Red America

Taken from:
Pre-Revolutionary America: A History
Joe Andrews, PHD (USAS, 1957)

SPUSA_logo.png

The logo of the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA), circa 1901​

...At the turn of the century, America was ruled by a powerful authoritarian regime, one which was slowly rotting away. It was just fresh from its victory in the Spanish-American War, in which it annexed many Spanish colonies. The USA was at last becoming a superpower. But under this veneer there was unrest. Immigrants arrived into America to find themselves barely accepted by the populace. Although the immigrants worked hard, in the eyes of the bourgeoisie, they hardly worked. Under the presidency of William McKinley, America was becoming a capitalist power. But McKinley was a right-wing conservative. He adored big business and such capitalist tendencies. America seemed to be on the path of capitalism.

Following the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War, several of Spain's colonies were annexed by the USA. The American Eagle spread its values to places as far apart as Cuba and the Philippines. It seemed that, for the nation, the future was bright. In addition, a severe recession ended during this period, no doubt due to the war. McKinley's first term was filled with republican imperialism. The USA was becoming a power. But in his second term, this went to ruin. Several strikes occurred, the largest being the Coal Strike of 1902.

Strike1902.JPG

A cartoon portraying the fighting between the miners and owners.

Because the employers of mines were refusing to increase pay, reduce work hours, and even recognize worker's unions, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) held a strike. One hundred and fifty thousand workers in total are known to have gone on strike. Tens of millions of people needed coal, but with workers on strike, they were out in the cold. As a result, many became strikebreakers. Violence grew between the two factions.

With mass violence erupting, the mines were even more paralyzed. They had no workers. Many strikebreakers got into fights with workers and a few even died. The owners of the mines refused to negotiate. And, for the time being, the government was putting a blind eye to the riot. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, a prominent progressive, wished to intervene, but he was told by the more right-wing President McKinley not to intervene for the time being. As a result the strike continued.

The owners were angry at the quiet government and, with winter coming up, if the strike continued, business would be lost, in addition the smaller factor of people dying. Hence, a group of representatives from both sides was set up. They met on November 18, 1902. The union was happy that such a meeting was occurring. They considered it to be recognition. But the president had a very different plan.

He sent the military to take over the coalfields and force the miners to work. Many miners were forced to work. This is the beginning of the decline in the popularity of McKinley, supporting the owners unfairly rather than the workers. He supported the bourgeoisie rather than the proletariat. This was not the last time an American president did such a thing.

This massacre was near-universally hated. Many hated the cruel fact that anyone could massacre such workers like that. They saw it as unfair, that workers wanting better conditions were murdered by their own government, which was supposed to protect them. By the 1904 elections, the Socialists gained quite a bit of strength and gained influence in both houses. Many newspapers were angry at such an event. The murder of so many innocent people led to it being termed "the Great Betrayal," an appropriate term for the massacre.

The result of this strike was that the UMWA was brought to the point of radicalism. It wished to try to put an end to such unfairness. As a result, they supported the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA) in all of their attempts to increase fairness. The union supported the party and gave the party much-needed support. This is considered to have made the SPUSA a party capable of competing with other ones. It began the rise of Socialist America.
 
Last edited:
This was not the last time an American prime minister did such a thing

You mean American President, surely?
 
Taken from:
Pre-Revolutionary America: A History
Joe Andrews, PHD (USAS, 1957)


The American federal election of 1904 was a hallmark election. It led to the Socialist Party successfully gaining just over a million[1] votes. It has never gone down from that.

Following the Great Coal Strike, the Socialist Tribune, the newspaper of the SPUSA, became a major one. The party gained support from various unions, especially the UMWA and various other miners' unions. As such, the party had quite a bit of support and influence, especially in the state of Pennsylvania, where the strike occurred. Eugene Debs remained candidate of the SPUSA, which was now a richer company, ironically thanks to capitalism.

eugenevdebs.jpg

Eugene Debs, leader of the SPUSA in 1940

The Republican Party was the centrist party in the USA. Unfortunately, its greatest progressive, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, was hated throughout the party for siding with the miners in the Strike[2]. As a result, the other major candidate, Charles Fairbanks[3], became the official Republican candidate, especially after being supported by McKinley, who declined to run due to the two-term tradition. Fairbanks was a conservative and brought the Republican Party on a similar path to the right-wing Democratic Party. Despite this, most people expected there to be a landslide Republican majority. And they would be proven right.

Because the Republican and Democrat candidates were very similar in political outlook, campaigning was not as intense as in 1900 and 1896. So as to compete with each other, Alton B. Parker called each other names. Parker called Fairbanks a radical and Fairbanks called Parker an imperialist. As such, radical factions in both parties were put down and held little influence in these elections. The rise of conservatism in America had begun, and it would not end until the fall of the bourgeoisie at the hands of the Socialists. This truth was obscured by a thin veneer of lies and red tape.

The election yielded several interesting results. First, the Socialist Party gained 1,000,237 votes. It was a breathtaking victory for the party, gaining so many votes. For the first time in history, the party was becoming a major one.

The Republican Party gained a majority in the election. Already with a large majority in Congress, many million voted for the party. A total of 7,349,794 votes were in favour of the Republicans and the Democrats gained 5,967,354 votes.

Republican Party (Fairbanks): 7,349,794
Democrat Party (Parker): 5,967,354
Socialist Party (Debs): 1,000,237

1: They got less than half a million votes in OTL in this time period.

2: He did so IOTL as well and the remainder of the government agreed with him because he was president.

3: IOTL, he was vice president in TR's first term.
 
Last edited:
You could bump it by adding a post? :p

Not that impatient and wanting to read more or anything...



OK, yes I am, post more dammit!:D
 
I'd argue that those vote totals are a bit unlikely (actually very unlikely).

Percentage-wise, it's:

Republican: 65.2%
Democratic: 27.8%
Socialist: 7.0%

The Socialist figure is fine, but the Republicans are way too high, and the Democrats are way too low. You've made the margin about 20 points greater than OTL 1904, which had the immeasurably more charismatic and popular Teddy Roosevelt involved. Also remember that the Democrats reign supreme in the South - they may struggle to win at this point, but their voter base is significantly higher than that.

Knock 15% off the Republicans and add 15% to the Democrats. 50-42 is a much more realistic result.
 
You could bump it by adding a post? :p

Not that impatient and wanting to read more or anything...



OK, yes I am, post more dammit!:D
Thanks. I always thought a socialist America would be...interesting.
I'd argue that those vote totals are a bit unlikely (actually very unlikely).

Percentage-wise, it's:

Republican: 65.2%
Democratic: 27.8%
Socialist: 7.0%

The Socialist figure is fine, but the Republicans are way too high, and the Democrats are way too low. You've made the margin about 20 points greater than OTL 1904, which had the immeasurably more charismatic and popular Teddy Roosevelt involved. Also remember that the Democrats reign supreme in the South - they may struggle to win at this point, but their voter base is significantly higher than that.

Knock 15% off the Republicans and add 15% to the Democrats. 50-42 is a much more realistic result.

Thanks...fixed
 
Taken from:
Pre-Revolutionary America: A History
Joe Andrews (USAS, 1957)


Charles Fairbanks was far for the best man for the job. In fact, he was a horrible president, a bourgeois pig. He signed the Detroit Agreement with Britain, leading to the USA joining the First Great War from its very beginning. Despite these blips, his term itself was peaceful and prosperous. It was one of those booms before a devastating busy in the pre-revolutionary American economy.

Economy​

Under the Fairbanks regime, the American economy grew in the hands of the bourgeois. But to the people who actually made such contraptions, they were still poor.

Electrification​


Edison-at-27.jpg

A picture of Thomas Edison, a bourgeois innovator and businessman

One of the largest means by which the economy grew was through electrification. Electric power was emerging and many innovations in the electric industry were made by Americans. The richest of these businessmen was the bourgeois dog Thomas Edison. He realized just how amazing it was to have electrical light, but the lightbulb was, at the time, a very bad invention. It could scarcely last for more than an hour. That was some time ago. In the time of Fairbanks' presidency, Edison was the leader of a popular business.

Many workers were in his employ, working for his company General Electric, which would last up until the Second American Revolution. One of the workers in his employ was the great Nikola Tesla. However, he was treated like dirt by Edison even after inventing the induction motor and Tesla resigned, choosing to work on a massive tower to power places wirelessly. This was called the Wardenclyffe Tower, and it would last until the First Great War, in which it was destroyed for scrap metal during the war. Tesla would fade into obscurity until the Second American Revolution.

In addition, many streetcars, trains, and the like were created. Although autos would only be popular in 1913, in which "cars," short for carriages, became popular with the invention of the cruel assembly line by the bourgeois Henry Ford. Streetcars were commonplace in this pre-revolutionary America under Fairbanks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments? Suggestions? Anything at all?
 
Last edited:
Taken from:
Pre-Revolutionary America: A History
Joe Andrews (USAS, 1957)


Capitalist Era

Under the regime of Charles Fairbanks, the lies of the "free market" were spread by the government to make the proletariat accept a bourgeois-run economy. It was the beginning of an era of capitalism run amok known as the Capitalist Era, which would only ends with the Second American Revolution.

3b_5.gif

A comic from The Daily Worker satirizing monopolies, circa 1912.

However, this era caused a loss of American egalitarianism. For example, the American Dream is the dream that one can become the leader of a collective and/or have a high position and rise from the low solely through hard work and labour. During the Capitalist Era, the American Dream was the same as in today, albeit the word "collective" replaced by "business." But in this era, the American Dream died out, with the repeal of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This new development led to monopolies regaining power they one lost. For example, the Rockefeller Oil Company had a near-monopoly of oil. These monsters would only be slain following the Second American Revolution.
 
Last edited:
I'd love to see a plausible timeline with Debs as revolutionary leader, if that's where this is going...

Well, rather unfortunately, Debs will die before revolution because this capitalism is not enough to cause revolution before the Great Depression, and Debs died in the 1920s.

Comments, anyone?
 
Taken from:
Pre-Revolutionary America: A History
Joe Andrews (USAS, 1957)


Capitalist Era

Under the regime of Charles Fairbanks, the lies of the "free market" were spread by the government to make the proletariat accept a bourgeois-run economy. It was the beginning of an era of capitalism run amok known as the Capitalist Era, which would only ends with the Second American Revolution.

3b_5.gif

A comic from The Daily Worker satirizing monopolies, circa 1912.

However, this era caused a loss of American egalitarianism. For example, the American Dream is the dream that one can become the leader of a collective and/or have a high position and rise from the low solely through hard work and labour. During the Capitalist Era, the American Dream was the same as in today, albeit the word "collective" replaced by "business." But in this era, the American Dream died out, with the repeal of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This new development led to monopolies regaining power they one lost. For example, the Rockefeller Oil Company had a near-monopoly of oil. These monsters would only be slain following the Second American Revolution.
 
Top