A People’s Alt-History: An Essay on the Fascinating Fiction of a Socialist US

[TheInnerMoon]

Hello everyone,

Inspired by works both on and off this website, I wrote a fairly long essay about the particular AH scenario of a Socialist United States. After an initial breakdown of this premise, I move into a critical overview of some of the most prominent timelines in this category. I'm also looking to write a timeline along these lines myself, and I allude to that at the end. Since so many of this forum's authors have inspired me (whether directly or indirectly), I thought I'd share my essay here. Here's the link: https://theinnermoon.com/2022/05/19...on-the-fascinating-fiction-of-a-socialist-us/

 

[stirlingdraka]

That was a very interesting read. Thanks for posting it. I`ll check out your TL as well.

 

[TheInnerMoon]

That was a very interesting read. Thanks for posting it. I`ll check out your TL as well.

It's not written yet! I might share some of my ideas soon for critical feedback, and I'll link that discussion here.

 

[stirlingdraka]

I meant when it`s written.

 

[PatrickMoore]

It's an interesting idea for paper, I'd like to read it as well when it's ready

 

[ETGalaxy]

I thought this was a really fun read and well-written! Socialist US scenarios have always been a favorite trope of mine (I noticed that you pointed out my own "odd outing" into the sub-genre ) and, for the most part, I agree with your analysis, particularly the critique of the Soviet Union parallelism TLs, which I've personally always found to be relatively dull takes on socialist US alternate history given the really intriguing possibilities. I also quite appreciated the point about most socialist US alternate history having a POD before the World Wars, and now I'm really tempted to make a oneshot where the US succumbs to a revolution led by the Rainbow Coalition or something. Heck, I'd reckon that there's a ton of fertile ground for a future history exploring a socialist US being established in the near future (maybe climate change serves as a catalyst for a bunch of eco-socialist uprisings or something?).

 

[TheInnerMoon]

I thought this was a really fun read and well-written! Socialist US scenarios have always been a favorite trope of mine (I noticed that you pointed out my own "odd outing" into the sub-genre ) and, for the most part, I agree with your analysis, particularly the critique of the Soviet Union parallelism TLs, which I've personally always found to be relatively dull takes on socialist US alternate history given the really intriguing possibilities. I also quite appreciated the point about most socialist US alternate history having a POD before the World Wars, and now I'm really tempted to make a oneshot where the US succumbs to a revolution led by the Rainbow Coalition or something. Heck, I'd reckon that there's a ton of fertile ground for a future history exploring a socialist US being established in the near future (maybe climate change serves as a catalyst for a bunch of eco-socialist uprisings or something?).

Glad you liked the piece! The postwar era is definitely underappreciated, and my own cautious outings into this genre do tend to focus on these later periods (even if they start a bit earlier). I think you’d really need to destabilize an anti-communist US before the Left has a shot, but a near-future scenario also works for exactly that reason.