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The Rise of the Socialist Party (1897-1919)
The first divergence from our history occured in 1897, when the newly founded Social Democratic Party of American Railway Union delegates began to be influenced by the larger Socialist Labor Party (SLP). By 1900, the smaller party completely merged into the SLP, forming a united front for workers that continued to grow throughout the next few decades, as unrest between labor and capital grew and strike after strike broke out nationwide, only to be broken by heavy-handed government measures.

In 1898, the Spanish-American War was out after the USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor. Within months, the war was over, with Cuba and the Philippines under American military occupation. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were given to the United States. In 1901, Cuba became an American protectorate under the terms of the Platt Amendment. Although the country was officially independent starting in 1902, it was effectively an American puppet state. Separately, the US also annexed Hawaii in 1898. Panama and Haiti will join the American empire as protectorates in time.

In 1900, incumbent President William McKinley was reelected over Democrat William Jennings Bryan, and McKinley's second term passed by almost uneventfully. In 1901, Polish immigrant Leon Czolgoz, who had plotted to assassinate McKinley in Buffalo, New York, was arrested by a racist policeman for vagrancy. McKinley continued pushing a pro-business agenda, including an overturn of the Sherman Antitrust Act and the breaking of a large coal strike in western Pennsylvania. This alienated many of the progressives within the Republican Party, including McKinley's own vice president Theodore Roosevelt.

Republican Charles Fairbanks won the 1904 presidential election over Democrat Alton Parker. This marked the beginning of a decline for the Democratic Party; it would not return to a truly national stage until the 1930s, becoming a largely Southern party as its progressive wing migrated to the Socialists. However, Fairbanks was an unpopular president; when progressives in Congress attempted to pass a law that would establish safety regulations and collective bargaining rights, Fairbanks rapidly vetoed. Fairbanks also issued multiple executive orders to use the military to break strikes at a whim. Many, including many within his own party, accused Fairbanks of abusing his power. The backlash to the Fairbanks administration saw to the creation of the Sixteenth Amendment, which would be ratified in 1909, after Fairbanks had left. This curtailed presidential powers while increasing Congressional power, placing the final decision of members of Cabinet, and the newly created position of First Secretary, in the hands of the House of Representatives. The House would also be moved to a four-year election cycle, coinciding with presidential elections.

In 1908 Fairbanks was not nominated for a second term. Instead, the Republicans nominated the more moderate William Taft. The Democrats once again nominated Alton Parker. Taft won handily due to the Democrats' dwindling support outside the South, but much of the vote goes to outside candidates Eugene Debs of the SLP and William Jennings Bryan of the new Populist Democratic Party. With the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, a coalition government was formed between the Republicans and Democrats, with Democrat Woodrow Wilson becoming President Taft's First Secretary. The coalition government was fairly successful, and much of the political infighting that had begun under McKinley and Fairbanks began to subside as the 1912 elections approached.

Taft would once again face Democratic nominee Alton Parker, and despite obtaining a twenty point lead in the popular vote, barely managed a twenty vote victory in the electoral college. Eugene Debs of the SLP won over twenty percent of the popular vote. Although it seemed all was well, many of the progressives in both parties had grown increasingly alienated by the pro-business, anti-labor policies of the Taft-Wilson administration, and left for greener pastures within the burgeoning ranks of the SLP, which soon rebrands itself as the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

But this, too, would come to a crashing halt. On June 28, 1914, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by Serbian nationalists in Sarajevo. The situation escalated quickly, with Germany siding with Austria-Hungary, and France and Russia siding against them. Germany in order to eliminate France places the Schlieffen Plan into action, crossing British-protected Belgium. Britain declared war on Germany for the violation of Belgian neutrality. Citing a closed-door 1912 treaty, the US threatened war against Germany. The resolution to declare war barely passed Congress, with the PSP and both Republican and Democratic dissidents standing in solid opposition to American entry. The Republicans and Democrats create a "National Unity Coalition" power-sharing agreement in order to

Although many Americans enthusiastically enlisted in the Army, when the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France in 1915, the enthusiastic conscripts found the horrors of war far different from the glory they were expecting, and many of them, including famously George Patton, lost their faith. At home, the SPP's firm opposition to the escalating war effort drove them into calling general strikes, which wreaked havoc on American industry throughout 1915. In response, along with the institution of the draft, severe wage and price controls, and rationing, the Espionage Act was enacted, allowing the government to crack down on anti-war sentiment.

In the 1916 election, Woodrow Wilson eked out a victory over Taft despite losing the popular vote by a large margin. However, the National Unity Coalition remained in, partly to prevent the growing PSP from gaining any more power. Nevertheless, the public showed that they were growing solidly against the war. High casualties, coupled with the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1917, showed that the war was growing increasingly futile.

The situation would worsen in 1918. The PSP candidate for mayor of New York City, Morris Hilquit, had defeated Tammany Hall backed John Hylan. However, the New York state government recognized Hylan as the winner. When the state revoked the city's charter, attempting to declare the election in fraud, the PSP called a general strike. Workers and their families took to the streets, seizing control of Manhattan Island. When President Wilson attempted to intervene, the PSP

The war finally

The Rising Tide (1919-1933)
The final death knell of the United States would begin with the 1932 elections. With support for the Workers' Party having exploded since the beginning of the Depression, there was little hope for the Republicans to remain in office. The Workers' Party nominated Norman Thomas, with Upton Sinclair as his running mate. The Democratic Party nominated Louisiana governor Huey Long. Hoover unsuccessfully attempted to bargain Long into withdrawing in order to prevent the Workers' Party from gaining power. The elections were a crushing victory for the Workers' Party, who won control of both houses of Congress. Norman Thomas won the vast majority of the electoral vote, with Long winning most of the Southern vote and finishing in second.

The Revolution (1933)
The sheer scope of the Workers' Party victory sent much of the Republican Party into a panic. On February 1, 1933, under pressure from the military and General Douglas MacArthur, Herbert Hoover declared the United States in a state of unlawful insurrection and suspended the Constitution. The government ordered the arrest of many Workers' Party leaders, including President-elect Thomas and Party General Secretary Earl Browder. However, much of the party leadership quickly went underground and within days called for a general strike, effectively shutting down American industry altogether. The strikers declared the independence of the existing communes in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and Seattle, and took control of other cities such as Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Milkwaukee. Soon, an ultimatum was sent to Washington, demanding the restoration of the Constitution and the elected government, as well as the arrest and trial for treason of the junta members.

The situation became ever more tense rapidly. MacArthur took control of all state National Guards. In the South, the United States Marines and paramilitaries, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, were organized into so-called "freedom corps." One such group led an attack on the Louisiana state legislature in Baton Rouge on February 14, assassinating Huey Long. Other such freedom corps led attacks on the mainly black members of the Workers' Party in the South. In the North and Midwest, MacArthur dispatched the US Army to counterattack the striking workers.

The revolution truly began when 40,000 World War I veterans, calling themselves the "Bonus Army," marching to petition the government to redeem their promised pensions, approached Washington. MacArthur tried to get the Bonus Army to fight as paramilitaries, but was refused. The 3rd Cavalry Regiment, led by George Patton, was sent to disperse the Bonus Army; however, Patton, a socialist supporter, and most of his officers and men mutinied. Together with the Bonus Army, they declared themselves the "Red Army" and quickly captured the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory. The Red Army counterattacked reactionary forces attacking Pittsburgh on March 28, although in the end it was a draw.

Red Armies were formed across the North and Midwest through the month of April. Heavy fighting took place in the state of Ohio, for control of the city of Cincinnati and the rail lines between Chicago and Pittsburgh. Despite some minor revolutionary victories, the reactionaries still held the upper hand in most places. On April 15, the junta retook Springfield, Illinois, and the 1st Marine Division landed on Long Island to attack New York. The armored 1st Cavalry Division under Adna Chaffee was dispatched to retake Chicago. Pittsburgh came under the heaviest siege yet by the 1st and 4th Infantry Divisions. However, on April 27, the 1st Cavalry entered Chicago waving the revolutionary flag, and counterattacks pushed the reactionaries out of Pittsburgh. Navy warships ordered to aid the Long Island invasion defected and formed the Red Navy. As the tide turned, the 1st and 4th Infantry and the 1st Marines all surrendered.

As the revolutionaries won victory after victory, there was much debate as to what to do. William Z. Foster wanted to declare a new socialist nation out of the ashes of the reactionary United States, and it was the arrival of Leon Trotsky in Chicago that sealed the deal. On May Day, a Provisional Government was formed in Chicago under Foster and Upton Sinclair, and quickly endorsed by most remaining Workers' Party delegates as well as others such as Emma Goldman's Syndicalist Federation. The existing Red Armies were brought under the control of this new government.

On May 16, Patton was ordered to attack Washington itself. Four divisions - a total of 80,000 men -