAS to officially condone such tactics. We cannot afford hesitation at this critical juncture. (???)
-[] Write-in arguments (optional)
[] [UNION] Remain silent on the matter.
-[] Write-in arguments (optional)
[] [UNION] Push the CAS to condemn and punish some of the worst. There are lines that should not be crossed. (???)
-[] Write-in arguments (optional)
[] [UNION] Push the CAS to wholeheartedly condemn the use of coercion. It is cruel, it is counterproductive, and above all it is unnecessary.
-[] Write-in arguments (optional)
The presence of so many military men would ordinarily be a boon for someone trying to exercise, except for one problem: they are all much more fit than you, to an almost humiliating degree.
The most exercise you normally get is walking back and forth across a stage as you speak. It's not even close to the sort of things the Red Guards and Revolutionary Guards accompanying you do on a daily basis.
You run the length of a train car, back and forth, dropping to touch the floor at the end of every lap. You pull yourself up, lifting your chin over a metal bar again and again. You lie down on your back and lift your legs as one guard holds your torso down and another resists your attempts at raising your limbs.
You sweat and ache and hurt.
But when it's all done, you feel a few pains so old you have forgotten what it's like to not feel them vanish.
Result: Health mildly improved.
For three months, you have spent spare scraps of your time writing a song, one you intend to dedicate to the agitators and organizers who have fought so hard for the cause of socialism and syndicalism. At every level of society, through every avenue they could find, they fought, and now they are on the verge of an unimaginable triumph. Reactionary forces circle like wolves in the night, but the heroic fighters of the Red Guards and the determined cadres of the Socialist Party are undaunted.
And at their forefront have ever been the most vibrant and radical stripes. With petrol bombs, rifles, and billy clubs they have broken anti-socialist militias and defended strikers from the foot soldiers of capital. With song and story they have reached the hearts of the people and swayed them away from false consciousnesses. With organizational ardor and rigid discipline they have fought reformism, corruption, and inefficiency just as determinedly as they have fought national populists.
And so, with their struggles and sacrifice first in mind, you offer them this song:
"Well, I am a union man,
Oh, I am a union man;
With my little band of deepest red
I am a union man.
In the broad streets o' the Windy City,
I threw on down my tools,
For they had shot their soldier boys,
And me? I ain't no fool!
In big Red New York City
I took on up my knife;
They had took my comrades captive
And I fought hard for my life!
And come chilly November
I'll mark on up my vote;
Our foes will fail and fall on down,
And I'll try not to gloat!
'Cause come the month of March,
I'll be sitting on down in
Their precious marble Capitol,
And that's when we will win!
Well, we are the union men
Oh, we are the union men!
With our little bands of deepest red,
We are the union men!"
Result: Focus completed, national spirits unlocked.