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# The great "strike of the men of the mind" begins with a single engineer at a plant whose new owners abruptly decide to manage it according to the principles, such as they are, set forth in [[The Communist Manifesto]].
 
# The great "strike of the men of the mind" begins with a single engineer at a plant whose new owners abruptly decide to manage it according to the principles, such as they are, set forth in [[The Communist Manifesto]].
 
# The government develops a weapon of mass destruction ("Project X", "Project Xylophone", "The Thompson Harmonizer"), intended to assert its authority by main force. This weapon is not nuclear, nor chemical, nor biological, but apparently is ultrasonic in nature.
 
# The government develops a weapon of mass destruction ("Project X", "Project Xylophone", "The Thompson Harmonizer"), intended to assert its authority by main force. This weapon is not nuclear, nor chemical, nor biological, but apparently is ultrasonic in nature.
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# No such thing as [[gun control]] exists, or if it is attempted, it fails. The spontaneous strikers who take their inspiration from John Galt's speech set up armed camps in various forest regions.
    
The most likely span of the years of the great strike is 1917-1929, with the novel's major action taking place in the last three years of this period. This novel, then, qualifies as an [[alternate history]] of the United States of America, and of the civilized world. In this version of history, the United States did not intervene in the War of the Reds and the Whites in [[Russia]], and probably did not participate in the [[First World War]]. That War probably ended with every country on earth, except America, becoming a [[Communist]] state. In addition, [[prohibition]] cannot have occurred, because [[alcoholic drinks]] flow freely in many settings.
 
The most likely span of the years of the great strike is 1917-1929, with the novel's major action taking place in the last three years of this period. This novel, then, qualifies as an [[alternate history]] of the United States of America, and of the civilized world. In this version of history, the United States did not intervene in the War of the Reds and the Whites in [[Russia]], and probably did not participate in the [[First World War]]. That War probably ended with every country on earth, except America, becoming a [[Communist]] state. In addition, [[prohibition]] cannot have occurred, because [[alcoholic drinks]] flow freely in many settings.
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