Also, don't forget that the Army and National Guard (which does not exactly exist yet) are...not that big at this point in time. In practice, both sides would be relying mostly on militias and building their armed forces mostly from scratch. It's not like today, when the Army and the National Guard are big, well-trained, well-equipped units.
The Fire Never Dies: Labor's Star Ascendant
- Thread starter Meshakhad
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- iww socialist america
The National Guard does exist at this point, although it's a far cry from its current form. You're right about both sides relying on militias. We've already seen the beginnings of the future American Red Army with the Committees of Public Safety. As for the organization that will provide the Whites with their main militia force, it doesn't exist yet, but we'll be seeing them very soon...
I was more thinking that the National Guard was very nascent and had not really gotten to anything like it’s current form at the time.
Not only that, but things like old Gatling Guns and machine guns are very much available for purchase. Smart revolutionaries are buying them up. (Bannerman's is probably doing a good business.) https://www.dutchess.org/history/bannerman_castle_history
That won't matter a lot. What will play a bigger role is that the socialists will control most of the factories where they are made.
Having enough firepower to initially take some of what they need is rather important.
True. Events later this year will really get the ball rolling on building the kind of armed force needed to win a revolution.
21. The Colorado Coalfield Strike
…Colorado had a long history of contentious labor relations. Labor conditions had declined since 1903, when John D. Rockefeller took over the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, which dominated the state. Strikes were commonplace, but employees were often compelled to act as strikebreakers for neighboring mines[1]…
…The rise of the IWW and the SLP changed that. The IWW’s philosophy of worker solidarity helped make breaking strikes much more difficult. The SLP also saw electoral success in Colorado, working to establish local governments that were answerable to the people and not under the control of the mining bosses, following the example of Goldfield, Nevada. SLP-backed sheriffs and their deputies (usually drawn from the Committees of Public Safety) engaged in a sort of low-level feud with Baldwin-Felts detectives. By 1912, the vast majority of Colorado mines were organized under the WFM and IWW[2]…
…The Colorado Coalfield Strikes began in the summer of 1913, when Southern Colorado coal miners went on strike, demanding improved working conditions. The strike soon spread when on September 23, CF&I attempted to evict 20,000 miners and their families from company housing in the middle of a rainstorm. This was halted when Las Animas County Sheriff Louis Tikas[3] arrived and threatened to place the Baldwin-Felts detectives carrying out the eviction under arrest. One of them challenged him to try, at which point Tikas declared that he was deputizing every single miner in the county. Several miners produced weapons which had been brought in, enough that the detectives backed down rather than get shot[4]…
…Upon hearing of this, Governor Elias Ammons declared the miners to be in rebellion, and ordered the National Guard to put down the strikers. They were supported by Baldwin-Felts detectives (some of them veterans of violent strikes in West Virginia). Adjutant-General John Chase, commander of the National Guard, was initially confident, until he learned that the strikers were increasingly well armed. On October 8, Baldwin-Felts detectives who opened fire on strikers near Ludlow were attacked with improvised mortars. On October 16, IWW members who had infiltrated the National Guard stole the Death Special, an armored car equipped with a machine gun that had been commissioned by CF&I for the express purpose of suppressing strikes[5], and drove it into Ludlow. Rumors spread that the strikers had landmines and heavy artillery, or that they had turned the mines into bunkers. Chase soon reported to Governor Ammons that if it came to a battle, he was not confident of victory…
…The strike drew national attention. Congressman Charles Moyer (S-CO) visited the strikers. Many journalists wrote favorably of the strikers, who had refrained from attacking law enforcement or the National Guard[6]. When some in Congress suggested federal intervention, Eugene Debs surprised everyone by demanding that President Wilson send in troops… to support the miners. After all, they had taken up arms to defend their homes. A few of the mines briefly engaged in wildcat mining and selling of ore without the bosses. Sympathy strikes broke out among the UMWA in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, especially now that most of the Baldwin-Felts detectives were busy in Colorado…
…Eventually, the bosses gave in. Rockefeller wrote to his fellow shareholders that “Even if the miners are defeated, the violence necessary to bring them to heel will also surely leave the mines themselves in ruin.” On December 24, CF&I offered to accept all of the miners’ initial demands (including an end to union-busting practices). The offer was accepted, and by January 1, the mines were back in action[7]. The Death Special was handed over to the National Guard, some of whom were disturbed that a private company had weapons they didn’t…
…The victory of the Coalfield Strike emboldened the IWW. They had taken up arms in defense of their rights, and they had prevailed. Many IWW branches began building stockpiles of weapons. In March of 1914, WFM and UMWA leaders met in Charleston, Virginia and agreed to merge their organizations. The United Federation of American Mine Workers represented the vast majority of American miners… all under the umbrella of the Industrial Workers of the World…
- From One Big Idea: The Industrial Workers of the World Before the Revolution by Condoleeza Rice
[1] OTL.
[2] IOTL, it was the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America) that had organized the Colorado miners.
[3] Tikas was killed during the Coalfield Wars IOTL.
[4] IOTL, the UMWA tried to bring in tents to serve as emergency housing. ITTL, the IWW brings in guns.
[5] The Death Special is from OTL.
[6] IOTL, this was not the case, in part because local law enforcement was largely under control of CF&I. It’s easier to avoid killing the sheriff if he’s on your side.
[7] IOTL, the strikes lasted well into 1914, and… well, the Wikipedia page for this calls them the Colorado Coalfield Wars, so you can figure out how they ended. ITTL, there is much less violence.
…The rise of the IWW and the SLP changed that. The IWW’s philosophy of worker solidarity helped make breaking strikes much more difficult. The SLP also saw electoral success in Colorado, working to establish local governments that were answerable to the people and not under the control of the mining bosses, following the example of Goldfield, Nevada. SLP-backed sheriffs and their deputies (usually drawn from the Committees of Public Safety) engaged in a sort of low-level feud with Baldwin-Felts detectives. By 1912, the vast majority of Colorado mines were organized under the WFM and IWW[2]…
…The Colorado Coalfield Strikes began in the summer of 1913, when Southern Colorado coal miners went on strike, demanding improved working conditions. The strike soon spread when on September 23, CF&I attempted to evict 20,000 miners and their families from company housing in the middle of a rainstorm. This was halted when Las Animas County Sheriff Louis Tikas[3] arrived and threatened to place the Baldwin-Felts detectives carrying out the eviction under arrest. One of them challenged him to try, at which point Tikas declared that he was deputizing every single miner in the county. Several miners produced weapons which had been brought in, enough that the detectives backed down rather than get shot[4]…
…Upon hearing of this, Governor Elias Ammons declared the miners to be in rebellion, and ordered the National Guard to put down the strikers. They were supported by Baldwin-Felts detectives (some of them veterans of violent strikes in West Virginia). Adjutant-General John Chase, commander of the National Guard, was initially confident, until he learned that the strikers were increasingly well armed. On October 8, Baldwin-Felts detectives who opened fire on strikers near Ludlow were attacked with improvised mortars. On October 16, IWW members who had infiltrated the National Guard stole the Death Special, an armored car equipped with a machine gun that had been commissioned by CF&I for the express purpose of suppressing strikes[5], and drove it into Ludlow. Rumors spread that the strikers had landmines and heavy artillery, or that they had turned the mines into bunkers. Chase soon reported to Governor Ammons that if it came to a battle, he was not confident of victory…
…The strike drew national attention. Congressman Charles Moyer (S-CO) visited the strikers. Many journalists wrote favorably of the strikers, who had refrained from attacking law enforcement or the National Guard[6]. When some in Congress suggested federal intervention, Eugene Debs surprised everyone by demanding that President Wilson send in troops… to support the miners. After all, they had taken up arms to defend their homes. A few of the mines briefly engaged in wildcat mining and selling of ore without the bosses. Sympathy strikes broke out among the UMWA in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, especially now that most of the Baldwin-Felts detectives were busy in Colorado…
…Eventually, the bosses gave in. Rockefeller wrote to his fellow shareholders that “Even if the miners are defeated, the violence necessary to bring them to heel will also surely leave the mines themselves in ruin.” On December 24, CF&I offered to accept all of the miners’ initial demands (including an end to union-busting practices). The offer was accepted, and by January 1, the mines were back in action[7]. The Death Special was handed over to the National Guard, some of whom were disturbed that a private company had weapons they didn’t…
…The victory of the Coalfield Strike emboldened the IWW. They had taken up arms in defense of their rights, and they had prevailed. Many IWW branches began building stockpiles of weapons. In March of 1914, WFM and UMWA leaders met in Charleston, Virginia and agreed to merge their organizations. The United Federation of American Mine Workers represented the vast majority of American miners… all under the umbrella of the Industrial Workers of the World…
- From One Big Idea: The Industrial Workers of the World Before the Revolution by Condoleeza Rice
[1] OTL.
[2] IOTL, it was the UMWA (United Mine Workers of America) that had organized the Colorado miners.
[3] Tikas was killed during the Coalfield Wars IOTL.
[4] IOTL, the UMWA tried to bring in tents to serve as emergency housing. ITTL, the IWW brings in guns.
[5] The Death Special is from OTL.
[6] IOTL, this was not the case, in part because local law enforcement was largely under control of CF&I. It’s easier to avoid killing the sheriff if he’s on your side.
[7] IOTL, the strikes lasted well into 1914, and… well, the Wikipedia page for this calls them the Colorado Coalfield Wars, so you can figure out how they ended. ITTL, there is much less violence.
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22. Decline of the AFL
…The meteoric rise of the IWW naturally came at the expense of the American Federation of Labor, or AFL. Known by some of its detractors as the “AF of Hell”, the AFL was generally anti-socialist, in large part due to the influence of its founder, Samuel Gompers. The rivalry between the AFL and IWW became quite bitter. Where the IWW sought to unite all workers and was openly anti-capitalist, the AFL focused on organizing skilled workers and coming to an accommodation with capital. The AFL also favored restrictions on immigration, particularly Asians, and did relatively little recruiting among blacks, while the IWW actively sought to organize immigrant and black communities…
…The inevitable result of these differences was that by 1914, the IWW outnumbered the AFL by a considerable margin. The AFL remained a potent voice, in part because its members were generally better off and could provide more financial support, but its moderate approach was no longer gaining traction. The Colorado Coalfield Strike had seemingly validated the radical tactics of the IWW…
- From One Big Idea: The Industrial Workers of the World Before the Revolution by Condoleeza Rice
…The inevitable result of these differences was that by 1914, the IWW outnumbered the AFL by a considerable margin. The AFL remained a potent voice, in part because its members were generally better off and could provide more financial support, but its moderate approach was no longer gaining traction. The Colorado Coalfield Strike had seemingly validated the radical tactics of the IWW…
- From One Big Idea: The Industrial Workers of the World Before the Revolution by Condoleeza Rice
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I have just finished reading this TL, and I absolutely love it!
Your TLs are always great, inspiring and well-written, @Meshakhad ! This applies to this TL, too. And of course I always love a good labour-wank.
That being said, I am still very curious as to how that US Red Revolution is going to happen in only a few years' time, when not soooo much has diverged from OTL yet. But I have full confidence that you will offer us a well-told path!
Your TLs are always great, inspiring and well-written, @Meshakhad ! This applies to this TL, too. And of course I always love a good labour-wank.
That being said, I am still very curious as to how that US Red Revolution is going to happen in only a few years' time, when not soooo much has diverged from OTL yet. But I have full confidence that you will offer us a well-told path!
Thank you!
The Revolution will come as a bit of a surprise. To be honest, this is a less likely scenario than Reds! or Kaiserreich. However, the building blocks are appearing. The key differences at this point are:
* The IWW has avoided schism and has become the dominant force in American organized labor.
* Socialists have gained significant institutional control in parts of the US (most notably winning the mayorships of Milwaukee, Seattle, and New York).
* Leon Trotsky is providing his organization skills.
* The Colorado Coalfield Strike has strengthened the IWW's confidence, encouraged branches to begin arming themselves, and also improved their standing among moderate Americans (there was much less violence than IOTL)
* The Committees of Public Safety are providing the IWW with experience in organized violence.
Been listening to some of Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcasts recently and i agree, revolutions *can* happen suddenly and unexpectedly, even if the underlying causes are fairly obvious (at least in hind sight)
Pretty much the same thing as IOTL. The precise of his writings has changed somewhat, as every socialist writer is paying at least some attention to events in the US, not the least because there are plenty of foreign-language socialist newspapers and journals produced in the US.
Very interesting timeline, I look forward to seeing more!
I do like that this timeline has remained US-focused, but I'm certainly interested how the Russian Revolution will develop ITTL.
Heh, see the quote in my signature.
To be clear, it's remained US-focused because very little has changed outside the US. That will change gradually in the next few years. The timeline will pretty much always be from a US (or at least American) perspective, but there will be plenty of material dealing with other countries.
The general view ITTL is that the Second American Revolution was inevitable, but different circumstances could have easily delayed it... or caused it to fail.
I am expecting the midterm elections in 1914 to result in a House of Representatives / Senate republican majority, with the Socialists making gains. this might seem strange, but with socialists gaining votes you get radicalization going left and right
If republicans can implement a credit crunch to manage the 1913-1914 recession (side note: socialists will probably make use of this, citing it as yet another example of the cycle of contradictions growing and resolving through failure in capitalism) then what you get is higher unemployment.
This feeds the fires of revolution, which will make the socialists' chance at winning better
If republicans can implement a credit crunch to manage the 1913-1914 recession (side note: socialists will probably make use of this, citing it as yet another example of the cycle of contradictions growing and resolving through failure in capitalism) then what you get is higher unemployment.
This feeds the fires of revolution, which will make the socialists' chance at winning better
23. The Federal Reserve Act
…Woodrow Wilson was sworn in amid a stagnant economy. This was in large part a result of several panics in the stock market, resurrecting demand for a national banking system. Conservatives and private bankers favored a system that would be dominated by the banks, which ran into fierce opposition by progressives[1] and Socialists. Progressives favored a system under federal control, while the SLP opposed the effort entirely, believing that instead the federal government should protect workers, not businesses. When Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island tried to pressure Republican holdouts to support the bankers’ plan on the basis of party unity, Senator Robert LaFollete of Wisconsin responded by resigning from the Republican Party entirely… and joining the Socialist Labor Party, becoming the first Socialist Senator[2]…
…Many Republicans opted to blame the nation’s economic woes on the growing socialist movement, arguing that strikes were impeding production. Wilson was no fan of the SLP or IWW, but at this point was still hoping to reconcile organized labor with the progressive agenda. The AFL was firmly in the Democratic camp, and anti-labor legislation or action would likely drive even more workers into the arms of the IWW and SLP. In what seems bizarre given later events, the early years of the Wilson administration were good for the IWW. He even agreed to a clause in the Federal Reserve Act that favored credit unions, which were the primary source of loans for the IWW’s Solly shops, in exchange for SLP support[3]…
- From The Last President by Aviva Chomsky
[1] Referring to the ideological label, not just the political party.
[2] IOTL LaFollete voted for Debs in 1912, so it’s not that implausible that he might join them outright, especially when the SLP controls the Wisconsin state legislature.
[3] The Federal Reserve Act is mostly unchanged from OTL, but it is more explicit about protecting credit unions. This means it passes with greater margins (including LaFollete, who voted against it IOTL). Wilson was at one point favorably inclined towards socialism (see here).
…Many Republicans opted to blame the nation’s economic woes on the growing socialist movement, arguing that strikes were impeding production. Wilson was no fan of the SLP or IWW, but at this point was still hoping to reconcile organized labor with the progressive agenda. The AFL was firmly in the Democratic camp, and anti-labor legislation or action would likely drive even more workers into the arms of the IWW and SLP. In what seems bizarre given later events, the early years of the Wilson administration were good for the IWW. He even agreed to a clause in the Federal Reserve Act that favored credit unions, which were the primary source of loans for the IWW’s Solly shops, in exchange for SLP support[3]…
- From The Last President by Aviva Chomsky
[1] Referring to the ideological label, not just the political party.
[2] IOTL LaFollete voted for Debs in 1912, so it’s not that implausible that he might join them outright, especially when the SLP controls the Wisconsin state legislature.
[3] The Federal Reserve Act is mostly unchanged from OTL, but it is more explicit about protecting credit unions. This means it passes with greater margins (including LaFollete, who voted against it IOTL). Wilson was at one point favorably inclined towards socialism (see here).
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