The Glowing Dream: A history of Socialist America

[Odinson]

Dang.

Makes me feel better about the recent election though.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

Great update very well written.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

Dang.

Makes me feel better about the recent election though.

careful lest you wake the bear.

 

[Odinson]

careful lest you wake the bear.

I'm sorry, is that leaning too much towards chat territory? I only meant that the real life one is a lot calmer

 

[sampleswift]

I'm sorry, is that leaning too much towards chat territory? I only meant that the real life one is a lot calmer

I would refrain from referring to events within the last decade, which usually go in Chat.
Back to the topic at hand; whoever claimed that Frick would win, go full authoritarian, and lead to a civil war that either starts or finishes in 1918/19 probably had the best prediction.

 

[Odinson]

I would refrain from referring to events within the last decade, which usually go in Chat.

Ah, sorry, my bad.

 

[minifidel]

What a wonderful update; I agree with other posters, the writing was gripping, and you really got across the tension and the dismay in the chamber.

 

[NotQuiteConfident]

Great chapter. Got to say, things have gotten much worse much faster than I thought they would.

 

[The God-Emperor]

Democracy Asunder. I suspect this will be a day of infamy in the future history books.

 

[The Jovian]

Given the way things are going I think Victor Berger's assessment would be accurate, at least from his more moderate perspective. De Leon gave the government all the justification they needed to ban the SLP and in the process all but ensured a Frick presidency and a National Party majority in congress. But in the long term De Leon's actions may have saved the SLP from going the way of the SDP and may have fomented the revolution De Leon wanted all along.

 

[Baron Steakpuncher]

This is one of the best depictions of a election mess i've seen. Bravo to you.

 

[Taimur500]

What a wonderfully written series of updates, i am amazed.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

Absolutely astounding, in all senses of the word.

Though I have to ask since I've forgotten, what happened to the Democrats?

 

[Derekc2]

They have pretty much imploded at this point from first the 1894 general strike and repression as it was done by Cleveland which destroyed it's popularity amongst the working class of the north, and even south in places such as Wilmington, and then it was finished as a political force by it losing the battle of Wilmington, which clearly showed it were still a party of racists who refused to accept that they lost an election after they lost it to the Fusionist ticket, and also discredit it amongst the southern racists as they lost both the election and the attempted coup d'état which clearly showed it as a spent force. @Teutonic_Thrash

At least as how I remember it.

 

[Meshakhad]

Daniel DeLeon, you trigger happy moron, what have you done?

 

[DocBrown]

Back to the topic at hand; whoever claimed that Frick would win, go full authoritarian, and lead to a civil war that either starts or finishes in 1918/19 probably had the best prediction.

It makes sense that Frick would become POTUS since it's mentioned that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is officially repealed in 1906, and only one potential President - Frick - would allow and even actively support that.

 

[aap5454]

Man, what a great update! Can't wait to see what will happen next

 

[StrikeEcho]

I imagine the next few years are going to a be continent-wide insurgency ramping up to open rebellion and revolution as 1919 draws on.

 

[Vince]

Rereading this and I realized some foreshadowing was dropped in earlier updates that probably apply toward Frick's Administration.

Though the Sherman Anti-Trust act would not be finally repealed until 1906, it was a dead letter long before then. Perversely, when it was enforced during its sixteen years of life, it was generally implemented against labor unions, which were attacked as ‘combinations’ conspiring to restrict the ‘free competition’ that had long since ceased to exist.

In 1910 the LDP was finally granted a semi-governmental status as the Economic Regulatory Office, with special access to congress and the executive. It was merely the recognition of a long-standing reality; business and state power had abandoned any real pretense of separation many years ago.

 

[Nyvis]

I'm actually really torn on this. In the end, I think I agree with Knox. It was an unfortunately necessary evil. I mean, when someone openly calls for insurrection with the support of an entire party (not saying every socialist approved of Deleon's call, but when you have a large, angry mob outside Congress, it sure seems like they have support to the people stuck inside) you cannot allow that to continue. Knox will likely be remembered very poorly by history, but I think he probably made the best decision he could have. To leave things as they were would have assured a Frick or Darrow victory and civil war. Knox rolled the dice and prayed Roosevelt would win. Unfortunately for him, he lost that bet.

Addendum: Knox also isn't wrong about Frick buying the presidency. Knox relied a bit too much on the honesty of others (ironically enough). You can blame him for maybe giving Frick the opportunity to buy the election, but you can't blame him for Frick's actions.

Maybe if they didn't want an insurrection they shouldn't have consistently shit on most of their country? Remember how the USA was born? The spiel about blood of tyrants? The founding fathers themselves argued that a bit of rebellion could be justified (while putting down rebellions against their own messes).

Roosevelt winning after arresting the socialists doesn't stop a civil war either. What are they going to do, go home and stop caring?