Reds: A Revolutionary Timeline

[Archangel]

Originally Posted by Jello_Biafra

I'm glad someone noticed Yeah, that would be the natural implication. But strictly speaking, the Premier/First Secretary is not equivalent to a VP. If anything, she's more important than the President. The President is merely the elder statesmen who has largely ceremonial powers, sort of like the German president. It's the Premier, who heads the Congress of People's Deputies, that is the most important political figure.

A more parlament-based system! That's a good thing.
Do the Congress holds real power over the the Premier?

What does the acronym SEU stands for (if it's not a spoiler)?

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by The New Freedom

Yeah, I noticed my misstep last night when I re-read the thread. Cheers anyway, though. This timeline is heading in the right direction, that's for sure.

I'm really interested in seeing how Civil Rights is going to be handled in this timeline. With hints about Gay Rights being far, far advanced compared to IOTL, I expect the same kind of developments with regard to race and gender, as well. Will the Revolution itself spurn on the Civil Rights movement? How will the South develop under the UASR?

Another note: I think I've figured out the symbolism within the flag itself. Hammer/Gear for the industrial workers, stalks of wheat for the farmers, and the sextant/compass for the intellectual elements of the Revolution. The red, of course, symbolizes socialism, while the black symbolizes a sort of anarchism, and the both combined would be anarcho-communism/libertarian socialism. :]

The best I can tell you right now is that while civil rights and the like are going to develop much faster, it won't be immediate, and the failure of the government to address race issues promptly before the Second World War will be the catalyst of major post-war social, economic and governmental change, and ultimately lead to the rise of a new political coalition in 70s.

What I will reveal now is that the Democratic Party in the South will be the only pre-revolution political party to survive the revolution and indeed the whole timeline. The Progressive Socialists (now, at least temporarily, the Worker's Party) will eventually splinter after the Revolution itself.

You're spot on with the symbolism. As you might deduce from the black on the flag, a certain syndicalist movement will be developing with the Party and the labor unions, spiritually led by Emma Goldman and Rudolph Rocker.

Originally Posted by President Al Bundy

So 1933 will be the year of the revolution. Maybe the great depression gets much much worse.

But if there is "Libertarian Socialism", it makes me wonder what will happen to people like Ron Paul or Jesse Ventura.

That would be a logical assumption to make. However, the most important difference from OTL is that ITTL there is a movement and a set of institutions ready and waiting to strike during the Great Depression.

I honestly can't begin to guess where people like Ron Paul or Jesse Ventura will end up. But, since everyone will doubtlessly want to know, I'm sure they'll show up somewhere along the line.

Originally Posted by Archangel

A more parlament-based system! That's a good thing.
Do the Congress holds real power over the the Premier?

What does the acronym SEU stands for (if it's not a spoiler)?

Indeed.
The answer to your first question is that entirely depends. The power of the Premier, like any parliamentary leader, is limited by how much influence they are able to wield over their party and over the parliament as a whole. A Premier who is leading a minority government will have to pay much more attention to opposition then one whose party commands a strong majority. But ultimately, in either situation, the Premier is elected by his or her party/coalition, and the possibility of a "Palace Coup" is always present.

I think it's safe to revel the meaning of the acronym SEU. It stands for Social Ecology Union, and as you might guess it's the name of a political party.

[Sean Mulligan]

Is Canada apart of the UASR? The amount of territory is larger then the U.S. Also, Alix Olson seems a little young to be premier at 34.

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by Sean Mulligan

Is Canada apart of the UASR? The amount of territory is larger then the U.S. Also, Alix Olson seems a little young to be premier at 34.

Yes. The UASR is territorily larger than IOTL US, but I can't reveal how or why it is larger yet.

Yeah, she seems a little young, but she's not too terribly young. And as some future events get revealed, it will make a bit more sense.

[TNF]

Wow, even better. The Premier is essentially a Green!

I'm really excited about this TL (Okay, to be fair, I always have been, but still...). Can't wait until we get to the Revolution and its aftermath.

[Jello_Biafra]

Excerpts from George Patton: Proletarian Soldier, By Oliver Lark, London, Doubleday, 1977.(1)

Of one thing there is no doubt, and that is the simple fact that George Patton lived an extraordinary life. Born into an aristocratic conservative family in California on November 11, 1885, Patton would go on to serve with distinction in the First World War, advancing to the rank of Colonel in the American Expeditionary Force. While an serving, he helped pioneer the use of armoured warfare, innovating tactics and strategies would later become staples in the American military. Facing the hardships and horrors of life in the trenches, Patton, like so many others of his generation, came home a changed man. He soon renounced his birthright, became estranged with his wife and family, and joined the Worker's Party of America, all within a few short months of returning from France in 1919. Patton, along with his close comrade David Eisenhower, had set the pattern for so many World War veterans. They went off to war committed to their nation's cause, and came home subversives.

...The sheer number of career military officers in the United States Army who professed belief in Socialism after the Great War is simply astounding. While no reliable figures can be found to establish the exact percentage, estimates range from fifteen percent to as high as twenty-eight percent! Whatever the rate, it is clear just how much the American polity and her military were rotting by 1920. Patton was hardly alone in his beliefs in the army, and as his letter's show, he formed a discussion club among trusted comrades from the army to correspond on politics.

...In one such letter, Patton writes to Eisenhower, confessing about his experiences in the Great War. "Dear Ike," he writes:

It was at Chemin-de-Dames that it hit me with the force of revelation. Our Mk. IVs had bogged down in the German auxillary trench, and the Jerries soon came down on us with artillery, followed by an infantry attack. We soon ran out of ammunition for our tank's machine guns, and we had to fend off the last of their assault hand to hand, with knives and bayonets. The kids we bayonetted, they couldn't have been older than sixteen or seventeen. I felt old, and worn out. And as relief came, and we finally had a moment of peace, I suddenly realized I had no idea why I was here, or why I was butchering young German boys, or why they were doing the same to us. I didn't know whether I could believe in my country anymore, or even believe in God.

While the exact details of Patton's conversion from Christian soldier to atheist communist remain to the imagination, the documentary evidence suggests that it occurred shortly after the end of the Chemin-de-Dames campaign, while Patton was on a three-day pass in Paris.(2) Patton's letters, and own recollections preserved on archival film suggest that during that time, Patton met up with a French socialist group. One of the few details that are known is that the group was composed of some number of dissident intellectuals, as well as a number of veterans of the French army, discharged as amputees. Patton, now semi-fluent in French, conversed with this group about the political issues of the war and economics for for anywhere from a few hours to whole evening, depending on the account.

...The first self-reference of socialist belief would not come until a diary entry some three months later. He writes tepidly in favour of socialism and its "brotherhood of man," and suggests at an imperial nature in the First World War, impugning the motives the national leaders of the Allies as well as the Central Powers. In perhaps the strongest language seen from this previously gentlemanly character, he calls the current president, Woodrow Wilson, a "pompous old jackass" and "a capitalist running-dog." Where he picked up such an obviously German construction is impossible to tell.

...Like many radicals of his generation, it was the Bolshevik Revolution that ultimately steeled his convictions in socialism. His correspondence after the war contains many recollections and conversations about the aforementioned event. One such letter was written to John Reed, praising his work on Ten Days That Shook the World, and propositioning a collaborative history of the Russian Civil War, a project that later became the infamous three volume history compendium, written with Reed and Leon Trotsky, the charismatic exile from the very regime he helped build. A History of the Soviet Union, From Birth to Betrayal, is perhaps the most oft-cited history of the early Soviet period, and became one of Patton's fixations from 1928 to its final publishing in late 1932, just before the American Revolution.

1. One of the great things about writing in character is that you can explore the interactions of various points of view. In this case, the (fictional) writer, a British author with no sympathy for socialism or revolution is mischaracterizing Patton, who was no proletarian by any stretch of the imagination. But hey, it's a snappy title, likely to sell lots of copies among military buffs in the Anglo-French Union.
2. The author here is being hyperbolic, and it will be important to keep that in mind.

Events of the Wood Presidency, 1921 to 1925:

1921

January 28: The Italian Communist Party (PCI) is founded in Livorno, as part of the growing split in international socialism.

February 1: In the ongoing Russian Civil War, Bolshevik troops occupy Tblisi. The Menshevik government of the Georgian Democratic Republic is captured, but sporadic fighting continues around the capital and in the countryside.

February 8: Sailors at the Bolshevik controlled Russian naval fort of Kronstadt mutiny. They deliver a list of demands to the Bolshevik government that include increased restrictions on the Cheka secret police, a return to soviet democracy, and free elections, among others.

February 18: The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic is officially declared in Tiblisi. In reality, the government is a puppet of Moscow.

March 4: Leonard Wood is inaugurated president of the United States in Washington DC.

March 14: The Kronstadt mutiny is crushed by a force of loyal Cheka volunteers and Red Army officer cadets, demonstrating the severe instability of the Bolshevik government at this point. In Moscow, the Council of People's Commissars formally implements the New Economic Policy.

March 28: The Budgeting and Accounting Act of 1921 is formally ratified by the US government (1)

April 11: In Britain, the miner's, railway, and transportation unions announce the beginning of a strike. The government threatens to suppress the strike with military force.

May 1: In a symbolic act of national reconciliation, President Wood issues a general amnesty to all radicals convicted or deported over violations of the Espionage or Sedition Acts. Eugene Debs, released in an earlier pardon deal, meets with President Wood at the White House to "cordially discuss the national affairs of the United States." Wood's attempts at reconciliation prove to be deeply unpopular within his party.

May 19: First Secretary James Mann passes away from a sudden stroke. President Wood seizes the opportunity to launch a palace coup within the House Republicans, hoping to push aside the designated incumbent, Speaker of the House Fredrick Gillett, in favor of noted liberal Leonidas C. Dyer. Such a noted reactionary, he argues, will only serve to further arouse class conflict in the United States.

June 1: Leonidas Dyer is appointed to the officer of First Secretary. In the coming days, he reshuffles the Cabinet, removing William Vare, Secretary of Industrial Coordination, and Charles Hughes, Secretary of State, in favor of James J. Davis and Frank B. Kellog, respectively.

June 4: President Wood formally signs a joint-resolution officially ending the formal state of war between the United States and Germany, Austria and Hungary.

July 29: In Germany, a lowly formal corporal from the German Army signal corps is elected leader of the so-called National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).

October 1: A peace conference between the United Kingdom and Éire begins in London.(2)

November 7: The National Fascist Party is established in Italy.

December 1: The Irish-British peace conference concludes, formally recognizing the Republic of Éire, an independent nation incorporating 26 of the 32 counties in Ireland.

1922

January 18: The London Naval Conference begins, hoping to arrest the potential arms race between Britain, America, France and Japan.

February 1: A challenge to the 18th Amendment, which established women's right to vote in the US, is rebuffed by the US Supreme Court.

March 11: In Mumbai, a young Indian lawyer and independence leader named Mohandas Gandhi is arrested for Sedition.

March 20: The USS Langley (CV-1) is commissioned as the first aircraft carrier in the US Navy.

April 1: Josef Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. His new nickname among the party leadership loosely translates to something like "Comrade Rolodex"

May 1: In another inroad to reconciliation, President Wood and First Secretary Dyer sign legislation formally declaring May 1st to be a federal holiday, dubbed "International Labor Day". Later that day, Dyer lays out a progressive legislative agenda before the House. The platform contains legislation establishing a fifty-hour standard work week with guaranteed overtime pay, nationalizing the majority of country's railroads, establishing a first ever progressive income tax, creating a national health service and a cabinet level Department of Health, establishing cabinet Departments of Education and Labor, and a law recognizing the right of labor unions to organize. The platform is controversial and ambitious, and a crisis of leadership soon erupts.

June 11: President Wood gives the first ever national radio address. In his speech, he urges moderation and reform to fight the tide of class warfare and militancy within the country. In his words, "the choice is reform or revolution; the rascals in Congress would sooner see revolution before tear away their claws from their acquired power."

July 8: The Fordney-McCumber Tarriff act passes the Senate with a 2/3rds majority, completely undercutting President Wood's threatened veto. In an attempt to compromise and push forward his agenda, First Secretary Dyer steers the act through the House.

August 16: A limited version of Dyer's "Progress Platform" is enacted by the US House. It contains provisions establishing a cabinet Department of Education and Labor, regulates food and drug standards via the Department of Industrial Coordination, and establishes a 50 hour standard work week.

October 28: The Italian Fascists stage their "March on Rome", steering Benito Mussolini to power. The Constitution is soon suspended, as a general terror campaign begins on enemies of the Fascists. Elsewhere, the Red Army occupies Vladivostok, signalling an end to major fighting in the Russian Civil War.

November 1: UK General elections occur, precipitated by Conservative withdrawal from the National Coalition. The Conservatives win a razor thin majority government.(3)

December 28: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Transcaucasia sign a treaty of union, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

1923

January 8: The limits on capital ship construction established by the Washington Naval Conference are rejected by the US Senate. Capital ship construction continues as planned in 1920, with 8 Lexington-class battlecruisers and 8 Odin-class battleships (so named in honor of Cabinet Secretary Knute Nelson's Norwegian heritage) in various stages of construction(4)

March 6: Vladimir Lenin suffers his third stroke, and subsequently retires as Chair of Soviet Government.

March 18: First Secretary Dyer's pet law, making lynching a federal crime punishable by death manages to pass over a Senate filibuster attempt, thanks to Vice-President Calvin Coolidge's deft use of parliamentary tactics to outmanuever democratic opposition. In the House, the law passes in spite of major opposition within the House Republicans, thanks to the unanimous support of the law by the Worker's Party. Dyer and Wood both agree that this is perhaps the first green shoots of their reform policy.

May 8: The World War Adjusted Compensation Act, AKA the Bonus Bill, is signed into law.

June 1: The National Forests are significantly enlarged by the Clarke-McNary Act, in a strong tri-partisan vote. President Wood and First Secretary Dyer agree that the "unthinkable option" just might be in order now.

August 2: Warren G. Harding, US Senator, passes away of an apparent heart-attack. With one of the more powerful-conservative voices in the Senate absent, Wood delivers his ultimatum to the Congress: support the "Progress Platform" as originally intended, or split the Republican Party. Dyer announces that a failure to act will mean a drastic reshuffling of the Cabinet: moderate Republicans will form a coalition government with the Worker's Party in both the House and Senate, and he will force through the Platform anyway. Such a coalition, he calculates, will have majority support in both the Senate and the House.

August 8: Upton Sinclair, Opposition Leader, goes on record in favor of the First Secretary's terms. He is willing to accept junior partnership in a coalition government in exchange for reforms more drastic than those outlined in the Progress Platform. Industrial workers across the US go out on strike in support of the re-alignment.

September 16: First Secretary Dyer finds himself caught in a bind. The votes he needed to pass the reforms have quickly dried up, scared off by labor unrest and second thoughts, while simultaneously the votes he needs to go through with his ultimatum have vanished in both houses of Congress. With his gambit failed, and his political legitimacy destroyed, Dyer resigns before the motion of confidence can be filed.

October 1: Frederick Gillett is elected First Secretary by the House of Representatives. True to form, reshuffles the cabinet upon taking office, re-moving Dyer's appointees and re-instating Mann's snubbed Secretaries.

November 8: In spite of the major differences in ideology, Gillett passes some of the legislation sponsored by Dyer's government, including a law greatly restricting the use of child labor in manufacturing. Elsewhere, Adolf Hitler begins the ultimately unsuccessful Beer-Hall Putsch.

1924

January 21: Vladimir Lenin dies; In the leadership vacuum left by the passing of such a living legend, the slow purging process by Josef Stalin soon begins.

January 27: Petrograd is renamed Leningrad; Lenin's body is embalmed and interred in a mausoleum against his explicit wishes.

February 1: Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour prime minister of Britain.

February 16: The United Kingdom formally recognizes the USSR. The US, under President Wood's directive, soon follows suit.

March 8: The Castle Gate mine disaster in kills over one hundred miners in Utah, prompting major outcries for mine-safety across the US. Across the US, the National Guard is called out to suppress miner's strikes.

April 1: Adolf Hitler is sentenced to 5 years in jail for his participation in the Beer Hall Putsch. He serves only 9 months.

April 7: In a rigged election, the Italian Fascists cement a 2/3rds control of the Italian Parliament.

May 8: Debate begins in the US Congress over the formation of a national investigatory police.

July 1: The National Bureau of Investigation is founded. J. Edgar Hoover is appointed the head of the undersized, underfunded institution with investigatory authority only over the distribution of condoms and pornography across state lines. (5)

August 6: An act of Congress is passed, granting all Native Americans within the territorial boundaries of the United States full citizenship rights.

October 27: The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic formally joins the USSR.

November 4: United States General Election: President Wood is re-elected by a comfortable margin. First Secretary Gillett forms a Republican minority-government.(6)

1925

January 8: Benito Mussolini assumes dictatorial powers in Italy.

February 18: The Worker's Party sponsored national newspaper, The Daily Worker, reaches parity with The New York Times in circulation.

March 4: President Wood is inaugurated President for his second term.

All subsequent updates of this style will be done on the Presidential inaugural cycle

1. Basically the same as IOTL. Many things noted here that happened in some form IOTL will be included in updates, simply because they're historically important enough.

2. Very similar to IOTL, except that Ireland is recognized as a Republic from the start.

3. More precise results, for those of you who are wondering:

UK General Election

Conservative Party............340 seats (+10)
Labour Party....................146 (+89)
Liberal.............................68 (+32)
National Liberal.................47 (-80)
Other..............................14 (+1)

4. This will probably be the only time I do this, but I feel I must invoke "Rule of Cool" here. Naming battleships after states is rather lame, so I felt I had to put a stop to the US Navy's absurd naming conventions. Anyway, here's some vital stats for battleship aficionados to drool over in the meantime

Type: Lexington-class battlecruiser (similar to IOTL)
Displacement: 48,550 tons (empty)
Length: 270 meters
Beam: 32.1 meters
Draft: 9.2 meters
Propulsion: Turbo-electric, four shafts, total 180,000 shp
Speed: 33 knots
Armament: 8 x 406mm/50 cal (4x2)
16 x 152mm/53 cal
4 x 76mm/50 cal
Armor: 178mm belt, 130-230mm barbette, 305mm conning tower, 280mm turret, 152mm side, 76-152mm deck

Type: Odin-class battleship
Displacement: 58,200 tons (empty)
Length: 252 meters
Beam: 34 meters
Draft: 10 meters
Propulsion: Turbo-electric, four shafts, total 180,000 shp
Speed: 27 knots
Armament: 12 x 406mm/50 cal (4x3)
16 x 152mm/53 cal
12 x 76mm/50 cal
Armor: 380mm belt, 380 barbette, 406mm conning tower, 460mm turret, 152mm side, 203mm deck

5. Basically, not all that different than IOTL. It's amazing that something so big can start out so pathetic.

6. The 1924 US General Election

The Presidency

President Wood, in spite of the rancor, manages to win the Republican Nomination, though he is forced to take conservative Herbert Hoover as his running mate.

The Worker's Party nominates Upton Sinclair and Walter Lippmann for its ticket. The party hopes to strengthen its foothold among northern workers and further edge out Democratic voters in the north.

As for the Democratic Party, the nomination of Bourbon Democrat John W. Davis has done little to help the party's electoral prospects. In many cases, party leaders see the participation in national elections as pro forma. So long as the party controls the southern State governments, all is well.

Leonard Wood (R)...........................13,012,123 (303)
Upton Sinclair (W)...........................9,753,111 (116)
John W. Davis (D)...........................6,486,324 (112)




House of Representatives

Republican Minority Government

Republican Party....................................200 (-14)
Independent....................................... ..1 (-3)

Opposition

Worker's Party......................................158 (+26)
Democratic Party...................................76 (-9)

US Senate

Republican Party....................................50 (-2)
Democratic Party...................................29 (-2)
Worker's Party......................................17 (+4)

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by The New Freedom

Wow, even better. The Premier is essentially a Green!

I'm really excited about this TL (Okay, to be fair, I always have been, but still...). Can't wait until we get to the Revolution and its aftermath.

Believe me, its torture for me too. There's so much I have already planned out, but I've got to go through the motions to get there. Moving there as fast as I can. Hopefully have another four year update by the end of the week.

[TNF]

Nice update. I didn't expect Wood to be so bold! Too bad a lot of it isn't going to matter in the long term.

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by The New Freedom

Nice update. I didn't expect Wood to be so bold! Too bad a lot of it isn't going to matter in the long term.

I don't think anyone expected Bismarck in Germany to be so bold either, but he was the founder of the modern German welfare state, more or less. Wood, as a moderate progressive, is at least half-sincere in his attempts. But cynicism can be an incredible motive for change as well

[Historico]

Awesome update JB, President Wood is turning out to be a strong, progressive Leader for the economic prosperity of the Twenties. I assume that his Brain Tumor still lead to a simmilar death that he had in OTL. It seems that Herbert Hoover is going to have just an unfortuante Presidency as he did IOTL...Keep it comming

[TNF]

Originally Posted by Historico

Awesome update JB, President Wood is turning out to be a strong, progressive Leader for the economic prosperity of the Twenties. I assume that his Brain Tumor still lead to a simmilar death that he had in OTL. It seems that Herbert Hoover is going to have just an unfortuante Presidency as he did IOTL...Keep it comming

Hm, according to the almighty Wiki, Wood passed away in 1927. This sets Hoover up to run for a term of his own in 1928, as per OTL. Assuming Butterflies don't push the Depression further back, I don't see how Hoover can hope to hold on to the thought of a second term in 1932, though (though there's always the chance the two major parties would collaborate to rig the election to keep the WP out of office...)

[eschaton]

An amazing TL so far, and one which speaks to my heart rather strongly.

That said, I'm going to be curious how you pull off a revolution. You're already up to 1924, and you had a reasonably progressive Republican win the presidency, and the Worker's party are stronger than ever (and generally accepted as legitimate by the other political parties). It seems as though the most likely outcome will be (assuming a 1929 stock market crash) the Worker's Party win a majority in the House by 1930, and elect their first president in 1932, essentially taking the place of progressive democrats, and steering the U.S. towards social democracy with a dash of democratic socialism. Which would be great and all, but isn't where you're going.

Of course, the existence of three parties complicates matters. The 1932 election, with a bit of suppression here and there, could end up with the Worker's Party candidate winning the popular vote, but not quite reaching the required electoral vote threshold (can't remember if it was established at 270 yet). Then it gets thrown to the house, were a Republican/Democratic coalition blocks his election. While socialists probably make up the majority of congressmen by that point, they probably don't make up the majority of congressional delegations. Hence, the normal American political system can lead to an illegitimate candidate getting elected, and prime the nation for revolution even without a Wilsonesque psuedofascist.

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by eschaton

An amazing TL so far, and one which speaks to my heart rather strongly.

That said, I'm going to be curious how you pull off a revolution. You're already up to 1924, and you had a reasonably progressive Republican win the presidency, and the Worker's party are stronger than ever (and generally accepted as legitimate by the other political parties). It seems as though the most likely outcome will be (assuming a 1929 stock market crash) the Worker's Party win a majority in the House by 1930, and elect their first president in 1932, essentially taking the place of progressive democrats, and steering the U.S. towards social democracy with a dash of democratic socialism. Which would be great and all, but isn't where you're going.

Of course, the existence of three parties complicates matters. The 1932 election, with a bit of suppression here and there, could end up with the Worker's Party candidate winning the popular vote, but not quite reaching the required electoral vote threshold (can't remember if it was established at 270 yet). Then it gets thrown to the house, were a Republican/Democratic coalition blocks his election. While socialists probably make up the majority of congressmen by that point, they probably don't make up the majority of congressional delegations. Hence, the normal American political system can lead to an illegitimate candidate getting elected, and prime the nation for revolution even without a Wilsonesque psuedofascist.

Thanks.

Anyway, about the question of reform vs. revolution, I've planned at this from the get go, and I do have the necessary catalysts planned out. However, for dramatic tension, I can't exactly tell you straight up, but suffice to say I've thought about this a lot.

One of the things that has happened ITTL already was the adoption of a semi-presidential form of government, similar to the model adopted by the current French Constitution. As part of the reforms designed to make governance in the three party system possible, the term of the House was extended to four years, essentially getting rid of the mid-term elections altogether.

Mid term elections have often been a sort of "safety-valve" in the electoral system, and without them any sitting government is likely going to be blindsided even more so when they do go up for election. So you might want to ask yourself just what would have happened IOTL if there had been no midterm election in 1930--what effect might that have had on the coming campaign?

Remember, as part of this mix, the Worker's Party might be large, but it's never gotten much real legitimacy in the political establishment. Except for Wood's attempts at reconciliation, the Worker's Party has largely been ignored or openly supressed by the powers that be. Since it openly adheres to the Communist International, even the threat of them winning an election might cause someone to panic.

[Jello_Biafra]

Excerpt from Storming the Gates of Heaven: A History of the Comintern, by Albert E. Kahn, Progress Publishers, Cambridge, Mass., 1962.

Lenin's corpse was hardly even cold before the power struggle began in the USSR. The struggle for dominance between Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin, at first limited to the Soviet Politburo, would eventually come to be played out on a dramatic world stage, becoming one of the pre-eminent international ideological conflicts of the 20th Century.

...At the Sixth World Congress, held from July to August of 1925, the delegates agreed that a major restructuring of the International's strategy was in order. The complete failure of revolutionary movements to spread socialism through central Europe had seriously affected the legitimacy of worker's movements all accross the world. The unfortunate outcome, as might be guessed, was that this failure damaged the credibility of internationalists within the Soviet state, and ultimately gave Josef Stalin, the unscrupulous Russian chauvinist and political manipulator that he was, just the leverage he needed to secure total mastery of the Soviet state.

It was at the Sixth Congress that Bukharin outlined Stalin's thesis of "socialism in one country". The programme laid out before the Congress by Zinoviev generally finalized the disastrous splits within the international left; Comintern parties would abandon their insurrectionary tactics and underground organizations to stand for parliamentary elections, but they would still offer only limited cooperation with socialist parties. In the United States, this resulted in the dissolution of the underground Communist Party apparatus into the mainstream Worker's Party, and a general turnover of leadership within the party.

...John Reed reluctantly complied with Zinoviev's order to resign his position as Executive Secretary and stand for a by-election to the US House in Greenwich Village, a constituency he won and held until his eventual retirement from politics in 1945. A more pro-Moscow Troika would placed in the party's leadership, consisting of Reed's successor, C.E. Ruthenberg, the inimitable Wobbly leader "Big Bill" Haywood, and Earl Browder. This move led directly to an internal conflict between the party's organization apparatus and the parliamentary party, under the tenure of Opposition Leader Upton Sinclair and his whip, William Z. Foster.

That year's national convention would dramatically illustrate this tension. The parliamentary faction, which generally favoring increased party pluralism and syndicalism, quickly began to resent Moscow's increasingly heavy hand in internal party politics. The pro-Moscow party organization fought to tighten standards of membership, and bring the parliamentary faction under Moscow's directives. The central flashpoints that year was the choice of many syndicalist groups, many anarchist or left communist, to begin entry into the party, including the famous German emigré and self-professed anarcho-syndicalist Rudolf Rocker. The Muscovites generally opposed allowing such groups to join the party, decrying them as "infantile leftists". The parliamentary faction, with the support of much of the union's rank and file, was much in favor of a united left front.

The other was the question of parliamentary tactics, especially on the electoral front. Prior to this date, with the exception of a few of the most concentrated industrial regions, the Worker's Party had generally avoided campaigning in the South for tactical reasons. The party's limited resources would make a campaign in the South futile due to the combined weight of completely dominant reactionary Democratic Party. Not even the national Republican Party, which commanded resources far more vast than than the Worker's Party could hope to field, could successfully crack into the South. Campaigning among Negroes was similarly futile; though population of former slaves in both the North and South were incredibly receptive to socialism, throughout much of the South voting was an absolute impossibility, even in federal elections. Regrettably, even as these words are written the battle for full suffrage and equality for the American Negroe in the South is not yet fully won.

...The outcome of the convention was mixed, and neither faction came away with a clear victory. The Muscovites "Southern Strategy" had ultimately prevailed. The party would have a candidate standing in each and every one of the 435 House constituencies, and the unionization drives would now focus on organizing rural and urban Southern workers, both black and white. On the other hand, the Muscovites were forced to accept, against the Comintern's directives, that syndicalists, left communists and even anarchists be counted among the "tested communists" the Comintern demanded be placed in the party's offices.

[Cyclone]

Okay, I'm still not sure how exactly the Socialists join the Comintern without a split. I mean, the Socialists accept the 21 Conditions (which, amongst other things, instructs the far left to stamp out the reformists, and specifically badmouths members of the party) and none of the moderates get pissy about it?

The parties that wish to belong to the Communist International have the obligation of recognising the necessity of a complete break with reformism and 'centrist' politics and of spreading this break among the widest possible circles of their party members. Consistent communist politics are impossible without this. The Communist International unconditionally and categorically demands the carrying out of this break in the shortest possible time. The Communist International cannot tolerate a situation where notorious opportunists, as represented by Turati, Modigliani, Kautsky, Hilferding, Hillquit, Longuet, MacDonald, etc., have the right to pass as members of the Communist International. This could only lead to the Communist International becoming something very similar to the wreck of the Second International.

"Hmm, yes, let me just accept this..." - Hillquit, prominent socialist, Mayor of New York.

e: also, the power struggle was not really between Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin, though I could imagine a Trotskyist UASR trying to frame it that way (Trotsky was sidelined by 1925, thus the collapse of Stalin's first troika). The more prominent competitors for Lenin's old title were Bukharin and Zinoviev, not Trotsky, since pretty much nobody liked him, on the left or the right of the party.

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by Cyclone

Okay, I'm still not sure how exactly the Socialists join the Comintern without a split. I mean, the Socialists accept the 21 Conditions (which, amongst other things, instructs the far left to stamp out the reformists, and specifically badmouths members of the party) and none of the moderates get pissy about it?"Hmm, yes, let me just accept this..." - Hillquit, prominent socialist, Mayor of New York.

Hilquit had already been forced into the left prior to the Second Congress of the Comintern, as was noted. The moderates were pissy about it, but they agreed to go along with it for two reasons 1) simple desire for unity 2) lacking the numbers, resources and organizational apparatus to effectively form a seperate party. Since the left controlled the party apparatus, and the vast majority of party workers and activists identified more strongly with the left, moderate political leaders didn't have much incentive to try to split. The events of the First World War had driven almost everyone connected with reform of any kind into the political wilderness.

Originally Posted by Cyclone

e: also, the power struggle was not really between Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin, though I could imagine a Trotskyist UASR trying to frame it that way (Trotsky was sidelined by 1925, thus the collapse of Stalin's first troika). The more prominent competitors for Lenin's old title were Bukharin and Zinoviev, not Trotsky, since pretty much nobody liked him, on the left or the right of the party.

Which is the beautiful thing about writing in character

In popular imagination IOTL, the complexities of the post-Lenin power vacuum are most often reduced to a long conflict between Stalin and Trotsky. For whatever reason (Trotsky had been an opponent of Stalin since almost the very beginning, and was one of the last leaders to be co-opted or silenced), Trotsky became the poster-boy for the dissident left. And as you can imagine, for a movement and eventually a state that attached itself to Trotsky, that enduring myth would color everyone's perceptions, even an academic's.

[Cyclone]

Originally Posted by Jello_Biafra

Hilquit had already been forced into the left prior to the Second Congress of the Comintern, as was noted. The moderates were pissy about it, but they agreed to go along with it for two reasons 1) simple desire for unity 2) lacking the numbers, resources and organizational apparatus to effectively form a seperate party. Since the left controlled the party apparatus, and the vast majority of party workers and activists identified more strongly with the left, moderate political leaders didn't have much incentive to try to split. The events of the First World War had driven almost everyone connected with reform of any kind into the political wilderness.

Okay, why does this happen? The SPD historically managed to get more votes than the KPD or USPD, even though folks had a lot more reason to dislike the SPD than Americans have to dislike TTL's right Socialists. AFAIK, in pretty much every country with Communist and Socialist parties, Socialist parties significantly outnumbered the Communists, at least in this period.

[Jello_Biafra]

Originally Posted by Cyclone

Okay, why does this happen? The SPD historically managed to get more votes than the KPD or USPD, even though folks had a lot more reason to dislike the SPD than Americans have to dislike TTL's right Socialists. AFAIK, in pretty much every country with Communist and Socialist parties, Socialist parties significantly outnumbered the Communists, at least in this period.

There's a crucial factor different between the America and Europe, though.

While your average European worker actually had somewhat of a reason to go to war to defend their country, the average American had no such reason. Europe was a world away; and IOTL, WWI was the most unpopular war in American history. ITTL, America was involved in the First World War almost four times as long, and more than ten times as many young Americans died in the trenches in France as in our timeline.

This, coupled with across the board decline in standards of living due to wartime mobilization, are what served to radicalize many Americans to a far greater degree than their German or French comrades. Since the Socialist Party opposed the war from the start, they became the vehicle for this discontent.

Even in our timeline, memberwise the Communist Party was larger than the Socialist Party post-split; a split caused by party moderates out of touch with the base controlling the party apparatus. ITTL, the left maintained control of the party apparatus throughout the party's history.

So that's, in brief, what I've spent 7 pages trying to develop in this timeline.

[Archangel]

Originally Posted by Jello_Biafra

Excerpt from Storming the Gates of Heaven: A History of the Comintern, by Albert E. Kahn, Progress Publishers, Cambridge, Mass., 1962.

...
Regrettably, even as these words are written the battle for full suffrage and equality for the American Negroe in the South is not yet fully won.
...

Unfortunately, segregation is lasting like in OTL.

[jeff]

Keep going.