So I was reading about the consolidation of Soviet gains directly following World War II, and I read something about Poland "being lucky to keep its independence". Did you guys ever hear anything about the PRP being annexed by the USSR?
AHC/WI: Poland an SSR
- Thread starter NeonHydroxide
- Start date
Yes, in fact it is still quite surprising for me that USSR didn't opt at the time for acquiring Poland and other Eastern countries as owned SSRs.
I have read somewhere that some pancommunist Soviet members advocated during the 50s for a macro-federation encompassing all the Eurasian communist block, but this was logistically and politically too challenging, considering the tensions surfaced after Stalin death. But following original communist ideals (too distorted by that time), it would have been a coherent step to do.
Someday I would start a thread about a possible communist macro-federation between OTL USSR, China, Eastern Europe and satellite countries
Dirk_Pitt
Banned
Yes, in fact it is still quite surprising for me that USSR didn't opt at the time for acquiring Poland and other Eastern countries as owned SSRs.
I have read somewhere that some pancommunist Soviet members advocated during the 50s for a macro-federation encompassing all the Eurasian communist block, but this was logistically and politically too challenging, considering the tensions surfaced after Stalin death. But following original communist ideals (too distorted by that time), it would have been a coherent step to do.
Someday I would start a thread about a possible communist macro-federation between OTL USSR, China, Eastern Europe and satellite countries
You'd have to butterfly Stalin's snubing of Mao in favor of Jiang. What is the cause of this snubing?
In my opinion, an hypothetical communist macro-federation would have only been possible with Stalin dying before 1948, and being replaced for someone more open-minded. In this way, the problems with both Yugoslavia and China could have been solved easier and could have triggered a higher union between the communist countries.
The problem is the anyone who succeed Stalin will be like him, first Russian (even if ironically Uncle Joe was a Georgian) and second communist so any federation were the URSS don't call the shot is a no go, and that's the problem in including China.
I agree. However, both USSR and China should have revamped themselves into a large amount of smaller federative units, because it should be the only way to sustain such a big federation. It's not possible a federation including 'Russia' or 'China', it should have been a federation composed by Mordvinia, Sichuan, Abkhazia, Valachia, Moravia, Crimea, Hubei, Tonkin etc etc.
Personally, I think that one of big mistakes of USSR was the excessive centralization of both economy and politics. Communist block should have worked better with small units only tied by great lines of politics such defense or currency, but not Moscow deciding which crops should be planted in Kamchatka or Aral sea being dessecated by pharaonic caprices.
Wasn't the only reason the Soviet Union kept its puppets independent because they wanted more UN votes?
Also, somewhat related to this, if Nazi Germany never invaded the Soviet Union and both ended up dividing Poland to pre-WWI borders, would Poland become a separate Soviet SSR or would it be divided between Ukraine and Belarus?
Also, somewhat related to this, if Nazi Germany never invaded the Soviet Union and both ended up dividing Poland to pre-WWI borders, would Poland become a separate Soviet SSR or would it be divided between Ukraine and Belarus?
Well, the original idea of forming the USSR is the goal of incorporating future workers' republics of the world into it. But this is still during pre-Stalinist times where the Bolsheviks are still optimistic, for a bit, about a possible German revolution which is supposed to come (but didn't arrive). By the postwar period, we still have Stalin around that I don't think would be able to create pan-Soviet state the way leftists in the movement that is against him would like to see.
One of the big mistakes of the Soviet experiment is indeed the over-bureaucratization and centralization. One of the ideas that I'm thinking is more of establishing the Soviet Union as a confederated entity so we'll have a less centralized government that is not going to decide how many shoes should a factory in Manchuria produce, or how many tons of cotton the Uzbek fields should produce... stuff like that. China has its own zone of control. Russia also does through "treaties", in the same way that the overall entity was created by "treaty", like the 1922 treaty.
I agree with Superman though that the idea is for Moscow to get more UN General Assembly votes, thus a more EU like Soviet Union should be created. I don't know about that though.
If that's true, then could a POD in which the Soviets perhaps 'gain' another puppet state in Europe lead to them annexing Poland? Say if they created an East Austria or something like that?