German Red Prince

Page 68

The early political views of the Socialist Party of America were quite diverse, ranging from radical socialism to social democracy. There were also divisive forces within the party, including right-wing New York Party leader Maurice Hillquet and Wisconsin Congressman Victor L. Berger, as well as left-wing union leaders Bill Haywood and Eugene V. Debs.

There were also radicals who favored agricultural utopias, such as Julius Weyland from Kansas, as well as unionists, Jewish, Finnish, and German immigrants.

The organization also included intellectuals such as Walter Lippmann and Hubert Harrison. At its founding convention, it passed a resolution supporting "equal rights for all people regardless of color, race, or sex," with particular emphasis on the oppression and exploitation of African Americans, and called on socialist and labor movements to organize them.

Throughout the 1900s and 1910s, the relationship between the American Socialist Party and the IWW and AFL was marked by frequent internal conflicts.

The AFL leadership strongly opposes the Socialist Party, but many ordinary union members within the AFL view the socialists as reliable political allies. Moderate members within the Socialist Party, such as Berger, urge cooperation with the AFL and its member unions.

More radical members, such as Debus, considered the AFL and its trade unions outdated and irrelevant, preferring the more radical IWW and its socialist path.

In 1911, Heywood was elected to the National Executive Committee of the American Socialist Party. However, Heywood and the World Communist League's radical, direct-action strategy soon clashed with the party's moderate, election-oriented leaders.

At a public meeting in New York City, an initiative to remove him from the National Executive Committee of the American Socialist Party was launched, and the initiative succeeded by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

After Heywood's downfall, he left the American Socialist Party, and thousands of other IWW members and sympathizers followed suit, leaving the organization.

Following the 1919 general election, the Socialist National Executive Committee was controlled by the party's left wing for the first time, with many radical members elected as committee members.

An emergency national congress was convened shortly before the May Day celebrations in 1920 to discuss the gains and losses of the socialist revolutions in Russia and France. The heated debate lasted for nearly an hour.

Ultimately, because of Comrade Reed's personal experience and his convincing speeches, the American Socialist Party recognized the French model and found a correct path for building a socialist country.

Furthermore, the meeting repealed the 1911 amendments to the direct action of expulsion and condemnation, and welcomed Heywood and the World Industrialists back into the American Socialist Party family.

Heywood later became a member of the executive committee. After witnessing the success of the French Revolution, Heywood and Reid led the reshaping and transformation of the American Socialist Party. On July 12, 1925, a special pan-union conference was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attended by representatives from the World Industrialists and the AFL-CIO.

At the conference, Reid and several other leaders of the World Industrial Alliance proposed a plan to establish a large umbrella organization aimed at coordinating labor union activities and policies to bring about a socialist revolution in the United States, tentatively named the United States Syndicate.

The plan was widely approved by the delegates, and a reorganization meeting of the Socialist Party of America was subsequently convened to propose solutions to the party's current problems and mistakes.

The meeting rejected the reformist program, but in order to accommodate the moderates, they adopted a compromise and put forward the slogan of "election or revolution".

The reorganized Socialist Party of America subsequently split, with the left wing led by Reed, Heywood, and Rutenberg forming the Communist Party of the United States. They criticized Hillquet's opportunism and his neglect of the demands of the masses, his inability to adequately organize and lead the masses in economic struggles, which led to constant divisions within the party.

The newly formed Communist Party of the United States began to truly lead the CSA. They learned from the French experience, became more mature, and, with the reshaping of the party organization, internal divisions diminished.

CSA united various socialist, syndicalist, and communist ideas and mobilized millions of workers in the industrial heartland of the United States.

The Communist Party of the United States (CSA) has now become a powerful political force in the United States, wielding considerable influence among American workers. Leveraging this influence, the CSA has successfully controlled several major industrial areas in the country, with its stronghold in Michigan boasting over 200,000 members.

Because of their strong influence among the working class, the US government is reluctant to take action against them. The Communist Party USA can easily organize strikes and demonstrations involving more than 10,000 people, and they also have their own armed force—the Red Guards.

To protect their own strength, they need sufficient weaponry. The Communist Party of the United States must have a certain level of power to survive in this environment. In the current social environment of the United States, their enemies are not only the ever-watchful US government, but also other extremist forces in society.

As a dispersed paramilitary militia, the Red Guards were dedicated to fighting for socialist revolution in the streets. They were frequently involved in conflicts with conservative militias and the Ku Klux Klan, and were officially designated as a domestic security threat by the Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. military.

Although the CSA was led by General Secretary William Heywood, his declining health led New York Senator John Reid to assume many of his responsibilities.

Therefore, the actual leader of the CSA and the Communist Party of the United States is John Reid, and they are making a run in the next presidential election, hoping to achieve victory in the American socialist revolution through peaceful means.

Chapter 105 Across the Atlantic

The United States now appears harmless, even to the point that "if you kick it, the entire American building will collapse," and even the German Empire doesn't consider it a potential enemy.

It's worth noting that even Russia was listed as a potential enemy by Germany, while the United States wasn't on the list, which shows that its reputation wasn't very good at the time. However, it's also true that Germany has its reasons for looking down on the United States now.

It's important to know that before the war, Germany had a standing army of over 800,000, not including the troops in its colonies. If the colonial troops were included, Germany would have had nearly two million troops before the war.

The fact that the United States Army has no more than 100,000 regular troops is truly laughable. For such a huge country, its military size is less than that of a small European country.

The German General Staff even mocked that if a Chinese warlord could manage to land in America, he could become the master of the country within three months.

The United States today is not the behemoth it was in that timeline; it did not participate in the entire war, thus giving people the illusion of being very weak.

The German advisory group also went to the United States to investigate and found that during their military exercises, some people were even carrying brooms. The German advisory group couldn't imagine how such a country could survive on the American continent.

The German high command once considered sending five divisions to occupy the entire United States, but due to the disparity in naval strength, the plan ultimately fell through. Although the U.S. Army was relatively weak, its navy was among the best in the world.

After the war, the German navy developed rapidly. In order to pay reparations, Britain and France mortgaged some of their warships to Germany, which enabled the German navy to quickly develop into the world's number one navy.

The once-mighty British Royal Navy declined during the British Civil War. Some ships sailed to Canada with the British King, while others became the new People's Navy. The situation was similar in France, where some warships sailed to North Africa with Pétain, while others remained in the Commune.

Therefore, under the current circumstances, the German Navy is undoubtedly the world's number one navy. However, transoceanic operations still carry certain risks. The strength of the US Navy is now second only to Germany. Moreover, as mentioned before, Germany has too many enemies. In a one-on-one fight, it might be able to contend with the US Atlantic Fleet, but apart from its own allies, Germany has no friends in Europe. It is difficult to guarantee that they will not stab it in the back.

The United States, currently embracing isolationism, may seem harmless, but we cannot be fooled by its appearance. It possesses terrifying war potential. Remember, Japan initially refused to believe in such things, only to be taught a lesson by the atomic bomb and now still calls the US "father." If we truly provoke the United States and set its war machine in motion, warships will be launched as quickly as dumplings.

If we were to reorder Germany's potential enemies, the threat from the United States would actually be far greater than that from the French Commune. The United States had such favorable geographical conditions; it was truly a chosen nation, surrounded by two oceans. On the original timeline, during the two world wars, while the rest of the world was devastated, the United States was still able to live peacefully. It gambled its national destiny on its peaceful life, and in the end, it didn't even touch the west coast of other countries.

The United States has such a deep foundation that it can wear down its enemies by providing support from the rear, let alone directly participating in the war. Its production capacity is a nightmare in the eyes of enemy countries.

Without a strong navy, you can forget about getting close to other countries. Besides, there's no other military superpower in the Americas except the United States. Canada is stuck in the north and can't really build up a large population. Mexico in the south is still in a civil war. That's why they pursue isolationism. They're doing just fine with themselves, why worry about so many things?

Moreover, the political environment in the United States is relatively more relaxed compared to Germany, which is a point of criticism from many progressive people in Germany. Germany's media censorship system is very strict, and they believe that it severely suppresses cultural innovation and development in Germany.

The relatively relaxed environment and stable society in the United States led many literary creators and researchers from the former Allied powers to seek refuge there. With its profound cultural heritage and abundant domestic resources, the United States was able to act with impunity. Why would someone guarding a gold mine be afraid?

The United States is like a treasure trove, with so many good things waiting to be discovered. So Thorne made the United States the first stop on his trip, coming to the other side of the Atlantic to see how many treasures he could find.

Although Germany is nominally the world's number one, as mentioned before, its domestic technology and some concepts are still lagging behind, and some shortcomings are quite significant, especially the development of its military, which is seriously distorted, with everything focused on the army and other branches of the armed forces hardly developing.

Although the navy has many ships, it has not developed much since Tirpitz became the Imperial Chancellor, and its tactics and design concepts have become somewhat outdated.

The same goes for the air force. After the war, the old army gentlemen seemed afraid of being overshadowed. They didn't develop these weapons that had shone so brightly in the war much after the war. Several air force squadrons were even disbanded. Even aviation heroes like Göring were laid off and had to find new jobs.

Germany's strength is only apparent on the surface; in reality, it is all bark and no bite. If a war doesn't break out, others might be a little afraid of the world's number one power, but once a war does break out, they'll know its true worth.

Now we can only rely on this kind of "deterrence" to scare others. If we actually take action and people find out, it will be no joke. This is why Germany and France are exchanging trash talk but not fighting.

The United States has some very strong technologies, but they haven't been developed yet, and their government doesn't pay much attention to them. So, we'll move as much as we can before they realize what's happening.

It's already 1927, and we're about to enter the 30th century. That era of chaotic timelines is about to arrive. Although it's in another world, Thorne understands that this world will definitely not be much better than the original world in the future. The conflicts between countries here are no less than those there.

The Kingdom of Rhine needs a sufficiently strong military, or rather, Thorne and his forces need a sufficiently strong military. Time is running out for him. If he cannot arm his forces within this time, the tide of history will not care about his identity.

After this overseas inspection trip, he must immediately begin research on weapons and equipment upon his return. He doesn't know when the Spanish military academy in this timeline will open, or whether he will have the opportunity to test new weapons.

Moreover, Thorne still owed Guderian Tank. He had lured Guderian back and put him on a teaching assignment at the Frankfurt Military Academy, but Tank was nowhere to be seen. Thorne had been hiding in Darmstadt and didn't know what people were saying behind his back, so he didn't dare go back, fearing that Guderian would ambush him.

"Tanks! Tanks!"

Thorne was so worried that his hair was falling out. He knew a little about the German tanks of the time. Were they even tanks? They were too slow. They didn't have that feeling of speed at all. They were just big tin cans.

While the steel torrent looked impressive, it all came at a price. These tanks were all oil-guzzling beasts, and the fuel consumption to get them moving was enough to give Germany a real headache.

Aside from coal, Germany had no other decent resources, so it was at a disadvantage compared to those chosen nations. Warfare depends on comprehensive national strength, and Germany's weakness in resources alone meant it could not sustain a protracted war.

Now, relying on its vast overseas colonies, Germany can live off their blood, but what about the future? Besides, these colonies belong to Emperor Wilhelm, not him. Although the Kingdom of the Rhine has also established several companies in these colonies, it only receives a small share.

If Germany wants to send Wilhelm Sr. to Africa in the future, it must now consider stockpiling some strategic resources in advance. Because of the scarcity of resources, Germany often uses synthetic technologies to solve problems, such as rubber resources.

Although Germany had developed synthetic rubber before the war, the cost of the synthetic rubber was too high, and its performance was not much better than that of natural rubber. Moreover, rubber synthesis required petroleum, and Germany was short of petroleum resources, so it could not actually provide much help.

However, rubber is indispensable; the road wheels of tanks need rubber, but synthetic rubber is of poor quality. A new breakthrough must be found. Thorne did not want his tanks to use all-steel road wheels later on, as the experience would be extremely poor.

Now, in peacetime, we can obtain rubber by importing it from colonies or other countries. However, if war breaks out and maritime transport is blocked, Germany could be completely trapped.

Besides technology, Thorne also needs to acquire a lot of resources on this trip, and hopefully sign a few big deals. So he has already chosen his next destination: after his trip to the United States, he will go to China to see how things are going, and take this opportunity to see how China has developed in this timeline.

Talking business with China, buying some mines, and maybe even building a few factories to help develop China's fragile industry at this time is not out of the question.

Moreover, he had heard that something had happened in southern China recently, but he didn't know the specifics. Thorne was very curious and couldn't wait to see his homeland in this second world.

Days at sea can be incredibly boring. Every day there's sunrise and sunset, and you never see a whale baring its teeth. Thorne chose to travel light this time, taking only a few people with him. He didn't want to make too much of a fuss, since he was there to poach talent. If he aroused the vigilance of the US government, then his trip would have been for nothing.

For cross-continental travel like this, the only reliable mode of transportation was a cruise ship. This era was not as advanced as later times; modern airplanes do not have such long-distance flights.

Douglas and Boeing are not very well-known now. During the war, they were able to make a lot of money producing airplanes, but the war has been over for so long that they are probably struggling to survive now.

Thinking of this, Thorne suddenly slapped his forehead. It was only 1927, and these aircraft manufacturers that would later become household names were not yet well-known. He had to take them over quickly, especially Boeing, since the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-29 Superfortress were both developed by Boeing.

The little boy and the fat man who set the record for the highest temperatures in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also transported there by B-29 bombers. They should be packed up and taken away. The current state of the German Air Force always makes Thorne feel that it may not even be as heavily sanctioned as the three German powers.

The ship was extremely quiet. Thorne was alone in his room, writing and drawing. Cruise ships were also divided into different classes, and someone like Thorne, a "leader of feudal reactionary forces," naturally had to indulge in some corruption.

For example, the luxury cruise ship he was on, the "Ocean Giant," with a displacement of nearly 50,000 tons, made one marvel at how Europeans had perfected the art of enjoyment; the ship was practically a floating city.

However, as a typical socially awkward person, Thorne did not like to spend all his time on the ship. He stayed in his room almost every day, constantly writing and drawing.

He still had some recollection of tank and aircraft design blueprints in his mind and could draw a few things. Thorne couldn't wait to go to the United States and kidnap those Boeing guys. Then, when the United States no longer had strategic bombers to bomb our country, Thorne could personally take charge. What difference did it make who bombed it?

Just as Thorne was still pondering whether or not to nuke Tokyo, he suddenly slapped his forehead, realizing he had forgotten something again. He had mentioned the atomic bomb, but how could he have forgotten about Einstein? He had been so busy that he had forgotten about this genius. This big shot was still in Germany. He should have gone to see him first and made an impression on this amazing man. Maybe he could have tricked him into joining his cause.

Thinking of Einstein, Thorne's mind suddenly clicked, and he wished he could grow wings and fly to America. In his eyes, America was now "a land of gold," because he remembered Tesla, the "Thunder King," and he wanted to find a way to bring him back.

Because of the foresight and destructive power of his inventions, all of Tesla's posthumous works and manuscripts were sealed by the FBI after his death. It is said that the FBI waited outside his small hotel until he died, and then took all the manuscripts away.

He was a genius, a great inventor, but he was not a good businessman, which led to him being ripped off by Edison in the early stages and eventually dying poor in a small hotel.

Thorne would love to treasure such a precious item. He doesn't know if Tesla is being watched by the US government, but he's determined to get it out of there, even if it means knocking it out and bringing it back to Germany.

Thorne grew increasingly pleased with this thought. For him, these drawings were merely inspiration or enlightenment; the final form would depend on the efforts of the engineers below. But for talents like Tesla, it was a different story. These people were far superior to Thorne, and only by capturing them could he capture the future.

After finishing writing down his plans, he felt much more relaxed. Stepping out of the room and looking at the continent getting closer and closer, he knew he had finally reached the other side of the ocean, the legendary country where the flower of freedom blooms, America.

Chapter 106 American Workers

The British Empire was the first to ride the wave of the First Industrial Revolution, which quickly transformed it into a global colonial empire. If that was the reward for being a leader, then the Second Industrial Revolution turned the United States into a steel behemoth.

Since the end of the Civil War, the United States has not experienced any major wars. Following this conflict, American capitalism developed rapidly.

In particular, the transportation industry developed rapidly. After the Industrial Revolution, time and speed were wealth, and railways were one of the fastest-growing industries at the time. With government funding, railway companies built roads running north to south, and thousands of bridges and roads together formed the arteries of America.

Construction was booming in both the East and West, and with subsidies from the US government, railways were constantly expanding, forming a dense transportation network in the East. These steel behemoths changed the way Americans lived and the way they produced.

However, the greatest achievement and characteristic of the Second Industrial Revolution was the development of large-scale industry. Concentrated large-scale production spread rapidly throughout the United States, especially in the Great Lakes industrial area, where factories and machines occupied every inch of land, and countless workers crowded into these remaining spaces.

Under the influence of factories, cities like Detroit and Chicago bid farewell to poetry forever; reinforced concrete has no pastoral idyll to sing praises of.

New technological inventions within the city served everyone, and everyone enjoyed the benefits of the era. The development of electric lights and telephones allowed people to say goodbye to darkness and loneliness. Horse-drawn carriages on the roads became fewer and fewer, replaced by faster and more efficient automobiles of all kinds. Factories belching black smoke in the city represented the great achievements of the Industrial Revolution, and all kinds of industrial products produced in the factories were transported to all parts of the country.

With the development of industry, capital is also expanding rapidly. New stock exchanges are constantly being built in the major cities of the East Coast. Various figures and reports circulate in the city, and all kinds of people rely on intelligence to manipulate the market and acquire huge sums of money.

However, as living standards continue to improve, the gap between the rich and the poor is gradually widening, and the disparity in living conditions between workers and capitalists is increasing, with the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer.

By the mid-19th century, the wealthiest 2 percent of families in the United States owned about one-third of the nation's wealth, while the wealthiest 10 percent owned three-quarters of the nation's wealth.

In the industrial age, workers were the most thoroughly exploited, alienated into machines. While the gap between rich and poor widened, the treatment of workers never improved. Even if wages increased, they were negligible due to rising prices. Workers were expected to be grateful, as if these capitalists were saviors.

The workers' working and living conditions did not improve at all. The New World was like a new prison, with harsh living conditions torturing people's minds and bodies every moment. The workers could only squeeze with their families into cheap and crowded housing, where there was not even enough space for two people to turn around.

Unlike the luxurious and clean neighborhoods of the wealthy, the living quarters of the workers are always surrounded by sewage and disease. Their hands can create American achievements that have shocked the world. They can build skyscrapers, cars and yachts, but they cannot create clean housing or cars for their own use.

The working conditions for the workers in the factory were shockingly rudimentary. They had virtually no protective measures during their daily work, and workplace accidents were frequent. However, injured workers received no compensation whatsoever. At the time, the United States had the highest number of workplace injuries in the world, making this situation truly astonishing.

In 1913, approximately 25,000 people in the United States lost their lives at work, and about 700,000 were injured at work. The United States was the only industrialized country in the world at that time without workers' compensation, which meant that American workers at that time lived with almost no dignity.

Child labor was legal at the time, and some families had no choice but to send their children out to work due to the heavy burden of life. The situation of these children was also very tragic. A large number of teenagers who should have been in school became new slaves, performing heavy labor in coal mines and factories without any protective measures.

Some children as young as six or seven were already working, selling newspapers on the street. Some children under ten years old were assigned to work with adults, and their wages were deducted at every turn, but their workload was no less than that of adults. They had to work six days a week, twelve hours a day.

Although some states have restricted children from working and have specific age regulations, this completely misses the point. It's like treating the symptoms but not the root cause, failing to address the underlying issues of child labor in the first place. It's simply a blanket ban on children working.

This led many families struggling to make ends meet to try to get their children to lie about their age in order to get them into factories and various jobs. They even had to forge various work permits and bargain with capitalists. Despite all this trouble, they still couldn't stop their children from entering factories.

Impoverished families cannot support idle mouths; these children must find work to supplement the family income, otherwise their meager wages will not be enough to support their families. In such dire circumstances, not resisting means certain death. Do they really think that through their own efforts they can make those noble capitalists re-define workers from "savages" to "civilized people"?

Under long-term oppression, workers gradually developed their own consciousness, and the working class gradually rose up. Those arrogant capitalists would not bow down voluntarily; otherwise, how could the workers' living conditions be so poor? Rights must be fought for, not given as charity.

The stark wealth gap fueled workers' pent-up anger, like a volcano waiting to erupt. As capital continued to exploit them, some workers began to awaken and fight back. In some industries in the United States, workers began to unite, gradually forming groups, and the rudiments of labor unions began to emerge.

Later, stimulated by various events and wars, the newly formed union federation began to grow stronger. At the United Labor Congress in 1866, a resolution was passed to establish an influential national organization. This was a product of the nationwide workers' struggle and the first comprehensive union federation in the United States: the National Labor Federation.

The workers, who were new to the struggle, were not mature, and the newly formed labor union was still an unstable organization. After the sudden death of its leader, the union began to decline rapidly, but he still left behind a valuable political legacy. After the decline of the National Labor Union, a newly established labor organization, the Knights of Holy Labor, took up the mantle of leading the workers' struggle.

The Knights of Labour were much more mature than the Labour Unions. The Knights of Labour were more organized and had a much greater influence among the working class. Their series of political programs, which seemed radical at the time, provided a lot of reference for the organizations that took up the banner later. One of the more famous ones was the eight-hour workday slogan.

However, they still had certain limitations. The Knights of Labour's attitude toward strike struggles was always unclear. Throughout the Knights of Labour's history, it had always advocated replacing strikes with a united boycott.

Although its style of operation was relatively weak, the organization grew very rapidly thanks to its political slogans, its friendliness towards the working class, and its tolerant attitude towards new members. In its later stages, it had united nearly 700,000 people, including not only workers but also many theorists and progressives, becoming a trade union with considerable influence.

However, as time went on, the struggle between workers and capitalists gradually intensified, the number of awakened workers gradually increased, and the struggle against capitalists began to become more complicated. As the working class continued to grow, the workers' courage to resist gradually increased, and they began to be dissatisfied with the current moderate approach, believing that it hindered the further development of the working class.

Many workers and labor unions have become more radical, and some have begun to shift their thinking from fighting for upward mobility to empowering the working class and even the state apparatus.

They were no longer willing to fight politicians and businessmen with weak tactics like united resistance; they wanted to try more radical methods of resistance. With the influx of immigrants and the integration of large European groups into American society, native-born American workers began to be influenced by some advanced European ideas, and their methods of struggle became increasingly violent.

After the periodic economic crisis hit the United States, business owners began to cut workers' basic wages in order to avoid risks. The awakened workers, after suffering such treatment, no longer remained silent but chose to resist.

Workers on the federal railroads left their posts, blocked the tracks, and went on strike to fight for their rights. The strike quickly spread to other cities on the West Coast, such as San Francisco, and workers in hundreds of towns joined in, beginning their resistance against capitalist exploitation.

However, this strike had no clear political purpose and was not guided or regulated by any scientific theory. Many saboteurs took the opportunity to infiltrate the ranks, and the strike quickly turned into a riot. The unorganized workers damaged the railway, burned shops, and some even began to loot property. These people clashed with the federal troops who came to suppress them, resulting in hundreds of casualties.

Because of the negative impact of this unorganized strike, public opinion quickly turned against the strikers, and the strikers were not effectively organized, resulting in a lack of negotiation and the strike quickly failing.