The fourth Part of Mark Walderman's investigation into the human sides and motivations of the escalating conflict in L.A., the Hills concentrates on the Wealthy Corporate and Upper class, as well as the Southland Republican movement
The Hills
On a tile patio on Mulholland Drive, I look out over Los Angeles. The house behind me was built in the twenties for a long dead actress who never lived in it, but little about the exterior would remind you of that. The view I have is obscured by razor wire, and below the tile patio is a twenty foot cement moat. To the sides towers made from war-surplus pre-fab parts hold spotlights, antenna, machineguns, and men with binoculars. The façade of the house has been hidden behind a concrete wall, and blast bunkers drilled beneath the living area. Among some orange trees to the side of the terrace there is a small rocket battery.
Jeremy Strickland doesn’t think of himself as particularly well off or wealthy. “There’s no comparison between this place and the big fortress compounds. I have enough here to keep my family safe if there’s a riot, and to survive if there’s some major war between the Corps. But…the concrete, the ground to air…that’s really just marginal stuff. I only have twenty three Security on Staff, though I usually have three or four on detail.”
I ask if everyone has defenses like these.
“Well, I think if you own a house up here, you’ve done some hardening. The concrete goes back to 1954. The towers got put up in 63 when some Corp rivalries started heating up. I’ve updated things from year to year, but it’s not some sort of sick obsession, like I sought to create a military reserve. We’ve had a lot of threats of fighting here, and you feel like a target. Most of the house is pretty nice and isn’t about being a defensive work. I have three paintings by Lyonel Feininger, the Bauhaus artist. “
Strickland is Division Director for Finance with ParaCentury’s troubled Mystery/Crime unit. The Vice President for Mystery/Crime, Marc Redman was killed on camera by Standard Oil Director Oscar Sutro after surrendering to the People’s Court shortly after the elections. Redman and Communications VP Mickey Preston have been implicated in a failed Coup that would have consolidated an entity not unlike the Southland Republic shortly before the previous election.
“The idea I think was to just carry out a coup of the state, declare a Republic of California. That’s a Movement term now, but at the time they were still talking People’s Republic. The take was that the military would be forced to come on board if all the Corps supported it, and we’d have a brief Civil War, while the Movement wasn’t yet organized. Now…the middle class is trying to secede from the State anyway, and we’re facing an election where the Movement has been given all the seats by the Court. To be fair, I don’t think anybody realized how bad it would be.”
I pose a more difficult question to Strickland than I have to the others. “Everyone in the Valley, down in the Barrios is talking about the distribution of wealth. You can see the figures. You’re in the upper 10%, very near the upper 1% of wealth in L.A. there’s a lot of inequality and there are successful models where the doesn’t exist. Sweden, other European countries both pre-event and 2012 timeline…there are examples of economies with very few poor and a very good division of wealth. Everybody is looking to the rich to fix things.”
Strickland takes a drag on a Virginia cigarette and shrugs. “That’s not a viable idea. It sounds good on paper, but let me explain about this. Let’s take this house. It’s probably worth about two million dollars L.A. Maybe a little less maybe a little more. Now let’s forget about the fact that I don’t want to give up my house or the contents, or that it represents a great deal of my wealth over the last eighteen years. First of all, it’s not worth very much to a Latino family in the barrios. You could move four hundred of them into it, but you could build them a new block of flats better suited for their needs for a quarter the value. This house isn’t gold. You can’t melt it down. And if it were gold, you couldn’t turn it into wheat. It employed laborers when it was being built and created jobs and economy. But it’s not really worth anything. I have four Kelvinators here. One in the security commissary, one in the catering kitchen, one in the bar and one in the master suite. Let’s say I give all of them away. That’s not going to really ease the situation in the barrios. I could give away everything of substance I own and it’s not a drop in the bucket. And people got paid to make all this stuff.
In the long run who do you think propped things up when the big break came. We needed to create the Corps, the rich. In 1950 this city assembled more cars than any city other than Detroit, made more tires than any city but Akron, made more furniture than Grand Rapids, and stitched more clothes than any city except New York. But in 1955 we didn’t have anybody left to sell them to, or anybody to give us the raw goods, and things just fell apart. We still made all those things but…maybe about 10% of the volume. “
That evening, Strickland entertains a group of intimates. The atmosphere is far from festive. Martinis flow freely, and each table has a glass jar for cigarettes. The air is full of smoke, and the jokes have a graveyard feel. The shadow of civil war looms heavy in the air. There is a lot of talk about the Southland Republic. Jack Young is the Undersecretary of Defense for the Republic. He is sitting on the arm of a davenport, sipping scotch and soda and smoking. This is how business gets done in L.A.
“The Southland Republic is more an idea than anything else. The Government has fallen apart. Everybody feels betrayed by Lawton. Maybe he got bad advice, but he hasn’t done much to dig himself out. He waved a flag, made a series of unwise deals, and brought us closer to Civil War. Eight months ago, we could have dealt with an insurrection, fought down the Movement. But since the Army Mutiny…that’s up in the air. It’s going to be a worse fight and a lot of people are going to die.”
The Southland Republic is a patchwork of secessionist enclaves stretching across North Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena. Adherents range into the San Gabriel Mountains, and West along Route 66, north to Santa Monica and south to Anaheim and Santa Ana. Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo are outlying members.
Officially these states have repudiated the government of Los Angeles and recognize the flag of the Southland Republic. By many standards the Civil War has already started. But Strickland disagrees.
“Right now we have an admittedly illegal government in Los Angeles. It wasn’t very legitimate to begin with, and a series of illegal assassinations and forced resignations made it worse. Nobody can seriously suggest that the government or Court of Los Angeles is a legitimate entity. Next we’ll have an election that makes things worse. We’re not going to stand by and subscribe to a Government that enslaves us and takes our property. That’s insanity. The Movement says it has strength in numbers. Well so do we. The Southland Republic isn’t a state, it’s a movement of its own. Organizationally it is modeled on entities like the Irish Republican Army. It doesn’t have a City Hall or Capital. Over time, it will take over the operation of Police and utility functions in areas where it governs. We hope it can form the core of a Greater Los Angeles Government.
I think most sane people realize that some sort of compromise with the Movement is necessary. We see that along the lines of Ireland. We’ll keep the areas and structures we’ve build, and owned for generations. The Movement can set up a separate state, and govern the areas it controls. We’ll allow citizens of that State to enter the Southland Republic to work and do business, and they can enjoy autonomy in their own State.”
To join the Southland Republic a community needs to be “a legitimate, distinct and recognizable Community entity…a town, community, or some other structure with historically distinct and recognizable borders, or a freewill association that constitutes a similar entity.” In short this means that as far as the Southland Republic is concerned a small town or apartment block can vote to secede from LA and join it. I asked Strickland why this needed to happen before the July Elections.
“Two reasons. First we aren’t going to participate in those elections. If we pull the lever then ethically we put our head in the noose and ought to abide by the outcome. We aren’t going to pull the lever that drops us to our own death. Second, the turnover of the Court made it incredibly important to set up a new national and legal identity. Most of us want rule of law and clearly the Supreme Court of California no longer provides that. If somebody commits a serious crime, we need a way to handle it without exposing them to the kangaroo court that is now the legal Court system of Los Angeles. We’re setting up a Southland Republic Supreme Court.”
The one thing the Southland Republic lacks is an army.
“We’re not a military organization” said Strickland. “We do sponsor citizen’s militias. But in the end we count on the existing Army…the former United States Army…to make the right decision about what is and is not a just Democratic institution. The United States Army has never sponsored mob-rule or Communism. At the point where we start trying to exercise military force, we’re just the same as the movement. We are providing an alternative to the failed anarcho-Communist State that was Los Angeles. We are the new legitimate Government of California. We are the establishment.”
Strickland tells me that the Southland Republic isn’t a threat to the stability of Los Angeles.
“We are the stability. The Radicals are destabilizing the state and made the Government illegitimate. If there’s a threat it’s the Santa Catalina Republic. They haven’t declared independence but they’ve got a militia, and a Government all set to go into place. They’ll declare independence July 5th or shortly after. They don’t have to worry about the People’s Court, they don’t get on the island. People here have been setting up to use Santa Catalina like Chiang-Kai-Shek used Taiwan for a long time. If the Movement tries to grab all the capital, most of it is going to slip offshore through their fingers. Most people who have assets they can convert are stashing them abroad, or buying foreign currency at a loss. It’s one reason our money is slipping so badly. Malaysia, New York, Manhattan before the War. There’s a run to the French Republic right now. Rising Sun is being talked about but they’re a closed economy. Everyone is trying to get offshore. Some people are biting their nails that the Banks in Manhattan re-open and honor their notes. If Prince Luciano can make that happen he’s going to have a lot of friends.
In practice Corpsec already patrols many Southland enclaves. Walter Burnow is a retired CorpSec officer, now an Independent. In the Parking lot he was watching a white Nash Limousine. I asked him about the Southlanders.
“I think maybe it’s an overreaction. It’s not really a state, more a statement. In a lot of ways it makes our work harder. We are trying to coordinate with the Army to work out zones of interdiction, zones of control, neutral zones with the Movement. Since the Mutiny the Army has asked us to cooperate on this. The Southlanders are kind of jamming a giant spanner into the works. But…you can’t blame people for banning together in times like this. It’s terrifying the State came to this point. That we let all this happen unopposed. The Mutiny, the Courts, the Elections. The Corps were frankly too busy maneuvering with each other for leverage and power to come together. And when they did, it was a lie.”
I asked Burnow about the theory that Standard “betrayed” ParaCentury and Elia Kazan.
“I don’t think that’s how it was. I think ParaCentury didn’t want to compromise at all, and Standard leadership realized that you did need to compromise some. Everyone is talking about enclaves and limited autonomy now. Kazan, Preston, the other big wheels at ParaCentury didn’t want to hear that. They wanted to hear about tear-gassing the barrios, and shooting anybody who didn’t like it. That’s not going to work on a big scale. We can’t win a war with those people.”
Strickland points out a lot of flaws in CorpSec’s ability to exert control.
“CorpSec is special forces. Elite, Airborne, whatever you want to call us. All told, Corpsec is maybe three Divisions – all three Corps Combined. Now let’s tally that up. The Army of Los Angeles is twenty-four divisions. The First Army, of sixteen divisions, is completely disloyal. It also doesn’t have a lot of guns or heavy weapons, because it was mostly used to farm, reclaim land, and dig irrigation trenches. But the Movement is going to supply some guns and the Mutiny supplied some. The eight divisions of the Second Army probably won’t mutiny, but only about four of them would actually fight against the Movement. So that’s four divisions of regular Army and three of Corpsec. Against sixteen Divisions of Movement Regular Army organized as Civil Guards and probably at least another division of partisans.”
Strickland takes a drag off a cigarette and points out into the dark.
“That’s a tough fight. Seven Divisions against sixteen, maybe more. In an Urban environment. And Special Forces are good at operations, but really aren’t good at holding territory. That’s not what they’re designed to do. CorpSec is great if you want to lock down a building. But start trying to lock down a town, and we’re only a little better than the Army. We’re going to be very spread out.”
Retired Major Thomas Walsh works as a Security Consultant for UFP CorpSec. He recently moved from Standard Oil. I talked to Walsh about the Mutiny.
“I think everybody thought that was going to be the end. The Movement staged this huge demonstration. They’d wanted to hold it on May Day, but the Nationalists fought that idea. So Aguirre came up with holding it on May 5. That’s a Latino Holiday called Cinco de Mayo. It’s the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. Most Anglos have never heard of it, but it commemorates a scratch Mexican Army beating a much larger French Army that was one of the best respected in Europe. That was intended as a message to us. So CorpSec and the loyal Army was on Alert. The rest of the Army was on lockdown. That meant the troops were concentrated in their barracks.
The mutiny was very well executed. It shows the degree to which the Movement has put a secondary command structure into place, through the NCOs, even enlisted men, that simply replaces the Anglo Officers. The entire First Army just left its barracks, by and large very orderly. They went to whatever places they could get to, using the Army’s trucks and transports, and took whatever weapons they could get. Now the biggest caches of weapons are at the bases of the Second Army and they didn’t get those. But still, they probably got a good forty or fifty thousand Garand Rifles, some artillery pieces, some tanks, antitank weapons. The NCOs knew where these things were. Basically they seized every weapon in LA that the Second Army or the Navy wasn’t sitting on.
There wasn’t much fighting because the Officers simply couldn’t do anything. Most of them were prepared for it. Some fled, most stayed on duty. But you can’t stop sixteen Divisions of men. After the Mutiny, Aguirre met with Kazan and they worked out an agreement with General West. Army Troops could be enlisted as Civil Guards and hold weapons as Civil Guards without the permission of their Officers. The Civil Guards are now officially part of the California State Military Reserve.
For now all those troops are considered in the Army and still be officially under military discipline. They gave Aguirre the Radio all the next day so he could back down the whole thing, and the Movement broadcast a lot of orders. Most of the troops returned. About probably Twelve Divisions. Because at present the Movement can’t feed them without also seizing the Army Commissary system, and the UFP Food Transport network. They’re clearly prepared to do that and presumably in negotiating that’s what Aguirre threatened. So many of those troops are back in barracks but they’re only token troops, they’re clearly going to fight for the Movement. And none of the weapons came back. So…we’re facing a Movement with a real field army now. They don’t have to try to seize those weapons in the opening days of a Civil War.
I asked Walsh if he thought War would come.
“I think now everybody is against it. I don’t think Aguirre wants it, and it’s clear West doesn’t want it. If he’d wanted a War, he’d have escalated against the Mutiny. I think that’s what the Mutiny was, a huge test for Aguirre of what the Military would do. Nobody knows what Nitta is going to do and that’s important, because the fleet can still bombard about half the country with guns and all of it with Aircraft. West and Aguirre are supposed to meet in Boston, with Emperor Michael as host, and try and work out a compromise on the Army. That’s going to pave the way for the end of the fiction of a U.S. Government in L.A. West may recognize the Southland Republic, or may still pull a coup directly against Aguirre. The Movement are going to elect the next Government and secede as the California Republic. That’s their platform, the flags are everywhere, and it’s the one thing the Nationalists and the Socialists agree on. West could oppose that but now you have to ask ‘with what army.’ Realistically you always did. I think they’ll work out some sort of compromise short term. But long term…I don’t know.
Here’s the real cheese. The Latinos were screwed for forty five years. And don’t for a minute think it’s because the rich were rich, because every South American Country had the same ultra rich and the same lower class…every third world country. We didn’t have the money to be America anymore, so we set up a Banana Republic.
The Latinos got screwed so that the average Anglo could keep living a little better than during the Great Depression. Now the economy is expanding and there are horizons and they want in. All that’s going to accomplish is killing the goose that’s laying the golden egg. But you try reasoning with six million people and telling them they can’t have anything today, or tomorrow, but if we all play nice their children might have something. You try that and see how it works for you…”
At the Los Angeles Airport, I board a four engine DC-4 airliner. I’ll layover in Penn State for four hours waiting for a gate alignment, and then fly through on a 737 to Syracuse. I’m leaving behind a country half as populous as my own. To most New Yorkers the Barrios are invisible. LA to them is Hollywood and rustic people who live like their fathers or grandfathers. None of us have the standard of living enjoyed in the old United States. But in LA the middle class was always an illusion.
In two weeks, General West and Foreign Secretary Paul Aguirre will follow this same path, landing at Albany and Boston. The only thing we know for sure is that the two men both like prizefights and will watch a boxing match together. Their meeting is largely expected to be a show the flag operation, demonstrating solidarity while their supporters work to patch together some set of agreements to head off a catastrophic disintegration of the state.
