2000: Godwin's government was rather unpopular. A decline in civil liberties and increasing paranoia about not just 'closet capitalists' but 'closet fascists' merely increased the divide between already self segregating ethnic groups. Increased quota demands led to strikes which were often put down violently. Not only that, but when workers in Mexico launched a general strike in several cities due to declining saftey conditions and increasing scarcity of resources the USSA military moved in with the Mexican military to brutally crush dissent. Other USSA aligned powers began to question if Washington recognised their sovreignt.
The rest of the world grew frightened of the USSA in a way not seen since the Red Scare of the 1930s. Madrid and New Delhi quickly declared that for all his shouting against the rest of the world being crypto-fascist it was in fact Godwin that had abandoned Communism for Fascism. Moscow and the rest of the E11 (expanded to include Korea) launched a number of sactions against the USSA in response.
Still, Godwin maintained some popular support due to increasing success in the Space Race, as a number of probes were sent to work out landing sites on Mars. In November of 1998 the manned mission to Mars was launched, with a diverse crew of 6 astronauts from every corner of the USSA. Live television broadcasts were made to the entire world throughout much of 1999, however by early August (with a few months still left in the trip) the frequency of these broadcasts dropped significantly. The USSSA (United Socialist States Space Agency) declared it a combination of the astronauts having to put more effort into excercise to combat microgravity and it taking more energy to broadcast such long distance signals. Still, the few broadcasts that did occur seemed to show the astronauts looking frailer and frailer. The truth (which many scientists in the Democratic world guessed at) was that the ship's radiation shielding had proven insufficient. Still, President Godwin refused to abort the mission, refusing to accept failure no matter how evident.
When the landing crew touched down on Mars in early December of 1999 only two crew members felt strong enough to attempt the official (televised live) first steps on Mars after a rough atmospheric entry. Unfortunately the first one out the door, Thomas Washington (of the New Africa Socialist District), had overestimated his leg strength and while carrying the flag down the landing craft's ladded tripped, and fell, smashing open his helmet onto a nearby rock. The second astronaut who'd been feeling strong enough (Camille Drapeau of Quebec) managed to climb down the ladder and attempted to drag Washington back in to safety, but in her exhausted state did not save him in time. The first man on Mars had died, and the people demanded Godwin's head. (It is worth noting that after some time to recover from the landing roughly half of the crew was able to get to work collecting samples and other important work, but the landing had taken some time to recover from.)
With mass protests in the streets Godwin was quickly arrest by members of the military and placed on trial for crimes against the nation. He was given a quick show trial before an execution. Unfortunately for all the Military and the Communist Party did not see completely eye to eye on how to advance. In the military's eyes the Party had gone from bad to worse between Irons, the Junta, and Godwin, and as such declared a military government in place (some less ideological elements of the Party supported this). The Party meanwhile (with support from some of the more ideological elements of the military) declared an emergency government based in Chicago and declared the Washington based Military Council traitors. Many of the ethnic homelands chose to side with neither, Quebec seceding mere hours after the Chicago government was declared, and soon many followed.
The rest of the world waits holding their breath and hoping a nuclear exchange does not occur. At least South Africa's civil war ended without nukes being used, so there's some hope?
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