[hider=Confederated Socialist States of America]
[center][h2]Confederated Socialist States of America (CSSA)[/h2][/center]

[center][h2]Flag[/h2][/center]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/jekWMb7.png[/img][/center]

[center][h2]Leader[/h2][/center] 
[center]James W. Ford[/center]

[center][h2]Government Ideology[/h2][/center]
[center]Marxism-Leninism[/center]

[center][h2]Claimed States[/h2][/center] 
[center]South Carolina 
Mississippi 
Florida 
Alabama 
Georgia 
Louisiana 
Texas 
Virginia 
Arkansas 
North Carolina 
Tennessee
West Virginia[/center]

[center][h2]Rough Population[/h2][/center]
32,000,000

[center][h2]Capital[/h2][/center]
[center]Jacksonville, Florida[/center]

[center][h2]Military Details[/h2][/center]
[center]The CSSA's Army is equipped with the same pre-secession weapons used by most American successor states, and has chosen to continue producing them instead of foolishly overhauling their existing industry to service new designs. With the planned expansion of the Confederate arms industry, it is hoped that new designs can be experimented with an implemented. There are, in fact, already plans to produce the M1921 Thomson submachine gun for vastly expanded military use. Aside from the more professional firearms, the Confederate Red Army also makes use of civilian firearms acquired during the revolution. Soldiers can often seen carrying old hunting rifles and shotguns in lieu of actual military equipment.

The Confederate Red Army employed pre-secession United States tank designs alongside the Renault FT during the revolution, all, of course, captured from what had once been federal armories. Diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union have led to it receiving a number of Soviet tank models through trade and technology sharing programs. Foreign designs in use include the BT-5 and BT-7 cavalry tanks, which the CSSA has put into production with the intent of replacing United States designs due to their perceived superiority. The services of Mikhail Koshkin, a Soviet tank designer, have been gifted to the CSSA with the intent of designing a new tank as a joint effort between the two nations. Said design is planned to act as the backbone of both the Soviet and Confederate armored divisions, as well as be a significantly tougher nut to crack than the BT series cavalry tanks.

The CRAAF (Confederate Red Army Air Force) utilizes whatever aircraft it can get its hands on. Cropdusters were cut up and reassembled until they could turn well enough to stand a chance against fighters, airliners had their fuselages filled with bombs instead of seats, and barnstormers attached machine guns onto their planes. United States fighter aircraft are still constructed alongside various Soviet designs, but a massive emphasis has been placed on developing entirely new aircraft (mostly due to the fact that flying aircraft with entirely different cockpit layouts does terrible things to efficiency). In contrast to the tank design initiative, aircraft designs are being handled entirely by CSSA staff.

The Confederate Red Navy inherited the vessels docked at Norfolk Naval Yard, which had been seized by the state of Virginia to serve their short-lived independent armed forces. This led to the CSSA operating a rather substantial naval force, as well as controlling more than enough oil reserves to fuel it. The Norfolk Shipyards, as one of the only heavy industries in the CSSA, are continuing construction on multiple new warships. A fleet carrier that had been laid down prior to the revolution has been hastily converted into a battleship halfway through construction due to the simple fact that the nation has little need for aircraft carriers when it plans to be fighting mostly just off the coast.[/center]

[center][h2]Why Your States Decided to Unite[/h2][/center]
[center]The Depression hit the southern USA hard. With the decline of northern industry, southern agriculture became less and less profitable. Herbert Hoover's destructive policies of giving more and more freedom to businesses made things terrible for the working man in the south. The working and living conditions of coal miners and factory workers worsened and worsened, and strikes were met with lethal and barbaric force delivered by private organizations and sometimes even the federal army. More and more people flocked to the unions in search of change, and with the labor unions came the CPUSA.

The ideals of Marx began to spread, slowly but surely, throughout the south. Talk of class divides and the alleged evils of capitalism began to overpower accusations of communist atrocities in foreign lands. By the year of the elections, the Overton window had been pushed shockingly far left of center. The countless unregistered African-Americans found themselves being escorted to the polls by armed men sporting red bandanas, all so they could register as communists without being assaulted. So popular was the CPUSA, in fact, that when Herbert Hoover swept the southern states the first argument were about whether it was the CPUSA that spoiled the Democrats or the Democrats that spoiled the CPUSA. However, the two parties found common ground in their hatred of the fact that Herbert Hoover had received the minority of the popular vote in the southern lands.

More intriguing, however, was the fact that the CPUSA had won more of the voters' hearts than the Democrats.

In an incredible display, CPUSA pundits and supporters came out of the woodwork and lashed out at the Democratic Party. By refusing to accept that the communists had won more support, it was said, the Democrats had let Hoover win. Had they simply chosen to support the majority of the people, of course, then Hoover wouldn't have won four more years. The communists believed it, and the communists seemed to be far more popular than the polls showed. This was not a majority among minorities, it was a true popular ideology. Perhaps, some said, Hoover shouldn't have been in office anyways. Perhaps it was been voter fraud on a massive scale. And the Democratic Party, also puppets of the bourgeoisie class, had done the same.

That idea brought the CPUSA into full prominence. Disgusted by the supposed foul play of their party, Democrats switched sides. Class consciousness skyrocketed even higher, as one couldn't walk into a bar of coffee shop without hearing "Damn bourgeoisie" muttered by more than one man. In the south the CPUSA lashed out against the Hoover administration, demanding his resignation. Of course, he refused to step down and went far enough to write off the entire south as "A bunch of good-for nothings who don't know what's good for them." Following that, one couldn't walk into a bar or coffee shop without hearing "Well, they say revolution is inevitable. And it's already happened in Russia..."

Finally, mounting pressure forced the government to act. The Treaty of Washington D.C. was signed, and the union was shattered. Immediately, the southern states blew up like the time bomb they had become. The existing state governments found themselves fighting hordes of communist revolutionaries, demanding that they bow to the wishes of the people. It was national guard and police against everyone else, since the federal military had split right down the middle between the communists and the democrat state rulers. 

Chief among them was Oliver Law, a soldier whom had served in the First World War (and never, ever saw combat). During the election year he had recklessly chosen to move back to his home state of Texas in the hopes of helping swing the state towards communism. With his military training and unexpected knack for command, he was placed in charge of the 24th Texas Revolutionary Infantry, and soon distinguished himself on the battlefield. He rose through the (rather empty) ranks of the non-military branch of the American Red Army through his willingness to take chances and ability to improvise in the middle of battle. By the end of the war, he was a General. A General leading a ragtag army of coal miners with pickaxes and shotguns, but a General nonetheless. 

When the dust had all settled, the political climate in the south was less than stable. Many said that they ought to join the Dustbowl States, but the party officials of the CPUSA were less than enamored with the midwest's specific brand of pseudo-anarchocommunism. In the end, the now communist southern states joined together into the Confederated Socialist States of America, a (pseudo) Marxist-Leninist state based around a strong vanguard party with the goal of reuniting America under communism. A world away in Moscow, Stalin raised an eyebrow.

The government was centralized and a new party formed, dubbed the Southern Communist Party (SCP) in order to avoid overt association with the CPUSA which had been headed by Earl Browder. A one-time election was held to choose who would be Chairman of the part and Premier of the nations for life, after all, there was little reason to change the leader every four years after the victory of communism. James W. Ford was elected, thanks to his undying (if perhaps somewhat blind) loyalty to the communist party and the people of America. This was a notable event, as Ford was very obviously not a white man. It showed just how far the South had come socially, and just how far socialism had come within it.

Stalin's raised eyebrow had now turned into a full briefing on the so-called "American situation" at the start of every day while he are breakfast. The clear intention of the CSSA to move towards a more Soviet-style government had piqued his interest. Diplomats were flown, offers were made, hands were shook, and by the end of it all the newly formed CSSA found in its possession shiny new tanks, airplanes, and a non-trivial amount of subsidies and trade deals.

Those new resources were put to work when the SCP took a page right out of Stalin's book and began a Five-Year Plan. The farms were collectivized, and industrial expansion began with the construction of new factories being paired buildings across the nation being converted to factories in order to fully utilize the vast raw material output of the south.

Diplomacy with the Dustbowl States took an odd turn with Trotsky's arrival. Though not the most publicized event, the government was well aware of it. The Southern Communist Party called a meeting in Jacksonville, as did the Soviets in Moscow, to discuss the situation. Neither meeting came to any conclusion, and so Ford and Stalin met behind closed doors aboard the CSS North Carolina to decide what ought to be done. Both were opposed to Trotsky and the ideals of the nation in which he had sought refuge, but they were also both well aware of the rising tide. Germany and the Sister Republics were proof that fascism was gaining power, and they had to be willing to pay any cost necessary to defend against fascism. Ford knew that Trotsky, a Russian, would be hard-pressed to gain any major power in America. Meanwhile, the Dustbowl States were ultimately a weakened land that followed an ideology that was by no means absolutely incompatible.

And so, after days of discussion, it was decided that the Soviet Union would stay out of the situation while the CSSA would remain friendly towards them, unless by some chance Trostskyism rose as the prominent ideology.[/center][/hider]