Happily accept Red Spain? Very doubtfoul...but there is little that Rome can do about it; except maybe demanding (very nicely) about naval bases or rights there
Spectre of Europe - An Alternative Paris Commune Timeline
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Happily accept Red Spain? Very doubtfoul...but there is little that Rome can do about it; except maybe demanding (very nicely) about naval bases or rights there
Balears and Canaries...the last so to not be really blocked in the Mediterrean and at the same time at safe distance by the socialist mainland in the remote
events that things goes sour between the two sideBalears and Canaries...the last so to not be really blocked in the Mediterrean and at the same time at safe distance by the socialist mainland in the remote
The point is, where France and Italy could and would get some reassuration about each other in order to be if not best buddies at leas not hostile? Because, Savoy and Nice could be still a sour point... Maybe an agreement to make them autonomous regions like Trentino-Alto Adige could work?
BTW, Monaco is under Italian sphere! Montecarlo could likely have further Italian cultural influence than OTL... Maybe even a Savoia-Grimaldi wedding on the horizon...
Well them getting some special autonomous status can smooth thing (there is also the strong probability that in the new territory there will be a relevant afflux of french refugee from the previous and current war so to create a sizeble community)...even if the commune don't seem that attached to the nationalism theme as other nation; but IMVHO much depend on who get the seat of Power in Paris post-war, the current holders and other preminent newcomer don't really reassure me that much.
There is also the question on who's the next italian leader, the war will be the swan's song for the Liberals, as everybody knows (even Giolitti) that their time was up and the new mass party were the future; ITTL the socialist seem to be a lot less scary than OTL (even due to the alliance with Paris...for now) while the catholics will get the place of OTL socialist/communist with a division between moderate and hardliner and the goverment/royal fear that they want start a revolution...so a more or less stable liberal/socialist alliance to govern the Kingdom of Italy is on the future
Chapter 114: A Bitter Hustings – The General Election of July 1920
Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen: A Bitter Hustings – The General Election of July 1920
“Gentlemen, when my continental associates ask me why we are not waging implacable warfare against the socialist menace I reply we are. *Applause* We are. We are at war with them here. *Points to Commons*”
Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, House of Lords 1920.
“A vote Conservative is a vote for Them. A vote Reform is a vote for YOU”
Reform Election Slogan 1920
The General Election of 1920, put back a few months by the ongoing collapse of Germany, was one of the most bitter in British political history. Originally called at George V’s behest in an attempt to overcome the deeply entrenched divisions between the House of Lords and the Government, the events in Europe saw the political right in Britain gain traction in an anti-socialist rhetoric of fear.
The rapid collapse of Germany and the social turmoil it caused was just one factor that shocked the British public in 1920. The execution of over one hundred of the Irish Volunteers in Vannes, ordered by LaGrange in April, made press headlines across the country. The execution of Constance Markievitz alongside fellow volunteers, an action which made sense in a France where women served in the armed forces, nevertheless outraged society across the channel. The arrival in Britain in 1919 of the Romanov sisters, fleeing from the victorious Christian Socialist regime in Russia, likewise gave a sympathetic human face to the perils of socialism for many.
A Conservative Poster from the 1920 election typical of the extreme rhetoric surrounding politics at the time
During the spring and summer of campaigning Rowntree and Reform were hammered by the conservative press and the Tory Party machine. The Conservatives were electrified by two new leaders. In the Commons William Ormsby-Gore headed up a newly revitalised party that tried to pull the reforming rug out from under the Government. Dubbed the “Moderates” in the Press, the Conservative movement called for incremental reform whilst still “keeping the innate character of Britain”. In the Lords, the tendency to reform was less clear-cut. Chief amongst the aristrocratic opponents of the Government was the 8th Duke of Northumberland, Alan Percy. A veteran of the Finnish Campaign of the early 1900s Northumberland was passionately anti-socialist and vehemently patriotic. It was he who, wary of the surge in votes President Hughes had achieved by signing female suffrage into law, orchestrated the overturning of the Government’s Suffrage Bill in early 1920. It was also Northumberland who led his blue-blooded peers in overturning, for the first time in history, the Government’s Budget for 1920.
Rowntree himself was caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea. Many in his party, and across the country, wanted him to be more forthright. More socialist. More reforming. But his party was, nationally, under continuous assault as opponents sought to tie it to the political violence in Europe.
Election day, however, proved that one of the reforms Rowntree and his government had been able to pass was to have a long-lasting impact on British politics. In early 1919, following the long-term success of Irish Home Rule, Rowntree and his Government had managed to push through Home Rule for both Wales and Scotland. Now, whilst Ireland went Tory almost across the board, Scotland and Wales were a different story. Reform had long had success in the Scottish Lowlands, but it was the Liberal Welsh First Minister David Lloyd George who rallied to the progressive cause. Lloyd George was one of the most gifted public speakers in British politics and, although not the Liberal Leader in Westminster, through the Liberals squarely behind Reform.
Lloyd George rallies crowds in Cardiff. Privately, Reform MPs were uncomfortable about what a coalition with the Liberals might bring
“What, will they threaten to devastate rural England by feeding and dressing themselves?!” he quipped, to the uproar of a crowd in Cardiff, after there were suggestions in the press that the nobility might fire their servants in the event of a Reform win.
Ultimately, the results were close. The Conservatives won the most seats (333) but failed to achieve a majority, whilst the shrunken Reform (losing 82 seats to end up with 292) had to rely on Liberal (82) support going forward. Still, Rowntree had survived and the Commons now looked towards the Lords with a marked tension.
“Gentlemen, when my continental associates ask me why we are not waging implacable warfare against the socialist menace I reply we are. *Applause* We are. We are at war with them here. *Points to Commons*”
Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, House of Lords 1920.
“A vote Conservative is a vote for Them. A vote Reform is a vote for YOU”
Reform Election Slogan 1920
The General Election of 1920, put back a few months by the ongoing collapse of Germany, was one of the most bitter in British political history. Originally called at George V’s behest in an attempt to overcome the deeply entrenched divisions between the House of Lords and the Government, the events in Europe saw the political right in Britain gain traction in an anti-socialist rhetoric of fear.
The rapid collapse of Germany and the social turmoil it caused was just one factor that shocked the British public in 1920. The execution of over one hundred of the Irish Volunteers in Vannes, ordered by LaGrange in April, made press headlines across the country. The execution of Constance Markievitz alongside fellow volunteers, an action which made sense in a France where women served in the armed forces, nevertheless outraged society across the channel. The arrival in Britain in 1919 of the Romanov sisters, fleeing from the victorious Christian Socialist regime in Russia, likewise gave a sympathetic human face to the perils of socialism for many.
A Conservative Poster from the 1920 election typical of the extreme rhetoric surrounding politics at the time
During the spring and summer of campaigning Rowntree and Reform were hammered by the conservative press and the Tory Party machine. The Conservatives were electrified by two new leaders. In the Commons William Ormsby-Gore headed up a newly revitalised party that tried to pull the reforming rug out from under the Government. Dubbed the “Moderates” in the Press, the Conservative movement called for incremental reform whilst still “keeping the innate character of Britain”. In the Lords, the tendency to reform was less clear-cut. Chief amongst the aristrocratic opponents of the Government was the 8th Duke of Northumberland, Alan Percy. A veteran of the Finnish Campaign of the early 1900s Northumberland was passionately anti-socialist and vehemently patriotic. It was he who, wary of the surge in votes President Hughes had achieved by signing female suffrage into law, orchestrated the overturning of the Government’s Suffrage Bill in early 1920. It was also Northumberland who led his blue-blooded peers in overturning, for the first time in history, the Government’s Budget for 1920.
Rowntree himself was caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea. Many in his party, and across the country, wanted him to be more forthright. More socialist. More reforming. But his party was, nationally, under continuous assault as opponents sought to tie it to the political violence in Europe.
Election day, however, proved that one of the reforms Rowntree and his government had been able to pass was to have a long-lasting impact on British politics. In early 1919, following the long-term success of Irish Home Rule, Rowntree and his Government had managed to push through Home Rule for both Wales and Scotland. Now, whilst Ireland went Tory almost across the board, Scotland and Wales were a different story. Reform had long had success in the Scottish Lowlands, but it was the Liberal Welsh First Minister David Lloyd George who rallied to the progressive cause. Lloyd George was one of the most gifted public speakers in British politics and, although not the Liberal Leader in Westminster, through the Liberals squarely behind Reform.
Lloyd George rallies crowds in Cardiff. Privately, Reform MPs were uncomfortable about what a coalition with the Liberals might bring
“What, will they threaten to devastate rural England by feeding and dressing themselves?!” he quipped, to the uproar of a crowd in Cardiff, after there were suggestions in the press that the nobility might fire their servants in the event of a Reform win.
Ultimately, the results were close. The Conservatives won the most seats (333) but failed to achieve a majority, whilst the shrunken Reform (losing 82 seats to end up with 292) had to rely on Liberal (82) support going forward. Still, Rowntree had survived and the Commons now looked towards the Lords with a marked tension.
Chapter 115: The Amsterdam Peace Conference September 1920
Chapter One Hundred Fifteen: The Amsterdam Peace Conference September 1920
“I feel that we must be realistic. The German Revolution has gone as far as it can go without provoking another European War”.
Louise LaGrange to Olivier Martel, Private Correspondence, August 1920.
“Delegates here are preparing not just for Peace, nor even some Eternal Socialist Peace, but something else still. The socialists seem galvanised and major international figures in the movement are walking around Amsterdam as if wearing halos of some divine mission”.
Harold Nicholson, formerly Reform MP for Croydon and Head of the British Observation Delegation at the Peace Conference, writes back to the Prime Minister.
Quite when the Commune committed fully to a negotiated settlement is unclear. Some historians chose to cite the brutality of the Southern Offensive as proof of a desperation to settle the conflict for good. Others point to the stalemate in Germany following the failed Yellow assault on Munich, where Red forces were unable to capitalise on their desperate defensive victory. Still more point to the increasing public hostility to the Commune in both the UK and USA. Whatever the reason, or reasons, by August 1920 it seemed clear to many that the Committee of Public Safety was actively pursuing peace.
The sides came together, after much cajoling and compromise, in Amsterdam in September of 1920 and it was clear from the outset that this was going to be tumultuous for the socialist groups involved. The first motions were clear enough. Romania, now thoroughly defeated, would be obliged to pay reparations to Hungary and relinquish claims on Transylvania. Austria, occupied by Italian, Hungarian, and French troops was forced to hand over everything the Italians wanted from the Tyrol (up to the Brenner Pass), Trieste, and Istria as well as a number of other islands in the Adriatic. The Emperor, who had fled to Greece, was deposed in absentia and the tattered remnants of the Austrian Communard Party placed in power in a Red Republic guaranteed by its neighbours and France. Spain would pay reparations to both France and Italy but not lose territory. Although the Italian delegation pushed for more concessions in this area, Orlando ultimately took what he could with good grace.
It did not take long, however, for the thornier issues of the peace process to threaten the integrity of the project. Many in the international press were left uneasy by the French delegation’s shelving of the Basque issue – the Committee declared it needed ‘time to think upon this ignominious betrayal’ – whatever that meant. Likewise the tension over who owned Galicia between Poland and the Ukraine, which had taken the form of a brief shooting war in August before the French intervened diplomatically, had allowed the new Czech and Slovak Republics to declare themselves sovereign and elect regimes far more Liberal, rather than Socialist, than Paris would have liked.
It was Germany, though, which was the sticking point. Here both France and Italy were united – Germany needed to be divided. The proposal was for Poland to take Poznan and Silesia, then, of the remaining state, the states of Prussia, Saxony, Brunswick, Thuringia, Mecklenburg, and that part of Bavaria bordered by the Donau in the South and the upper Main in the West would be given over to the anti-socialist Republic. The rest, which as the New York Times put it “is essentially everything West of a straight line between Lubeck in the North and Garmisch in the South [including Southern Bavaria]”, was to become a series of Red Republics. Both German delegations hated the solution but it was the “Yellows”, the anti-socialist coalition, who were easiest to win over. The solution offered them survival, the Italians argued, and the opportunity to withdraw their troops peacefully from the Baltic. Every concession, particularly three months of free movement before the borders were fixed, however produced howls of outrage from hardline socialists in Germany. Luxembourg herself took a lot of winning over, locked in a session for four hours with the Committee of Public Safety, but eventually came out and supported the proposal.
The three Montagnard members of the Committee of Public Safety are waved off from Paris by a jubilant crowd.
LaGrange, Martel, and Jorda enjoyed significant popular support and admiration in 1920.
“It creates as many problems as it solves” wrote Martel to Jorda “but it allows the Italians to believe they have a potential alternative ally in the Prussian State, calms the international community, and, crucially, stalls any further need to waste French lives”.
Members of the Committee of Public Safety were not the only leading politicians in Amsterdam though and, by 17th September the International Press began to smell a rat. As the final signatures were appended to the Treaty with Spain, the last of the accords to be signed, the arrival by boat of none other than Chinese President Sun Yat Sen tipped many political pundits off. A much less subtle hint came when the French President, Jean Jaures, appeared at the Gare du Nord alongside leading members of the American socialist movement and Labor Party. Chants of ‘Fourth, Fourth, Fourth, Fourth’ from the huge crowd were greeted with a wry grin by the President who, for the war years had remained somewhat overshadowed by his young Montangard colleagues. Delivering a short speech on the platform before boarding a train for Holland he confirmed that there would be a Fourth International held immediately in Amsterdam to determine ‘the future of France, of Europe, of the World!’.
‘A remarkable challenge to the international powers and also the powers in his own government’ scribbled an impressed young American socialist named James Cannon on the train.
A Map is Coming. I promise.
“I feel that we must be realistic. The German Revolution has gone as far as it can go without provoking another European War”.
Louise LaGrange to Olivier Martel, Private Correspondence, August 1920.
“Delegates here are preparing not just for Peace, nor even some Eternal Socialist Peace, but something else still. The socialists seem galvanised and major international figures in the movement are walking around Amsterdam as if wearing halos of some divine mission”.
Harold Nicholson, formerly Reform MP for Croydon and Head of the British Observation Delegation at the Peace Conference, writes back to the Prime Minister.
Quite when the Commune committed fully to a negotiated settlement is unclear. Some historians chose to cite the brutality of the Southern Offensive as proof of a desperation to settle the conflict for good. Others point to the stalemate in Germany following the failed Yellow assault on Munich, where Red forces were unable to capitalise on their desperate defensive victory. Still more point to the increasing public hostility to the Commune in both the UK and USA. Whatever the reason, or reasons, by August 1920 it seemed clear to many that the Committee of Public Safety was actively pursuing peace.
The sides came together, after much cajoling and compromise, in Amsterdam in September of 1920 and it was clear from the outset that this was going to be tumultuous for the socialist groups involved. The first motions were clear enough. Romania, now thoroughly defeated, would be obliged to pay reparations to Hungary and relinquish claims on Transylvania. Austria, occupied by Italian, Hungarian, and French troops was forced to hand over everything the Italians wanted from the Tyrol (up to the Brenner Pass), Trieste, and Istria as well as a number of other islands in the Adriatic. The Emperor, who had fled to Greece, was deposed in absentia and the tattered remnants of the Austrian Communard Party placed in power in a Red Republic guaranteed by its neighbours and France. Spain would pay reparations to both France and Italy but not lose territory. Although the Italian delegation pushed for more concessions in this area, Orlando ultimately took what he could with good grace.
It did not take long, however, for the thornier issues of the peace process to threaten the integrity of the project. Many in the international press were left uneasy by the French delegation’s shelving of the Basque issue – the Committee declared it needed ‘time to think upon this ignominious betrayal’ – whatever that meant. Likewise the tension over who owned Galicia between Poland and the Ukraine, which had taken the form of a brief shooting war in August before the French intervened diplomatically, had allowed the new Czech and Slovak Republics to declare themselves sovereign and elect regimes far more Liberal, rather than Socialist, than Paris would have liked.
It was Germany, though, which was the sticking point. Here both France and Italy were united – Germany needed to be divided. The proposal was for Poland to take Poznan and Silesia, then, of the remaining state, the states of Prussia, Saxony, Brunswick, Thuringia, Mecklenburg, and that part of Bavaria bordered by the Donau in the South and the upper Main in the West would be given over to the anti-socialist Republic. The rest, which as the New York Times put it “is essentially everything West of a straight line between Lubeck in the North and Garmisch in the South [including Southern Bavaria]”, was to become a series of Red Republics. Both German delegations hated the solution but it was the “Yellows”, the anti-socialist coalition, who were easiest to win over. The solution offered them survival, the Italians argued, and the opportunity to withdraw their troops peacefully from the Baltic. Every concession, particularly three months of free movement before the borders were fixed, however produced howls of outrage from hardline socialists in Germany. Luxembourg herself took a lot of winning over, locked in a session for four hours with the Committee of Public Safety, but eventually came out and supported the proposal.
The three Montagnard members of the Committee of Public Safety are waved off from Paris by a jubilant crowd.
LaGrange, Martel, and Jorda enjoyed significant popular support and admiration in 1920.
“It creates as many problems as it solves” wrote Martel to Jorda “but it allows the Italians to believe they have a potential alternative ally in the Prussian State, calms the international community, and, crucially, stalls any further need to waste French lives”.
Members of the Committee of Public Safety were not the only leading politicians in Amsterdam though and, by 17th September the International Press began to smell a rat. As the final signatures were appended to the Treaty with Spain, the last of the accords to be signed, the arrival by boat of none other than Chinese President Sun Yat Sen tipped many political pundits off. A much less subtle hint came when the French President, Jean Jaures, appeared at the Gare du Nord alongside leading members of the American socialist movement and Labor Party. Chants of ‘Fourth, Fourth, Fourth, Fourth’ from the huge crowd were greeted with a wry grin by the President who, for the war years had remained somewhat overshadowed by his young Montangard colleagues. Delivering a short speech on the platform before boarding a train for Holland he confirmed that there would be a Fourth International held immediately in Amsterdam to determine ‘the future of France, of Europe, of the World!’.
‘A remarkable challenge to the international powers and also the powers in his own government’ scribbled an impressed young American socialist named James Cannon on the train.
A Map is Coming. I promise.
Great chapter but considering how much more powerful the position of the polish army is in relation to Germany than in OTL , it's surprising they were not given Danzig/polish corridor at all.
Post War Thoughts:
1. The Army of the Commune would need to focus on speed and firepower to avoid stalemates in the last war.
2. All sides will study chemical weapons offensive and defensive tools and armored vehicles as possible war winning weapons.
3. Germany and Central/Eastern Europe will be 'in flux' with surplus weapons and veteran 'volunteers' on all sides. The Commune will put support into the Red Republics east of the Rhine.
4. With the relative success of the Commune in breaking Germany and the Royalists many groups around the world may copy the ideology and tactics. The Fourth International may also focus on spreading the revolution.
1. The Army of the Commune would need to focus on speed and firepower to avoid stalemates in the last war.
2. All sides will study chemical weapons offensive and defensive tools and armored vehicles as possible war winning weapons.
3. Germany and Central/Eastern Europe will be 'in flux' with surplus weapons and veteran 'volunteers' on all sides. The Commune will put support into the Red Republics east of the Rhine.
4. With the relative success of the Commune in breaking Germany and the Royalists many groups around the world may copy the ideology and tactics. The Fourth International may also focus on spreading the revolution.
Dang it.
French Blitzkrieg. That's.....
How about just Foudre? French for lightning.
Ok, the war is over and now is time to rebuild, yes...but what?
While this has not be a war long and destructive as OTL WWI, seem that the bulk of the old order in Europe has been swapped away, but what as take his place?
Communard France seem at a critical point, while has won big, really big with the historical enemies crushed and a new constellation of puppet...ehm sorry fraternal communard nation now has been created, securing her position as a continental powerhouse.
On the not so bright side, there are very strong hint that a very authoritarian evolution for the French goverment and a strong intention of revolution exporting.
This will not look well for the rest of the world.
Surely not for Great Britain, by now people in London will surely compare Communard France to Revolutionary/Napoleonic France and her continental system, but even Paris biggest ally aka Italy will not be very reassured, not only the Kingdom is by now surrounded by Communard nation but between the strong appeal that hardliner like Martel seem to have in the French political scene and the worrying development regarding the assemble of international communard leaders, many in Rome will be worried and will prepare for the worse.
Continuing speaking of Italy, ok accepting a red goverment in Austria and basically giving Spain just a slap in the wrist (and in all probability accepting a communard goverment in Madrid) mean that concession on other parts has been given...or that things between the two allies have been very rocky.
Probably France has given Italy free hand in Illyria and accepted other things like demilitarizated zone in Algeria and military limitation for Austria and other little things to smooth the negotiations; maybe even keep the Polish at bay in Prussia so to not weaken her too much, as Italy see her as a possible alternative ally in case things between her and France goes bad.
Another possible ally is Serbia, with a division of Illyria between them, the ok for ITTL version of Jugoslavia and an agreement over Albania.
Said that, i don't see the two nation become suddenly hostile to each other as they were 'quasi-allies' for years and the war has created great bond between them; sure OTL cold war demonstrated that this scenario can happen, still it was needed a great series of crisis and soviet aggression to start it.
Germany being divided while seemed inevitable and necessary at the moment to end the hostilities...will not last long, both side will desire reunification on their own terms.
While this has not be a war long and destructive as OTL WWI, seem that the bulk of the old order in Europe has been swapped away, but what as take his place?
Communard France seem at a critical point, while has won big, really big with the historical enemies crushed and a new constellation of puppet...ehm sorry fraternal communard nation now has been created, securing her position as a continental powerhouse.
On the not so bright side, there are very strong hint that a very authoritarian evolution for the French goverment and a strong intention of revolution exporting.
This will not look well for the rest of the world.
Surely not for Great Britain, by now people in London will surely compare Communard France to Revolutionary/Napoleonic France and her continental system, but even Paris biggest ally aka Italy will not be very reassured, not only the Kingdom is by now surrounded by Communard nation but between the strong appeal that hardliner like Martel seem to have in the French political scene and the worrying development regarding the assemble of international communard leaders, many in Rome will be worried and will prepare for the worse.
Continuing speaking of Italy, ok accepting a red goverment in Austria and basically giving Spain just a slap in the wrist (and in all probability accepting a communard goverment in Madrid) mean that concession on other parts has been given...or that things between the two allies have been very rocky.
Probably France has given Italy free hand in Illyria and accepted other things like demilitarizated zone in Algeria and military limitation for Austria and other little things to smooth the negotiations; maybe even keep the Polish at bay in Prussia so to not weaken her too much, as Italy see her as a possible alternative ally in case things between her and France goes bad.
Another possible ally is Serbia, with a division of Illyria between them, the ok for ITTL version of Jugoslavia and an agreement over Albania.
Said that, i don't see the two nation become suddenly hostile to each other as they were 'quasi-allies' for years and the war has created great bond between them; sure OTL cold war demonstrated that this scenario can happen, still it was needed a great series of crisis and soviet aggression to start it.
Germany being divided while seemed inevitable and necessary at the moment to end the hostilities...will not last long, both side will desire reunification on their own terms.
Yes indeed, this divided Germany is bound to be a source of problems over the next decades...
I have extreme difficulty seeing a divided Germany stick. OTL despite two devastating world wars and a half a century being divided between east and west Germany still reunified and is a powerful economy. Here they are getting a worse deal... also all of Silesia going to Poland is a bit much IMHO, I think Prussia or Bohemia would get the majority of it with Poland only gaining what they did at OTL Versailles.
Silesia and the Rhineland were what made Prussia a great power and I highly doubt Italy, Britain, et al will allow a Communist France to strip both from her without complaint.
Silesia and the Rhineland were what made Prussia a great power and I highly doubt Italy, Britain, et al will allow a Communist France to strip both from her without complaint.
A shame about what happened with Germany, but I don't doubt reunification will come eventually.
I hope this isn't a whole lot to ask about, but what's the situation been like in Southeast Asia during all of this? I'm kind of curious about how things turned out with French Indochina and the Rattanakosin Kingdom, especially. Did Communard fervor pour into those areas at all?
I hope this isn't a whole lot to ask about, but what's the situation been like in Southeast Asia during all of this? I'm kind of curious about how things turned out with French Indochina and the Rattanakosin Kingdom, especially. Did Communard fervor pour into those areas at all?
Chapter 116: Rebuilding the World – The Fourth International of 1920
Chapter One Hundred Sixteen: Rebuilding the World – The Fourth International of 1920
“This will bring to Europe a new era; it will bring hopes of justice and peace which will help the European peoples to understand the sense, the interest, and the necessity of our proposals: Meanwhile we labour with passion, but with perseverance to realize this scheme since it forms part of the vast plan of social reform which, in these days, must be in the thoughts of all good citizens, of all good socialists.”
Jean Jaures, Opening Address of the Congress.
As the dust settled on the European continent the socialist parties of the world came together in a spirit of triumphant optimism for the future. Photographs of the Committee of Public Safety personally welcoming the German Party members as equals and friends made headlines around the world. Decried by many of the right as simply the relationship between puppet and puppeteer, many commentators of all political persuasions were forced to admit that this was an unusual event. ‘There is little to no sense of the malice of war here’ the Oslo Gazette remarked. Jean Jaures’s opening speech, particularly, was widely agreed to be the finest of his career and marked his return to front-line politics in a major way.
The Polish Delegates arrive in Amsterdam. Their stay was to be short-lived.
Yet the atmosphere in the Congress itself was far from peaceful. Within hours of starting the proceedings were disrupted by the Polish Delegation protesting the boundaries of the post-war settlement with Germany. Cries of “Gdansk, Gdansk, Gdansk” cut through early sessions and the delegation booed and hissed at Olivier Martel in particular. The radical Montagnard, architect of the post-war borders, refused to budge. “There is no place in socialism for narrow-minded nationalism” he shouted over the dim, but despite private overtures the French were unable to prevent the mass walkout of the Polish Party members on the second day.
The Convention was also full of surprises. On the third day rumours began to fly that the Committee of Public Safety was dissolving itself and, by the afternoon, LaGrange stood up in a plenary session on child labour law to announce that the wartime committee would relinquish its powers following an election to be held in December. ‘There are so many twists and turns my pockets are filled with pencil sharpenings and empty ink bottles!’ one British reporter scrawled to his Editor in Manchester. In fact, by the end of the third day all of the socialist states in Europe, with the exception of the Poles, had agreed to hold elections in December as a mark of the new hopeful order. Factions, and rumours of factions, that crossed national borders were rife.
The "Dakar Declaration" marked the beginning of the decisive anti-Imperialist shift in the International
There were also extra-European decisions made. Delegates gave Blaise Diagne, who for ten years had waged a guerrilla insurgency in West Africa, a standing ovation that lasted a full ten minutes. The Dakar Commune, whose independence was forced upon the Kingdom of France at the negotiating table, was touted by some as the first steps towards a free Africa. With support from Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese, as well as many of the Anarchist faction, Diagne went on to propose a resolution condemning Imperialism and calling for “Revolutionary Action” across the globe. Opposed by some, including the Montagnards who feared it would provoke a new war, this new motion saw Anarchists come together in perhaps the first cohesive foreign policy initiative since 1871 and it passed easily by popular vote.
The final days of the congress also threw up remarkable events. Newspapers around the world went into a frenzy of interest as the penultimate day saw the Russian Christian Socialist Union expelled from the Socialist International. Concerned about ever increasing reports from the SRs that they were being targeted in violent attacks, and alarmed by the increasingly cosy relationship Kyril had with the Old Guard of the Tsarist Regime, the French led the charge to purge the Christian Socialist Union from the group. The SRs were acknowledged as the true keepers of the socialist frame in Russia.
Part of the working group who proposed a new order for Europe and the World
All of this paled into nothing, though, when on the final day of the Congress a working group of Jaures, Luxemburg, LaGrange, Adler, Kautsky, Sun Yat Sen, and Sen Katayama addressed the entire complement of delegates. Held at a huge open-air meeting on the edge of Amsterdam the group announced that nationalism would be the ultimate casualty of war. ‘This war will be the end to all wars that do not further the socialist revolution’ announced Jaures who then went on to outline their proposals. All European Socialist states, from France to the Ukraine, would be tied together in a new, international, union. Other socialist regimes, in Argentina, in Dakar, in China, would become affiliate members. “When they go to vote in December” roared Jaures “tell your people – they are voting for a new Europe. United in socialism. A European Union”.
“This will bring to Europe a new era; it will bring hopes of justice and peace which will help the European peoples to understand the sense, the interest, and the necessity of our proposals: Meanwhile we labour with passion, but with perseverance to realize this scheme since it forms part of the vast plan of social reform which, in these days, must be in the thoughts of all good citizens, of all good socialists.”
Jean Jaures, Opening Address of the Congress.
As the dust settled on the European continent the socialist parties of the world came together in a spirit of triumphant optimism for the future. Photographs of the Committee of Public Safety personally welcoming the German Party members as equals and friends made headlines around the world. Decried by many of the right as simply the relationship between puppet and puppeteer, many commentators of all political persuasions were forced to admit that this was an unusual event. ‘There is little to no sense of the malice of war here’ the Oslo Gazette remarked. Jean Jaures’s opening speech, particularly, was widely agreed to be the finest of his career and marked his return to front-line politics in a major way.
The Polish Delegates arrive in Amsterdam. Their stay was to be short-lived.
Yet the atmosphere in the Congress itself was far from peaceful. Within hours of starting the proceedings were disrupted by the Polish Delegation protesting the boundaries of the post-war settlement with Germany. Cries of “Gdansk, Gdansk, Gdansk” cut through early sessions and the delegation booed and hissed at Olivier Martel in particular. The radical Montagnard, architect of the post-war borders, refused to budge. “There is no place in socialism for narrow-minded nationalism” he shouted over the dim, but despite private overtures the French were unable to prevent the mass walkout of the Polish Party members on the second day.
The Convention was also full of surprises. On the third day rumours began to fly that the Committee of Public Safety was dissolving itself and, by the afternoon, LaGrange stood up in a plenary session on child labour law to announce that the wartime committee would relinquish its powers following an election to be held in December. ‘There are so many twists and turns my pockets are filled with pencil sharpenings and empty ink bottles!’ one British reporter scrawled to his Editor in Manchester. In fact, by the end of the third day all of the socialist states in Europe, with the exception of the Poles, had agreed to hold elections in December as a mark of the new hopeful order. Factions, and rumours of factions, that crossed national borders were rife.
The "Dakar Declaration" marked the beginning of the decisive anti-Imperialist shift in the International
There were also extra-European decisions made. Delegates gave Blaise Diagne, who for ten years had waged a guerrilla insurgency in West Africa, a standing ovation that lasted a full ten minutes. The Dakar Commune, whose independence was forced upon the Kingdom of France at the negotiating table, was touted by some as the first steps towards a free Africa. With support from Sun Yat Sen and the Chinese, as well as many of the Anarchist faction, Diagne went on to propose a resolution condemning Imperialism and calling for “Revolutionary Action” across the globe. Opposed by some, including the Montagnards who feared it would provoke a new war, this new motion saw Anarchists come together in perhaps the first cohesive foreign policy initiative since 1871 and it passed easily by popular vote.
The final days of the congress also threw up remarkable events. Newspapers around the world went into a frenzy of interest as the penultimate day saw the Russian Christian Socialist Union expelled from the Socialist International. Concerned about ever increasing reports from the SRs that they were being targeted in violent attacks, and alarmed by the increasingly cosy relationship Kyril had with the Old Guard of the Tsarist Regime, the French led the charge to purge the Christian Socialist Union from the group. The SRs were acknowledged as the true keepers of the socialist frame in Russia.
Part of the working group who proposed a new order for Europe and the World
All of this paled into nothing, though, when on the final day of the Congress a working group of Jaures, Luxemburg, LaGrange, Adler, Kautsky, Sun Yat Sen, and Sen Katayama addressed the entire complement of delegates. Held at a huge open-air meeting on the edge of Amsterdam the group announced that nationalism would be the ultimate casualty of war. ‘This war will be the end to all wars that do not further the socialist revolution’ announced Jaures who then went on to outline their proposals. All European Socialist states, from France to the Ukraine, would be tied together in a new, international, union. Other socialist regimes, in Argentina, in Dakar, in China, would become affiliate members. “When they go to vote in December” roared Jaures “tell your people – they are voting for a new Europe. United in socialism. A European Union”.
Oh yes, this will reeeally help to calm Italy and the United Kingdom or btw the rest of the non socialist nation of Europe that France has not gone for Revolutionary wars 2: the electric boogaloo.
The optimistic will thought that socialism will always trump nationalism...but reality always demonstrated that the contrary is true.
The Socialsit European Union will probably be not very functional or last long, too divergent interest and the fact that while all being equal...France will be more equal than other will hurt.
The optimistic will thought that socialism will always trump nationalism...but reality always demonstrated that the contrary is true.
The Socialsit European Union will probably be not very functional or last long, too divergent interest and the fact that while all being equal...France will be more equal than other will hurt.
A Map
Author's Note: As regular readers will know I hate producing maps. Please, please, please assume first that any odd layouts are user error on my part before you check with me.
Europe in October 1920
Including France and Catalonia the following comprise the proposed European Union of 1920
Europe in October 1920
A-E The initial Red Republics of Germany. These were in 1920 ad hoc creations after the war reflecting the patina of revolts and uprisings. Luxemburg and other GCP leaders, alongside non-party revolutionaries, intended to shape the new state during the winter elections.
F Austrian Republic
H Republic of the Ukraine
I Hungarian Republic
J The Basque "Administered Zone" currently under French military occupation.
K Luxembourg Republic
Other changes:
Italy grew at the expense of Austria, as mentioned, but also exercised the first of a series of politically dubious "free plebiscites" in the Austrian Littoral that saw the population vote 98% to join the Kingdom of Italy. Given the upheaval in the Kingdom of France Rome settled for heavy reparations instead of territorial gain, contenting itself with gaining Lebanon from Germany and Cochinchina from the Kingdom.
The Baltic States, finally relieved of German occupation by the peace of 1920, fused into a vague federal system in response to the threat of a resurgent Russia, a vengeful Germany, and a volatile Poland.
Poland refused to join the European Union on principle and increasingly drew both Czech and Slovakian republics into its orbit as a protector against French influence. Still nominally socialist, elections were also promised in Poland for January 1921.
- Status