To Struggle and Strive: A Kaiserreich 1932 Quest

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
Meet With Long Pt. 2

Long considers. “Fair enough, I suppose. I was hoping for more, but this is good enough. You get your people in line and consider my offer. And my door is open anytime, Mr. Reed.”

He sounds a little disappointed, but only a little. He stands up and shakes your hand firmly before turning to leave.

At the door, he pauses and looks back. “We might end up opponents in ‘36, but I wish you the best of luck all the same.”

It seems like he might say more, but then he leaves without a word. After he goes, you check with the Red Guards (the Minutemen behaved, except for catcalling a couple passerby) and the tail Schenk had on Long (he went back to his own offices.)

You don’t hear from Long personally for a time, but word trickles up of Share Our Wealth Clubs and Minutemen branches cooperating with Red Guards throughout the South, and you suppose he’s hearing the same things.

And you field some irritable complaints from CSA members, especially from the Red Grange. At least most of your inner circle is supportive, especially Schenk. Your spymaster reasons that either the Minutemen will serve as cannon fodder for Red Guards or radicalize through exposure to them. And he views both options as acceptable.

Then about a week later, he calls. “Would you consider something a bit closer if I throw in something to sweeten the deal? There’s a copy of a bill that will do quite a bit of damage to your cause on my desk, and I will give you it and have the AFP stonewall and sabotage it every chance we get in exchange for a more formal alliance. It doesn’t need to be everything, but it needs to be more.”

[] [LONG] No. You aren’t renegotiating.
[] [LONG] Yes. How about you make an official speech praising Long for cutting off the National Populists?
[] [LONG] Yes. How about we arrange some low-level fusion tickets?
[] [LONG] Write-in

Negotiate with the Co-Ops Pt.2
Jordie sat before the SPA delegation wearing his best clothes, an old, slightly musty black suit. Beside and behind him were arrayed nearly three-quarters of the leadership of the Fix The Price Movement.

Across was Jack Reed, who half the country thought would be the next President. He didn’t quite know how to handle that.

He was taking very careful breaths as he signed the creamy paper of their agreement then passed it over to Reed, who did the same. He collapsed back into his seat and let out a sigh. Reed stood up and began to give another speech, but Jordie was too tired to care.

He had spent a long time traveling, speaking at co-op after co-op. They had common grievances, his plan was simple, and the Red Guards didn’t try to stop him, but the sheer amount of travel he did wore him out. Even with all his tickets paid by some grain speculators hoping to take advantage.

A faint smile crossed his lips. Those speculators and the men loyal to their money were the only ones unhappy with this settlement. They had railed against him and his fellows after they decided the agreement was fair, but not one who hadn’t been bought and paid was persuaded.

Union-Integrated Planning: 2 Influence, 1+19+32=52[
The SyndIntern advisors meet with the men and women responsible for setting up the planning commission of the CSA. They don’t quite approve of the concept as a whole, but think your implementation of it is at least generally sound.

They have also uncovered some seriously flawed assumptions in how an industrialized economy works as a whole and sharply curtailed them. Projections for agricultural growth are revised downwards, further emphasis on transportation is included in the general planning.

Other than that, the situation goes on as it does. General data on agriculture and industry is gathered, with wide error bars included. Connections between local union branches are established to help coordinate. In many cities, offices spring up to let each factory know what's being produced and what's being sent their way, connected by a fragile network of telegraphs and telephones.

And still, the Planning Bureau churns away, always asking for more paper, more calculators, more personnel.

Perhaps even the current decentralized state is not enough. Many of the SyndIntern advisors have suggested that you decentralize either and not bother to plan consumer goods at all except for the most basics, and leave that to the unions and cooperatives entirely.

This has gotten the Planning Bureau up in arms, as they insist they can handle it with complete confidence.

The disagreement has provoked some serious tension, especially as the SyndIntern advisors continually hold their earlier corrections above the heads of the Planning Board.

Eventually, both groups decide to go to you. By this point, it has become a point of pride.

[] [PLAN] Why should we plan how many children’s toys are produced? (Pleases the SyndIntern and the IWW. Consumer goods are no longer centrally planned.)

[] [PLAN] It’s a vital sector of the economy. (Pleases the ASA. Consumer goods will continue to be centrally planned. Additional -1 Resources per month cost.)

Socialist Markets: 3 Influence, 61+53+13+25=152

The outpouring of support behind the concept of the labor voucher is overwhelming, even if many seem to consider it nothing more than a slightly different currency. But the statement behind establishing it has set many hearts and minds afire. While the federal government protests and threatens to burn any labor voucher and arrest any carrier, their impotent bellowing is given the weight it deserves.

And in Pittsburgh, a grand council of economists, socialists, syndicalists, anarchists, foreign observers, journalists, and many more is convened. There are many issues to be discussed, and the halls of the convention center chosen are filled with panels and meetings and discussion groups. These conversations spill out into the street, as ordinary workers debate the issues of the day. Pamphlets and papers describe the possibilities in great detail.

A few matters are decided relatively simply. Everyone will get a moderate number of vouchers of a low value for free, to enable them to purchase the basic necessities and a little bit more no matter what. Then comes a general array of vouchers representing labor, with a few higher levels for rarer or more specialized work like being a doctor. Also added in is a system for individuals to be democratically awarded additional vouchers for good citizenship, impressive feats of labor, and other such accomplishments.

However, the matter of currency immediately comes up. Not everywhere will be able to convert to the voucher system immediately, and there will be a great deal of cash lying around for a great many years. And there is the question of foreign exchange...

In addition, many people running credit unions want to know their future role in a voucher-based economy and many workers wonder if they will have some way to save vouchers.

[] [CASH] As an area transitions to the voucher system, there will be a grace period in which cash can be exchanged for vouchers. Afterwards, it will be worthless.
[] [CASH] Cash can be exchanged for vouchers at any time. Once we win, we will stop printing, destroy any we are given, and let the supply decrease.
[] [CASH] Under the circumstances, we will accept a parallel cash and voucher economy, but will attempt to set exchange rates to favor using vouchers
[] [CASH] Money is just a social construct and one we declare to have no meaning.
[] [CASH] Write-in

[] [CREDIT] Credit unions are simply a transitional structure
[] [CREDIT] Credit unions will help workers create or expand their own enterprises in the future by helping invest capital
[] [CREDIT] Write-in

[] [SAVE] Vouchers will have no formal expiration date
[] [SAVE] Vouchers will expire eventually, but there will be a way for people to fund large purchases such as houses and cars.
[] [SAVE] Vouchers can be converted into some sort of alternate form that has limited uses but can fund large personal purchases.

Offer an Alternative: 2 Influence, 96+34+7=137
While many of those who would have been targeted have found other sources of solace and conviction, there are still many adrift or trapped in ideologically uncomfortable places. So you work with the AFL to reach out to them, and many respond. The numbers of the AFL swell in response. Unfortunately, the most right-wing section of it swells the most, triggering a response from the rest of the union.

While they are not expelled, they are censured. Many of the most reactionary either fall in line or leave altogether, while the most revolutionary have begun forming an organized pressure group within the broader union, determined to “hold Lewis’s feet to the fire, and burn them off if he doesn’t give.”

The end result is a few grateful upper-level AFL-CIO officials distracted from lobbying for moderation by internal difficulties, growing radicalization among their ranks, and a general increase to their size.

All in all, a satisfactory effort. And there’s still more to be done.

Result: Action continues.

Personal: Spend Time With Family
Spending time with your family takes a different form than normal. Louise and Hannah are both very excited by the various debates going on about the role of women in a socialist country, and you are going to support the both of them. Whether that takes the form of being an audience for Hannah to practice her speeches in front of, shepherding the two across New York in your car, or sitting in the audience watching, you step back and let the two of them be the fiery speakers and determined organizers for a change.

Your wife’s competence is familiar to you, and it gets a cheerful round of applause and a warm smile whenever she makes a salient point or trounces a debate partner.

Hannah’s is brand new and as precious as gold. She might have a couple rough spots, including a tendency to hesitate, but she does better than you at her age, and her enthusiasm is tireless and infectious. You celebrate her victories and console her after defeats, and when she persuades you that part of liberation for women means her learning boxing you find her a gym. It doesn’t take women at first. Then you ask nicely.

And you have your Red Guards ask that nothing bad happen to her in the gym. They also ask nicely.

Result: Stress lost.
 

MagnificentLilyWitch

Active member
Pronouns
She/Her
hmm this smells of Long trying to be tricksy.

[X] [LONG] No. You aren’t renegotiating.

Unfortuneately plans and money stuff is haaaaarrrrrd
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
Long Pt. 3

You hear Long sigh in relief over the phone. "Good. The feds and the national populists are going to be after us both from now on, and it's best we hang together. You'll get your copy tomorrow, although there's no guarantee they won't change it later and not tell me."

You exchange a few friendly words and hang up. There's much to be done. But now that you can guess at what you'll be dealing with, you can devise a proper counter...

Report from the Coordination Committee: 2 Influence on Support for Friendly Farmers, 95+6+30=131
The program of carrots before sticks has been an overwhelming success. The public acknowledgment of their demands may have weakened your position in the CSA, but that was greatly outweighed by the outpouring of support in response to the efforts of various local governments.

Delayed farm equipment was delivered, farming supplies were offered at cost, and in many cases, local SPA figures pitched in with the extensive labor farming requires, which has led to more than a few amusing pictures being taken and passed around. Newspapers have publicized this heavily, and many who were wavering have begun firm, if very moderate, SPA supporters in response.

There have been hiccups in the program, and between some of these hiccups and the complaints of the Fix-The-Price movement, it’s clear that there is something rotten in the bureaucracy...

Something that will need to be bandaged over or cut out, one way or another.

Report from the State Legislative Committee: 4 Influence on Agricultural Subsidies, 64+22+29+21=136
However the state bureaucracies are already on the job as well, and while they might not be as competent, they are significantly less corrupt..and what corruption is present tends to be more pork than anything else.

And backing the bureaucracies to the hilt are the legislatures, shamed into compliance by the example of local governments. There are some muted protests from the left-wing of the IWW, but they are drowned out by the overwhelming support for several major reforms. Price controls are dramatically modified, and large quantities of grain and other basic agricultural products are now purchased at very fair prices.

Currently, that food is being sold off at similarly reasonable prices, but many in the CSA are arguing that since the state governments are already being controlled by the people, they might as well seize the means of production.

And many are arguing that the houses should be reformed to be unicameral, or else have their upper houses reduced in power. Several attempted filibusters by IWW-aligned senators inspired this recent conversation...one the IWW is not happy with.

Report from Norman Thomas: 2 Influence on Railway Socialism, 69+54=123, 2 Influence on The Reformist Coalition, 42+94=136
Another piece of legislation is passed this month in the Steel Belt and Iowa. It is defeated in West Virginia and the Dakotas, and struggles in New York to override the governor’s veto, but now at last the government is allowed to repair “neglected” rails and then seize them as compensation for the work done. While a massive effort at beginning this program of repairs and seizures has begun, a counter-campaign is already evident in the works.

Lawsuits are being made by the dozen, and they are being passed through the court system with startling rapidity. Warnings are delivered by hotheaded Red Guards, but the occasional funeral is not enough to stop it...and the Supreme Court has taken the case and issued an injunction. One which is unofficially being ignored.

Norman has turned himself loose on the reformists like a starving wolf on a flock of sheep. He is charismatic, canny, and a genuinely good person. He’s sunlight, and they are vampires.

Of course, it’s not as easy as it could be. The coalition is not as organized as a proper party, spanning several across the spectrum. Even some of the corporatists and populists Long has frozen out like Charles Lindbergh, Henry Bennet, and William Lemke are hovering on the fringes of the coalition.

The official goals are “Serious but sensible reform.”

Serious reform seems to mean pink unionism and social democracy. Sensible reform seems to mean strengthening the state to crush socialists. Naturally, Senator Thomas is working exclusively to form tighter bonds with those who favor serious reform. Even within that grouping, there is significant variation.

Thomas has decided to focus on... (Rank 3 options from 1 to 3)

[] [COALITION] The Progressives. The most powerful segment of the coalition, they are already broadly allied with you, but individuals frequently cross the aisle in specific matters. They are also the most popular among the American middle class, who are likely to vote exclusively for Progressive or Progressive-endorsed candidates this upcoming election. As more Progressives align themselves with you, the tug-of-war over them between you and Olson will grow more important.
[] [COALITION] The Farmer-Labor Remnants. The smallest party by sheer size, they are also the most militant and radical section of the coalition, and the only group to have their own paramilitary.
[] [COALITION] The Technocrats. A peculiar group popular among many intellectuals, they are focused on finding the most efficient means of organizing society. Socialism and national populism hold equal attraction to them.
[] [COALITION] The West Coast Progressives. A small faction of reformists are staunchly aligned with Creel and his clique, although his recent actions have made them uncomfortable. Appealing to them might damage his support base.
[] [COALITION] The Longists. Huey Long is proudly and staunchly a reformist, even though many within the coalition don’t like him due to his corruption, his fondness for machine politics, and his authoritarian tendencies. The Longists in the coalition are something of a fringe element as a result, but working closely with them would help build ties with Long.
[] [COALITION] The Establishment. The most numerous but also the most diffuse, Democrats and Republicans alike have joined the coalition even though the hearts of both parties remain under corrupt industrialists and plutocrats.
[] [COALITION] The Socialists. Finally, you could shore up your own support by means of appealing to the right-opposition in the SPA and rallying them to your cause.

Report from Smedley Butler: 2 Influence on Instilling Discipline, Pt.2, 57+28+20=105
The camps keep churning out disciplined trainers, Butler keeps visiting Red Guards units to make sure they shaped up, and standards continue to rise. There’s not much more to say, honestly.

Perhaps the only unusual thing is Butler spending a little extra time visiting rural areas to make sure they are up to snuff.

Report from Charles Schenk: 2 Influence on A Program of Subversion, 86+12+10=108, 1 Influence on Find Tools, Farming Edition, 51+10=61
Despite the unfortunate setback of the fire, Schenk has continued working hard and finished establishing his organization. They are dedicated, loyal, and ruthless, capable of assuming false identities and tearing groups apart from the inside. Soon, they will be unleashed.

You inspect them, marching along the ranks. Their faces are nondescript, their eyes are steady, their manner is relaxed. If you passed them on the street, you wouldn’t think twice.

And they are utterly loyal. Schenk is mostly confident of that.

Their first task is to find “friends” in the Fix The Price movement. A few spies attend the slowly dying meetings and look to see who still attends and who is still angry. There are more than a few, even if they are scattered. Bribes are handed out and drinks are bought, and some of those angry farmers find themselves developing relationships with socialists. They might have lost much to the Red Guards, but they are greedy and easily deceived. A few of them are, anyway.

Just to be thorough, Schenk makes sure to bribe a few members of the more moderate Fix the Price advocates and their newfound Anti-Mortgage Militia.

Report from the Propaganda Committee: 1 Influence on Arts and Entertainments, 52+5=57, 1 Influence on Street Theater, 8+10=18, 2 Influence on Attack the Segregationists, 54+15+20=89, 1 Influence on Tales to Tell, 16+10=26 1 Influence on We’re Singing on the Radio, 22+10=32
Seizing factories is one thing, but art galleries are rarely heavily guarded, and theaters are almost never guarded at all. As the Red Guards move to take control, some works of art are packed away, some stars flee, but the majority are resigned to circumstances for the moment, although an increase in unrest or any instability could change that.
If that’s the case, you’ll simply have to start replacing their art with proletarian culture, a process that has already begun as the masses view art that was once kept away and begin discussing their own ideas.

Unfortunately, the groups who were hired to begin creating thought-provoking skits and comedies were very unpopular. The money spent on hiring them was utterly wasted, although at least now the Committee knows who they shouldn’t hire. And one of the would-be actors got a new job working as a comedian’s straight-man at one of the smaller New York clubs. Having seen the fellow in action, you think that getting repeatedly hit in the face with pies is an appropriate career for him.

Perhaps the reason the theater groups were so awful is that they were picked in a rather rushed fashion. Everyone was far more interested in the more prestigious, intriguing, and important task of making the segregationists look as incompetently villainous as possible.

The events this month give ample fodder, as the KKK commit yet more highly public atrocities, including literally crucifying several Longist militiamen and locking black congregants in their churches, and burning the buildings down. The more moderate segregationists are smeared with these actions, articles condemning them as offering moral support to “the horrific barbarians whose atrocities would shock the butchers of the Congo” popping up like mushrooms after a rainstorm.

Their logic is torn to shreds, their beliefs derided as foolish and ridiculous, the so-called science which supports it is called outdated and illegitimate...and those who peddle it are called the same. Many simply stop talking. The rest wish they had.

Meanwhile, the creation of the first round of general entertainment begins. All manner of popular forms is used, from comic books to adventure stories to romances that are not meant for children. You pick out one that looks especially interesting...

[] Captain Communist, a comic book about a surviving Bolshevik fleeing from the Whites accidentally interrupting a magical ritual and gaining great power
[] The Adventures of Solik the Mighty, a pulp novel about a mysterious and deadly wanderer righting wrongs and battling monsters on his journeys through the land of Ob
[] The False Princess, a story of intrigue and romance as the beautiful maid Selina takes on the guise of a princess to help overthrow a wicked king but falls in love with his loyal bodyguard
[] [REDACTED] It’s in the best revolutionary tradition, but you are hiding this one from Hannah. And probably Louise too.


There are plenty of songs out there, from the stirring to the melancholy to the upbeat and cheerful. And now people can listen to them without a live band. As long as they have a radio anyway. It’s not a complicated thing to set up, just involving a few signatures and leaving it to the stations.

Report from Ben Little: 1 Influence on Union Donation Drive, 34, 2 Influence on Union Charities, Fundraising,80+54=134
Ben Little goes out to speak. And people gather around to hear. He is as persuasive as ever, but there just isn’t that much to give. Strike funds are running low, savings accounts are growing fewer every day, but people still determinedly soldier onwards and the increasing efficiency of the economies of various states and their steady integration means that people still have some to spare, and the belief that things will get better.

And though they might grumble more, they still listen to him, both out of respect for his long years of bloody experience and because of his sheer charisma. Integrated into the decentralized planning apparatuses, charities and shops are set up to help fund the unions and the CSA. Serving as community centers, stores for voucher exchanges, logistics offices, and more, these newly formed “public unions” are proving popular sites for fundraisers that leave everyone better off. And if some deals are made for the people’s benefit in their back offices, so much the better.

Report from the SPA Cadres: 2 Influence on A Union Home,50+79=129, 2 Influence on On the Women’s Question, 21+84+15=120
Working in conjunction with the new public unions, they are built as integrated parts of the new homes. The construction is not yet finished, but it is progressing rapidly. Each building might be nothing more than a brick of concrete monolith, but they contain many thick-walled apartments and access to plentiful amenities. Some of the more green-thumbed workers have even begun adding gardens to supplement the existing ones.

Some of the more imaginative people involved have begun imagining the next step, entire cities where you can live your life never leaving their confines, vertical farms feeding entire blocks, grand arcologies, and other such flights of fancy.

But for now, people are sticking to a single proven design of good quality. It will keep people warm and let them sleep, and if they have to share laundry and bathrooms and don’t quite get to decide what temperature to keep their homes, it's still a serious improvement over the alternative.

To be honest, you don’t pay too much attention to that. The construction workers are paid, the labor brigades are mobilized, you are sure things will take care of themselves. What’s far more interesting to you is the New York Conference on Women’s Liberation, a grand affair that you had absolutely nothing to do with. The streets are filled with debate, the conference halls with well...conferences. Emma Goldman visits, as does Rosa Luxemburg, stepping off a boat from France. Your own wife holds a panel discussing how the wives of workers can be their own people.

It’s a grand and exciting time, one in which a great deal is said and a great deal is done, but once more the lesson you learn at the end of things is that you must go much further.

Well, no one ever said a revolution would be easy. And doing many at once should certainly be harder.
 

MagnificentLilyWitch

Active member
Pronouns
She/Her
[X] Captain Communist, a comic book about a surviving Bolshevik fleeing from the Whites accidentally interrupting a magical ritual and gaining great power

All my yes!
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
There is blood on the marble steps. A tired, stoop-backed man is cleaning it with a mop and bucket, while two guards stand ramrod straight nearby. Over them, half-concealed by shadow, looms the stern visage of Lincoln, staring down. The janitor looks up to meet the gaze and despair covers his face, while the two soldiers, proud Marines both, hide their terror with sternness and rage.

And they look out on a city covered in black clouds. There is no cooling rain to give relief to the heat, no crack of thunder to release the tension. Only the burning heat and dark days.

As the janitor runs his mop through the drying bloodstain, he glances over his shoulder out at the city, and then back up to the statue.

“Father Abraham, all you fought for is going,” he whispered.

And then he bent his head and the words of a hymn he had learned at his father’s knee drifted through his head. The old man had always made sure that he learned how to be a good Christian. “Charlie, people might look down at you, but you gots to turn your other cheek, just like Christ did,” the old man would say every time he saw anger burning in his son’s face.

And Charlie learned that lesson and learned it well. He smiled and bowed his head and called everyone sir and ma’am and worked twice as hard for half the pay and waited in line at the store till every white man and woman had been served.

And as he aged and moved North then back South then to Washington, DC, he found that lesson meant less and less. Plenty of other people had stopped turning the other cheek. There were strikes and fights everywhere he went, corpses in every color were left hanging from trees, thugs with red or grey or blue armbands showed up to make their demands and rob wanderers like him blind, politicians were shot or stoned, and people were just getting angrier and angrier.

But while Charlie was willing to be angry now, he wasn’t able anymore. He was too tired, too weary. His back ached, his knees were stiff, his head pounded day and night. Fighting was a young man’s game, and a brave one’s. Or a young woman’s game, if what he had heard about what was going on in Illinois was true. Every time he thought about it, he shook his head bemusedly, but he supposed it made sense. Every boy he had grown up with feared Mrs. Silver than their fathers’ belts. And if she had a gun...he shook his head again.

That was for other people to worry about, people still willing to change things. He thought it futile, he feared they would make it worse. He stared at the bloodstain and wondered who it had come from, he stared at the Capitol building and wondered if the men in there knew what they were doing, he stared at the city and wondered how many would die tonight and how many would die before it was all over.
And as much as he prayed it would be worth it, he feared it wouldn’t. But there was nothing he could do to stop the chaos or to make it right.

So he kept working and kept despairing at what the world was coming to.


Martin stood watch in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. His shift would end in three hours, and then he would go back to the barracks that had been set up on the National Mall and sleep a few desperate hours and then awaken in the morning to take another shift. He hoped it would be a memorial again, but he feared it would be on the perimeter, or worse, the patrol. Every time he made that horrible circuit, things were worse. The poor were poorer, the hungry were hungrier, the militias were angrier. They kicked down doors and disarmed the ruffians and arrested the troublemakers, but there were always more. And he didn’t know why, he didn’t understand it. This was America, not some Bolshevik tyranny or the land of the Tzars!

They were free to vote on their leaders, free to find their own labor, free to chart their path. If they failed, they could find succor and try again. That was the way things had always worked. And if things were harder now...well, he had managed it, and the Marines wouldn’t let him in until he changed his name and bribed the recruiter.

He had scrambled his way out of the slums of New York, and sent enough money home to his parents that they had managed to find a better apartment, even if they had to keep working at the same factory. He wrote them once a month, and saved up some money to marry. He was doing everything right, he knew it. And as far as he could tell, most others were too, or they were trying at least. Some of the Marines were a little overeager to smash heads, and he had heard dark rumors about what prison detail entailed. But people were trying to solve things in the government, and there were all sorts of reforms being proposed and pushed. Things should be getting better.

But they weren’t. Nothing was working right, and he couldn’t understand. He wished there was a rabbi to talk to, because the chaplain’s answers didn’t make any sense.

The only thing he had gotten from the half-sober man was that sometimes people failed to do what they should. Which he had figured out for himself, thank you very much. Martin was smarter than most, as far as he was concerned. And so he decided not to worry about it.

Others might not do their duty, might rage and riot instead, but he would keep doing exactly what he was supposed to. He kept standing with his back straight and his face calm and silently hoping things would get better.


Gideon glowered at the city before him. He inhaled deeply, smelling it. It stank of rot, of weak men, and of the corruption they let set in. He hates it, every bit of it. He’ll make sure it’s removed, him and all the true soldiers of America and of Christ. No matter the cost the country has to pay.

He’s had plenty of experience doing that. It’s in his blood. His grandfather fought for the noble cause of freedom in the War Between the States, and his father had helped make sure people understood that things hadn’t changed after. He went along sometimes, to keep a lookout when he hadn’t quite become a man.

A faint smile touched his lips, then it faded as he remembered what happened to his father, shot by a red miscegenationist trying to stir up a rebellion. He blinked back tears hard and fast, for he was a man and he didn’t cry and his father would hit him if...his father was dead. He had to remember that.

He ached to do something about it though, to march into the Capitol and shoot all those Bolshevik snakes, especially Judas Long. Or since he couldn’t do that yet, to go down and crush one of their pathetic little militias or feeble demonstrations. He ached so bad it made his stomach tighten and churn, and his knuckles whitened as he squeezed his rifle.

He turned his gaze and looked at the janitor. His brown hide offended Gideon’s eyes, and he thought he caught a spark of defiance. Which was unacceptable...he needed to smash down the uppity bastard. But Martin wouldn’t have seen anything, and Martin would say something to the Sergeant.

And that asshole would send him to the brig for it. “Can’t have our soldiers making more enemies,” he would say, chewing tobacco, and spitting the brown juice onto Gideon’s boots.

Both the Sergeant and Martin would have to be dealt with eventually, he knew half the company agreed, but proper men were constrained and restricted. It was madness to fight the Syndicalists with one hand behind their back, but the rot of the republic forced them to do so.

And he hated that, more than he hated anything else. More than he hated socialism. More than he hated uppity blacks. More than he hated Judas Long. He hated the helplessness he felt, the things holding him and his fellows back from restoring the country to the way it ought to be.

So he stood and seethed and hoped he would be allowed to do what he needed to do.


Rumors and News

The month is a tumultuous and chaotic one. But then, are any in this decaying republic not? The famine continues to fade. The few who are still optimists suggest that the Dust Bowl might be coming to an end. But for many displaced farmers and immiserated city-dwellers, that seems a distant prospect. A great despair has settled across the country, only broken by furious radicals demanding change and bloody clashes between those groups and governments throughout the nation.

After a meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, in a city still scarred by the sudden violence of the Three-Day War, beneath a tree in which the remnants of three black Minutemen still hang, a pact is signed behind a broad and diverse group. White supremacists and anti-syndicalists made up the majority, but there were others. And they agreed on a struggle to the death for the safety and sanctity of the Christian America as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. And so the National Popular Front for Constitutional Protection was founded. Huey Long is quick to condemn them as a “federation of thieves and a pack of plutocrats,” while you and others among the SPA speak against them in even harsher terms.

In Los Angeles, where the mayor has spoken admiringly of the Front, local SPA organizers hold an enormous march. At it, several condemned the corrupt mayor and the Front as a whole as “autocratic tools of the plutocratic conspiracy against the honest men and women of the working class.”

And the march descends into violence as police move in to break it up, cracking skulls and arresting leaders. Afterwards, as the blood is scrubbed from the streets, Chinese people are relegated to a few districts of the city.

Similar actions occur throughout the country, especially in the Deep South. The KKK and Protector allies go on rampages, attacking “syndicalists, agitators, and miscengationists” with reckless abandon, slaughtering many.

Minutemen groups are shattered, Red Guards units are all but wiped out, and horrific brutalities are visited on many, many innocents. Only in a few scattered areas do these groups hold on, with the exception of the Black Belt, where a dozen KKK attacks are fought off and vicious retaliatory strikes launched. All the while, US Army units watch, only intervening in the most serious of cases.

The military in general is heavily strained, their experienced cadres being used to help train new recruits by the thousand while they are forced to help National Guards and police forces keep order across the country. An entire regiment of Marine Corps has been deployed to Washington, DC to help support the beleaguered Capitol Police (even as they are also being crash-expanded), while more Marines are being effectively deputized into helping police cities across the western coast. While most Californian cities bear the yoke relatively quietly, Seattle trembles with suppressed rage.

And it’s not even considered the worst deployment.

Kansas sees the deployment of several thousand troops. The federal government seems determined to make Kansas a second Colorado, working with local Progressive and Farmer-Labor figures in an attempt to steal away your and Long’s bases. However, there is little success, and they have only made the state more divided.

Worse for the government, the flagrant violation of posse comitatus is immediately challenged by Long as illegal. The lower court rulings are blatantly partisan, and there are near-daily riots as rival militias and paramilitaries clash outside the courthouses. The resulting case goes all the way to the Supreme Court, deadlocking the institution. As Long attempts to free the state from the iron heel of the federal government, Minutemen have begun taking the matter into their own hands.

Several commanders of the US Army are assassinated by Longists in Kansas. Several more only barely escape. Throughout the state, Minutemen launch attacks on federal troops and government barracks. Skirmishes and firefights spread across the state, and no one can tell who is winning. Sensationalist reporting has led to the “Second Bleeding Kansas” to receive almost worldwide attention as dozens die every week in bloody clashes.

And in the chaos, Red Guards and Union Defense Committees and other SPA-aligned groups do their best to keep to the sidelines, focusing on mutual aid and other relatively-peaceful efforts. The resulting outpouring of support sees SPA support rising, with even many petite-bourgeoisie leaving aside their class allegiances for gratitude, at least temporarily. And they are not the only ones.

From coast to coast, in the cities and on the farms, wherever proletariat labor and suffer, a few more begin developing class-consciousness and start looking to organize and rally to the Socialist Party of America. It’s a slow and painful process, full of setbacks and struggles, but it continues on endlessly.

There’s a setback In Louisville. The SPA group that has held power in the city has been overthrown as the former police forces and other groups forced the Red Guards out of City Hall, then declared new elections. Despite the efforts of the Union Defense Committees and other Red Guards units, the elections went to a local progressive Democrat.

There are other setbacks throughout the Red Belt as many grow uneasy with the idea of abolishing money to replace it with...”labor vouchers”. However, just as many are enthused by it, and it becomes another awkward divide. Even some of those who fully support using central planning instead of market socialism are hesitant about fully abolishing money.

But there are also reports of federal agitators using the issue to inflame false consciousness in their listeners. Similarly, many are uneasy about the support the SPA has for feminism. It is perhaps just a bridge too far for many. Still, nothing that’s been said or done is actually...problematic. So for now, people are content to let it lie.

Attracting more attention are the affairs of Washington, DC. On Capitol Hill, as Norman snares Progressives from across the country and more than a few Longists in a charm offensive, Long launches one of his own, persuading many former Progressives to openly jump ship to his camp. Another faction, the remnant of those who most closely aligned with Creel, have begun turning to the more corporatist sections of the Front in hopes of bolstering their strength, while Olson frantically works with the center of the coalition to keep everything from falling apart and to drag minor, milquetoast reforms from the Business Republicans and Bourbon Democrats. In the chaos on Capitol Hill, shouting matches and fistfights are more frequent than sober debate or backroom dealing.

Even so, it is clear from your progressive, reformist allies that Floyd Olson’s grand plan is progressing rapidly, although that barely salves the chaos in Washington.

The capital itself is no less riven than the Capitol. There was a week straight of rioting after parts of the army were deployed to Kansas, only quelled when the Marines arrived. The Protectors have formed another faction in the endless clashes between paramilitaries, an exceptionally vicious and well-armed one.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is deeply divided and distracted by Long’s suit, leaving them unable to issue a final ruling on the matter of the legality of the rail seizures. And so state governments continue taking control of the transportation network in conjunction with the workers. Several state governments have also pushed through laws expanding their civil rights bills to explicitly cover discrimination based on country of origin in a bid to quash nativism.

As the country begins to collapse, a variety of peculiar and esoteric political movements that don’t quite fit within the mainstream have begun developing. Native American militias, the Vermont Independence Army, and several other minor such groups have begun skirmishing with federal government, although by and large they have been ignored.

The other political development within the country that caught your attention was the chaos in the California establishment. Samuel Shortridge, Lieutenant Governor of California, has announced that Creel has begun suffering from a “disease of the mind” and that he has taken on the duties of office for the time being until the election. He’s also actually moved to the left of the SPA on one issue in particular: the mentally unwell, advocating for further funding for asylums and education on warning signs. He has the majority of the legislature behind him, but the SPA minority have boycotted in protest of the irregularities behind his ascension (and as a way to disrupt the functioning of bourgeois democracy until the time is right for revolution), while several Democratic politicians have outright left the state in a bid to deny the government legitimacy.

And then Creel showed up in Los Angeles, calling on the federal government to intervene against a supposed coup. Hoover has sent an investigation team and refused to comment.

Foreign affairs are no less dramatic. There is a rash of saber-rattling along the Franco-German border, the Kaiser has sent an open offer to the US government to assist the United States of “ridding itself of the syndicalist menace,” new Cristero uprisings threaten the north of Mexico, and in Canada, the first major strikes since the crushing the Cape Breton Commune have erupted, primarily over economic issues. Though every strike was crushed within a week, it seems the Canadian working class is finding its feet once more, and the heavy-handed suppression has led even many of the state-sponsored unions to criticize the government. In the end, a few minor concessions regarding wages were won.

Even as the SPA celebrates that, internal politics continues to be a struggle. A faction of tactical conciliators has moved to avoid provoking the US government for the moment while they are seemingly focused on Long, another has condemned it as cowardice. There are other debates regarding policing, rural representation, education, and a myriad of others. Fortunately, everyone recognizes people are dealing in good faith. Even the CSA bureaucrats, as jealous and corrupt as they can be, are idealists in their own way.

However, Schenk has reported that many of his watchers among the farmers are reporting a constant simmering of discontent as they wait to see if the rest of your promises will be fulfilled. And Longists are agitating among them, although Century doesn’t seem to think this is something deliberate on Long’s part, the man is simply far too busy fighting the army on the legal battlefield for anything else.

Finally, the Red Army Faction has sent word that they intend to lay low this month. The reaction to their breakout has seen them sparring with numerous BOI officials as safehouses are threatened and cells broken up.


Plans from Subordinates

The Coordination Planning Committee is to establish a program of community check-ins on the unwell, the disabled, and the disposed to help catch problems before they come serious and make sure people are welcomed members of their new communities.

The State Legislative Committee is working to improve state infrastructure, including rails, sewers, grain stores, and the beginnings of electrification, in addition to passing laws to enable greater state intervention in the economy and marshaling their army of lawyers to create legal defenses for various actions.

Norman Thomas is working to write a major reform bill inspired by the one you have shown him, while castigating the rest of the Congress for their failures to do anything.

Smedley Butler is continuing to try and instill a sense of discipline in the unruly Red Guards.

Charles Schenk is working to establish connections among the remaining organized farmers, and preparing to infiltrate and identify potential reactionaries among the reformist wing of US politics.

Ben Stevens is working to formalize and expand the Farmworker's Union to help improve the reach of the Red Grange and the representation of rural areas in the CSA.

The Propaganda Committee is continuing its effort on establishing the production of novels. They are also working to arrange for the hiring of more professional reporters and cartoonists, to agitate for integration on the social level and to showcase examples of solidarity among workers of different races.

Ben Little is preparing to establish networks of clothing distribution and exchange and to help organize the dismayed and disaffected workers of Louisville.

The SPA Cadres are continuing their efforts in helping arrange construction. They have also begun lobbying for large-scale judicial reform, railing against the current court system as reactionary and undemocratic.


You have 10 Influence and 2 Gravitas total. 0 Gravitas and 7 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You are currently taking no focus. You have 1 Temporary Influence

+10 to the next 2 rural organization or agitations actions. +10 to the next Union action.


The current economic situation is confused and disordered. While capitalist exchanges have been totally replaced in some places, in others they have been merely supplanted or supplemented. The detrimental effects are already being felt as people revert to bartering and swapping. Some sort of reform must be made, within 2 months. (From the Syndicalists and Orthodox. +10 to the next Union action, +Relations with the Syndicalists, +Relations with the Orthodox, +Relations with the Center, -Strength to the Center, +support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW if completed. -Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Center,-support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, loss of income if failed).

Liberation cannot just be economic. The chains of capital weigh on the mind as well, in the forms of patriarchy, racism, imperialism, and more. Just as we advocate for the breaking of the chains of capital, so must these chains be broken. And the party and syndicates are both united behind us on this. Make 1 significant step on the path of social justice within 3 months. (From the Syndicalists, the Orthodox, the Anarchists, the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA. + Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, +Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, +1 Temporary Influence for Union actions, -support the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, -Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor if completed. +Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, +support with the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, +1 Temporary Influence for rural-focused Union actions, -Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, -Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, if failed.

California is one of the largest states in America, with an enormous population, a powerful industrial base, and a vast agricultural heartland. It also features some of the most powerful opposition to the workers’ movements, thanks to endless bombardments of propaganda, foreign support from many parties, and the judicious use of force. But the workers there are nevertheless ripe for organization...and an election is coming up. Make major gains in popular and political support in the Golden State. (From the Parliamentarians, the Center, the Orthodox, the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster’s Union. ++ Support from the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster’s Union, ++ Relations with the Parliamentarians, the Center, and the Orthodox, +2 temporary Influence if completed.)

This Frankenstein of an economic system is an awkward kludge. Food prices are slowly rising, while many manufactured goods and raw materials are either overwhelmingly common or far too rare. Tooling and machinery is getting much rarer, spare parts are becoming in short supply...nothing is serious yet, but there are all sorts of worrying trends. Take steps to reform and stabilize the economy within 5 months. (From the Syndicalists and Orthodox. +10 to the next two Union actions, +Relations with the Syndicalists, +Relations with the Orthodox, +Relations with the Center, -Strength to the Center, +support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, increase in popular support if completed. -Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Center,-support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, loss of income, severe decrease in popular support if failed)

The investigation revealed a far more serious presence of reactionaries in nearly every city and town than previously believed. Often built around church groups and other social institutions, they could serve as a potential nucleus for unrest, sabotage, counterrevolution, and potentially a white terror. All who are aware of this are in agreement: one way or another, this must be dealt with as soon as possible. Currently, people are debating what the best method will be. (No penalties or bonuses for using harsh or conciliatory methods. ++support from all CSA factions when completed. Minor losses of support in the CSA if the reactionaries cause problems until then.)

The American education system was carefully designed to serve the will of the capitalists as part of their effort to ensure their dominance. From deliberately enforced inequality to classroom structures designed to make children acquiesce to the abuses of capitalism, no portion of it was left unscathed. We shall create an education system with higher ideals, for adults and children alike. Accurate history and economic science will be taught alongside art and music and math, and none shall be denied any knowledge. All it needs is to be built. Which will hopefully commence soon. Start 3 education-related actions within 7 months. (+Support from the AFL-CIO, ++ support from the IWW MM, slight increase in popular support if completed. --support from the IWW MM if failed.)

As per your agreement with the representative of the Fix the Price movement, you will be creating agricultural colleges and factories for tractors, harvesters, and other such tools of industrial farming. While the CSA is largely disinterested in such affairs, breaking your word will have serious political consequences outside that and will almost certainly result in a far more dangerous version of the Movement. Given the nature of the agreement you have made, seizing just a few factories will not be enough. It will have to be a grand enterprise. Complete Farmer’s Colleges and either Farmer’s Factories or Take the Major Factories within 2 months. (++Support from the Red Grange, slight increase in popular support if completed. ---Support from the Red Grange, -Support from the IWW MA and ASA, --Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, severe losses to popular support and increase in unrest if failed.)

One matter that is being debated is policing. While the cops are often reactionary, they have largely been broken of their power across the Steel Belt and turned into tools of the working class. And they have performed admirably in that role. However, there has been a noticeable rise in unrest and criminal activity in many areas fueled by the many ills of capitalist society, especially one undergoing such a crisis, and it is only to get worse before it gets better. As such, there has been a moderate rise in popularity for programs which will improve the effectiveness of police while preventing them from becoming the lackeys of capitalists once more. Complete policing reforms within 3 months. (++Support from the ASA, the IWW MM, and the Teamster’s Union, slight increase in popular support if completed.)

Too much has been done too fast. Mobs are forming across the steel belt, protesting our attempts to steal their wives and daughters, panicking about what a threat we are to the social order. We are upending everything they have ever known, and they are understandably scared. So as much as it might gall to accept such reactionary demands, we must acknowledge that we have reached a temporary limit. Until the small-minded people and their lingering reactionary instincts are soothed and calmed, we need to take a step back and focus on other things. Avoid making further extreme social reforms for at least 3 months, possibly less or more depending on the circumstances. (Moderate losses of popular support you will be blamed for if failed.)

With the development of a successful, semi-centralized planning apparatus, another problem has come up: the relative scarcity of resources we are working with, and will continue to be working with until more factories are seized or otherwise brought under the control of their workers. However, there is a simple solution: use the captured power of the state to fulfill our goals instead. Begin investing the worker’s money, which is paid through taxes to the state governments semi-controlled by the worker into new enterprises and make the engine of the economy roar. Complete State Nationalizations within 3 months and defend it from any legal challenges thereafter. (++Support from the ASA, ++Relations with the Orthodox if completed. --Support from the ASA, --Relations with the Orthodox if failed.)

The army has demonstrated amply that it is capable of smashing any paramilitary in the country after open battle. And so the Red Guards and Union Defense Committees and all the other militias aligned with us must grow in size, in discipline, in training, and above all else in armament. Make 4 major steps at increasing the effectiveness of the Red Guards within 6 months. (--Support from everyone if failed.)

People must be reached and educated about the nature of a revolutionary state and the benefits the revolution will bring to them personally. To that end the capabilities of the propaganda committee must expand. Discipline must be tightened, performance must be improved, new means and methods developed. We cannot allow a propaganda gap! Make 3 improvements to the SPA’s propaganda machinery within 6 months. (--Support from everyone if failed.)

The shoes and clothes of the workers have begun wearing thin. The endless unrest in the South has greatly reduced the harvests of cotton and other crops, while the chaos in the western ports and German economic blockades have badly reduced what cloth can be imported. Many clothing factories have utterly ground to a halt in response to the lack of raw material, and while the various safety nets established have kept people from starving or being driven from their homes, clothes are growing increasingly expensive, and the workers demand your aid.


Hold a Rally: It’s a classic for every political party for a reason. There’s nothing quite like a grand rally with banners waving and people cheering to make you seem unstoppable and to gather more support. The demonstration of the energy and might of the working class will have the capitalists shaking in their boots. It is a message to your supporters as well, that all the power of the SPA stands behind them. Here is what it says: Let your foes try and stop you. They will be ground under your heel. Cost: 1 Resources and a risk of backlash and hostile interruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/50/85/120. Results: Variable change in support, chance of intimidating your enemies. Can synergize with other actions.

Wave the Red Banner: The Red Banner is not the only SPA-affiliated or favoring publication, but it is the only one produced by the Party itself. And it is immensely popular. New ones go out constantly, but you could write an article of your own and make a special edition. This would receive extra attention and possibly some new readership, allowing you to make your opinions heard and sway the hearts and minds of others. You could shape the narrative on something, make an argument for or against a particular course of action, attack an enemy or uplift an ally. Or to defend yourself and your decisions. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 1 Resource and a risk of backlash. May be additional costs depending on the topic. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100/150. Results: Variable change in support or party factions, results depend on the topic. The topic must be written in. Some examples: “The importance of unity in the socialist cause,” “The corruption of the Hoover administration,” “Why feminism and socialism must go together,” and “Why Farmer-Labor should unify with the SPA.” Can synergize with other actions.

Send Socialist Agitators To: Nearly every street corner in Chicago, New York City, and Seattle has a man or woman standing on a crate and telling the passerby of the virtues of the cause and encouraging them to donate. They are often beaten brutally by the bourgeois or by police (and just as often protected by their listeners), but they nevertheless persist, determined to gain recruits and funds for the cause. Some of these agitators are amateurs doing it in their spare time, but quite a few are dedicated and skilled speakers. Sending these speakers in significant numbers to an area can turn your foe’s supporters against them, especially if it is followed up upon with meaningful organization. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support there. Unlock actions to follow up on the agitation.

Create Shadow Government: You have had a brilliant idea: Though you lack power at the federal level, the Socialist Party has substantial control of many mayorships and county governments alongside even more widespread but less official influence. You even control most states of the Steel Belt. Creating a forum to help these various governments cooperate and resolve disputes will be useful, especially if you have further requests from these governments. You have only discussed this concept briefly, but the idea of the Interstate Committee of Socialist Governments (name subject to change) has dazzled many. Especially since it will help you gain influence over their legal codes, voting laws, and National Guard armories. However, given the likely federal determination to show strength, such a provocative action could be risky. Cost: Backlash from within and without the Party, possible legal challenges. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/45/75/125. Results: Various states and lower-level governments integrated into a coordinated body, many new possibilities available, although the body could be unwieldy.

Support Faction: The party is more than a little divided, even if everyone is determined to stick together, they still clash frequently, with each other and with you. Spending some time and effort backing a particular faction in these debates could gain you some gratitude, which is always a valuable currency. Cost: Risk of losing support within the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Increase Relations and Strength of selected faction, chance of gaining support within the CSA.

Make Changes To Subordinates: You do not have the time or capability to make all the decisions involved with bringing the Revolution to America, and so you have trusted subordinates to help. Occasionally, you will need to redirect their efforts, invest more in their success, or even replace them immediately. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Make any number of changes to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times. Cannot be done for SPA Cadres

Party Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Extremely low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/140. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

The International Question: With contact made with the Syndintern, they will soon begin encouraging internationalist behavior. Considering the amount of assistance you will need for them, it would be wise to help support revolutions in Canada and in the various client states of America, along with taking part in the broader Syndintern in less overt ways. Gauging the positions of various factions on this will help you understand your position. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Find out the position of all factions of the SPA and CSA on internationalism.

Display your Dedication: You are being accused of weakness, softness, and cowardice. Despite all you have suffered and sacrificed, it is not enough for some. Fine then, you will show them how much the cause means to you. A whirlwind tour across the country, visiting every union and party office you can meet, will provide the proof and silence their accusations. From Seattle to New York City, from Portland to Houston, anywhere men and women struggle for their liberation you will stand in their support. Cost: No Personal Action next month. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Gain Relations with all SPA factions.

Squeeze the Fosterites: The newest group in the SPA has a dangerous ideology, one that threatens to provoke a reactionary alliance that could deal painful blows to your cause. The more mainstream factions recognize this, and would likely be willing to cooperate with you to hammer the divides in them and pressure them to return to the fold (with a price in mind, of course. Such is politics). Those who resist this pressure will be embittered, but they are going to be a minority of a minority. What harm can they do? Cost: Will further radicalize any remaining Fosterites, will politically indebt you to other factions, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/100. Result: Begin campaign to marginalize the Fosterites, will have options on how to handle it until it ends.

Pro-Liberation Politics: The anti-racism program must be built on. The party’s ideological limitations on the matter must be removed. There is more to be done...there is always more to be done. Some will back you to the hilt on this, others will oppose it to the end, but you must trust that the desire for unity triumphs over factional bickering...and you will spend some time laying the groundwork first before announcing your new proposals since they will likely be controversial. Cost: Relations with party factions, support in the CSA. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/20/45/65/115. Result: Lay the groundwork for and then propose modifications to the party line to further support anti-discrimination measures. Higher Relations will mean better results.

Shore Up Support: You have sensed a slight chilling of your relations with the CSA, although many in their ranks are still your determined and dedicated allies. But you cannot predict how everything will fall out, and so rather than take their assistance for granted, you will spend some time speaking and working with them, making sure they know they are appreciated and hearing requests. It’s simply part of being a leader, unfortunately, even if it’s one you don’t enjoy. Cost: Slight increase to Stress, time spent schmoozing is time not spent building up to a Revolution. Time: Until ended. DC: 10/25/40/50. Result: Reduced negative impact of actions on CSA support, hear requests and suggestions from your supporters.

Assistant Adjustment: Even as your assistants work to make sure their views are supported by the party machinery, they are also being genuinely helpful in managing the fractious ranks and building towards the coming revolution. You could always use a few more...or perhaps you need to remove someone. Cost: Political turmoil, modification to bonuses. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Options to change assistants.

Speak for Liberty: While the SPA is at least somewhat united behind you, your willingness to push for social revolution has had the anarchists in the party and their similarly socially left allies be some of your most enthusiastic supporters, despite their relatively small numbers. If you want to make use of that support, you will need to help them. Speak on the topic of liberty, encourage support for racial minorities, demand women’s liberation...perhaps go so far as to say homosexuality is acceptable. Let them know they have an ally in you. Cost: Political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 40. Result: Increase in Strength and Relations of Anarchists.

Condemn Atrocities: If you wish to keep the violent and vicious Fosterites from gaining strength, you need to lay the groundwork before you break them. Make it part of the SPA program to condemn excessive brutality, the murder of non-combatants and innocents, and wanton destruction. While the language will mostly be used against capitalists and Longists, it can also be applied to the sort of things they advocate for, making a useful cudgel against your enemies in the party. Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60/90. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Insist on their Effectiveness: Though the Fosterites have had some of their bloodlust slaked, they are still demanding more blood, more death, more destruction. They appear to have no compromise in them..let’s see if they have any common sense. While they may decry these reforms as cowardice and giving in to bourgeois demands to muzzle the workers and “suppress their righteous rage until the flame of revolution gutters out,” you are doing nothing of the sort! You are simply trying to make them a more capable and organized force, an army capable of winning the revolution you all want. Cost: Some political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/60/80. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Divide and Defeat: The Fosterites are united only by their insistence that you go faster, that you birth the revolution sooner - and that like all births, that it be bloody and painful. And so the right pressures, ever so gently applied, can leave them broken and adrift, eliminating a potential political threat and greatly weakening an adventurist segment of the SPA. The pressures are asking what they want, which might be a dangerous question if you don’t have a good answer... Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys and weakens the RAF. Time: 2 months. DC: 35/70/100/120. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Back Up Butler: Butler has done an excellent job of reforming and expanding the Red Guard, turning it from a barely-controlled paramilitary into an effective force However, some of the changes he has made have been contentious, and he plans more. Some have begun suggesting you should rid yourself of him...something which you have no intentions of doing so. Make that clear, and make it crystal clear that Smedley Butler has your full confidence. Cost: Loss of CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/20. Result: Increase to Smedley Butler’s Influence

Command the Cadres: The SPA Cadres have been enjoying their newfound independence and will be reluctant to give it up again even temporarily, but you are liked and respected enough that they will do it. Even if they will complain. Cost: Political impact depends on what you choose. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Adjust SPA Cadre actions as you see fit.

Organizational Reform: With yet another intra-party spat developing, you find yourself getting frustrated. You need to take measures for preventing these sorts of problems from arising again...along with making sure reformist sentiments and corruption don’t set themselves back in. Clear out the deadwood, impress your authority upon the leadership, and get everyone working together for the greater good of the workers. Cost:???. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100/125. Result: Reduced chance of further political crises, +1 Gravitas, reduction in Stress.

Ban the Nativists: With anti-nativist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of nativists influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CSA Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge nativists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.

Ban the Racists: With anti-nativist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of nativists influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CSA Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge racists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.

Standards of Integrity: With the removal and punishment of many corrupt individuals, it's time to make sure they and their ilk don’t come back into power. You tried to push through higher standards of integrity and behavior for people running on SPA tickets or on the SPA payroll, including requiring them to publish their finances for all to scrutinize, but it floundered due to a lack of momentum. So you will get behind things and push. Cost: Loss in Relations with all factions, loss of support from the Teamster’s Union. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/55. Result: Pass reforms to make it harder to be corrupt in the future.

Push for Moderation: So far, actual resistance from these reactionaries has been minimal and easily dealt with. There’s no need to step things up and provide martyrs or risk radicalizing them. They should be marginalized and propagandized against, but they should not be repressed. They aren’t threatening enough to require it. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Nonviolent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.

Meet Them With Violence: Already these reactionaries have resisted the seizure of the means of production and protested against the transformation of society. They are receiving support from far more dangerous groups as well. They are obstacles before the tide of history, and they must be swept away. And we shall not hesitate in doing the sweeping. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Violent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.

Remove the Reformists: The threat of the incoming bill is not just to your voters, it could also dangerously embolden the dormant reformist wing of the SPA. Purging them after the bill is revealed will be taken badly. Purging them before...it won’t be taken well. But it will be less costly. Of course, you could work to marginalize them without resorting to having them full-on removed from the SPA. Cost: Severe loss of SPA Relations and CSA Support. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Purge reformists from the SPA with varying degrees of efficiency

United in Action: Tighten regulations and rules and push through a few measures granting you more authority over internal SPA matters. It might upset some, but it won’t be too controversial. You’ll put forth a slate, people will argue about it...you have done this dance before. And if you do it right now, you can get people used to you having great authority before they realize why you want it. Cost: Varying loss of SPA Relations and CSA Support. Time: 1-2 months. DC: ??? Result: Pass a package of various reforms to further centralize power around you.

An Extra-Long Speech: While it would take only a little of your time to fulfill your agreement with Long, you can see how he might be admirable from a certain point of view. Sure, he is corrupt, and he seemed perfectly happy to work alongside National Populists and the KKK for several years, and he is a blatant opportunist, but he is also charismatic, determined, unrelenting, and willing to push for the rights of workers and minorities. You can make all those points in your speech, and then make them twice, and encourage people to look at him with just a bit more optimism. He will certainly appreciate it, and that has to count for something. Cost: Minor loss of CSA Support. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: The SPA and CSA is more favorably inclined to Long.

A Long Evaluation: What do people think of Long? Do they view him as a reactionary, a reformist, an opportunist, or perhaps a potential comrade? Any of these are correct from a certain point of view. If you ever intend to deepen your informal agreement into a proper alliance, it would be worth getting an idea of what people’s views are. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Find out what factions of the SPA and CSA think of Long and the America First Party.

Begin Campaigning: August, September, October, and a few days of November. That’s all you have until the election. While many candidates have already been on the campaign trail for months, you have been understandably delayed by the various responsibilities of being the head of the SPA. But you can’t keep putting it off, especially given the relative importance of your role: you are going to be helping as many people as possible by speaking in their favor and rallying support to them, and trying to get some early support for a future presidential run...assuming this country lasts that long. Cost: Reduced positive impact of Personal actions, temporary -2 Gravitas, increased vulnerability to assasination, annoys those who don’t like electoralism. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Begin going on the campaign trail to help various SPA candidates run.

Internally Cleaning House: The corruption that has led to some severe unrest cannot just be in the CSA, but in the SPA as well, given how closely the two institutions are intertwined. Investigations in one will surely help with investigations in the other. And given that the various SPA officials are less entwined into patronage networks and the steady spread of internal SPA democracy, you can expect less backlash for digging into corruption inside the SPA, so long as the investigation remains confined that way. Cost: Minor loss of Relations with all factions., small risk of angering the bureaucrats. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/??. Result: Begin investigating corruption in the CSA, reduced difficulty of actions for dealing with the bureaucracy.

Representation Reform: Although you have not made any promises to change the nature of the representation in the CSA, justice makes its own demands. Itinerant workers, rural people, and the unemployed are all underrepresented in the current system. For the CSA to truly be a vanguard of the working class, it must be able to represent all the working class, although many argue that its current form is sufficient for that purpose. Overruling their objections may well be costly, especially if you introduce some form of geographic representation like some in the Red Grange have suggested. Cost: Varying losses of Relations and support. Time: 2 months. DC: 30/90. Result: Begin reform of the structure of the CSA.

Preparatory Measures: You are not going to transition to a state-within-a-state just yet. The working class is powerful, but it’s not that powerful. Such a brazen declaration of the political and economic independence of the working class will provoke the entirety of the federal army to fall on your heads while you are wrangling the CSA and readying the Red Guards. So you will take steps to make ready for it, preparing cross-state institutions, tightening bonds between different party and union locals, and ensuring that every base that can be covered will be. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??. Result: Reduced time, DC, and cost of Create Shadow Government.

Cross the Line...: The federal government has grown increasingly unstable, it’s a rotting structure just waiting to be kicked down. Doubtless, a few defeats will have their army falling apart and will see syndicalism spreading from sea to shining sea. So it is time to step things up, to provoke them, to push for action. Change the tone of party propaganda, throw your weight behind the most revolutionary. The world will know what you are doing. But it cannot stop you, no more than King Canute could turn back the tide. Cost: Will provoke backlash and upset reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?. Result: Increased cost and impact of actions related to attacking capitalism and your enemies. Note: only 1 Influence or Gravitas may be used.

Toe the Line...:The federal government has grown increasingly unstable, it’s structure is rotting more and more every day, and there are no reforms that can save it. Just wait a few months, a year or two tops, and it will fall apart on its own and we can pick up the pieces. And in the meantime, we will avoid getting shattered by the still mighty army, so that we can be intact enough to do the picking up. Cost: Will upset the most radical faction of the party. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?. Result: Decreased cost and impact of actions related to attacking capitalism and your enemies. Note: only 1 Influence or Gravitas may be used.

...Or Dance Across It: The federal government has grown increasingly unstable, it’s structure is rotting more and more every day, and there are no reforms that can save it. Every day it still stands is a blessing and a curse. While it gives us more time to grow our support, organize our economy, and arm our Red Guards, it also means more suffer and die under the iron heel. So we must provoke its destruction, but do so with caution. Cost: None...if you succeed. Time: 1 month. DC: 85/? if Influence is used, 65/? if Gravitas is used. Result: Decreased cost and increased impact of actions related to attacking capitalism and your enemies. Note: only 1 Influence or Gravitas may be used.

Send Union Organizers To: While agitators can disrupt other political organizations and explain why you are better, to actually gain support of the kind that makes people spend blood and gold and sweat on your behalf requires a different approach. Establishing that takes time, but sending union organizers to an area can make for a start. In many ways, the risks these organizers take is even greater than that of the agitators, especially if there is sufficient hostility to socialism already. Some have literally been tarred and feathered...Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and gain temporary support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization.

Union Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Very low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/120. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

Union Charities, Donations: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the charitable endeavors of the SPA. Doing so would ease the logistical strain providing for so many causes, but not every union is entirely dedicated to socialist ideals, especially not when it comes to the outsiders who will inevitably come seeking aid. Cost: Increased risk of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: +X Resources per month.

Union Charities, Fundraising: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the financial resources at your command through direct donations and holding fundraising events. It may somewhat aggravate your supporters, but as long as you are using the money for their benefit there won’t be more than grumbling. Cost: A new mandate. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: +X Resources per month. Gain support from the Teamster’s Union.

Social Bonds: With the credit unions established, one immediate possibility to secure desperately needed funds is a simple scheme inspired by ones begun then abandoned during the Weltkrieg. Ask people to buy Labor Bonds, which can be redeemed at a later date for an amount equal to their purchase value. The money raised in the meantime can be put to use for any number of programs or initiatives. Cost: You will have to pay them back in a year. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/75/100/110/120. Result: Large, one-time boost to Resources.

Mass Recruiting, Pt. 2: The sheer mass and organization of the working class gives you a potent tool for further empowering the American socialist cause. The overwhelming pro-SPA propaganda has begun countering the decades of mystification the American workers have undergone, but there are still many groups who stubbornly resist the tide of revolution. Some, such as the petty capitalists and highly-paid workers, need an explanation of the benefits of your cause. Some, such as reactionary churches, need to be exposed for the falsehoods they spread. But for some, financial and material incentives will be needed to secure their support, along with reminders as to the fate of class traitors. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Further increase to size of the unions.

Mass Organization: With the unions growing in size on a daily basis, measures need to be taken to ensure the democratic control of the unions is maintained. Through vote-buying, carefully designed structures, and coercion, corrupt bosses maintain their positions, while other leadership figures openly advocate for reformism or racism. The Revolution will not succeed with dedicated leadership from dedicated syndicalists. The political fight caused by this will be long and bloody and painful, but it will secure your position in the party, hopefully without causing too much splintering or outcry. Cost: Significant losses of support from party factions and the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/100/160. Result: Grip on party politics strengthened, subvote, actions to follow up unlocked.

Medical Assistance: The economic dislocations are leading to constant grumbling, but for those who have taken control of their labor, the shortages and unpredictable prices are acceptable, especially since food and shelter and other such essentials are not too badly affected. But one matter of significance has been: many doctors are finding the prices of medication are rising, and many others have simply left for places they view as safer. It’s not a crisis...yet. But it could become one if effective, decisive action is not taken soon. And of course decisive action is expensive action. Cost: -5 Resources, -3 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/45/70. Result: Hire doctors, improve the production of medicine, and make medical care easier to access for your urban supporters.

Standards of Exchange: The smoothness and efficiency of exchange and transportation systems between mines, factories, and farms is growing as new methods are experimented with and old ones are discarded. Middlemen are cut out or reined in, agreements are formalized, reputations are forming. But it could always use another push to try and make things work even better. Work with union leaders to try and set a few standard methods of exchange, regularizing an ad hoc system. Cost: May upset some people, chance of losing support from the Teamster’s Union, chance of increased corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 35. Result: Further improve systems of exchange between enterprises.

(3 Influence Committed) Socialist Markets: An alternate proposal, one popular among the more Orthodox wings of the party, is that workers at these facilities could be given labor vouchers representing the value of their work. These vouchers could then be exchanged for products at markets. The main difference between this and conventional finance is that the value of vouchers would be decided democratically and that they cannot be accumulated. Cost: Decrease in support and relations with the syndicalist wings of the SPA and CSA, 5 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in income, establishment of labor voucher-based markets in locations with a strong SPA presence. Gain of support and relations with orthodox wings of the SPA and CSA. Increase in economic efficiency. Reduced strength of the Center, increased strength of the Orthodox.

A Union Shop: Socialized stores have become common in Chicago as workers inspired by the strike or owners compelled by it create democratically run stores. Though mocked by some on the left and some in the more syndicalist wing as “market socialism” and accused of not removing the profit motive, even their strongest critics cannot deny they serve a useful person during this transitory phase. Begin encouraging local unions to establish shops along these lines, and ask for a small cut of the proceeds perhaps? The widespread establishment of these grows ever more vital as the toll of being forced to pay ridiculous fees for the use of capitalist’s services and the inefficiencies of going without begin to take their toll. Cost: loss of support from TUUL and ASA, loss of relations with the Orthodox. 5 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/50/80. Result: Increase in income, establishment of market cooperatives in locations with a strong SPA presence. Gain of support from IWW, Teamster’s Union, and Regional Unions, increased Relations and Strength for the Syndicalists. Increase in economic efficiency. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.

Rationalize Production Schemes: With the vast number of factories seized, different product schematics, manufacturing methods, and research facilities are now in the property of the workers. Though some of the men responsible for the more cutting edge possibilities are reluctant to work with “filthy Reds,” sufficient bribery has overcome such concerns. Begin working to integrate the best of each factory and develop further innovations to turn the existing industrial base into the greatest in the world! Cost: 4 Resources, -4 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin integrating the segmented knowledge and innovations of the various companies and improving on their work.

Arms Production: The Red Guards need more and better weapons. They need ammunition. They need grenades and uniforms. They need vehicles to transport them and fuel to supply them. An army is an incredibly difficult thing to supply, but you will need to support one. While you can’t make anything heavier than mortars currently, small arms can be produced in significant quantities. It’s time to start arming the forces of revolution so that they can match the foot soldiers of reaction and the servants of capital. Cost: 8 Resources, -6 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/70/120. Result: Begin producing large quantities of weapons, Red Guards better armed and equipped, unlock new options to supply and train them.

(2 Influence Committed) Union-Integrated Planning: Currently, each factory and farm does as it sees best. While the creation of any market system would help coordinate their operations indirectly, doing so effectively would require the return of the profit motive and economic labor discipline. An alternative proposal, to be done separately or in combination, would be to create an Office of Economic Planning, responsible for creating 3-month production targets with the democratic input and experienced guidance of the workers. Such plans would be complex things, but they would also enable great economic efficiency. Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/100/165. Result: Establishment of a democratic department for handling economic planning. Must establish what the goals of that planning are soon after. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.

Appoint an Outreach Manager: With efforts at denying you support growing in numbers and sophistication, you need to develop your advocacy among workers in response. From the imported Chinese scabs and desperate Okies of California to the suffering smallholder farmers of the Great Plains to the exploited miners and factory workers to the American heartland, there are millions just waiting to join your cause...if only they could be persuaded of their exploitations and educated of their class interests. Cost: Influence, loss of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Appointment of a subordinate responsible for outreach and agitation, vote on how much to commit to them, potential gains in Support or Relations.

The Farmworker’s Union: With the slowly growing awareness of the importance of the rural population, some have proposed providing the Red Grange with some assistance in expanding their organization to be on industrial lines and thus begin including rural farmworkers of every variety, from the tenant-sharecroppers of the South to the wandering, poverty-stricken Okies of the west and all the types in between. Such assistance would always be very welcome, even if some think it can be better used elsewhere. Cost: 3 Resources, loss of IWW MA and IWW MM support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40. Result: Increased support from the Red Grange, increased Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, increased popularity in rural areas.

The Agricultural Worker’s Union: With the slowly growing awareness of the importance of the rural population, some have proposed providing the Red Grange with some assistance in expanding their organization to be on industrial lines and thus begin including rural farmworkers of every variety, from the tenant-sharecroppers of the South to the wandering, poverty-stricken Okies of the west and all the types in between. Such assistance would always be very welcome, even if some think it can be better used elsewhere. For instance, the IWW pointed to their already existing Agricultural Worker’s Union, arguing that it should instead be expanded to include tenant farmers. Needless to say, the Red Grange disagreed. Cost: 3 Resources, loss of Red Grange support. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40. Result: Increased support from both factions of the IWW, increased popularity in rural areas.

(2 SPA Cadre Influence Committed) The Union Home: The housing cooperatives serve adequately, but they were never meant to be a long-term solution. Improvements have been made, but it is time to begin the next step and work on providing dignified homes for the homeless. The construction unions stand ready to do their part! Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 1 months. DC: 10/35/60/90. Result: Construction of large quantities of apartments to house people for free.

A Purge of the Bureaucracy: The byzantine bureaucracies of the CSA have decided to demonstrate their distaste for you. Fine. You will return the favor. You will gut them. Have them fired. Have them arrested. You are this close to having them shot. Every scrap of evidence suggesting corruption will be waved around, transformed by your pen and your presence into an unforgivable sin, and they’ll be forced out. And trustworthy, loyal men will be put in their place. Cost: Political backlash, likely to weaken the capabilities of the CSA and upset a lot of people. Time: 1 month. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

Organizational Charts: The structure of the CSA’s non-elected offices and departments and committees and commissions is a complete and utter mess. There are redundancies, there are fiefdoms ruled by petty tyrants, there are deliberately obtuse chains of command, all designed to protect and preserve unearned, unelected power. It’s a great snarling knot, and it needs to be unraveled. So you will have your loyalists in the CSA begin tracing the structure, finding every scrap of information they can so you can plan an attack. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/75/90. Result: Gain detailed understanding of the mess that is the CSA Bureaucracy.

Simplify the Structures: Instead of mapping a labyrinth, you could cut a knot. You have the votes, you have the support. You will spend some time designing a new structure that’s more sane and effective. And then you will make it so. The parasites and corrupt bastards will retain positions and power, but they will have no way to hide now, and it should hopefully be more efficient since that’s the purpose it will be designed for. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/125/225. Result: Dramatically modify and simplify the structure of the CSA Bureaucracy.

Set Some Boundaries: You could also take a more peaceable approach to things. Crack down on a few of the worst cases, let a few of the more moderate ones slide, and then back off. They’ll get the hint (you hope) and things will return to more or less a status quo...but now you are aware of the problem. And that means you will be halfway to solving it. Cost: Moderate increase/tolerance of corruption. Time: 3 months. DC: 40/80. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

Democratization: Yet another possibility is to force them to accept more democratic participation and oversight in their decision-making. It will doubtless be popular among many even as it will enrage the bureaucrats, but it will hopefully force them to stop playing silly buggers and tone down on the theft and double-dealing and backroom games. Hopefully. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/???. Result: Hopefully remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance and democratize the bureaucracy, increased support from the CSA.

Leave Them Their Fiefs: Finally, you could just leave well enough alone. Pull away, give them what they want. There will be costs in resources, time, and tears, but you just aren’t in a position to handle another crisis. This can wait till after the revolution. Or until it’s a little closer to it, anyway. Cost: Severe increase/tolerance of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

The Second Round of Seizures: The furor of seizures has by and large died down as the heat of summer wears on even the most dedicated socialist. And so many factories continue operating almost as they almost have, albeit with greatly empowered unions and the ever-present threat of Red Guards and Union Defense Committees should the workers be abused. But this status quo cannot be maintained, one class or another must triumph. Make sure it is the working class which will be victorious through seizing more factories. Cost: Backlash from others, will provoke reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/130/190. Result: More factories seized, increase to income.

Take the Major Factories: The giants of industry have been left unscathed by the rise of socialism and syndicalism. Though powerful unions have squeezed the occasional penny from their grasp, the intense level of security and threat of direct government intervention has stayed the hands of the Red Guards from bringing the arsenal at Rock Island, the mighty automobile plants of Ford and Chrysler, and similar facilities into the grip of the working class. That can’t be allowed any longer, no matter the price. Cost: Will provoke reformists, severe backlash, will cause an immediate reaction from the federal government. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/130/190. Result: More factories seized, increase to income, better equipped Red Guards, completely changes the economic game.

Clothing Distribution: As summer ends and fall begins, everyone braces in anticipation of another round of chilling winds. They won’t come yet, but they are inevitable. And so the unions have made their demands: they want help funding clothing drives and organizing the distribution of enough wool sweaters and winter coats to ensure that no one will be freezing this winter. Thankfully, they have arranged for stocks of coal and wood to be gathered already, so at least you don’t have to worry about that. Cost: 6 Resources, -3 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 25. Result: Provide and distribute warm clothing.

Look Into the CSA, Token: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CSA. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be very unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Very slight risk of angering the bureaucrats, temporary maluses. Time: 1 month. DC: Special. Result: General slight improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions slightly easier.

Look Into the CSA, Moderate: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CSA. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Slight risk of angering the bureaucrats, moderate temporary maluses. Time: 2 months. DC: Special. Result: General improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions easier.

Look Into the CSA, Serious: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CSA. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be somewhat unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Risk of angering the bureaucrats, severe temporary maluses. Time: 3 months. DC: Special. Result: Major general improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions much easier.

Community Check-Ins: As the chaos of the American Disaster (as more than a few writers have begun to term the past few years) continues to unfold and Government Shortridge makes his impassioned speeches, some have begun considering taking measures to combat diseases of the mind. While many state governments have already secured funding for improving asylums, many are proponents of a more community-based, stopgap solution in which local leaders would organize check-ins for isolated or unwell individuals to help keep their morale up and ensure they don’t hurt themselves, with more expert care to be called-in as needed. It’s a project backed by the most libertine and the most conservative factions of the movement, each likely imagining their opponent will be the ones being checked on. Cost: -0.5 Resources per month, ??? Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/75/105. Result: A program of mental-health check-ins is established.

Crime Prevention Units: There is endless unrest and crime in the cities. While the ordinary Red Guards do well enough in preventing it, along with the socialized police forces, they always have other priorities and other duties that need attending. Quite simply, there aren’t enough of them. Many neighborhoods have taken to having patrols of unarmed individuals watching stores and streets, keeping theft down and handling other affairs such as public drunkenness or the occasional trouble caused by capitalists unwilling to accept the new order. Once more, it is a measure backed by the most libertine and the most conservative factions of the movement, one seeing it as a way to democratize law enforcement and the other as a tool for keeping order in increasingly chaotic neighborhoods. Cost: -0.5 Resources per month, ??? Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/75/105. Result: A program of nonviolent neighborhood patrols is established.


Establish Sporting Clubs: The wholesale purchase of firearms and ammunition by individuals draws attention. But sporting clubs, shooting ranges, and similar institutions doing so would not be a concern. Create a network of these companies as a means of subtly acquiring not just equipment for the Red Guards, but a way for them to train. Cost: 4 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/100. Result: Increased armaments for Red Guards, ease of training Red Guards increased, further actions to arm and equip Red Guards unlocked.

Arm the Police: In the cities where you control the government, the attitudes of the police have shifted dramatically. They are now proud and determined supporters of their fellow workers against the ravages of capital. While they will need further restructuring to truly socialize them, that will have to wait until after the revolution. For now, you must prepare to fight it. Taking measures to increase the discipline and armaments of friendly policing departments will strengthen your control of the cities. Cost: Loss of relations with the Anarchists, Syndicalists, and Parliamentarians. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.

Street Medics: One of the tactics used by the heroes of the Shanghai Uprising was the establishment of street medics, noncombat members of the Left-KMT who helped keep injured members in the fight and provided aid and comfort before the soldiers of the Legation Cities resorted to bloodier measures. Implementing such measures could be useful...Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 2 months. DC: 30. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.

Acquire Explosives: The Syndintern has access to large stocks of a variety of explosives. In addition, there are many ways of making things that can blow up when you have access to vast amounts of industry. Begin stockpiling explosives for use in defensive or offensive actions, although giving them to inexperienced Red Guards could be risky. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Acquire small but growing and highly eclectic stockpiles of explosives.

Toll Fees: With your control of railways and the strength of your paramilitaries in many transportation hubs, you could easily gain substantial incomes by insisting on donations for those passing through, although you will need to make sure there are exceptions for those who already support you or who it would be dangerous to stop. Cost: Decrease in support among moderates, increase in corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/125. Result: Increase to income.

Scab Intimidation: The scabs and reactionary militias are outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed. This may change as refugees continue flowing into the cities and capitalists fund their running dogs, but for now you have the advantage, and you must seize it. The Red Guards will defeat and drive off these “self-defense groups” and “protectors of the American way” and “private security forces” and show them that they are as dust before the tides of history. Cost: Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/?/?. Result: Reactionary militias and scab groups defeated and destroyed in areas you are strong.

Security Procedures: The protection of leadership is the duty of the Revolutionary Guard, but there are not enough of those brave men to protect everyone. So it will be up to the Red Guards to protect union halls and party offices. To do so successfully will require the development of better security procedures than standing outside the front door. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/30/50. Result: Improved security for SPA facilities.

A Red Terror: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. You have allowed reactionary militias to prosper in places, and the miners of Montana and the workers of New York City have both paid the price for it. In the Midwest and West Virginia, preachers thunder brimstone sermons and incite their followers to arms against you. Collapsing Klan remnants and their equally violent offspring cling to power in Indiana and Ohio and the Dakotas. And everywhere federal agents and police attempt to suppress the Revolutionary Spirit. It is time to cleanse your holdings of them. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/30/50/70/90/110/150/190. Result: Begin operations to shut down remnants of reactionary and capitalist military forces begin

(2 Butler Influence) Instilling Discipline, Pt. 2: The Red Guards are still an irregular force. Only a small portion has experience serving in the military, and an even smaller part is able to devote their full time to fighting and training and drilling. But it is time to fix that. Working with respected figures among their ranks, it is time to raise expectations and tighten standards, to increase the number of exercises, to begin honing the force, This will doubtless cause some to leave, or form their own organizations, but as long as they accept a degree of oversight over their operations, that is acceptable. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/80/110. Result: Improved discipline of the Red Guards.

Honor of the Regiment: One way to encourage good behavior of the Red Guards is to have that behavior reflect on something larger than themselves but more digestible than the syndicalist cause: their unit. Encouraging pride in the larger Red Guards groupings, the creation of distinct uniforms, and the utilization of unique symbology will hopefully create a spirit of socialist brotherhood between the members of the Red Guards groupings, and this spirit can be used through propaganda to make some of the more volatile individuals think twice. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Create larger Red Guards units with a greater sense of esprit de corps.

A Show of Strength: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. Reactionary militias are growing bolder, feeling empowered by the collapse of order. Wherever you are weak, they grow powerful, and this cannot be tolerated. Striking a few of these groups, such as some of the Green Mountain Boys who live close to your stronghold, will let your point be made with relatively little bloodshed. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60/75/90. Result: Launch a few operations to attack some easy targets.

Create Oversight Committees: One thing the capitalist “democracy” of America got right was making sure the military is entirely controlled by the civilian government. While de jure this is true for the Red Guards, it is not always de facto. One way to fix this would be to create committees of mixed soldiers and civilians that severe misbehavior can be reported to and that would generally provide oversight and direction. This may well be a controversial effort, but it will definitely be popular with some segments. Cost: Loss of Relations with Totalists and Fosterites, loss of Support from TUUL, and the Teamster’s Union, potentially upsetting to Red Guards Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create oversight committees, greater control over Red Guards, increase in support from ASA, IWW, and AFL-CIO, gain in Relations from every other faction.

Making Bankers Bleed: While most banks have collapsed under the strain of crisis and depression, several have been consolidated into larger enterprises that are more effectively able to withstand bank runs and anti-foreclosure efforts. But these banks have offices and vaults in cities throughout America, cities dominated by the Red Guards and friendly police forces. Steal their gold, destroy their paperwork, execute their corrupt leadership. Make them understand that there will be no place for men like Morgan and Fargo. Cost: Likely to provoke a severe reaction, loss of support from AFL-CIO and SPU, loss of Relations with the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/25/50/100. Result: One-time influx of Resources, records of debt destroyed, bourgeoisie terrorized.

Purchase More Arms: Relatively few arms factories were seized, but some were, and already Red Guards units have begun to benefit, but the acquisition of weapons for them is an often haphazard process and only a few units have even standard rifles. But it would be easy enough for larger quantities to be purchased and distributed so that the vast throngs of syndicalist soldiers have good guns and adequate ammunition. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/25. Result: Better-equipped Red Guards.

Distribute Trainers: There are only so many skilled, experienced veterans who can serve as a training cadre. While there are plenty of men who survived the Legation Wars and the various Latin American Interventions, only some of them are willing and able to assist you. But equally, there are only so many camps set up. One proposed alternative is to send the trainers to the Red Guards instead of the other way around. Cost: Somewhat weakens the training cadre. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/60/80. Result: Trainers dispersed, slow improvement in the Red Guards.

Raiding Reactionary Groups: The most powerful and organized reactionary groups have been identified. Their threat cannot be tolerated, and so it must be suppressed. They will be surrounded in their churches, attacked in their homes, arrested at their workplaces. They will be purged. Hopefully, the remainder will take the hint and cease being a thorn in our side, or we will have to purge them too. Cost: Possibility of provoking unrest, collateral damage, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/80/120. Result: Attack and break up the most notable counterrevolutionary organizations identified previously.

A Central Command: There are always more reforms that need to be completed. And the next one Butler wants to work on is establishing some sort of central command and general staff for the entire Red Guards, or at least for the more professional components of it. Consisting of Butler, some other experienced soldiers, and...you’ll need to figure out the rest. Should they be elected like other officers, or perhaps by the CSA? Or some combination thereof? Or maybe only the supreme commander should be elected, and he can decide who will be on his staff? It’s going to be a tricky business. But it’s an important one. Cost: Likely to upset the CSA and the Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/65/110. Result: Establish a unified central command for some/all of your paramilitaries.

Sending Weapons West: The workers of California, American and immigrant alike, have rallied against the economic and political tyranny of capitalist, liberal democracy. They deserve uncritical support in their struggle, and right now what they need most are guns and ammo. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/65/100. Result: Sneak meaningful quantities of weapons and ammunition into Caliofornia

Smuggling Arms South: The sharecroppers of the Black Belt are aware of your actions on civil rights, and they are engaged in their own determined struggle for liberation and self-determination, one that has been going on for years. One with undeniable revolutionary overtones. It’s time to give them aid. And what they need right now is a way to protect themselves from the orgies of violence the KKK and other “white citizen’s groups” are inflicting. You can’t send Red Guards that far south. But you can send them rifles and shotguns and plenty of ammo. And you’ll have to hope that will be enough. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Sneak meaningful quantities of weapons and ammunition down to the Black Belt.

Drills in the Black Belt: The Red Guards, Minutemen, and Black Brigades in the South have demonstrated their bravery and tenacity in many battles and skirmishes, even going on successful offensives to rescue beleaguered allies, but the simple fact is that they are lacking in professional experience compared to many northern units that have backbones of veteran soldiers and benefited from the the training camps and Butler’s personal attention. So you’ll send those veterans and trained soldiers to them to help support them in their struggle for liberation and survival. Cost: 0.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/65/90. Result: Send trainers to the Black Belt, improved militia quality in the south.

International Volunteers: The Syndintern has made their first request of you. The situation in South America is unstable. Chile is half-Syndicalist, there’s unrest in the north and south of Brazil, and rumors of organizing farm workers in Argentina. And they need support and a demonstration of international solidarity. Sending volunteers from their hemisphere will do some good in that regard. Cost: 1 Resource, reduced effectiveness of Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Increase in SyndIntern Relations. Vote on how many to send.


Christian Socialism: Most Americans are Christians, and despite the words of the Constitution it is widely considered a Christian nation. Given that many churches are staunchly opposed to socialism while socialism is just as staunchly secular, this could be troublesome. Fortunately, this Gordian knot can be cut rather easily. The concept of “Christian socialism” and claiming that Christ himself would be a socialist is simple enough, with ample support for this notion coming directly from the Bible. Combining this message with a few displays of piety will help reduce criticism from the pulpit, although significant portions of organized religion will doubtless remain hostile. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, loss of support from Jews and other religions. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Protestant Christians, increased ease of recruitment.

The American Revolution, Pt.2: The first connections are drawn, the first pieces of theory are created. Now it’s time to poke holes in them and see where it doesn’t hold up, either to your ideals or to reality. Your ideas are published, but now it’s time to see how people have torn them apart so that you can make them better. Cost: Chance of loss of CSA support, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/120. Result: Refine the results of The American Revolution, Pt. 1

Organize Education: Education is a necessity for workers. Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic, critical thinking and understanding history, the skills and knowledge so they can labor and explain why they labor, all these are vital. American schools are fundamentally capitalist institutions, but alternatives can be established. Cost: -3 Resources, -1 Resources per turn. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/25/50/100. Result: Create a system of cheap socialist private schools.

Public Libraries: While libraries are a common and immensely popular institution, they can be improved in a number of ways, from increasing the resources available to them to broaden the services provided to include rentable instruments and instruction programs. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.

The Worker’s School: There are many subjects not taught in great detail to the workers through the American education system. Leadership, management, socialist ideology...and of course anything behind the most basic parts of math, science, and history, not to mention various less immediately practical subjects. Creating schools for adults, or training wandering schoolteachers to help them, is yet another way to expand your influence and benefit the workers. Cost: 2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Establish schools for adult workers.

Photos for All: Photography is an incredibly powerful medium for displaying the impact of events upon people. The Dust Bowl, the Bleeding Midwest, the many deprivations and horrors caused by capitalism...and the triumphs wherever such things are fought would all make excellent subjects for photography. The camera can spread your message and make another potent tool in your arsenal. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Expanded use of photography in propaganda.

Propagandize Professionals: Doctors and lawyers and managers, all have been greatly affected by this latest crisis. More than a few have been forced into breadlines and soup kitchens alongside the workers they have once looked down on. Approaching them, convincing them to join their cause, will give you access to their skills, which are undeniably useful and valuable. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100. Result: Begin propagandizing destitute professionals.

Anti-Longist Propaganda: The Longists are ideologically incoherent, propped up by those they claim to oppose, corrupt, violent, brutal, prejudiced, openly favor the Confederacy and vilify heroes such as John Brown and Thomas Paine, and above all else they are ineffective. While their influence has been mostly expunged from areas you dominate, they still have some presence in parts of several states, most notably New York and the rest of rural New England. Target them. List their failures, condemn their faults, give them no rhetorical respite. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Increased anti-Longist propaganda.

Pillory Capitalist Greed: The Longists and the Federalists agree on one thing: capitalism is here to stay. They desperately seek to keep the same failing system, and they will spend as much blood as they need to in order to preserve their hierarchies and privileges. Capitalist greed is behind every death from want or violence since at least 1925. Politicians love to proclaim millions have died to syndicalism and revolutions. It is time to count the tally killed by capitalism and reaction. It is time to lay out the contradictions of capitalism and destroy any denial or defense. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in general anti-capitalist propaganda.

Against the Opium: Religion has historically played a large role in American life, and the chaos of the Great Depression has led to something of a revival for its most unusual and esoteric branches. Many churches are strongly reactionary, offering pie in the sky for empty bellies on earth. And many are corrupt as well. Stephenson had pastors helping him, and reaping the sick “benefits” of his brutal actions. Publicize these sins, demand an accounting, and begin breaking the stranglehold of religion on American thought. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Increase in anti-church propaganda.

Radio Debates: One of the many potential uses of the new radio networks is to publicize debates between syndicalists and their opposition. The concept has attracted a great deal of interest, since such arguments were an important part of Lincoln’s electoral victories. There is also a great deal of debate in how they are to be structured...Cost: Variable. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30. Result: Votes on how to structure the debates.

The Moral of the Story: The radio is also being popularly used for entertainment, and there is the occasional show you like to listen to in order to relax. There’s no reason the SPA can’t sponsor a few shows about bands of thieves stealing from robbers, the ordinary adventures of hard-working laborers, or perhaps a grand tale of an alien world wracked by civil war...Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create socialist-themed radio entertainment.

Public Life: The gardens have begun to bring people together who were formally separate: members of different tenant’s unions now work together to turn an abandoned ruin into a fruitful garden, people from all walks of life relax in them when they can do so without interrupting work, and the recent arrivals and old hands can come together over an appreciation of fresh vegetables. This is a success worth building on. While people are adding to these gardens already, asking musicians to play by them or setting up benches and tables on the edge, or even segregating spaces for children to play, you could encourage this effort to spread thousands of miniature parks alongside the gardens to help encourage the entwining of various communities. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/60. Result: Expand community gardens with other (cheap) community activities and facilities, encourage interaction between different groups.

Challenge the Instability: The evident failures of bourgeois democracy are displayed before all of America: a president and a vice-president dead or incapacitated, no one able to determine who or how they should be replaced, state governments frantically banding together, federal authority beginning to vanish, rising unrest in America’s colonies...what sort of nation could accept this, what sort of system could allow this? And what alternative is there? All these questions are to be answered. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/30/45/60/90. Result: Condemn the failures of the United States government, explain why your proposal is a superior alternative.

There is Power in a Union: Strength can be its own sort of comfort in dark and dangerous times. And you have strength aplenty. While there are many who might fear you, the alternatives are equally terrifying. Promise them protection, promise them safety as members of the CSA, promise them peace and stability, as much as can be gained. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Convince people to join you to protect themselves from various other threats.

Anti-Americanization: While the melting pot is a lovely concept, it also means that meaningful elements of various individual cultures are destroyed or appropriated. To resist such trends will require meaningful and long-term effort, but a start can be made through advocacy over the use of autonomy to establish holidays celebrating ancient customs and adding languages such as German, Yiddish, and Finnish to the days of schoolchildren so the tongues of their ancestry are not lost. Cost: 1 Resource, loss of support from socially conservative factions. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/20/30/60/90. Result: Agitate for expressions of local cultural heritage.

(2 Influence Committed) Offer an Alternative: The internal pink unions of the SPA have largely evaporated. The reformist, class-collaborationist unions supported by the SPU have begun dissolving themselves, primarily merging with the more confrontational AFL-CIO. But in many cases, their members have been left adrift, with damaged worldviews and betrayed feelings. Now they are vulnerable to capitalist or reactionary subversion...but they can also be convinced to take a more radical stance. There just needs to be a place for them. Cost: Increased strength to the AFL-CIO. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/70/100. Result: Disaffected moderate workers recruited into the AFL-CIO and propagandized to be more radical, increase in AFL-CIO support.

Street Theater: Work and labor are all well and good, but people need to relax and be entertained as well. And so entertainment shall be provided. Plays, skits, comedy groups, all shall be created. And of course, aside from the classic and common sorts of entertainment, some of it will have an edge to it as the entertainers seek to provoke thought and encourage the questioning of the current order. With some of the worst entertainers around encouraged to work on their craft, hopefully, new auditions will go better. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/53/84/100. Result: Establish small traveling syndicalist entertainment groups.

Youth Groups: Children are the future. They must be protected and nurtured and educated, given the tools they need to succeed in a world that changes more and more by the day. And if their parents can’t care for them, there needs to be an alternative. An extension of the existing childcare institutions, informal practices, and an alternative to the Boy Scouts all in one has been proposed: The Young Worker’s League (the name was chosen to avoid coming down on the syndicalist vs. socialist debate). The idea of establishing such a group has grown increasingly popular Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/75. Result: Establishment of youth groups and clubs.

Catholic Liberation: The Catholic church is a powerful reactionary force, particularly after the savage anti-clericalism of the Italian Revolution. But many of its adherents are syndicalists or at least progressives, and the Irish and Italian voting blocs have allowed themselves to be courted by the SPA despite unease from some segments of the party. Now it is time to take that relationship to the next step, and this begins by reducing anti-clerical tendencies in the party and presenting a face friendly to the Catholic church in theory, if not in practice. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, Totalists, and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from Protestants. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Catholics, increased ease of recruitment.

Anti-Olson Approaches: Olson has already begun working to secure his power base through the remains of the Progressive Party and Farmer-Labor, reaching out to Federal and even Longist groups to increase the strength of his reformist movement. Even with it’s partial co-opting and the beginnings of splits within developing, his movement is a potential rival. And so it must be taken over or destroyed. Attacks on his character, attacks on his politics, attacks on his record, any and all will be used to dismantle his support. His allies will not be spared either. Cost: Increased tensions with the Progressives and Longists, increased hostility with reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/60/75. Result: Decreased support for reformism.

Against All Racism: Racism is not something you will tolerate, nor is it acceptable to the CSA. While proclamations can only have so much impact, it is worthwhile to make them, especially if they can be followed up by action. But simply speaking against it will count for something. Cost: Decreased support from the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/60/105. Result: Racism and discrimination are condemned, chance of action being taken independently of you.

Encourage New Seizures: There will be no cowardice in the SPA. You are seizing factories because the system they operate under is inherently unjust, and the workers of the world will be rectifying that. And if you don’t like it, stay out of their way. Rally the workers to your banner, radicalize them, and go forth! Take the means of production, for the Revolution nears every day! Cost: Very provocative. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Increased support and radicalization within the party, more enthusiasm for seizing factories and other facilities.

The Growing Pie: Yet another possible propaganda angle to approach would be the economic benefits of syndicalism. When all the workers are united and capitalist and banker leeches are no longer siphoning off the hard-earned profits of the workers for their own ends, we can expand the amount of wealth and industry for all, no matter their color or faith or place of origin. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Begin spreading propaganda about the economic benefits of syndicalism and socialism.

Religious Freedom: While you will not go so far as to demand the inclusion of religious symbology and rhetoric into the propaganda of the SPA, you will make it clear that you stand unswervingly for religious freedom. Many workers share many faiths, from Catholicism to Episcopalianism to Baptism, to say nothing of the minority religions of the country. And you promise that none shall be oppressed or suppressed. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Begin spreading propaganda in favor of religious freedom and tolerance, hopefully countering the rumors describing you as a bunch of church-burning lunatics.

Painting a Picture: The museums and art galleries now only operate with the approval of Red Guards and have been opened to all. But the collections of the rich still shelter within their mansions. Bring them out, let there be art for all the people. And let work be done on creating new art, on sculptures showing the unity of the people and paintings showing the future of socialism. Cost: 0.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/70. Result: Bring art galleries, private collections, etc. under worker control, begin developing socialist-themed works of entertainment.

Speeches on the Ground: There are many who hesitate and vacillate, who fear what socialism will mean. They have seen undisciplined bands of Red Guards exacting “taxes” and heard of merciless slaughters of wedding parties and church groups. They worry about how the means of production will be seized and what the social revolution will entail. Some degree of concern is understandable of course. They labor under capitalist realism and mystification. So they need to be reassured. Let them talk to dedicated socialists, let them hear that their concerns are meaningless. Surely many of them will become good syndicalists and socialists once their fears are assuaged. And if not...well, that can be dealt with too. Cost: 1.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/95/130/170. Result: Create and spread large amounts of propaganda, aim it at those scared at the prospect of revolution with the goal of reassuring them.

Attack the Selfish: Selfism behavior and profiteering is not acceptable, but it has continued. Middlemen charging outrageous prices, foremen and union leaders abusing their positions, farmers trying to take advantage of the famine, thieves and criminals and racketeers, corrupt bureaucrats stealing and skimming. It cannot be tolerated, it cannot be allowed. Begin a campaign encouraging boycotts, rejection, and reporting of those who engage in such antisocial behavior. Target the bureaucracy, target the criminals, target the profiteers, target the corrupt, target the hostile co-ops, and leave no stone unturned. Cost: 1.5 Resources, will upset a lot of people. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/80/120. Result: Begin massive anti-corruption campaign, attacking it on all vectors.

Condemn Cowardice: There can be no half-measures, no limp, tentative reforms. So long as capital holds power in this country, the workers will not be safe. Rumors of collaboration between the rich and poor for the sake of stability, whispers of compromise, none of it will matter. In a few years all that hard work will be rolled back and the gains of the worker’s movement will be lost, unless they are set in stone. And so nothing less can be tolerated. And that must be made clear. Cost: 1 Resource, will upset some people. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/80/105. Result: Begin anti-reformism propaganda campaign.

(1 Propaganda Influence Committed) Tales to Tell: The printing press can do more than inform and elucidate. It can entertain! There are plenty of cheap dime novels and comics being printed. Indeed, sometimes it seems that’s all that’s being made. Why not do some yourself? There are plenty of writers with syndicalist or socialist leanings, and plenty more who can spin an entertaining yarn. Some can even do both! So get them writing, get the artists drawing, and start making everything from children’s stories to weird fiction. Cost: 1 Resource, -0.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35. Result: Begin creating short story collections, novels, children’s books, comic books, etc. and publishing them.

Political Cartoons: In many newspapers, there are mocking cartoons with labels and captions showing the author’s opinion on various events. In recent months, a common motif is a ship sailing through dangerous waters. They are quick, easy to understand, and popular. And it’s time to have some of your own...or some more of your own, anyway. They can be part of newspapers or posters or pamphlets, they can be everywhere. Cost: 1 Resource, -0.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Create lots of political cartoons and hire lots of political cartoonists.

Educational Articles: The news is meant to inform. It can also be used to educate. Short columns can be included on science and history, but they can also include, and will also include, theory. Short, easily digestible chunks of theory for the casual reader. Hopefully it can be made to work, you can’t imagine how someone would make Das Kapital easy to understand. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/60/80. Result: Begin publishing short, understandable, educational articles on various subjects including politics and economics.

Editorial Control: With the growing power of the newspapers, you need to make sure that the editorials demonstrate correct attitudes. Tighten your control over their offices, set firmer standards for what can be said, create a mandatory list of topics to be discussed at least once a month to help shape public discourse. The power of the written word will help bring about the Revolution, so long as it is used properly. Cost: 1 Resource, minor loss of Relations with the Anarchists. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Gain ability to set tighter editorial standards, including a free action to have a topic be discussed and emphasized for a month.

Limited Editorial Control: With the growing power of the newspapers, you need to make sure that the editorials demonstrate correct attitudes. Tighten your control over their offices, set firmer standards for what can be said, create a mandatory list of topics to be discussed at least once a month to help shape public discourse. The power of the written word will help bring about the Revolution, so long as it is used properly. And to make sure you are using it properly, you will ensure this control is limited only to official SPA newspapers and not the many more that align to you. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Gain ability to set tighter editorial standards for SPA newspapers, including a free action to have a topic be discussed and emphasized for a month. This will have a lesser impact than the version in Editorial Control.

Demonstrations of Force: With an accommodation having been reached with the Fix-the-Price movement,the plan for using propaganda to emphasize the prowess and power of the Red Guards has been modified. Instead, it will be targeting the increasingly bold reactionary fifth columns within the Steel Belt to impress upon them the fact that they would be wise to not stand in the path of history, lest they be crushed beneath it’s wheels. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/125/150. Result: Produce propaganda emphasizing the strength of the Red Guards to intimidate reactionaries.

Cross-Racial Agitation: The color line is splintering, but that’s no reason to stop attacking it. Indeed, we should redouble our efforts and not stop until the racist divisions of our society are artifacts of the distant past. To that end, we should focus propaganda on areas where workers of different races live together but struggle apart, and encourage them to integrate themselves voluntarily, to accept that such divisions are arbitrary. Such practices may be legal in many states, but that does not mean they are acceptable. And that deviation must be corrected. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Produce propaganda encouraging voluntary social integration.

Minorities in the Spotlight: American culture has long relegated colored individuals to sideshow rolls at best. At worst, they have been made subjects of mockery and abuse in the media, such as in blackface minstrel shows. That is a narrative that must be corrected, through showing colored characters as capable heroes in their own right and through encouraging colored authors to tell their stories. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Encourage the work of colored creators, and the use of colored characters in roles they would not ordinarily have.

Women Heroes: American culture has long kept female characters to a few, narrowly defined roles, all solely important for their relationship to the obviously much more important male character. That is a narrative that must be corrected, through showing female characters as capable heroes in their own right and through encouraging women authors to tell their stories. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/80/110. Result: Encourage the work of women creators, and the use of female characters in roles they would not ordinarily have.

Widespread Childcare: The earlier childcare initiatives have been left to languish, and many women have complained and protested about it. While there have been some reforms to make the various improvised institutions more efficient, it has been considered a lesser priority. But the recent conferences have led to an internal shift. Though many ask what’s wrong with typical parenting methods, proponents of women’s liberation note that for women to be equal, they must not be burdened by being the perpetual caretaker of children, that they must be able to work without the distraction of changing diapers. Push for the adoption of more widespread childcare institutions, including after-school care, organized daycares, childcare facilities attached to factories, and more. Some are even proposing more exotic things such as creches for children. Cost: 3 Resources, -1 Resources per month, loss of Relations with Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, the Teamster’s Union, the Regional Unions, the TUUL, and the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/125. Result: Create and support a wide variety of childcare institutions.

Showing Solidarity: It has been a favored tactic for many capitalists to use colored or foreign or even female scabs in order to break up picket lines and end strikes, often creating racial tensions and unrest and even shedding blood they happily lap up. But such clever deceptions are failing and faltering before the solidarity various unions and other working-class organizations are showing. But that harmony is not present anywhere. And where it is absent we all suffer for it. So cover the front pages with images of black and white men standing together. Our diversity is our strength, not our weakness. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/80. Result: Create propaganda showcasing the inter-racial solidarity that is already being shown.

Encourage Political Representation: American politics have generally kept out minorities and women wherever possible. There is the occasional rare exception, but the vast majority of American politicians are white men. Even having a scrap of nonwhite blood is enough to cause many to turn against a politician - Charles Curtis faced several obstacles over his indigenous blood during his nomination for the Vice Presidential position recently. And that’s just not good enough. Women make up half the population, black people make up a significant minority. They deserve better representation. Cost: 2 Resources, loss of Relations with Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, the Teamster’s Union, the Regional Unions, the TUUL, and the IWW MM. Time: 3 months. DC: 50/75/125. Result: Sponsor minority and female politicians, help support their rise to power.

Look for the Helpers: People like to be made to feel good, especially as their country falls apart around them and reactionary forces grow increasingly violent and unhinged. Stories of the simple good deeds people are capable of can warm even the coldest heart...and there’s a propaganda benefit to spreading these tales if the right emphasis is given. The right emphasis being on who is doing these good deeds. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45. Result: Slight increase in morale and popular support.

Professional Reporters: The current crop of syndicalist and socialist reporters contains many experienced experts, but they are by far outnumbered by the gifted amateurs...and the occasional not-so-gifted one as well. Reporting on the most exciting stories tends to be unpleasant, even dangerous work, work that is only sometimes getting done. But there are more than a few reporters who would be willing if given sufficient incentive, whether that incentive is money or opportunities for exclusive interviews. And that’s not even getting into the quality of many who are responsible for editing and making layouts. When compared to the quality of Hearst’s papers, the results can be just embarrassing. Cost: 1 Resource, -0.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Hire better-quality reporters and newspaper staff.

Assurances of Moderation: A lot of people have gotten up in arms about the pace of the social and economic changes you are introducing. It’s seeing a sharp increase in resistance to you and to the ideals of socialism, even among many who would benefit the most from the total transformation of society. Well, as much as it pains you to give any concession to the reactionaries, further unrest in the Steel Belt is the last thing you need right now. So you’ll make some soothing noises and calm the stubborn fools and just keep on going as you were, and they will do the same, assured that you aren’t going that fast. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 35/105/185. Result: Sharp increase in popular support.

Dancing and Distractions: Life is growing increasingly grim in the American Maelstrom. (People are coming up with all these lovely names for it!) And as the vanguard of the working class, it is your responsibility to succor their spirits as well as their bodies, without requiring such counterrevolutionary distractions as churches or synagogues. Instead, people will be given the opportunity to distract and entertain themselves with dances and other amusing social activities. Seize the means of fun along with the means of production! Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70. Result: Create a program of SPA-sponsored dances and other social events.

Domestic Equality: You will freely confess that you tend to expect your wife to do most of the cooking and the cleaning. She has pushed you to do more, and you have increased your share, but it is still less than half. And you are far from the only one. It’s unequal, it’s unfair, and it’s frankly moronic. There is no good reason for men to be unable to do laundry or to cook, and if they can do such tasks, then they should do them. Equality demands nothing less. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/50. Result: Create propaganda encouraging men to take up their share of domestic chores.

The Democratic Standard: The nature of bourgeois democracy is that it is full of undemocratic systems. The Senate, the courts, the House districts, and the Electoral College are just a few of the many examples in America. And none of them belong. It is not just, it is not free, it is not right to have any such system. Fortunately, it is possible to see the Constitution changed. Begin insisting it should be, and advocating for that transformation, through methods either peaceful or violent. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/100. Result: Create propaganda attacking undemocratic systems and demanding change.


Poach the Democrats: The lines in the Democratic party are hardening as they find themselves pulled in so many directions. Some find themselves attracted to Huey Long’s populism, others the Dixiecrats' savage racism. Still, others are shifting to the Progressives, to the remnants of Farmer-Labor...but there aren’t many left who are willing to join a revolutionary party. It will take quite a bit to find those who will. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 65/110/160. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.

Working With Republicans: The Republican party is uniquely pro-business, even more so than the Democrats. But they are also the party of Lincoln, and many of the more progressive Republicans have been applauding your efforts on desegregation, especially once they realize it had actual popularity. They might well be willing to join you to support your efforts, and join the party...as long as they don’t fear revolution. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 65/110/160. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.

Peel Them Off: The broad anti-syndicalist coalition cannot easily be defeated, but any big tent will leave some out in the rain. Try and push smaller reform bills targeted at specific segments of that coalition and persuade them to join you in the hopes of stealing their momentum or getting a useful club to swing at them when they finally produce their big bill. Cost: Unknown. Time: 2 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Pass some minor reform bills, break up the reformist coalition somewhat.

Co-Opt the Machines: While the political machines in SPA-controlled areas have been dismantled thoroughly, some yet remain. Halt their gradual dismantlement and co-opt them into your service instead, helping you gain votes in some contested towns and cities. Of course, embracing them means embracing their shadier side as well. Cost: Increase in corruption, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/30/45. Result: Increase in popular support, the Teamster’s Union likes it.

Sewer Socialism: American infrastructure is doing...poorly. Neglect and violence has led to bridges beginning to crumble, railways needing repair, and roads vanishing from dust and rain. The repairs will be costly and take a long time, but they can begin relatively simply by passing some spending bills in SPA-controlled states. Adjustments can be made to the infrastructure for the benefit of the workers, as well. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Infrastructure development begins.

Political Grandstanding: With Capitol Hill effectively dead due to the sheer dysfunction, now it is time to turn the Senate and House seats you control into bully pulpits. In committee and on the floor, you and yours will go on the attack through speeches and shouts. This is not a bid for passing a bill or an attempt to whip up some political support. This is an attempt to expose the social, economic, and political order of the United States as the blood-soaked horror it is from the very top. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/115/150. Result: Increase in popular support, the humiliation of all your political opposition.

Demand Non-Intervention: Rumors of another US Army intervention in South America are spreading as well, provoking discontent and anger from everyone. These rumors are almost certainly false, even MacArthur has said so with his typical arrogance and utter lack of tact. But you can force the US to officially commit to a policy of non-intervention. This will likely result in a pullback of US support for several South and Central American juntas and boost your popularity among isolationists with broad support. But even with as much hostility to the idea of intervention, it will take a great deal of effort to pass. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 70/120. Result: Anti-intervention bill passed with broad support from several parties.

Patronage Networks: Patronage is a reality of any political system, no matter how reformers rail against it. It has even begun popping up in the newly cleansed state bureaucracies, to say nothing of unions or the small-town governments on your side. So it must be dealt with and used to your advantage. Beginning to create and use these networks will also allow you to have at least a degree of control...which means you will be one making bargains with slimy bastards. Joy. Cost: Stress, increase to corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Increase to support in the CSA, increase to support from the Teamster’s Union, slight increase to popular support. Enhances effects of Assistants Adjustment

Anti-Corruption Agencies: Corruption is a double-edged sword, and one that could cut you deeply. It is time to start taking measures to protect yourself, first by beginning to work with state governments to establish organizations that will purge corruption within elected and unelected offices...and making sure these organizations are resistant to the lure of corruption themselves. Cost: Slight loss of support in the CSA, slight decrease to support from the Teamster’s Union, angers the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90/120. Result: Slight increase in popular support, slight reduction in corruption, further actions for reducing it unlocked.

Local Autonomy Programs: The first implementation of the principles of local autonomy will begin. A relatively simple set of legislation will be passed, allowing school districts to choose to have optional “Cultural Enrichment” classes where students will learn the language, history, and traditions of their ancestors and granting municipalities permission to have local paperwork and signage in any language they desire, so long as English is also prominently available. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/25/50. Result: The first beginnings of local cultural autonomy.

State Nationalizations: Huey Long has already done it, and so has the federal government and its supporters. It is time for the government of the workers to begin directly intervening in the economy. State-backed investors will purchase commanding shares in certain factories and facilities, transferring part-ownership to the workers and coordinating the economic functioning in order to bolster the state as a whole...and in order to better equip the workers for the inevitable backlash. This can be combined with subsidies and a variety of other economic tools to greatly strengthen the influence of workers in the economy. Cost: Possible minor backlash, possible loss of support from the IWW, possible loss of Relations with the Syndicalists and the Centrists. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/80/100. Result: Increase to income, many factories taken over by the workers and the states under the cover of law. Expand subsidies to workplaces, unlock further options for government intervention in the economy, ease other economic reforms, dramatically improve the effectiveness of economic planning. Completely transform the economic game. Increase in support from ASA and increase in relations with the Orthodox.

Strengthen the Justifications: With flimsy laws providing flimsier protection, it's clear they need to be fixed. Though fierce opposition has begun rallying, with everything from filibusters to bribery to harassment being attempted to keep the seizures from having actual legal justification. There are even threats of the army being called in to restore order, threats that are not followed through on only because of the fear of a full-on civil war. Strengthen the justifications, encourage the seizures, and prepare for the class war. Cost: Minor losses in CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: The legal basis for factory seizure is strengthened.

State Police Forces: With the National Guards hampered, there are other potential forces that could be used to suppress us...or used to crush reactionaries. To that end, the state police forces will be secured, their leadership replaced with trusted syndicalists, Red Guards will be hired, and they will be shifted to being under Congressional influence even as their arms are improved and their procedures revamped. Cost: Possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: State police forces have their loyalty secured.

Strengthen Your Political Control: The halls of Congress are filled with your allies and fellow socialists alike, forming a strong and united bloc. Or so it seems. In truth, the arguing and infighting routinely takes up hours, even with Norman working to shield you from the worst of it. With controversial legislation on the horizon, you need to tamp down on it and make your bloc in Congress truly a united front that will never break. Cost: Likely backlash, -1 Gravitas, probable loss of support in the CSA, loss of Relations with the Anarchists, the Centrists, and the Parliamentarians. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Tighter control over SPA and allied politicians, Norman Thomas gains +1 Influence, 1 less Influence committed to Norman Thomas.

The Next Steps: To truly end white supremacy in America will require a sea change on every level of culture, something you are only toddling in the right direction for given the infrastructure it will require. However, you can work at repairing some of the damage. A second series of laws can be passed, giving educational benefits to colored people, offering them low-interest loans so they can purchase housing and improve their economic security, and push for their integration into government offices. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/70/105. Result: Pass a series of state laws designed to eliminate the economic damage of Jim Crow and slavery.

Legal Defenses: It hasn’t quite made its way through the court system just yet, but some of your latest reforms are being attacked through the most reactionary government branch there is. And some of these judges have enough thugs standing around them that they feel confident refusing the will of the Red Guards. So we’ll just have to take a different approach. We have lawyers, we have legal experts, we have everything we could possibly need (except corporate dollars and bourgeois respectability) to prepare extensive defenses for our various reforms, drawing on the ample precedent and the best arguments we can muster. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Arrange for legal experts to begin creating a system of airtight defenses for various reforms and practices, such as the labor voucher system, factory seizures, and potential nationalizations.

Legal Offenses: The federal government and the so-called National Popular Front have been relying on increasingly threadbare legal covers for many heinous acts, including the recent deployment of armed and bloodthirsty troops upon American soil at the behest of their masters, the suppression of various publications, and harassment upon union organizers and Longist advocates. It’s time for our day in court. Sue them for these violations, take active roles in the legal defense of those they falsely accuse and arrest, use the courts they rely on to shatter their legitimacy. Soon they’ll only have their final argument left, and we’ll beat that one too. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Arrange for legal experts to begin attacking the federal government and capitalist system in the courts, and to take action to legally defend the falsely accused.

The Women’s Bill of Rights: Just as the laws of this nation favor white men over black, they favor men over women. While women legally have the right to vote and some other privileges, a great many they should have are denied to them, including important limitations in their property and divorce rights. Though some may rage and riot at this, their opinion does not matter. Man and woman are going to be equal before the law in every respect imaginable, you intend to make sure of it. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/90/115. Result: Pass a series of state laws granting equal civil, political, and religious rights to women.

Immigration and Refugees: The state of West Virginia has recently passed a law designed to assist immigrants in earning citizenship and settling into their new life, along with declaring themselves to be wholly open to any refugee who can make it. In the law, they listed Africans, the Irish, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Jews, and “other Asiatics.” It’s a splendid law, one which the legislators received much acclaim for, and some other state legislatures are murmuring about doing the same. Throw your weight behind it and encourage as many states as possible to adapt such transformative laws, no matter what objections some might have. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/90. Result: Pass a series of state laws designed to protect immigrants and encourage refugees to come.

Policing Reform: As the months wear on, there has been a steady increase in crime and reactionary activity, such as protests against civil rights and attempts at electing anti-worker candidates. The current policing system of purely local, democratically managed patrols has begun encountering limitations. To that end, proposals have been made such as the establishment of requirements for some basic education for those who would be police and the creation of a more professional group to provide forensic and investigative support. Cost: Internally controversial, may cause an external backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90/120. Result: Pass a series of laws designed to improve the effectiveness of police.

Write the Bigger Bill: You now have the entire text of the as-written bill Olson and Roosevelt and others are planning on introducing. You could attack it and tear it down, but instead you are going to take the high road (the popular path) and outflank it. Every reform it offers, you will make it better. Every trap and snare they have in their wording, you will dismantle. It will take time, and you will have to decide just how extreme you can afford to go with this law, but it will be worth the effort you need to put in to steal the greatest weapon of the reformists and use it against them. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/25/50/75. Result: Begin writing your own major federal reform bill.

Farmer’s Colleges: Agriculture is a difficult task, one that has grown increasingly entwined with market forces that are attempting to consolidate and proletarianize the rural population. While the establishment of co-ops, price controls, and other methods have helped push back against these forces, it is manifestly not enough for economic prosperity and efficiency. Education is already a function of government, and so the establishment of agricultural colleges will not be controversial for all but the most ardent anti-socialists. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/35/70. Result: Establishment of agricultural colleges.

Farmer’s Factories: Agriculture is a difficult task, one that has grown increasingly entwined with market forces that are attempting to consolidate and proletarianize the rural population. While the establishment of co-ops, price controls, and other methods have helped push back against these forces, it is manifestly not enough for economic prosperity and efficiency. The establishment of government-owned and operated factories that can sell them tractors and harvesters and fertilizer at affordable prices will help turn back the tide, and can be used to incentivize collectivization. It may be controversial, but we will weather the storm. Cost: Will cause an external backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/20/45/85. Result: Establishment of agricultural factories.

The New Education Bill: Segments of the SPA have grown increasingly strident in their demands for education reform. They are no longer satisfied with changes external to the official public school. They are demanding comprehensive and complete educational reform...and they are absolutely right to do so. It’s just that there’s quite a bit going on already, and no one can agree on what the new curriculum will be like...but perhaps one of your subordinates will take things on themselves. There’s only so much you can do. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Create comprehensive education reform bill in SPA-controlled states, may not be uniform. General increase in CSA support, especially the IWW MM and the AFL-CIO.

Single-House Reforms: The machinery of state is autocratic and oppressive, but with great struggle and sacrifice it can be turned to the benefit of the worker. While economic and social reforms are ongoing endlessly, one area of change that has been neglected is the political sphere. Making recall elections for the lower houses easier and completely eliminating the upper house will go a long way to correcting that. Since that will require changing constitutions, it will not be as easy to accomplish as one would hope, but it is a start. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 2 months. DC: 65/160. Result: Constitutional reforms in several states to eliminate their upper houses and make recall elections easier.

Judicial Replacement: The ever-reactionary judicial branch relies on its total lack of democratic accountability and insulation from the impact of its decisions to enable judges to break strikes, steal land, shatter lives, and overturn popular laws. The SPA has mostly relied on intimidation, persuasion, and the occasional execution to keep them in check, but many courtrooms are sporting increased guards of federal thugs and their black-robed thieves are growing bold once more. The mechanisms of many state governments have been almost entirely captured by the SPA however, and so the structure of the court can be transformed. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 2 months. DC: 75/180. Result: Constitutional reforms in several states to make judge an elected position, limit their terms, and other modifications designed to purge the branch of reactionaries and make them more democratically accountable.


The Legacy of John Brown: John Brown was a revolutionary martyr who fought for freedom. Abraham Lincoln sought to bring freedom to the enslaved. They would support you in your struggle to bring liberation to all. You will insist on it. You will quote them to say so. You might have to be a bit selective in doing so, but it won’t matter. Cost: None... Time: 1 month. DC: 5. Result: Increased efficacy of The American Revolution actions.

A Socialist Structure, Pt. 1: How will the economy work? Will currency be abolished? How will you ensure racial equality? Though there are examples to look forward to from Britain and France, you will need to begin creating your own answers to these questions. Plans must be made, although they will be by necessity vague. But creating the most basic framework for what form American socialism will take will help ease your path forward. Cost: Probable loss of relations, chance of reduced support in the CSA based on the decisions. Time: 4 months. DC: 0. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.

Judicial Reform: One of the matters most clamored for is judicial reform. The American justice system is incredibly corrupt, designed to allow the wealthy to skate away from criminal cases and lawsuits with equal ease, and the courts have long been a tool to prevent workers from liberating themselves. Lawyers, judges, juries...all will need replacement, reform, or renovation come the Revolution. Begin working out alternatives. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin coming up with a multitude of options for judicial reform.

Against the Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism is a virulent problem in this country. Father Coughlin spews anti-Semitic bile, many claim Jews are behind every problem and especially the syndicalists, even some of your party members and unionized workers mislike them. Countering these narratives may cost, but it is a worthy effort. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Chance of further losses Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of increase in support.

Relations with Reservations: There are scattered Native American reservations across the country, full of people who haven’t been citizens until recently, who have been forced off their homes and into desolate places, who have had their history and culture defaced and desecrated. In many ways, the imperialism and colonialism inflicted upon them is America’s first sin. You don’t know what they want, you don’t know what they need. You will have to begin asking those questions. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Native Americans.

Help for Hispanics: As the SPA grows in influence in the American Southwest, awareness of the historical mistreatment the Hispanic population of the United States has endured. Just as with the Native Americans and the colored populations, you need to open a dialogue with these groups. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Hispanic Americans.

Develop a Radicalization Pipeline: The newest unions are staunchly conservative on social and economic issues. Advocating for better wages and shorter hours seems to be a step too far for many, let alone more unusual proposals like requiring factories to have childcare facilities and compensation for injuries or outright revolution. While the Great Depression has affected them, and they have heard of the various horrors inflicted upon workers by the government, both matters are distant to them. The cruelties of capitalism need to be brought home to them. They need to be persuaded that there must be a revolution. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Begin developing strategies for en masse radicalization.

Create a Curriculum: For a socialist school system to exist, there must be a socialist curriculum, Having students elect their teachers seems faintly ridiculous, but there can be other ways for them to be exposed to the SPA’s ideals from a young age, and there should certainly be a different emphasis on what is taught. No gender divide for one. There’s also the subject matter that must be transformed, including the complete revamping of any history or civics-related classes, potential integration into the Young Worker’s League...so much to do, so little time. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Creation of curriculum, improved results and lowered difficulty for other education reform actions.

Create an Educational Program: It’s not just the subject matter that needs to be changed. The entire American school system is set up to train and educate cogs in a machine. It’s gender segregated, teachers are encouraged to harshly punish students, and there is rampant abuse of power. All of that will need to be changed. Somehow. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Begin designing an education program, improved results and lowered difficulty for other education reform actions.

Justice and Violence: Violence is one of the eternal topics people argue about. When is it acceptable, why is it acceptable, what limits should there be? Some proclaim it all equally abhorrent, others insist it is always necessary. The SPA has an ample variety of attitudes, some of which are counterproductive. The cowardice of the SPU and the bloodthirst of the Fosterites both threaten the revolution. The correct course is obviously somewhere in between the extremes: self-defense is obviously acceptable, and so is violence in the pursuit of justice, but you must decide where the lines are...and when they should be crossed. Cost: Varies. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Decide what sorts of violence are acceptable and when, develop a more defined thesis on it.

Appoint a Committee of Ideology: This will be a contentious group whose arguments will echo throughout the party, but those arguments will be necessary for the building of a true socialist state. Economy, law, social organization, the role of religion and race, the question of minorities, internationalism, centralism, federalism, and councilism...all these things need to be discussed. And you don’t have the time to do it, so you will have to get other people to do it for you. Cost: Likely to decrease the Strength of the Center, will occasionally make decisions you don’t like. Will have to commit Influence and Gravitas. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create subordinate to handle various Intellectual actions, vote on how much to commit.

Linguistic Reform: While colored people seem to consider colored an acceptable term to describe them, it has been brought to your attention that a couple common forms of language used regarding them are considered demeaning. Similarly, several women have argued that language should be modified to remove many unreasonable gendered components. The most prominent example is “man” referring exclusively to the male sex and humanity as a whole, but there are others. Apparently. Cost: May seriously upset social conservatives and moderates. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/65/100. Result: Begin propagating language reforms, votes on which to choose.

The Nature of an Economy: An economy is a vast, interconnected thing. Raw goods feed factories, factories make products. Value is traded and bought and sold and stolen in ten thousand different forms. Debt is passed around, intangible pieces of tangible things are speculated on and traded. The American one has been utterly stagnant. Goods are produced but not sold, factories stand empty, skyscrapers rust. Food is too cheap to grow and too expensive to sell. Marx and other leftist theories have written voluminous texts on the topic of capitalism’s economy and the changes socialism will make, syndicalism has demonstrated the power of a worker-owned economy in action, but it is time to consider the American approach to left-wing economics. Cost: You are going to upset people. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90/135/170. Result: Create a unified SPA proposal for a future economy, which you are most definitely not planning to install after you overthrow the existing US government, honest.

The Important Intersection: The concept of intersectionality has been bandied out a time or two, but no one has really tried to codify it and push it out to the broader party. The idea is a break from conventional Marxist politics, but you are no longer a truly conventional Marxist party. It has been more or less universally acknowledged that race and gender can be sources of oppression above and beyond the ordinary dynamics of class and economics, and that these can intersect in painful ways. It’s time to write that up, and make it a formal part of the SPA’s goals and platform. Cost: Will upset social conservatives. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40/60. Result: Define intersectional politics, make it an official part of the SPA’s ideology.


A Black Budget: Given the likelihood of the Commission for Revolutionary Defense being involved in some less-than-savory affairs, it may be worth siphoning some money into hidden accounts so that it can be put to use but remain harder to use. Paying spies from sources that aren’t clearly your coffers, purchasing equipment or information from organized crime, serving as a place to deposit money made from bank robberies...there are many possible uses. Cost: -2 to -2.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Resources available that can be put to use for covert operations and remain obscure.

Taking a Peek: With the sudden revelation of Schenk’s dual loyalties, you find yourself wondering who else has friends or interests you should be worried about. You wonder if you can trust Schenk to do the investigation...you wonder who else you could trust to do it. You hate how shaken you feel about this...but he’s not likely to try and hide any corruption or betrayal he uncovers from you. You are fairly confident of that. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find information about chosen subordinate.

Someone Else to Spy: With Schenk’s loyalties suddenly in doubt, you find yourself...concerned about what he’s been doing, especially regarding the more inward-facing side of things. The Revolutionary Defense Committee having his attitudes would be potentially very unfortunate. You aren’t going to fire him, but you are going to be looking to curtail his influence, and one way would be to focus him more externally and find someone else to take care of the more day-to-day duties for the Committee and leave the Commission to him. Cost: -1 or 2 Influence, may annoy Schenk and the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create an internally-focused Intrigue subordinate, vote on who they are.

The Revolutionary Guard’s Loyalties: You need to make sure the Revolutionary Guard is at least not entirely influenced by Schenk and the RAF. They were created before him, and you have never seen any sign of such attitudes from them, but he does have at least nominal influence over them, since the Commission appoints the Committee, who selects the Guard, who elect the Commission...although Schenk has just been appointing the people elected. Does that mean he thinks they already share his views? Was he trying to avoid suspicion? Was it a commitment to internal democracy? Or was he simply too focused on other matters? You will have to go around Schenk, or try to anyway, but you have to find out. Cost: Risk of annoying Schenk or the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find out the Revolutionary Guard’s loyalties. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what’s up.

Infiltrate The Enemy Within: There are reformists within the SPA, from those who think capitalism can be voted away to those who genuinely don’t want to end capitalism. Many of these have links to outside organizations. These links need to be identified, and the traitors who are using them. They don’t necessarily need to be dealt with like other enemies, but we need to be aware of them so we can keep undercutting their support. The recent gains in information from newly loyal members of the Reformist Coalition have been immensely helpful in that regard, allowing you to gather a clearer idea of what your rivals are up to. And it’s helped get you access to many others, including inklings about what the Longists are up to. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/55. Result: Find more about various reformists in every party and their plans.

Find the Red Army Faction: You can’t leave this alone. You need to know who else is aligned with the RAF, and where they have their headquarters and where they draw their funding from...just in case the worst happens. What exactly the worst is changes from day to day, but you know being able to find the RAF will be helpful no matter what nightmare scenario you are picturing. And it might just help you sleep a little better. Cost: Risk of seriously upsetting Schenk or the RAF. Time: ??. DC: High. Result: Find who else supports the RAF, find out where they are. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what’s up.

Siphon State Funds: With nearly unfettered access to many state governments and party loyalists being installed in treasury departments across the nation, you have an opportunity to enhance the party’s financial position by arranging for subtle fund transfers from the government funds. There will likely need to be some sort of...shell to hide the directness of the money transfer. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Increase to income.

Sending Spies: Particularly given your purging of the police and the increasing difficulties the capitalists are having with oppressing the workers in areas dominated by syndicalists, there is something of a low-level exodus going on from the north, which means there is an opportunity to get eyes and ears in the lower level of the National Guards, U.S. Army, and hostile militias, to name a few possibilities. There’s also potential to infiltrate your political enemies or rivals. Cost: Risk of discovery, risk to the spies. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Write-in where you send the spy.

Newspaper Analysts: With the increasing influx of information, often heavily conflicting, getting an idea of what is going on in the country grows more difficult every day. Arranging for a few party members to subscribe to dozens of newspapers and compare them so they can brief you will be child’s play compared to some of the things you have organized. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Improvement to Rumors and News section.

Send Covert Organizers: Unions cannot operate openly everywhere. Particularly in the South and Midwest, efforts to organize are met with bombs, knives, and bullets. Or worse. You have vivid memories of the results of your trip to Wilmington...But people still organize, they still fight. Sending covert assistance can lead to an increase to your strength in an area, and help increase the chances of more overt intervention. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators/organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support while increasing your own support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization/agitation.

Ears in the Party: To better keep abreast of movements in the Party and the doings of your subordinate, cultivating a small network of...trusted friends to let you know what they hear could be managed. Flora will probably have to be the one managing them, but you feel she is trustworthy. Knowledge is power, and knowledge of the going-ons in the SPA and the politicking of the bureaucracy will be especially powerful. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/??. Result: Lower difficulty of actions involving intelligence within the SPA.

Create Shell Corporations: To help with some of your more...unpleasant deeds, you can avoid scrutiny by purchasing a few false companies and helping you to conceal any unfortunate money trails. Although given the incredible chaos going on throughout the country, you aren’t sure how necessary such deceptions are, unless you decide to start severely investing in foreign support. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/??/??. Result: Increase chances of avoiding discovery for embezzlement actions.

Infiltrate the Army:The army is crash-expanding, with sergeants turning into captains and captains turning into colonels as every man they can recruit is gathered into the regular ranks or the Special Engineering Corps. Selecting volunteers from the Red Guards and having them sign up will enable you to gain some low-level infiltration, and the fact that some of them will have military experience will get them into relatively high ranks. MacArthur is certainly planning to use the army against you, you must find out how. The steady sidelining of officers with syndicalist sympathies has left you with fewer avenues, although the recruiting spree does offer fresh opportunities for entering the lower ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 2 months. DC: 45/80/?/??. Result: Make contacts within the army.

Steal Weaponry: The nation is in chaos, and this extends to the supply chains of the military. Some arms factories have been seized, while others are filled with sympathetic workers. Soldiers are increasingly inclined to turn a blind eye in exchange for sufficient funds. All of this means there are plenty of opportunities for heavier weaponry than small arms to make its way into the hands of the Red Guards...although on the other hand, security is being tightened and some soldiers are growing increasingly dedicated to their cause of maintaining law and order. Any such operation will be...risky. Cost: Risk of discovery, 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 65/??/???/???. Result: Begin creating stockpiles of weapons and equipment such as grenades, machine guns, mortars, etc.

Into the Navy: The steel titans of the navy are directed and maintained by a horde of sailors, many of whom come from the working class and labor in horrible conditions, making them ripe for recruitment. Meanwhile, the dockyards in Philadelphia, Norfolk, and several other cities still churn as ships are made and sent to patrol off every coast. There is ample opportunity to begin slipping syndicalists into their ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/??/??. Result: Make contacts within the navy.

Hunt Infiltrators: The Longists and Federalists have doubtless begun infiltrating us, trying to sow division and sabotage our efforts. Perhaps this has already begun bearing fruit, or perhaps it will become a problem in days to come. Either way, the spies must be found and removed. With limited sources of information, it may prove difficult, but it is a task that must be accomplished as soon as possible.Schenk has raised the alarm about this in particular, uncertain who in the intelligence apparatus of the CSA can be trusted given the corruption and politicking you are both aware of...although he could just be looking to fill it with RAF loyalists. Cost: ??? Time: 1 month. DC: Special. Result: Begin hunting for spies within your ranks.

Propaganda of the Deed: There are many tools for spreading syndicalism and disrupting reactionaries. Bombs and guns are excellent at doing both. By demonstrating the spirit of revolution, weakening the forces the oppressors can bring to bear, and striking fear into the hearts of those who stand against us, we shall strengthen the cause! The class war shall come and end the conflicts of history, and no price is too great to pay it! Cost: -3 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/35/50/65/90. Result: Begin a campaign of political bombings and assasinations.

Protective Measures: With violence rising by the day, measures must be taken to protect the leaders of the revolution. The Guard must be expanded, with the new members set to providing protection wherever needed. And maybe you can be confident that these fresh recruits are a tad more trustworthy than any Schenk has gotten his hooks into...or maybe you are just being paranoid. You don’t even know for sure if the existing men and women of the Guard are disloyal. But you are trusting them with your family’s lives, and you can’t be too careful. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/??/??/140. Result: Recruit more bodyguards.

Robin Hood Revolutions: The Bolsheviks funded themselves through bank robberies before they were able to seize power. While the size and strength of the SPA mean such tactics are no longer needed, they could still be useful. A campaign of public, armed theft will do much to demoralize our class enemies and tie up their investigation and intelligence resources. Cost: -1 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: Begin a campaign of bank robberies, increase to income.

Union Entryism: Not every factory has been seized, not every union is a revolutionary one. In particular, there are several states with growing industrial bases that have minimal SPA support. Infiltrating these areas and their factories will be important, especially since many of these factories are responsible for producing the equipment needed by the slowly reforming Federal Army. It will be a difficult task for those agents assigned, one which will need a great deal of skill, but it will be an invaluable one for us and for the Syndintern. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/???/???. Result: Pink unions and non-unionized factories infiltrated, especially in states where support is lacking and military-oriented factories.

Spies in the House: The rich have servants. Maids, nannies, handymen, butlers, gardeners... all are trusted to go into people’s homes, to stay there with minimal supervision, and sometimes even to assist in more discrete functions. And while they are typically members of the labor aristocracy, they are just as often subjected to cruel abuses of all kinds. And so many of them may well be willing to aid you, giving you access to an invisible but dense information network...although it is also possible that the BOI and Longists will have anticipated this and established counters. Cost: 0.1 Resources per Influence/Gravitas invested. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??. Result: Find and recruit spies and informants among servants.

Rooting Out Domestic Enemies: Of course, a similar approach could be done to members of the SPA who hire unionized domestic workers, to say nothing of the countless secretaries, aids, and functionaries who are vital for keeping the vast infrastructure of the party running. Anyone of them could be turned into a spy. So it may well be worth gently vetting those individuals for potentially troublesome sympathies and ties.If any evidence of spying is found...They cannot be allowed to subvert our revolution. Cost: Will piss a lot of people off. Time: 1 month. DC: ???/???/???. Result: Find spies and informants among your own servants.

Preparing for a Kornilov Affair: When the tides of revolution rose in Russia, the force of counterrevolution attempted everything they could to stop it, including a military coup. The Kornilov Affair was a defeat for the reactionaries thanks to the preparations of the Soviet, preparations we have barely begun. We need to expand our military, infiltrate Longist and Federal forces, seize the rails..but for the coup itself, we need to secure methods of evacuation for SPA members in Washington lest we suffer the fate of the Last Bolsheviks. The decreasing stability of the capitol makes this increasingly urgent, as the No-Go Zone where protesting is forbidden expands and contracts on a daily basis and bloody clashes fill the city. Cost: Mildly annoy some people in Washington. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??. Result: Begin preparing to evacuate leaders of the SPA and allies such as Reed and Thomas in event of a coup or purge.

In the Dead of Night, Reactionary Edition: Those who stand against the might of the working class will be cast down and broken. By the ballot or the bullet, they will be defeated. But that will take time, and they could do untold amounts of damage first. So they need to be removed. Quickly, quietly, and in the dead of night. The leaders of the reactionary groups who still infest SPA-controlled territory. will be seized, tried, and punished. And justice will be done, and a stern lesson taught. Cost: Public backlash, will cost support with the AFL-CIO and the Right AFL-CIO, may cost additional support, will cost Relations with the Parliamentarians and the Anarchists. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/?? Result: Seize and arrest the leaders of various reactionary groups.

In the Dead of Night, Bureaucrat Edition: Those who stand against the might of the working class will be cast down and broken. By the ballot or the bullet, they will be defeated. But that will take time, and they could do untold amounts of damage first. So they need to be removed. Quickly, quietly, and in the dead of night. The most vilely corrupt bureaucrats will be seized, tried, and punished. And justice will be done, and a stern lesson taught. Cost: Public backlash, will cost support with the Teamster’s Union, the AFL-CIO, and the Right AFL-CIO, likely to cost additional support, will cost Relations with the Centrists, the Parliamentarians, and the Anarchists. Will anger the CSA bureaucrats. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??? Result: Seize and arrest the worst of the corrupt bureaucrats.

(1 Charles Schenk Influence Committed) Find Tools, Farming Edition: There are always individuals willing to betray their class interests, to serve as dupes out of principle or greed. That has been one of the greatest weaknesses of the worker’s movement, but it also applies to the other classes. Look among the profiteering farmers to see if there will be people who can assist with the discrediting, defeat, or destruction of their movement. Cost: Cooperation has a price. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??. Result: Catspaws and infiltrators established among the profiteering farmers.

Find Tools: Reactionary Edition: There are always individuals willing to betray their class interests, to serve as dupes out of principle or greed. That has been one of the greatest weaknesses of the worker’s movement, but it also applies to the other classes. Look among the various reactionary movements to see if there will be people who can assist with the discrediting, defeat, or destruction of their political organizations. Cost: Cooperation has a price. Time: 2 months. DC: ??/??. Result: Catspaws and infiltrators established among the reactionaries.

Find Tools: Bureaucrat Edition: There are always individuals willing to betray their class interests, to serve as dupes out of principle or greed. That has been one of the greatest weaknesses of the worker’s movement, but it also applies to the other classes. Look among the corrupt CSA bureaucrats to see if there will be people who can assist with the discrediting, defeat, or destruction of their cliques. Cost: Cooperation has a price. Time: 2 months. DC: ??/???. Result: Catspaws and infiltrators established among the corrupt CSA bureaucrats.

Safety for the RAF: While Schenk does understand your desire to not get too close to the RAF, you can tell it chafes at him. They have also demonstrated that they are very effective, if few in number and that they are willing to cooperate with your greater goals and aims. So it may be worth supporting them, just enough to make them more effective. They have their own sources of weaponry and funding, but they could use places to hide out, rest, and get medical care. And it would be easy enough to set aside a few backrooms for them to use. Cost: ??. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??. Result: Safehouses for the RAF established in out-of-the-way urban SPA facilities, increase in RAF cooperation.

Blueprint Theft: The SyndIntern wants blueprints of some of the more interesting American technology, such as the designs for the Christie tank, and other industrial and military information. What was already available was packaged up and sent off, but getting looks at the designs they really want will be difficult, as many of those factories have restrictions on unionizing and tight security. But Schenk thinks it can be done, although there are several steps he would like to take first. Cost: Very risky, could lead to scandal. Time: 1 month. DC: ???. Result: Steal military blueprints for the Third International, increase in SyndIntern Relations.


Work Overtime: Although your heart and mind ache at the thought, the cause needs you. It will be stressful, it will be upsetting to your wife and daughter, you can feel your very soul revolting at the thought of spending even more hours working...but you must. The workers of the world demand it! No matter what it costs you. Cost: Severely stressful, unhealthy, bad for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: +1 temporary Influence.

Personal Attention: If you spend a few hours working on a particular task, it will likely go smoother. It will cut into the time you would normally spend with your family or your books, but it is a sacrifice you will have to make. Cost: Stressful, not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Small dice and narrative bonus to chosen action.

Exercise: You have gotten slightly out of shape thanks to the stress of the election. Getting back in shape would be good for your health and your image...and if you ever get the chance to punch Huey Long in his fat face or strangle MacArthur, it will help then too. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, improvement to health.

Spend Time With Your Family: Your daughter Hannah misses you, as does your wife Louise. Spending some extra time with them this month will make up for all the times you missed doing it during the campaign season. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Major decrease in stress, good for your family.

Write: You have been working on another book about your own thoughts and beliefs about socialism and syndicalism, as well as on a few poems, memoirs, and some other odds and ends. Spending some time working on that will help order your thoughts and ease your burdens. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, possibility of new traits.


Free Actions

Tweak a Subordinate’s Priorities: While those who are working with you are scattered across the country, between the train and the telegram they are within reach. Requesting a minor change to their priorities is a simple matter. Cost: May pick only twice per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate’s priorities (change order, add one, remove one). This will have a political cost if used on the SPA Cadres.

Ask For a Favor: Party members already sacrifice their time and money and sometimes their health and their life, but you must ask for more. Though it will cost some precious goodwill, continued success will bring it back, and so you can confidently ask for favors. You can also speak with the SyndIntern and ask for favors. Cost: Variable amount of Relations, changes in Strength of factions. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Relations and Strength allows.

Call on the RAF: Talk to Schenk, let him know what you need, he goes somewhere to talk to the RAF leadership, and whatever you asked for gets accomplished. You try not to think anything more of it. Cost: Cooperation from the RAF. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Cooperation allows.

Throw Your Weight Around: You are the leader of the SPA, the man who helped lead the Seattle and Chicago General Strikes to success, the man the Syndintern has trusted with bringing about the Revolution. Though you are democratically elected, you have undeniable authority. Authority you truly prefer not to use...unless you absolutely have to. Cost: -9 Relations with all factions of the SPA, narrative effects. The cost will change as you use it for better or worse. DC: 0. Time: 1 month. Result: Temporarily convert 1 Gravitas to 1 Authority.

The Long Speech: Fulfill your obligation and praise Long to the CSA. You can even be honest about it by sticking to a few topics, namely the way Longist militias have been so willing to fight alongside Red Guards and his determined and strident condemnations of the worst manifestations of capitalism. Cost: None. DC: 0. Time: 1 month. Result: Obligations to Long are fulfilled.

Adjust Your Priorities: Long-term commitments are risky in the chaotic situation the American nation is in. Temporarily stepping back from them would allow you to handle crises as they come back. Cost: Minor penalties to targeted action. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: De-commit Influence from selected action, narrative penalties.

Budget Adjustments: Your subordinates run many expensive programs that do a great deal for the cause...but on the other hand, you need that money too. Make some adjustments to the budget. Cost: May upset factions in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: May modify the amount of income available for subordinates. Increasing their budget will decrease your income and vice versa.

Choose A Focus: You are currently taking no foci.

The Union Forever! - Through the most difficult and darkest days, it was the unions that kept the revolutionary spirit alive. Let the unions stand forever. No reactionary or capitalist can defeat the people, united. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain national spirit The Union Forever (Effect: +1 Strength to the Left faction per month).

Spread the Word - The inevitability of the revolution and the glory that will come after must be spread from sea to shining sea. The Newspapers and pamphlets and posters will make everyone see your message, even if they deny it. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving the written word.

Apply Red Paint - Art is one of the greatest gifts of human civilization, and it is one that must be made accessible for the people. There are many disparate movements organized around making syndicalist and socialist art in America, but many of these movements are nothing more than a single young man painting in an apartment. An investment in resources will see these movements flourish once the artists are no longer starving. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving visual art.

Sing Proud Songs - Music can fire up emotions and raise spirits, grant hope or terror. It can spread messages, true or false. And it is time for the music of the people to spread the word of liberation. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for actions involving music.

Spread the Word - The inevitability of the revolution and the glory that will come after must be spread from sea to shining sea. The Newspapers and pamphlets and posters will make everyone see your message, even if they deny it. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving the written word.

Cross the Color Line- America has segments of its past that are shameful and regrettable. That cannot be changed, but we can step forward and try to make things better. Integrated Red Guards, integrated unions, integrated party affairs...let the color lines in America disintegrate. Let racism and white supremacy be destroyed Time: 2 months. Effect: +10 to all anti-prejudice actions for the next 2 months.

The Failing Middle Class - The wealthy proletariat and the petit bourgeoisie are major backbones for MacArthur and the Democrat-Republicans. But as the economy grows worse, many fall into poverty and so become easier to radicalize. Time: 1 month. Effect: +10 to the next roll involving recruiting the wealthy.

Union Recruiting - Not every worker has chosen to join a union. Some are scabs, some are scared, some are reactionaries. Regardless, with tensions rising every day, the threat they pose to the Revolution grows. Pressure can be applied through the carrot and the stick to see them join unions and develop class consciousness. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 union recruiting actions gain +5 to their roll.

Blitz the Soldiers - The current US Army and Air Force are powerful despite their small size. Well-trained and led by a skilled corp of officers who have cut their teeth in dozens of imperialist actions, they could deal significant damage to the Revolutionary cause...unless their soldiers could be convinced to join us. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 actions for recruiting or co-opting soldiers gain +5 to their roll.

Political Alliances - Victories must be won not just on the battlefield, but in the halls of the rich and powerful. They must be convinced to side with you against Long's insanity and MacArthur's tyranny. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain the national spirit of Political Alliances (Effect: +1 Strength for the Right faction per month).

Establish Community Organizations - The social life of these small rural towns often revolve around reactionary churches. Co-opting these existing institutions or creating new ones will be essential to solidifying your control. Time: 2 months. Effect: Gain +5 to the next 3 Cultural actions that affect rural areas.
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
Back Up Butler: 1 Influence, 29+10=39
“Comrade Butler, I was hoping to meet with you,” a pinch-faced man in a shabby suit said as he approached the stern-faced general. Both of them had callused hands and wore a red armband on their right arm, but other than that they had little in common.

Butler cocked his head, staring down at the...comrade...who was approaching him, brimming with confidence. On his lapel was pinned a scrap of paper with the words "CSA Representative of the Pittsburgh ASA Steelworker’s Union Herman Chester” in barely legible handwriting.

“I have a secretary who handles my appointments, and you aren’t on the list. So tell me why I should be listening to you instead of sorting out the militias you have fighting your battles for you,” Butler growled.

Herman Chester smiled, despite the hostility.

And in your office, you begin to write. There are important people who need letters sent, to persuade them of your arguments:

With the growing importance of the Red Guards in protecting the revolution and the workers both and the increasing violence in the country, their commander needs to be completely unhindered by political infighting and other distractions.


“I simply wanted to make sure you know the ASA has backed you to the hilt. We have every confidence Ol’ Gimlet Eye will be the man to lead the army of revolution, and we are prepared to show that confidence with our votes. To put it simply, we trust you to do your job and do it well,” he assured the general.

Butler blinked, unaccustomed to such enthusiastic support, and then he glowered at the politician. But the representative continued without hesitation.


You anticipate the arguments that you will be met with and skewer them, tearing each and every single one apart:

There is of course institutional distrust in the ranks of the SPA and the CSA for the concept of a professional army. The National Guards and the US Army have continually demonstrated that they are willing to be tools of repression and oligarchy. And it is perhaps understandable that there’s been some distrust around the concept of professionalizing even part of the Red Guards beyond what’s already been done.

But Butler has earned your trust and earned your respect, you can be confident he won’t betray the Revolution. If he says something is needed, it’s needed.


“So, if you have the time, me and my fellows would appreciate if you sent over a list of a few things we could lobby for. Better weapons, more funding for,” Herman lowers his voice as Butler’s glare intensifies, “the camps, anything at all.”

Butler hesitates, uncertain if the man before him is sincere. Then he leans in and lowers his voice as well. “The Guards have plenty of spirit, and in each unit they are disciplined enough. I would bet them against any in a street fight like what we’ve been having. But if it comes to something worse, they need more. I need better control over the Red Guards and all those other militias that have been popping up.”

Herman swallows and backs away, nodding. “We’ll...we can figure something out I am sure.”

He vanishes around the corner. Butler lets out a frustrated sigh and keeps on walking.


Your letters go out, and you have a few quiet words with a few quiet people as you keep touring the country, speaking in corners of rowdy taverns and backrooms of fancy restaurants and upstairs in union halls. And the obstacles in his path vanish like they were never there, many CSA representatives becoming positively eager to assist Butler with whatever he needs...at least up to a point.

But you are sensing an opportunity. The momentum is with you to push further, and Butler has been insisting that he needs a centralized command staff to lead the Red Guards, and a similar command for each of the regions. Is it a risk you want to take?

[] Push for the full implementation of Butler’s reforms: staff officers for regional commanders and for him, appointed by their respective commanders. It will alienate many in the CSA and the Red Guards, but the sooner the command staff gets put in charge the better. (???)
[] Push for partial implementation. It will be less offensive, and less likely to cause a problem. But it might upset people anyway, and it won’t work as well. On the other hand, once people are used to it, you can introduce more reforms.
-[] Just command staff for Butler. (???)
-[] Just regional command staff. (???)
-[] Staff for both, but elected. (???)
[] Don’t try and push your luck. Butler can be happy with what he’s gained already. (???)
[] Push for better arming the Red Guards instead, as an alternate form of compromise. (???)


Smuggling Arms South: 1 Influence, 60+53=113
The rails in Kentucky and Tennessee and the Carolinas and more are unavailable to you. They are watched by federal troops, their unions are pink and yellow, or the organization of the workers has been broken with terror and infiltration. But there is no force alive that can keep a good eye on the traffic up and down the mighty Mississippi, and the Louisiana National Guard sees absolutely no reason to search crates marked with a red gear.

And once your weapons are in the Black Belt, the only way an enemy is getting a look at them is by finding themselves facing the barrel of a rifle.

So the contributions of the Third International and what weapons you have been able to produce or steal yourselves go to those who need them most. Rifles in several different calibers, shotguns, and pistols make up the majority of each shipment, along with significant stocks of ammunition, enough to fight a battle or two perhaps. But nestled deep within each shipment are a couple mortars, or a machine gun, or a bandolier of grenades.

All in all, it's enough that any who try to start a fight will regret it for a few moments. And then they won’t regret anything at all. It’s not going to stop the Army, but no one expects it to.

It will force the Protectors and the Klan and all their other thugs to go look elsewhere, and that is all it needs to do.

Result: Black Belt militias are heavily armed.


Drills in the Black Belt: 1 Influence, 81+70=151

With each truckload of guns comes men who know how to use them. Some learned on foreign battlefields fighting for imperialism and capitalism, some learned it in America fighting against the same. Some are the elite of the Blair Brigade and the Wheatland Avengers serving the cause in a different way, others are the camp sergeants looking for a change in climate. And quite a few are from France or Britain or even further away, looking to help spread Syndicalism to these beleaguered shores.

They find men (and the occasional woman) more interested in defending their homes and civil rights than listening to theory about the oppressive nature of capitalism, for all that they have felt its burden more so than most.

But they march how they are told to march, they fire how they are told to fire, and they learn the business of soldiering with skill and dedication, enough to supposedly shake some prejudices.

Red Guard or Minuteman, all are taught. The units intermingle and most of your trainers have enough sense not to oppose it. People have to leave training early for work or skip it for church and most of your trainers have enough sense not to argue against it.

And for the ones who don’t have that sense?

They are sent home in disgrace, apologies are given by the new trainers, and people keep learning.

It takes more than a month of occasional drills to make a good soldier, but it doesn’t take that long to make a decent guard, especially when the would-be guards have all the motivation they could ever need - “the shame and pain of the abuses they have suffered, the determination and desire to never endure them again mingle in their hearts” describes one trainer in an interview - and the already rare attacks grow even rarer.

And some of the braver units begin venturing out, seeking to protect isolated communities from pogroms and help the still-struggling Red Guards and Minutemen in their clashes with the Silver Legion and the Protectors.

Result: Black Belt militias begin to undergo drilling, grow significantly more effective.


Offer An Alternative: 2 Influence, 74+84=158
You keep the pressure up. You keep speaking to the AFL-CIO, their leadership and their rank-and-file alike. It’s hard work, for many who would have joined you have fallen into despair or found some alternate source, but the process of radicalization has grown faster as people grow more experienced with showing the light to the blind.

Of course, there are plenty who refuse to see, but they can be dealt with later. The workers of America are demanding change. And there is nothing that will stand against them.

The former pacifists and collaborationists of the SPU are angry now, and demanding change of any kind. As the government fails to give it to them, they begin looking to make that change. The number of Red Guards grows, and affiliated militias keep popping up.

It’s not clean by any means. There are fights between those who have joined the cause and those who rejected it, families splinter, friendships are ended. Retalitions are launched, revenges are had.

But here the AFL-CIO’s moderation serves the cause, as those who would lash out are counseled and supported, and if need be coerced into directing their anger more effectively.

As the propaganda campaign dies down and becomes simply another arrow in the quiver of the Poster and Pamphlet Committee and other such organizations, the slow trickle of radicalized reformists keeps coming.

Result: Increase in AFL-CIO Center and Left support, increase in AFL-CIO Left size
Report from the State Legislative Committee: 2 Influence on Legal Defenses, 64+56+4=123
A law can be defended on many grounds. It can be proclaimed as a just and necessary imposition for the public good, for instance. Despite this being the favored rhetorical tactic of many politicians advocating for various SPA-backed reforms, judges cannot be trusted to agree no matter how much evidence is provided.

So a broad group of legal experts, led by Clarence Darrow, has begun working to provide different forms of defense. They draw from precedent, from the Constitution, from prior laws that were allowed to pass unchallenged.

And just as critically, they provide guidance on making sure the text of various planned laws doesn’t violate the actual Constitution. This is particularly tricky for the nationalization laws, given how protective the federal government has been of its right to regulate interstate commerce.

Still, there is plenty of room to work around these obstacles. The best defenses any band of lawyers could muster have been acquired and prepared, and no judge in the land can deny them.

The only trouble is that there is no legal trick stopping those judges from going on vacation, putting a case at the bottom of their docket, or using similar tactics to delay while leaving an injunction in place. Assemblymen, Senators, and Congressmen are already finding ways around that, including just ignoring the injunctions and impeaching delinquent judges. And the Red Guards have their own answers of course...

Result: Extremely high-quality legal defenses prepared.


State Nationalizations: 1 Influence, 26+40=66, 2 State Legislative Committee Influence on State Nationalizations,15+20+37=72
You write the first draft of the law by yourself. Stripped of all the legalese, it’s incredibly simple. For the benefit of all Americans, companies which mistreat their workers will be seized by the “highest governmental authority answerable to the people” and then sold at auction. With the pre-existing precedents, you are confident that it will defeat any challenge leveled at in the court of the law, and the Red Guards can handle any that come outside it.

Then you meet with various other influential politicians from many, many, many different state governments, and begin the difficult process of making this simple draft into an actual law.

There are arguments, as personalities and ideologies clash and people storm out of rooms, ripping copies of one edit of the draft or another. There are debates, as people seek to narrow the definitions enough to avoid a federal government that will doubtless be looking for any excuse possible to destroy this triumph. There are deals made, as recalcitrant senators and congressmen are bribed and bullied into accepting the law in exchange for pork and promises.

But finally, the law is ready. Now any worker may sue the hierarchy of a company within a state, claiming that it has demonstrated “willful and severe” malfeasance through wage theft, deliberately unsafe conditions, discriminatory practices, or any number of things. If the worker wins the case, they will be given the right of first refusal to buy the company's assets within. And with union backing, there are few companies that can resist such an onslaught.

IWW Representatives protest the heavy state intervention, but are largely satisfied by decreasing the degree of control the state maintains after the mandatory sale. 80% of the company goes to the workers, 10% to the state, 10% can be sold to anyone. Some still grumble, but with their support the legislative process moves ahead.

On August 24th, the first version of the law is passed in West Virginia. More states follow within the week, including versions in Louisiana and Arkansas.

It’s not perfect.

In Montana, several exceptions are carved directly into the law, enabling some existing corporations, including the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, to keep operating despite the litany of complaints they have received. In anger, the workers seize the mines and prepare to defend them, raising a black flag over the formerly-company property.

In New York, sufficient numbers of supposed Socialists are corralled by Roosevelt and other “progressives” to make the law so much harder to apply, requiring significantly higher burdens of proof in the name of “justice and truth.”

In California, two Assemblymen who try to propose a version of the law are summarily ignored and then removed from the chamber after one of them seized the lapels of the Speaker of the Assembly.

In Kentucky, the State Capitol is locked down as riots rock Louisville, Frankfort, and Lexington, and then someone detonates a bomb inside the building. Most survive, but any thought of passing legislation quickly falls by the wayside.

And then the law begins entering courts. Many judges, seemingly anticipating what this law is supposed to do, are resistant or reluctant, and the corporate lawyers have pulled out all the stops. But the Supreme Court is still fiercely debating if the Temporary Kansas Peacekeeping Intervention is legal and so cannot intervene, while SPA lawyers draw on law and precedent to smash aside any objections. Some judges try to keep fighting anyway, but the Red Guards intervene to stop such un-democratic behavior.

The broken body of your predecessor swinging from the courthouse proves an effective motivator for their replacement to consider the demands of the workers.

Those displays also prove immensely controversial, and there’s no easy compromise available. Moderates and pacifists like Olson and Thomas are worried that these may provoke retaliation, cost popular support, and erode your legitimacy, especially since most of the tactics the former judges attempted to use would only have delayed things, not stopped them.

Radicals like Schenk, on the other hand, are aglow with excitement as they see the workers striking back against the capitalist state and want to see more of it, and damn any consequences. They also argue that trying to restrain the worker’s militias will sap your momentum and encourage more extralegal tactics from the capitalists.

Both factions are pushing for you to speak, and you are not one to remain silent under the circumstances. You step up to the radio and make your announcement.

[] “My fellow workers, we have won great victories, despite the faltering and flagging efforts of the capitalists and reactionaries. They’re efforts are futile and meaningless, and I ask you to treat them as such. Use the bullet and bayonet where you must, but offer the open hand first. We must be better than our enemies.” You support the moderates in this struggle.

[] “My comrades, we have won great victories. In so many states, the worker’s movements have triumphed politically, and not even the most reactionary judge can claim our actions are unjust or illegal, so they must resort to bombings, skullduggery, and other foul actions to keep their ill-gotten gains! If they wield such violence, we must meet them with violence!” You support the radicals in this struggle.

[] “My fellow comrades, we have won great victories! Let us go ever onward, and win so many more!” Remain neutral in this struggle.

Personal Action: Work Overtime
You are so damn tired of trains. It seems like years since you spent a day without going on one as you shuttle yourself back and forth across the country, first to Pittsburgh to join the economic conferences, then Chicago to weigh in on the future plan and then Montana to show solidarity with striking workers who are feeling betrayed. And then back to New York City for meetings with CSA bigwigs and a speech.

Your head aches.

And although you will never dare admit it, you are beginning to fear for the success of the revolution. It’s not a rational thing, you know the worker’s movement has never been stronger, but you can’t shake the terror you feel.


The Long Speech
“My fellow socialists and syndicalists, I must confess we may have misevaluated Huey Long. He’s pink at best, yellow at worst, but he is still better than we thought of him. I know I personally have spoken strongly against him for his willingness to cooperate with the worst sort of reactionary, for his tacit support of the KKK and the Lost Cause, for his alliance with oppressive corporatists such as Ford, but it seems he has learned...he has come to Jesus, so to speak.

I do not ask you to clasp him to your bosom and name him a friend, but I think we can recognize he is far from our worst enemy. Even without our approval, Red Guards have been fighting side-by-side with Minutemen against our mutual enemies. And I see no reason to betray them and command them to turn against those they have shed blood alongside.

To that end, I propose passing a resolution calling on the Red Guards to explore truces and cooperation with Minutemen and other Longist militias against more dangerous and vile opponents.”

The motion passes, albeit not without significant dissent from many, particularly from the most ideologically committed core. But it passes, and you spoke for it.

The debt is settled.

Do you wish to explore further cooperation with Long?

[] Yes. You will receive options to collaborate with Long on various actions. Slight loss to Relations and Suppport.
[] No. Long may reach out to you occasionally, but you will not be able to initiate working with him.

Budget Adjustments

No one is more rapacious and vicious than a group of bureaucrats defending their budget allocations, you have learned to your cost. After barely escaping alive, you sit down and have a thought. Cutting budgets will earn a negative reaction. Increasing them won’t get you a positive one. Your subordinates need more money. It’s not that tough of a decision.

[] Write-in: Amount to subtract from your budget and give to your subordinates


Choose a Focus: The Union Forever!

It would not be inaccurate to say that it was the unions of America that led the revolutionary struggle, although it would be unfair to the many other organizations and individuals that have taken part. But the unions have been at the forefront of every strike, the unions sent forth organizers and agitators to garner support, the unions sent men and women in red armbands to battle for a better world.

They have not won that better world, but you are close. America is teetering, its foundations are decaying to dust, it’s champions are dead or lost. And it shall be the unions that lead the charge to transformation, the unions shall be the vanguard against reaction.

“The unions forever, hurrah, comrades, hurrah! Down with the capitalists, up with the workers!” you right, then you cross out the line. The meter is off.

But it’s a start.

Result: 1/3 months complete.
 

MagnificentLilyWitch

Active member
Pronouns
She/Her
[X] Push for partial implementation. It will be less offensive, and less likely to cause a problem. But it might upset people anyway, and it won’t work as well. On the other hand, once people are used to it, you can introduce more reforms.
-[X] Staff for both, but elected. (???)

elected military gang

[X] “My comrades, we have won great victories. In so many states, the worker’s movements have triumphed politically, and not even the most reactionary judge can claim our actions are unjust or illegal, so they must resort to bombings, skullduggery, and other foul actions to keep their ill-gotten gains! If they wield such violence, we must meet them with violence!” You support the radicals in this struggle.

[X] No. Long may reach out to you occasionally, but you will not be able to initiate working with him.
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
State Nationalizations, Pt. 2

With your denouncement of the most radical methods for forcing the judiciary to comply with the will of the people, the tide of violence slows, although many judges and their families still flee in terror of revolutionary justice, along with other moneyed individuals.

While regrettable, it does allow their replacement with more intelligent, honorable, and worker-friendly individuals.

It also causes some internal political clashes and external drama. Hoover condemns the Socialists for imagined irresponsibility, theft, and ingratitude. Several other politicians are less restrained, outright accusing you of treason and crime. Others, however, tepidly defend you. Olson states that the “new law is an extreme response to extreme circumstances,” while John Fournet, a justice on the Louisiana Supreme court and a staunch supporter of Huey Long, defends the constitutionality of the Seizure Laws on the grounds that they “secure the welfare of Americans, and a provide a common defense for those helpless American workers against the big bankers and greedy plutocrats.”

How much will truly come of the various polemics is an open question. And you have more important things to worry about. The Fosterites are...displeased with your decision, and while Schenk defends it as a tactical necessity and Thomas lends his skillful oratory to your support, many other CSA delegates are less pleased. James Cannon, William Foster, and John Ballam all lambast you for your so-called surrender.

It’s a tense situation, but the party has struggled with unity before. It will hold. It must hold.

And you do have the undeniable success of the seized factories to point towards.

Back Up Butler, Pt. 2

The motion to let Butler pick his own staff passes with relatively little fanfare. Several members don’t even seem to consider it a matter for the CSA. After all, there’s no reason someone can’t work with others on a voluntary basis. Butler immediately begins working to recruit experienced officers, although it is a task that will take time. Still, having official CSA permission makes it much, much easier for him to begin creating a command structure, he assures you.

Standards of Exchange: 1 Influence, 48+25=73
The necessities of exchange when you are in an unstable situation isn’t exactly a solved problem, but it is one the SyndIntern has familiarity with. As they work with your economists, union representatives, and managers, a few guidelines are refined. First, an official, CSA-wide system of priorities is established, so that individual shipments can be marked as urgent or not. An attachment to the bureau of planning is created, for the purpose of ranking various railway union chapters and other groups involved with handling transportation...all democratic and transparent of course, at least as much as possible.

The main problem continues to be limited efficiencies of communication across the vast distances in the country. A factory in Chicago needs to be fueled by coal from West Virginia and steel from Pennsylvania, its workers must be fed by grain from Iowa and cattle from Oklahoma and fruit from California, and the guns it makes must be distributed in nearly every state in the union.

But it is not an insurmountable problem. And it is one the workers of America are already making progress on.

Result: Economic efficiency increased.

Socialist Markets: 3 Influence, 54+52+65+25=196
The Pittsburgh Conference continues for the second month in a row, now discussing the nature of the integration of labor vouchers into the larger economy. The credit union representatives have largely left, dissatisfied with their planned marginalization, but some remain, hoping to continue to influence the economic transformation, perhaps by attaching themselves to the planning commissions to assist the more decentralized, local groups.

Others continue to express concern about the nature of the sharp transition between the capitalist and socialist economy and the possibility of certain professions being marginalized by the council structure. Though these voices are a minority, they are a growing one, and it is likely their influence will be felt in the coming days.

A great many more debates are had, with SyndIntern advisors helping to create semi-theoretical solutions to the worst of the anticipated problems, while others are proposed entirely by homegrown American leftists. Anarchists and socialists and syndicalists of every stripe have their say, working together to create a new, incredibly transformative system the likes of which have never been seen before.

The feeling in the city is electric, and paper and propaganda transmit that sensation around the country. It is like a dream come true.

But every dream has to meet reality, and there are two places where reality comes crashing up against this dream.

Neither is fortunately particularly controversial, but both feature intense debates and vicious arguments until a consensus is reached. How do we educate people on the nature of primary and secondary vouchers? And how do we keep things secure?

[] [EDUCATION] Simply add some articles to the newspapers and let that be enough. (-0.1 Resources, ???)
[] [EDUCATION] Create a program using every existing form of media, from posters to radios. It will be expensive, but it will help make sure everyone knows how things are going to change. (-1 Resource, ???)
[] [EDUCATION] Invest in an immense propaganda campaign using every media available and incorporating agitators and organizers from across the country to ensure there is no confusion or fear. (-2 Resources, new Mandate, ???)

[] [SECURE] We have faith in the people. Corrupt individuals will be forced out of power in a democratic manner.
[] [SECURE] Require signatures verifying the giving of a voucher and its destruction upon use.
[] [SECURE] As above, but require those signatures to be both in stored records and on the individual vouchers.
[] [SECURE] As above, but mandate regular inspections of the voucher records to check for malfeasance.
[] [SECURE] As above, but restrict bonuses to ensure they are not being used for corruption.


Union-Integrated Planning: 2 Influence, 73+32+25=130
After three long and painful months of hard work, the Central Planning Commission and their many subdepartments responsible for different sections of the country had determined that they were ready. It had been a difficult process, and there were huge gaps in the planning apparatus, questions that had not been answered, and problems that seemed unsolvable, but people were confident that they would be overcome. The combined, united power of the workers was an unstoppable force, one that would break through any barrier.

People spoke to each other in dazed, heady voices, anticipating all that would change, how the tides of reaction would be swept away, how the capitalist remnants would break and collapse. But many of the more down-to-earth reminded themselves that reaction and capitalism had plenty of strength yet to spare and suggested people should get to work and begin creating and publishing their first plan.

Choose 2 goals to mark as HIGH priority this plan, 1 to mark as LOW priority, and 1 intensity. In addition, you may mark one high priority goal as [SECRET] which will reduce any impacts, positive or negative, and represents you burying that part of the plan in the endless documentation it produces. Note: the higher the intensity, the greater the economic impacts, positive or negative. Remember externalities! And remember that a plan being failed will have consequences.

[] [INTENSITY] None. This first plan won’t be focused on growth, but instead on getting a better baseline for how the nation’s economy functions. Slightly popular across all segments
[] [INTENSITY] Low. Instead of attempting to develop new factories, we should focus on improving existing efficiency and fixing the most blatant mistakes of capitalism. Popular with the right of the CSA and SPA, popular with the Teamster’s Union and bureaucrats.
[] [INTENSITY] Moderate. In addition to improving and revitalizing what already exists, we should focus on re-opening the shuttered factories and making the towns around them boom through new construction and development. Moderately popular across all segments.
[] [INTENSITY] High. We cannot hold back. Every effort we can bring to bear must be used to turn the reddest cities and states of America into powerhouses of industry that will stand as proof of our superiority. Popular across all segments.


[] [HIGH/LOW] Prioritize raw resource extraction and production. Gather coal from the mountains, ore from the ground, lumber from the forests, and process it into forms that can be used. There is abundance in America’s natural resources, an abundance that must be used by the people. Moderately popular across all segments of the SPA and CSA.
[] [HIGH/LOW] Prioritize heavy industry and infrastructure. Take steel and coal and turn it into power plants and machine tools and rails and bridges. No longer will the titans of the economy selfishly hoard their products. Now the workers will use infrastructure and industry for their own benefit. Moderately popular with the left of the SPA and CSA, slightly popular with the public.
[] [HIGH/LOW] Prioritize military equipment. The revolution must be defended with all the might a nation’s industry can muster. Armored cars, mortars, machine guns, and more will pour forth to be wielded by the workers of America. Popular with the Red Guards and left, very popular with the RAF, moderately unpopular with the public. Likely to provoke a response.
[] [HIGH/LOW] Prioritize working conditions. Without any need for profit, hours can be shortened and safety improved. Democratic factory management will turn even the most difficult labor from drudgery to joy. It is the foremost goal of socialism to so many, let it be achieved. Very popular with all internal factions, very popular with the public.
[] [HIGH/LOW] Prioritize agricultural development. The specter of famine will be forever banished. The Dust Bowl will be destroyed, irrigation will be developed, new fertilizers and tractors will make every farm more efficient. Wherever possible, staple crops will be supplemented with more luxurious ones to truly bring abundance. Popular with the rural-focused segments of the SPA and CSA, popular with the rural public, slightly unpopular with the urban-focused segments of the SPA and CSA.
[] [HIGH/LOW] Prioritize quality of life. People are more than their labor. They must have schools and hospitals and leisure, good housing, and good communities. They must have electricity and water. Work to build those and bring them about for all. Very popular with all factions, very popular with the public.
[] [HIGH/LOW] Prioritize pork. There are more factions in the CSA who can have their attitude adjusted by favorable investments in the industries or areas that elect them, and it will benefit the workers as well. Very popular with all factions, moderately popular with the public, increased likelihood of corruption scandal.


Farmer’s Colleges: 1 Influence, 9+40=49
With the state governments growing increasingly involved in the economy through the establishment of worker’s co-ops and other, more interventionist methods, it is entirely non-controversial to begin founding new agricultural colleges. The only direct opposition the measure sees are a few protests by remaining Democrats and Republicans who are hoping to deny you political wins, but they quickly subside and let the measure be passed.

With it comes a fair bit of pork as contracts are given to favored supporters, who in turn work to build new college campuses. Professors are found to staff them from a variety of sources, including existing colleges and farms. There are some token protests from the left of the party about democratizing education, but no one particularly cares about doing that for farmers first. It can be left for later.

They aren’t quite ready to open up their doors, but they will be soon, and the rest of the work is left to their administrations.

The only condition the administrations must keep in mind is that their doors must be open to as many as possible.

Result: Agricultural colleges begin construction.

Farmer’s Factories: 1 Influence, 98+25=123
The factories are harder to establish, requiring recalcitrant opposition figures to be pushed aside so that laws can be passed to permit another step: the founding of factories, instead of just the claiming of them. It will be vital for the economic prosperity of the states under socialism, and it is one that has been swiftly and easily achieved, although some might complain that it lacks fanfare.

It has, however, caused serious external protests, with the simple production of tractors and fertilizer leading to vicious denunciations of “syndicalist tyranny” from many and threats of forcible privatization. Once more, a tide of bourgeoisie and labor aristocrats flees like rats.

But they can’t stop the rise of the factories as concrete foundations are poured, supply contracts are signed, and machinery is brought in. The first few factories are tiny, but larger ones are already being built, and production is beginning as men and women labor to create means of production for their rural comrades.

The next step has been made. And further ones are in motion as the Planning Commissions begin to collaborate with state governments to found even more new factories, their production directed by the state in cooperation with democratic committees to strengthen the economy and improve the lot of the workers. While the state governments currently need to operate through their legislatures, many are pushing to transfer that power to the executives in order to avoid the stonewalling of Democrats, Republicans, and other counterrevolutionaries who still retain influence in many state legislatures, especially in the senates.

Result: Development of factories begins.
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
Develop a Radicalization Pipeline: 1 Influence, 86+35=121
The SPA is undeniably a mass party, with massive popular support, but that does not mean it is universally loved. Even many in the working class, those who should most strongly support you, refuse out of false consciousness or delusion. Meanwhile, the labor aristocracy, the intelligentsia, the bankers and plutocrats who conspire to suck the blood out of millions of innocents stand opposed to you out of selfish greed.

Your enemies have wealth and weaponry, but you are not without advantages of your own. And the greatest one is the collapse of American capitalism, a collapse that came about entirely through the system’s internal contradictions.

For the past decade, Americans have been faced with hunger, with dispossession, with crime, with repression, with grinding poverty of the worst sort. Successive governments have failed to quell it, instead only worsening the situation through their desperate attempts to prop up capitalists.

And more than any other group, we have been the ones salving those wounds. We can do more if we are stronger. If we are strong enough, we can create an entirely new system and remove the chance of any such depression happening ever again. And it is written in the Declaration of Independence that we have the right to do so.

Now we just have to convince people of that...

Fortunately, we have plenty of evidence to use.

Choose 4 pieces of evidence to be the centerpiece of a propaganda campaign designed to radicalize those who still lukewarm.

[] The inability of the current governmental system to resolve the issues plaguing Americans
[] The immense violence that has repeatedly been used on innocents
[] The stubborn refusal of many leaders of current society to grant even the smallest concession
[] The long-term failure of traditional social relief institutions
[] The undemocratic nature of the last presidential election and other elements of American governance
[] The poverty of the everyday American, and how the SPA has improved their lot
[] The poverty of the everyday American, despite the great wealth being produced and consumed
[] Write-in


Report from the Coordination Planning Committee: 2 Influence on Community Check-Ins, 9+70+20=99+10=109
If there is one fundamental truth of the past decade, it is that being an American worker means suffering. The terror of violence, the grinding strain of poverty, the instability of a failing system have doubtless contributed to people’s sanities beginning to falter.

But as with all things, the application of socialist principles can improve the situation. Budgets, small ones, are set aside in many towns and cities, with local governments responsible for using them to fund volunteer teams, with carefully managed democratic checks on their authority and activity.

The unhealthy and the lonely are paid visits to ensure that they are feeling alright, along with the few who request such visits. In many communities, this treatment is extended to the elderly and others, with volunteers bringing them meals, helping them with chores, and accompanying them on walks.

It has also become common for these teams to provide occasional visits to extreme capitalists and other reactionary individuals.

It’s obviously a program with serious teething issues, especially since many are reluctant to ask for help, fearing the stigma of suffering from mental disease. There are also issues with neglect of minority-dominated areas in several cities, jurisdictional conflicts, concerns about what sort of private behavior should be viewed as problematic, and more.

But it is also a program that has benefited many people, assuaged many concerns, and improved many communities.



Report from Norman Thomas: 2 Influence on Write the Bigger Bill, 90+9+25=124, 2 Influence on Political Grandstanding, 37+81+15=133
The first step of writing a bill is to decide what it is supposed to do. In this case, that is a simple question. Thomas’s goal is to push for genuine reform to alleviate the suffering of as many Americans as possible.

Your goal is to be able to justify rejecting just that reform without costing the SPA political support. And to also alleviate the suffering of Americans. But you find yourself wondering which is more important to you on late nights as you try to sleep on an ever-moving train.

By telegram and in person, you and Thomas begin creating your own ambitious bill. You demand national welfare from the cradle to the grave: free childcare, healthcare and retirement care, unemployment benefits, subsidized food, and rent. You demand the curtailment of imperialist ventures in South America and the Caribbean. You demand the establishment of equal rights for all races. You demand and you demand and you demand, making the bill as inflammatory as possible.

That’s the first half done.

Meanwhile, from the seats in the House and Senate, SPA Senators and Congressmen rise and begin speaking. Insults and abuse rain down on the heads of cowards and capitalists as proud socialists ask why they support such oppressive systems. Challenges as to why popular legislation and policy is not even being discussed fill the air.

You show up a time or two, toss some cutting remarks at the enemy leadership, then turn and leave.

What little decorum was left in Congress is vanishing. There are full-on screaming fights, entire committees have failed because their members cannot work together anymore, and it's all being reported in loving detail by reporters.

In a desperate attempt to salvage the failing prestige of the American government, access for the public is increasingly restricted, with safety concerns being the excuse given in response to protests. The ranks of soldiers who form a permanent barrier around the Capitol and the police who line its inner chambers suggest there might be some truth to that.

But the appearance is of a government of tyrants, terrified of its own people. In other words, it exposes the federal government as exactly what it is.


Report from Smedley Butler: 2 Influence on Instilling Discipline, 14+70+40=124
Butler’s relentless drive to improve the discipline and professionalism of the Red Guards continues as he mercilessly works to whip them into shape. Delinquency is punished, morale is improved, and continuous lectures on what it means to be a Red Guard are given by commissars and officers.

There’s no mercy and not an ounce of bend in the so-called Red Marine. The militiamen who protect your rallies and attack your foes speak of him with a mix of awe and resentment, which Butler says is a good sign.

He’s still not satisfied with their conduct, he still thinks they could be better, but without turning them into a full-time army there is only so much that can be done and so he is beginning to turn to other reforms...and to handling the various other leftist militias that have begun springing up, although he recognizes they are currently a low priority.

Report from Charles Schenk: 1 Influence on Finding Tools, Farming Edition, 46+10=56, 2 Influence on Infiltrate the Enemy Within, 42+40+10=92
The final contacts are made, their loyalties secured with bribery and blackmail. From the most mild to the most militant, if the farmers attempt to subvert the dictatorship of the proletariat, Schenk is confident he will know about it and be able to disrupt it by tearing apart their groups.

He has begun taking a somewhat similar approach to the SPA reformists, bribing and blackmailing some of their extant members as well as their prospective recruits. His greater familiarity with the SPA’s structures makes it much easier for people to be placed where he needs them.

And that immediately bears fruit as his tools in the party begin feeding him (and by extension you) information. From them you learn of the massive military support Long is sending his Minutemen throughout the South, of “alternate relief networks” being set up along the lines of the SPA’s soup kitchens and housing but with the goal of de-revolutionizing the working class, and of the frequent switches between terror and exhilaration of the reformists and progressives as they view the coming months as either the crucible that will forge their movement into the hammer that will save the nation or the flames that will consume them and America with it.

Some of this information is highly concerning. Long backing the Minutemen is nothing new, but the sheer number of grenades and mortars they are getting suggests something major is planned. The reformist relief projects may well be backed by BOI money, Schenk speculates, or perhaps by far-sighted capitalists. But the uncertainty of the progressives is possibly useful, as it could divide them at a crucial moment, or persuade them to support something they would ordinarily be against.


Report from Ben Stevens: 2 Influence on the Farmworker’s Union, 75+70+35=180
The creation of the Farmworker’s Union is a smashing success, one that sees people signing up in droves. Union recruiters are swarmed by the sheer number who want to get involved, paying dues and demanding action. The expense for arranging this is made well-worth it from the sheer expansion of the reach of socialism.

Ben Stevens is ecstatic and overwhelmed, delighted at the results of his marshaling the combined power of the CSA to reach out to the people he has the most sympathy for. “Every man and woman toiling to work on someone else’s farm is a comrade in our class war!” he cried to a cheering crowd.

And buoyed by the triumph, he continues on, expanding the mandate, reaching out to those who do own land but have been rendered destitute, to the cooperative members who were on strike just a few weeks ago, and to so many more. Here there is less success, but less is not none. And so the ranks of the Red Grange swell even further. They are still an undeniable minority in the halls of the CSA, but they are a growing one.

And Ben clearly aims to make them grow even further.

Although IWW members who find themselves having missed the opportunity grumble and complain, they are unwilling to try and sabotage him. And the farmers and rural capitalists who haven’t already decided to bow to the tide are growing more and more terrified and more and more determined not to flee, but they don’t have the strength to stand against the “damned Syndicalist hordes” they fearmonger about.

What will stop him? What will stop the Red Grange?

You sincerely hope the answer is nothing.


Report from the Propaganda Committee: 1 Influence on Tales to Tell, 76+10=86, 1 Influence on Professional Reporters, 21+6=27, 2 Influence on Cross-Racial Agitation, 87+23+26=136, 2 Influence on Showing Solidarity, 18+21+26=65
With the publishing companies set up, all sorts of entertainment are getting put out and sold for a very reasonable price. Struggling artists and writers of all kinds are given an opportunity to earn some money, with limited oversight as long as nothing is explicitly pro-capitalism, reaction, racism, and so forth. And as long as stories with content inappropriate for children are marked as such.

There’s a not-insignificant source of revenue from these books, but most of it gets plowed back into paying the writers and buying paper and ink and glue. But most isn’t all.

Another concern of the propaganda committee is quality. Articles that are easily proven false, smudged ink, and other issues have dogged many of the newspapers that report favorably on the SPA due to lack of funds. Many columnists are unionized and are fighting against their publishers, but that doesn’t mean they would want to take the pay cut working for a small socialist paper would require.

So their pay is raised, and then you have dramatically better reporters willing and even eager to begin working for the many “red rags” of America. Finding editors is still something of a problem, but it’s less of one now, and there are more photographers too, even if many are working on a relatively informal basis.
Those are relatively minor issues for the Propaganda Committee. Much of their attention is on fighting against racism with word and image, something you wholeheartedly support.

A two-pronged approach is decided on. The first, and the more important prong is to encourage people to mix and mingle, while the second is to show that people already do so, to emphasize the interracial solidarity of the worker’s movement. Hopefully, this attack will shatter the barriers that already remain.

Posters are designed, pamphlets are printed, speeches are made. And always, always, always, a few key themes are used. People are stronger together than apart. Diversity is good. All workers deserve respect.

“Meet those who are different. Hear their stories. Share their meals. Show them the courtesy and deference they show you. And remember, the workers are strongest when united.”

It’s a simple message and a reasonably effective one. It will take time to make its full impact, but you are assured there are some effects already visible.


Ben Little: 1 Influence on Clothing Distribution, 3+5=8, 2 Influence on Send Union Organizers to Louisville, 29+51+30=110
The attempt at organizing the clothing distribution falters on the basis that there isn’t that much clothing to be found. American supply chains are in serious disrepair, and something will need to be done. Ben tried to visit the South to make some contacts in hopes of purchasing cotton, and nearly died in the process.

Then he goes to Louisville and finds a city intensely divided. Many of the labor unions supported the taking of the city, even if it was an undeniably illegal maneuver that had required several murders to pull off. But others have willingly cooperated with the federal government, out of greed or fear or some other reason. And the most blatant misdeeds of the capitalists and the police have been reined in enough to prevent the creation of the sort of mass support that would be needed to retake the city. Even the Silver Legion and the Klan and the Protectors and various other anti-Syndicalist militias have been quiet, mollified by the apparent destruction of the Syndicalist movement in the city and more concerned with planning how to expand that to the rest of the country.

For the moment, it’s not truly fertile soil. But Ben Little is an excellent gardener, and he finds that there are seeds that can be sprouted.

The police might have temporarily pulled back from several neighborhoods and reduced the viciousness of their behavior after having seen the strength of the working class, but many of their members have escaped any sort of punishment for corruption or brutality. So Little works with several already present organizers and plans a march on the police station to demand justice.
People react predictably. One thing leads to another, and the Front chapter of Lousiville announces their intent to execute every “godless, anti-American red who fails to surrender,” forcing those who had been standing on the sidelines to pick which side they are on.

Sympathy demonstrations spring up in several other cities, including Frankfort, and unrest explodes throughout Kentucky.

Red banners fly and militias charge. Streets fill with clashing protestors, and riot after riot begins. The Louisville city hall is seized by Red Guards, who are then forced out by police armed with looted National Guard equipment, including tanks, but then the ruins of the hall are reclaimed.

Someone has begun a bombing campaign attacking government offices throughout the state, attacking any sort of official building. Someone else has begun assassinating union leaders. It’s entirely possible both are the work of the same people or group.

The entire state is in chaos, and it’s honestly a miracle that troops haven’t been sent in. Over the objections of Socialists and Longists in the Kentucky government, the National Guard has been sent in, with elements sympathetic to the “rebels” carefully purged, but though they can retake cities and railroads they can’t break the spirit of the workers. And so Kentucky simmers.

It wasn’t quite what Little intended to happen.

The SPA Cadres: 2 Influence on The Union Home, 21+20+7=48, 2 Influence on Judicial Replacement, 10+13=23

At long last, the grand housing project is finished...just in time for the Planning Commission, in loose cooperation with various state and local governments, to begin expanding the housing and build new shops and other facilities around them. It’s undeniable proof of what the masses can accomplish when putting their minds to a task, a propaganda triumph that will resound through the ages, a slap across the face of every capitalist and reactionary and aristocrat who proclaim homelessness and suffering to be necessary and natural.

However, even as there is triumph there is failure. Protests and demands for change to the American judicial system have largely been ignored by elements of the SPA holding political office, even as recent events have demonstrated its essential need. There have been token discussions, but little actual progress.

There has been plenty of criticism leveled at the party for that. Some of the Anarchists and Syndicalists are accusing it of having grown too statist and centralized to be able to effectively respond to the workers, and their calls are having some appeal, while many cadres are debating what their course of action for demanding the judicial transformations they desire should be.

You have poured oil on troubled waters for now. And you are popular enough, and the center strong enough, that things are holding together. More importantly, you are trusted.

That’s not a trust you can afford to let down. The party must show it serves the workers.
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
“Riots across California farms put down at heavy cost. Many dead or injured.”
• The Los Angeles Times; August 2, 1934

“Improved travel time on state-controlled railways.”
• The Philadelphia Inquirer; August 2, 1934

“Concerns about Huntington Support Group harassing anti-syndicalist individuals dismissed by uncaring government.”
• The Huntington Report; August 2, 1934

“Mexican agitators revealed to be behind recent riots!”
• The Los Angeles Times; August 3, 1934

“Anti-capitalist strikes across Californian farms continue to form, strikers organizing into Green Brigades to defend themselves.”
• The San Francisco Worker; August 3, 1934

“Bloody Streets: A Revelation of Life in Syndicalist-Occupied Louisville”
• The Chicago Times; August 3, 1934

“D. M. Bingham, Kentucky judge and robber of the people, executed by Red Guards after public trial. Replacement pledges to cooperate with investigations.”
• The Kentucky Revolution; August 3, 1934

“Huntington Report offices firebombed by unknown assailant last night. No deaths due to the late hour and quick action of the fire department.”
• The Huntington Worker; August 4, 1934

“Anti-Syndicalist militias and police forces begin disarming black communities, demanding protection taxes.”
• The Kentucky Vindicator; August 4, 1934

“Travers City paper mill collectivized after allegations of unsafe working conditions confirmed!”
The Michigan Report; August 4, 1934

“Police under attack by snipers across Montgomery!”
The Alabama Times; August 4, 1934

“Deaths in Frankfurt as black communities refuse to surrender arms, Protectors promise to restore order despite police opposition.”
• The Kentucky Vindicator; August 4, 1934

“Seven Protectors dead after gun battle outside Frankfurt church, none surrendered.”
• The Kentucky Revolution; August 4, 1934

“Continued allegations of corruption among the Huntington Support Group”
• The Huntington Worker

“Riots consume Frankfurt once more, police struggle to retain control as heavily-armed syndicalists wield fire as a weapon.”
• The Chicago Times; August 5, 1934

“Death in Frankfurt as police forces set fires before abandoning barricades and pulling back to richer areas of town.”
• The Kentucky Revolution; August 5, 1934

“Racial violence across Frankfurt as militias clash before negotiations begin.”
• The Kentucky Vindicator; August 6, 1934

“Christian against Syndicalism March halted by police and Red Guards due to disrupting other demonstrations, several members arrested for anti-democratic behavior after attempting to continue.”
• The Columbus Inquirer; August 6, 1934

“Ship seized by socialist criminals, demand release of imprisoned thieves and rapists.”
• The Los Angeles Times; August 6, 1934

“Courageous Red Guards seize ship, demand release of innocents held without trial.”
• The Truth of Los Angeles; August 6, 1934

“KKK march in Birmingham bombed! Local leaders demand justice!”
• The Alabama Times; August 6, 1934

“General MacArthur pledges support to anti-Syndicalist police and National Guards, plays coy about Presidential run!”
• The Chicago Times; August 6, 1934

“Rumors of machine guns and armored cars being shipped to anti-Syndicalist militias! Red Guards, be ready!”
• The Kentucky Militant; August 6, 1934

“Governor considers banning subversive radio stations! Treasonous politicians protest!”
• The Chicago Times; August 7, 1934

“Attempted anti-syndicalist riot in Long Island broken up, ringleaders identified and imprisoned. Despite their frantic begging, the National Guard refuses to intervene.”
• The New York Worker; AUGUST 7, 1934

“Black population of Macon and Townesville forcibly de-housed, randomly beaten by KKK before Red Guards, supported by Minutemen, intervene.”
• The Black Belt Report; August 7, 1934

“Two dozen deaths among the innocent population of Alabama, aid workers from the Combined Syndicates report.”
• The Black Belt Report; August 8, 1934

“Rumors of arm shipments to anti-white militias have no truth to them, governor promises,”
• The Mississippi Journal; August 8, 1934

“Governor Long announces new law that formally bans any affiliation to the KKK, the National Popular Front, and several other organizations.”
• The New Orleans Times; August 8, 1934

“Treasonous, anti-American laws spread across America!”
• The Chicago Times; August 8, 1934

“The W.C. S. Liberation and her role in the defense of the Louisville Commune”
The Louisville Worker; August 8, 1934

“Attempted mass poisoning of all-black school in Birmingham foiled by Red Guards, perpetrators were executed after trial”
• The Black Belt Report; August 8, 1934
“Red Guards lead the charge, driving off White Defense Front and other militias from local towns, seize assets of their supporters for redistribution!”
• The Black Belt Report; August 8, 1934

“Minutemen liberate towns from Popular Front control with the aid of Red Guards and All-Black Defense Force!”
• The Black Belt Report; August 8, 1934

“Plans for improved transportation between Chicago and New York City discussed by representatives of several cities and the American Railway Union.”
• The New York Worker; August 8, 1934

“Successful defense of the Black Belt from populist forces using mounted patrols, armed wagons.”
• The Black Belt Report; August 9, 1934

“Demands for removal of the death penalty lead to protests in Saint-Paul and Minneapolis.”
• The Northern Journal; August 9, 1934

“Allegations of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish language in New York City law under discussion by City Council.”
• The New York Revolutionary; August 9, 1934

“Anarchists bomb several museums, statues, other institutes of learning, demand destruction of the past tense,”
• The Atlanta Journal; August 9, 1934

“Law forbidding anti-American language and symbols successfully passed despite crypto-syndicalist opposition.”
• The Southern Star; August 9, 1934

“Execution of suspected syndicalist infiltrators in Atlanta.”
• The Atlanta Journal; August 9, 1934

“As new measure to protect the white race, National Popular Front begins mandating Negros carry passcards signed by Front members.”
• The Dixie Times; August 9, 1934

“Louisville Commune attacked by militias equipped with mortars, machine guns, armored cars. City Hall destroyed, defenders executed in cold blood.”
• The New York Worker; August 10, 1934

Rumors and News
America continues to suffer. Not only does dust and desolation continue to plague the once-fertile Midwest, but it has spent another bloody, bitter month savaging itself. Kentucky is in a state just shy of open warfare, where gangs of paramilitaries run entire towns and politicians are assassinated in their homes. The South is in significantly worse shape, as white blood and black both soak the sun-scorched soil. Machine guns and mortars both see frequent use, leaving bullets and craters scattered across the landscape. Even more horribly, multiple militias are engaging in tit-for-tat atrocities.

Mass lynchings, brutal beatings, violations...it is undeniable savagery, and no one seems immune from engaging in it. Homes are destroyed, towns are ruined. Sharecroppers, white and black, are executed in paranoid frenzies. Planters are crucified and burned alive. The Congaree swamp, the Everglades, the mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky and the Carolinas are swarming with vicious guerilla bands. The bloodshed extends into the relatively peaceful Virginias too.

You force yourself to regularly read reports on what happens. You cannot forget the price of revolution. No matter how painful it is.

Even men who are nominally on the same side can inflict horrors on each other, such as what happened at the Montgomery Massacre when a unit of Red Guards came across a unit of Longists, or perhaps the other way around, and possibly one unit was majority black and one was majority white, but one unit found the other executing surrendered Protectors, or possibly finishing off wounded ones, or mutilating bodies, and a fierce firefight ensued. The sheer lack of clarity has kept anyone from being outraged about it.

It also helps that the situation in Washington, DC is even more intense. The neighborhoods of the city are effectively divided into warring micronations, with only a few regions indisputably in government control. Even as teams of Marines and police raid into paramilitary controlled areas to make shows of force, rumors spread of planned government purges using poison gas and machine guns to destroy all resistance, rumors that most consider outlandish.

The occupation of Kansas has been ruled temporarily legal, but MacArthur is already vacating that state in favor of supporting the authorities in the Southeast. He has left behind a fragile pro-government consensus, one that looks to topple within a month or two.

Unfortunately, the general has demonstrated a fair bit of intelligence in his methods. Hundreds of soldiers have been honorably discharged and stockpiles of weapons have been “lost” and then ended up in their hands. These supposed “civilians” are sent into Kansas and Kentucky to reinforce the government presence in those two states. More will likely be sent even further afield as time goes on, while replacements for men and material come from across the nation. The thousands who foolishly flee massacres that will never come from the SPA prove to be a particularly useful source of manpower. But the factories that produce his guns are worked by unionized men, as are the ones that fill his shells. Sabotage and theft are both rife, occasionally working at cross-purposes, but the weapons of the Red Guards are continually increasing in numbers and quality.

The federal government is aware of this, and so they have been working to establish new factories in areas they can trust to be loyal. It’s not enough, it can never be enough, but the government controlled factories pay well and have good conditions and that’s enough to stem the bleeding, if not do anything more.

The other efforts of the federal government have been...schizophrenic. Their authority and legitimacy has continually decayed, collapsing fastest in the Rockies and Texas, but they are grimly holding on, having somewhat re-secured their grip in California. The Socialists and Longists and some Progressives in the Assembly and Senate in that state have withdrawn in protest of the irregularities, and Creel keeps denouncing his former Lieutenant Governor, but Shortridge seems to have the loyalty of most institutions in the state and has kept the situation from exploding further.

A number of initiatives have been attempted by state governments to re-secure loyalty, including open bribery, assasination of organizers, political concessions, and every desperate tactic a band of capitalists recognizing they are on the verge of their historically inevitable extinction can imagine. Some of them are even effective, as the ordinary concerns such as nepotism are discarded from sheer panic. They have successes, albeit limited ones.

The Supreme Court has also achieved a pair of successes, deftly threading several needles regarding MacArthur’s maneuvers and the forced nationalizations by giving a mealy-mouthed, centrist ruling for one and refusing to rule for technical reasons for the other, sending the case back to make its slow way through the court system again.

The coalition Olson and others have worked so hard to put together is beginning to splinter. The most radical elements of the Progressive Party have nearly fully joined the SPA, with figures like Clarence Darrow and James Davidson beginning to outline a partly syndicalist “Peaceful Reform” program that calls for mutualism, workplace democracy, and strong welfare. Meanwhile, the more rightwing, “sensible” progressives like John W. Davis and Franck R. Havenner have both demanded “an end to violence and attacks on innocent Americans” before any reform can be considered.

There are enough compromises being made that the Progressives have retained their capability to act as an organized party, but that’s not their only problem. Their actual organizational base is beginning to falter, as segments turn to other parties and their influence begins to falter.

The government is seemingly beginning to grow aware of just how precarious their situation is. Several emergency bills were proposed to dramatically strengthen the security state, but each was narrowly defeated by the combined majority of the SPA, AFP, and the Reformists. Some of the more conservative figures have begun to murmur about how they clearly need to do something, to give in a little. They have even begun approaching the Reformists, looking for some sort of compromise. And they have been increasingly pushing the need for all “sane and sensible” parties to form a “quarantine against dangerous authoritarian rabble,” as Hoover said in one speech that actually resulted in him being cheered.

And the explosion of enthusiasm the announcement of the Front caused fades against the reality of endless paramilitary clashes. The Silver Legion, the True Ku Klux Klan, the Redeemed Ku Klux Klan, the Protectors, the Anti-Syndicalist Association, the Black Legion, the Anti-Syndicalist Action Front, the Knights Templar, the Christian Knights Templar, the American Knights Templar...none of them have the strength or endurance they desire, and they have fallen back to lick their wounds, even as others throughout the country begin to turn to such groups in the hopes of fighting off syndicalism. Their numbers grow, their popularity soars, but even so they are losing battles everywhere they fight. The horrific savagery they inflict every chance they get avails them nothing. Butchered children and burned churches may terrify, but they also enrage. And very few Protectors are able to surrender now.

Some of the more open atrocities have also seen their use criticized and condemned. Several states have outright banned them, even if the ban seems to be in practice toothless. Even so, it has embarrassed the Front.

The Front has also been heavily embarrassed when a member of the Anti-Syndicalist Action Front attacked the leadership of the Anti-Syndicalist Association, gunning down two dozen of the National Popular Front’s Executive Dragons in the process, because he thought they were infiltrated by Jews.

The infighting this led to has not helped their cause.

Foreign affairs have been only somewhat less tumultuous.

Germany has begun reaching out to America, offering economic and military aid. The US government slapped the insulting offers aside publicly, but you have heard enough to know that was only in public. You are uncertain what sort of aid they are getting, but the two champions of capitalism will not allow each other to fall so easily.

Mexico is continuing to slowly recover from their civil war and revolution, and keeps putting down bands of Cristeros and other rebels. It’s a Herculean task, but one that they are succeeding at. It’s just taking time. Combined with their support for the Sandistas in Central America, they are at their limit.

Canada has managed to avoid a further rise in labor militancy, with “shocking revelations” and smear campaigns being used to try and crush the indomitable spirit of the workers. While such efforts will inevitably fail, it has bought Canadian government time as people turn against the most advanced sections of the working class.

But you don’t have too much energy to spare to worry about foreign revolutions, not when one is so close here in the States. It’s so close you can just about reach out and grab it.

The tide of support continues to wax. Even as Protector militias attempt to break the revolutionary in Idaho and Montana and the Dakotas, even as reactionary ranks swell in the Red Belt, more grain-and-gear symbols decorate homes and stores and factories, more workplaces are seized and democratized, more farms are turned into consolidated co-ops.

The planning commission begins their first efforts, setting hard limits on working hours, funding fertilizer plants, and prioritizing the seizure of more steel mills.

And more support grows for anti-racist and anti-nativist policies, although the neccessary steps for women’s liberation seem too radical for many.

However, you are more distracted by internal politics. Although you are able to convince the syndicalists of the necessities of economic planning and central control of the most vital industries, and you are able to deflect accusations of tyranny, excessive control, creating a cult of personality, and Bonapartism, you are forced to make concessions. Minor ones, but it still annoys you.

Also annoying is a foolishly planned assasination attempt by a former police officer who was gunned down before he even grabbed his pistol out.

But any annoyance from those unfortunate events is overwhelmed by the sheer exultant glee you feel as you gain more and more support and see a red flag fly over Louisville once more. Can anything stop such a powerful movement?

The Red Guards sweep forward invincibly, shattering resistance wherever they go. Disciplined and drilled and supported by extensive other militias, they are able to crush ramshackle bands of Pinkertons and send police fleeing in terror. Many among them speak eagerly of returning to the Red Belt to secure the revolutionary center, removing all remaining reactionaries from it in preparation of the coming revolution. Surely it can only be a few months away?

And you receive a most welcome bit of information from the RAF. They have dealt with their most recent round of pursuers, at least enough to resume operations. So they are going south, and they are going to send a message.

Long has sent another offer to you, two of them actually. First, he proposes yanking on the leashes of various paramilitaries who have been favoring fighting each other over the “real enemy,” perhaps with some symbolic mutual condemnations, and second, he proposes having a “neutral zone” of states between your heartlands where you agree not to suppress AFP votes in exchange for him not suppressing SPA votes.

He seems to be doing well enough for himself. There’s been some political turmoil inside Louisiana, in which several of the more reactionary members of Long’s cronies have formally split from the America First Party. All were soon arrested on corruption charges. Long has appointed new individuals to hold their seats temporarily until the election. This has led to some muted protests, less for the arrests and more for the appointments.

It has also led to someone attempting to murder Long’s puppet governor, but they were arrested and have vanished into a Lousiana prison.

Meanwhile, Longist militias have been fighting in Texas and Tennessee, Missouri and Montgomery, battling their enemies determinedly and claiming swathes of territory. Even in the heart of the embattled city of Tulsa, the Minutemen are holding their ground.

Plans from Subordinates
The Coordination Committee will be spending most of their time and efforts looking after their constituents and supporting refugees from famine and unrest.

The State Legislative Committee has heard the demands of the people, and will be replacing as many judges as they can. In addition, they are moving to begin repairs and restoration of infrastructure across the country.

Norman Thomas is continuing his work on the bill and aiming to peel off some individuals from the Reformist Coalition by pushing for reforms that he knows will be defeated, hopefully radicalizing their membership.

Smedley Butler is looking to procure more arms for the Red Guards as well as cover for their training, and to begin a second reform of the structure of the Red Guards by modifying how sergeants and other non-commissioned officers are handled in their ranks.

Charles Schenk is extending spy networks into ununionized factories and arranging for infiltrators to join up with the army and marines.

Ben Stevens is continuing on his successes by organizing further support among the farmers of Kansas, paying particular attention to their Red Guards and various allied militias.

The Propaganda Committee is seeking to continue their campaign against racism and misogyny, especially by establishing childcare. They are also determinedly launching a campaign against the National Popular Front.

Ben Little is dedicating his full attention on arranging the successful distribution of clothing, especially winter gear.

The SPA Cadres are heavily divided. Some are working to help distribute clothing, some are advocating for judicial reform, some are planning judicial reform, and some are demanding changes to government structure to make them more democratic.

EcPlaCom is focusing on surveying existing safety standards and improving transportation, among other tasks.

You have 10 Influence and 2 Gravitas total. 0 Gravitas and 4 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You are currently taking The Union Forever!

+10 to the next 2 rural organization or agitations actions. +10 to the next 2 Union actions.


Liberation cannot just be economic. The chains of capital weigh on the mind as well, in the forms of patriarchy, racism, imperialism, and more. Just as we advocate for the breaking of the chains of capital, so must these chains be broken. And the party and syndicates are both united behind us on this. Make 1 significant step on the path of social justice within 3 months. (From the Syndicalists, the Orthodox, the Anarchists, the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA. + Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, +Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, +1 Temporary Influence for Union actions, -support the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, -Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor if completed. +Relations with the Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, +support with the IWW MM, the TUUL, and the Red Grange, +1 Temporary Influence for rural-focused Union actions, -Support from the IWW MA, the AFL-CIO, and the ASA, -Relations with the Syndicalists, the Anarchists, and the Orthodox, if failed.

California is one of the largest states in America, with an enormous population, a powerful industrial base, and a vast agricultural heartland. It also features some of the most powerful opposition to the workers’ movements, thanks to endless bombardments of propaganda, foreign support from many parties, and the judicious use of force. But the workers there are nevertheless ripe for organization...and an election is coming up. Make major gains in popular and political support in the Golden State. (From the Parliamentarians, the Center, the Orthodox, the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster’s Union. ++ Support from the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster’s Union, ++ Relations with the Parliamentarians, the Center, and the Orthodox, +2 temporary Influence if completed.)

This Frankenstein of an economic system is an awkward kludge, albeit one that is growing increasingly ordered. While many are concerned and confused about the vouchers, enough progress has been made that the situation has stabilized, even if it has not been entirely steadied. The worst stresses are mostly gone, but mostly is not entirely. Take steps to finish reforming and stabilizing the economy within 4 months. (From the Syndicalists and Orthodox. +10 to the next two Union actions, +Relations with the Syndicalists, +Relations with the Orthodox, +Relations with the Center, -Strength to the Center, +support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, increase in popular support if completed. -Relations with the Syndicalists, Orthodox, and Center,-support from the ASA and both factions of the IWW, loss of income, severe decrease in popular support if failed)

The investigation revealed a far more serious presence of reactionaries in nearly every city and town than previously believed. Often built around church groups and other social institutions, they could serve as a potential nucleus for unrest, sabotage, counterrevolution, and potentially a white terror. All who are aware of this are in agreement: one way or another, this must be dealt with as soon as possible. As violence cascades throughout Kentucky and the South, many advocate for meteing out the treatment reactionaries favor so to their kindred in the Red Belt. (Bonus to CSA support for using harsh methods, penalties for using conciliatory methods. ++support from all CSA factions when completed. Minor losses of support in the CSA if the reactionaries cause problems until then.)

The American education system was carefully designed to serve the will of the capitalists as part of their effort to ensure their dominance. From deliberately enforced inequality to classroom structures designed to make children acquiesce to the abuses of capitalism, no portion of it was left unscathed. We shall create an education system with higher ideals, for adults and children alike. Accurate history and economic science will be taught alongside art and music and math, and none shall be denied any knowledge. All it needs is to be built. Which will hopefully commence soon. Start 2 education-related actions within 6 months. (+Support from the AFL-CIO, ++ support from the IWW MM, slight increase in popular support if completed. --support from the IWW MM if failed.)

One matter that is being debated is policing. While the cops are often reactionary, they have largely been broken of their power across the Steel Belt and turned into tools of the working class. And they have performed admirably in that role. However, there has been a noticeable rise in unrest and criminal activity in many areas fueled by the many ills of capitalist society, especially one undergoing such a crisis, and it is only to get worse before it gets better. As such, there has been a moderate rise in popularity for programs that will improve the effectiveness of police while preventing them from becoming the lackeys of capitalists once more. Complete policing reforms within 2 months. (++Support from the ASA, the IWW MM, and the Teamster’s Union, slight increase in popular support if completed.)

Too much has been done too fast. Mobs are forming across the steel belt, protesting our attempts to steal their wives and daughters, panicking about what a threat we are to the social order. We are upending everything they have ever known, and they are understandably scared. So as much as it might gall to accept such reactionary demands, we must acknowledge that we have reached a temporary limit. Until the small-minded people and their lingering reactionary instincts are soothed and calmed, we need to take a step back and focus on other things. Avoid making further extreme social reforms for at least 2? months, possibly less or more depending on the circumstances. (Moderate losses of popular support you will be blamed for if failed.)

The army has demonstrated amply that it is capable of smashing any paramilitary in the country in open battle. Kansas and Kentucky have both proven this beyond any doubt. And so the Red Guards and Union Defense Committees and all the other militias aligned with us must grow in size, in discipline, in training, and above all else in armament. Make 3 major steps at increasing the effectiveness of the Red Guards within 5 months. (--Support from everyone if failed.)

People must be reached and educated about the nature of a revolutionary state and the benefits the revolution will bring to them personally. To that end, the capabilities of the propaganda committee must expand. Discipline must be tightened, performance must be improved, new means and methods developed. We cannot allow a propaganda gap! Make 2 improvements to the SPA’s propaganda machinery within 5 months. (--Support from everyone if failed.)

The shoes and clothes of the workers have begun wearing thin. The endless unrest in the South has greatly reduced the harvests of cotton and other crops, while the chaos in the western ports and German economic blockades have badly reduced what cloth can be imported. Many clothing factories have utterly ground to a halt in response to the lack of raw material, and while the various safety nets established have kept people from starving or being driven from their homes, clothes are growing increasingly expensive, and the workers demand your aid.

The great mass of workers have demonstrated that they desire judicial reform, while the judges of the nation have proven that they are unworthy of their offices, that they are nothing more than stooges of capital and champions of reaction. Drive them from their offices, destroy their power. Complete Judicial Reform and either Judicial Replacement or Judging the Judges within 3 months. (--Popular support if failed).
You are being accused of overbearing, excessive power by many who fear you becoming a Napoleon or some other form of tyrant. However, they also seem to recognize that despite your immense popularity, despite the dedicated support of the Red Guards, despite your influence...you do not desire such a thing. Even so, they are cautious enough to push you to decentralize power a little, to add a few offices that will be staffed by their supporters and help them influence the way things happen. Spend a net total of 8 Influence on new subordinates within 3 months. (From the Syndicalists, the IWW MA, and the IWW MM. ++Support from both factions of the IWW, ++Relations with the Syndicalists, all Union and Militant actions have a temporarily reduced DC, -Support with the TUUL, the ASA, and the Red Grange, -Relations with the Orthodox if completed. +++Support from the TUUL, the ASA, and the Red Grange, +++Relations with the Orthodox, --Support from both factions of the IWW, ---Relations with the Syndicalists if failed.)

There are only a few short months before the upcoming election, and major victories at the polls will legitimize our cause, give us influence in more states, and strengthen our hand against the reactionaries, capitalists, and populists. The primaries are over, the campaigns have begun, with debates and tours and propaganda being used to energize supporters and recruit the undecided. Major figures in the SPA have gone on tours in support of campaigns for all levels, you must join them, Comrade Reed!, and join them soon! (-Support from all factions, -Relations from all factions if failed.)


Hold a Rally: It’s a classic for every political party for a reason. There’s nothing quite like a grand rally with banners waving and people cheering to make you seem unstoppable and to gather more support. The demonstration of the energy and might of the working class will have the capitalists shaking in their boots. It is a message to your supporters as well, that all the power of the SPA stands behind them. Here is what it says: Let your foes try and stop you. They will be ground under your heel. Cost: 1 Resources and a risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/50/85/120. Results: Variable change in support, chance of intimidating your enemies. Can synergize with other actions.

Wave the Red Banner: The Red Banner is not the only SPA-affiliated or favoring publication, but it is the only one produced by the Party itself. And it is immensely popular. New ones go out constantly, but you could write an article of your own and make a special edition. This would receive extra attention and possibly some new readership, allowing you to make your opinions heard and sway the hearts and minds of others. You could shape the narrative on something, make an argument for or against a particular course of action, attack an enemy or uplift an ally. Or to defend yourself and your decisions. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 1 Resource and a risk of backlash. May be additional costs depending on the topic. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100/150. Results: Variable change in support or party factions, results depend on the topic. The topic must be written in. Some examples: “The importance of unity in the socialist cause,” “The corruption of the Hoover administration,” “Why feminism and socialism must go together,” and “Why Farmer-Labor should unify with the SPA.” Can synergize with other actions.

Send Socialist Agitators To: Nearly every street corner in Chicago, New York City, and Seattle has a man or woman standing on a crate and telling the passerby of the virtues of the cause and encouraging them to donate. They are often beaten brutally by the bourgeois or by police (and just as often protected by their listeners), but they nevertheless persist, determined to gain recruits and funds for the cause. Some of these agitators are amateurs doing it in their spare time, but quite a few are dedicated and skilled speakers. Sending these speakers in significant numbers to an area can turn your foe’s supporters against them, especially if it is followed up upon with meaningful organization. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support there. Unlock actions to follow up on the agitation.

Create Shadow Government: You have had a brilliant idea: Though you lack power at the federal level, the Socialist Party has substantial control of many mayorships and county governments alongside even more widespread but less official influence. You even control most states of the Steel Belt. Creating a forum to help these various governments cooperate and resolve disputes will be useful, especially if you have further requests from these governments. You have only discussed this concept briefly, but the idea of the Interstate Committee of Socialist Governments (name subject to change) has dazzled many. Especially since it will help you gain influence over their legal codes, voting laws, and National Guard armories. However, given the likely federal determination to show strength, such a provocative action could be risky. Cost: External backlash. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/40/55/105. Results: Various states and lower-level governments integrated into a coordinated body, many new possibilities available, although the body could be unwieldy.

Support Faction: The party is more than a little divided, even if everyone is determined to stick together, they still clash frequently, with each other and with you. Spending some time and effort backing a particular faction in these debates could gain you some gratitude, which is always a valuable currency. Cost: Risk of losing support within the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Increase Relations and Strength of selected faction, chance of gaining support within the CSA.

Make Changes To Subordinates: You do not have the time or capability to make all the decisions involved with bringing the Revolution to America, and so you have trusted subordinates to help. Occasionally, you will need to redirect their efforts, invest more in their success, or even replace them immediately. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Make any number of changes to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times. Cannot be done for SPA Cadres

Party Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Extremely low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/140. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

The International Question: With contact made with the Syndintern, they will soon begin encouraging internationalist behavior. Considering the amount of assistance you will need for them, it would be wise to help support revolutions in Canada and in the various client states of America, along with taking part in the broader Syndintern in less overt ways. Gauging the positions of various factions on this will help you understand your position. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Find out the position of all factions of the SPA and CSA on internationalism.

Display your Dedication: You are being accused of weakness, softness, and cowardice. Despite all you have suffered and sacrificed, it is not enough for some. Fine then, you will show them how much the cause means to you. A whirlwind tour across the country, visiting every union and party office you can meet, will provide the proof and silence their accusations. From Seattle to New York City, from Portland to Houston, anywhere men and women struggle for their liberation you will stand in their support. Cost: No Personal Action next month. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Gain Relations with all SPA factions.

Squeeze the Fosterites: TheFosterites are a potent political force, one with an ideology that demands action and brutality. If unleashed, they could provoke a dangerous alliance and cost your critical support as they laud the most savage and terrible deeds. They must be restrained and controlled for the good of the movement. The more mainstream factions recognize this, and would likely be willing to cooperate with you to hammer the divides in them and pressure them to return to the fold (with a price in mind, of course. Such is politics). Those who resist this pressure will be embittered, but they are going to be a minority of a minority. What harm can they do? Cost: Will further radicalize any remaining Fosterites, will politically indebt you to other factions, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/100. Result: Begin campaign to marginalize the Fosterites, will have options on how to handle it until it ends.

Pro-Liberation Politics: The anti-racism program must be built on. The party’s ideological limitations on the matter must be removed. There is more to be done...there is always more to be done. Some will back you to the hilt on this, others will oppose it to the end, but you must trust that the desire for unity triumphs over factional bickering...and you will spend some time laying the groundwork first before announcing your new proposals since they will likely be controversial. Cost: Relations with party factions, support in the CSA. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/20/45/65/115. Result: Lay the groundwork for and then propose modifications to the party line to further support anti-discrimination measures. Higher Relations will mean better results.

Shore Up Support: The CSA is growing increasingly independent from you, and members of it have expressed numerous concerns about some of your decisions. They say you go too far, or not far enough. They claim you are overly centralizing or excessively decentralizing. They have a lot of complaints. But you have friends and allies in their ranks no matter how truculent they are. So use friendly conversations and private meetings to shore up your support, turn aside hostilities with kind words and minor concessions, and work to rebuild your relationships with the CSA Cost: Slight increase to Stress, time spent schmoozing is time not spent building up to a Revolution. Time: Until ended. DC: 10/25/40/50. Result: Reduced negative impact of actions on CSA support, increased growth of CSA support, hear requests and suggestions from your supporters.

Assistant Adjustment: Even as your assistants work to make sure their views are supported by the party machinery, they are also being genuinely helpful in managing the fractious ranks and building towards the coming revolution. You could always use a few more...or perhaps you need to remove someone. Cost: Political turmoil, modification to bonuses. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Options to change assistants.

Speak for Liberty: While the SPA is at least somewhat united behind you, your willingness to push for social revolution has had the anarchists in the party and their similarly socially left allies be some of your most enthusiastic supporters, despite their relatively small numbers. If you want to make use of that support, you will need to help them. Speak on the topic of liberty, encourage support for racial minorities, demand women’s liberation...perhaps go so far as to say homosexuality is acceptable. Let them know they have an ally in you. Cost: Political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 40. Result: Increase in Strength and Relations of Anarchists.

Condemn Atrocities: If you wish to keep the violent and vicious Fosterites from gaining strength, you need to lay the groundwork before you break them. Make it part of the SPA program to condemn excessive brutality, the murder of non-combatants and innocents, and wanton destruction. While the language will mostly be used against capitalists and Longists, it can also be applied to the sort of things they advocate for, making a useful cudgel against your enemies in the party. Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60/90. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Insist on their Effectiveness: Though the Fosterites have had some of their bloodlust slaked, they are still demanding more blood, more death, more destruction. They appear to have no compromise in them..let’s see if they have any common sense. While they may decry these reforms as cowardice and giving in to bourgeois demands to muzzle the workers and “suppress their righteous rage until the flame of revolution gutters out,” you are doing nothing of the sort! You are simply trying to make them a more capable and organized force, an army capable of winning the revolution you all want. Cost: Some political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/60/80. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Divide and Defeat: The Fosterites are united only by their insistence that you go faster, that you birth the revolution sooner - and that like all births, that it be bloody and painful. And so the right pressures, ever so gently applied, can leave them broken and adrift, eliminating a potential political threat and greatly weakening an adventurist segment of the SPA. The pressures are asking what they want, which might be a dangerous question if you don’t have a good answer... Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys and weakens the RAF. Time: 2 months. DC: 35/70/100/120. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Command the Cadres: The SPA Cadres have been enjoying their newfound independence and will be reluctant to give it up again even temporarily, but you are liked and respected enough that they will do it. Even if they will complain. Cost: Political impact depends on what you choose. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Adjust SPA Cadre actions as you see fit.

Organizational Reform: With yet another intra-party spat developing, you find yourself getting frustrated. You need to take measures for preventing these sorts of problems from arising again...along with making sure reformist sentiments and corruption don’t set themselves back in. Clear out the deadwood, impress your authority upon the leadership, and get everyone working together for the greater good of the workers. Cost:???. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100/125. Result: Reduced chance of further political crises, +1 Gravitas, reduction in Stress.

Ban the Nativists: With anti-nativist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of nativist influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CSA Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge nativists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.

Ban the Racists: With anti-racist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of segregationist influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CSA Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge racists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.

Standards of Integrity: With the removal and punishment of many corrupt individuals, it's time to make sure they and their ilk don’t come back into power. You tried to push through higher standards of integrity and behavior for people running on SPA tickets or on the SPA payroll, including requiring them to publish their finances for all to scrutinize, but it floundered due to a lack of momentum. So you will get behind things and push. Cost: Loss in Relations with all factions, loss of support from the Teamster’s Union. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/55. Result: Pass reforms to make it harder to be corrupt in the future.

Push for Moderation: So far, actual resistance from these reactionaries has been minimal and easily dealt with. There’s no need to step things up and provide martyrs or risk radicalizing them. They should be marginalized and propagandized against, but they should not be repressed. They aren’t threatening enough to require it. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Nonviolent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.

Meet Them With Violence: Already these reactionaries have resisted the seizure of the means of production and protested against the transformation of society. They are receiving support from far more dangerous groups as well. They are obstacles before the tide of history, and they must be swept away. And we shall not hesitate in doing the sweeping. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Violent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.

Remove the Reformists: The threat of the incoming bill is not just to your voters, it could also dangerously embolden the dormant reformist wing of the SPA. Purging them after the bill is revealed will be taken badly. Purging them before...it won’t be taken well. But it will be less costly. Of course, you could work to marginalize them without resorting to having them full-on removed from the SPA. Cost: Severe loss of SPA Relations and CSA Support. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Purge reformists from the SPA with varying degrees of efficiency

United in Action: Tighten regulations and rules and push through a few measures granting you more authority over internal SPA matters. It might upset some, but it won’t be too controversial. You’ll put forth a slate, people will argue about it...you have done this dance before. And if you do it right now, you can get people used to you having great authority before they realize why you want it. Cost: Varying loss of SPA Relations and CSA Support. Time: 1-2 months. DC: ??? Result: Pass a package of various reforms to further centralize power around you.

A Long Evaluation: What do people think of Long? Do they view him as a reactionary, a reformist, an opportunist, or perhaps a potential comrade? Any of these are correct from a certain point of view. If you ever intend to deepen your informal agreement into a proper alliance, it would be worth getting an idea of what people’s views are. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Find out what factions of the SPA and CSA think of Long and the America First Party.

Begin Campaigning: September, October, and a few days of November. That’s all you have until the election. While many candidates have already been on the campaign trail for months, you have been understandably delayed by the various responsibilities of being the head of the SPA. But you can’t keep putting it off, especially given the relative importance of your role: you are going to be helping as many people as possible by speaking in their favor and rallying support to them, and trying to get some early support for a future presidential run...assuming this country lasts that long. Cost: Reduced positive impact of Personal actions, temporary -2 Gravitas, increased vulnerability to assasination, annoys those who don’t like electoralism. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Begin going on the campaign trail to help various SPA candidates run.

Internally Cleaning House: The corruption that has led to some severe unrest cannot just be in the CSA, but in the SPA as well, given how closely the two institutions are intertwined. Investigations in one will surely help with investigations in the other. And given that the various SPA officials are less entwined into patronage networks and the steady spread of internal SPA democracy, you can expect less backlash for digging into corruption inside the SPA, so long as the investigation remains confined that way. Cost: Minor loss of Relations with all factions., small risk of angering the bureaucrats. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/??. Result: Begin investigating corruption in the CSA, reduced difficulty of actions for dealing with the bureaucracy.

Representation Reform: Although you have not made any promises to change the nature of the representation in the CSA, justice makes its own demands. Itinerant workers, rural people, and the unemployed are all underrepresented in the current system. For the CSA to truly be a vanguard of the working class, it must be able to represent all the working class, although many argue that its current form is sufficient for that purpose. Overruling their objections may well be costly, especially if you introduce some form of geographic representation like some in the Red Grange have suggested. Cost: Varying losses of Relations and support. Time: 2 months. DC: 30/90. Result: Begin reform of the structure of the CSA.

Preparatory Measures: You are not going to transition to a state-within-a-state just yet. The working class is powerful, but it’s not that powerful. Such a brazen declaration of the political and economic independence of the working class will provoke the entirety of the federal army to fall on your heads while you are wrangling the CSA and readying the Red Guards. So you will take steps to make ready for it, preparing cross-state institutions, tightening bonds between different party and union locals, and ensuring that every base that can be covered will be. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??. Result: Reduced time, DC, and cost of Create Shadow Government.

Cross the Line...: The federal government has grown increasingly unstable, it’s a rotting structure just waiting to be kicked down. Doubtless, a few defeats will have their army falling apart and will see syndicalism spreading from sea to shining sea. So it is time to step things up, to provoke them, to push for action. Change the tone of party propaganda, throw your weight behind the most revolutionary. The world will know what you are doing. But it cannot stop you, no more than King Canute could turn back the tide. Cost: Will provoke backlash and upset reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?. Result: Increased cost and impact of actions related to attacking capitalism and your enemies. Note: only 1 Influence or Gravitas may be used.

Toe the Line...:The federal government has grown increasingly unstable, it’s structure is rotting more and more every day, and there are no reforms that can save it. Just wait a few months, a year or two tops, and it will fall apart on its own and we can pick up the pieces. And in the meantime, we will avoid getting shattered by the still mighty army, so that we can be intact enough to do the picking up. Cost: Will upset the most radical faction of the party. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?. Result: Decreased cost and impact of actions related to attacking capitalism and your enemies. Note: only 1 Influence or Gravitas may be used.

...Or Dance Across It: The federal government has grown increasingly unstable, it’s structure is rotting more and more every day, and there are no reforms that can save it. Every day it still stands is a blessing and a curse. While it gives us more time to grow our support, organize our economy, and arm our Red Guards, it also means more suffer and die under the iron heel. So we must provoke its destruction, but do so with caution. Cost: None...if you succeed. Time: 1 month. DC: 85/? if Influence is used, 65/? if Gravitas is used. Result: Decreased cost and increased impact of actions related to attacking capitalism and your enemies. Note: only 1 Influence or Gravitas may be used.

Integrate the State and Planning: The various governments, both state and local, are nominally unconnected with the planning bureau, but there is no reason to have that. They will both be far more efficient if they can work together, and damn any concerns about “illegal collusion” and “corrupt party machines.” The planning commission is elected by the people, the state governments are controlled by the party of the people. Let them work together, until the day the rotten machinery of the capitalist state is smashed and supplanted. Cost: Likely to provoke an external backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50. Result: Decreased cost and time for Create a Shadow Government, improved efficacy of the Planning Commission’s actions and State Control actions, increase to income for the states and Reed.

Anti-Corruption Commission: Corruption forms in any centralized system, unless measures are taken to prevent it. The measures that have been taken are too little and too late, and entrenched, anti-worker interests have formed. To prevent the rise of kleptocracy, decisive action must be taken and the organization of syndicates and parties must be reformed. To that end, some propose empowering a democratically organized commission and giving them sufficient backing to root out the worst examples of the corrupt. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, will be a tug-of-war between various factions, may not be entirely neutral. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90/135. Result: Establish a democratically-elected commission empowered to investigate corruption as a Subordinate. Efficacy and neutrality will depend on choices made.

Cadre-Union Coordination: The SPA Cadres have often acted independent of union locals, in contravention to the principles of the party. While in some cases, this is willful disobedience to the directives of the leadership, in others this is because of lacking coordination. Arranging to improve the ability for cadres and unions to work together more effectively will enable the greater success of various initiatives and benefits for all the workers. Cost: -1 Influence, will anger Orthodox members of the SPA and the ASA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/75. Result: Beneficial traits for the SPA Cadres, improved efficacy of their actions.

Co-Operative Support Commission: With plans being made to centralize the economy and use state-controlled enterprises which will hopefully maintain their democratic character, worker-organized enterprises such as the farming co-ops and the factories directly seized by liberated workers must not be disadvantaged. To that end, a commission to subsidize, advise, and assist the co-ops and help keep them as viable alternatives to state-controlled enterprises. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, will anger Orthodox members of the SPA and the ASA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/45/75/105. Result: Establish a democratically-elected commission empowered to support and advise co-ops with votes on structure and priorities.

Send Union Organizers To: While agitators can disrupt other political organizations and explain why you are better, to actually gain support of the kind that makes people spend blood and gold and sweat on your behalf requires a different approach. Establishing that takes time, but sending union organizers to an area can make for a start. In many ways, the risks these organizers take is even greater than that of the agitators, especially if there is sufficient hostility to socialism already. Some have literally been tarred and feathered...Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and gain temporary support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization.

Union Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CSA. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Very low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/120. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

Union Charities, Donations: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the charitable endeavors of the SPA. Doing so would ease the logistical strain providing for so many causes, but not every union is entirely dedicated to socialist ideals, especially not when it comes to the outsiders who will inevitably come seeking aid. Cost: Increased risk of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: +X Resources per month.

Union Charities, Fundraising: The unions of the CSA have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the financial resources at your command through direct donations and holding fundraising events. It may somewhat aggravate your supporters, but as long as you are using the money for their benefit there won’t be more than grumbling. Cost: A new mandate. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: +X Resources per month. Gain support from the Teamster’s Union.

Social Bonds: With the credit unions established, one immediate possibility to secure desperately needed funds is a simple scheme inspired by ones begun then abandoned during the Weltkrieg. Ask people to buy Labor Bonds, which can be redeemed at a later date for an amount equal to their purchase value. The money raised in the meantime can be put to use for any number of programs or initiatives. Cost: You will have to pay them back in a year. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/75/100/110/120. Result: Large, one-time boost to Resources.

Mass Recruiting, Pt. 2: The sheer mass and organization of the working class gives you a potent tool for further empowering the American socialist cause. The overwhelming pro-SPA propaganda has begun countering the decades of mystification the American workers have undergone, but there are still many groups who stubbornly resist the tide of revolution. Some, such as the petty capitalists and highly-paid workers, need an explanation of the benefits of your cause. Some, such as reactionary churches, need to be exposed for the falsehoods they spread. But for some, financial and material incentives will be needed to secure their support, along with reminders as to the fate of class traitors. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Further increase to size of the unions.

Mass Organization: With the unions growing in size on a daily basis, measures need to be taken to ensure the democratic control of the unions is maintained. Through vote-buying, carefully designed structures, and coercion, corrupt bosses maintain their positions, while other leadership figures openly advocate for reformism or racism. The Revolution will not succeed with dedicated leadership from dedicated syndicalists. The political fight caused by this will be long and bloody and painful, but it will secure your position in the party, hopefully without causing too much splintering or outcry. Cost: Significant losses of support from party factions and the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/100/160. Result: Grip on party politics strengthened, subvote, actions to follow up unlocked.

Medical Assistance: The economic dislocations are leading to constant grumbling, but for those who have taken control of their labor, the shortages and unpredictable prices are acceptable, especially since food and shelter and other such essentials are not too badly affected. But one matter of significance has been: many doctors are finding the prices of medication are rising, and many others have simply left for places they view as safer. It’s not a crisis...yet. But it could become one if effective, decisive action is not taken soon. And of course decisive action is expensive action. Cost: -5 Resources, -3 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/45/70. Result: Hire doctors, improve the production of medicine, and make medical care easier to access for your urban supporters.


(3 Influence Committed) Socialist Markets: An alternate proposal, one popular among the more Orthodox wings of the party, is that workers at these facilities could be given labor vouchers representing the value of their work. These vouchers could then be exchanged for products at markets. The main difference between this and conventional finance is that the value of vouchers would be decided democratically and that they cannot be accumulated. Cost: Decrease in support and relations with the syndicalist wings of the SPA and CSA, 5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in income, establishment of labor voucher-based markets in locations with a strong SPA presence. Gain of support and relations with orthodox wings of the SPA and CSA. Increase in economic efficiency. Reduced strength of the Center, increased strength of the Orthodox.

A Union Shop: Socialized stores have become common in Chicago as workers inspired by the strike or owners compelled by it create democratically run stores. Though mocked by some on the left and some in the more syndicalist wing as “market socialism” and accused of not removing the profit motive, even their strongest critics cannot deny they serve a useful person during this transitory phase. Begin encouraging local unions to establish shops along these lines, and ask for a small cut of the proceeds perhaps? The widespread establishment of these grows ever more vital as the toll of being forced to pay ridiculous fees for the use of capitalist’s services and the inefficiencies of going without begin to take their toll. Cost: loss of support from TUUL and ASA, loss of relations with the Orthodox. 5 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/50/80. Result: Increase in income, establishment of market cooperatives in locations with a strong SPA presence. Gain of support from IWW, Teamster’s Union, and Regional Unions, increased Relations and Strength for the Syndicalists. Increase in economic efficiency. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.

Rationalize Production Schemes: With the vast number of factories seized, different product schematics, manufacturing methods, and research facilities are now in the property of the workers. Though some of the men responsible for the more cutting edge possibilities are reluctant to work with “filthy Reds,” sufficient bribery has overcome such concerns. Begin working to integrate the best of each factory and develop further innovations to turn the existing industrial base into the greatest in the world! Cost: 4 Resources, -4 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin integrating the segmented knowledge and innovations of the various companies and improving on their work.

Arms Production: The Red Guards need more and better weapons. They need ammunition. They need grenades and uniforms. They need vehicles to transport them and fuel to supply them. An army is an incredibly difficult thing to supply, but you will need to support one. While you can’t make anything heavier than mortars currently, small arms can be produced in significant quantities. It’s time to start arming the forces of revolution so that they can match the foot soldiers of reaction and the servants of capital. Cost: 8 Resources, -6 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/70/120. Result: Begin producing large quantities of weapons, Red Guards better armed and equipped, unlock new options to supply and train them.

Appoint an Outreach Manager: With efforts at denying you support growing in numbers and sophistication, you need to develop your advocacy among workers in response. From the imported Chinese scabs and desperate Okies of California to the suffering smallholder farmers of the Great Plains to the exploited miners and factory workers to the American heartland, there are millions just waiting to join your cause...if only they could be persuaded of their exploitations and educated of their class interests. Cost: Influence, loss of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Appointment of a subordinate responsible for outreach and agitation, vote on how much to commit to them, potential gains in Support or Relations.

A Purge of the Bureaucracy: The byzantine bureaucracies of the CSA have decided to demonstrate their distaste for you. Fine. You will return the favor. You will gut them. Have them fired. Have them arrested. You are this close to having them shot. Every scrap of evidence suggesting corruption will be waved around, transformed by your pen and your presence into an unforgivable sin, and they’ll be forced out. And trustworthy, loyal men will be put in their place. Cost: Political backlash, likely to weaken the capabilities of the CSA and upset a lot of people. Time: 1 month. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

Organizational Charts: The structure of the CSA’s non-elected offices and departments and committees and commissions is a complete and utter mess. There are redundancies, there are fiefdoms ruled by petty tyrants, there are deliberately obtuse chains of command, all designed to protect and preserve unearned, unelected power. It’s a great snarling knot, and it needs to be unraveled. So you will have your loyalists in the CSA begin tracing the structure, finding every scrap of information they can so you can plan an attack. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/75/90. Result: Gain detailed understanding of the mess that is the CSA Bureaucracy.

Simplify the Structures: Instead of mapping a labyrinth, you could cut a knot. You have the votes, you have the support. You will spend some time designing a new structure that’s more sane and effective. And then you will make it so. The parasites and corrupt bastards will retain positions and power, but they will have no way to hide now, and it should hopefully be more efficient since that’s the purpose it will be designed for. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/125/225. Result: Dramatically modify and simplify the structure of the CSA Bureaucracy.

Set Some Boundaries: You could also take a more peaceable approach to things. Crack down on a few of the worst cases, let a few of the more moderate ones slide, and then back off. They’ll get the hint (you hope) and things will return to more or less a status quo...but now you are aware of the problem. And that means you will be halfway to solving it. Cost: Moderate increase/tolerance of corruption. Time: 3 months. DC: 40/80. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

Democratization: Yet another possibility is to force them to accept more democratic participation and oversight in their decision-making. It will doubtless be popular among many even as it will enrage the bureaucrats, but it will hopefully force them to stop playing silly buggers and tone down on the theft and double-dealing and backroom games. Hopefully. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/???. Result: Hopefully remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance and democratize the bureaucracy, increased support from the CSA.

Leave Them Their Fiefs: Finally, you could just leave well enough alone. Pull away, give them what they want. There will be costs in resources, time, and tears, but you just aren’t in a position to handle another crisis. This can wait till after the revolution. Or until it’s a little closer to it, anyway. Cost: Severe increase/tolerance of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

The Second Round of Seizures: The furor of seizures has by and large died down as the heat of summer wears on even the most dedicated socialist. And so many factories continue operating almost as they almost have, albeit with greatly empowered unions and the ever-present threat of Red Guards and Union Defense Committees should the workers be abused. But this status quo cannot be maintained, one class or another must triumph. Make sure it is the working class which will be victorious through seizing more factories. Cost: Backlash from others, will provoke reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/130/190. Result: More factories seized, increase to income.

Take the Major Factories: The giants of industry have been left unscathed by the rise of socialism and syndicalism. Though powerful unions have squeezed the occasional penny from their grasp, the intense level of security and threat of direct government intervention has stayed the hands of the Red Guards from bringing the arsenal at Rock Island, the mighty automobile plants of Ford and Chrysler, and similar facilities into the grip of the working class. That can’t be allowed any longer, no matter the price. Cost: Will provoke reformists, severe backlash, will cause an immediate reaction from the federal government. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/130/190. Result: More factories seized, increase to income, better equipped Red Guards, completely changes the economic game.

Clothing Distribution: As summer ends and fall begins, everyone braces in anticipation of another round of chilling winds. They won’t come yet, but they are inevitable. And so the unions have made their demands: they want help funding clothing drives and organizing the distribution of enough wool sweaters and winter coats to ensure that no one will be freezing this winter. Thankfully, they have arranged for stocks of coal and wood to be gathered already, so at least you don’t have to worry about that. Cost: 2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 25. Result: Provide and distribute warm clothing.

Look Into the CSA, Token: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CSA. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be very unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Very slight risk of angering the bureaucrats, temporary maluses. Time: 1 month. DC: Special. Result: General slight improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions slightly easier.

Look Into the CSA, Moderate: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CSA. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Slight risk of angering the bureaucrats, moderate temporary maluses. Time: 2 months. DC: Special. Result: General improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions easier.

Look Into the CSA, Serious: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CSA. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be somewhat unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Risk of angering the bureaucrats, severe temporary maluses. Time: 3 months. DC: Special. Result: Major general improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions much easier.

Crime Prevention Units: There is endless unrest and crime in the cities. While the ordinary Red Guards do well enough in preventing it, along with the socialized police forces, they always have other priorities and other duties that need attending. Quite simply, there aren’t enough of them. Many neighborhoods have taken to having patrols of unarmed individuals watching stores and streets, keeping theft down and handling other affairs such as public drunkenness or the occasional trouble caused by capitalists unwilling to accept the new order. Once more, it is a measure backed by the most libertine and the most conservative factions of the movement, one seeing it as a way to democratize law enforcement and the other as a tool for keeping order in increasingly chaotic neighborhoods. Cost: -0.5 Resources per month, ??? Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/75/105. Result: A program of nonviolent neighborhood patrols is established.

Communication Networks: The telegraph and telephone networks are worked, at least in part, by some of the most intensely organized laborers in the nation. That power must be brought into the hands of the working class. While directly claiming all for the workers would immediately ignite a civil war, one in which public sympathy would be against us, we can begin leveraging the organization immediately for information and resources. Cost: Will cause backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/20/30. Result: Increase to income, better opportunities to find out about information.

Recruit the Labor Aristocracy: Doctors, engineers, professors, and more are exploited proles like the rest of us, but the relative rarity of their skills has helped convince them they have no need of our movement. But the America of today does not care where you got your medical degree, you are in the bread line just like us. Or perhaps fleeing in a falling-apart car, desperate for a safety that will never come. Reach out to those people and help bring them into the union, taking advantage of the varied levels of the labor vouchers and the growing polarization of the republic to persuade them that we are the ones they should side with...if only because their deaths are inevitable if they stand against us. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/95/150. Result: Recruit middle-class professionals into their own unions, seek support from doctors, engineers, and other professions.

Planning Transparency: The Planning Commission has published their goals and priorities, as well as the information they are using to make decisions, but that involves an immense amount of data and math and statistics. They might as well not have bothered, no worker or soldier or spy can make heads or tails of it. And that’s not something that can be tolerated. True democracy requires information to be transparent and accessible. So you will make sure the Planning Commission publishes easily digestible summaries of their plans and their logic. Cost: Minor costs to CSA support, will annoy Schenk. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/45/90. Result: Ensure easily understandable summaries of the economic plans is available, gain more ability to influence the Planning Commission’s decisions.

Voucher Printing: With the transition to vouchers beginning, there needs to be large numbers of vouchers that cannot be easily fabricated and record books to record the signatures. You have the factories, you have the pulp to make the paper and the ink to write on them. Let the production begin. Cost: 4 Resources, -2 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/80/120. Result: Begin large-scale production of vouchers and related supplies.


Empower the Chief of Staff: Butler has appointed Walter W. Waters, the commander of the Payment Army, a veteran of several US interventions, and a newly-come socialist to the office of his Chief of Staff. While relatively inexperienced, the man is popular among the Red Guards and other militias, especially with those who were in the military, and he’s loyal to Butler. The choice has been broadly acceptable to the Combined Syndicates, but Waters has little influence among them except as a vehicle for Butler. Getting involved could change that, and help make the Red Guards more independent and more effective. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, possible political consequences. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/60. Result: Options to increase Butler’s Influence and change his bonuses.

Create the Commission of Procurements: Butler is not an expert at logistics by his own admission. He has mostly left things up to the individual Red Guards units, only interfering with a few specific ones to make sure they have access to quality arms and ammunition. There have been many reasons for that, but it is time for things to change. The Commission of Procurements will be responsible for coordinating with the Planning Commision and the Red Guards to make them as well-equipped and supplied as possible so that they will be ready for the upcoming class war. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, possible political consequences. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50/75. Result: Options to increase Butler’s Influence and change his bonuses.

Establish Sporting Clubs: The wholesale purchase of firearms and ammunition by individuals draws attention. But sporting clubs, shooting ranges, and similar institutions doing so would not be a concern. Create a network of these companies as a means of subtly acquiring not just equipment for the Red Guards, but a way for them to train. Cost: 4 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/100. Result: Increased armaments for Red Guards, ease of training Red Guards increased, further actions to arm and equip Red Guards unlocked.

Arm the Police: In the cities where you control the government, the attitudes of the police have shifted dramatically. They are now proud and determined supporters of their fellow workers against the ravages of capital. While they will need further restructuring to truly socialize them, that will have to wait until after the revolution. For now, you must prepare to fight it. Taking measures to increase the discipline and armaments of friendly policing departments will strengthen your control of the cities. Cost: Loss of relations with the Anarchists, Syndicalists, and Parliamentarians. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.

Street Medics: One of the tactics used by the heroes of the Shanghai Uprising was the establishment of street medics, noncombat members of the Left-KMT who helped keep injured members in the fight and provided aid and comfort before the soldiers of the Legation Cities resorted to bloodier measures. Implementing such measures could be useful...Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 2 months. DC: 40. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.

Acquire Explosives: The Syndintern has access to large stocks of a variety of explosives. In addition, there are many ways of making things that can blow up when you have access to vast amounts of industry. Begin stockpiling explosives for use in defensive or offensive actions, although giving them to inexperienced Red Guards could be risky. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/40. Result: Acquire small but growing and highly eclectic stockpiles of explosives.

Toll Fees: With your control of railways and the strength of your paramilitaries in many transportation hubs, you could easily gain substantial incomes by insisting on donations for those passing through, although you will need to make sure there are exceptions for those who already support you or who it would be dangerous to stop. Cost: Decrease in support among moderates, increase in corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/75. Result: Increase to income.

Scab Intimidation: The scabs and reactionary militias are outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed. This may change as refugees continue flowing into the cities and capitalists fund their running dogs, but for now you have the advantage, and you must seize it. The Red Guards will defeat and drive off these “self-defense groups” and “protectors of the American way” and “private security forces” and show them that they are as dust before the tides of history. Cost: Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/?/?. Result: Reactionary militias and scab groups defeated and destroyed in areas you are strong.

Security Procedures: The protection of leadership is the duty of the Revolutionary Guard, but there are not enough of those brave men to protect everyone. So it will be up to the Red Guards to protect union halls and party offices. To do so successfully will require the development of better security procedures than standing outside the front door. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 10/30/50. Result: Improved security for SPA facilities.

A Red Terror: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. You have allowed reactionary militias to prosper in places, and the miners of Montana and the workers of New York City have both paid the price for it. In the Midwest and West Virginia, preachers thunder brimstone sermons and incite their followers to arms against you. Collapsing Klan remnants and their equally violent offspring cling to power in Indiana and Ohio and the Dakotas. And everywhere federal agents and police attempt to suppress the Revolutionary Spirit. It is time to cleanse your holdings of them. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/30/50/70/90/110/150/190. Result: Begin operations to shut down remnants of reactionary and capitalist military forces begin

Honor of the Regiment: One way to encourage good behavior of the Red Guards is to have that behavior reflect on something larger than themselves but more digestible than the syndicalist cause: their unit. Encouraging pride in the larger Red Guards groupings, the creation of distinct uniforms, and the utilization of unique symbology will hopefully create a spirit of socialist brotherhood between the members of the Red Guards groupings, and this spirit can be used through propaganda to make some of the more volatile individuals think twice. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Create larger Red Guards units with a greater sense of esprit de corps.

A Show of Strength: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. Reactionary militias are growing bolder, feeling empowered by the collapse of order. Wherever you are weak, they grow powerful, and this cannot be tolerated. Striking a few of these groups, such as some of the Green Mountain Boys who live close to your stronghold, will let your point be made with relatively little bloodshed. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/30/45/60/75/90. Result: Launch a few operations to attack some easy targets.

Create Oversight Committees: One thing the capitalist “democracy” of America got right was making sure the military is entirely controlled by the civilian government. While de jure this is true for the Red Guards, it is not always de facto. One way to fix this would be to create committees of mixed soldiers and civilians that severe misbehavior can be reported to and that would generally provide oversight and direction. This may well be a controversial effort, but it will definitely be popular with some segments. Cost: Loss of Relations with Totalists and Fosterites, loss of Support from TUUL, and the Teamster’s Union, potentially upsetting to Red Guards Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create oversight committees, greater control over Red Guards, increase in support from ASA, IWW, and AFL-CIO, gain in Relations from every other faction.

Making Bankers Bleed: While most banks have collapsed under the strain of crisis and depression, several have been consolidated into larger enterprises that are more effectively able to withstand bank runs and anti-foreclosure efforts. But these banks have offices and vaults in cities throughout America, cities dominated by the Red Guards and friendly police forces. Steal their gold, destroy their paperwork, execute their corrupt leadership. Make them understand that there will be no place for men like Morgan and Fargo. Cost: Likely to provoke a severe reaction, loss of support from AFL-CIO and SPU, loss of Relations with the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/25/50/100. Result: One-time influx of Resources, records of debt destroyed, bourgeoisie terrorized.

Purchase More Arms: Relatively few arms factories were seized, but some were, and already Red Guards units have begun to benefit, but the acquisition of weapons for them is an often haphazard process and only a few units have even standard rifles. But it would be easy enough for larger quantities to be purchased and distributed so that the vast throngs of syndicalist soldiers have good guns and adequate ammunition. Cost: 5.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/25. Result: Better-equipped Red Guards.

Distribute Trainers: There are only so many skilled, experienced veterans who can serve as a training cadre. While there are plenty of men who survived the Legation Wars and the various Latin American Interventions, only some of them are willing and able to assist you. But equally, there are only so many camps set up. One proposed alternative is to send the trainers to the Red Guards instead of the other way around. Cost: Somewhat weakens the training cadre. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/60/80. Result: Trainers dispersed, slow improvement in the Red Guards.

Raiding Reactionary Groups: The most powerful and organized reactionary groups have been identified. Their threat cannot be tolerated, and so it must be suppressed. They will be surrounded in their churches, attacked in their homes, arrested at their workplaces. They will be purged. Hopefully, the remainder will take the hint and cease being a thorn in our side, or we will have to purge them too. Cost: Possibility of provoking unrest, collateral damage, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/80/120. Result: Attack and break up the most notable counterrevolutionary organizations identified previously.

A Central Command: There are always more reforms that need to be completed. And the next one Butler wants to work on is establishing some sort of central command and general staff for the entire Red Guards, or at least for the more professional components of it. Consisting of Butler, some other experienced soldiers, and...you’ll need to figure out the rest. Should they be elected like other officers, or perhaps by the CSA? Or some combination thereof? Or maybe only the supreme commander should be elected, and he can decide who will be on his staff? It’s going to be a tricky business. But it’s an important one. Cost: May upset the CSA and the Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/50/90. Result: Establish a unified central command for some/all of your paramilitaries.

Sending Weapons West: The workers of California, American and immigrant alike, have rallied against the economic and political tyranny of capitalist, liberal democracy. They deserve uncritical support in their struggle, and right now what they need most are guns and ammo. Cost: 3 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/65/100. Result: Sneak meaningful quantities of weapons and ammunition into California

International Volunteers: The Syndintern has made their first request of you. The situation in South America is unstable. Chile is half-Syndicalist, there’s unrest in the north and south of Brazil, and rumors of organizing farm workers in Argentina. And they need support and a demonstration of international solidarity. Sending volunteers from their hemisphere will do some good in that regard. Cost: 1 Resource, reduced effectiveness of Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Increase in SyndIntern Relations. Vote on how many to send.

More Black Belt Volunteers: Though the battle for Kentucky seems to have been more-or-less won, and the Red Guards of Kansas are ready to take the state from the unpopular Army-backed regime, the Black Belt still struggles. Attacks on them are daily affairs, to say nothing of the horror stories that come from those who have fled to the Black Belt. The cities of the South see especially frequent and bloody violence that demands support for the anti-racist, capitalist, and populist struggle. So more men and women shall go south with red bands on their arms, rifles on their shoulders, and John Brown’s Body on their lips. And their truth is marching on. Cost: Red Guards in one place cannot be in another. Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Increased success in the battle in the South. Vote on how many to send.

Anti-Tank Tactics: A tank is a terrifying thing to face, you understand. Dozens of tons of armor and guns, treads that can crush you into pulp, a cannon that can shatter the walls and barricades soldiers hide behind. But they have weaknesses. They can be blinded by machine guns, suffocated by petrol bombs, shattered by explosives. They are not invulnerable, and those who fight for the cause of the workers must be shown how to destroy them. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??? Result: Begin devising anti-tank tactics and spreading them amongst the Red Guards.

Standards for Sergeants: The Red Guards are brave soldiers led by skilled officers, but Butler feels that they have several critical weaknesses. The lack of high command, the chaotic array of equipment, the relative vulnerability to casualties compared to a more traditional army are all serious problems. But perhaps the most important issue Butler has is how the role of noncommissioned officers is dealt with. Many Red Guards units do not have any sort of sergeant equivalent, while others have the office being elected. Which he feels is dangerous, as sergeants need to have a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the men under their command. “Sergeants have to be the hardasses,” he tells you. What he wants is for sergeants to be appointed by the captain equivalents, which will hopefully serve as an adequate compromise between the democratic nature of the Red Guards and Butler’s concerns. Cost: Likely to upset the CSA and elements of the Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Institute reforms to establish appointed sergeants in the Red Guards.

Paramilitary Coordination: As the size of the Red Guards and their ideological diversity increased, the number of independent paramilitaries and splinters from larger forces increased. There are minority militias, local self-defense groups, the Union Defense Groups, armed brigades of anarchists and agrarian syndicalists, various extremely radical groups, and more. And with the occasional, temporary alliance with the Minutemen getting thrown into the mix too, something needs to be done before we have another Montgomery incident. Begin working to establish lines of coordination and communication between various aligned forces and the Red Guards as a whole. Cost: ??? Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??/???. Result: Begin instituting reforms to help coordinate different paramilitaries.

Judging the Judges: The attacks have ended, the vast majority of judges have been allowed to live. They sit in their courts with their arrogance undimmed, convinced they have escaped the consequences of their crimes. And they might well have, except they continue to obstruct the will of the people and defy the desires of the masses. The most obstinate and obscene will be arrested by Red Guards and put on trial. And their broken bodies will show the rest that they cannot rely on the capitalist state, not anymore. Cost: Likely to cause backlash, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, loss of Relations with the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/30/50. Result: Examples made of obstinate judges.


Commission for Culture: The Propaganda Committee has made some minimal investments into the fine arts and into various forms of entertainment, but people are rather hoping that there could be more. People have bandied about ideas about libraries of gramophone records, expanded dance halls, community made ornamental gardens, publicly organized art classes, and more. With your backing, a sub-department for the Committee could be organized to help improve the cultural richness of life for all workers. Cost: Will require investment of Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 5. Result: Change to Influence and bonuses of the Propaganda Committee.

Office of Communication: Control of radios, telegraphs, and telephones should rightfully be in the hands of workers. And it should be used to provide information and entertainment for the betterment of the workers, as well as helping to coordinate industrial and military efforts. Several members of the Combined Syndicates and the SPA wish to establish an office of communication to help organize, expand, and improve the telecommunications capabilities we have access to before the impending revolution begins. Cost: Will require investment of Influence. Time: 1 month. DC:15/30/45. Result: Create the Office of Communication as a subordinate.

Committee of Education: Education is undoubtedly vital. Americans today are largely brought up under a system designed to produce good capitalist workers. Only those wealthy enough to afford homeschooling and tutors can avoid exposing their children to such filth. There needs to be huge reforms to the educational system as a whole. Private, religious schools need to be transformed, educational discipline must be reformed, the content of history and economics at the very least must be revolutionized. Cost: Will require investment of Influence. Time: 1 month. DC:15/30/45. Result: Create the Committee of Education as a subordinate.

Christian Socialism: Most Americans are Christians, and despite the words of the Constitution it is widely considered a Christian nation. Given that many churches are staunchly opposed to socialism while socialism is just as staunchly secular, this could be troublesome. Fortunately, this Gordian knot can be cut rather easily. The concept of “Christian socialism” and claiming that Christ himself would be a socialist is simple enough, with ample support for this notion coming directly from the Bible. Combining this message with a few displays of piety will help reduce criticism from the pulpit, although significant portions of organized religion will doubtless remain hostile. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, loss of support from Jews and other religions. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Protestant Christians, increased ease of recruitment.

The American Revolution, Pt.2: The first connections are drawn, the first pieces of theory are created. Now it’s time to poke holes in them and see where it doesn’t hold up, either to your ideals or to reality. Your ideas are published, but now it’s time to see how people have torn them apart so that you can make them better. Cost: Chance of loss of CSA support, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/120. Result: Refine the results of The American Revolution, Pt. 1

Organize Education: Education is a necessity for workers. Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic, critical thinking and understanding history, the skills and knowledge so they can labor and explain why they labor, all these are vital. American schools are fundamentally capitalist institutions, but alternatives can be established. Cost: -3 Resources, -1 Resources per turn. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/25/50/100. Result: Create a system of cheap socialist private schools.

Public Libraries: While libraries are a common and immensely popular institution, they can be improved in a number of ways, from increasing the resources available to them to broadening the services provided to include rentable instruments and instruction programs. Many have advocated for them to provide even broader functions, seeing the library as a fundamentally socialist institution that should be expanded and supported wherever possible. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.

The Worker’s School: There are many subjects not taught in great detail to the workers through the American education system. Leadership, management, socialist ideology...and of course anything behind the most basic parts of math, science, and history, not to mention various less immediately practical subjects. Creating schools for adults, or training wandering schoolteachers to help them, is yet another way to expand your influence and benefit the workers. Cost: 2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Establish schools for adult workers.

Photos for All: Photography is an incredibly powerful medium for displaying the impact of events upon people. The Dust Bowl, the Bleeding Midwest, the many deprivations and horrors caused by capitalism...and the triumphs wherever such things are fought would all make excellent subjects for photography. The camera can spread your message and make another potent tool in your arsenal. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Expanded use of photography in propaganda.

Propagandize Professionals: Doctors and lawyers and managers, all have been greatly affected by this latest crisis. More than a few have been forced into breadlines and soup kitchens alongside the workers they have once looked down on. Approaching them, convincing them to join their cause, will give you access to their skills, which are undeniably useful and valuable. Perhaps more importantly, the “middle-class” individuals who have fled in unnecessary terror are often the most fervent and dangerous opponents of syndicalism. Thousands have joined Anti-Syndicalist Associations and other organizations when they could have been saved. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100. Result: Begin propagandizing destitute professionals.

Pillory Capitalist Greed: The Reformists and the Federalists agree on one thing: capitalism is here to stay. They desperately seek to keep the same failing system, and they will spend as much blood as they need to in order to preserve their hierarchies and privileges. Capitalist greed is behind every death from want or violence since at least 1925. Politicians love to proclaim millions have died to syndicalism and revolutions. It is time to count the tally killed by capitalism and reaction. It is time to lay out the contradictions of capitalism and destroy any denial or defense. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in general anti-capitalist propaganda.

Against the Opium: Religion has historically played a large role in American life, and the chaos of the Great Depression has led to something of a revival for its most unusual and esoteric branches. Many churches are strongly reactionary, offering pie in the sky for empty bellies on earth. And many are corrupt as well. Stephenson had pastors helping him, and reaping the sick “benefits” of his brutal actions. Publicize these sins, demand an accounting, and begin breaking the stranglehold of religion on American thought. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Increase in anti-church propaganda.

Radio Debates: One of the many potential uses of the new radio networks is to publicize debates between syndicalists and their opposition. The concept has attracted a great deal of interest, since such arguments were an important part of Lincoln’s electoral victories. There is also a great deal of debate in how they are to be structured...Cost: Variable. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30. Result: Votes on how to structure the debates.

The Moral of the Story: The radio is also being popularly used for entertainment, and there is the occasional show you like to listen to in order to relax. There’s no reason the SPA can’t sponsor a few shows about bands of thieves stealing from robbers, the ordinary adventures of hard-working laborers, or perhaps a grand tale of an alien world wracked by civil war...Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create socialist-themed radio entertainment.

Public Life: The gardens have begun to bring people together who were formally separate: members of different tenant’s unions now work together to turn an abandoned ruin into a fruitful garden, people from all walks of life relax in them when they can do so without interrupting work, and the recent arrivals and old hands can come together over an appreciation of fresh vegetables. This is a success worth building on. While people are adding to these gardens already, asking musicians to play by them or setting up benches and tables on the edge, or even segregating spaces for children to play, you could encourage this effort to spread thousands of miniature parks alongside the gardens to help encourage the entwining of various communities. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/60. Result: Expand community gardens with other (cheap) community activities and facilities, encourage interaction between different groups.

Challenge the Instability: The evident failures of bourgeois democracy are displayed before all of America. People have died because of these failures, thousands of them. They choked on dust created by capitalist mismanagement of the Great Plains. They died of crime the federal government allowed to flourish. And most damningly of all, they were massacred in multi-month clashes that have spanned the length and breadth of the nation. What sort of nation could accept this, what sort of system could allow this? And what alternative is there? All these questions are to be answered. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/30/45/60/90. Result: Condemn the failures of the United States government, explain why your proposal is a superior alternative. Gain popular support, especially from those who desire stability above all.

There is Power in a Union: Strength can be its own sort of comfort in dark and dangerous times. And you have strength aplenty. While there are many who might fear you, the alternatives are equally terrifying. Promise them protection, promise them safety as members of the CSA, promise them peace and stability, as much as can be gained. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Convince people to join you to protect themselves from various other threats.

Anti-Americanization: While the melting pot is a lovely concept, it also means that meaningful elements of various individual cultures are destroyed or appropriated. To resist such trends will require meaningful and long-term effort, but a start can be made through advocacy over the use of autonomy to establish holidays celebrating ancient customs and adding languages such as German, Yiddish, and Finnish to the days of schoolchildren so the tongues of their ancestry are not lost. Cost: 1 Resource, loss of support from socially conservative factions. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/20/30/60/90. Result: Agitate for expressions of local cultural heritage.

Street Theater: Work and labor are all well and good, but people need to relax and be entertained as well. And so entertainment shall be provided. Plays, skits, comedy groups, all shall be created. And of course, aside from the classic and common sorts of entertainment, some of it will have an edge to it as the entertainers seek to provoke thought and encourage the questioning of the current order. With some of the worst entertainers around encouraged to work on their craft, hopefully, new auditions will go better. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/53/84/100. Result: Establish small traveling syndicalist entertainment groups.

Youth Groups: Children are the future. They must be protected and nurtured and educated, given the tools they need to succeed in a world that changes more and more by the day. And if their parents can’t care for them, there needs to be an alternative. An extension of the existing childcare institutions, informal practices, and an alternative to the Boy Scouts all in one has been proposed: The Young Worker’s League (the name was chosen to avoid coming down on the syndicalist vs. socialist debate). The idea of establishing such a group has grown increasingly popular Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/75. Result: Establishment of youth groups and clubs.

Catholic Liberation: The Catholic church is a powerful reactionary force, particularly after the savage anti-clericalism of the Italian Revolution. But many of its adherents are syndicalists or at least progressives, and the Irish and Italian voting blocs have allowed themselves to be courted by the SPA despite unease from some segments of the party. Now it is time to take that relationship to the next step, and this begins by reducing anti-clerical tendencies in the party and presenting a face friendly to the Catholic church in theory, if not in practice. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, Totalists, and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from Protestants. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Catholics, increased ease of recruitment.

Anti-Olson Approaches: Olson has already begun working to secure his power base through the remains of the Progressive Party and Farmer-Labor, reaching out to Federal and even Longist groups to increase the strength of his reformist movement. Even with it’s partial co-opting and the beginnings of splits within developing, his movement is a potential rival. And so it must be taken over or destroyed. Attacks on his character, attacks on his politics, attacks on his record, any and all will be used to dismantle his support. His allies will not be spared either. Cost: Increased tensions with the Progressives and Longists, increased hostility with reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/60/75. Result: Decreased support for reformism.

Against All Racism: Racism is not something you will tolerate, nor is it acceptable to the CSA. While proclamations can only have so much impact, it is worthwhile to make them, especially if they can be followed up by action. But simply speaking against it will count for something. Cost: Decreased support from the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/60/105. Result: Racism and discrimination are condemned, chance of action being taken independently of you.

Encourage New Seizures: There will be no cowardice in the SPA. You are seizing factories because the system they operate under is inherently unjust, and the workers of the world will be rectifying that. And if you don’t like it, stay out of their way. Rally the workers to your banner, radicalize them, and go forth! Take the means of production, for the Revolution nears every day! Cost: Very provocative. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Increased support and radicalization within the party, more enthusiasm for seizing factories and other facilities.

The Growing Pie: Yet another possible propaganda angle to approach would be the economic benefits of syndicalism. When all the workers are united and capitalist and banker leeches are no longer siphoning off the hard-earned profits of the workers for their own ends, we can expand the amount of wealth and industry for all, no matter their color or faith or place of origin. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Begin spreading propaganda about the economic benefits of syndicalism and socialism.

Religious Freedom: While you will not go so far as to demand the inclusion of religious symbology and rhetoric into the propaganda of the SPA, you will make it clear that you stand unswervingly for religious freedom. Many workers share many faiths, from Catholicism to Episcopalianism to Baptism, to say nothing of the minority religions of the country. And you promise that none shall be oppressed or suppressed. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Begin spreading propaganda in favor of religious freedom and tolerance, hopefully countering the rumors describing you as a bunch of church-burning lunatics.

Painting a Picture: The museums and art galleries now only operate with the approval of Red Guards and have been opened to all. But the collections of the rich still shelter within their mansions. Bring them out, let there be art for all the people. And let work be done on creating new art, on sculptures showing the unity of the people and paintings showing the future of socialism. Cost: 0.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/70. Result: Bring art galleries, private collections, etc. under worker control, begin developing socialist-themed works of entertainment.

Speeches on the Ground: There are many who hesitate and vacillate, who fear what socialism will mean. They have seen undisciplined bands of Red Guards exacting “taxes” and heard of merciless slaughters of wedding parties and church groups. They worry about how the means of production will be seized and what the social revolution will entail. Some degree of concern is understandable of course. They labor under capitalist realism and mystification. So they need to be reassured. Let them talk to dedicated socialists, let them hear that their concerns are meaningless. Surely many of them will become good syndicalists and socialists once their fears are assuaged. And if not...well, that can be dealt with too. Cost: 1.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/95/130/170. Result: Create and spread large amounts of propaganda, aim it at those scared at the prospect of revolution with the goal of reassuring them.

Attack the Selfish: Selfism behavior and profiteering is not acceptable, but it has continued. Middlemen charging outrageous prices, foremen and union leaders abusing their positions, farmers trying to take advantage of the famine, thieves and criminals and racketeers, corrupt bureaucrats stealing and skimming. It cannot be tolerated, it cannot be allowed. Begin a campaign encouraging boycotts, rejection, and reporting of those who engage in such antisocial behavior. Target the bureaucracy, target the criminals, target the profiteers, target the corrupt, target the hostile co-ops, and leave no stone unturned. Cost: 1.5 Resources, will upset a lot of people. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/80/120. Result: Begin massive anti-corruption campaign, attacking it on all vectors.

Condemn Cowardice: There can be no half-measures, no limp, tentative reforms. So long as capital holds power in this country, the workers will not be safe. Rumors of collaboration between the rich and poor for the sake of stability, whispers of compromise, none of it will matter. In a few years all that hard work will be rolled back and the gains of the worker’s movement will be lost, unless they are set in stone. And so nothing less can be tolerated. And that must be made clear. Cost: 1 Resource, will upset some people. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/80/105. Result: Begin anti-reformism propaganda campaign.

Political Cartoons: In many newspapers, there are mocking cartoons with labels and captions showing the author’s opinion on various events. In recent months, a common motif is a ship sailing through dangerous waters. They are quick, easy to understand, and popular. And it’s time to have some of your own...or some more of your own, anyway. They can be part of newspapers or posters or pamphlets, they can be everywhere. Cost: 1 Resource, -0.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Create lots of political cartoons and hire lots of political cartoonists.

Educational Articles: The news is meant to inform. It can also be used to educate. Short columns can be included on science and history, but they can also include, and will also include, theory. Short, easily digestible chunks of theory for the casual reader. Hopefully it can be made to work, you can’t imagine how someone would make Das Kapital easy to understand. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/60/80. Result: Begin publishing short, understandable, educational articles on various subjects including politics and economics.

Editorial Control: With the growing power of the newspapers, you need to make sure that the editorials demonstrate correct attitudes. Tighten your control over their offices, set firmer standards for what can be said, create a mandatory list of topics to be discussed at least once a month to help shape public discourse. The power of the written word will help bring about the Revolution, so long as it is used properly. Cost: 1 Resource, minor loss of Relations with the Anarchists. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Gain ability to set tighter editorial standards, including a free action to have a topic be discussed and emphasized for a month.

Limited Editorial Control: With the growing power of the newspapers, you need to make sure that the editorials demonstrate correct attitudes. Tighten your control over their offices, set firmer standards for what can be said, create a mandatory list of topics to be discussed at least once a month to help shape public discourse. The power of the written word will help bring about the Revolution, so long as it is used properly. And to make sure you are using it properly, you will ensure this control is limited only to official SPA newspapers and not the many more that align to you. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Gain ability to set tighter editorial standards for SPA newspapers, including a free action to have a topic be discussed and emphasized for a month. This will have a lesser impact than the version in Editorial Control.

Demonstrations of Force: With an accommodation having been reached with the Fix-the-Price movement,the plan for using propaganda to emphasize the prowess and power of the Red Guards has been modified. Instead, it will be targeting the increasingly bold reactionary fifth columns within the Steel Belt to impress upon them the fact that they would be wise to not stand in the path of history, lest they be crushed beneath it’s wheels. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/125/150. Result: Produce propaganda emphasizing the strength of the Red Guards to intimidate reactionaries.

Minorities in the Spotlight: American culture has long relegated colored individuals to sideshow rolls at best. At worst, they have been made subjects of mockery and abuse in the media, such as in blackface minstrel shows. That is a narrative that must be corrected, through showing colored characters as capable heroes in their own right and through encouraging colored authors to tell their stories. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Encourage the work of colored creators, and the use of colored characters in roles they would not ordinarily have.

Women Heroes: American culture has long kept female characters to a few, narrowly defined roles, all solely important for their relationship to the obviously much more important male character. That is a narrative that must be corrected, through showing female characters as capable heroes in their own right and through encouraging women authors to tell their stories. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/80/110. Result: Encourage the work of women creators, and the use of female characters in roles they would not ordinarily have.

Widespread Childcare: The earlier childcare initiatives have been left to languish, and many women have complained and protested about it. While there have been some reforms to make the various improvised institutions more efficient, it has been considered a lesser priority. But the recent conferences have led to an internal shift. Though many ask what’s wrong with typical parenting methods, proponents of women’s liberation note that for women to be equal, they must not be burdened by being the perpetual caretaker of children, that they must be able to work without the distraction of changing diapers. Push for the adoption of more widespread childcare institutions, including after-school care, organized daycares, childcare facilities attached to factories, and more. Some are even proposing more exotic things such as creches for children. Cost: 3 Resources, -1 Resources per month, loss of Relations with Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, the Teamster’s Union, the Regional Unions, the TUUL, and the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/125. Result: Create and support a wide variety of childcare institutions.

Encourage Political Representation: American politics have generally kept out minorities and women wherever possible. There is the occasional rare exception, but the vast majority of American politicians are white men. Even having a scrap of nonwhite blood is enough to cause many to turn against a politician - Charles Curtis faced several obstacles over his indigenous blood during his nomination for the Vice Presidential position recently. And that’s just not good enough. Women make up half the population, black people make up a significant minority. They deserve better representation. Cost: 2 Resources, loss of Relations with Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, the Teamster’s Union, the Regional Unions, the TUUL, and the IWW MM. Time: 3 months. DC: 50/75/125. Result: Sponsor minority and female politicians, help support their rise to power.

Look for the Helpers: People like to be made to feel good, especially as their country falls apart around them and reactionary forces grow increasingly violent and unhinged. Stories of the simple good deeds people are capable of can warm even the coldest heart...and there’s a propaganda benefit to spreading these tales if the right emphasis is given. The right emphasis being on who is doing these good deeds. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45. Result: Slight increase in morale and popular support.

Assurances of Moderation: A lot of people have gotten up in arms about the pace of the social and economic changes you are introducing. It’s seeing a sharp increase in resistance to you and to the ideals of socialism, even among many who would benefit the most from the total transformation of society. Well, as much as it pains you to give any concession to the reactionaries, further unrest in the Steel Belt is the last thing you need right now. So you’ll make some soothing noises and calm the stubborn fools and just keep on going as you were, and they will do the same, assured that you aren’t going that fast. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 35/105/185. Result: Sharp increase in popular support.

Dancing and Distractions: Life is growing increasingly grim in the American Maelstrom. (People are coming up with all these lovely names for it!) And as the vanguard of the working class, it is your responsibility to succor their spirits as well as their bodies, without requiring such counterrevolutionary distractions as churches or synagogues. Instead, people will be given the opportunity to distract and entertain themselves with dances and other amusing social activities. Seize the means of fun along with the means of production! Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70. Result: Create a program of SPA-sponsored dances and other social events.

Domestic Equality: You will freely confess that you tend to expect your wife to do most of the cooking and the cleaning. She has pushed you to do more, and you have increased your share, but it is still less than half. And you are far from the only one. It’s unequal, it’s unfair, and it’s frankly moronic. There is no good reason for men to be unable to do laundry or to cook, and if they can do such tasks, then they should do them. Equality demands nothing less. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/50. Result: Create propaganda encouraging men to take up their share of domestic chores.

The Democratic Standard: The nature of bourgeois democracy is that it is full of undemocratic systems. The Senate, the courts, the House districts, and the Electoral College are just a few of the many examples in America. And none of them belong. It is not just, it is not free, it is not right to have any such system. Fortunately, it is possible to see the Constitution changed. Begin insisting it should be, and advocating for that transformation, through methods either peaceful or violent. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/100. Result: Create propaganda attacking undemocratic systems and demanding change.

Target the Populists: The worst excess of the capitalist system are the National Populists, sadistic and psychotic murderers who are determined to kill and slaughter until they have their mad oligarchy. They are unrepentant white supremacists. They are dedicated anti-syndicalists. There is not a single redeeming trait among any of them. They must be purged from our nation before we can have a successful revolution, and they must be reviled and hounded from sea to shining sea. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/35/50/75/100. Result: Anti-National Popular Front propaganda is produced and distributed.


Poach the Democrats: The lines in the Democratic party are hardening as they find themselves pulled in so many directions. Some find themselves attracted to Huey Long’s populism, others the Dixiecrats' savage racism. Still, others are shifting to the Progressives, to the remnants of Farmer-Labor...but there aren’t many left who are willing to join a revolutionary party. It will take quite a bit to find those who will. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 65/110/160. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.

Working With Republicans: The Republican party is uniquely pro-business, even more so than the Democrats. But they are also the party of Lincoln, and many of the more progressive Republicans have been applauding your efforts on desegregation, especially once they realize it had actual popularity. They might well be willing to join you to support your efforts, and join the party...as long as they don’t fear revolution. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 65/110/160. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.

Peel Them Off: The broad anti-syndicalist coalition cannot easily be defeated, but any big tent will leave some out in the rain. Try and push smaller reform bills targeted at specific segments of that coalition and persuade them to join you in the hopes of stealing their momentum or getting a useful club to swing at them when they finally produce their big bill. Cost: Unknown. Time: 2 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Pass some minor reform bills, break up the reformist coalition somewhat.

Co-Opt the Machines: While the political machines in SPA-controlled areas have been dismantled thoroughly, some yet remain. Halt their gradual dismantlement and co-opt them into your service instead, helping you gain votes in some contested towns and cities. Of course, embracing them means embracing their shadier side as well. Cost: Increase in corruption, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/30/45. Result: Increase in popular support, the Teamster’s Union likes it.

Sewer Socialism: American infrastructure is doing...poorly. Neglect and violence has led to bridges beginning to crumble, railways needing repair, and roads vanishing from dust and rain. The repairs will be costly and take a long time, but they can begin relatively simply by passing some spending bills in SPA-controlled states. Adjustments can be made to the infrastructure for the benefit of the workers, as well. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Infrastructure development begins.

More Political Grandstanding: With Capitol Hill effectively dead due to the sheer dysfunction, now it is time to turn the Senate and House seats you control into bully pulpits. In committee and on the floor, you and yours will go on the attack through speeches and shouts. This is not a bid for passing a bill or an attempt to whip up some political support. This is an attempt to expose the social, economic, and political order of the United States as the blood-soaked horror it is from the very top. It has begun, now let’s keep it going until the Capitol falls apart on its own. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/135/170. Result: Increase in popular support, the humiliation of all your political opposition.

Demand Non-Intervention: Rumors of another US Army intervention in South America are spreading as well, provoking discontent and anger from everyone. These rumors are almost certainly false, even MacArthur has said so with his typical arrogance and utter lack of tact. But you can force the US to officially commit to a policy of non-intervention. This will likely result in a pullback of US support for several South and Central American juntas and boost your popularity among isolationists with broad support. But even with as much hostility to the idea of intervention, it will take a great deal of effort to pass. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 70/120. Result: Anti-intervention bill passed with broad support from several parties.

Patronage Networks: Patronage is a reality of any political system, no matter how reformers rail against it. It has even begun popping up in the newly cleansed state bureaucracies, to say nothing of unions or the small-town governments on your side. So it must be dealt with and used to your advantage. Beginning to create and use these networks will also allow you to have at least a degree of control...which means you will be one making bargains with slimy bastards. Joy. Cost: Stress, increase to corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Increase to support in the CSA, increase to support from the Teamster’s Union, slight increase to popular support. Enhances effects of Assistants Adjustment

Anti-Corruption Agencies: Corruption is a double-edged sword, and one that could cut you deeply. It is time to start taking measures to protect yourself, first by beginning to work with state governments to establish organizations that will purge corruption within elected and unelected offices...and making sure these organizations are resistant to the lure of corruption themselves. Cost: Slight loss of support in the CSA, slight decrease to support from the Teamster’s Union, angers the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90/120. Result: Slight increase in popular support, slight reduction in corruption, further actions for reducing it unlocked.

Local Autonomy Programs: The first implementation of the principles of local autonomy will begin. A relatively simple set of legislation will be passed, allowing school districts to choose to have optional “Cultural Enrichment” classes where students will learn the language, history, and traditions of their ancestors and granting municipalities permission to have local paperwork and signage in any language they desire, so long as English is also prominently available. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/25/50. Result: The first beginnings of local cultural autonomy.

Strengthen the Justifications: With flimsy laws providing flimsier protection, it's clear they need to be fixed. Though fierce opposition has begun rallying, with everything from filibusters to bribery to harassment being attempted to keep the seizures from having actual legal justification. There are even threats of the army being called in to restore order, threats that are not followed through on only because of the fear of a full-on civil war. Strengthen the justifications, encourage the seizures, and prepare for the class war. Cost: Minor losses in CSA support. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: The legal basis for factory seizure is strengthened.

State Police Forces: With the National Guards hampered, there are other potential forces that could be used to suppress us...or used to crush reactionaries. To that end, the state police forces will be secured, their leadership replaced with trusted syndicalists, Red Guards will be hired, and they will be shifted to being under Congressional influence even as their arms are improved and their procedures revamped. Cost: Possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: State police forces have their loyalty secured.

Strengthen Your Political Control: The halls of Congress are filled with your allies and fellow socialists alike, forming a strong and united bloc. Or so it seems. In truth, the arguing and infighting routinely takes up hours, even with Norman working to shield you from the worst of it. With controversial legislation on the horizon, you need to tamp down on it and make your bloc in Congress truly a united front that will never break. Cost: Likely backlash, -1 Gravitas, probable loss of support in the CSA, loss of Relations with the Anarchists, the Centrists, and the Parliamentarians. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Tighter control over SPA and allied politicians, Norman Thomas gains +1 Influence, 1 less Influence committed to Norman Thomas.

The Next Steps: To truly end white supremacy in America will require a sea change on every level of culture, something you are only toddling in the right direction for given the infrastructure it will require. However, you can work at repairing some of the damage. A second series of laws can be passed, giving educational benefits to colored people, offering them low-interest loans so they can purchase housing and improve their economic security, and push for their integration into government offices. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/70/105. Result: Pass a series of state laws designed to eliminate the economic damage of Jim Crow and slavery.

Legal Offenses: The federal government and the so-called National Popular Front have been relying on increasingly threadbare legal covers for many heinous acts, including the recent deployment of armed and bloodthirsty troops upon American soil at the behest of their masters, the suppression of various publications, and harassment upon union organizers and Longist advocates. It’s time for our day in court. Sue them for these violations, take active roles in the legal defense of those they falsely accuse and arrest, use the courts they rely on to shatter their legitimacy. Soon they’ll only have their final argument left, and we’ll beat that one too. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Arrange for legal experts to begin attacking the federal government and capitalist system in the courts, and to take action to legally defend the falsely accused.

The Women’s Bill of Rights: Just as the laws of this nation favor white men over black, they favor men over women. While women legally have the right to vote and some other privileges, a great many they should have are denied to them, including important limitations in their property and divorce rights. Though some may rage and riot at this, their opinion does not matter. Man and woman are going to be equal before the law in every respect imaginable, you intend to make sure of it. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/90/115. Result: Pass a series of state laws granting equal civil, political, and religious rights to women.

Immigration and Refugees: The state of West Virginia has recently passed a law designed to assist immigrants in earning citizenship and settling into their new life, along with declaring themselves to be wholly open to any refugee who can make it. In the law, they listed Africans, the Irish, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Jews, and “other Asiatics.” It’s a splendid law, one which the legislators received much acclaim for, and some other state legislatures are murmuring about doing the same. Throw your weight behind it and encourage as many states as possible to adapt such transformative laws, no matter what objections some might have. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/90. Result: Pass a series of state laws designed to protect immigrants and encourage refugees to come.

Policing Reform: As the months wear on, there has been a steady increase in crime and reactionary activity, such as protests against civil rights and attempts at electing anti-worker candidates. The current policing system of purely local, democratically managed patrols has begun encountering limitations. To that end, proposals have been made such as the establishment of requirements for some basic education for those who would be police and the creation of a more professional group to provide forensic and investigative support. Cost: Internally controversial, may cause an external backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90/120. Result: Pass a series of laws designed to improve the effectiveness of police.

(2 Norman Thomas Influence Committed) Write the Bigger Bill: You now have the entire text of the as-written bill Olson and Roosevelt and others are planning on introducing. You could attack it and tear it down, but instead you are going to take the high road (the popular path) and outflank it. Every reform it offers, you will make it better. Every trap and snare they have in their wording, you will dismantle. It will take time, and you will have to decide just how extreme you can afford to go with this law, but it will be worth the effort you need to put in to steal the greatest weapon of the reformists and use it against them. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75. Result: Begin writing your own major federal reform bill.

The New Education Bill: Segments of the SPA have grown increasingly strident in their demands for education reform. They are no longer satisfied with changes external to the official public school. They are demanding comprehensive and complete educational reform...and they are absolutely right to do so. It’s just that there’s quite a bit going on already, and no one can agree on what the new curriculum will be like...but perhaps one of your subordinates will take things on themselves. There’s only so much you can do. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Create comprehensive education reform bill in SPA-controlled states, may not be uniform. General increase in CSA support, especially the IWW MM and the AFL-CIO.

Single-House Reforms: The machinery of state is autocratic and oppressive, but with great struggle and sacrifice it can be turned to the benefit of the worker. While economic and social reforms are ongoing endlessly, one area of change that has been neglected is the political sphere. Making recall elections for the lower houses easier and completely eliminating the upper house will go a long way to correcting that. Since that will require changing constitutions, it will not be as easy to accomplish as one would hope, but it is a start. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 2 months. DC: 65/160. Result: Constitutional reforms in several states to eliminate their upper houses and make recall elections easier.

Judicial Replacement: The ever-reactionary judicial branch relies on its total lack of democratic accountability and insulation from the impact of its decisions to enable judges to break strikes, steal land, shatter lives, and overturn popular laws. The SPA has mostly relied on intimidation, persuasion, and the occasional execution to keep them in check, but many courtrooms are sporting increased guards of federal thugs and their black-robed thieves are growing bold once more. The mechanisms of many state governments have been almost entirely captured by the SPA however, and so the structure of the court can be transformed. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 2 months. DC: 75/180. Result: Constitutional reforms in several states to make judge an elected position, limit their terms, and other modifications designed to purge the branch of reactionaries and make them more democratically accountable.

Abstentionist Politics: The federal government must be denied legitimacy in the eyes of our supporters to ensure they will not hesitate when the time comes. Already, MacArthur and the other instruments of capital have shaken American’s faith in the government, particularly with the dubious legality of the occupation of Kansas and the presence of Marines and other military forces in a dozen states and cities. Withdraw from government until those occupations end and the military ceases interfering with the function of state. American distrust of the military is strong, perhaps it is stronger than the fear of syndicalism, but among those who support you this will be lauded. And it will be devastating to the efforts of any coalition who will try to pass bills without you. Cost: Politically controversial, will anger the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90/150. Result: Withdraw from participation within the federal government and further attack its legitimacy.

Executive Power: The current structure of the state governments means that anything the Planning Commission needs done by a government must go through the complete legislative process, one where hostile senators can delay or water down the resulting motion, as happened in New York and Montana. There’s no good reason for it, a simple bill would shift that power from the legislative branch to somewhere reactionaries have less influence. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/75/115. Result: Make the process of the Planning Commission working with the state governments more efficient.

Domestic Subsidies: Broad-based investments in state-owned and worker-controlled enterprises will help them grow. Similar investments in the people will help them grow, assuaging fears of hunger or homelessness, raising the quality of life, and bluntly it’s the right thing to do. Cost: Expensive. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Expand welfare and subsidies in states controlled by the SPA.

Health and Healing: Even as food grows more affordable and housing more reliable, as crime is reduced and safety ensured, there is still disease and injuries, and good healthcare is hard to come by. Working with existing organizations for doctors and nurses where possible and overruling them elsewhere, perhaps some organized, democratically run system of cheaper healthcare can be created. Cost: Expensive. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Create state healthcare organizations in states controlled by the SPA.

Housing Under the State: The Planning Commission has concerns about the amount of housing they will need to construct, but are gamely working on a plan to address such issues, and the Cadres, working together with unionized construction companies, have done plenty as well. But there are always more who need roofs over their heads and walls to keep out the cold. Cost: Expensive. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Expand state-managed housing construction in states controlled by the SPA.


The Legacy of John Brown: John Brown was a revolutionary martyr who fought for freedom. Abraham Lincoln sought to bring freedom to the enslaved. They would support you in your struggle to bring liberation to all. You will insist on it. You will quote them to say so. You might have to be a bit selective in doing so, but it won’t matter. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5. Result: Increased efficacy of The American Revolution actions.

A Socialist Structure, Pt. 1: How will the economy work? Will currency be abolished? How will you ensure racial equality? Though there are examples to look forward to from Britain and France, you will need to begin creating your own answers to these questions. Plans must be made, although they will be by necessity vague. But creating the most basic framework for what form American socialism will take will help ease your path forward. Cost: Probable loss of relations, chance of reduced support in the CSA based on the decisions. Time: 4 months. DC: 0. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.

Judicial Reform: One of the matters most clamored for is judicial reform. The American justice system is incredibly corrupt, designed to allow the wealthy to skate away from criminal cases and lawsuits with equal ease, and the courts have long been a tool to prevent workers from liberating themselves. Lawyers, judges, juries...all will need replacement, reform, or renovation come the Revolution. Begin working out alternatives. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Begin coming up with a multitude of options for judicial reform.

Against the Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism is a virulent problem in this country. Father Coughlin spews anti-Semitic bile, many claim Jews are behind every problem and especially the syndicalists, even some of your party members and unionized workers mislike them. Countering these narratives may cost, but it is a worthy effort. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Chance of further losses Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of increase in support.

Relations with Reservations: There are scattered Native American reservations across the country, full of people who haven’t been citizens until recently, who have been forced off their homes and into desolate places, who have had their history and culture defaced and desecrated. In many ways, the imperialism and colonialism inflicted upon them is America’s first sin. You don’t know what they want, you don’t know what they need. You will have to begin asking those questions. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Native Americans.

Help for Hispanics: As the SPA grows in influence in the American Southwest, awareness of the historical mistreatment the Hispanic population of the United States has endured. Just as with the Native Americans and the colored populations, you need to open a dialogue with these groups. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Hispanic Americans.

(1 Influence Committed) Develop a Radicalization Pipeline: The newest unions are staunchly conservative on social and economic issues. Advocating for better wages and shorter hours seems to be a step too far for many, let alone more unusual proposals like requiring factories to have childcare facilities and compensation for injuries or outright revolution. While the Great Depression has affected them, and they have heard of the various horrors inflicted upon workers by the government, both matters are distant to them. The cruelties of capitalism need to be brought home to them. They need to be persuaded that there must be a revolution. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Begin developing strategies for en masse radicalization.

Create a Curriculum: For a socialist school system to exist, there must be a socialist curriculum, Having students elect their teachers seems faintly ridiculous, but there can be other ways for them to be exposed to the SPA’s ideals from a young age, and there should certainly be a different emphasis on what is taught. No gender divide for one. There’s also the subject matter that must be transformed, including the complete revamping of any history or civics-related classes, potential integration into the Young Worker’s League...so much to do, so little time. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Creation of curriculum, improved results and lowered difficulty for other education reform actions.

Create an Educational Program: It’s not just the subject matter that needs to be changed. The entire American school system is set up to train and educate cogs in a machine. It’s gender segregated, teachers are encouraged to harshly punish students, and there is rampant abuse of power. All of that will need to be changed. Somehow. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Begin designing an education program, improved results and lowered difficulty for other education reform actions.

Justice and Violence: Violence is one of the eternal topics people argue about. When is it acceptable, why is it acceptable, what limits should there be? Some proclaim it all equally abhorrent, others insist it is always necessary. The SPA has an ample variety of attitudes, some of which are counterproductive. The cowardice of the SPU and the bloodthirst of the Fosterites both threaten the revolution. The correct course is obviously somewhere in between the extremes: self-defense is obviously acceptable, and so is violence in the pursuit of justice, but you must decide where the lines are...and when they should be crossed. Cost: Varies. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Decide what sorts of violence are acceptable and when, develop a more defined thesis on it.

Appoint a Committee of Ideology: This will be a contentious group whose arguments will echo throughout the party, but those arguments will be necessary for the building of a true socialist state. Economy, law, social organization, the role of religion and race, the question of minorities, internationalism, centralism, federalism, and councilism...all these things need to be discussed. And you don’t have the time to do it, so you will have to get other people to do it for you. Cost: Likely to decrease the Strength of the Center, will occasionally make decisions you don’t like. Will have to commit Influence and Gravitas. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create subordinate to handle various Intellectual actions, vote on how much to commit.

Linguistic Reform: While colored people seem to consider colored an acceptable term to describe them, it has been brought to your attention that a couple common forms of language used regarding them are considered demeaning. Similarly, several women have argued that language should be modified to remove many unreasonable gendered components. The most prominent example is “man” referring exclusively to the male sex and humanity as a whole, but there are others. Apparently. Cost: May seriously upset social conservatives and moderates. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/65/100. Result: Begin propagating language reforms, votes on which to choose.

The Nature of an Economy: An economy is a vast, interconnected thing. Raw goods feed factories, factories make products. Value is traded and bought and sold and stolen in ten thousand different forms. Debt is passed around, intangible pieces of tangible things are speculated on and traded. The American one has been utterly stagnant. Goods are produced but not sold, factories stand empty, skyscrapers rust. Food is too cheap to grow and too expensive to sell. Marx and other leftist theories have written voluminous texts on the topic of capitalism’s economy and the changes socialism will make, syndicalism has demonstrated the power of a worker-owned economy in action, but it is time to consider the American approach to left-wing economics. Cost: You are going to upset people. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90/135/170. Result: Create a unified SPA proposal for a future economy, which you are most definitely not planning to install after you overthrow the existing US government, honest.

The Important Intersection: The concept of intersectionality has been bandied out a time or two, but no one has really tried to codify it and push it out to the broader party. The idea is a break from conventional Marxist politics, but you are no longer a truly conventional Marxist party. It has been more or less universally acknowledged that race and gender can be sources of oppression above and beyond the ordinary dynamics of class and economics, and that these can intersect in painful ways. It’s time to write that up, and make it a formal part of the SPA’s goals and platform. Cost: Will upset social conservatives. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40/60. Result: Define intersectional politics, make it an official part of the SPA’s ideology.


A Black Budget: Given the likelihood of the Commission for Revolutionary Defense being involved in some less-than-savory affairs, it may be worth siphoning some money into hidden accounts so that it can be put to use but remain harder to use. Paying spies from sources that aren’t clearly your coffers, purchasing equipment or information from organized crime, serving as a place to deposit money made from bank robberies...there are many possible uses. Cost: -2 to -2.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Resources available that can be put to use for covert operations and remain obscure.

Taking a Peek: With the sudden revelation of Schenk’s dual loyalties, you find yourself wondering who else has friends or interests you should be worried about. You wonder if you can trust Schenk to do the investigation...you wonder who else you could trust to do it. You hate how shaken you feel about this...but he’s not likely to try and hide any corruption or betrayal he uncovers from you. You are fairly confident of that. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find information about chosen subordinate.

Someone Else to Spy: With Schenk’s loyalties suddenly in doubt, you find yourself...concerned about what he’s been doing, especially regarding the more inward-facing side of things. The Revolutionary Defense Committee having his attitudes would be potentially very unfortunate. You aren’t going to fire him, but you are going to be looking to curtail his influence, and one way would be to focus him more externally and find someone else to take care of the more day-to-day duties for the Committee and leave the Commission to him. Cost: -1 or 2 Influence, may annoy Schenk and the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create an internally-focused Intrigue subordinate, vote on who they are.

The Revolutionary Guard’s Loyalties: You need to make sure the Revolutionary Guard is at least not entirely influenced by Schenk and the RAF. They were created before him, and you have never seen any sign of such attitudes from them, but he does have at least nominal influence over them, since the Commission appoints the Committee, who selects the Guard, who elect the Commission...although Schenk has just been appointing the people elected. Does that mean he thinks they already share his views? Was he trying to avoid suspicion? Was it a commitment to internal democracy? Or was he simply too focused on other matters? You will have to go around Schenk, or try to anyway, but you have to find out. Cost: Risk of annoying Schenk or the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find out the Revolutionary Guard’s loyalties. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what’s up.

Find the Red Army Faction: You can’t leave this alone. You need to know who else is aligned with the RAF, and where they have their headquarters and where they draw their funding from...just in case the worst happens. What exactly the worst is changes from day to day, but you know being able to find the RAF will be helpful no matter what nightmare scenario you are picturing. And it might just help you sleep a little better. Cost: Risk of seriously upsetting Schenk or the RAF. Time: ??. DC: High. Result: Find who else supports the RAF, find out where they are. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what’s up.

Siphon State Funds: With nearly unfettered access to many state governments and party loyalists being installed in treasury departments across the nation, you have an opportunity to enhance the party’s financial position by arranging for subtle fund transfers from the government funds. There will likely need to be some sort of...shell to hide the directness of the money transfer. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/25/50/70. Result: Increase to income.

Sending Spies: Particularly given your purging of the police and the increasing difficulties the capitalists are having with oppressing the workers in areas dominated by syndicalists, there is something of a low-level exodus going on from the north, which means there is an opportunity to get eyes and ears in the lower level of the National Guards, U.S. Army, and hostile militias, to name a few possibilities. There’s also potential to infiltrate your political enemies or rivals. Cost: Risk of discovery, risk to the spies. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Write-in where you send the spy.

Newspaper Analysts: With the increasing influx of information, often heavily conflicting, getting an idea of what is going on in the country grows more difficult every day. Arranging for a few party members to subscribe to dozens of newspapers and compare them so they can brief you will be child’s play compared to some of the things you have organized. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Improvement to Rumors and News section.

Send Covert Organizers: Unions cannot operate openly everywhere. Particularly in the South and Midwest, efforts to organize are met with bombs, knives, and bullets. Or worse. You have vivid memories of the results of your trip to Wilmington...But people still organize, they still fight. Sending covert assistance can lead to an increase to your strength in an area, and help increase the chances of more overt intervention. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators/organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support while increasing your own support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization/agitation.

Ears in the Party: To better keep abreast of movements in the Party and the doings of your subordinate, cultivating a small network of...trusted friends to let you know what they hear could be managed. Flora will probably have to be the one managing them, but you feel she is trustworthy. Knowledge is power, and knowledge of the going-ons in the SPA and the politicking of the bureaucracy will be especially powerful. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/??. Result: Lower difficulty of actions involving intelligence within the SPA.

Create Shell Corporations: To help with some of your more...unpleasant deeds, you can avoid scrutiny by purchasing a few false companies and helping you to conceal any unfortunate money trails. Although given the incredible chaos going on throughout the country, you aren’t sure how necessary such deceptions are, unless you decide to start severely investing in foreign support. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/??/??. Result: Increase chances of avoiding discovery for embezzlement actions.

Infiltrate the Army:The army is crash-expanding, with sergeants turning into captains and captains turning into colonels as every man they can recruit is gathered into the regular ranks or the Special Engineering Corps. Selecting volunteers from the Red Guards and having them sign up will enable you to gain some low-level infiltration, and the fact that some of them will have military experience will get them into relatively high ranks. MacArthur is certainly planning to use the army against you, you must find out how. The steady sidelining of officers with syndicalist sympathies has left you with fewer avenues, although the recruiting spree does offer fresh opportunities for entering the lower ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/60/?/??. Result: Make contacts within the army.

Steal Weaponry: The nation is in chaos, and this extends to the supply chains of the military. Some arms factories have been seized, while others are filled with sympathetic workers. Soldiers are increasingly inclined to turn a blind eye in exchange for sufficient funds. All of this means there are plenty of opportunities for heavier weaponry than small arms to make its way into the hands of the Red Guards...although on the other hand, security is being tightened and some soldiers are growing increasingly dedicated to their cause of maintaining law and order. Any such operation will be...risky. Cost: Risk of discovery, 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/??/???/???. Result: Begin creating stockpiles of weapons and equipment such as grenades, machine guns, mortars, etc.

Into the Navy: The steel titans of the navy are directed and maintained by a horde of sailors, many of whom come from the working class and labor in horrible conditions, making them ripe for recruitment. Meanwhile, the dockyards in Philadelphia, Norfolk, and several other cities still churn as ships are made and sent to patrol off every coast. There is ample opportunity to begin slipping syndicalists into their ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/??/??. Result: Make contacts within the navy.

Hunt Infiltrators: The Longists and Federalists have doubtless begun infiltrating us, trying to sow division and sabotage our efforts. Perhaps this has already begun bearing fruit, or perhaps it will become a problem in days to come. Either way, the spies must be found and removed. With limited sources of information, it may prove difficult, but it is a task that must be accomplished as soon as possible.Schenk has raised the alarm about this in particular, uncertain who in the intelligence apparatus of the CSA can be trusted given the corruption and politicking you are both aware of...although he could just be looking to fill it with RAF loyalists. Cost: ??? Time: 1 month. DC: Special. Result: Begin hunting for spies within your ranks.

Propaganda of the Deed: There are many tools for spreading syndicalism and disrupting reactionaries. Bombs and guns are excellent at doing both. By demonstrating the spirit of revolution, weakening the forces the oppressors can bring to bear, and striking fear into the hearts of those who stand against us, we shall strengthen the cause! The class war shall come and end the conflicts of history, and no price is too great to pay it! Cost: -3 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/35/50/65/90. Result: Begin a campaign of political bombings and assasinations.

Protective Measures: With violence rising by the day, measures must be taken to protect the leaders of the revolution. The Guard must be expanded, with the new members set to providing protection wherever needed. And maybe you can be confident that these fresh recruits are a tad more trustworthy than any Schenk has gotten his hooks into...or maybe you are just being paranoid. You don’t even know for sure if the existing men and women of the Guard are disloyal. But you are trusting them with your family’s lives, and you can’t be too careful. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/??/??/140. Result: Recruit more bodyguards.

Robin Hood Revolutions: The Bolsheviks funded themselves through bank robberies before they were able to seize power. While the size and strength of the SPA mean such tactics are no longer needed, they could still be useful. A campaign of public, armed theft will do much to demoralize our class enemies and tie up their investigation and intelligence resources. Cost: -1 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: Begin a campaign of bank robberies, increase to income.

Union Entryism: Not every factory has been seized, not every union is a revolutionary one. In particular, there are several states with growing industrial bases that have minimal SPA support. Infiltrating these areas and their factories will be important, especially since many of these factories are responsible for producing the equipment needed by the slowly reforming Federal Army. It will be a difficult task for those agents assigned, one which will need a great deal of skill, but it will be an invaluable one for us and for the Syndintern. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/???/???. Result: Pink unions and non-unionized factories infiltrated, especially in states where support is lacking and military-oriented factories.

Spies in the House: The rich have servants. Maids, nannies, handymen, butlers, gardeners... all are trusted to go into people’s homes, to stay there with minimal supervision, and sometimes even to assist in more discrete functions. And while they are typically members of the labor aristocracy, they are just as often subjected to cruel abuses of all kinds. And so many of them may well be willing to aid you, giving you access to an invisible but dense information network...although it is also possible that the BOI and Longists will have anticipated this and established counters. Cost: 0.1 Resources per Influence/Gravitas invested. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??. Result: Find and recruit spies and informants among servants.

Rooting Out Domestic Enemies: Of course, a similar approach could be done to members of the SPA who hire unionized domestic workers, to say nothing of the countless secretaries, aids, and functionaries who are vital for keeping the vast infrastructure of the party running. Anyone of them could be turned into a spy. So it may well be worth gently vetting those individuals for potentially troublesome sympathies and ties.If any evidence of spying is found...They cannot be allowed to subvert our revolution. Cost: Will piss a lot of people off. Time: 1 month. DC: ???/???/???. Result: Find spies and informants among your own servants.

Preparing for a Kornilov Affair: When the tides of revolution rose in Russia, the force of counterrevolution attempted everything they could to stop it, including a military coup. The Kornilov Affair was a defeat for the reactionaries thanks to the preparations of the Soviet, preparations we have barely begun. We need to expand our military, infiltrate Longist and Federal forces, seize the rails..but for the coup itself, we need to secure methods of evacuation for SPA members in Washington lest we suffer the fate of the Last Bolsheviks. The decreasing stability of the capitol makes this increasingly urgent, as the No-Go Zone where protesting is forbidden expands and contracts on a daily basis and bloody clashes fill the city. Cost: Mildly annoy some people in Washington. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??. Result: Begin preparing to evacuate leaders of the SPA and allies such as Reed and Thomas in event of a coup or purge.

In the Dead of Night, Reactionary Edition: Those who stand against the might of the working class will be cast down and broken. By the ballot or the bullet, they will be defeated. But that will take time, and they could do untold amounts of damage first. So they need to be removed. Quickly, quietly, and in the dead of night. The leaders of the reactionary groups who still infest SPA-controlled territory. will be seized, tried, and punished. And justice will be done, and a stern lesson taught. Cost: Public backlash, will cost support with the AFL-CIO and the Right AFL-CIO, may cost additional support, will cost Relations with the Parliamentarians and the Anarchists. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/?? Result: Seize and arrest the leaders of various reactionary groups.

In the Dead of Night, Bureaucrat Edition: Those who stand against the might of the working class will be cast down and broken. By the ballot or the bullet, they will be defeated. But that will take time, and they could do untold amounts of damage first. So they need to be removed. Quickly, quietly, and in the dead of night. The most vilely corrupt bureaucrats will be seized, tried, and punished. And justice will be done, and a stern lesson taught. Cost: Public backlash, will cost support with the Teamster’s Union, the AFL-CIO, and the Right AFL-CIO, likely to cost additional support, will cost Relations with the Centrists, the Parliamentarians, and the Anarchists. Will anger the CSA bureaucrats. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??? Result: Seize and arrest the worst of the corrupt bureaucrats.

Find Tools: Reactionary Edition: There are always individuals willing to betray their class interests, to serve as dupes out of principle or greed. That has been one of the greatest weaknesses of the worker’s movement, but it also applies to the other classes. Look among the various reactionary movements to see if there will be people who can assist with the discrediting, defeat, or destruction of their political organizations. Cost: Cooperation has a price. Time: 2 months. DC: ??/??. Result: Catspaws and infiltrators established among the reactionaries.

Find Tools: Bureaucrat Edition: There are always individuals willing to betray their class interests, to serve as dupes out of principle or greed. That has been one of the greatest weaknesses of the worker’s movement, but it also applies to the other classes. Look among the corrupt CSA bureaucrats to see if there will be people who can assist with the discrediting, defeat, or destruction of their cliques. Cost: Cooperation has a price. Time: 2 months. DC: ??/???. Result: Catspaws and infiltrators established among the corrupt CSA bureaucrats.

Safety for the RAF: While Schenk does understand your desire to not get too close to the RAF, you can tell it chafes at him. They have also demonstrated that they are very effective, if few in number and that they are willing to cooperate with your greater goals and aims. So it may be worth supporting them, just enough to make them more effective. They have their own sources of weaponry and funding, but they could use places to hide out, rest, and get medical care. And it would be easy enough to set aside a few backrooms for them to use. Cost: ??. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??. Result: Safehouses for the RAF established in out-of-the-way urban SPA facilities, increase in RAF cooperation.

Blueprint Theft: The SyndIntern wants blueprints of some of the more interesting American technology, such as the designs for the Christie tank, and other industrial and military information. What was already available was packaged up and sent off, but getting looks at the designs they really want will be difficult, as many of those factories have restrictions on unionizing and tight security. But Schenk thinks it can be done, although there are several steps he would like to take first. Cost: Very risky, could lead to scandal. Time: 1 month. DC: ???. Result: Steal military blueprints for the Third International, increase in SyndIntern Relations.

Primary Affairs: No one has really paid attention to who has won various primaries and how all those races have shaken out. Capitalists are capitalists, that’s all there is to it. But being able to better evaluate what sort of opposition you will face can help improve your chances. Individual candidates have handled it on their own, so this is largely a matter of collating existing information and analyzing it to see if there are any patterns. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Information on trends and notable opponents for the upcoming election.

California Preparation: You can expect plenty of mischief being done in November. Voters will be intimidated, ballots will be destroyed or miscounted, and that’s before getting into the inherent structural limits of capitalist democracy. You will admit freely that you intend to do the same, but it’s different. In any case, you need to be prepared for election fraud, especially in California and the Midwest. You need to figure out how to spot it, how to prove it, how to fight it, and how to fix it...and how to do some of your own. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/60/90/120. Result: Come up with methods of countering voter fraud and inflicting your own.


Work Overtime: Although your heart and mind ache at the thought, the cause needs you. It will be stressful, it will be upsetting to your wife and daughter, you can feel your very soul revolting at the thought of spending even more hours working...but you must. The workers of the world demand it! No matter what it costs you. Cost: Severely stressful, unhealthy, bad for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: +1 temporary Influence.

Personal Attention: If you spend a few hours working on a particular task, it will likely go smoother. It will cut into the time you would normally spend with your family or your books, but it is a sacrifice you will have to make. Cost: Stressful, not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Small dice and narrative bonus to chosen action.

Exercise: You have gotten slightly out of shape thanks to the stress of the election. Getting back in shape would be good for your health and your image...and if you ever get the chance to strangle MacArthur, it will help then too. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, improvement to health.

Spend Time With Your Family: Your daughter Hannah misses you, as does your wife Louise. Spending some extra time with them this month will make up for all the times you missed doing it during the campaign season. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Major decrease in stress, good for your family.

Write: You have been working on another book about your own thoughts and beliefs about socialism and syndicalism, as well as on a few poems, memoirs, and some other odds and ends. Spending some time working on that will help order your thoughts and ease your burdens. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, possibility of new traits.


Free Actions

Tweak a Subordinate’s Priorities: While those who are working with you are scattered across the country, between the train and the telegram they are within reach. Requesting a minor change to their priorities is a simple matter. Cost: May pick only twice per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate’s priorities (change order, add one, remove one). This will have a political cost if used on the SPA Cadres.

Ask For a Favor: Party members already sacrifice their time and money and sometimes their health and their life, but you must ask for more. Though it will cost some precious goodwill, continued success will bring it back, and so you can confidently ask for favors. You can also speak with the SyndIntern and ask for favors. Cost: Variable amount of Relations, changes in Strength of factions. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Relations and Strength allows.

Call on the RAF: Talk to Schenk, let him know what you need, he goes somewhere to talk to the RAF leadership, and whatever you asked for gets accomplished. You try not to think anything more of it. Cost: Cooperation from the RAF. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Cooperation allows.

Throw Your Weight Around: You are the leader of the SPA, the man who helped lead the Seattle and Chicago General Strikes to success, the man the Syndintern has trusted with bringing about the Revolution. Though you are democratically elected, you have undeniable authority. Authority you truly prefer not to use...unless you absolutely have to. Cost: -9 Relations with all factions of the SPA, narrative effects. The cost will change as you use it for better or worse. DC: 0. Time: 1 month. Result: Temporarily convert 1 Gravitas to 1 Authority.

Adjust Your Priorities: Long-term commitments are risky in the chaotic situation the American nation is in. Temporarily stepping back from them would allow you to handle crises as they come back. Cost: Minor penalties to targeted action. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: De-commit Influence from selected action, narrative penalties.

Budget Adjustments: Your subordinates run many expensive programs that do a great deal for the cause...but on the other hand, you need that money too. Make some adjustments to the budget. Cost: May upset factions in the CSA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: May modify the amount of income available for subordinates. Increasing their budget will decrease your income and vice versa.

Long’s Bargain: Do you accept it? Reject it? You will need to decide, although silence serves as its own response. Cost: ??? Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Make decisions about Long’s offer.

Choose A Focus: You are currently taking The Union Forever! 2 months remain.

Spread the Word - The inevitability of the revolution and the glory that will come after must be spread from sea to shining sea. The Newspapers and pamphlets and posters will make everyone see your message, even if they deny it. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving the written word.

Apply Red Paint - Art is one of the greatest gifts of human civilization, and it is one that must be made accessible for the people. There are many disparate movements organized around making syndicalist and socialist art in America, but many of these movements are nothing more than a single young man painting in an apartment. An investment in resources will see these movements flourish once the artists are no longer starving. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving visual art.

Sing Proud Songs - Music can fire up emotions and raise spirits, grant hope or terror. It can spread messages, true or false. And it is time for the music of the people to spread the word of liberation. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for actions involving music.

Spread the Word - The inevitability of the revolution and the glory that will come after must be spread from sea to shining sea. The Newspapers and pamphlets and posters will make everyone see your message, even if they deny it. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving the written word.

Cross the Color Line- America has segments of its past that are shameful and regrettable. That cannot be changed, but we can step forward and try to make things better. Integrated Red Guards, integrated unions, integrated party affairs...let the color lines in America disintegrate. Let racism and white supremacy be destroyed Time: 2 months. Effect: +10 to all anti-prejudice actions for the next 2 months.

The Failing Middle Class - The wealthy proletariat and the petit bourgeoisie are major backbones for MacArthur and the Democrat-Republicans. But as the economy grows worse, many fall into poverty and so become easier to radicalize. Time: 1 month. Effect: +10 to the next roll involving recruiting the wealthy.

Union Recruiting - Not every worker has chosen to join a union. Some are scabs, some are scared, some are reactionaries. Regardless, with tensions rising every day, the threat they pose to the Revolution grows. Pressure can be applied through the carrot and the stick to see them join unions and develop class consciousness. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 union recruiting actions gain +5 to their roll.

Blitz the Soldiers - The current US Army and Air Force are powerful despite their small size. Well-trained and led by a skilled corp of officers who have cut their teeth in dozens of imperialist actions, they could deal significant damage to the Revolutionary cause...unless their soldiers could be convinced to join us. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 actions for recruiting or co-opting soldiers gain +5 to their roll.

Political Alliances - Victories must be won not just on the battlefield, but in the halls of the rich and powerful. They must be convinced to side with you against Long's insanity and MacArthur's tyranny. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain the national spirit of Political Alliances (Effect: +1 Strength for the Right faction per month).

Establish Community Organizations - The social life of these small rural towns often revolve around reactionary churches. Co-opting these existing institutions or creating new ones will be essential to solidifying your control. Time: 2 months. Effect: Gain +5 to the next 3 Cultural actions that affect rural areas.
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him

Begin Campaigning: 1 Gravitas, 2+10 = 12​

After one last precious night with your family, you get on a train for what will likely be the next two months. There are Representatives running in upstate New York that will need a boost to their campaigns to overcome the false promises of their reformist opposition.

It doesn't get off to a great start. After a sleepless night, you stumble over your words a bit more than you would have liked, and quite a few heckle you for apparently being drunk. But you rally, and continue on, giving speech after speech in towns and cities across the nation, your bodyguards always lurking nearby but never making too much of an impression.

Crowds gather to hear you speak, overwhelming the venues you rent and forcing you outside like some radical preacher from centuries ago. And in a way, you suppose you are bringing people good news. Good news that they will soon be free of the tyranny of capital.

The Red Guards in particular flock to you. Every time you get off the train, they are waiting for you. They chant your name, stomping their feet and slamming the butts of their rifles against the ground. The rhythmic boom energizes you, filling your lungs and stiffening your spine with each echoing repetition of “REED!”

You drink in their admiration, using it to fuel your body past its normal limits, making two or three stops in one day sometimes, and spending the time in between writing letters and making speeches on the radio.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic, however. Many times, you are accosted by desperate capitalists who you calm and soothe and promise that all will be better, converting them to dedicated followers of syndicalism. Once, it’s actually legitimate.

Others are less accommodating, and you do your best to be polite and reasonable and to appear the better man before Red Guards or local police or Community Check-In Groups arrive to handle things.

And you keep going, attending all sorts of campaign events, giving interviews, doing everything you can to give a favorable impression of the socialist cause. To moderates, you are a reformist seeking to restrain your more violent comrades and protect people against the excesses of capital. To radicals, you are a firebrand pushing further and faster. To the hungry, you offer economic restoration. To the dispossessed, you offer social justice.

Result: Temporary -2 Gravitas, increased popular support, increased Relations with the Parliamentarians

Security Procedures: 1 Influence, 81+30=111​

Butler and Schenk work together, with a degree of acrimony that comes from their radically different politics and strong personalities, but with even more professionalism.

The two of them direct various subordinates to cooperate, and with their guidance, a guidebook to security begins to develop. Procedures are standardized, instructions are given out, and warning signs are described.

One point is emphasized again and again: that just because someone looks like they belong, does not mean that they actually do. Wearing a red armband is not enough of an excuse to let someone slip into a private party affair.

However, avoiding destructive paranoia is also emphasized.

With the guides produced, now comes the distribution of knowledge and the training.

Result: Action continues.


Sending Weapons West: 1 Influence, 72+55=127​

The American worker’s movement is under attack. Some might speak of a grand conspiracy against the honest workers of America, but the truth is simpler: the capitalists of the nation are seeking to crush a threat to their power.

The West Coast is one area where battles rage. While Seattle and most of Washington see unreserved victories for the workers, the inland of Washington and Oregon see continuous reactionary resistance.

But that pales before the bloody chaos of California. Strikes rise again and again, even as unorganized workers are continually ground under the bloody wheel of capitalism or spent like pennies to break strikes. From the city to the field, there is unrest of every stripe.

The only thing holding the state back from a full-blown revolution is the immense force that can be brought to bear upon any revolutionary group that seems close to toppling the rotten edifice.

Capital flight from the Red Belt (and foreign investment, many suspect) fills the treasuries of the government and the pockets of Pinkertons, sufficient workers remain good little capitalist stooges to keep industry functioning, and the National Guard, various private forces, and police have been able to break many demonstrations, end many strikes, and shatter many Red Guards and Minutemen units.

But they have not gotten them all. And those who remain find rifles and machine guns and mortars being delivered from north and south and east, and the undeclared war for the Golden State gets hotter.

Every day, California gets a bit more red, and there’s rumors of labor unrest in Nevada and Utah and Colorado too. The revolution will come there, at the end of the bayonet if need be.


International Volunteers: 1 Influence, 92+25=117​

The whole world seems on the verge of Revolution. Unrest continues to rock the shaky Russian dictatorship, as surviving Bolsheviks and Mensheviks continue to cry “All Power to the Soviets.” Spain trembles, it’s left-wing growing increasingly radical and determined. The Left-KMT fights continually against the repression of the Legation cities, Japan, and the warlords. And of course, in America the nation is on the verge of revolution.

But that means the oppressed nations to the south have the boot of the American hegemon lifted from their necks, giving the opportunity for many syndicalists and socialists to re-organize and gain strength. The compradors and caudillos of the mainland are struggling already, and in many cases they need just one little push.

A few gringos with the finest of Uncle Sam’s looted weaponry might just be that push. Lots of weaponry, actually. And some professional organizers from Texas, including a fiery young lady you met there named Emma Tenayuca.

The day before they take ship, you have returned, for just long enough for an inspection and a speech.

You don’t remember what you said, for it blurred together with the many others you have given, but you remember the cheers.

How loud were they? (The louder they were, the more red Guards get sent away and the greater SyndIntern Relations you get)

[] [VOL] Impressively so. (-Red Guards, +8 Relations)
[] [VOL] Extremely so. (--Red Guards, +14 Relations)
[] [VOL] Earthshakingly so. (---Red Guards, +20 Relations)



Develop a Radicalization Pipeline: 1 Influence, 80+35=115​

Prioritizing the failures of the current system and government and the massive improvements the SPA has brought about, some of the greatest minds of the SPA, including John Cannon and Morris Hilquit, have developed a program for bringing the uncertain around to our side.

It’s a two-pronged approach, one for areas where SPA influence is already strong, and one for where it is shakier.

In SPA-dominated areas, the process is made communal. People are encouraged to list how the American system failed them personally in a public place, often taking the form of a mural. With how universal these failures are, and how long they have existed, people are encouraged to consider alternatives, with education about the economic benefits of socialism and proof in how much better the newly established cooperatives function used heavily, along with propaganda emphasizing how the capitalist-dominated government will seek to destroy those economic benefits to immiserate the workers once more and return them to the pitiless slavery of despotic capitalism.
In more dangerous areas, the process is subtler, something that can be done in the backroom of a bar or for a few minutes on a street corner. There’s less “audience participation” and educational statistics and more angry, emotional phrases denigrating the federal government for its continuous failures, and making it clear that the matter is one of willingness, not capability.

That is the key: people need to realize the government could have kept so many from starving or freezing but chose not to for the sake of the pocketbooks of the rich. And a system which does that has unquestionably chosen to violate the social contract, just as George III did so many years ago.

And everyone knows what came next.

With that accomplished, the methods are quickly introduced to various agitators and organizers, who in turn begin putting them to use.

Result: Variety of methods of radicalization developed with adaptations for anticipated local conditions.

Protective Measures: 91+20=111​

While you initially go on campaign with only your regular allotment, you instruct Flora to see to hiring some additional men and having them integrate into the guard. Every time you return to New York, she has more men. She has even recruited a few women to help keep an eye on Hannah when she has to go change at the boxing gym.

Naturally, Schenk gets involved too. Given his position, it is only natural. Most of the guards he recruited went elsewhere, as there are a great many places where leadership needs protection. Kentucky and Washington, DC see especially heavy deployment, with the Guard outnumbering the police on several DC streets.

It would be perfect...if it weren’t for that time you returned to your New York office to find Schenk and Flora sitting together, discussing recruiting more guards for your family. You are fairly certain it is just paranoia. Schenk rarely shows emotion, but his face seemed especially blank as he greeted you.

After he left, Flora asked if you wanted to rearrange the schedule a little so those recruits Schenk suggested would be elsewhere.

You said...

[] [GUARD] Yes. This will likely make Schenk aware of your suspicions, and slightly weaken the protection around your family, but the Guard has already been heavily reinforced, especially around your family.
[] [GUARD] No. You will not let your own paranoia drive a wedge between you and one of your best men.

Preparing for a Kornilov Affair: 1 Authority, Throw Your Weight Around​

You are the elected leader of the Socialist Party of America, which is quite possibly the largest political organization in America. You command the loyalty of thousands of hardened, disciplined, fanatical killers. And if you told Schenk you needed it, he would almost certainly make any member of your Congressional delegation vanish.

You have to remind yourself several times that just because you can do something, does not mean you should.

Sometimes, that is easy.

You sigh. “Norman. I admire your courage, your serenity, your faith. I know it’s stood you in good stead so many times. But for once in your life, trust in something other than your god’s plan!”

Schenk nods beside you, staring down at the map of Washington, DC on the table before the three of you. Patrol routes, Marine barracks, Red Guard meeting places, the neighborhoods where SPA Senators and Representatives live, and the sole entirely unionized railyard in the city. There are also several discreet speckles on a few buildings, of what was probably some dust falling on the map. You suspect those are RAF safehouses.

“Look at it this way, Senator. My rabbi told me a story about a man who was living in the path of a flood. His neighbor came by, told him to run. The man said that G-d would protect him. The floodwaters come, the man climbs to his roof. Someone comes by on a raft, tells him to hop aboard. The man says that G-d will protect him. The waters rise higher and the man drowns. And then when he gets to the World-To-Come, he asks G-d why there was no protection. And G-d says “I sent your neighbor and a man with a raft!”

Schenk gives a very mirthless chuckle. You shiver slightly even as you take over. “He is supposed to help those who help themselves, no? Also, you are now going to be in charge of making sure the other Senators get out alright. Their safety is in your hands.”

That does the trick.

Unfortunately, sometimes it’s much harder.

And sometimes your head isn’t all that it should be.

You grab the recalcitrant representative by his lapels and pull him close.

“Do you know what happened in Russia when the capitalists thought the Bolsheviks were getting too strong? They sent in an army of men. The Bolsheviks had all the city, and it was barely enough. I know! I was there! I nearly died there, while you were sitting here, fat and happy. So listen to me, damnit. Or get out of the party. If you get the order, you leave. You don’t stop for your mistress. If you value her so much, send her somewhere safer! Or they won’t get the chance to flay you like they did Trotsky!”

Your spittle spatter his face as you roar at him and then shove him away. He’s too stunned to argue.

You stalk out of his apartment and into the cold night air. Silently, your two guards detach themselves from the door and follow. Their gazes are so perfectly neutral that you can sense their disapproval.

But right now, you can’t bring yourself to care. Instead, you travel to a tiny flophouse Schenk likes to use, glaring at the Marines who line the streets and the heavily equipped police patrolling in enormous groups as you cross roads and meander down sidewalks.

You almost barge in without knocking, but reconsider at the last moment after remembering some suggestions he had made for your home security. Your fist hammers against the wood.

After a brief exchange, you hear the sounds of several different things being moved and then the door opens. Schenk is half-dressed, holding something behind his back.

“What are you doing here at this hour?” he demands.

“I want to go over the plans, one more time.”

He holds your gaze. “It will make you feel better, won’t it?”

You nod and he sits down and puts a metal sphere on a desk.

“Schenk, why do you have a grenade?”

He ignores the question in favor of rolling out the map from earlier. “Ideally, their attempt will come when Congress is not in session. Every legislator who is not in the city is one more who will be safe from their main attack, and the rest will be in this neighborhood. We have Red Guards at every entrance and a mole in the Capitol Police and the local Marines. That should get everyone enough warning to make it to the station. From there we have a train set aside, and I have men welding some armor onto it. We also have a number of cars.

If we hear of the purge coming while you are in Congress, we will be making sure all legislators have pistols, and I have four men on the security force. But our best ally in that case is early warning.”

You thank him and head to your apartment for another night of peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Result: Preparations made for fleeing a coup. Secondary leadership set up for various SPA functions, contingencies made. The establishment is likely aware that you have a plan, if not the specifics.

Personal Action: Spend Time With Your Family​

It is a rare time for you: a day entirely with your family, no concerns or obligations. Hannah has the day off from school, Louise took a break from her affairs, and you have pushed your many, many responsibilities off onto various subordinates and assistants. As you step out of your office into the crisp autumn air, you let out a sigh of relief and loosen your tie.

Stern-faced guards step aside and your daughter steps forwards, wrapping her arms around you. You return the favor with one arm, while pulling Louise into you with the other, embracing them both.

The three of you stand there for a long moment, until some insolent bastard with a blue star pin passes by and spits at you. As a pair of Red Guards haul him off to explain some matters and Hannah wipes her face, you decide to go somewhere friendlier.

You wander down the city streets, anonymous in the throngs of people. There’s a festival air to the night, it seems, for every corner has a musician. Songs of struggle and defiance mingle with ones about romance and the occasional bawdy tune that leaves your cheeks just slightly pink.

You make your way into a restaurant with a sign in an unfamiliar language, Hannah eagerly insisting on trying some new food. You are ushered into a green-walled room with patterned wood floors and round tables. The three of you sit down and ask for recommendations, and then you begin to talk.

You ask how their days have been, and what they have been up to, and how Hannah’s boxing lessons are going. They ask you about the people you have met and the places you have visited.

You hear the couple who own the restaurant debating in hushed voices as more customers come and go, and think about intervening to answer their questions about labor vouchers and their future in America.

Louise kicks you under the table before you can say anything.

The rest of the night passes pleasantly as you pay for your meal, tipping generously, then walk back home. As you hug Hannah and wish her goodnight, she hugs you back then looks up at you.

“There’s going to be a war, isn’t there?” she asks you.

She’s too old for you to lie.

Result: Stress reduced.

Focus: The Union Forever!​

You fully expect the nation to splinter into civil war by the next election. The reactionaries won’t let you get into the White House, no matter how popular you...how popular your program is.

And it will be the unions who will ensure your victory. They will labor in the factories, they will lead the charges. They would fight and die for your cause. They will all but certainly have to do so, against monsters as vicious as Kolchak and Savinkov and the Mad Baron.

You will not let their suffering and sacrifices be in vain.

Once more you put pen to paper.

“I am a union man.
Oh, I am a union man.
With my band of red
I am a union man.

At the Windy City
I threw down my tools
They had shot their soldiers
And I ain’t no fool

In Red New York
I took up my knife
They had taken captives
It was a fight for life

And come November
I’ll mark my vote
They’ll fail and fall
I’ll try not to gloat

Because come March
I’ll be sitting in
Their precious Capitol
And that’s when we win

‘Cause we are the union men.
Oh, we are the union men.
With our bands of red
We are the union men.”

Better. Not good, but better.

Result: 2/3 months completed.

Long's Bargain: Cost: ??? Time: 1 month. DC: 0.​

Long has jettisoned the white supremacists from his party and leaned left on many issues, but you are still not certain if you can trust the man. He is corrupt, he is dictatorial, he is an unabashed opportunist. But he’s willing to ally with you, and you need every advantage you can get against the inevitable capitalist counterstroke.

You have worked with worse people before. You will do so again in the future.

So despite your reservations, you open the letter from him and scan the words.

“We have more serious enemies in this country than each other. The National Popular Front needs to be dealt with, and the federal government would rather kill us all than let us do a single one of the reforms this country needs so badly. So let’s yank on some leashes and remind some hot-headed fellows with guns who the real threats are. We might need to make a couple examples if we do so, but that's the price of potatoes. Maybe we can even set up a ceasefire if you think it won't make your boys too mad.

That’s up to you though. And frankly, I have a more important proposal.”

You turn the page over and see a map. Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida are highlighted in grey, while Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, and Seattle are highlighted in red. He suggests that you and him agree to not interfere with each other’s voting efforts in all non-highlighted states.

You could accept these terms immediately or you could modify his offers. You will also need to decide if you will bring the deal to the CSA as a fait accompli or involve them in the process.

[] [SYNDICATES] You are the elected leader of the Socialist Party of America. You have the right to make these decisions. (???)
[] [SYNDICATES] It would be best to discuss this with the representatives of the unions in accordance with democratic principles, although it will be a closed session. (May require concessions or modifications to the proposed deal, ???)
[] [SYNDICATES] Write-in

[] [MILITIA] Accept Long’s minimum deal: order Red Guards to prioritize Front and Federal aligned forces above the Minutemen. (???)
[] [MILITIA] As above, but reprimand several units who engaged in combat with Minutemen in the Black Belt, with Long doing the same for his own men. (???)
[] [MILITIA] As above, but push for a general ceasefire between the Minutemen and the Red Guards. (???)
[] [MILITIA] Write-in

[] [VOTES] Accept Long’s terms as written (???)
[] [VOTES] Adjust the list of states not to be interfered with. (???)
[] [VOTES] Propose we agree not to interfere with each other’s votes anywhere (???)
[] [VOTES] Write-in
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
Long’s Bargain, Pt.2:
The Congress of American Syndicates acknowledges your willingness to include them, seeing the gesture as an olive branch and proof that you have no desire to become a Napoleon. Some of them probably wish you picked something less controversial, however.

The plan in a general sense is approved, despite many reservations regarding the undemocratic nature of Long’s proposal. And the ceasefire is nearly universally popular, no one wants to waste bullets on potential allies, although many of the more radical wing make it clear that they view this ceasefire as a purely temporary measure.

However, the broader basis of further cooperation with Long is the subject of intense arguments. Every section of the AFL-CIO supports working with him, as does the Red Grange, various Regional Unions, and parts of the Teamster’s Union. Most of the others question why you would work with a man like Long. The debate rages for hours after the agreement is approved, ending only with battle lines drawn.

Long, however, does not take your proposal of removing Kansas from his sphere of influence well. He tolerates all the other measures, but that proves to be a bridge too far.

In exchange for your request about Kansas, he wants Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont added to his sphere of influence, along with several places in upstate New York to counterbalance the parts of Texas and Oklahoma he is giving up.

Do you accept this offer?

[] [LONG] Yes.
[] [LONG] No.
[] [LONG] Make a counteroffer

He accedes to the rest of the proposed agreement without a qualm, promising to ensure full cooperation in countering “the cheating rich bastards” and their attempts at suppressing Longism and Syndicalism.

And he acknowledges the importance of ending Jim Crow, offering to support any federal bill you propose on it.


Report from Charles Schenck: 1 Influence on Union Entryism, 77+10=87
In one sense, the triumph of socialism in America is clearly imminent. But in other ways, there is so much further to go.

Even in the heart of the Red Belt, there are still mystified workers and reactionary capitalists who stubbornly resist the clarion call of the revolution, to say nothing of the military-controlled factories like the Rock Island Arsenal or the Ford Memorial Complex.

And outside it, capitalism is still dominant and determinedly crushing any hint of unionization or worker-control under its iron heel. Though it may be rusting, its gears grinding, its joints seizing up, it still has immense strength and cunning.

Worker’s organizations are infiltrated and attacked, leadership is assassinated or imprisoned, false flags and propaganda is used to turn workers against their own interests.

And all the while, a steady stream of refugees flees from one place to another, seeking safety and succor.

It’s that stream that Schenck takes advantage of.

Agents are deposited in the streams of refugees, fleeing to “safer waters” and seeking “sanity” in a world they say has gone mad. Factories desperate for labor hire them.

And then the work begins. Reactionary and reformist unions find members suddenly demanding more rights, more strikes, more inclusiveness. Factories begin to struggle as their workers grow restive. Vital knowledge is slowly smuggled out.

It’s not clean work. Many are found out, and at best they are brutally beaten and then tossed out. At worst, they are hung or shot.

Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.

Result: Factories and reformist unions infiltrated.


Socialist Markets: 3 Influence, 76+58+11+32=177
It is the culmination of a multi-month conference. A new, revolutionary economic system is created, one that will free all from the tyranny of commodification. Reactionaries decry it as madness and treason, progressives question the legality of the maneuver, moderates wonder if it is too far too fast.

But for each question, there is an answer. The success and revolutionary attitude of the working masses answers the moderates. The falsity of law and order in a capitalist state answers the progressives. And the boot and the bayonet answer the reactionaries.

Still, it is not an uncontroversial decision that the conference has made, although it is one you fully approve of. The Congress of American Syndicates has gained an unprecedented degree of economic control, one that has been immediately put to use.

Regrettably, the dominant syndicalist wing of the Congress has wielded their power, slowing the transition to create an environment of economic dual power, one which had admittedly stabilized prices and assuaged many concerns. Between damaged infrastructure, disorganized economic structures, lack of physical security, and limited capacity for groups like those in the Black Belt to represent themselves, a full immediate transition to labor vouchers has been rejected in place of a slower, steadier process involving voluntary transitions with incentives similar to those for collectivization.

It’s not ideal, but it is what exists.

Result: Increase to income, strengthening of the Orthodox Marxist wings of the SPA and the Congress, improved economic efficiency, economic benefits will slowly increase as the program is expanded.

Rationalize Production Schemes: 1 Influence, 95+25=120
As the economic transformation begins, further steps are taken to give the worker’s state within the capitalist state every advantage that can be had. Patent Offices are looted, engineers are hired, workers share schematics and methods.

It’s a slow, steady process, complicated by the fact that several factories have been effectively turned into fortified encampments rather than be seized by the workers, or else have been sold to the federal government so they can continue churning out weapons of oppression and instruments of capitalism. As long as you refuse to provoke the federal government - and more pointedly the federal army - there will be limits.

But the fundamental truth of socialism is that most limits are arbitrary, and all the guns in the world can’t stop workers seeking liberation. No matter the lengths the Army and the BOI go to, plans and ideas still get shared. Factories, freed from the tyranny of the market, begin experimenting, tweaking things.

A design from Rock Island is drawn on scraps of toilet paper and then smuggled out using methods you don’t want to think about, and it’s carefully passed along. And far out in the wilds of Iowa, a factory begins churning out some new guns.

If you ever meet the brave man with such a brilliant memory, you are giving him a medal personally.

Not all the changes are so triumphant. There are still men of “principle” who refuse to work with the SPA to improve production and flee rather than be persuaded, many experiments are unsuccessful, and there are still many important designs and details hidden from you.

But the Red Guards are better equipped, production of various tools and toys and goods in general is going faster and smoother, and people are coming up with all sorts of new ideas.

The SyndIntern advisors help, transferring their expertise and smoothing out obstacles and confusion wherever they can, helping improve the efficiency of your assembly lines and factories.

And they take home quite a few blueprints and ideas to help strengthen their own revolutions.

It’s excellent when everyone wins. Except for the capitalists and their lackeys, of course.

Result: Increase to economic efficiency, increase to income, better production of all kinds of goods, new actions unlocked.


Voucher Printing: 1 Influence, 70+25=95
The printing goes smoothly, as multiple factories are hired to produce new vouchers. With them comes books for keeping records and pens for writing it.

And through some minor legal chicanery, your strained coffers avoid taking most of the burden.

It’s a success all-around, not that it was likely to fail. There had been some protests and complaints when the vouchers started printing and people realized you were serious, but many were fascinated by the possibilities, tantalized by the visions your writers and propagandists offered, and comforted by the promise that it was only a limited roll-out.

The first few voucher-made exchanges are made as the workers who created them take a set each and use them at a local bar they favor.

And it all goes smoothly.

You take up one of the first vouchers and examine it closely, a proud smile on your face.

What does it look like?

[] [VOUCHERS] Plain beige paper with a serial number and a few lines for signatures. Simple and boring.
[] [VOUCHERS] A large, square-ish dollar bill lacking any of the iconographies of an official government bill.
[] [VOUCHERS] A pale pink slip of paper with a torch-and-gear visible in the background
[] [VOUCHERS] An elaborate voucher festooned with symbols of the revolutionary cause
[] [VOUCHERS] Write-in a description

Result: Vouchers printed and produced

Report from the Coordination Committee: 2 Influence on Domestic Subsidies, 16+52+5=73
Various municipal programs are established across the nation, to help provide for the welfare of a struggling, damaged nation. Construction programs for public housing are expanded beyond what EcPlanCom had planned, stocks of food are purchased as the soup kitchens are expanded to even greater capacities, and limited programs to help care for the very young and the very old are established. Widows and orphans are given special subsidies to help them endure their losses, and there are even limited expansions of the Community Check-In programs to support the mental health of as many workers as possible.

Not every town or city is willing to pay the costs for these programs, even with state governments backing it, and there are many rumors of sweetheart deals and other corrupt bargains being used as part of the process, but the Red Guards and the democratic will of the people are determinedly working to halt such abusive behavior.

Result: Municipal welfare programs established


Report from Ben Little and some SPA Cadres: 3 Influence on Clothing Distribution, 23+70+45=138, 1 Influence on Clothing Distribution, 96+5=101
One welfare program that sees significant effort from everyone is the determined attempt to clothe all who need it. The continued disruptions in the south means there are shortages of cotton, but stocks are purchased from Egypt to serve as a substitute. The textile plants of Philadelphia and Boston and Trenton churn day and night, making coats and shirts. The colors are drab and the quality isn’t excellent, but its enough to keep thousands warm who otherwise wouldn’t be.

It’s a great, determined effort, a struggle as mighty as the one against reaction. Cadres of party members distribute garments for hours on end, personally visiting every house and apartment to make sure they have ample supplies. Despite some concerns, even capitalists are given warm garments, as proof of the superiority of socialism if nothing else.

Even the bureaucratic machinery of the state and the Congress get involved, using censuses and records to keep track of who needs clothing and helping direct the efforts of the cadres.

No one is neglected. No one is left behind.

Result: Massive clothing donations established at reduced cost.


Report from EcPlanCom
The first decision EcPlanCom made was to request a moratorium on hours reductions, explaining that it will help them better determine how to improve safety standards. While this naturally provoked serious grumbling, the swift action the commission took regarding mandating new safety equipment and establishing standards of conduct that prioritized the safety of workers above all did demonstrate that they were serious.

Meanwhile, steel foundries were expanded, and a pair of new rolling mills see their ground broken, with two shifts working on them every day, determinedly laboring to see them expand. New ties are laid down, damaged rails are replaced, and additional coaling and diesel infrastructure is established.

Similar efforts see potholes filled in, gravel roads paved over, and a slow, steady improvement in the quality of urban roads.

Meanwhile, just outside of Rock Island, a new fertilizer factory is planned out, construction progressing rapidly. Nearby tractor plants are built slower, with several revisions to their plans being made.

The Pennsylvania oil fields, which had mostly shuttered thanks to cheaper alternatives in Texas, see new investment, and several coal mines that were closed due to a lack of profitability were reopened, although some of them were closed again due to safety concerns.

Meanwhile, all manner of new factories and workshops were constructed, ranging from canneries to furniture-makers.

The Commission is confident that they will complete their plan on schedule, and you see no reason to doubt them.
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
Long’s Bargain, Pt. 3
Long takes his time with his reply. But after a week, you get a telegram with a single word. “AGREED.”

Report from Smedley Butler: 1 Influence on Purchase More Arms, 31+25=56, 1 Influence on Establish Sporting Clubs, 3+75=78, 1 Influence on Distribute Trainers, 77+55=132​

The last shipments of machine guns and mortars drip through New York City and Philadelphia. The disguises on the weaponry are incredibly cursory, for any daring federal agent patrolling those cities has long since learned to avoid the docks or pay the price. Doubtless, many suspect, but no one can know.

And it’s not just foreign support that sees the Red Guards and other militias better-equipped than ever before. The mighty factories of America churn day and night, and now many of them churn for the benefit of the workers, including their defenders. By and large that means rifles and bullets rather than anything more impressive, but now it is not inconceivable for every member of the Red Guards and associated forces to have a good rifle and a surplus of ammunition.

Of course, that’s no good to anyone if they don’t know how to use the weaponry. Butler’s camps have gone through hundreds of men and more than a few women, but distance and secrecy have kept them constrained to a small size. And so the majority of their staff is sent out, leaving only a skeleton crew behind to keep the camps running.

And instead, the trainers go to the Guards instead of the other way around. Hard-eyed men in red armbands appear across the nation, from California to the Carolinas, joining local paramilitaries and putting the would-be warriors in them to the test. Some of them have peculiarly foreign accents, but most people are wise enough to dismiss that, and it’s not like the claims of you being a puppet of foreign powers can get any more hysterical.

The endless, slow increase in the skill and discipline of the “half-trained, all-mad Red Rabble” that the Guards are mocked as continues.

Through bloody experience and shouted lessons, they get better. But not every lesson can be taught so casually. Rifle ranges spring up across the country, many featuring attached “obstacle courses” and “classrooms,” all purely for the entertainment of paying customers and the attainment of the American Dream.

Many of these ranges see harassment and some are vandalized, but they serve their purpose and the slaves of capital cannot muster the strength to break them. BOI agents may seek warrants, but no judge who values his life will grant one. Retired Policemen’s Clubs and Citizen Defense Forces may try to start petty protests, but they are too cowardly and weak to do more.

And so the crack of hundreds of rifles echoes around the nation, and the confidence of the Red Guards gets just a little bit higher.


Report from Charles Schenck: 2 Influence on Infiltrate the Army, 29+12+10=51​

While Schenck saw impressive results with his effort at infiltrating workplaces that have failed to be turned over to their workers, the lion’s share of his attention was on getting agents into the army.

The federal military is an immense force of perhaps eight hundred thousand men between the many branches, to say nothing of the paramilitaries, militias, police forces, National Guards, and other such groups who will doubtless align with the so-called legitimate government. They maintain an overwhelming advantage in firepower, having access to great stockpiles of artillery, hundreds of tanks and armored cars, a small but powerful air force, and the great guns of the fleet.

But you are confident that it’s a brittle strength. The officers are doubtless universally opposed to the liberation of America, but there are doubts in the rank and file, doubts that can be exploited. And with their continuing expansion, there are ample opportunities for agents to make their way in.

They sign up at recruiting stations that only open in the dead of night on Long Island, they make their way across state borders amongst bands of refugees, they flee to the isolated bases scattered across the Red Belt and put their name on the dotted line.

And then they begin to watch, and wait, and look for opportunities.

Unfortunately, MacArthur has ample funding and his subordinates seem aware of the possibility of infiltration. Those who are recruited together do not serve together, and they are scattered across the nation, with all manner of careful pressures applied on would-be recruits to make sure they are loyal.

Some are caught, and the punishments for “subversion” are barbaric.

But some does not mean all.


Report from Ben Stevens: 1 Influence on Send Union Organizers to Kansas, 86+10=96+10 = 106, 1 Influence on Send Union Organizers to Kansas Militias, 99+20=119​

Ben Stevens, leading a band of Red Grange organizers and several members of agrarian militias such as the Green Brigades and the Grange Guards, departs early in the month for Kansas.

They find an exhausted, demoralized state. Minutemen and Red Guards are common, but they tend to favor defensive actions. The boldest and bravest of them have been shattered by the war machine of MacArthur, and what remains is what the uncharitable might call the cowards. Stevens emphasizes that he does not feel that way, but some of the other reports you get by way of Schenck suggest he is being...overly optimistic.

But nevertheless, he and his allies crisscross the state, whipping up anger at the government and enthusiasm for change.

Well-developed and practiced tactics are put to use, pushing even the most moderate and temperate individuals into demanding more and more even as they come to view the government as less and less. Fiery references to the American Revolution and the Civil War fill Steven’s speeches, along with denunciations of the terror of bankers, land speculators, and other such urban, parasitic individuals.

Meanwhile, the many poor farmhands of the state, a fair portion of whom were prosperous yeomen in their own right just a few years ago, find rifles pushed into their hands as militia leaders encourage them to take back what is rightfully theirs. Existing leftist groups are pushed to join them, and the scattered sound of gunfire returns to the dusty, ruined Kansas cornfields.

Embryonic organizations established by local individuals are seized upon and pulled to the more socialist-leaning positions, while existing chapters of unions find their coffers flooded with wealth and their ranks buoyed by expertise. Lifted by the sudden tide of support, the ranks of the SPA swell, even at the expense of the AFP.

Despite that, the military power in the state remains overwhelmingly conservative. Even so, Stevens is hopeful that further outreach will see the balance tilting in favor of the workers.



Report from the State Legislative Committee and some SPA Cadres: 3 Influence on Judicial Replacement, 70+12+47=129, 71+0=71​

Despite howls of outrage from the remaining institutions of conservative media, many states have begun working to make a series of massive amendments to their constitutions.

It’s a project that will take long hours as politicians debate and argue and take in the input of their voters, for no change to the constitution of even individual states can be made lightly, especially since the nature of such affairs allows conservative minority positions to gain significant power.

But no matter how strong they are, those who champion the workers are stronger. The momentum is with you, the wind is in your sails. Corrupt, craven, capitalists are reduced to dependence on socialists, forcing them to come to you and your allies, hat in hand, begging for concessions in exchange for their acquiescence.

It is a delicious feeling.

The constitutional process grinds on, obstacle after obstacle being removed.

Soon, states across the nation will have democratized their courts.

Report from the State Legislative Committee: 1 Influence on Sewer Socialism, 21+5=26​

While the changes to state constitutions are important, they are not the only business many governments do. Indeed, the revitalization of infrastructure is seen by many as more important than making structural changes to the courts, especially as reactionary judges begin to slowly retire, allowing them to be replaced by better individuals more conscious of their duty to the working class.

Even with the “sewer socialism” bills being given greater attention, the expense is enough that many hesitate, instead hoping to leave it to EcPlanCom to repair the rails and sewers and roads. However, a relatively minimal budget is allocated to the repairs and revitalizations, and then the many state representatives return their attentions to the constitutional conventions.


Report from Norman Thomas: 2 Influence on Peel Them Off, 68+22+10=100, 2 Influence on Write the Bigger Bill, 44+80+17=141​

Norman spends much of his time this month in Beltway clubs and smokey rooms, speaking with every politician who will hear him. Many outright refuse to spend any time at all with one of the socialists who so humiliatingly abused them, but others are wiser, and they are desperate for any sort of victory they can gain.

Though time and again he is rebuffed, Norman does make some ties with elected officials and staffers who could be useful. Segments of Farmer-Labor who previously found collaborating with socialists to be a bridge too far begin considering joining your reformist flank, while Floyd Olson and George Norris spend hours every day lobbying for a temporary alignment among the remaining Progressives and reformist members of the main parties. Figures like Upton Sinclair, Walter Lippmann, and Henry Wallace are recruited into serving as go-betweens and ambassadors, hinting at the grand, entirely peaceful plans the SPA has for the future of the republic.

Some allow themselves to be persuaded. And you do have something excellent to do the persuading with. Late one night, Norman Thomas knocks on your door.

The bill is at last finished. It is incredibly long and detailed, with sections covering every topic from taxation to voting reform. It contains new laws on working conditions for every industry from agriculture to zookeeping, it mandates high minimum wages pegged to inflation, it categorically forbids the use of force to break strikes, it bans racial, sexual, religious, and ethnic discrimination, giving teeth to every enforcement agency it creates. It is a lethal weapon against the power of corporations and capitalists, it is the dream of so many reformists and progressives.

To you, it is nothing more than a weapon, a bomb to throw amongst the ranks of your political enemies, a trigger to pull to send them into disarray. The only question is when it should be thrown.

Norman advocates for introducing it immediately, in the hopes of maximizing electoral success and giving immediate relief to the many suffering across the nation. Schenck, meanwhile, thinks it would be best to hold off until after the election, with the aim of using the likely failure of the bill to pass as a hammer to the support of the government. Several other politicians of a more cynical bent think releasing it in October and using it to whip up fervor for the election might be the best strategy.

It is your choice, in the end.

[] [BILL] Release it immediately, in the hopes of it getting passed before the election
[] [BILL] Release it in October, in the hopes of using it to drive those neutral on you into your camp for the election.
[] [BILL] Release it after the election, in the hopes of the probable failures of the bill damaging the government’s support and legitimacy.


Report from the Propaganda Committee: 1 Influence on Commission for Culture, 18+15=33, 1 Influence on Office of Communication, 66+15=81, 1 Influence on Committee of Education, 64+15=79, 1 Influence on Local Autonomy Programs, 8+35=43, 2 Influence on Target the Populists, 82+32+20=134​

The concept of the Commission for Culture has attracted a great deal of interest from many. Artists hope to use it to sponsor their latest ideas, musicians hope to spread song and dance, theoreticians debate the methods of creating a worker’s culture uncorrupted by bourgeoisie norms (they get ignored). Over two dozen suggestions are sent in, getting steadily filtered away by the Propaganda Committee and Flora. Finally, a few are left at your desk.

The Commission for Culture will be a co-equal body required to cooperate and share resources with the Propaganda Committee. Really, they will effectively be the same organization. (You may vote for as many as you like. Each will require investing 1 Influence, and will add 2 Influence to the Propaganda Committee, as well as modifying their bonuses.)

[] [CULTURE] Dorothea Lange is a photographer and revolutionary. Uninterested in artistic merit, she focuses on using cultural means to enact social and economic change, citing her efforts as part of several rural propaganda-centered pushes as proof of her ideas.
[] [CULTURE] Carl Hoeckner is an artist descended from a long line of artists. He is a proponent of the use of art to change the way people think. He lobbied for America to remain neutral during the Weltkrieg out of pacifist beliefs, but he has begun radicalizing rapidly as the Long Depression takes its toll.
[] [CULTURE] Rockwell Kent is a painter, writer, and lover of nature. Temperate and even-keeled by nature, he still recognizes that socialism is the only way forward for America.
[] [CULTURE] Thomas Mooney was one of the many men and women rescued from unjust imprisonment by the California Revolutionary Front, an affiliate of the Red Army Faction. Before his arrest and after his escape, he wrote and edited many newspapers and magazines, and recently published several short stories about workers in a nameless city struggling against their bosses. Schenck admires his writing, while he admires Schenck.
[] [CULTURE] Woody Guthrie is a moderately well-known songwriter and singer. Wandering from Oklahoma to California then to New York, he wrote songs and held performances about the lives of working-class individuals, especially farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers.

Meanwhile, the Office of Communication is formed, half out of bureaucrats and paper-pushers, half of men and women who have operated the devices they will be managing and discussing. Despite some initial cultural clashes, they get along smoothly enough, and Julia O'Connor, a former leader of the Boston Telephone Operator’s Union is quickly elected as Office Chair. Hopefully, some order can be wrought out of the rather chaotic communication systems of America.

They have plans, and are already coordinating with ComRevDef and EcPlanComm and the dozens of other relevant CAS departments to standardize communication practices, better integrate separate planning commissions, create ciphers, and perform a dozen other tasks...and doubtless trade plenty of favors to make it all get done smoothly.

[] [COMM] Let them handle things themselves. No investment required, will have 1 Influence.
[] [COMM] Provide some backing to smooth their path. 1 Influence invested, will have 2 Influence.
[] [COMM] The radio and telegraph will be vital, and the Office has your full confidence. 2 Influence invested, will have 4 Influence.

The final new committee created this month is the vitally important Committee of Education. Responsible for transforming the way children are taught and correcting the many failings of the American school system, their task will have echoes that will last for generations. It is for perhaps that reason that many of the more conservative elements of the CAS are determinedly working to fill the Committee with their allies. John Brophy is lobbying to be made its head, and there is no reason to disqualify him on competence. Dorothy Healey is another, far more radical option, supported by Kate Sadler. She has spent several years as a teacher for the SPA and similarly has unquestionable competence. Backing either, especially Healey will result in scandal, but fortunately, there is a compromise option available: the aged, devout J. Stitt Wilson, a pastor, lecturer, and writer who is beloved by many. Or you could buy yourself time...

[] [EDU] Accept Brophy. He has the background and the skills to be good at his job, even if he is more socially conservative than many would prefer. His backing is immense, and he has had ample time to acquire favors and political capital. He aims to preserve local influences in education and re-develop the existing school system. He also wants to expand it to better support disadvantaged areas. (Minor losses of support from socially radical factions, the Education Committee will have 3 Influence, significant gains in support from socially conservative factions, temporary bonuses, the Education Committee will have +10 to its actions)
[] [EDU] Push for Healey. Although she is equally skilled, her gender works against her, and the more radical members of the CAS have been caught off guard. She wants to completely transform the structure of school and learning using the latest in education science. She also hopes to make the education system easier for students and teachers. (Major losses of support from socially conservative factions, the Education Committee will have 2 Influence, minor gains in support from socially radical factions, the Education Committee will have +10 to its actions)
[] [EDU] Offer Wilson. J. Stitt Wilson, despite his age, is respected by many. He has a reputation as a fairly moderate man and strong personal connections among many factions, as well as some experience teaching, making him an ideal compromise candidate. He is primarily interested in better-supporting students through the school system and making education less exhausting and abusive. (the Education Committee will have 3 Influence, minor gains in support from all factions, the Education Committee will have +2 to its actions)
[] [EDU] Stall for time. This obviously isn’t a decision to be made in haste, it would be wise for people to spend some time in careful consideration on the duties and makeup of the Committee. It’s a risky maneuver, but the delay will allow you to rally support. (The action will continue for a month. Failure will have severe political consequences, success will result in better options)

The Committee also puts its soft power to use, lobbying mayors and city councils across the country in a grand campaign to see cultural autonomy granted. Speech, song, and small, organized protests are used to leverage the point, and some success is had. Several Midwest German enclaves have their right to have German signage and studies enshrined in law, while some of the hodge-podge neighborhoods in the Atlantic Seaboard cities see the same privileges granted to the ethnic groups that immigrated to them.

Several majority-black areas are also granted the right to teach their own unique dialects. Meanwhile, multiple projects to preserve, protect, and revive various cultural practices begin, including a number about creating a unified Appalachian culture in central Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky.

All this and more is accomplished by the Propaganda Committee, who have worked tirelessly throughout the month, cooperating with dozens of different groups, spending far more than eight hours a day working. But none of it was their priority.

No, that was attacking the National Popular Front for Constitutional Protection, lambasting and shaming them as much as possible. Speeches on the radio, posters on the wall, headlines on the front page, all were used to attack them. Lurid tales described how they raped, slaughtered, and looted their way across whatever unfortunate town had to play host to the armed maniacs, while testimony of their many victims was used to shame and disgrace their supporters.

Their views were held up and examined from every direction and then torn apart as insane incoherencies, the idiotic foibles of their leadership is publicized for mockery, and their disgraceful hypocrisies are emphasized.

Information about how they have been funded and supported by various capitalists is publicized and used as a pretext to attack them, while remnants of their support in SPA-dominated areas such as Black Legion camps in Indiana are attacked, their presence used as further proof of the dangers of the National Popular Front.

“They are a threat, a great and evil enemy,” the spokespeople of socialism proclaim, “but one we shall overcome. Rally comrades, and we’ll defeat them!”

And people do rally. Many across the nation gather around to condemn the actions of the Popular Front, and demands that they be destroyed echo from Capitol Hill. Olson, Roosevelt, Norris, and more all have lobbied for laws restricting them, demanding action from Hoover and the BOI.

And across the Red Belt, those who were considering joining such groups reconsider. Some out of fear, some out of courage, some for reasons they don’t even know.

Report from the SPA Cadres: 1 Influence on Judicial Reform, 24+0=24+20=44, 1 Influence on The Democratic Standard, 90+5=95​

The American judicial system is a legal system, not a justice system, everyone can agree on that. How to fix that is a far more contentious topic. Arguments rage for many days as public debates are held, with many radio stations sponsoring interviews and discussions on the topic and elected officials holding townhalls to gauge the attitudes of their voters.

Despite many expressing concerns of inherent bias and injustice in the bones of the court system, the popular position appears to be that relatively few tweaks are needed.

The first, and most well-liked, is a proposal that all lawyers are required to serve as public defenders for a limited number of cases each year, selected through lottery.

The second common provision is that all judicial positions be made electable, with instant recall.

The third is that courtroom procedures are simplified to emphasize the equality of all and make it easier for people to make their own cases.

There is a fourth reform proposed...

[] [JUDICIAL] Modifications to jury selection to help ensure that it is truly of the defendant’s peers.
[] [JUDICIAL] The addition of greater popular participation in the judicial process
[] [JUDICIAL] Mandating that judges also serve as public defenders as a part-time role
[] [JUDICIAL] Requiring more public scrutiny of the affairs of lawyers and judges to ensure they are not taking bribes.

Even as the debate on the judicial system rages, other topics of discussion find a solid, united front. Democracy is good, the limitation of democracy is bad. The vast majority of the SPA and the Congress of American Syndicates agree. And all agree that the fundamental structure of the United States is based around limiting that democracy. Restrictions on the franchise are mocked, the elitist nature of the Senate is condemned, the backroom maneuverings that create gerrymandered districts are held up for ridicule. And most significantly for the millions of Americans who had their votes effectively disregarded, the Electoral College is attacked.

It is held up as a profound example of how the revolutionary spirit of 1776 was lost. And the people of the country demand its removal.

Just as they make many, many more demands, for far-reaching transformations of the state: for voting to become a national holiday, for representatives to be bound to the will of the voters, for instant recall, for referendum. It’s spoken of enough to reach the halls of the Capitol, where blind fools attempt to turn back the tide with speeches about the dangers of populism.

They are not answered, they are not mocked, they are not shouted down. They are ignored.



Report from the Red Army Faction: Primary Affairs, 66+5 = 71, Local Class War in the Black Belt, 48+5 = 53​

A great deal of information is gathered regarding the upcoming elections, as Red Army Faction affiliates and Schenck’s informants and published newspapers provide ample opportunities to learn about the results of primaries across the nation.

Firstly, the more local governments tend to have the most reactionary, extreme candidates win their primaries. Secondly, the most reformist candidates are frequently shut out of the elections and turn to the Progressives and Farmer-Labor, leaving the Democrats and Republicans likely to be full of men and women who insist that minor reforms at best are needed. It looks like the backroom bosses of the two mainstream parties have utterly destroyed their chances at being influential in the future election.

Meanwhile, you can expect to have a wide variety of reactionaries running for mayor, sheriff, and other such offices.

And they have begun doing so in the Black Belt. Midway through the month, gunfire echoes across two dozen cities in the South. The Montgomery City Hall catches on fire, an immense smokey column rising up across the dawn sky. Newspaper offices, homes, churches, nowhere is safe from the savage and sudden attacks as bombs and bullets are used to express the displeasure of the Red Army Faction.

Radio stations are seized, messages of revolution and threats of terror are broadcast even as the attempts of police to reclaim them can be heard in the background. KKK meetings are interrupted with explosives. Pastors who preach hate and reaction are executed in the middle of church services before the attackers turn their guns on those who dared come to hear such messages.

Retaliation is swift and bloody, but the Klan and Protectors are not terrorizing hapless, helpless sharecroppers anymore. The black communities and their white allies are alert, armed, and determined to make a fight out of it. Their desperate, determined struggles are the drums in this concert of violence - constant, steady, perpetual.

Not every attack is a success, and not every attempt sees the attackers escape. Many times, bombs are discovered before they detonate or bodyguards and private security gun down the would-be assassins.

But many is not all. Dozens of reactionaries are dead by the end of the month. Considering the number of others who died, the horrific violence across the South that has been ignited again, and the damage this has done to your reputation...you aren’t sure if it’s worth it.
 

notbirdofprey

Active member
Pronouns
He/him
Bill hadn’t eaten yet today. His stomach growled as he sat in the corner of the half-empty car, crates piled haphazardly, occasionally sliding back and forth as the train rocked. He had been on the road for months, ever since..he started counting out loud.

“One.”

He awoke in the dead of night, confused and dazed, his wife sleeping peacefully beside him.

“Two.”

Someone laughed. “Should have paid what you owed!” someone else shouted.

“Three.”

Glass broke. Then he heard the hungry crackling.

He hung his head and began to cry. Time passed. The train stopped. He scurried out of the car and found a place to hide, behind a pile of rusting rails. The workers didn’t notice.

He took out some bread and hastily devoured it. For three months now, he had been wandering the rails, looking for purpose, breaking down like a child every time...again, he began counting out loud.

But now he had a purpose. Now he had a cause. His hand slid into his jacket, touching the cool metal of the weapon he had been given. He was going to kill a man. And then if he was lucky, he would kill another. And weaken the whole monstrosity of theft and cruelty that had consumed half the country. His revenge awaited him in Toledo.


Samson kept his head low. The police didn’t take kindly to men like him, and the local Red Guards weren’t much better. From the things people said, half the syndies were just like him, but they didn’t seem to care much about the ones like him. So he stayed away when he could, and smiled and said “yes sir” when he couldn’t, and did his best not to flinch. Flinching didn’t help.

Luck was with him tonight, or perhaps something else. Swiftly, he directed a prayer to the sky. It was Friday evening and he had things to do. Making his way up to the front of the room, he coughed and saw a great many eyes turn his way. He felt his cheeks redden under the haughty stares of the old ladies who had been here longer than he had been alive, under the dark looks of the scattered young men who spent their days working at the textile mill or the Boston docks, and under the intrigued, curious gaze of someone he didn’t dare admit fondness for. “I know you are wondering why I am here tonight instead of R...”
The door slammed open, cutting him off. Inside came a band of fierce, angry men. “We’ve left this den of Rothschilds alone long enough,” came a voice.

Their leader stepped forwards. “Listen up kikes. I know some of you are good and red, so you get a chance. Pick your side now, and if you choose right we won’t run you out to Canada to join your masters.”

Samson swallowed, and wondered if he would even get to choose.

Judge Smith was a wreck of a man now. His arm had been so badly shattered the doctors had to amputate it, he needed to hold a cane with his other one, and there were days his chest ached so badly he could barely breathe. After the riot that had nearly cost him his life, he had been forced to leave Chicago for safer territory. Though he still technically was a judge, he hadn’t entered a courtroom in years, and he likely never would again.

All for being a bit concerned about how fast things were going, while he fed the ungrateful masses from his own pockets. His eyes narrowed as the bland man in a grey suit and a bowler hat sat opposite from him at the table.

“I don’t recall inviting you to sit with me,” he gasped out.

The man took his hat off and smiled. “Apologies, I am Mr. Smith, I happened to recognize you and wished to express my apologies. I’m from Chicago too...and I expect we are here for similar reasons.”

The judge frowned. “Do I need to ask the staff here to escort you out?”

Mr. Smith spoke like he hadn’t heard a word Judge Smith said. “We have similar interests too. I represent some people very interested in spiking a few red wheels, and we have the resources to do so, and to ensure your safety in the process.”

He took out a business card from inside his jacket and slid it over. “Think it over.”

Rumors and News
Every single day, it seems like the whole nation is just a little bit more broken. Reports pour in of violence and bloodshed. Food continues to be just a bit harder to come by than it should, and soup kitchens and food pantries sometimes have to stretch things a bit to keep everyone fed. It’s especially bad as it’s a cold month, with great gusts of wind blowing down from the north and cutting through anyone who is out walking. With the cold and the occasional shortage of food comes increasing danger of disease. Influenza and tuberculosis in particular scourge many cities on the Eastern Seaboard, while many suffer from polio in Los Angeles.

Quarantines and other measures are rapidly enforced, to the extent of you being forcibly halted on the campaign trail, and the outbreaks seem unlikely to spread much. Even with fewer doctors and nurses than normal, all that can be done to combat the diseases is.

All, except for ending the protests and paramilitary clashes that have defined American life for so many long months. They rage across the country, from Maine to Florida, from Long Island to Alcatraz Island, growing in fury and savagery. Aside from the ordinary street fights and marches, bombings and assasinations have increased in frequency. The step up in security could not have come at a better time, but even so it is barely enough. In some cases, it is not enough.

Kentucky in particular is rocked by a campaign of bombings and other attacks, with party offices being frequent victims. Explosives are mailed to them, some small enough to fit into envelopes, some large enough to shatter buildings. But such cowardly tactics are not the only things reactionaries use. While the Popular Front has little support left in Kentucky after their humiliations and in-fighting in August, many of their members have simply changed the name of the organization they belong to and carried on with the slaughters. Frankfurt is filled with street-fighting as red flags wave from half the city and the state capitol is turned into a fortified outpost for militias and police forces.

The Black Belt sees similarly savage fighting, with the constant battles, attacks, and retaliatory strikes resulting in continued floods of refugees to and from various sections. While some parts, especially in the Carolinas, are relatively peaceful and stable, there are areas in Mississippi and Alabama that are effectively denuded of one group or another. And all the while, the Red Army Faction keeps up their campaign, determinedly striking down enemies of socialism with bombs and bullets, targeting them no matter where they are or who they are with. Talmadge comes within inches of death multiple times, while William Joseph Simmons, head of a splinter of the KKK, and his bodyguards are beaten, nailed to crosses, and then burned. You are not certain if they were killed before that.

Washington, D.C. is only slightly calmer. The truce between Minutemen and Red Guards is at its weakest here, with both paramilitaries having accumulated lengthy lists of grudges against each other, but they still demonstrate admirable solidarity as they clash with police and rival forces on a daily basis, the riots lasting for days at a time before one fades, only for a fresh one to rise in some other part of the city in response to another indignity. The terror of the mob’s justice, of justice at the hands of abused and oppressed is weighing heavily on many government officials and capitalist collaborators. Every day, more Marines, police, loyal units of National Guards, and even military cadets (or so rumor has it) are called in, and parts of the city are being effectively fortified.

Even in the heartlands of the SPA - West Virginia and Ohio, Chicago and New York City - there is unrest. The presence of reactionary militias and “protest groups” continues to grow, as they rally around a dozen different banners - private property, civil liberty, and American exceptionalism being the three most popular. Another common attitude was that “their” women must be protected from syndicalism and it’s dangers. While party newspapers have instituted a gag rule to suffocate these groups and Red Guards and police cooperate to shatter their rallies and marches, many wish to see harsher stances taken on them, fearing reactionary infiltration and hidden cells of Black Legionnaires..

Only in Kansas is there something resembling peace. Rival militias are gathering and assembling across the state, and they frequently have small skirmishes, but there are no grand battles. Even so, various municipalities and neighborhoods fall deeper into the grip of various factions, and the lines get drawn sharper.

That’s true across the country. Even with the continuing growth of your popular support in cities and small towns and rural areas, the nation is growing more and more divided by the day. Socialists and syndicalists are taking refuge from the oppressive American regime, while capitalists and reactionaries flee justice. No one has said the words “civil war” yet, but they are at the base of many tongues.

And there are so many battles that make them slide forward until those words on the very tip.

One famous incident that became widely publicized was when a team of Red Guards and Minutemen attacked a Black Legion training camp, opening their attack with a mortar bombardment and then gunning down many enemies before retreating. Retaliation came immediately, squadrons of police marching along Black Legion comrades, but before they could do anything, federal agents and other police attempted to halt them. The ensuing firefight was interrupted by the Red Guards and Minutemen attacking both groups, leading to a confusing firefight with rather chaotic media coverage and a series of vicious retaliatory battles. The Chicago Tribune trumpeted it as proof of the treachery of syndicalism, the New York Worker proclaimed it evidence of the collusion between the government and national populists, the New Orleans Daily described in great detail the bravery of the Minutemen and their Red Guard allies.

Another was the Los Angeles Purge, where Chinese and Mexican immigrants, among others, became suspicious of the quarantine measures, believing them an attempt to prevent unions and Share Our Wealth clubs from meeting and organizing. In protest, they staged a massive march, which several leaders in the police allowed on the grounds that it was stated to be peaceful. Those leaders were immediately fired and arrested, while other police units, supported by multiple paramilitaries, rushed to stop the march by any means necessary. Chaotic orders and deliberate provocation (according to some) and the savage cruelty of the police (according to others) led to a portion of the march being isolated, surrounded, abused, and attacked with chemical weaponry before being hauled off to “quarantine camps.”

While lawyers fought valiantly in the Los Angeles courtrooms to free them, others took a more direct approach, inspired by various previous cases of direct action. Police and others were kidnapped and held hostage unless the imprisoned were released. The standoff ended after a tense, bloody week full of clashes throughout the streets, but various politicians and other figures have made it clear they will not tolerate further chaos from Los Angeles, blaming the unrest on the incompetence of the mayor and accusing him and Creel of deliberately fermenting chaos.

But these are only the most prominent incidents of violence. In every state there is bloodshed, sometimes for a cause, sometimes for simple gain.

Or, as it is in many cases, mad attempts at destroying the worker’s movement. But the Socialist Party of America goes from strength to strength no matter their efforts. Many are optimistic about the upcoming elections, seeing them as the means of inducing reform or a prelude to revolution. The Red Guards and various other proletarian defense organizations are capable of crushing any resistance, no matter the efforts of Father Coughlin, even if there are some unfortunate excesses in the process. Those responsible are disciplined for their misbehavior and the matter is settled.

Meanwhile, propaganda and co-opting has led to a steady decrease in support for various reformist parties, and many of their voters will likely instead be casting their support for the most moderate members of the SPA, lacking trust in any program that is focused primarily on the government and disturbed by the publicized atrocities.

Inside the offices of the party and the Congress of American Syndicates, matters are beginning to change. Several highly corrupt individuals have been removed from power after investigations, and their replacements have pledged to maintain the integrity and dignity of being a representative for the people. But what truly catches people’s attention is a maneuver led by Emma Goldman, Kate Sadler, and Dorothy Headley, demanding greater progress on gender equality from the Congress and pushing for several reforms which are hastily adopted after several stirring speeches. Delegates from the Red Grange in particular stand in support of such reforms, noting that women have had vital and equal roles in agriculture since the “days of the Indian” as one member put it. This all was spurred by a minor controversy in which some of the reactionaries visited by concerned community members checking on their sanity were able to publicize claims that those Community Safety Groups and such were harassing them. As a result, many towns and cities restricted their powers and increased oversight due to the outcry, but more significant, broader reforms were made and a resolution to increase support for victimized women was passed, with signficant funding. The matter has largely been considered settled.

A few missives from Long’s functionaries have also been delivered, discussing the logistics of countering federal interference in California elections, with a particular eye on the likelihood of chicanery involving the voter registration of the farmworkers.

You have also heard plenty from Long’s party, if not the man himself. The Longist political machine is entrenching itself everywhere it can, with rival candidates in Louisiana, Arkansas, and parts of several other states being harassed and bullied into standing down, barring a few token opposition candidates. He is also greatly expanding his efforts to reach out to various religious groups, specifically denouncing religious persecution in speeches attacking the National Popular Front. The man’s own agitators frequently begin attending churches and synagogues everywhere they can do so safely, only avoiding select red states to spend time at services and make conversations with rabbis and pastors.

The federal government, meanwhile, continues to distinguish itself with nothing more than violent brutality as its soldiers and agents attack many, intervening in riots and firefights across the country, rarely managing to do more than make enemies. Despite their many embarrassments, they have managed to achieve some successes in retaining control and have managed to continue developing industry in scattered segments of the country, often working in tandem with business owners to remove factories from areas with “questionable security.” Even these efforts do little for them, as these factories are frequently infiltrated already, with Schenck’s men hard at work making contacts and smuggling out information, including several planned schemes to recreate the pink unions.

The Reformist Coalition, meanwhile, continues to falter. Norman’s efforts in Washington have led to many members growing increasingly dissatisfied with what they are beginning to see as a failed path, and are outright threatening to join the SPA if Olson doesn’t achieve some sort of victory. The man’s negotiations with the many factions he must appease are increasingly fraught, and he himself is increasingly haggard, with Norris and Roosevelt trying to handle the Republicans for him and Wagner and Steagall managing the Democrats. But what was once united is continuing to divide, and conservatives are increasingly concerned that it is such radicals that gave syndicalism the space it needed.

The National Popular Front continues their skirmishes throughout the nation, serving as the eager hounds of capitalism. Slowly, they begin to reform damaged ties, mainly by blaming the assasination and in-fighting on Jews, and syndicalists, debased whites, and other such nonsense.

From Mexico comes word of successful strikes and revolts against the capitalists governments of the south, with an attempted coup in Chile being defeated, native villages being defended, and revolutionaries organizing throughout Central America. Meanwhile, Zapata continues his efforts at bringing the north of the country to heel, sending forth several generals with carefully-selected troops and advisors to defeat the remaining insurgents.

From Germany comes an utter lack of interest from the Kaiser, although several companies do begin investing in American industry.

From Canada comes the best and worst news of all. Though the Canadian labor movement continues to begin revitalizing itself, with state-controlled unions beginning to break free of government control and organizers reaching out to the rural populations of the Canadian Prairie, the government has looked on this and the chaos in America with alarm and begun expanding their military and policing forces, including the Mounties, preparing to crush any revolution before it begins.

In the final piece of news, the Red Army Faction intends to continue their war in the Black Belt, despite the severe losses they have taken.


Plans from Subordinates
The Coordination Committee will be running union registration and voter registration drives everywhere it’s feasible.

The State Legislative Committee will be continuing their efforts to create constitutional amendments surrounding the legal system and to improve the infrastructure across the country.

Norman Thomas will be continuing to peel off reformist politicians and will be making the failings of the government the center of attention on Capitol Hill

Smedley Butler will be continuing to arm and equip the Red Guards, but he will also begin the long, slow process of further improving their discipline.

Charles Schenk will be continuing his efforts to infiltrate the army and follow up on his successes in infiltrating various factories by placing more agents.

Ben Stevens will be leading efforts in further organizing people, targeting Oklahoma farmworkers and ranchhands in particular

The Propaganda Committee, an immense and powerful organization, will be encouraging the better use of public spaces, investing in acquiring actors, directors, and other personnel and equipment for films, encouraging and sponsoring dances, concerts, and other activities, creating anti-capitalist propaganda, reaching out to the middle classes, and attempting to reassure the concerned and frightened.

Ben Little will be continuing to make sure everyone is clothed properly for the coming winter.

The Office of Communications will begin working to coordinate with EcPlanComm and improve communication infrastructure.

The Committee for Education will start with an overhaul of the curriculum and discussing reforms to teaching practices.

The SPA Cadres will be continuing their efforts on judicial reform and clothing distribution, as well as beginning broad agitating efforts across the country.

EcPlanComm’s major priority is implementing the changes to safety standards they determined are desirable based on the democratic input of workers, but they will also be improving infrastructure, increasing mining, and expanding the production of construction and digging equipment.

You have 12 Influence and 0 Gravitas total. You have 1 temporary Influence for Union actions. 0 Gravitas and 1 Influence are committed to ongoing actions. You are currently taking The Union Forever!

+10 to the next 1 rural organization or agitations action. +10 to the next 4 Union actions.


California is one of the largest states in America, with an enormous population, a powerful industrial base, and a vast agricultural heartland. It also features some of the most powerful opposition to the workers’ movements, thanks to endless bombardments of propaganda, foreign support from many parties, and the judicious use of force. But the workers there are nevertheless ripe for organization...and an election is coming up. Make major gains in popular and political support in the Golden State. (From the Parliamentarians, the Center, the Orthodox, the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster’s Union. ++ Support from the ASA, the AFL-CIO, and the Teamster’s Union, ++ Relations with the Parliamentarians, the Center, and the Orthodox, +2 temporary Influence if completed.)

The investigation revealed a far more serious presence of reactionaries in nearly every city and town than previously believed. Often built around church groups and other social institutions, they could serve as a potential nucleus for unrest, sabotage, counterrevolution, and potentially a white terror. All who are aware of this are in agreement: one way or another, this must be dealt with as soon as possible. As violence cascades throughout Kentucky and the South, many advocate for meteing out the treatment reactionaries favor so to their kindred in the Red Belt. (Bonus to CAS support for using harsh methods, penalties for using conciliatory methods. ++support from all CAS factions when completed. Minor losses of support in the CAS if the reactionaries cause problems until then.)

The American education system was carefully designed to serve the will of the capitalists as part of their effort to ensure their dominance. From deliberately enforced inequality to classroom structures designed to make children acquiesce to the abuses of capitalism, no portion of it was left unscathed. We shall create an education system with higher ideals, for adults and children alike. Accurate history and economic science will be taught alongside art and music and math, and none shall be denied any knowledge. All it needs is to be built. Which will hopefully commence soon. Start 1 education-related actions within 6 months. (+Support from the AFL-CIO, ++ support from the IWW MM, slight increase in popular support if completed. --support from the IWW MM if failed.)

One matter that is being debated is policing. While the cops are often reactionary, they have largely been broken of their power across the Steel Belt and turned into tools of the working class. And they have performed admirably in that role. However, there has been a noticeable rise in unrest and criminal activity in many areas fueled by the many ills of capitalist society, especially one undergoing such a crisis, and it is only to get worse before it gets better. As such, there has been a moderate rise in popularity for programs that will improve the effectiveness of police while preventing them from becoming the lackeys of capitalists once more. Complete policing reforms within 2 months. (++Support from the ASA, the IWW MM, and the Teamster’s Union, slight increase in popular support if completed.)

Too much has been done too fast. Mobs are forming across the steel belt, protesting our attempts to steal their wives and daughters, panicking about what a threat we are to the social order. We are upending everything they have ever known, and they are understandably scared. So as much as it might gall to accept such reactionary demands, we must acknowledge that we have reached a temporary limit. Until the small-minded people and their lingering reactionary instincts are soothed and calmed, we need to take a step back and focus on other things. Avoid making further extreme social reforms for at least 1? month, possibly less or more depending on the circumstances. (Moderate losses of popular support you will be blamed for if failed.)

You are being accused of overbearing, excessive power by many who fear you becoming a Napoleon or some other form of tyrant. However, they also seem to recognize that despite your immense popularity, despite the dedicated support of the Red Guards, despite your influence...you do not desire such a thing. Even so, they are cautious enough to push you to decentralize power a little, to add a few offices that will be staffed by their supporters and help them influence the way things happen. Spend a net total of 3 Influence on new subordinates within 2 months. (From the Syndicalists, the IWW MA, and the IWW MM. ++Support from both factions of the IWW, ++Relations with the Syndicalists, all Union and Militant actions have a temporarily reduced DC, -Support with the TUUL, the ASA, and the Red Grange, -Relations with the Orthodox if completed. +++Support from the TUUL, the ASA, and the Red Grange, +++Relations with the Orthodox, --Support from both factions of the IWW, ---Relations with the Syndicalists if failed.)


Hold a Rally: It’s a classic for every political party for a reason. There’s nothing quite like a grand rally with banners waving and people cheering to make you seem unstoppable and to gather more support. The demonstration of the energy and might of the working class will have the capitalists shaking in their boots. It is a message to your supporters as well, that all the power of the SPA stands behind them. Here is what it says: Let your foes try and stop you. They will be ground under your heel. Cost: 1 Resources and a risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/50/85/120. Results: Variable change in support, chance of intimidating your enemies. Can synergize with other actions.

Wave the Red Banner: The Red Banner is not the only SPA-affiliated or favoring publication, but it is the only one produced by the Party itself. And it is immensely popular. New ones go out constantly, but you could write an article of your own and make a special edition. This would receive extra attention and possibly some new readership, allowing you to make your opinions heard and sway the hearts and minds of others. You could shape the narrative on something, make an argument for or against a particular course of action, attack an enemy or uplift an ally. Or to defend yourself and your decisions. The possibilities of the written word are limitless. Cost: 1 Resource and a risk of backlash. May be additional costs depending on the topic. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75/100/150. Results: Variable change in support or party factions, results depend on the topic. The topic must be written in. Some examples: “The importance of unity in the socialist cause,” “The corruption of the Hoover administration,” “Why feminism and socialism must go together,” and “Why Farmer-Labor should unify with the SPA.” Can synergize with other actions.

Send Socialist Agitators To: Nearly every street corner in Chicago, New York City, and Seattle has a man or woman standing on a crate and telling the passerby of the virtues of the cause and encouraging them to donate. They are often beaten brutally by the bourgeois or by police (and just as often protected by their listeners), but they nevertheless persist, determined to gain recruits and funds for the cause. Some of these agitators are amateurs doing it in their spare time, but quite a few are dedicated and skilled speakers. Sending these speakers in significant numbers to an area can turn your foe’s supporters against them, especially if it is followed up upon with meaningful organization. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support there. Unlock actions to follow up on the agitation.

Create Shadow Government: You have had a brilliant idea: Though you lack power at the federal level, the Socialist Party has substantial control of many mayorships and county governments alongside even more widespread but less official influence. You even control most states of the Steel Belt. Creating a forum to help these various governments cooperate and resolve disputes will be useful, especially if you have further requests from these governments. You have only discussed this concept briefly, but the idea of the Interstate Committee of Socialist Governments (name subject to change) has dazzled many. Especially since it will help you gain influence over their legal codes, voting laws, and National Guard armories. However, given the likely federal determination to show strength, such a provocative action could be risky. Cost: The state must and shall respond. Time: 3 months. DC: 5/40/55/75. Results: Various states and lower-level governments integrated into a coordinated body, many new possibilities available, although the body could be unwieldy.

Support Faction: The party is more than a little divided, even if everyone is determined to stick together, they still clash frequently, with each other and with you. Spending some time and effort backing a particular faction in these debates could gain you some gratitude, which is always a valuable currency. Cost: Risk of losing support within the CAS. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Increase Relations and Strength of selected faction, chance of gaining support within the CAS.

Make Changes To Subordinates: You do not have the time or capability to make all the decisions involved with bringing the Revolution to America, and so you have trusted subordinates to help. Occasionally, you will need to redirect their efforts, invest more in their success, or even replace them immediately. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Make any number of changes to 1 subordinate. Can be taken multiple times. Cannot be done for SPA Cadres

Party Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CAS. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Extremely low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/140. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

The International Question: With contact made with the Syndintern, they will soon begin encouraging internationalist behavior. Considering the amount of assistance you will need for them, it would be wise to help support revolutions in Canada and in the various client states of America, along with taking part in the broader Syndintern in less overt ways. Gauging the positions of various factions on this will help you understand your position. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Find out the position of all factions of the SPA and CAS on internationalism.

Display your Dedication: You are being accused of weakness, softness, and cowardice. Despite all you have suffered and sacrificed, it is not enough for some. Fine then, you will show them how much the cause means to you. A whirlwind tour across the country, visiting every union and party office you can meet, will provide the proof and silence their accusations. From Seattle to New York City, from Portland to Houston, anywhere men and women struggle for their liberation you will stand in their support. Cost: No Personal Action next month. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Gain Relations with all SPA factions.

Squeeze the Fosterites: TheFosterites are a potent political force, one with an ideology that demands action and brutality. If unleashed, they could provoke a dangerous alliance and cost your critical support as they laud the most savage and terrible deeds. They must be restrained and controlled for the good of the movement. The more mainstream factions recognize this, and would likely be willing to cooperate with you to hammer the divides in them and pressure them to return to the fold (with a price in mind, of course. Such is politics). Those who resist this pressure will be embittered, but they are going to be a minority of a minority. What harm can they do? Cost: Will further radicalize any remaining Fosterites, will politically indebt you to other factions, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/85/110/140. Result: Begin campaign to marginalize the Fosterites, will have options on how to handle it until it ends.

Pro-Liberation Politics: The anti-racism program must be built on. The party’s ideological limitations on the matter must be removed. There is more to be done...there is always more to be done. Some will back you to the hilt on this, others will oppose it to the end, but you must trust that the desire for unity triumphs over factional bickering...and you will spend some time laying the groundwork first before announcing your new proposals since they will likely be controversial. Cost: Relations with party factions, support in the CAS. Time: 2 months. DC: 0/20/45/65/115. Result: Lay the groundwork for and then propose modifications to the party line to further support anti-discrimination measures. Higher Relations will mean better results.

Shore Up Support: The CAS is growing increasingly independent from you, and members of it have expressed numerous concerns about some of your decisions. They say you go too far, or not far enough. They claim you are overly centralizing or excessively decentralizing. They have a lot of complaints. But you have friends and allies in their ranks no matter how truculent they are. So use friendly conversations and private meetings to shore up your support, turn aside hostilities with kind words and minor concessions, and work to rebuild your relationships with the CAS Cost: Slight increase to Stress, time spent schmoozing is time not spent building up to a Revolution. Time: Until ended. DC: 10/25/40/50. Result: Reduced negative impact of actions on CAS support, increased growth of CAS support, hear requests and suggestions from your supporters.

Assistant Adjustment: Even as your assistants work to make sure their views are supported by the party machinery, they are also being genuinely helpful in managing the fractious ranks and building towards the coming revolution. You could always use a few more...or perhaps you need to remove someone. Cost: Political turmoil, modification to bonuses. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Options to change assistants.

Speak for Liberty: While the SPA is at least somewhat united behind you, your willingness to push for social revolution has had the anarchists in the party and their similarly socially left allies be some of your most enthusiastic supporters, despite their relatively small numbers. If you want to make use of that support, you will need to help them. Speak on the topic of liberty, encourage support for racial minorities, demand women’s liberation...perhaps go so far as to say homosexuality is acceptable. Let them know they have an ally in you. Cost: Political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 40. Result: Increase in Strength and Relations of Anarchists.

Condemn Atrocities: If you wish to keep the violent and vicious Fosterites from gaining strength, you need to lay the groundwork before you break them. Make it part of the SPA program to condemn excessive brutality, the murder of non-combatants and innocents, and wanton destruction. While the language will mostly be used against capitalists and Longists, it can also be applied to the sort of things they advocate for, making a useful cudgel against your enemies in the party. Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60/90. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Insist on their Effectiveness: Though the Fosterites have had some of their bloodlust slaked, they are still demanding more blood, more death, more destruction. They appear to have no compromise in them..let’s see if they have any common sense. While they may decry these reforms as cowardice and giving in to bourgeois demands to muzzle the workers and “suppress their righteous rage until the flame of revolution gutters out,” you are doing nothing of the sort! You are simply trying to make them a more capable and organized force, an army capable of winning the revolution you all want. Cost: Some political turmoil. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/60/80. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Divide and Defeat: The Fosterites are united only by their insistence that you go faster, that you birth the revolution sooner - and that like all births, that it be bloody and painful. And so the right pressures, ever so gently applied, can leave them broken and adrift, eliminating a potential political threat and greatly weakening an adventurist segment of the SPA. The pressures are asking what they want, which might be a dangerous question if you don’t have a good answer... Cost: Some political turmoil, annoys and weakens the RAF. Time: 2 months. DC: 35/70/100/120. Result: Decrease in the Strength of the Fosterites.

Command the Cadres: The SPA Cadres have been enjoying their newfound independence and will be reluctant to give it up again even temporarily, but you are liked and respected enough that they will do it. Even if they will complain. Cost: Political impact depends on what you choose. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Adjust SPA Cadre actions as you see fit.

Organizational Reform: With yet another intra-party spat developing, you find yourself getting frustrated. You need to take measures for preventing these sorts of problems from arising again...along with making sure reformist sentiments and corruption don’t set themselves back in. Clear out the deadwood, impress your authority upon the leadership, and get everyone working together for the greater good of the workers. Cost:???. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100/125. Result: Reduced chance of further political crises, +1 Gravitas, reduction in Stress.

Ban the Nativists: With anti-nativist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of nativist influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that those you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CAS Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge nativists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.

Ban the Racists: With anti-racist sentiment at an all-time high in the ranks of the SPA and among the workers, you can easily push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of segregationist influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that those you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CAS Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/70/100. Result: Purge racists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.

Ban the Misogynists: Anti-misogyny is a rising attitude among the CAS and the SPA, with many in their ranks proudly calling themselves feminists, and pro-women reforms being viewed in increasingly positive lights, but there are still many who have nothing but contempt for women. They do not belong. You can push through a change to the party platform and membership requirements to formally expel what dregs of segregationist influence have slid in. This might mean a drop in your support, given that those you have effectively forced out will doubtless take their votes and voices elsewhere, but all their efforts will be nothing more than spit in the wind. Cost: Minor losses in SPA Relations, CAS Support, and popularity. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/80/100. Result: Purge misogynists from the SPA, +1 Gravitas.

Standards of Integrity: With the removal and punishment of many corrupt individuals, it's time to make sure they and their ilk don’t come back into power. You tried to push through higher standards of integrity and behavior for people running on SPA tickets or on the SPA payroll, including requiring them to publish their finances for all to scrutinize, but it floundered due to a lack of momentum. So you will get behind things and push. Cost: Loss in Relations with all factions, loss of support from the Teamster’s Union. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/55. Result: Pass reforms to make it harder to be corrupt in the future.

Push for Moderation: So far, actual resistance from these reactionaries has been minimal and easily dealt with. There’s no need to step things up and provide martyrs or risk radicalizing them. They should be marginalized and propagandized against, but they should not be repressed. They aren’t threatening enough to require it. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Nonviolent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.

Meet Them With Violence: Already these reactionaries have resisted the seizure of the means of production and protested against the transformation of society. They are receiving support from far more dangerous groups as well. They are obstacles before the tide of history, and they must be swept away. And we shall not hesitate in doing the sweeping. Cost: Increases political costs of attacks from reactionaries. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Violent methods for dealing with the current crop of reactionaries grows more popular.

Remove the Reformists: The threat of the incoming bill is not just to your voters, it could also dangerously embolden the dormant reformist wing of the SPA. Purging them after the bill is revealed will be taken badly. Purging them before...it won’t be taken well. But it will be less costly. Of course, you could work to marginalize them without resorting to having them full-on removed from the SPA. Cost: Severe loss of SPA Relations and CAS Support. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/120/170. Result: Purge reformists from the SPA with varying degrees of efficiency

United in Action: Tighten regulations and rules and push through a few measures granting you more authority over internal SPA matters. It might upset some, but it won’t be too controversial. You’ll put forth a slate, people will argue about it...you have done this dance before. And if you do it right now, you can get people used to you having great authority before they realize why you want it. Cost: Varying loss of SPA Relations and CAS Support. Time: 1-2 months. DC: ??? Result: Pass a package of various reforms to further centralize power around you.

Internally Cleaning House: The corruption that has led to some severe unrest cannot just be in the CAS, but in the SPA as well, given how closely the two institutions are intertwined. Investigations in one will surely help with investigations in the other. And given that the various SPA officials are less entwined into patronage networks and the steady spread of internal SPA democracy, you can expect less backlash for digging into corruption inside the SPA, so long as the investigation remains confined that way. Cost: Minor loss of Relations with all factions., small risk of angering the bureaucrats. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/??. Result: Begin investigating corruption in the CAS, reduced difficulty of actions for dealing with the bureaucracy.

Representation Reform: Although you have not made any promises to change the nature of the representation in the CAS, justice makes its own demands. Itinerant workers, rural people, and the unemployed are all underrepresented in the current system. For the CAS to truly be a vanguard of the working class, it must be able to represent all the working class, although many argue that its current form is sufficient for that purpose. Overruling their objections may well be costly, especially if you introduce some form of geographic representation like some in the Red Grange have suggested. Cost: Varying losses of Relations and support. Time: 2 months. DC: 30/90. Result: Begin reform of the structure of the CAS.

Preparatory Measures: You are not going to transition to a state-within-a-state just yet. The working class is powerful, but it’s not that powerful. Such a brazen declaration of the political and economic independence of the working class will provoke the entirety of the federal army to fall on your heads while you are wrangling the CAS and readying the Red Guards. So you will take steps to make ready for it, preparing cross-state institutions, tightening bonds between different party and union locals, and ensuring that every base that can be covered will be. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??. Result: Reduced time, DC, and cost of Create Shadow Government.

Integrate the State and Planning: The various governments, both state and local, are nominally unconnected with the planning bureau, but there is no reason to have that. They will both be far more efficient if they can work together, and damn any concerns about “illegal collusion” and “corrupt party machines.” The planning commission is elected by the people, the state governments are controlled by the party of the people. Let them work together, until the day the rotten machinery of the capitalist state is smashed and supplanted. Cost: Likely to provoke an external backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50. Result: Decreased cost and time for Create a Shadow Government, improved efficacy of the Planning Commission’s actions and State Control actions, increase to income for the states and Reed.

Time for a General Strike: The election is on the 1st of November. Before it begins, let’s remind this country where it’s power truly lies. Declare a nation-wide general strike. From the oil-workers of Texas to the loggers of Maine, call upon all to down tools in solidarity. While in some areas of the Red Belt, this strike will be largely symbolic, perhaps only noticeable by increased pressure on the remaining capitalists and their allies, throughout much of the rest of the country the general strike will be a great terror to all the forces of capital. It will be an incomprehensible nightmare to them, as alien as the dark side of the moon. It will devastate their morale, and cripple any response. Cost: You can predict consequences, but you don’t know what kind. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Call for a nation-wide general strike.

Anti-Corruption Commission: Corruption forms in any centralized system, unless measures are taken to prevent it. The measures that have been taken are too little and too late, and entrenched, anti-worker interests have formed. To prevent the rise of kleptocracy, decisive action must be taken and the organization of syndicates and parties must be reformed. To that end, some propose empowering a democratically organized commission and giving them sufficient backing to root out the worst examples of the corrupt. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, will be a tug-of-war between various factions, may not be entirely neutral. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90/135. Result: Establish a democratically-elected commission empowered to investigate corruption as a Subordinate. Efficacy and neutrality will depend on choices made.

Cadre-Union Coordination: The SPA Cadres have often acted independent of union locals, in contravention to the principles of the party. While in some cases, this is willful disobedience to the directives of the leadership, in others this is because of lacking coordination. Arranging to improve the ability for cadres and unions to work together more effectively will enable the greater success of various initiatives and benefits for all the workers. Cost: -1 Influence, will anger Orthodox members of the SPA and the ASA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/75. Result: Beneficial traits for the SPA Cadres, improved efficacy of their actions.

Co-Operative Support Commission: With plans being made to centralize the economy and use state-controlled enterprises which will hopefully maintain their democratic character, worker-organized enterprises such as the farming co-ops and the factories directly seized by liberated workers must not be disadvantaged. To that end, a commission to subsidize, advise, and assist the co-ops and help keep them as viable alternatives to state-controlled enterprises. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, will anger Orthodox members of the SPA and the ASA. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/15/45/75/105. Result: Establish a democratically-elected commission empowered to support and advise co-ops with votes on structure and priorities.

Send Union Organizers To: While agitators can disrupt other political organizations and explain why you are better, to actually gain support of the kind that makes people spend blood and gold and sweat on your behalf requires a different approach. Establishing that takes time, but sending union organizers to an area can make for a start. In many ways, the risks these organizers take is even greater than that of the agitators, especially if there is sufficient hostility to socialism already. Some have literally been tarred and feathered...Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and gain temporary support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization.

Union Donation Drive: Your income comes from party dues and a cut from the incomes of the unions that make up the CAS. And it is proving insufficient for all the demands placed on your party. Asking for additional voluntary donations on a one-time basis would help ease the strain and buy time for you to begin finding additional sources of revenue. And doing it once shouldn't make you look too bad. As long as you make it clear you are asking. Cost: Very low chance of loss of support or Influence. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90/100/110/120. Result: One-time increase to Resources, amount is dependent on roll.

Union Charities, Donations: The unions of the CAS have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the charitable endeavors of the SPA. Doing so would ease the logistical strain providing for so many causes, but not every union is entirely dedicated to socialist ideals, especially not when it comes to the outsiders who will inevitably come seeking aid. Cost: Increased risk of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: +X Resources per month.

Union Charities, Fundraising: The unions of the CAS have their own individual strike funds and incomes, used for various events. These funds are often rather significant in size, and could be used to supplement the financial resources at your command through direct donations and holding fundraising events. It may somewhat aggravate your supporters, but as long as you are using the money for their benefit there won’t be more than grumbling. Cost: A new mandate. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: +X Resources per month. Gain support from the Teamster’s Union.

Social Bonds: With the credit unions established, one immediate possibility to secure desperately needed funds is a simple scheme inspired by ones begun then abandoned during the Weltkrieg. Ask people to buy Labor Bonds, which can be redeemed at a later date for an amount equal to their purchase value. The money raised in the meantime can be put to use for any number of programs or initiatives. Cost: You will have to pay them back in a year. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/20/30/40/50/75/100/110/120. Result: Large, one-time boost to Resources.

Mass Recruiting, Pt. 2: The sheer mass and organization of the working class gives you a potent tool for further empowering the American socialist cause. The overwhelming pro-SPA propaganda has begun countering the decades of mystification the American workers have undergone, but there are still many groups who stubbornly resist the tide of revolution. Some, such as the petty capitalists and highly-paid workers, need an explanation of the benefits of your cause. Some, such as reactionary churches, need to be exposed for the falsehoods they spread. But for some, financial and material incentives will be needed to secure their support, along with reminders as to the fate of class traitors. Cost: 6 Resources. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Further increase to size of the unions.

Mass Organization: With the unions growing in size on a daily basis, measures need to be taken to ensure the democratic control of the unions is maintained. Through vote-buying, carefully designed structures, and coercion, corrupt bosses maintain their positions, while other leadership figures openly advocate for reformism or racism. The Revolution will not succeed with dedicated leadership from dedicated syndicalists. The political fight caused by this will be long and bloody and painful, but it will secure your position in the party, hopefully without causing too much splintering or outcry. Cost: Significant losses of support from party factions and the CAS. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/100/160. Result: Grip on party politics strengthened, subvote, actions to follow up unlocked.

Medical Assistance: The economic dislocations are leading to constant grumbling, but for those who have taken control of their labor, the shortages and unpredictable prices are acceptable, especially since food and shelter and other such essentials are not too badly affected. But one matter of significance has been: many doctors are finding the prices of medication are rising, and many others have simply left for places they view as safer. It’s not a crisis...yet. But it could become one if effective, decisive action is not taken soon. And of course decisive action is expensive action. Cost: -5 Resources, -3 Resources per month. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/45/70. Result: Hire doctors, improve the production of medicine, and make medical care easier to access for your urban supporters.

A Union Shop: Socialized stores have become common in Chicago as workers inspired by the strike or owners compelled by it create democratically run stores. Though mocked by some on the left and some in the more syndicalist wing as “market socialism” and accused of not removing the profit motive, even their strongest critics cannot deny they serve a useful person during this transitory phase. Begin encouraging local unions to establish shops along these lines, and ask for a small cut of the proceeds perhaps? The widespread establishment of these grows ever more vital as the toll of being forced to pay ridiculous fees for the use of capitalist’s services and the inefficiencies of going without begin to take their toll. Cost: loss of support from TUUL and ASA, loss of relations with the Orthodox. 5 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/50/80. Result: Increase in income, establishment of market cooperatives in locations with a strong SPA presence. Gain of support from IWW, Teamster’s Union, and Regional Unions, increased Relations and Strength for the Syndicalists. Increase in economic efficiency. Decrease in Strength of the Centrists.

Arms Production: The Red Guards need more and better weapons. They need ammunition. They need grenades and uniforms. They need vehicles to transport them and fuel to supply them. An army is an incredibly difficult thing to supply, but you will need to support one. While you can’t make anything heavier than mortars currently, small arms can be produced in significant quantities. It’s time to start arming the forces of revolution so that they can match the foot soldiers of reaction and the servants of capital. Cost: 5 Resources, -5 Resources per month. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/50/80. Result: Begin producing large quantities of weapons, Red Guards better armed and equipped, unlock new options to supply and train them.

Appoint an Outreach Manager: With efforts at denying you support growing in numbers and sophistication, you need to develop your advocacy among workers in response. From the imported Chinese scabs and desperate Okies of California to the suffering smallholder farmers of the Great Plains to the exploited miners and factory workers to the American heartland, there are millions just waiting to join your cause...if only they could be persuaded of their exploitations and educated of their class interests. Cost: Influence, loss of support in the CAS. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/Variable/Variable. Result: Appointment of a subordinate responsible for outreach and agitation, vote on how much to commit to them, potential gains in Support or Relations.

A Purge of the Bureaucracy: The byzantine bureaucracies of the CAS have decided to demonstrate their distaste for you. Fine. You will return the favor. You will gut them. Have them fired. Have them arrested. You are this close to having them shot. Every scrap of evidence suggesting corruption will be waved around, transformed by your pen and your presence into an unforgivable sin, and they’ll be forced out. And trustworthy, loyal men will be put in their place. Cost: Political backlash, likely to weaken the capabilities of the CAS and upset a lot of people. Time: 1 month. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

Organizational Charts: The structure of the CAS’s non-elected offices and departments and committees and commissions is a complete and utter mess. There are redundancies, there are fiefdoms ruled by petty tyrants, there are deliberately obtuse chains of command, all designed to protect and preserve unearned, unelected power. It’s a great snarling knot, and it needs to be unraveled. So you will have your loyalists in the CAS begin tracing the structure, finding every scrap of information they can so you can plan an attack. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 25/50/75/90. Result: Gain detailed understanding of the mess that is the CAS Bureaucracy.

Simplify the Structures: Instead of mapping a labyrinth, you could cut a knot. You have the votes, you have the support. You will spend some time designing a new structure that’s more sane and effective. And then you will make it so. The parasites and corrupt bastards will retain positions and power, but they will have no way to hide now, and it should hopefully be more efficient since that’s the purpose it will be designed for. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/125/225. Result: Dramatically modify and simplify the structure of the CAS Bureaucracy.

Set Some Boundaries: You could also take a more peaceable approach to things. Crack down on a few of the worst cases, let a few of the more moderate ones slide, and then back off. They’ll get the hint (you hope) and things will return to more or less a status quo...but now you are aware of the problem. And that means you will be halfway to solving it. Cost: Moderate increase/tolerance of corruption. Time: 3 months. DC: 40/80. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

Democratization: Yet another possibility is to force them to accept more democratic participation and oversight in their decision-making. It will doubtless be popular among many even as it will enrage the bureaucrats, but it will hopefully force them to stop playing silly buggers and tone down on the theft and double-dealing and backroom games. Hopefully. Cost: Will further anger the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/???. Result: Hopefully remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance and democratize the bureaucracy, increased support from the CAS.

Leave Them Their Fiefs: Finally, you could just leave well enough alone. Pull away, give them what they want. There will be costs in resources, time, and tears, but you just aren’t in a position to handle another crisis. This can wait till after the revolution. Or until it’s a little closer to it, anyway. Cost: Severe increase/tolerance of corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Remove Passive Bureaucratic Resistance.

The Second Round of Seizures: The furor of seizures has by and large died down as the heat of summer wears on even the most dedicated socialist. And so many factories continue operating almost as they almost have, albeit with greatly empowered unions and the ever-present threat of Red Guards and Union Defense Committees should the workers be abused. But this status quo cannot be maintained, one class or another must triumph. Make sure it is the working class which will be victorious through seizing more factories. Cost: Backlash from others, will provoke reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/130/190. Result: More factories seized, increase to income.

Take the Major Factories: The giants of industry have been left unscathed by the rise of socialism and syndicalism. Though powerful unions have squeezed the occasional penny from their grasp, the intense level of security and threat of direct government intervention has stayed the hands of the Red Guards from bringing the arsenal at Rock Island, the mighty automobile plants of Ford and Chrysler, and similar facilities into the grip of the working class. That can’t be allowed any longer, no matter the price. Cost: Will provoke reformists, severe backlash, will cause an immediate reaction from the federal government. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/130/190. Result: More factories seized, increase to income, better equipped Red Guards, completely changes the economic game.

(1 Cadre, 3 Ben Little Influence Locked) Clothing Distribution: As summer ends and fall begins, everyone braces in anticipation of another round of chilling winds. They won’t come yet, but they are inevitable. And so the unions have made their demands: they want help funding clothing drives and organizing the distribution of enough wool sweaters and winter coats to ensure that no one will be freezing this winter. Thankfully, they have arranged for stocks of coal and wood to be gathered already, so at least you don’t have to worry about that. Cost: None. Time: 2 months. DC: 25. Result: Provide and distribute warm clothing.

Look Into the CAS, Token: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CAS. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be very unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Very slight risk of angering the bureaucrats, temporary maluses. Time: 1 month. DC: Special. Result: General slight improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions slightly easier.

Look Into the CAS, Moderate: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CAS. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Slight risk of angering the bureaucrats, moderate temporary maluses. Time: 2 months. DC: Special. Result: General improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions easier.

Look Into the CAS, Serious: While somewhat provocative, it would be quite reasonable to order an investigation into the CAS. It will temporarily damage capabilities as missing expertise is replaced, and may cause a negative response, but you find that to be somewhat unlikely. Anti-corruption investigations are just an accepted part of the game. You won’t get everything, but you will get enough to make future...reforms easier. Cost: Risk of angering the bureaucrats, severe temporary maluses. Time: 3 months. DC: Special. Result: Major general improvements to actions and events, more Influence will have more impact, use of Gravitas will have a dramatic impact. Will make future anti-corruption actions much easier.

Crime Prevention Units: There is endless unrest and crime in the cities. While the ordinary Red Guards do well enough in preventing it, along with the socialized police forces, they always have other priorities and other duties that need attending. Quite simply, there aren’t enough of them. Many neighborhoods have taken to having patrols of unarmed individuals watching stores and streets, keeping theft down and handling other affairs such as public drunkenness or the occasional trouble caused by capitalists unwilling to accept the new order. Once more, it is a measure backed by the most libertine and the most conservative factions of the movement, one seeing it as a way to democratize law enforcement and the other as a tool for keeping order in increasingly chaotic neighborhoods. Cost: -0.5 Resources per month, ??? Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/75/105. Result: A program of nonviolent neighborhood patrols is established.

Recruit the Labor Aristocracy: Doctors, engineers, professors, and more are exploited proles like the rest of us, but the relative rarity of their skills has helped convince them they have no need of our movement. But the America of today does not care where you got your medical degree, you are in the bread line just like us. Or perhaps fleeing in a falling-apart car, desperate for a safety that will never come. Reach out to those people and help bring them into the union, taking advantage of the varied levels of the labor vouchers and the growing polarization of the republic to persuade them that we are the ones they should side with...if only because their deaths are inevitable if they stand against us. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/95/150. Result: Recruit middle-class professionals into their own unions, seek support from doctors, engineers, and other professions.

Planning Transparency: The Planning Commission has published their goals and priorities, as well as the information they are using to make decisions, but that involves an immense amount of data and math and statistics. They might as well not have bothered, no worker or soldier or spy can make heads or tails of it. And that’s not something that can be tolerated. True democracy requires information to be transparent and accessible. So you will make sure the Planning Commission publishes easily digestible summaries of their plans and their logic. Cost: Minor costs to CAS support, will annoy Schenk. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/45/90. Result: Ensure easily understandable summaries of the economic plans is available, gain more ability to influence the Planning Commission’s decisions.

Replace the Postal System: The rise of the workers has led to a dramatic dropoff in the availability of federal services and support. Largely, this plays to our advantage, as it leaves reactionary holdouts isolated, but this has forced us to turn to ad hoc alternatives to get around the serious delays any postage in the Red Belt must endure. It’s time to formalize and organize those alternatives, thereby further supplanting the federal government and improving our stock among many, as well as making it easier for people to send letters. Of course, we won’t officially be replacing the US Postal Service. That would be illegal, after all! Cost: 2 Resources, -0.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/100. Result: Postal services restored to full functionality, or the process to do so is begun anyway.

Telecommunications Networks: The telegraph and telephone networks that stretch across the nation have been rather damaged by the many economic calamities the country has endured. Customers lacking money can’t send messages, and might well take some copper to sell for themselves. And that’s just the first of the troubles encountered. Fortunately, there is little workers that can't fix when they are not crushed and controlled under capitalism. The networks will be physically tied together, that is an inevitability. Cost: 2 Resources, -0.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40/85/135. Result: Additional improvements and restorations to telephone and telegraph networks commence.

Improve Economic Coordination: As production methods are rationalized, inefficiencies eliminated, and problems solved, there still remain several fundamental complications due to the mixed systems of labor vouchers and money, of decentralized planning, cooperatives, and state-controlled enterprises. For instance, if you are paid in labor vouchers, how do you get goods that can only be bought with money? Beginning to smooth away these complications by formalizing the exceptions will be helpful as the economy is likely to come under strain soon. Cost: Political complications may ensue. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/60. Result: Economic system is further systemized, complications resolved.

Standard Protocols: The various telegraph companies didn’t cooperate, the messy break-up of Ma Bell in 1928 left bitter rivalries among the would-be successors to her throne, and no one has created any rules or regulations regarding how radio is supposed to work, at least not nationwide ones. It’s time to work with the radio unions and the various other workers involved in communication industries and tie together the disparate networks together through standard protocols and guidelines...with some in-built flexibility of course, and plenty of democracy. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/70. Result: Standardized communication protocols devised for various systems.

Pay for Voters: While everyone in a worker-controlled business will be getting ample time to vote, we intend to keep the polls open from sunrise to midnight, and voter registration drives are already commencing, we can do more to improve turnout. One suggestion was to offer people the very lowest level of voucher if they vote, with some minor gifts like some of those pulp books that are under production being sold right nearby so they can learn more about how the voucher economy works firsthand. Cost: 0.25 Resources, likely external backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/45/75/100. Result: Labor vouchers and minor consumer goods to exchange them for offered to voters, positive publicity.

Luxury Goods: The various luxury goods that capitalists have long flaunted: fine clothes, perfume, jewelry, radios, and more, are no longer their exclusive domain. It is time to begin working to make such things available to the masses. Re-open restaurants with worker control of the kitchens, expand the production of consumer goods, let the material benefits of socialism be made evident to all! Even if access will be limited and such things must be held in common for the time being, such abundance will only benefit us. Expand the Planning Commission and direct more resources their way, let the goods flow. Cost: 3 Resources, -1.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/35/75. Result: Additional di(c)e for Consumer Goods and Pork made available for the Planning Commission, increased popular support.

Tighten Controls: The recent outcry has demonstrated a potential flaw within the Community Check-in Program. It is common practice to declare all reactionaries insane, which is reasonable enough, especially if you are a proud capitalist but still living in the heart of the red Belt. However, these particular insane people tend to be lacking in any sort of support or protection. Despite this, many of them have claimed that the Check-Ins serve less as a way of providing care and support and more as a vehicle for harassment, often with demands for favors of various sorts being laid upon the unfortunate victim. While some of the worst accused offenders have been punished and there have been some minor checks implemented, much of the outrage has been directed into broader but still important matters. Still, there’s no reason to allow even the specter of such practices to remain. Cost: Losses of support within the CAS. Time: 3 months. DC: 70/140/200. Result: Reforms made to reduce possibility of abuse by the groups formed in Community Check-Ins.

The Mental Hygiene Specialists: Several capitalists and reactionaries have whipped up an outcry against various volunteers, against those who offered their time and support to people bereft of family and friends, who helped them with their minds damaged by the traumatic circumstances that are common across the nation. Given the resultant anger, our methods clearly need alteration. Reliable professionals from our ranks should be sponsored to help certify that those being checked upon are truly unstable and ill, and that they are not simply being unjustly harassed and persecuted. Those professionals can also likely recommend additional treatments and changes to make in their lifestyle to make them healthier. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/25. Result: Refinements made to the Community Check-In groups.


Empower the Chief of Staff: Butler has appointed Walter W. Waters, the commander of the Payment Army, a veteran of several US interventions, and a newly-come socialist to the office of his Chief of Staff. While relatively inexperienced, the man is popular among the Red Guards and other militias, especially with those who were in the military, and he’s loyal to Butler. The choice has been broadly acceptable to the Combined Syndicates, but Waters has little influence among them except as a vehicle for Butler. Getting involved could change that, and help make the Red Guards more independent and more effective. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, possible political consequences. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/60. Result: Options to increase Butler’s Influence and change his bonuses.

Create the Commission of Procurements: Butler is not an expert at logistics by his own admission. He has mostly left things up to the individual Red Guards units, only interfering with a few specific ones to make sure they have access to quality arms and ammunition. There have been many reasons for that, but it is time for things to change. The Commission of Procurements will be responsible for coordinating with the Planning Commision and the Red Guards to make them as well-equipped and supplied as possible so that they will be ready for the upcoming class war. Cost: Will require investment of Influence, possible political consequences. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50/75. Result: Options to increase Butler’s Influence and change his bonuses.

Arm the Police: In the cities where you control the government, the attitudes of the police have shifted dramatically. They are now proud and determined supporters of their fellow workers against the ravages of capital. While they will need further restructuring to truly socialize them, that will have to wait until after the revolution. For now, you must prepare to fight it. Taking measures to increase the discipline and armaments of friendly policing departments will strengthen your control of the cities. Cost: Loss of relations with the Anarchists, Syndicalists, and Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/55/75. Result: Dramatic increase in the number and quality of the Red Guards.

Street Medics: One of the tactics used by the heroes of the Shanghai Uprising was the establishment of street medics, noncombat members of the Left-KMT who helped keep injured members in the fight and provided aid and comfort before the soldiers of the Legation Cities resorted to bloodier measures. Implementing such measures could be useful...Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 2 months. DC: 40. Results: Red Guards gain street medics, help reduce casualties.

Acquire Explosives: The Syndintern has access to large stocks of a variety of explosives. In addition, there are many ways of making things that can blow up when you have access to vast amounts of industry. Begin stockpiling explosives for use in defensive or offensive actions, although giving them to inexperienced Red Guards could be risky. It will also be unequstionably vital for the new artillery pieces, although the fertilizer plants recently established can help provide some of the substances need. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/40. Result: Acquire small but growing and highly eclectic stockpiles of explosives.

Toll Fees: With your control of railways and the strength of your paramilitaries in many transportation hubs, you could easily gain substantial incomes by insisting on donations for those passing through, although you will need to make sure there are exceptions for those who already support you or who it would be dangerous to stop. Cost: Decrease in support among moderates, increase in corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/75. Result: Increase to income.

Scab Intimidation: The scabs and reactionary militias are outnumbered, outgunned, and outclassed. This may change as refugees continue flowing into the cities and capitalists fund their running dogs, but for now you have the advantage, and you must seize it. The Red Guards will defeat and drive off these “self-defense groups” and “protectors of the American way” and “private security forces” and show them that they are as dust before the tides of history. Cost: Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/?/?/?. Result: Reactionary militias and scab groups defeated and destroyed in areas you are strong.

(1 Influence Committed) Security Procedures: The protection of leadership is the duty of the Revolutionary Guard, but there are not enough of those brave men to protect everyone. So it will be up to the Red Guards to protect union halls and party offices. To do so successfully will require the development of better security procedures than standing outside the front door. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/50. Result: Improved security for SPA facilities.

A Red Terror: The furthest fringe of the party, as disorganized and bloodthirsty as they are, does have a point. You have allowed reactionary militias to prosper in places, and the miners of Montana and the workers of New York City have both paid the price for it. In the Midwest and West Virginia, preachers thunder brimstone sermons and incite their followers to arms against you. Collapsing Klan remnants and their equally violent offspring cling to power in Indiana and Ohio and the Dakotas. And everywhere federal agents and police attempt to suppress the Revolutionary Spirit. It is time to cleanse your holdings of them. Cost: ?? Time: 1 month. DC: 0/5/10/20/35/0/80/105/130. Result: Begin operations to shut down remnants of reactionary and capitalist military forces begin

Honor of the Regiment: One way to encourage good behavior of the Red Guards is to have that behavior reflect on something larger than themselves but more digestible than the syndicalist cause: their unit. Encouraging pride in the larger Red Guards groupings, the creation of distinct uniforms, and the utilization of unique symbology will hopefully create a spirit of socialist brotherhood between the members of the Red Guards groupings, and this spirit can be used through propaganda to make some of the more volatile individuals think twice. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 2 months. DC: 25/45/60. Result: Create larger Red Guards units with a greater sense of esprit de corps.

Create Oversight Committees: One thing the capitalist “democracy” of America got right was making sure the military is entirely controlled by the civilian government. While de jure this is true for the Red Guards, it is not always de facto. One way to fix this would be to create committees of mixed soldiers and civilians that severe misbehavior can be reported to and that would generally provide oversight and direction. This may well be a controversial effort, but it will definitely be popular with some segments. Cost: Loss of Relations with Totalists and Fosterites, loss of Support from TUUL, and the Teamster’s Union, potentially upsetting to Red Guards Time: 2 months. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create oversight committees, greater control over Red Guards, increase in support from ASA, IWW, and AFL-CIO, gain in Relations from every other faction.

Making Bankers Bleed: While most banks have collapsed under the strain of crisis and depression, several have been consolidated into larger enterprises that are more effectively able to withstand bank runs and anti-foreclosure efforts. But these banks have offices and vaults in cities throughout America, cities dominated by the Red Guards and friendly police forces. Steal their gold, destroy their paperwork, execute their corrupt leadership. Make them understand that there will be no place for men like Morgan and Fargo. Cost: Likely to provoke a severe reaction, loss of support from AFL-CIO and SPU, loss of Relations with the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/25/50/100. Result: One-time influx of Resources, records of debt destroyed, bourgeoisie terrorized.

Purchase More Arms: Relatively few arms factories were seized, but some were, and already Red Guards units have begun to benefit, but the acquisition of weapons for them is an often haphazard process and only a few units have even standard rifles. But it would be easy enough for larger quantities to be purchased and distributed so that the vast throngs of syndicalist soldiers have good guns and adequate ammunition. Cost: 5.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/25. Result: Better-equipped Red Guards.

Raiding Reactionary Groups: The most powerful and organized reactionary groups have been identified. Their threat cannot be tolerated, and so it must be suppressed. They will be surrounded in their churches, attacked in their homes, arrested at their workplaces. They will be purged. Hopefully, the remainder will take the hint and cease being a thorn in our side, or we will have to purge them too. Cost: Possibility of provoking unrest, collateral damage, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/60/80/120. Result: Attack and break up the most notable counterrevolutionary organizations identified previously.

A Central Command: There are always more reforms that need to be completed. And the next one Butler wants to work on is establishing some sort of central command and general staff for the entire Red Guards, or at least for the more professional components of it. Consisting of Butler, some other experienced soldiers, and...you’ll need to figure out the rest. Should they be elected like other officers, or perhaps by the CAS? Or some combination thereof? Or maybe only the supreme commander should be elected, and he can decide who will be on his staff? It’s going to be a tricky business. But it’s an important one. Cost: May upset the CAS and the Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/50/90. Result: Establish a unified central command for some/all of your paramilitaries.

More Black Belt Volunteers: Though the battle for Kentucky seems to have been more-or-less won, and the Red Guards of Kansas are ready to take the state from the unpopular Army-backed regime, the Black Belt still struggles. Attacks on them are daily affairs, to say nothing of the horror stories that come from those who have fled to the Black Belt. The cities of the South see especially frequent and bloody violence that demands support for the anti-racist, capitalist, and populist struggle. So more men and women shall go south with red bands on their arms, rifles on their shoulders, and John Brown’s Body on their lips. And their truth is marching on. Cost: Red Guards in one place cannot be in another. Risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Increased success in the battle in the South. Vote on how many to send.

Anti-Tank Tactics: A tank is a terrifying thing to face, you understand. Dozens of tons of armor and guns, treads that can crush you into pulp, a cannon that can shatter the walls and barricades soldiers hide behind. But they have weaknesses. They can be blinded by machine guns, suffocated by petrol bombs, shattered by explosives. They are not invulnerable, and those who fight for the cause of the workers must be shown how to destroy them. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??? Result: Begin devising anti-tank tactics and spreading them amongst the Red Guards.

Standards for Sergeants: The Red Guards are brave soldiers led by skilled officers, but Butler feels that they have several critical weaknesses. The lack of high command, the chaotic array of equipment, the relative vulnerability to casualties compared to a more traditional army are all serious problems. But perhaps the most important issue Butler has is how the role of noncommissioned officers is dealt with. Many Red Guards units do not have any sort of sergeant equivalent, while others have the office being elected. Which he feels is dangerous, as sergeants need to have a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the men under their command. “Sergeants have to be the hardasses,” he tells you. What he wants is for sergeants to be appointed by the captain equivalents, which will hopefully serve as an adequate compromise between the democratic nature of the Red Guards and Butler’s concerns. Cost: Likely to upset the CAS and elements of the Red Guards. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Institute reforms to establish appointed sergeants in the Red Guards.

Paramilitary Coordination: As the size of the Red Guards and their ideological diversity increased, the number of independent paramilitaries and splinters from larger forces increased. There are minority militias, local self-defense groups, the Union Defense Groups, armed brigades of anarchists and agrarian syndicalists, various extremely radical groups, and more. And with the occasional, temporary alliance with the Minutemen getting thrown into the mix too, something needs to be done before we have another Montgomery incident. Begin working to establish lines of coordination and communication between various aligned forces and the Red Guards as a whole. Cost: ??? Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??/??/???. Result: Begin instituting reforms to help coordinate different paramilitaries.

Judging the Judges: The attacks have ended, the vast majority of judges have been allowed to live. They sit in their courts with their arrogance undimmed, convinced they have escaped the consequences of their crimes. And they might well have, except they continue to obstruct the will of the people and defy the desires of the masses. The most obstinate and obscene will be arrested by Red Guards and put on trial. And their broken bodies will show the rest that they cannot rely on the capitalist state, not anymore. Cost: Likely to cause backlash, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, loss of Relations with the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/30/50. Result: Examples made of obstinate judges.

Instill Discipline, Pt. 3: The discipline of the Red Guards must be equal to, if not greater than, the discipline of our enemies. We are the army of workers and farmers, the vanguard of the revolution, and so we cannot allow ourselves to be corrupt, lazy, or abusive. Any tendency towards that must be rooted out. Butler has high standards, and he will not allow the Red Guards to fall short of them. Cost: ??. Time: 8 months. DC: 35/75/125/180. Result: Dramatic increase to discipline of Red Guards units.

Radios for Units: The various Red Guards forces must be better coordinated, lest we be scattered and divided and then individually smashed. Telegraph and telephone wires can be cut, but radios send their messages through the air, and the infrastructure needed for them is more difficult to destroy and less likely to be targeted. Portable radios are already slowly being produced, we simply need to make more. Cost: 3 Resources, -1.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: Increased production of US-military grade radios, Red Guards units will be trained in their use.

Crafting Cannon: The designs for American artillery and the tooling and construction of the Rock Island Arsenal have been smuggled out by brave workers who are just some of the nameless heroes of the cause, and limited production has been established. So far, a grand total of 3 75mm field guns have been produced, and they have been smuggled across the country to areas of importance. More importantly, the further production of tooling has been limited. A proposal has been made to create short shifts at both factories to help train more workers in their use, and to begin establishing small factories at some of the training camps using a combination of assembly-line and craft methods to rapidly produce parts and then combine them into usable weaponry. Cost: 4 Resources, -1.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/75. Result: Increased artillery production, increase in the amount of experienced artillery workers.

Shell Games: With a small trickle of artillery being produced, and supplies of mortars and machine guns increasing, we need greater quantities of ammunition, especially of the sorts that require complex production lines. So we will begin establishing minor, out of the way facilities to help us produce more shells, grenades, and bullets and build up stockpiles for use during the revolution. Cost: 3 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/40/60. Result: Increased ammunition production.

Lake Ships: The Great Lakes will be a theater of war in the coming Revolution, one no one has expected to fight in. Our first enemy will be whatever remains in the Naval RTC, but we will also likely face severe naval attacks from Canadian forces. We must prepare for this, through a variety of methods, including establishing land-based lookout posts and fortifications, preparing naval obstacles, and creating some sort of naval force to contest the waters of the Great Lakes. We must triumph in the brown water as well as in the blue in the coming war. Cost: 5 Resources, -3 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/75/100/120. Result: Begin establishing measures for brown water naval combat.

All Arms Production: Our industry and weaponry is our greatest advantage against the hordes of reactionaries and the armies of capitalists we will inevitably be facing. It must be as developed as possible. Currently, the chaotic situation means that we are largely dependent on SyndIntern support for much of our weaponry. To a degree, we even rely on them for rifles and bullets. As many arms factories as possible must be seized or constructed, which will doubtless require a huge investment and all but openly declare our intent to revolt. Cost: Will provoke reformists, will provoke an external backlash, 3 Resources, -1.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/75. Result: Additional dice added to the military section for the Planning Commission.


Christian Socialism: Most Americans are Christians, and despite the words of the Constitution it is widely considered a Christian nation. Given that many churches are staunchly opposed to socialism while socialism is just as staunchly secular, this could be troublesome. Fortunately, this Gordian knot can be cut rather easily. The concept of “Christian socialism” and claiming that Christ himself would be a socialist is simple enough, with ample support for this notion coming directly from the Bible. Combining this message with a few displays of piety will help reduce criticism from the pulpit, although significant portions of organized religion will doubtless remain hostile. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, loss of support from Jews and other religions. Time: 2 months. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Protestant Christians, increased ease of recruitment.

The American Revolution, Pt.2: The first connections are drawn, the first pieces of theory are created. Now it’s time to poke holes in them and see where it doesn’t hold up, either to your ideals or to reality. Your ideas are published, but now it’s time to see how people have torn them apart so that you can make them better. Cost: Chance of loss of CAS support, chance of increased stress. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/120. Result: Refine the results of The American Revolution, Pt. 1

Organize Education: Education is a necessity for workers. Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic, critical thinking and understanding history, the skills and knowledge so they can labor and explain why they labor, all these are vital. American schools are fundamentally capitalist institutions, but alternatives can be established. Cost: -3 Resources, -1 Resources per turn. Time: 3 months. DC: 0/25/50/100. Result: Create a system of cheap socialist private schools.

Public Libraries: While libraries are a common and immensely popular institution, they can be improved in a number of ways, from increasing the resources available to them to broadening the services provided to include rentable instruments and instruction programs. Many have advocated for them to provide even broader functions, seeing the library as a fundamentally socialist institution that should be expanded and supported wherever possible. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70/100. Result: Improve the variety of services offered by libraries.

The Worker’s School: There are many subjects not taught in great detail to the workers through the American education system. Leadership, management, socialist ideology...and of course anything behind the most basic parts of math, science, and history, not to mention various less immediately practical subjects. Creating schools for adults, or training wandering schoolteachers to help them, is yet another way to expand your influence and benefit the workers. Cost: 2 Resources, -1 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Establish schools for adult workers.

Photos for All: Photography is an incredibly powerful medium for displaying the impact of events upon people. The Dust Bowl, the Bleeding Midwest, the many deprivations and horrors caused by capitalism...and the triumphs wherever such things are fought would all make excellent subjects for photography. The camera can spread your message and make another potent tool in your arsenal. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Expanded use of photography in propaganda.

Propagandize Professionals: Doctors and lawyers and managers, all have been greatly affected by this latest crisis. More than a few have been forced into breadlines and soup kitchens alongside the workers they have once looked down on. Approaching them, convincing them to join their cause, will give you access to their skills, which are undeniably useful and valuable. Perhaps more importantly, the “middle-class” individuals who have fled in unnecessary terror are often the most fervent and dangerous opponents of syndicalism. Thousands have joined Anti-Syndicalist Associations and other organizations when they could have been saved. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/100. Result: Begin propagandizing destitute professionals.

Pillory Capitalist Greed: The Reformists and the Federalists agree on one thing: capitalism is here to stay. They desperately seek to keep the same failing system, and they will spend as much blood as they need to in order to preserve their hierarchies and privileges. Capitalist greed is behind every death from want or violence since at least 1925. Politicians love to proclaim millions have died to syndicalism and revolutions. It is time to count the tally killed by capitalism and reaction. It is time to lay out the contradictions of capitalism and destroy any denial or defense. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Increase in general anti-capitalist propaganda.

Against the Opium: Religion has historically played a large role in American life, and the chaos of the Great Depression has led to something of a revival for its most unusual and esoteric branches. Many churches are strongly reactionary, offering pie in the sky for empty bellies on earth. And many are corrupt as well. Stephenson had pastors helping him, and reaping the sick “benefits” of his brutal actions. Publicize these sins, demand an accounting, and begin breaking the stranglehold of religion on American thought. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 50/100/150. Result: Increase in anti-church propaganda.

Radio Debates: One of the many potential uses of the new radio networks is to publicize debates between syndicalists and their opposition. The concept has attracted a great deal of interest, since such arguments were an important part of Lincoln’s electoral victories. There is also a great deal of debate in how they are to be structured...Cost: Variable. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30. Result: Votes on how to structure the debates.

The Moral of the Story: The radio is also being popularly used for entertainment, and there is the occasional show you like to listen to in order to relax. There’s no reason the SPA can’t sponsor a few shows about bands of thieves stealing from robbers, the ordinary adventures of hard-working laborers, or perhaps a grand tale of an alien world wracked by civil war...Cost: 3 Resources, -2 Resources per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/90. Result: Create socialist-themed radio entertainment.

Public Life: The gardens have begun to bring people together who were formally separate: members of different tenant’s unions now work together to turn an abandoned ruin into a fruitful garden, people from all walks of life relax in them when they can do so without interrupting work, and the recent arrivals and old hands can come together over an appreciation of fresh vegetables. This is a success worth building on. While people are adding to these gardens already, asking musicians to play by them or setting up benches and tables on the edge, or even segregating spaces for children to play, you could encourage this effort to spread thousands of miniature parks alongside the gardens to help encourage the entwining of various communities. The notion of using them for concerts is especially popular. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/60. Result: Expand community gardens with other (cheap) community activities and facilities such as concerts, encourage interaction between different groups.

Challenge the Instability: The evident failures of bourgeois democracy are displayed before all of America. People have died because of these failures, thousands of them. They choked on dust created by capitalist mismanagement of the Great Plains. They died of crime the federal government allowed to flourish. And most damningly of all, they were massacred in multi-month clashes that have spanned the length and breadth of the nation. What sort of nation could accept this, what sort of system could allow this? And what alternative is there? All these questions are to be answered. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 5/10/15/30/45/60/90. Result: Condemn the failures of the United States government, explain why your proposal is a superior alternative. Gain popular support, especially from those who desire stability above all.

There is Power in a Union: Strength can be its own sort of comfort in dark and dangerous times. And you have strength aplenty. While there are many who might fear you, the alternatives are equally terrifying. Promise them protection, promise them safety as members of the CAS, promise them peace and stability, as much as can be gained. Cost: 1 Resource, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Convince people to join you to protect themselves from various other threats.

Anti-Americanization: While the melting pot is a lovely concept, it also means that meaningful elements of various individual cultures are destroyed or appropriated. To resist such trends will require meaningful and long-term effort, but a start can be made through advocacy over the use of autonomy to establish holidays celebrating ancient customs and adding languages such as German, Yiddish, and Finnish to the days of schoolchildren so the tongues of their ancestry are not lost. Cost: 1 Resource, loss of support from socially conservative factions. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/20/30/60/90. Result: Agitate for expressions of local cultural heritage.

Street Theater: Work and labor are all well and good, but people need to relax and be entertained as well. And so entertainment shall be provided. Plays, skits, comedy groups, all shall be created. And of course, aside from the classic and common sorts of entertainment, some of it will have an edge to it as the entertainers seek to provoke thought and encourage the questioning of the current order. With some of the worst entertainers around encouraged to work on their craft, hopefully, new auditions will go better. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 2 months. DC: 20/53/84/100. Result: Establish small traveling syndicalist entertainment groups.

Youth Groups: Children are the future. They must be protected and nurtured and educated, given the tools they need to succeed in a world that changes more and more by the day. And if their parents can’t care for them, there needs to be an alternative. An extension of the existing childcare institutions, informal practices, and an alternative to the Boy Scouts all in one has been proposed: The Young Worker’s League (the name was chosen to avoid coming down on the syndicalist vs. socialist debate). The idea of establishing such a group has grown increasingly popular Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45/75. Result: Establishment of youth groups and clubs.

Catholic Liberation: The Catholic church is a powerful reactionary force, particularly after the savage anti-clericalism of the Italian Revolution. But many of its adherents are syndicalists or at least progressives, and the Irish and Italian voting blocs have allowed themselves to be courted by the SPA despite unease from some segments of the party. Now it is time to take that relationship to the next step, and this begins by reducing anti-clerical tendencies in the party and presenting a face friendly to the Catholic church in theory, if not in practice. Cost: Loss of Relations with the Anarchists, Totalists, and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from Protestants. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90. Results: Increase in support from Catholics, increased ease of recruitment.

Anti-Olson Approaches: Olson has already begun working to secure his power base through the remains of the Progressive Party and Farmer-Labor, reaching out to Federal and even Longist groups to increase the strength of his reformist movement. Even with it’s partial co-opting and the beginnings of splits within developing, his movement is a potential rival. And so it must be taken over or destroyed. Attacks on his character, attacks on his politics, attacks on his record, any and all will be used to dismantle his support. His allies will not be spared either. Cost: Increased tensions with the Progressives and Longists, increased hostility with reformists. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/60/75. Result: Decreased support for reformism.

Against All Racism: Racism is not something you will tolerate, nor is it acceptable to the CAS. While proclamations can only have so much impact, it is worthwhile to make them, especially if they can be followed up by action. But simply speaking against it will count for something. Cost: Decreased support from the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/60/105. Result: Racism and discrimination are condemned, chance of action being taken independently of you.

Encourage New Seizures: There will be no cowardice in the SPA. You are seizing factories because the system they operate under is inherently unjust, and the workers of the world will be rectifying that. And if you don’t like it, stay out of their way. Rally the workers to your banner, radicalize them, and go forth! Take the means of production, for the Revolution nears every day! Cost: Very provocative. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Increased support and radicalization within the party, more enthusiasm for seizing factories and other facilities.

The Growing Pie: Yet another possible propaganda angle to approach would be the economic benefits of syndicalism. When all the workers are united and capitalist and banker leeches are no longer siphoning off the hard-earned profits of the workers for their own ends, we can expand the amount of wealth and industry for all, no matter their color or faith or place of origin. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Begin spreading propaganda about the economic benefits of syndicalism and socialism.

Religious Freedom: While you will not go so far as to demand the inclusion of religious symbology and rhetoric into the propaganda of the SPA, you will make it clear that you stand unswervingly for religious freedom. Many workers share many faiths, from Catholicism to Episcopalianism to Baptism, to say nothing of the minority religions of the country. And you promise that none shall be oppressed or suppressed. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/120. Result: Begin spreading propaganda in favor of religious freedom and tolerance, hopefully countering the rumors describing you as a bunch of church-burning lunatics.

Painting a Picture: The museums and art galleries now only operate with the approval of Red Guards and have been opened to all. But the collections of the rich still shelter within their mansions. Bring them out, let there be art for all the people. And let work be done on creating new art, on sculptures showing the unity of the people and paintings showing the future of socialism. Cost: 0.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/70. Result: Bring art galleries, private collections, etc. under worker control, begin developing socialist-themed works of entertainment.

Speeches on the Ground: There are many who hesitate and vacillate, who fear what socialism will mean. They have seen undisciplined bands of Red Guards exacting “taxes” and heard of merciless slaughters of wedding parties and church groups. They worry about how the means of production will be seized and what the social revolution will entail. Some degree of concern is understandable of course. They labor under capitalist realism and mystification. So they need to be reassured. Let them talk to dedicated socialists, let them hear that their concerns are meaningless. Surely many of them will become good syndicalists and socialists once their fears are assuaged. And if not...well, that can be dealt with too. Cost: 1.5 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 60/95/130/170. Result: Create and spread large amounts of propaganda, aim it at those scared at the prospect of revolution with the goal of reassuring them.

Attack the Selfish: Selfism behavior and profiteering is not acceptable, but it has continued. Middlemen charging outrageous prices, foremen and union leaders abusing their positions, farmers trying to take advantage of the famine, thieves and criminals and racketeers, corrupt bureaucrats stealing and skimming. It cannot be tolerated, it cannot be allowed. Begin a campaign encouraging boycotts, rejection, and reporting of those who engage in such antisocial behavior. Target the bureaucracy, target the criminals, target the profiteers, target the corrupt, target the hostile co-ops, and leave no stone unturned. Cost: 1.5 Resources, will upset a lot of people. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/80/120. Result: Begin massive anti-corruption campaign, attacking it on all vectors.

Condemn Cowardice: There can be no half-measures, no limp, tentative reforms. So long as capital holds power in this country, the workers will not be safe. Rumors of collaboration between the rich and poor for the sake of stability, whispers of compromise, none of it will matter. In a few years all that hard work will be rolled back and the gains of the worker’s movement will be lost, unless they are set in stone. And so nothing less can be tolerated. And that must be made clear. Cost: 1 Resource, will upset some people. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/80/105. Result: Begin anti-reformism propaganda campaign.

Political Cartoons: In many newspapers, there are mocking cartoons with labels and captions showing the author’s opinion on various events. In recent months, a common motif is a ship sailing through dangerous waters. They are quick, easy to understand, and popular. And it’s time to have some of your own...or some more of your own, anyway. They can be part of newspapers or posters or pamphlets, they can be everywhere. Cost: 1 Resource, -0.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Create lots of political cartoons and hire lots of political cartoonists.

Educational Articles: The news is meant to inform. It can also be used to educate. Short columns can be included on science and history, but they can also include, and will also include, theory. Short, easily digestible chunks of theory for the casual reader. Hopefully it can be made to work, you can’t imagine how someone would make Das Kapital easy to understand. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/60/80. Result: Begin publishing short, understandable, educational articles on various subjects including politics and economics.

Editorial Control: With the growing power of the newspapers, you need to make sure that the editorials demonstrate correct attitudes. Tighten your control over their offices, set firmer standards for what can be said, create a mandatory list of topics to be discussed at least once a month to help shape public discourse. The power of the written word will help bring about the Revolution, so long as it is used properly. Cost: 1 Resource, minor loss of Relations with the Anarchists. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Gain ability to set tighter editorial standards, including a free action to have a topic be discussed and emphasized for a month.

Limited Editorial Control: With the growing power of the newspapers, you need to make sure that the editorials demonstrate correct attitudes. Tighten your control over their offices, set firmer standards for what can be said, create a mandatory list of topics to be discussed at least once a month to help shape public discourse. The power of the written word will help bring about the Revolution, so long as it is used properly. And to make sure you are using it properly, you will ensure this control is limited only to official SPA newspapers and not the many more that align to you. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Gain ability to set tighter editorial standards for SPA newspapers, including a free action to have a topic be discussed and emphasized for a month. This will have a lesser impact than the version in Editorial Control.

Demonstrations of Force: With an accommodation having been reached with the Fix-the-Price movement,the plan for using propaganda to emphasize the prowess and power of the Red Guards has been modified. Instead, it will be targeting the increasingly bold reactionary fifth columns within the Steel Belt to impress upon them the fact that they would be wise to not stand in the path of history, lest they be crushed beneath it’s wheels. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/80/125/150. Result: Produce propaganda emphasizing the strength of the Red Guards to intimidate reactionaries.

Minorities in the Spotlight: American culture has long relegated colored individuals to sideshow rolls at best. At worst, they have been made subjects of mockery and abuse in the media, such as in blackface minstrel shows. That is a narrative that must be corrected, through showing colored characters as capable heroes in their own right and through encouraging colored authors to tell their stories. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: Encourage the work of colored creators, and the use of colored characters in roles they would not ordinarily have.

Women Heroes: American culture has long kept female characters to a few, narrowly defined roles, all solely important for their relationship to the obviously much more important male character. That is a narrative that must be corrected, through showing female characters as capable heroes in their own right and through encouraging women authors to tell their stories. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/80/110. Result: Encourage the work of women creators, and the use of female characters in roles they would not ordinarily have.

Widespread Childcare: The earlier childcare initiatives have been left to languish, and many women have complained and protested about it. While there have been some reforms to make the various improvised institutions more efficient, it has been considered a lesser priority. But the recent conferences have led to an internal shift. Though many ask what’s wrong with typical parenting methods, proponents of women’s liberation note that for women to be equal, they must not be burdened by being the perpetual caretaker of children, that they must be able to work without the distraction of changing diapers. Push for the adoption of more widespread childcare institutions, including after-school care, organized daycares, childcare facilities attached to factories, and more. Some are even proposing more exotic things such as creches for children. Cost: 3 Resources, -1 Resources per month, loss of Relations with Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, the Teamster’s Union, the Regional Unions, the TUUL, and the IWW MM. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75/125. Result: Create and support a wide variety of childcare institutions.

Encourage Political Representation: American politics have generally kept out minorities and women wherever possible. There is the occasional rare exception, but the vast majority of American politicians are white men. Even having a scrap of nonwhite blood is enough to cause many to turn against a politician - Charles Curtis faced several obstacles over his indigenous blood during his nomination for the Vice Presidential position recently. And that’s just not good enough. Women make up half the population, black people make up a significant minority. They deserve better representation. Cost: 2 Resources, loss of Relations with Parliamentarians and Ultraleft Farmer-Labor, loss of support from the AFL-CIO, the Teamster’s Union, the Regional Unions, the TUUL, and the IWW MM. Time: 3 months. DC: 50/75/125. Result: Sponsor minority and female politicians, help support their rise to power.

Look for the Helpers: People like to be made to feel good, especially as their country falls apart around them and reactionary forces grow increasingly violent and unhinged. Stories of the simple good deeds people are capable of can warm even the coldest heart...and there’s a propaganda benefit to spreading these tales if the right emphasis is given. The right emphasis being on who is doing these good deeds. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/30/45. Result: Slight increase in morale and popular support.

Assurances of Moderation: A lot of people have gotten up in arms about the pace of the social and economic changes you are introducing. It’s seeing a sharp increase in resistance to you and to the ideals of socialism, even among many who would benefit the most from the total transformation of society. Well, as much as it pains you to give any concession to the reactionaries, further unrest in the Steel Belt is the last thing you need right now. So you’ll make some soothing noises and calm the stubborn fools and just keep on going as you were, and they will do the same, assured that you aren’t going that fast. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 35/105/185. Result: Sharp increase in popular support.

Dancing and Distractions: Life is growing increasingly grim in the American Maelstrom. (People are coming up with all these lovely names for it!) And as the vanguard of the working class, it is your responsibility to succor their spirits as well as their bodies, without requiring such counterrevolutionary distractions as churches or synagogues. Instead, people will be given the opportunity to distract and entertain themselves with dances and other amusing social activities. Seize the means of fun along with the means of production! Cost: 1 Resource, -0.25 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/40/70. Result: Create a program of SPA-sponsored dances and other social events.

Domestic Equality: You will freely confess that you tend to expect your wife to do most of the cooking and the cleaning. She has pushed you to do more, and you have increased your share, but it is still less than half. And you are far from the only one. It’s unequal, it’s unfair, and it’s frankly moronic. There is no good reason for men to be unable to do laundry or to cook, and if they can do such tasks, then they should do them. Equality demands nothing less. Cost: 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/35/50. Result: Create propaganda encouraging men to take up their share of domestic chores.

The Democratic Standard: The nature of bourgeois democracy is that it is full of undemocratic systems. The Senate, the courts, the House districts, and the Electoral College are just a few of the many examples in America. And none of them belong. It is not just, it is not free, it is not right to have any such system. Fortunately, it is possible to see the Constitution changed. Begin insisting it should be, and advocating for that transformation, through methods either peaceful or violent. Cost: 2 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/100. Result: Create propaganda attacking undemocratic systems and demanding change.

Do Your Part!: The path to socialism or syndicalism is one that will require sacrifice, unless the capitalists roll over and allow their class to be utterly destroyed. And that is an impossibility. A revolution is a war, and war is cruelty. Food will become scarce. Hours might be long. There will be battles and bloodshed, perhaps worse than the Weltkrieg. But that is a price that must be paid, a darkness that must be withstood, so we can earn the light and beauty of socialism. Stand fast, strand strong, stand and do your part. And our victory shall come. Cost: 1 Resource, will provoke moderates. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/50/60/ Result: Create propaganda encouraging cooperation and sacrifice.

Full Speed Again: The socialist cause has made great lunges and achieved great victories for the workers and farmers of America, but for the past few months we have rested on our laurels. This cannot be allowed any longer. Once more, we will do all we can for the Revolution! Once more, we will rise up and take hundreds of factories from the grasping hands of capitalists! Once more, we will shatter the networks of capitalist agents in our midst! Forward again, the revolution train has no breaks! Cost: 1 Resource, will provoke moderates. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Create propaganda encouraging radicalism and making massive changes. Whip up revolutionary fervor.

Promises of Protection: Quite a lot of people have reasons to fear the coming revolution. And not all of them are hateful. Some fear war, some fear pogroms, some fear the failure of the revolution. If these fears overwhelm them, then they may well choose to side against or remain helpless and frozen on the sidelines. So let us calm them, let us make assurances that we will do our best to protect them, that we will not attack civilians, that we will control the Fosterites and the other more unhinged elements of our allies. Cost: 1 Resource, will provoke the Fosterites. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/45/65. Result: Increase in support among moderates, increased popular support.

The Chicago Hollywood: The unrest in Los Angeles, the traditional home of moviemaking in America, has reached a fever pitch. With the increasingly open violence across the city and the blatant alliance between national populists and the “legitimate” leadership of the city, many actors and other moviemakers are doubtless feeling uneasy. Indeed, some have openly criticized the nature of the Los Angeles regime and otherwise attacked capitalism. The divide between studios and actors has never been starker...and that gives us an opportunity. Though it will likely be costly, we can arrange for as much as the talent and tools as feasible to come across the country to Chicago, or perhaps Toledo, and begin making movies for us. Cost: 4 Resources. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/45/75/100. Result: Reach out to Hollywood actors and support staff, begin filming ads, skits, and possibly movies.


Poach the Democrats: The lines in the Democratic party are hardening as they find themselves pulled in so many directions. Some find themselves attracted to Huey Long’s populism, others the Dixiecrats' savage racism. Still, others are shifting to the Progressives, to the remnants of Farmer-Labor...but there aren’t many left who are willing to join a revolutionary party. It will take quite a bit to find those who will. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/110/160. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.

Working With Republicans: The Republican party is uniquely pro-business, even more so than the Democrats. But they are also the party of Lincoln, and many of the more progressive Republicans have been applauding your efforts on desegregation, especially once they realize it had actual popularity. They might well be willing to join you to support your efforts, and join the party...as long as they don’t fear revolution. Cost: Unknown. Time: 1 month. DC: 65/110/160. Results: You convince some members of the Democratic Party and aspects of their political machine to switch allegiance to you.

(2 Norman Thomas Influence Committed) Peel Them Off: The broad anti-syndicalist coalition cannot easily be defeated, but any big tent will leave some out in the rain. Try and push smaller reform bills targeted at specific segments of that coalition and persuade them to join you in the hopes of stealing their momentum or getting a useful club to swing at them when they finally produce their big bill. Cost: Increase in reformist influence within the SPA. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Pass some minor reform bills, break up the reformist coalition somewhat.

Co-Opt the Machines: While the political machines in SPA-controlled areas have been dismantled thoroughly, some yet remain. Halt their gradual dismantlement and co-opt them into your service instead, helping you gain votes in some contested towns and cities. Of course, embracing them means embracing their shadier side as well. Cost: Increase in corruption, risk of backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/30/45. Result: Increase in popular support, the Teamster’s Union likes it.

More Political Grandstanding: With Capitol Hill effectively dead due to the sheer dysfunction, now it is time to turn the Senate and House seats you control into bully pulpits. In committee and on the floor, you and yours will go on the attack through speeches and shouts. This is not a bid for passing a bill or an attempt to whip up some political support. This is an attempt to expose the social, economic, and political order of the United States as the blood-soaked horror it is from the very top. It has begun, now let’s keep it going until the Capitol falls apart on its own. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 55/135/170. Result: Increase in popular support, the humiliation of all your political opposition.

Demand Non-Intervention: Rumors of another US Army intervention in South America are spreading as well, provoking discontent and anger from everyone. These rumors are almost certainly false, even MacArthur has said so with his typical arrogance and utter lack of tact. But you can force the US to officially commit to a policy of non-intervention. This will likely result in a pullback of US support for several South and Central American juntas and boost your popularity among isolationists with broad support. But even with as much hostility to the idea of intervention, it will take a great deal of effort to pass. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 60/120. Result: Anti-intervention bill passed with broad support from several parties.

Patronage Networks: Patronage is a reality of any political system, no matter how reformers rail against it. It has even begun popping up in the newly cleansed state bureaucracies, to say nothing of unions or the small-town governments on your side. So it must be dealt with and used to your advantage. Beginning to create and use these networks will also allow you to have at least a degree of control...which means you will be one making bargains with slimy bastards. Joy. Cost: Stress, increase to corruption. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Increase to support in the CAS, increase to support from the Teamster’s Union, slight increase to popular support. Enhances effects of Assistants Adjustment

Anti-Corruption Agencies: Corruption is a double-edged sword, and one that could cut you deeply. It is time to start taking measures to protect yourself, first by beginning to work with state governments to establish organizations that will purge corruption within elected and unelected offices...and making sure these organizations are resistant to the lure of corruption themselves. Cost: Slight loss of support in the CAS, slight decrease to support from the Teamster’s Union, angers the bureaucrats. Time: 3 months. DC: 30/60/90/120. Result: Slight increase in popular support, slight reduction in corruption, further actions for reducing it unlocked.

Strengthen the Justifications: With flimsy laws providing flimsier protection, it's clear they need to be fixed. Though fierce opposition has begun rallying, with everything from filibusters to bribery to harassment being attempted to keep the seizures from having actual legal justification. There are even threats of the army being called in to restore order, threats that are not followed through on only because of the fear of a full-on civil war. Strengthen the justifications, encourage the seizures, and prepare for the class war. Cost: Minor losses in CAS support. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/70/105. Result: The legal basis for factory seizure is strengthened.

State Police Forces: With the National Guards hampered, there are other potential forces that could be used to suppress us...or used to crush reactionaries. To that end, the state police forces will be secured, their leadership replaced with trusted syndicalists, Red Guards will be hired, and they will be shifted to being under Congressional influence even as their arms are improved and their procedures revamped. Cost: Possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/120. Result: State police forces have their loyalty secured.

Strengthen Your Political Control: The halls of Congress are filled with your allies and fellow socialists alike, forming a strong and united bloc. Or so it seems. In truth, the arguing and infighting routinely takes up hours, even with Norman working to shield you from the worst of it. With controversial legislation on the horizon, you need to tamp down on it and make your bloc in Congress truly a united front that will never break. Cost: Likely backlash, -1 Gravitas, probable loss of support in the CAS, loss of Relations with the Anarchists, the Centrists, and the Parliamentarians. Time: 3 months. DC: 45/90/135. Result: Tighter control over SPA and allied politicians, Norman Thomas gains +1 Influence, 1 less Influence committed to Norman Thomas.

The Next Steps: To truly end white supremacy in America will require a sea change on every level of culture, something you are only toddling in the right direction for given the infrastructure it will require. However, you can work at repairing some of the damage. A second series of laws can be passed, giving educational benefits to colored people, offering them low-interest loans so they can purchase housing and improve their economic security, and push for their integration into government offices. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CAS. Time: 1 month. DC: 40/70/105. Result: Pass a series of state laws designed to eliminate the economic damage of Jim Crow and slavery.

Legal Offenses: The federal government and the so-called National Popular Front have been relying on increasingly threadbare legal covers for many heinous acts, including the recent deployment of armed and bloodthirsty troops upon American soil at the behest of their masters, the suppression of various publications, and harassment upon union organizers and Longist advocates. It’s time for our day in court. Sue them for these violations, take active roles in the legal defense of those they falsely accuse and arrest, use the courts they rely on to shatter their legitimacy. Soon they’ll only have their final argument left, and we’ll beat that one too. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/75. Result: Arrange for legal experts to begin attacking the federal government and capitalist system in the courts, and to take action to legally defend the falsely accused.

The Women’s Bill of Rights: Just as the laws of this nation favor white men over black, they favor men over women. While women legally have the right to vote and some other privileges, a great many they should have are denied to them, including important limitations in their property and divorce rights. Though some may rage and riot at this, their opinion does not matter. Man and woman are going to be equal before the law in every respect imaginable, you intend to make sure of it. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CAS. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/60/80/110. Result: Pass a series of state laws granting equal civil, political, and religious rights to women.

Immigration and Refugees: The state of West Virginia has recently passed a law designed to assist immigrants in earning citizenship and settling into their new life, along with declaring themselves to be wholly open to any refugee who can make it. In the law, they listed Africans, the Irish, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Jews, and “other Asiatics.” It’s a splendid law, one which the legislators received much acclaim for, and some other state legislatures are murmuring about doing the same. Throw your weight behind it and encourage as many states as possible to adapt such transformative laws, no matter what objections some might have. Cost: Likely popular backlash, probable minor losses of support in the CAS. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/50/90. Result: Pass a series of state laws designed to protect immigrants and encourage refugees to come.

Policing Reform: As the months wear on, there has been a steady increase in crime and reactionary activity, such as protests against civil rights and attempts at electing anti-worker candidates. The current policing system of purely local, democratically managed patrols has begun encountering limitations. To that end, proposals have been made such as the establishment of requirements for some basic education for those who would be police and the creation of a more professional group to provide forensic and investigative support. Cost: Internally controversial, may cause an external backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 15/45/90/115. Result: Pass a series of laws designed to improve the effectiveness of police.

The New Education Bill: Segments of the SPA have grown increasingly strident in their demands for education reform. They are no longer satisfied with changes external to the official public school. They are demanding comprehensive and complete educational reform...and they are absolutely right to do so. It’s just that there’s quite a bit going on already, and no one can agree on what the new curriculum will be like...but perhaps one of your subordinates will take things on themselves. There’s only so much you can do. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/10/40/70/100. Result: Create comprehensive education reform bill in SPA-controlled states, may not be uniform. General increase in CAS support, especially the IWW MM and the AFL-CIO.

Single-House Reforms: The machinery of state is autocratic and oppressive, but with great struggle and sacrifice it can be turned to the benefit of the worker. While economic and social reforms are ongoing endlessly, one area of change that has been neglected is the political sphere. Making recall elections for the lower houses easier and completely eliminating the upper house will go a long way to correcting that. Since that will require changing constitutions, it will not be as easy to accomplish as one would hope, but it is a start. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 2 months. DC: 65/160. Result: Constitutional reforms in several states to eliminate their upper houses and make recall elections easier.

(2 SLC and 1 Cadre Influence) Judicial Replacement: The ever-reactionary judicial branch relies on its total lack of democratic accountability and insulation from the impact of its decisions to enable judges to break strikes, steal land, shatter lives, and overturn popular laws. The SPA has mostly relied on intimidation, persuasion, and the occasional execution to keep them in check, but many courtrooms are sporting increased guards of federal thugs and their black-robed thieves are growing bold once more. The mechanisms of many state governments have been almost entirely captured by the SPA however, and so the structure of the court can be transformed. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 1 month. DC: 75/180. Result: Constitutional reforms in several states to make judge an elected position, limit their terms, and other modifications designed to purge the branch of reactionaries and make them more democratically accountable.

Abstentionist Politics: The federal government must be denied legitimacy in the eyes of our supporters to ensure they will not hesitate when the time comes. Already, MacArthur and the other instruments of capital have shaken American’s faith in the government, particularly with the dubious legality of the occupation of Kansas and the presence of Marines and other military forces in a dozen states and cities. Withdraw from government until those occupations end and the military ceases interfering with the function of state. American distrust of the military is strong, perhaps it is stronger than the fear of syndicalism, but among those who support you this will be lauded. And it will be devastating to the efforts of any coalition who will try to pass bills without you. Cost: Politically controversial, will anger the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90/150. Result: Withdraw from participation within the federal government and further attack its legitimacy.

Executive Power: The current structure of the state governments means that anything the Planning Commission needs done by a government must go through the complete legislative process, one where hostile senators can delay or water down the resulting motion, as happened in New York and Montana. There’s no good reason for it, a simple bill would shift that power from the legislative branch to somewhere reactionaries have less influence. Cost: Politically controversial. Time: 1 month. DC: 45/75/115. Result: Make the process of the Planning Commission working with the state governments more efficient.

Further Expand Domestic Subsidies: Broad-based investments in state-owned and worker-controlled enterprises will help them grow. Similar investments in the people will help them grow, assuaging fears of hunger or homelessness, raising the quality of life, and bluntly it’s the right thing to do. The food and other welfare support these programs have provided have already helped ease the burden on the SPA programs, but more could be done. Cost: Expensive. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Expand welfare and subsidies in states controlled by the SPA.

Health and Healing: Even as food grows more affordable and housing more reliable, as crime is reduced and safety ensured, there is still disease and injuries, and good healthcare is hard to come by. Working with existing organizations for doctors and nurses where possible and overruling them elsewhere, perhaps some organized, democratically run system of cheaper healthcare can be created. Cost: Expensive. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Create state healthcare organizations in states controlled by the SPA.

Housing Under the State: The Planning Commission has concerns about the amount of housing they will need to construct, but are gamely working on a plan to address such issues, and the Cadres, working together with unionized construction companies, have done plenty as well. But there are always more who need roofs over their heads and walls to keep out the cold. Cost: Expensive. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60/90. Result: Expand state-managed housing construction in states controlled by the SPA.

Regulate Markets:The duty of the state is to coordinate, guide, and regulate workers and farmers in accordance with the democratic will of its members. This includes regulating economic activity. Firstly, given the comprehensive safety survey conducted recently, the governments should regulate workplaces, mandating that they conform to the safety guidelines established by various unions in cooperation with EcPlanComm and other groups. Secondly, democratically structured price controls should be implemented, with certain preferences given to the state on...particular materials. Cost: Potential political backlash, potential loss of popular support. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90. Result: Safety regulations passed, vote on further reforms such as price controls and a framework for rationing and prioritizing things for war.

State Land: Industry places a burden upon us all, but it is especially damaging to the world around us. The gasses given off by coal plants poisons the skies, the tailings of metals poison the waters, the endless, choking fields of corn poison the land. The natural landscape and beauty of the earth must be protected, even if it slows our industrial development. To that end, let tracts of land be set aside and placed under the protection of a democratic state to ensure that future generations might enjoy the beauty of spacious skies and purple mountain majesties. Cost: Possibility of political backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/30/60. Result: Create and expand state-managed nature preserves.

Infrastructure Renewal: The infrastructure of America has been severely damaged by years of neglect, as well as sabotage, combat, and active targeting. To help restore economic normality, more effort must be directed towards repairing rails, restoring sewers, and rebuilding roads. But even that is not enough. New houses must be built, new ports established...there is much to be done. The amount of vital infrastructural development to be completed is virtually limitless. Cost: Expensive. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/25/50/75. Result: Increased state investment in infrastructure, more EcPlanComm dice for infrastructure, quality of life, and pork.

Expand Asylums: There have been enough complaints about the practice of the community check-in groups to mandate an overhaul of their practices. But perhaps more importantly, actually making diagnoses and treatment plans should be the realm of trained professionals, even if they will not consider supporting capitalism to be a mental illness. So the groups will have some of their authority reined in, and instead will only be able to recommend people go see them and offer the support the professional instructed. In addition, funds will be set aside to establish new sanatoriums and support more people going into mental health related fields, particularly those from neglected groups. Cost: Mildly expensive, potential political backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/35/55/70. Result: Increased state investment and involvement in mental health, at the expense of the standard SPA method.


The Legacy of John Brown: John Brown was a revolutionary martyr who fought for freedom. Abraham Lincoln sought to bring freedom to the enslaved. They would support you in your struggle to bring liberation to all. You will insist on it. You will quote them to say so. You might have to be a bit selective in doing so, but it won’t matter. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 5. Result: Increased efficacy of The American Revolution actions.

A Socialist Structure, Pt. 1: How will the economy work? Will currency be abolished? How will you ensure racial equality? Though there are examples to look forward to from Britain and France, you will need to begin creating your own answers to these questions. Plans must be made, although they will be by necessity vague. But creating the most basic framework for what form American socialism will take will help ease your path forward. Cost: Probable loss of relations, chance of reduced support in the CAS based on the decisions. Time: 2 months. DC: 0. Result: Begin coming up with a more detailed roadmap for socialist America, begin unlocking actions to create small-scale imitations/programs related to this.

Against the Socialism of Fools: Anti-Semitism is a virulent problem in this country. Father Coughlin spews anti-Semitic bile, many claim Jews are behind every problem and especially the syndicalists, even some of your party members and unionized workers mislike them. Countering these narratives may cost, but it is a worthy effort. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Chance of further losses Time: 1 month. DC: 10/50/100. Result: Counter anti-Semitic narratives, increase in support from Jews, small chance of increase in support.

Relations with Reservations: There are scattered Native American reservations across the country, full of people who haven’t been citizens until recently, who have been forced off their homes and into desolate places, who have had their history and culture defaced and desecrated. In many ways, the imperialism and colonialism inflicted upon them is America’s first sin. You don’t know what they want, you don’t know what they need. You will have to begin asking those questions. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Native Americans.

Help for Hispanics: As the SPA grows in influence in the American Southwest, awareness of the historical mistreatment the Hispanic population of the United States has endured. Just as with the Native Americans and the colored populations, you need to open a dialogue with these groups. Cost: Unpopular with social conservatives. Loss in Relations with Ultraleft Farmer-Labor and the Parliamentarians. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/80/100. Result: Increase in support from IWW MA and Regional Unions, increase in Relations with Syndicalists and Orthodox factions, begin developing a roadmap for justice for Hispanic Americans.

Create a Curriculum: For a socialist school system to exist, there must be a socialist curriculum, Having students elect their teachers seems faintly ridiculous, but there can be other ways for them to be exposed to the SPA’s ideals from a young age, and there should certainly be a different emphasis on what is taught. No gender divide for one. There’s also the subject matter that must be transformed, including the complete revamping of any history or civics-related classes, potential integration into the Young Worker’s League...so much to do, so little time. Cost: None. Time: 3 months. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Creation of curriculum, improved results and lowered difficulty for other education reform actions.

Create an Educational Program: It’s not just the subject matter that needs to be changed. The entire American school system is set up to train and educate cogs in a machine. It’s gender segregated, teachers are encouraged to harshly punish students, and there is rampant abuse of power. All of that will need to be changed. Somehow. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60. Result: Begin designing an education program, improved results and lowered difficulty for other education reform actions.

Justice and Violence: Violence is one of the eternal topics people argue about. When is it acceptable, why is it acceptable, what limits should there be? Some proclaim it all equally abhorrent, others insist it is always necessary. The SPA has an ample variety of attitudes, some of which are counterproductive. The cowardice of the SPU and the bloodthirst of the Fosterites both threaten the revolution. The correct course is obviously somewhere in between the extremes: self-defense is obviously acceptable, and so is violence in the pursuit of justice, but you must decide where the lines are...and when they should be crossed. Cost: Varies. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/40/60/80. Result: Decide what sorts of violence are acceptable and when, develop a more defined thesis on it.

Appoint a Committee of Ideology: This will be a contentious group whose arguments will echo throughout the party, but those arguments will be necessary for the building of a true socialist state. Economy, law, social organization, the role of religion and race, the question of minorities, internationalism, centralism, federalism, and councilism...all these things need to be discussed. And you don’t have the time to do it, so you will have to get other people to do it for you. Cost: Likely to decrease the Strength of the Center, will occasionally make decisions you don’t like. Will have to commit Influence and Gravitas. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create subordinate to handle various Intellectual actions, vote on how much to commit.

Linguistic Reform: While colored people seem to consider colored an acceptable term to describe them, it has been brought to your attention that a couple common forms of language used regarding them are considered demeaning. Similarly, several women have argued that language should be modified to remove many unreasonable gendered components. The most prominent example is “man” referring exclusively to the male sex and humanity as a whole, but there are others. Apparently. Cost: May seriously upset social conservatives and moderates. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/65/100. Result: Begin propagating language reforms, votes on which to choose.

The Nature of an Economy: An economy is a vast, interconnected thing. Raw goods feed factories, factories make products. Value is traded and bought and sold and stolen in ten thousand different forms. Debt is passed around, intangible pieces of tangible things are speculated on and traded. The American one has been utterly stagnant. Goods are produced but not sold, factories stand empty, skyscrapers rust. Food is too cheap to grow and too expensive to sell. Marx and other leftist theories have written voluminous texts on the topic of capitalism’s economy and the changes socialism will make, syndicalism has demonstrated the power of a worker-owned economy in action, but it is time to consider the American approach to left-wing economics. Cost: You are going to upset people. Time: 1 month. DC: 0/45/90/135/170. Result: Create a unified SPA proposal for a future economy, which you are most definitely not planning to install after you overthrow the existing US government, honest.

The Important Intersection: The concept of intersectionality has been bandied out a time or two, but no one has really tried to codify it and push it out to the broader party. The idea is a break from conventional Marxist politics, but you are no longer a truly conventional Marxist party. It has been more or less universally acknowledged that race and gender can be sources of oppression above and beyond the ordinary dynamics of class and economics, and that these can intersect in painful ways. It’s time to write that up, and make it a formal part of the SPA’s goals and platform. Cost: Will upset social conservatives. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/40/60. Result: Define intersectional politics, make it an official part of the SPA’s ideology.


A Black Budget: Given the likelihood of the Commission for Revolutionary Defense being involved in some less-than-savory affairs, it may be worth siphoning some money into hidden accounts so that it can be put to use but remain harder to use. Paying spies from sources that aren’t clearly your coffers, purchasing equipment or information from organized crime, serving as a place to deposit money made from bank robberies...there are many possible uses. Cost: -2 to -2.5 Resources per month. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Resources available that can be put to use for covert operations and remain obscure.

Taking a Peek: With the sudden revelation of Schenk’s dual loyalties, you find yourself wondering who else has friends or interests you should be worried about. You wonder if you can trust Schenk to do the investigation...you wonder who else you could trust to do it. You hate how shaken you feel about this...but he’s not likely to try and hide any corruption or betrayal he uncovers from you. You are fairly confident of that. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find information about chosen subordinate.

Someone Else to Spy: With Schenk’s loyalties suddenly in doubt, you find yourself...concerned about what he’s been doing, especially regarding the more inward-facing side of things. The Revolutionary Defense Committee having his attitudes would be potentially very unfortunate. You aren’t going to fire him, but you are going to be looking to curtail his influence, and one way would be to focus him more externally and find someone else to take care of the more day-to-day duties for the Committee and leave the Commission to him. Cost: -1 or 2 Influence, may annoy Schenk and the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Create an internally-focused Intrigue subordinate, vote on who they are.

The Revolutionary Guard’s Loyalties: You need to make sure the Revolutionary Guard is at least not entirely influenced by Schenk and the RAF. They were created before him, and you have never seen any sign of such attitudes from them, but he does have at least nominal influence over them, since the Commission appoints the Committee, who selects the Guard, who elect the Commission...although Schenk has just been appointing the people elected. Does that mean he thinks they already share his views? Was he trying to avoid suspicion? Was it a commitment to internal democracy? Or was he simply too focused on other matters? You will have to go around Schenk, or try to anyway, but you have to find out. Cost: Risk of annoying Schenk or the RAF. Time: 1 month. DC: ??. Result: Find out the Revolutionary Guard’s loyalties. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what’s up.

Find the Red Army Faction: You can’t leave this alone. You need to know who else is aligned with the RAF, and where they have their headquarters and where they draw their funding from...just in case the worst happens. What exactly the worst is changes from day to day, but you know being able to find the RAF will be helpful no matter what nightmare scenario you are picturing. And it might just help you sleep a little better. Cost: Risk of seriously upsetting Schenk or the RAF. Time: ??. DC: High. Result: Find who else supports the RAF, find out where they are. The more Influence or Gravitas invested, the higher the likelihood Schenk realizes what’s up.

Siphon State Funds: With nearly unfettered access to many state governments and party loyalists being installed in treasury departments across the nation, you have an opportunity to enhance the party’s financial position by arranging for subtle fund transfers from the government funds. There will likely need to be some sort of...shell to hide the directness of the money transfer. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 20/25/50/70. Result: Increase to income.

Sending Spies: Particularly given your purging of the police and the increasing difficulties the capitalists are having with oppressing the workers in areas dominated by syndicalists, there is something of a low-level exodus going on from the north, which means there is an opportunity to get eyes and ears in the lower level of the National Guards, U.S. Army, and hostile militias, to name a few possibilities. There’s also potential to infiltrate your political enemies or rivals. Cost: Risk of discovery, risk to the spies. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/???. Result: Write-in where you send the spy.

Newspaper Analysts: With the increasing influx of information, often heavily conflicting, getting an idea of what is going on in the country grows more difficult every day. Arranging for a few party members to subscribe to dozens of newspapers and compare them so they can brief you will be child’s play compared to some of the things you have organized. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Improvement to Rumors and News section.

Send Covert Organizers: Unions cannot operate openly everywhere. Particularly in the South and Midwest, efforts to organize are met with bombs, knives, and bullets. Or worse. You have vivid memories of the results of your trip to Wilmington...But people still organize, they still fight. Sending covert assistance can lead to an increase to your strength in an area, and help increase the chances of more overt intervention. Cost: Risk to the lives and health of the agitators/organizers depending on where they are sent to. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/Variable/Variable. Results: Write in an area (such as New York state, the Midwest, New Orleans, etc. The bigger it is, the more diffuse the impact) and reduce Federalist and AFP support while increasing your own support there. Unlock actions for following up on the organization/agitation.

Ears in the Party: To better keep abreast of movements in the Party and the doings of your subordinate, cultivating a small network of...trusted friends to let you know what they hear could be managed. Flora will probably have to be the one managing them, but you feel she is trustworthy. Knowledge is power, and knowledge of the going-ons in the SPA and the politicking of the bureaucracy will be especially powerful. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/25/??. Result: Lower difficulty of actions involving intelligence within the SPA.

Create Shell Corporations: To help with some of your more...unpleasant deeds, you can avoid scrutiny by purchasing a few false companies and helping you to conceal any unfortunate money trails. Although given the incredible chaos going on throughout the country, you aren’t sure how necessary such deceptions are, unless you decide to start severely investing in foreign support. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/??/??. Result: Increase chances of avoiding discovery for embezzlement actions.

(2 Schenck Influence Committed) Infiltrate the Army:The army is crash-expanding, with sergeants turning into captains and captains turning into colonels as every man they can recruit is gathered into the regular ranks or the Special Engineering Corps. Selecting volunteers from the Red Guards and having them sign up will enable you to gain some low-level infiltration, and the fact that some of them will have military experience will get them into relatively high ranks. MacArthur is certainly planning to use the army against you, you must find out how. The steady sidelining of officers with syndicalist sympathies has left you with fewer avenues, although the recruiting spree does offer fresh opportunities for entering the lower ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/60/?/??. Result: Make contacts within the army.

Steal Weaponry: The nation is in chaos, and this extends to the supply chains of the military. Some arms factories have been seized, while others are filled with sympathetic workers. Soldiers are increasingly inclined to turn a blind eye in exchange for sufficient funds. All of this means there are plenty of opportunities for heavier weaponry than small arms to make its way into the hands of the Red Guards...although on the other hand, security is being tightened and some soldiers are growing increasingly dedicated to their cause of maintaining law and order. Any such operation will be...risky. Cost: Risk of discovery, 1 Resource. Time: 1 month. DC: 30/?/???/???. Result: Begin creating stockpiles of weapons and equipment such as grenades, machine guns, mortars, etc.

Into the Navy: The steel titans of the navy are directed and maintained by a horde of sailors, many of whom come from the working class and labor in horrible conditions, making them ripe for recruitment. Meanwhile, the dockyards in Philadelphia, Norfolk, and several other cities still churn as ships are made and sent to patrol off every coast. There is ample opportunity to begin slipping syndicalists into their ranks. Cost: Risk of discovery. Time: 1 month. DC: 35/??/??. Result: Make contacts within the navy.

Hunt Infiltrators: The Longists and Federalists have doubtless begun infiltrating us, trying to sow division and sabotage our efforts. Perhaps this has already begun bearing fruit, or perhaps it will become a problem in days to come. Either way, the spies must be found and removed. With limited sources of information, it may prove difficult, but it is a task that must be accomplished as soon as possible.Schenk has raised the alarm about this in particular, uncertain who in the intelligence apparatus of the CAS can be trusted given the corruption and politicking you are both aware of...although he could just be looking to fill it with RAF loyalists. Cost: ??? Time: 1 month. DC: Special. Result: Begin hunting for spies within your ranks.

Propaganda of the Deed: There are many tools for spreading syndicalism and disrupting reactionaries. Bombs and guns are excellent at doing both. By demonstrating the spirit of revolution, weakening the forces the oppressors can bring to bear, and striking fear into the hearts of those who stand against us, we shall strengthen the cause! The class war shall come and end the conflicts of history, and no price is too great to pay it! Cost: -3 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/35/50/65/90. Result: Begin a campaign of political bombings and assasinations.

Robin Hood Revolutions: The Bolsheviks funded themselves through bank robberies before they were able to seize power. While the size and strength of the SPA mean such tactics are no longer needed, they could still be useful. A campaign of public, armed theft will do much to demoralize our class enemies and tie up their investigation and intelligence resources. Cost: -1 Resources, risk of discovery, possible backlash. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/60. Result: Begin a campaign of bank robberies, increase to income.

Spies in the House: The rich have servants. Maids, nannies, handymen, butlers, gardeners... all are trusted to go into people’s homes, to stay there with minimal supervision, and sometimes even to assist in more discrete functions. And while they are typically members of the labor aristocracy, they are just as often subjected to cruel abuses of all kinds. And so many of them may well be willing to aid you, giving you access to an invisible but dense information network...although it is also possible that the BOI and Longists will have anticipated this and established counters. Cost: 0.1 Resources per Influence/Gravitas invested. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??/??. Result: Find and recruit spies and informants among servants.

Rooting Out Domestic Enemies: Of course, a similar approach could be done to members of the SPA who hire unionized domestic workers, to say nothing of the countless secretaries, aids, and functionaries who are vital for keeping the vast infrastructure of the party running. Anyone of them could be turned into a spy. So it may well be worth gently vetting those individuals for potentially troublesome sympathies and ties.If any evidence of spying is found...They cannot be allowed to subvert our revolution. Cost: Will piss a lot of people off. Time: 1 month. DC: ???/???/???. Result: Find spies and informants among your own servants.

In the Dead of Night, Reactionary Edition: Those who stand against the might of the working class will be cast down and broken. By the ballot or the bullet, they will be defeated. But that will take time, and they could do untold amounts of damage first. So they need to be removed. Quickly, quietly, and in the dead of night. The leaders of the reactionary groups who still infest SPA-controlled territory. will be seized, tried, and punished. And justice will be done, and a stern lesson taught. Cost: Public backlash, will cost support with the AFL-CIO and the Right AFL-CIO, may cost additional support, will cost Relations with the Parliamentarians and the Anarchists. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/?/?? Result: Seize and arrest the leaders of various reactionary groups.

In the Dead of Night, Bureaucrat Edition: Those who stand against the might of the working class will be cast down and broken. By the ballot or the bullet, they will be defeated. But that will take time, and they could do untold amounts of damage first. So they need to be removed. Quickly, quietly, and in the dead of night. The most vilely corrupt bureaucrats will be seized, tried, and punished. And justice will be done, and a stern lesson taught. Cost: Public backlash, will cost support with the Teamster’s Union, the AFL-CIO, and the Right AFL-CIO, likely to cost additional support, will cost Relations with the Centrists, the Parliamentarians, and the Anarchists. Will anger the CAS bureaucrats. Time: 1 month. DC: ??/??? Result: Seize and arrest the worst of the corrupt bureaucrats.

Find Tools: Reactionary Edition: There are always individuals willing to betray their class interests, to serve as dupes out of principle or greed. That has been one of the greatest weaknesses of the worker’s movement, but it also applies to the other classes. Look among the various reactionary movements to see if there will be people who can assist with the discrediting, defeat, or destruction of their political organizations. Cost: Cooperation has a price. Time: 2 months. DC: ??/??. Result: Catspaws and infiltrators established among the reactionaries.

Find Tools: Bureaucrat Edition: There are always individuals willing to betray their class interests, to serve as dupes out of principle or greed. That has been one of the greatest weaknesses of the worker’s movement, but it also applies to the other classes. Look among the corrupt CAS bureaucrats to see if there will be people who can assist with the discrediting, defeat, or destruction of their cliques. Cost: Cooperation has a price. Time: 2 months. DC: ??/???. Result: Catspaws and infiltrators established among the corrupt CAS bureaucrats.

Safety for the RAF: While Schenk does understand your desire to not get too close to the RAF, you can tell it chafes at him. They have also demonstrated that they are very effective, if few in number and that they are willing to cooperate with your greater goals and aims. So it may be worth supporting them, just enough to make them more effective. They have their own sources of weaponry and funding, but they could use places to hide out, rest, and get medical care. And it would be easy enough to set aside a few backrooms for them to use. Cost: ??. Time: 1 month. DC: ?/??. Result: Safehouses for the RAF established in out-of-the-way urban SPA facilities, increase in RAF cooperation.

Blueprint Theft: The SyndIntern wants blueprints of some of the more interesting American technology, such as the designs for the Christie tank, and other industrial and military information. What was already available was packaged up and sent off, but getting looks at the designs they really want will be difficult, as many of those factories have restrictions on unionizing and tight security. But Schenk thinks it can be done, although there are several steps he would like to take first. Cost: Very risky, could lead to scandal. Time: 1 month. DC: ???. Result: Steal military blueprints for the Third International, increase in SyndIntern Relations.

California Preparation: You can expect plenty of mischief being done in November. Voters will be intimidated, ballots will be destroyed or miscounted, and that’s before getting into the inherent structural limits of capitalist democracy. You will admit freely that you intend to do the same, but it’s different. In any case, you need to be prepared for election fraud, especially in California and the Midwest. You need to figure out how to spot it, how to prove it, how to fight it, and how to fix it...and how to do some of your own. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 10/30/40/60/90. Result: Come up with methods of countering voter fraud and inflicting your own.

Encode and Encipher: While various codes and ciphers are already in use for the more secretive side of the SPA and CAS, at least according to Schenck, the practice could be more widespread given the risk of hostile infiltration. While certain basic principles are being taught to many Red Guards as part of their training in security procedures, the practice could be expanded to see wider use. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 25/75/125. Result: Coding and ciphering becomes a more common practice among the SPA and affiliated organizations.

News from Abroad: With the increasing influx of information, often heavily conflicting, getting an idea of what is going on throughout the many countries the SyndIntern has an interest in grows more difficult every day. Arranging for a few party members to collate letters filled with information from foreign volunteers, various newspapers, and information from your SyndIntern comrades would be simple enough.. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Improvement to Rumors and News section regarding foreign events.

Investigations and Protections: Allowing those who wish to see us destroyed to sully our name with baseless claims would set a bad precedent, but it would set an equally bad precedent if those who criticized us were attacked. Some manpower can be set aside for further investigating these claims and protecting those who made them and publicized them from retaliation. Cost: 0.1 Resources, will annoy Schenck, minor losses of CAS support. Time: 1 month. DC: 15. Result: Begin investigations, provide protection for those who provoked the recent outcry.


Work Overtime: Although your heart and mind ache at the thought, the cause needs you. It will be stressful, it will be upsetting to your wife and daughter, you can feel your very soul revolting at the thought of spending even more hours working...but you must. The workers of the world demand it! No matter what it costs you. Cost: Severely stressful, unhealthy, bad for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: +1 temporary Influence.

Personal Attention: If you spend a few hours working on a particular task, it will likely go smoother. It will cut into the time you would normally spend with your family or your books, but it is a sacrifice you will have to make. Cost: Stressful, not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Small dice and narrative bonus to chosen action.

Exercise: You have gotten slightly out of shape thanks to the stress of the election. Getting back in shape would be good for your health and your image...and if you ever get the chance to strangle MacArthur, it will help then too. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, improvement to health.

Spend Time With Your Family: Your daughter Hannah misses you, as does your wife Louise. Spending some extra time with them this month will make up for all the times you missed doing it during the campaign season. Cost: None. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Major decrease in stress, good for your family.

Write: You have been working on another book about your own thoughts and beliefs about socialism and syndicalism, as well as on a few poems, memoirs, and some other odds and ends. Spending some time working on that will help order your thoughts and ease your burdens. Cost: Not great for your family. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Results: Decrease in stress, possibility of new traits.


Free Actions

Tweak a Subordinate’s Priorities: While those who are working with you are scattered across the country, between the train and the telegram they are within reach. Requesting a minor change to their priorities is a simple matter. Cost: May pick only twice per turn. Time: 1 month. DC: No roll. Result: May make 1 change to 1 subordinate’s priorities (change order, add one, remove one). This will have a political cost if used on the SPA Cadres.

Ask For a Favor: Party members already sacrifice their time and money and sometimes their health and their life, but you must ask for more. Though it will cost some precious goodwill, continued success will bring it back, and so you can confidently ask for favors. You can also speak with the SyndIntern and ask for favors. Cost: Variable amount of Relations, changes in Strength of factions. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Relations and Strength allows.

Call on the RAF: Talk to Schenk, let him know what you need, he goes somewhere to talk to the RAF leadership, and whatever you asked for gets accomplished. You try not to think anything more of it. Cost: Cooperation from the RAF. DC: No roll. Result: May get as many favors as Cooperation allows.

Throw Your Weight Around: You are the leader of the SPA, the man who helped lead the Seattle and Chicago General Strikes to success, the man the Syndintern has trusted with bringing about the Revolution. Though you are democratically elected, you have undeniable authority. Authority you truly prefer not to use...unless you absolutely have to. Cost: -9 Relations with all factions of the SPA, narrative effects. The cost will change as you use it for better or worse. DC: 0. Time: 1 month. Result: Temporarily convert 1 Gravitas to 1 Authority.

Adjust Your Priorities: Long-term commitments are risky in the chaotic situation the American nation is in. Temporarily stepping back from them would allow you to handle crises as they come back. Cost: Minor penalties to targeted action. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: De-commit Influence from selected action, narrative penalties.

Budget Adjustments: Your subordinates run many expensive programs that do a great deal for the cause...but on the other hand, you need that money too. Make some adjustments to the budget. Cost: May upset factions in the CAS. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: May modify the amount of income available for subordinates. Increasing their budget will decrease your income and vice versa.

Planning Modifications: EcPlanComm’s plan was made with a degree of flexibility, and it is time to begin putting that flexibility to use. There are areas that have been neglected and gaps that have been left, and decisive action must be taken to correct that. Cost: May upset factions in the CAS or cause other political complications. Time: 1 month. DC: 0. Result: Vote on how to adjust planning priorities.

Choose A Focus: You are currently taking The Union Forever! 1 month remains.

Spread the Word - The inevitability of the revolution and the glory that will come after must be spread from sea to shining sea. The Newspapers and pamphlets and posters will make everyone see your message, even if they deny it. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving the written word.

Apply Red Paint - Art is one of the greatest gifts of human civilization, and it is one that must be made accessible for the people. There are many disparate movements organized around making syndicalist and socialist art in America, but many of these movements are nothing more than a single young man painting in an apartment. An investment in resources will see these movements flourish once the artists are no longer starving. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving visual art.

Sing Proud Songs - Music can fire up emotions and raise spirits, grant hope or terror. It can spread messages, true or false. And it is time for the music of the people to spread the word of liberation. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for actions involving music.

Spread the Word - The inevitability of the revolution and the glory that will come after must be spread from sea to shining sea. The Newspapers and pamphlets and posters will make everyone see your message, even if they deny it. Time: 1 month. Effect: 1 Temporary Influence for propaganda involving the written word.

Cross the Color Line- America has segments of its past that are shameful and regrettable. That cannot be changed, but we can step forward and try to make things better. Integrated Red Guards, integrated unions, integrated party affairs...let the color lines in America disintegrate. Let racism and white supremacy be destroyed Time: 2 months. Effect: +10 to all anti-prejudice actions for the next 2 months.

The Failing Middle Class - The wealthy proletariat and the petit bourgeoisie are major backbones for MacArthur and the Democrat-Republicans. But as the economy grows worse, many fall into poverty and so become easier to radicalize. Time: 1 month. Effect: +10 to the next roll involving recruiting the wealthy.

Union Recruiting - Not every worker has chosen to join a union. Some are scabs, some are scared, some are reactionaries. Regardless, with tensions rising every day, the threat they pose to the Revolution grows. Pressure can be applied through the carrot and the stick to see them join unions and develop class consciousness. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 union recruiting actions gain +5 to their roll.

Blitz the Soldiers - The current US Army and Air Force are powerful despite their small size. Well-trained and led by a skilled corp of officers who have cut their teeth in dozens of imperialist actions, they could deal significant damage to the Revolutionary cause...unless their soldiers could be convinced to join us. Time: 1 month. Effect: The next 3 actions for recruiting or co-opting soldiers gain +5 to their roll.

Political Alliances - Victories must be won not just on the battlefield, but in the halls of the rich and powerful. They must be convinced to side with you against Long's insanity and MacArthur's tyranny. Time: 3 months. Effect: Gain the national spirit of Political Alliances (Effect: +1 Strength for the Right faction per month).

Establish Community Organizations - The social life of these small rural towns often revolve around reactionary churches. Co-opting these existing institutions or creating new ones will be essential to solidifying your control. Time: 2 months. Effect: Gain +5 to the next 3 Cultural actions that affect rural areas.
 
Top