Paint it Red: The Rise of the American Left (1908-1932)

[Pyro]

I.W.W. Cartoon Highlights Anti-Capitalist Sympathies

  Having enough with the AFL, “Big" Bill Haywood led a contingent of IWW organizers to a collection of Pennsylvania plants and announced that the IWW would never turn its back on the working class. The Industrial Workers of the World, though small, did donate a large portion of its funds to aiding the striking steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania and Chicago. Haywood and his contingent worked to thwart company efforts to divide workers by race and re-moralize them wherever possible.

  The IWW also spent much of 1918 spreading around counter-propaganda in these cities, sharing stores of soldiers coming back to their home life with slashed wages and expressing that families were at stake in the strike. Some, like Haywood, also stressed the ideals of socialism and how it means collective cooperation and the liberation of all working men and women, countering the fears extenuated by the steel industry. If the U.S. government had intervened and followed through with its propaganda machine, it is likely that these efforts would have been in vain, but by the end of April, public opinion turned once again in favor of the strikers.

  In cities where picket lines were thrashed and strikers were dragged from their homes, wives and children stood at the ready to assist their loved ones whenever possible. As if taking a note from the Lawrence Strike, strikers in New York held up signs asking, “Mr. Roosevelt, should I send my children away?” Abandoned by the AFL, the AA now fully embraced the leadership of the IWW and a new wave of energy withstood the attacks from Gary and the company. The influence of the IWW began to show. In Gary, Indiana, state police had fired upon strikers, prompting a fight. However, the unionists simply backed off and waited until the police dispersed and once again began picketing. Haywood remarked this as a turning point, as if the strikers had returned fire, the National Guard would surely have been called.

  Just when this Steel Strike was gaining momentum, another work stoppage occurred, this time in Seattle, Washington. The shipbuilding industry, in an attempt to divide workers, announced a pay increase for skilled workers only, or, if this was declined, an across-the-board pay slash. A federal agency, the Emergency Fleet Corporation, or EFC, stated that they would retract contracts if any wage increases were granted. This demonstrated that the state had sided with the employers. In response, a general strike was called amongst 110 local unions. It began on April 20th.

  An alternative governmental structure was created in the city, named the General Strike Committee. All essential services were managed by this body of government, made up entirely of working-class men and women. Food distribution was also handled, spectacularly, by this agency. Pamphlets were handed out demanding further action, declaring “you and the boss have nothing in common” and “the employing class must be overthrown”.

  In another radical upheaval, Boston police officers went on strike in April of 1918 in hopes of forming a union. Then, a coal strike took off for the unionization of mine workers under John L. Lewis and the United Mine Workers. In each of these movements, the AFL, under Gompers, refused to coordinate any strike relief or assistance, allowing the IWW to take the lead. This “Red Scare” became a coordinated effort from company agents and the local and state governments to compare strikers with the Russian revolutionaries, frightening the middle class, the elderly, and moderate-to-conservatives.

  This entire situation culminated in an address by President Roosevelt on April 29th when he declared that any federal protections to unions ended with the war. “I do so humbly thank these fighting men for serving this republic in her efforts overseas. Now, we must come to terms that the conflict in Europe has closed and then move forward." With this announcement, a huge portion of Progressive-support suddenly dissipated. It had been speculated that Roosevelt’s successor would easily dominate the Election of 1920 and usher in a new era of reform. Now that TR removed federal protections of unions and effectively lost the urban vote, the next election was anyone’s game.

[Türkisblau]

Now things are interesting

Keep going!

[Pyro]

An IWW-led 'March for Wages'

  Mass protests rang out across the country, especially in these strike centers, against Roosevelt’s statement. They called him a “sell-out” and a “traitor” to the cause of the workers and low income families. One issue of the Chicago Tribune reported that many of those who had vigorously supported the president in past elections because of his Square Deal policies, observed their favorite president change during the course of the Great War to “yet another politician who promises but refuses to give.”

  Although Roosevelt publicly refused the creation of a Sedition Act making these mass actions permanently illegal, he did finally authorize his new Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer to create an undercover intelligence agency to thwart “these bastard radicals.” Palmer jumped at the opportunity and began crafting a new system designed to permanently rid the country of suspected anarchists and communists.

  May 1st, the International Workers’ Day, saw each of these strikes and democratic actions reach their apex. Morris Hillquit assisted strikers in New York with food distribution after city police cut off all streets containing such necessities. Bill Haywood was in Pennsylvania pushing his organizing drive. John Reed, a radical correspondent, left-socialist and would-be author of Ten Days That Shook the World, had arrived back in America after witnessing the Russian Revolution take off the previous year. He reached Philadelphia on May 1st and after an inspiring pro-worker speech, took the lead in one of the city’s largest ever demonstrations. Author Max Eastman was also in New York and became a prominent voice in May Day speeches. Author and fervent socialist Upton Sinclair protested alongside other revolutionaries in California mills for the right to a union.

  Eugene Debs had visited the striking government set up in Seattle to observe the realities of a general strike. There was a stark and definite police presence surrounding department stores and factories, but towards Main Street, there was an improvised town market set up with goods and services offered for free. This strike, which had been planned for only five days, was now nearing its second week.

  In the city, army veterans had created a 'Labor War Veteran's Guard' to protect the strikers from police. As the legend goes, the leader of the guard, Lawrence Daniels, approached Debs to discuss strike tactics and how best to have the strike demands met. While they were talking, another member of the guard ran up to Debs and Daniels and stated with urgency, "Comrade Debs, the striking committee would like to know your opinion on the matter of the American flag in the center of Main Street. We are divided. Some are demanding its removal while others want it to remain. What should be done?" Debs looked at Daniels with a grin and answered, "Paint it red."

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  Over the next few days, the police had struggled to maintain what they called “order” and even when state militias working under injunction orders pushed to silence crowds in Chicago and New York, the demonstrators continued to withstand attacks. There were those who were afraid of the prospect of revolution, but Palmer was not given enough time to sow the seeds of anti-Bolshevism nationwide. The events were moving fast and no one was quite sure how the “May Revolt” would end.

  Then came a most tragic event. On May 6th, President Roosevelt suffered a major stroke and apparant brain hemorrhage upon finishing a speech to his cabinet and was taken to a nearby hospital. Roosevelt was locked in a coma for about five hours before passing away at age 57. Horrified of the prospect of a weakened nation under a new president, the White House decided not to make the announcement official for twenty-four hours.

  On the evening of May 7th, when the Seattle General Strike finally came to a close with the victory of the workers in their fight for a pay increase, Vice President Hiram Johnson announced the death of President Roosevelt. “We have lost a giant,” he stated. “We will dedicate today for the mourning of the president. Tomorrow, I shall continue the business of the United States.” Johnson took the Oath of Office inside the White House and became the 29th President of the United States.

  In an instant, the leader of the nation’s newest political party had disappeared and the future of the country as a whole was uncertain. TR had been around for so long, that the nation seemed to freeze in a standstill for the days following the announcement. The anti-government protests, which had dwindled in the past week, had stopped altogether when the president died. The labor strikes continued without a hitch, although the mood of country seemed to shift once again, this time more sympathetic to the government and less so to the strikers.

  The common myth spread amongst the press was that the stress of the labor unrest was what killed the president, changing the public opinion which had been leaning toward the strikers. However, the truth was that Roosevelt's health had been deteriorating for some time, since at least 1916, and time simply caught up to the old lion.

Burial and Eulogy took place at Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, NY

[NeverAgain]

You will be missed, oh great Lion.

[Intell]

Oh my GOD, this TL is beyond great.

[Pyro]

President-to-be Johnson Stands Next to President Roosevelt in one of the Latter's Final Public Appearances

  When he took office, Hiram Johnson was relatively unknown outside of California. He was brought on Roosevelt's ticket more as a measure to satisfy the Progressive desire for domestic reform than as someone who would actually end up succeeding TR. As the governor of California, Johnson worked to implement progressive reforms, including pushing for the addition of the referendum and the recall to the state constitution. He became well known in a public move to regulate the massive Southern Pacific Railroad, and this, according to the late president's diaries, is what caught Roosevelt's eye.

  When TR passed away and Johnson took the throne, no one was quite sure what to expect. Although many leftists hoped that Johnson, as a political outsider, would help reign in the greed of corporate America and regulate the banking and railroad industries, the majority of the public simply wanted the nation to settle down and return to a time of peace and prosperity. President Johnson, with his eye on the future of his party and his ability to govern, understood that he could not allow for these labor strikes and go on to push reform in Congress. As Senator Warren G. Harding (R-OH) stated two days following Johnson's inauguration, "Any president who bows down to the demands of radicals will not win any respect from Congress."

  Thus we arrive at “Bloody Monday.” On May 13th, President Johnson’s first substantial act as president was the authorization of the National Guard to breakup all of the ongoing labor battles. “Our economy cannot stand so long as these men refuse to work. Pure and simple,” he said. Wanting to appear strong in his defense of "order", Johnson went full-force to end the strikes. In steel plants throughout the Midwest, National Guardsman arrived and, with the assistance of the already-present Pinkerton agents, brutally broke up the picket lines and fired upon the crowds of thousands. It was estimated that 94 persons were wounded or killed on that day, with at least four women and two minors confirmed dead.

  A similar event fired off the following afternoon in Philadelphia, where crowds were shot down, resulting in a riotous situation. Three guardsmen and two police were killed, along with sixty-eight strikers. The press sided firmly with the police, and with headlines like The Baltimore Sun's "Murderous Riots Challenge President's Authority", it became difficult to defend the strikers. When the National Guard lined up to fire upon the strikers in New York on May 17th, the crowds scattered across the city and were cornered by state police, resulting in the arrests of over three hundred individuals, including Max Eastman. Only twelve were injured, but none were killed.

  Eugene Debs decided to speak in New York following the arrests. As he stated to a crowd of thousands, “These so-called progressives were elected under false pretenses. These are a party of reactionaries. Those in power cannot be trusted with the duty of governing. They see us, the people of America, as a threat to their omnipotent power and will commit all crimes necessary to silence our cries.”

[Pyro]

Now things are interesting

Keep going!

Glad you're enjoying it. Will do!

Oh my GOD, this TL is beyond great.

Thank you!

[NeverAgain]

I had so much hope for Johnson...

[Pyro]

I had so much hope for Johnson...

Though he certainly is/was a progressive, the daunting fear of a potential revolution would have driven any president to call the National Guard to defend the system. Recovering from this controversy is another story.

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Steel Workers Returning to the Plants - July 11th, 1918

  The demonstrations, strikes and picketing staggered on throughout June, but by mid-July, the Steel Strike had reached its end and the workers had no choice but to return to their jobs, less risk more deaths. The IWW was nearly bankrupt after helping with medical services from Philadelphia to Chicago, and could no longer help the workers who were on strike. There was simply no centralized organization to coordinate the strikes and push for coherent demands as there had been in Russia. By summer, the coal strikers and Boston policemen had given up as well. Each had been outmatched. While the Massachusetts governor was largely absent from his role, the Lieutenant Governor, Calvin Coolidge (R-MA), took a leading role in quelling the Boston strikers, and achieved national fame in doing so.

  The strikes had come to a close and most had failed in their ambitions. When the Steel Strike ended, President Johnson referred to its close as a “great victory for American families everywhere.” In truth, it was a victory for the railroad industry. Although the strikes had not ended in pure victory, there was certainly a victory gained. The American workers, from first the war and then these strikes, had been radicalized. When the National Guard began to fire upon women, especially, far less had faith that the system in place could be remedied. The new president, who was already criticized for being "unbalanced in favor towards the Left-Wing” by The Wall Street Journal was ordering strikers killed.

  Although the labor movement had been stunted by the late summer of 1918, two related trends were growing in its place. The radicalized workers and college educated individuals began to join the Socialist Party in droves. The SP, which had previously been more-or-less evenly divided between moderate, radical, and conservative factions, now had its Left Wing grown exponentially. The demonstrations of the first half of the year funneled upwards of a hundred thousand new party members in July alone.

  Most of the SP’s organizational head, its National Executive Committee, had been made up of party elders, who were chiefly moderate to sharply conservative. Over the next few months, the conservative party leadership would find itself in a tight spot and not representative of the party’s majority. Still, the Left, as the party’s largest faction, held few worries that in the 1919 NEC election, the party would be reshaped by the radical wing.

  The other trend took hold in Minnesota, where economic dislocation caused by the war pushed farmers and workers together to found an alternative to the leading political parties and factions. This group served a similar purpose as the Farmers’ Alliance and the Populists had years prior, although this one had a strict doctrine for social democracy. With the next year, pockets of non-socialist labor parties began popping up in small towns throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other Midwest-to-Mountain states. These disparate factions would later join together to form the Farmer-Labor Party, but from late 1918 to 1920, it struggled to maintain an existence separate from the Progressive and Socialist Parties.

[Pyro]

President Johnson Speaks to the Public Regarding his Security Plan

  President Hiram Johnson, in August and September of 1918, announced a series of new reforms he intended Congress to pass dubbed the ‘Security Package’. In it, the most prominent alteration to existing law was the envision of the “Sedition Acts” so desired by party conservatives. Any suspected labor agitator or communist activist would be tried before a court and, especially if this person was an immigrant, they could be deported.

  These men were, as Johnson called them, “hoping for the destruction of this nation.” The new president stated that only the most dangerous within the labor movement would be sentenced, and much of the plan was merely a precautionary act to avoid future events similar to the violence committed during the May Uprising. "I will now and always stand with the American worker and his Constitutional rights. No working man should be unable to afford his daily bread. Riotous violence, however, will only set the cause of the worker back."

  Another segment to his Security Plan was to ensure the direction of United States foreign policy by rejecting any moves toward the League of Nations and cementing an isolationist clause in the Constitution. As the president proclaimed, “Theodore Roosevelt and I had agreed on 99% of the issues, but foreign policy was not one of them. I will, to my death, defend the American course of action against England, but I highly doubt the odds that another war will be so necessary to preserve our way of life.”

  President Johnson’s new policies were met with hostility from his own party. The Progressives were partially made up of isolationists, but many within the party, including Robert La Follette, believed that President Roosevelt’s policy ought to be adhered to. Four days after Johnson announced his plan, La Follette resigned as Secretary of State. “The president’s motives are unclear, but these actions are reactionary. Restricting the Constitutional right to freedom of assembly does not a democratic nation make. We must look forward, not backward.” La Follette quickly became the voice of opposition in the Progressive Party against Johnson’s domestic policies.

[Pyro]

Bolshevik Propaganda Poster for the Red Army

  President Johnson had wholly rejected the possibility that the United States would wage war on Russia to destroy their Red Army. He stated, “Frankly, what takes place in Russia has zero effect on our lives. I would urge the Kaiser to follow suit.” Following the Russian Revolution, an anti-Left White Movement came about, incorporating those who desired either a return to the monarchy or, for others, a shift to capitalist democracy. This resulted in a national civil war between these two forces, with Lenin and Leon Trotsky commanding the Red forces and the reactionary Commander Lavr Kornilov and Alexander Kolchak steering the opposition.

  The battles had raged on for months upon months before Japan joined the White Army, triggering an international conflict. Due to their poor economic state and the influx of debts from the Great War, Great Britain eventually chose against joining the war. The leadership in the Fourth French Republic expressed disapproval over joining the opposition in Russia. As one PM stated, “We stand in solidarity with the working class of Russia. Waging war against a government we may not agree with will only lead to more dead.”

  Smaller countries did join the war, including Romania and Greece, but it was determined by military analysts that the role of Germany in the conflict would determine the survival of the revolution. Truth be told, Kaiser Wilhelm was enjoying the greatest popularity of his reign, but, frightened that a similar revolt could spur in Berlin if another war was raged, he eventually decided against intervention.

  By the middle of 1918, the Red Army far outnumbered their rivals, and with the decisions of the United States and Germany not to join the war, it only took until March of 1919 for the White Army to be totally decimated. Various conflicts in Siberia and Central Asia would last until 1920, but the Bolsheviks were firmly in power.

[Pyro]

The 65th United States Congress in Session, October 20th, 1918

  Before President Roosevelt died, he had begun to get back on track in passing legislative reforms. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Grand Canyon Park Act, and the Acadia National Park Act established federal oversight over public land and federal protection of some endangered animals. The Jones-Shafroth Act was also passed in 1917, granting citizenship to those residing in Puerto Rico.

  Arguably the biggest achievement of Roosevelt's last term was his signing of the Fitzgerald-Borah Act of 1918, a law establishing the federal Lobby Registry. This was clearly a huge thorn in the side of big business, and Congressional Republicans screamed 'Socialism!' from its very inception. However, TR and Minority Leader Stephens were able to coordinate a coalition in the House between his own Progressives and a faction of moderate and liberal Democrats to manifest enough votes to pass the legislation. It did end up passing the House, 236 to 190 in November of 1917. This was where the bill was expected to die as it was about three votes short in the Senate to pass the measure.

  Sometime later, around March of 1918, pundits were stunned when Frederick Hale (R-ME), Carroll Page (R-VT) and Selden Spencer  (R-MO) announced that they would support the Fitzgerald-Borah Bill. With that, when the bill went to a vote, the Senate passed the legislation, 48 to 47. This was the last major victory for the Roosevelt Administration. Once Johnson took over, the Roosevelt Coalition crumbled and even less legislation was passed.

  During the summer of 1918 was when the Prohibitionists in Congress found some success. First, the Webb-Kenyon Act and its Reed Amendment created laws which penalized individuals and companies for transporting alcohol through/into "dry" states. This meant any alcohol passing through New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and 21 other states constituted an effective felony and fines upwards of $1,000. Then, a move to formally amend the Constitution to federally ban all sale and distribution of alcohol, a resolution which had been tabled in 1917, passed both the House and Senate with tight margins. It was expected to be ratified by the required number of states by the following year.

  Roosevelt had vetoed the 1917 Immigration bill, which in its own terms, hoped to limit the number of undesirables including "homosexuals", "idiots", and "anarchists" entering the country. As a means to update the Chinese Exclusion Act, it also disallowed any immigrants from Southeast Asia, India, and the entirety of China. This bill did not have enough support with the Roosevelt Coalition in place, but with the midterms around the corner, any meaningful loses by Progressives to either major party would assure its re-introduction and, should President Johnson issue a veto, there would be enough votes for an override.

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1918 Congressional Elections      

Senate
Democratic: 42 (-6)
Republican: 31 (+3)
Progressive: 20 (+2)
Socialist: 3 (+1)

House
Democratic: 174 (-4)
Progressive: 113 (-10)
Republican: 113 (0)
Socialist: 24 (+14)
Prohibition: 1 (0)
Farmer-Labor: 1 (+1)
Independent: 0 (-1)

  The midterm elections in 1918 took place at just the right time where it had the potential to “make or break” Johnson’s policies. Polls had the Progressive Party falling behind and the Socialists surging, and if enough House seats were lost to conservatives, the Sedition Act may finally have passed through it and then the Senate. However, La Follette’s voice of opposition to the Roosevelt-ist right-leaning tendency offered by Johnson gave the party a last minute boost, preventing many of the House seats from losing.

  This election turned out to be a skeptical turn away from the Progressive Party and, especially in the House, a turn towards the Socialists. Many Americans still supported domestic reform, and even if they admired President Roosevelt, blamed the lack thereof on Johnson. More so, even though many middle and lower class individuals were wary of revolutionary and unionist movements, they did not want a massive expansion of government oversight as proposed in Johnson's security legislation. Therefore, we see the Progressives, for the first time since their existence, lost seats in the House.

  Carl R. Chindblom (P-IL) and Henry Clay Evans (P-TN), both former Republicans, won as Progressives in their respective states. The Republicans picked up three seats: Delaware, New Hampshire, and Colorado. The Socialist Party candidate in Montana, Jeanette Rankin, won in a four-way race, thus becoming the first female senator in the United States. In the House, the Progressives lost only 10 seats, with six of these going to Socialists. The Farmer-Labor Party candidate William Leighton Carss (FL-MN) became the first of his party to win a Congressional seat. All in all, Congress experienced a minor shuffle, but it appeared as if the Progressive Party was safely intact.

 House of Representatives Leadership

Speaker Champ Clark (D-MO)
Minority Leader William Stephens (P-CA)
Minority Leader Frederick Gillett (R-MA)
Minority Leader Meyer London (S-NY)
William L. Carss (FL-MN), caucus w/ Socialists
Charles Hiram Randall (Pro-CA), caucus w/ Progressives


  Senators Elected in 1918 (Class 2)

John H. Bankhead (D-AL): Democratic Hold w/ 100%
Joseph Robinson (D-AK): Democratic Hold w/ 100%
Lawrence C. Phipps (R-CO): Republican Gain: 48%
L. Heisler Ball (R-DE): Republican Gain w/ 51%
William J. Harris (D-GA): Democratic Hold w/ 88%
William Borah (P-ID): Progressive Hold w/ 68%
John F. Nugent (D-ID): Democratic Hold w/ 49%
Carl R. Chindblom (P-IL): Progressive Gain w/ 44%
William S. Kenyon (R-IA): Republican Hold: 65%
Arthur Capper (R-KS): Republican Gain w/ 60%
Augustus O. Stanley (D-KY): Democratic Hold w/ 50%
Joseph E. Ransdell (D-LA): Democratic Hold w/ 100%
Edward Gay, Jr. (D-LA): Democratic Hold w/ 100%
Bert M. Fernald (R-ME): Republican Hold w/ 55%
John W. Weeks (R-MA): Republican Hold w/ 48%
Henry Ford (D-MI): Democratic Gain w/ 49%
Knute Nelson (R-MN): Republican Hold w/ 61%
Pat Harrison (D-MS): Democratic Hold w/ 95%
Selden P. Spencer (R-MO): Republican Hold w/ 55%
Jeanette Rankin (S-MT): Socialist Gain w/ 39%
George W. Norris (R-NE): Republican Hold w/ 55%
Charles Henderson (D-NV): Democratic Hold w/ 47%
Henry W. Keyes (R-NH): Republican Gain w/ 53%
George H. Moses (R-NH): Republican Hold w/ 50%
Franklin Murphy (P-NJ): Progressive Hold w/ 50%
David Baird (R-NJ): Republican Hold w/ 49%
Albert B. Fall (R-NM): Republican Hold w 51%
Furnifold Simmons (D-NC): Democratic Hold w/ 60%
Robert Latham Owen (D-OK): Democratic Hold w/ 55%
Charles L. McNary (R-OR): Republican Hold w/ 54%
LeBaron B. Colt (R-RI): Republican Hold w/ 51%
Nathaniel B. Dial (D-SC): Democratic Hold w/ 100%
Thomas Sterling (R-SD): Republican Hold 53%
Henry Clay Evans (P-TN): Progressive Gain w/ 43%
Morris Sheppard (D-TX): Democratic Hold w/ 87%
Thomas S. Martin (D-VA): Democratic Hold w/ 100%
Davis Elkins (R-WV): Republican Hold w/ 54%
Francis E. Warren (R-WY): Republican Hold w/ 57%

edit: formatting

[Pyro]

Opposition-Organized Propaganda Against the Sedition Bill

  Going into the new year, average Americans were full of hope. Hope that the conflict in Europe, the "war to end war", had permanently settled the continent. Hope that domestic peace would come about and the May Uprising would be a distant memory. The culture and literature of the past century had promised a future of continued peace, gradual change, and awe-inspiring technological advances. The war shattered this promise, but the hope was still there.

  Therefore, when President Johnson first announced his Sedition Bill, there was certainly a gut-sense from the public that the passing of this legislation would lead the United States down a road of perpetual suspicion and fear. Thanks due in part to the Socialist Party, the Unionist Movement, and the La Follette branch of the Progressive Party, there was a force in place to counter the claims made by the president that the Sedition Bill was a necessary step to preserve democracy.

  While Johnson was out proclaiming that his Security Plan would mean exactly what it says in the title, those on the opposition including La Follette, Eugene Debs, and Congressional Socialists denounced the plan as a sacrifice of liberty and freedom. True, there were differentiated opinions on the merits of the May Uprising and Bloody Monday, but there was overwhelming agreement that Johnson's path was not the best one for the people and the future of the country.

  Then, on December 12th, Speaker Champ Clark spoke up. As he stated, "I am thoroughly on the side of the administration in the spirit of preserving the integrity of our republic. I am, however, thoroughly opposed to handing to the federal administration these broad new powers intended to punish disloyal acts and utterances." Johnson did not make a public statement directly addressing Clark's objections, but as later revealed by Secretary Bonaparte, upon hearing the news in a cabinet meeting, the president called Clark a "rat bastard traitor."

  President Johnson had hoped that even though public opinion on the bill was low, at least according to newspaper and radio polling, current events in Europe would distract from the bill's introduction and passing in Congress. In November, there had been an uprising of Poles fighting for true self-determination and, in December, a similar revolt in Lithuania by the Russian-funded Communist League, both against German rule. The public eye observed this closely, cautious of the world stage and the apparent rise of communism in Europe. However, in the end, it did not succeed in completely taking attention from the first part of the Security Plan.

  On February 6th, 1919, Johnson had the Sedition Bill introduced to Congress, and a week and half later, it came to a vote in the House. If the president’s plan worked as intended, he would receive just enough votes to push the debate into the Senate, where a victory was all but certain. However, two SP representatives filibustered the bill, allowing Clark to persuade the remaining Democrats in favor of the bill to instead vote against it. Every Republican sided with the president, but only 5 Democrats did so as well. All 24 Socialists voted against the bill. The final tally was 168 For to 258 Against. The vote failed and the bill was trashed.

  Senator Borah (P-ID) later stated, “If President Johnson continues to push this federalist legislation, too into the Senate, the Democratic majority would kill it before it reached the floor. And rightly so.” The president and his faction of Progressives would continue to push this line of legislation into Congress, but none would get so far as to be voted on. Senator Rankin (S-MT), quickly becoming the leading voice for the Socialists in the Senate, stated "The defeat of this reactionary filth is a victory for all working people."

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White Russian Army Propaganda Poster

  As previously insinuated, although the world war had come and gone, Europe was most definitely not settled. In early 1919, the White Army, though struggling to counter the Bolshevik leadership without substantial support from the West, was making a definitive last stand. In smaller cities and throughout the countryside, the Whites initiated slaughterous pogroms, burned down factories, and set grain fields ablaze to prevent any economic or social developments from taking place in the New Russia. With a growing number of factories and trade centers threatened, it became difficult to survive as a worker.

  Imports from France lessened the strain on the Russian government, thereby preventing an initiative to completely nationalize all industries. By 1919, roughly one-third of all factories were owned by the federal government, with two-thirds given total control to the workers themselves. Still, the working class in Russia was minuscule, as the majority of the population were peasants living on the land. The Bolsheviks wanted and planned to pass initiatives to expand the cities and construct new factories to industrialize the pseudo-feudalistic Russian countryside, but the ongoing war threatened these plans. As socialism is, essentially, the rule of the workers over the means of production, having few workers can threaten the building of this system.

  France too was economically isolated in 1919, but it did not have a devastating civil war. Therefore, French workers, which did constitute the majority, produced what was needed for the country and there were very few issues economically. Although the republic was not as revolutionary and starkly opposed to capitalism as Russia, Germany and the United States wanted nothing to do with it. More so, the leadership of the French republic were not fond of the Bolshevik definition of socialism and there were no alliances between the two. However, the French government was the most sympathetic to the tribulations of the Russian people of any country in Europe, and the two did trade supplies and raw materials. The trade route through the Baltic Sea was dangerous and arduous, but with hostile Germany stuck between the two nations, there was no other way. Thus, when revolts sprang up in Eastern Europe against German rule, France and Russia saw these as opportunities to thwart German dominance of the continent.

  In the newly created Eastern European satellite nations, independence wars were booming between the common people and the German overseers. The revolutions which had taken place in Russia and France inspired other European independence and communist movements to mobilize. When the Treaty of Versailles confirmed the emergence of new Baltic nation-states, Lithuanians, Latvians, Poles and others were thrilled to finally gain self-governance. The reality turned out to be quite different: when Germany began ruling over these territories as satellite states. Furious over the broken promises of Germany, from 1918 through 1920, demonstrations rang out in these countries.

  Lithuania was settled in about a month, when the ill-equipped rebels, as led by revolutionary Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas were crushed by Saxon soldiers in the city of Vilnius. The German Imperial government allowed Mickevičius-Kapsukas and most of the leading rebels to live out their lives in labor camps. The official word of the German government relating to the affair referred to the rebels as "ungrateful" for the semi-independence they were granted. Internationally, there was noticeable sympathy for Lithuania, as signified when a speech on the rebellion in the League of Nations received a standing ovation. Growing unrest in Estonia, Riga and Courland was largely subdued by the defeat in Lithuania, but the Kaiser would allow for these nations to have their own parliaments to give them a sense of political independence. This tactic failed in Poland.

 The Polish War of Independence was a completely different game from the situation in Lithuania, as after that rebellion, international pressure was on Germany not to intervene. Once Polish workers went on strike in Warsaw in their "Strike for Self-Determination", the Bolsheviks announced their support to the independence movement. This did not stop German officers from firing upon the strikers, however. This conflict gradually escalated into full-fledged war between the Polish Government, led by Józef Piłsudski and supported by Saxon volunteers, and the Polish Liberation Front, directed by Edward Rydz-Śmigły and Leon Trotsky.

  War went on for 16 months between these forces. In the summer of 1920, at the Battle of Kiev, the PLF won their first major victory, and pushed back the government forces. When the PLF won again, during the Battle of Warsaw, the Polish government began to fold in on itself. Germany, which had not explicitly been involved in the war, was preparing to send in extensive amounts of troops. However, one huge revolt in Germany, which will be described more in-depth in a following chapter, deterred German involvement in the Polish War.

  The Piłsudski Government fell on October 18th, 1920. The new government, modeled after the Soviet structure, was the first wholly independent Poland since the Napoleonic Age. This workers' republic was, opposed to what the United States and Germany stated of it, not a satellite of Russia, and the only treaty between the two nations was one of financial assistance.
 

[Kingpoleon]

Hold Danzig, Germany!

I hope to see another update about where the Prussian elites are gathering in the new Polish state. It's very interesting that royal partisans would be in Poland now whereas IOTL it happened twenty years later in Yugoslavia.

[Pyro]

Hold Danzig, Germany!

I hope to see another update about where the Prussian elites are gathering in the new Polish state. It's very interesting that royal partisans would be in Poland now whereas IOTL it happened twenty years later in Yugoslavia.

Perhaps! Don't have too much planned yet on Poland, mainly the situation in Austria-Hungary and Germany coming up. The Polish landowners would have fled into Lithuania following the war's end. I doubt many of them would have been captured or killed.

[Pyro]

Eugene Debs Serving at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for Violating the Espionage Act

  Although the American Left won a huge victory with the defeat of the Sedition Bill, there were certainly sectors where the conservatives had the upper hand. Many Socialists who had been against the Great War wished that the U.S. would join the League of Nations, but when it did finally convene on January 25th, 1919 in Paris, the United States had no delegation. Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata was shot dead in Morelos on April 10th. On April 30th, state police in New York intercepted anarchist bombs which were intended to be mailed to local officials, thus leading to the banning of any major assemblies on May Day.

  One Supreme Court case, Schenck v. United States, unanimously found SP secretary Charles T. Schenck guilty of violating the Espionage Act of 1917. This act, a bill intended to thwart British spies during the war, was passed rather unilaterally and without commotion in Congress. Now, however, it was interpreted to jail Schenck for passing out anti-draft leaflets, citing this action as dangerous. Justice Oliver Holmes famously stated that just as "falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic" is not protected by the First Amendment, the actions of Schenck are too not protected. He was sentenced to six months in prison.

Supreme Court of the United States in 1919
Chief Justice Edward Douglass White - Nom. Cleveland
Justice J. McKenna - Nom. McKinley
Justice Oliver W. Holmes - Nom. Roosevelt
Justice William R. Day - Nom. Roosevelt
Justice Horace White - Nom. Knox
Justice Willis Van Devanter - Nom. Knox
Justice Mahlon Pitney - Nom. Knox
Justice George Sutherland - Nom. Roosevelt
Justice Louis Brandeis - Nom. Roosevelt

  Later on, some other Socialists and Anarchists were tried and sentenced in prison for speaking out against the war. This included Emma Goldman, Eugene Debs, and roughly 200 others. Protests in Cleveland and Atlanta throughout the spring of 1919 against these jailings would lead to a shortened sentence for those imprisoned. However, the labor movement, under this new threat, needed to retain precautions when demonstrating.

  The president and Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, the major champions of the Espionage Act, were distraught that the Sedition Bill failed to pass. Palmer had been planning to initiate a raiding of radical offices across the United States to thwart future demonstrations and halt the growing taste for socialism in the United States. Without the Sedition Act, he was unable to do this. Instead, Palmer carefully orchestrated a series of (highly illegal) infiltration campaigns into local unions, labor parties, and, most famously, the Socialist Party. Palmer had become a direct affiliate of multiple conservative leaders in the party since Roosevelt was president, but now was upping the ante. In Palmer's plan, the radical faction would break apart and form a new party, which could easily be tempted into violent action: thus prompting a revision of the Sedition bill in Congress and eventually, a take-down of all communistic activities in America.

  When the election for a new National Executive Committee of the Socialist Party arrived, it was clear to everyone that the Left Wing would gain at least 70% of the vote. The sitting NEC announced on May 12th that, citing voting confusions, they would refuse to tally votes. In response, a demonstration led by Morris Hillquit and John Reed demanded the votes be counted. Debs stated, “If this party seeks to found real democracy in this country, we must first practice doing so in our organization.” Upon overhearing a conversation amongst the party’s conservative elite, NEC member L.E. Katterfeld approached the demonstration and declared, “This sitting NEC, led by Adolph Germer and James Oneal, is ready to designate this past election invalid. I will not let this happen.” Katterfeld and two other NEC members began loudly tallying public votes outside of the committee’s office.

  Two hours later, NEC member Julius Gerber stood opposite the crowd and announced that he would be resigning. If Gerber had simply walked out, the party would likely have split, but he stated something else before leaving. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I am not resigning because of [the demonstrations]. We have discovered through disclosed documentation that Executive Secretary Germer has been working in secret with the Attorney General to destabilize our party. I now possess great skepticism on the issue of voting irregularities and will support a motion to force the resignation of Mr. Germer.” The demonstrations became louder, and when two party members went to search for Germer to make a statement, he was nowhere to be found.

  Eventually, Victor L. Berger, another leading figure of the party’s right-wing announced that there “is not substantial evidence to call the election into question.” At last, the votes were tallied and the party’s Left Wing found its way into the majority status as so desired. Berger became the Minority leader and Alfred Wagenknecht the Majority leader. At once, he called for the formal adoption of Louis C. Fraina’s "Left Wing Manifesto" at the Socialist Party National Convention. He and other leading voices on the Left still denounced a great deal of the practices being done in Revolutionary Russia, but the party completely changed that day. The party, which had previously called for an eight-hour workday, now demanded full ownership of the means of production to be given to the working class. John Reed later stated that he was considering leaving the party after the planned “right-wing coup”, but chose to stay despite his personal adoration of the revolutionary forces in Russia.

  This discovery of internal deceit became known as the Palmer Schemes, and when the news broke, much of the public called for a federal investigation of Mr. Palmer. President Johnson, when he was informed of the situation, ordered Palmer's resignation and, on May 15th, made a public address condemning the actions of his attorney general. However, as Johnson had previously worked to discredit the SP and the IWW, many Americans grew skeptical of the president's role in the Schemes.

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Uprising of the 30,000 in Munich, Germany. Summer 1920

  As the boom from the war’s Central Powers victory began to fade, wages were slashed and bread lines grew in places like Munich and Berlin. An underground protest movement blamed Kaiser Wilhelm for the worsening of the economy, and in June of 1920, this coalesced with the Uprising of the 30,000. A movement made up of liberals, radicals, and anarchists, this group called for a total and complete dissolution of the monarchy and a massive restructuring of the nation’s economy to suit the lower classes. This garnered huge support from those as conservative as Friedrich Ebert and as radical as Rosa Luxemburg. Each side attempted to make their story the prime message, but the central theme was anti-monarchist.

  The protest was closely observed by Imperial officers, but with the foresight of the Russian Revolution, explicitly chose not to intervene. The protest, on its own, began to wane as weekly marches had less and less effect on the public. It wasn’t until August that the group threatened to organize a general strike. Kaiser Wilhelm announced that in February he would meet with leaders of the movement to discuss a compromise. Eventually, the “leaders” chosen were Gustav A. Bauer and Bernhard Dernburg. The meeting took place in the imperial palace, and took about two hours.

  The September Compromise broke new ground when it came to matters of protest and tidiness. Kaiser Wilhelm agreed to a few select governmental changes if it meant an immediate dispersal of the demonstrators and a signed agreement that any striking action would incur dramatic penalties. Wilhelm, truly, did not want to relinquish even the tiniest bit of political power, but understood that the world was changing around him, and not doing so would result in the possibly of full-fledged revolution. The most significant agreement was the creation of a new German Constitution, one which, as overseen by the Imperial government, would increase the powers of the Reichstag and allow for political party leaders and an elected chancellor with greater political prowess. Ultimately, Kaiser Wilhelm reserved the right to veto any “unfriendly” legislation, and it was clear that he held the reigns and if he so desired, could send his military in at any time and dissolve the parliament. All in all, not a whole lot was altered, but it felt as though a victory was achieved.

  Once this new constitution was created and the Reichstag was prepared, an election took place on January 6th, 1921 to re-form parliament. As expected, the center-left Social Democratic Party, as led by Hermann Muller, won in a landslide, securing 151 of the 459 seats. Second was the German National People’s Party, a centrist to center-right political organization led by Oskar Hergt, which won 76 seats. Then in third was the Communist Party of Germany, or KPD, a far-left political group led by Rosa Luxemburg. It won 40 seats. Following this were varying centrist and regional groups which carried the bulk of the minority seating. Turnout was estimated 85%. The new Chancellor was the SDP leader.

  Austria-Hungary was experiencing a similar shakeup, which too resulted in a new constitutional government. Although, as with all of the Central Powers, the economy had boomed and well-paying jobs were on the rise, ethnic tensions in this multi-ethnic empire were only rising. The effective absorption of Serbia and Albania into the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not do much to quell the type of tension which led to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Emperor Karl I understood that, just as Tsar Nicholas II, his God-given supremacy was being threatened. Therefore, he worked to transform the Empire of the Habsburg into something quite new.

  Throughout 1919, Karl, with his political advisers, planned a course for the Austrian Empire which would allow it to stand the test of time while quelling some of the ethnic tensions which had plagued the nation for many years. As issued in a declaration on February 2nd, 1920, the fundamental governmental structure of the empire was altered. Instead of the dual-governmental system, the nation would be governed by a single parliament made up of representatives of ten self-governing states. Similar to how the United States functions, these states of Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Slovakia, Galicia, Carniola, Croatia-Slavonia, Bosnia, Transylvania, and Dalmatia would have their own governments to deal with state-related issues while a Grand Austrian Parliament would function as a federal institution. Albania and Serbia would be gradually incorporated as separate states, following a referendum vote and later on, some of the existing states would split to accommodate for ethnic and national divisions.

  This proposal had been initially offered by Archduke Ferdinand, and although it was with great hesitation that Emperor Karl relinquished some of his political power, but he agreed to move forward with the idea. Although Emperor Karl remained the head of state and commander-in-chief, with all laws requiring his signature, the Imperial Government was now second to the Imperial Parliament. As the first official act of the parliament, the nation became formally and officially renamed the Greater Austrian Federation. Still, most continued to refer to it as Austria-Hungary or simply Austria. For now, this seemed to settle ethnic conflict, but time would tell if this strategy proved effective.

[Pyro]

President Hiram Johnson Giving His Famed Pro-Isolation Speech. September 5th, 1919.

Chapter Six: The Election of 1920: How to Kill a Bull Moose

  Hiram Johnson, halfway through 1919, was truly coming into his own presence as president. He held together most of Roosevelt's cabinet, minus La Follette and Secretary of Treasury Jonathan Bourne, Jr. who had retired earlier in the year. The president nominated Republicans Francis B. Loomis and Andrew W. Mellon to fill these roles respectively. Johnson continued to work to continue to pursue the existing alliance with Germany and re-open dialogue with France and Britain, which did eventually end in some success. In terms of foreign policy, Johnson did make great strides in healing the wounds of the war. Understanding that it was Roosevelt who was elected and not himself, the president did not push for new deals that TR had not already set in motion.

  In a speech the president made on September 5th to an applauding audience, he said, “We remain connected with Germany, our ally, economically, socially otherwise, and I will stand by this for the entirety of my presidency. Outside of ongoing friendliness with our European allies, I will ensure, in every field of possibility, that our role in the world is kept to this part of the world. We will never again be forced to experience the trauma of a world war.” In this speech, he won back a good portion of his Progressive supporters who had once urged him to run alongside Roosevelt in 1912 and, again, in 1916. Finally, in a rather unexpected fashion, President Johnson ended his speech with the following statement: “I have been honored to serve as your vice president and am committed to continuing the business of running this nation in the executive role. As such, I now announce my candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 1920.”

  By the time of this speech, only a few minor candidates had jumped in the race, but suddenly the race had fired off. With Johnson’s admission that he would be running for the Progressives and not the GOP, he continued along the path set by his predecessor. Prior to Johnson's announcement, Senator Ole Hanson (P-WA) stated that he would be seeking the Progressive nomination on a strict anti-union message, which proved popular in the minority conservative faction within the party. As more Republicans left the GOP and entered the Progressive Party, Hanson believed that he would gradually increase his delegate count in the primary elections. Rep. William R. Green (R-IA), a clear dark-horse, also declared a run for the Progressive ticket.

  On September 13th, as expected, former Secretary La Follette declared that he would be challenging Johnson for the party’s nomination. “Theodore Roosevelt brought us out of the age of darkness. For far too long, the American public had been strangled by the two-party Congressional deadlock and left without a real choice. The Progressive Party was our exit from this dichotomy. Now, President Johnson seeks to turn this party into yet another reaction against the labor movement as the Old Guard had been for a generation. The time for change has come. As your president, I will not work against the tide of the masses. I will move with it as a leader should.” La Follette dug into the populist message of the party’s origins, and won a huge amount of support for it.

[Pyro]

Meta: All credit goes to Kingpoleon for the title of this chapter

[Pyro]

Governor William C. Sproul of Pennsylvania

  The Republican Party, from the failure of Elihu Root to come in 2nd in 1916, was in a deep crisis. The Republicans struggled to regain their foothold following the Great War, but it wasn’t until the May Uprising that hope also rose up that they would be able to regain their national prominence from the McKinley years. Party leaders including former president Knox began to work on a strategy which would thrust the GOP back into the leaders’ circle and regain control from the Progressives.

  By 1919, it was decided that the best shot for a victory would be the nomination of a moderate government outsider, or a dark-horse, who would be able to soundly defeat the Johnson administration and whomever the Democrats nominate. When both Knox and Root lost in their respective elections, the party also began to understand that conservatism was becoming unpopular, and only with a moderate could they defeat liberal candidates like Johnson and Wilson.

  Charles Fairbanks, who had expected to be a frontrunner for the 1920 race died in June of 1918 of nephritis. Another potential field leader, Joseph Foraker, had also died before the race began. Popular Senator Jacob H. Gallinger from New Hampshire passed away in August of 1918, which effectively emptied the field of pre-Roosevelt Republican challengers. Apparently, according to the diaries of Robert La Follette, some Progressives had considered running for the Republican nomination because of the lack of candidates going into 1919 and the question of a reunified ticket was not out of the question.

  The President of Columbia University, Nicholas Murray Butler, announced his candidacy for the Republican Party on December 5th, 1919. Although a moderate, politically, he began to move to the right to try and gain an edge with the rising anti-Johnson sect of American voters. His campaign slogan, “Pick Nick as President for a Picnic in November”, resonated with the traditional middle class base. Governor William C. Sproul (R-PA), who had been instrumental in bringing about a resurgence of Republican power in the Keystone State, declared that he would be running for his party’s nomination for president. “Under my jurisdiction, we have brought back sanity and choice to this state, one which had been under threat by the Johnson-ites for some time. Now it is time to do for the nation what we have done for Pennsylvania.”

  Some took these candidates seriously in the press, but the majority of the public had no clue who any of these individuals were. The GOP elite understood that they needed to appeal to a new, center-left audience to compete with Johnson and the Democrats. Major General Leonard Wood had reportedly been speculating a run at the presidency, but later announced that he would only accept an advisory role if offered. Senator Warren G. Harding (R-OH) stated that he would not run for the president, but for re-election to the Senate to secure Republican control in Ohio. “I will continue to stress the need for the restoration of domestic affairs as an American senator. For president I endorse Secretary Hughes.”

[Pyro]

Governor Frank Orren Lowden of Illinois

  Indeed, Charles Hughes was designated as the favorite of the GOP establishment since Roosevelt’s succession of President Knox. Not until December 20th did he satisfy the party’s Old Guard and declare his candidacy, but election speculators had him estimated the nominee since Roosevelt was re-elected. As the New York Times then stated, “The Republicans in all of their wisdom will, no doubt, learn little from Elihu Root’s failure and nominate another conservative next cycle. Likely C.E. Hughes.”

  The former Attorney General went on to stress “moderated reform” and “continued renewal of our American values.” Hughes’ strategy was to impress disassociated Progressives from Johnson’s party line while carrying the moderate and conservative Republicans. However, his constant shifting positions, from supporting a regulatory federal government in 1916 to advocating limited government powers at the federal level in 1919, made some uneasy.

  With conservatism seemingly on the decline in the United States, the Republicans were hesitant to allow any non-centrists into the field. Butler was a moderate, Sproul was a moderate, and Hughes was, at best, a center-left Republican. Then, an alternative showed up with the surprise announcement from Governor Frank Orren Lowden (R-IL) that he would be seeking the office of the presidency. Lowden, who had campaigned for Roosevelt in 1912 and then Weeks in 1916, was a new sort of Republican.

  In his announcement speech in Chicago, Lowden stated, “I am not a partisan. I am simply another citizen who, as many of you are, stands deeply concerned about the direction of his country. Oligarchs have tight control of America, this much is certain. When a close friend of mine was incapacitated during those demonstrations last May, I came to the understanding that the extreme concentrations of wealth and corruption in this country has led to a starkly divided nation. We must stand united once more. We must reject liberalism. We must reject Marxism. The time for 'left' and 'right' partisanship is over. Together, we shall move forward towards the America envisioned by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. If elected president, I will mend these wounds and truly return us to a rightful and prosperous normalcy.”

  Lowden latched on to a significant populist trend, and his prime supporters became dissatisfied youth, chiefly those who returned from the war with shattered hopes of a progressive future. Hughes, with a larger base, stressed that “normalcy does not mean turning America on its head. It means stability. It means safety. To bring us back to a time in our history where our children could rest easy.” Sproul and Butler proved to lag behind as Hughes quickly became the stable frontrunner for the party’s nomination going into 1920.