In which the socialist tide swells amidst the collapse of Hearst and the middle class, as the Plutocracy tightens its grasp through economic and political manoeuvres, setting the stage for a profound conflict between labour and ruling powers. With the spectre of war looming, the working masses in America and Germany unite in a grand general strike, halting the machinery of empire and compelling a fragile peace that serves only to mask deeper struggles to come.