Multiple sides of an American penny

Multiple sides of an American penny.

*Barbarism.

Various groups were taking part in the rebuilding efforts of New England for the United States, but overall there was a strong nationalist and revengeful sentiment present within these groups.

A journalist from Massachusetts was interviewing all of this, after a time as a correspondent in Europe. These experiences and the Great Depression had marked him at various points.

"Excuse me sir, would you be interested in answering some questions?" The journalist asks.

"It's fine". Mr. Lyman Z. Smith responds positively.

William Dudley Pelley.

"I am William Dudley Pelley, I would like to collect some opinions." The journalist introduces himself politely, before asking the aforementioned questions to Mr. Smith.

"I am a journalist, I am committed to the truth. And I can tell you an important truth ladies and gentlemen, we are in danger." Pelley exclaims.

Pelley propagated in those rebuilt streets, while Mr. Smith's young son, Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith, watched him.

"We are in danger from an enemy less visible than it might appear at first glance, I am talking about Jewish communism. Those who now dominate politics in Western Europe, and will soon come to dominate on our shores. If we don't do something."

"What is the alternative? Ladies and gentlemen?" Pelley asks, people argue and mutter. "I have your answer, we need a white, Christian government. I have something for you, the true American patriots, the National Republican Party."

*******

Pelley came from Europe early to get involved in politics, he had seen the effects of the Great Depression and the effects of the socialist revolutions.

He was inspired by Boulangerism, the recently deceased German Empire, Carlism, the Russian autocracy, and the British Social Aristocracy.

True, some models had fallen, but the Russian Empire was going through a heyday, the German Empire had struggled for decades before it fell, Carlism was a proper conservative-Christian ideology, and Boulangerism had proved popular enough to rule for years.

With this ideological soup, to which was added white supremacism and the momentum of American chauvinism-revenge, Pelley and other extremist politicians on the right wing of the NRP were beginning to be very successful.

The ultra-right wing would soon be known as the America First wing.

The America First wing would be soon a partner of the right wing of the National Republican Party, both (the party and the center-right wing) lead Henry Ford, Pelley achieved increasingly important positions within the Deadrborne Independent where Pelley is characterized by his Christian and anti-Semitic writing.

Then there came a moment, already in the periods before the Peace Treaty of the New Great War, something was heating up in America.

"Welcome to the first meeting. Today we are about to form something big, I have seen how order in Germany fell from the weakest links in its military and civilian structures." Pelley announces.

"Today, I present to you an alternative to the collapse of America. The Silver Legion of America!"

The first Silver Shirts were already beginning to appear around this time, beginning to rub shoulders in newspaper and communication circles, beginning to ally with the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacists, extremist Christians, etc.

They just needed a little more to continue jumping into public life ...

*******

That afternoon, Lyman Smith had dressed well in his new uniform, now having risen through the ranks within the Silver Shirts.

His son was behind, wearing a small silver plaque with an L.

After a ceremony, accompanied by the local circle, the Smiths were receiving their turn.

Young Gerald L. K. Smith took a podium with his father. "Gerald Lyman Kenneth Smith. Are you ready?"

"Yes sir." The young man mentions excitedly, joining the youth wing of the local Silver Shirts association.

pelley.jpg

The evil does not hide and does not dress in elegant clothes, sometimes it is just a couple of simple men with L in their clothes. They are men with boring lives and positions, with L for Losers.

*******

*Redneck.

The group of miners, industrial workers and rural workers look with distrust at those military men, who have just left the Caribbean due to the Christmas Truce.

Their leader approaches, he wears a little more casual clothes for a decorated military man, he approaches humbly and calmly.

"Good morning." The man salutes.

"Hello good." The manager receives it. "What do you want?".

"My friends and I, we are looking to join the Pennsylvania chapter of the Socialist Party of America." The military man announces without making many turns or fanfare.

"... I have some questions before. What is your name?" The manager mentions, there were certain suspicions. The police and military were not always allies ...

"I am Smedley Butler."

Many servicemen who lived to see the New Great War emerged as changed men, a very clear example being Smedley Butler and other associates.

The American operations in Central America and the Caribbean allowed them to see not only the British social aristocracy, but also the imperialism of the American corporations against the inhabitants of Central America.

Thus the state created some of its worst enemies.

Some military simply went and joined leftist alternatives, fighting against imperialism and poverty.

But in this, leftist militancy also began to develop among the communities trained by these radicalized military personnel.

The 'Redneck'.

Trade unionists belonging to mining, livestock and agricultural works, who usually suffered from problems (systematic problems in the United States, problems of poverty, problems with the federal-state government or the bosses).

They were called Rednecks not only because of their living conditions and jobs, but also because they usually wore red scarves around their necks.

They opposed the fight against racial segregation, they sought unionization, better working conditions, etc.

While these Rednecks existed in many parts of the United States, they proliferated and began to replace the Democrats of the Solid South.

Why did these groups of Rednecks begin to grow and proliferate in the southern United States?

Partly due to various factors, such as poverty in white and African-American communities without much capital, but also due to the effects of Free Silver and the German invasion on the local economy.

Its organization would suppose several problems for successive administrations, for several reasons.

Smedley Butler would also stand out as a politician within the Socialist Party of America in the post-war period, avoiding the occurrence of various schisms within the parties.

He met and became a fan of Eugene V. Debs, another opponent of imperialism.

*******

A progressively right-wing Northeast (white supremacy, ultra-nationalism, right-wing populism) and a progressively left-wing Southeast (unionism, socialism, left-wing populism). The twists that life gives.

Among this, those who claimed to defend democracy failed, for various reasons. They doubted that anything could threaten American democracy like it happened in France.

Democrats, centrists, and liberals *slept* (figuratively), thinking their status quo was safe.

When they felt threatened, they soon revealed that they were currently willing to ally themselves with certain alternatives, which inadvertently threatened democracy itself.

The generations that suffered from the Fashoda War, the Great Depression, the New Great War and all of this events aftermath, were all quite radical ...

If you were born in 1878-1879, at 60, you lived through all of this and lived to see even more ...