The Anti-Communist Movement

By Amanda Spikol (zephrin2@hotmail.com)

Overview

The ACM, the Anti-Communist Movement, was founded in 1912 by Ivan Kemtrov [Perhaps with Czarist support, since the Socialists didn't cement their power until 1918. -BJZ]. It responded to the poor treatment of the Russian people, and later, the mass executions carried out by Stalin and the secret police. Though small for the first ten years of existence, the organization grew steadily and encompassed a great deal of willing fighters of communism. In the present day, the ACM no longer fights simply Communism; many of its causes are against other forces, and although the Stalinist brand of Communism has not remained a direct threat to freedom, those who planned and enforced it, have.

By 1925, the ACM was large enough to begin opposing the Communist infiltration of China with small acts of terrorism and espionage. However, the stock-market crash in 1929 hit Europe hard, as well as causing the breeding ground for such dictators as Hitler, Mussolini, and the future Mao Tse-Tung. When war broke out in 1939, the ACM was then active in measure to oppose and fight against the Nazis. Unfortunately, shortly after the war, Eastern Europe and China were lost to the Communists.

During the first years of the Cold War, the ACM gained the covert backing of several governments, as well as funding from many large corporations through dummy-companies, and a great deal of private donations. Though not affiliated with the UN or NATO, the Anti-Communist Movement had vast influence and power. As time passed, it grew, and its ranks swelled.

At the upper-levels of command exists Midnight Crimson, the members of the ACM who are supernatural in nature. These include Kindred, Mages, and Garou who work to prevent the spread of Communism and the inhumanity of those who grow rich off the blood of the common man. The head of the ACM and his inner circle are the only mortals who know of the identities and natures of creatures involved with Midnight Crimson.

Unfortunately, a former branch of the early Soviet secret police, the International Communist Organization, or ICO, had been growing along with the ACM, and had begun to amass tremendous power as well. The two combat each other on every conceivable level of existence; from product marketing to defense contracting, to global weapons systems (their struggle much like a mortal Jyhad). At this point, the ACM has the upper hand, but ICO is far from being destroyed.

At all opportunities, the ACM opposes and fights Pentex Inc., knowing what its true purpose is, and knowing that it works with ICO when their agendas are similar. Thus far, the ACM has not developed a comprehensive strategy that has been successful in thwarting Pentex each time.

The Head of the ACM

Charles Darren: A mortal, age 54, not much is known about his present appearance, for he has not been seen outside HQ for more than fifteen years. United States military records state that a son was born to a Sgt. William Darren and his wife Eileen on January 20, 1944 at Reagent Air Base in Arizona. The Sgt. was shipped abroad a week later and died of an infected gunshot wound a few days before the surrender of Germany the following year. The young Charles received his high school education at McGuffy Senior High in Nevada; the 1962 yearbook shows a picture of a teen listed as Charles Darren, as well as a photo of the same boy with his date at the fall Homecoming dance, though no one has yet been able to identify the pictures as the real Charles Darren.

Attending West Point the next year, the young man's name ceased to appear on any roll or record, and he appeared to have vanished. Only after the death of Ivan Kemtrov by heart attack in 1976, was the name Charles Darren heard again. The aging Kemtrov had left command of the ACM to his young protege, who happened to be the same age, 32, as Charles Darren would have been in 1976. All reports show that the ACM has prospered under his leadership, even if the man is not who he is rumored to be.