A Shift in Priorities

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abc123

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[FONT=&quot]The bureaucracy is a circle from which no one can escape. Its hierarchy is a hierarchy of knowledge.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](Karl Marx)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Despite her young age, Edith Rowley had swiftly risen through the ranks to the position of London City Chief Controller during the last year; she now had a huge staff serving her – and had taken residence in a comfortable town house in Kensington borough. As Chief Controller she no longer had to deal with producers and suppliers, she was now responsible for supervising subordinate controllers.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This was a very demanding task, because controllers had much power – and at the same time were exposed to the danger of being corrupted. Therefore, Edith had to apply strict standards; her subordinates had to be controlled unyieldingly and resolutely – in order to protect them and the British people.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]True socialism required respect for social equality and concern for equal distribution of wealth according to the individual’s contribution to society. Edith was determined to enforce social equality, she would not allow privileges for controllers – and neither for producers or suppliers. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In the hierarchy Edith was known as ’The Whip’ since she had brought down Margaret Stone, the former London City Chief Controller in the Ramrod-Rhinehart-Affair. She was considered a favourite of Sylvia Pankhurst, one of the heavy weights in cabinet. People feared her uncompromising way of doing business. She was said to stop at nothing.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]But fortunately, Edith was not alone; there were quite a lot of younger controllers all over the country, who took socialism serious. One would proceed unswervingly in creating an equal society of the working class. Britain would become the socially most progressive country of the world.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Each evening, when Edith returned home worn out and done, she was clad that the domestic servants were keeping the house in order – and had prepared a good dinner for her. Her butler also was a kind of controller, responsible for the work of the house staff. Edith did not consider the house and the staff a privilege; they were just what her rank required. – After all, she bore enormous responsibility for the population of London...[/FONT]


So red aristocracy is slowly forming...
 
And how nicely she rationalizes the perks of her job. Oh the bigotry :mad: But that's human nature for you. IOTL it was the newly minted Red nomenklatura in St Petersburg and elsewhere that quickly discovered the perks of all those high-class establishments that for all intents and purposes kept on existing...
 
Its hidden corruption, she rationalizes it as a necessity for the job and her standards will slowly erode bit by bit. And it seems they are forming their own nomenklatura indeed, but they seem to take inspiration from how the lords & ladies lived. Same caste, different name but same behaviour and slightly different approach.
 
Heh, I guess we could call it 'Red Victorianism'. When its all said and done, the more things change, the more they stay the same...
 
And so Children, we learn once again that true Communism isn't possible and will always fail at the most important thing of all, human nature.
 

abc123

Banned
And so Children, we learn once again that true Communism isn't possible and will always fail at the most important thing of all, human nature.

Yap, that's the reason why I said that Churchill's victory in Civil war ( alltrough I'm aware of all his shenningans ) would be a better thing for UK .;)
 
[FONT=&quot]True socialism required respect for social equality and concern for equal distribution of wealth according to the individual’s contribution to society. [/FONT]

What? Oh, those twisted socialist ideals. How can wealth be distributed equally and according to an individuals' contribution to society? Does everybody contribute the same by definition or what?

And then, the basic idea already points out to another leftist idea: a true leftist just knows from his heart what is right and wrong and what the whole society should do. Therefore he's able to evaluate an individual's contribution to society. Obviously, a controller contributes more...:rolleyes:

As trekchu said, communism will fai. Right now Britain is living of the industrial capacity they took over, standardization profits and the initial revolutionary drive of young idealists. That will not last forever. And TTL has by far more possible future competitors in those market segments Britain is engaged in than OTL.
 
And then, the basic idea already points out to another leftist idea: a true leftist just knows from his heart what is right and wrong and what the whole society should do. Therefore he's able to evaluate an individual's contribution to society. Obviously, a controller contributes more...

That sounds to me like some kind of religion, which means it will lead to the same kind of behaviour as the religious kind (extreme zeal, prosecuting 'heretics' etc including the 'chosen ones' attitude).
 
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That sounds to me like some kind of religion, which means it will lead to the same kind of behaviour as the religious kind (extreme zeal, prosecuting 'heretics' etc including the 'chosen ones' attitude).

That's exactly the attitude of contemporary Germany's Left. THEY know what is best for everybody. THEY know that they need not deign discuss their views as it is blatantly obviout that those are the only ones acceptable. Everybody who is not of their opinion is a damnable Rightist or Neo-Nazi who needs to be punished. In whatever way possible (doesn't matter if it's legal or constitutional).

This makes me want to puke.
 
could be worse, here it is christian democrats that have that attitude, not really democratic anymore (and their even in the govt), brushing aside supreme court rulings like it is nothing.
But guess it is true, every country gets the politicians it deserves....politicians the 11th biblical plague ;)
 
Nah, the first has been around since the first cavewoman agreed to being a bit more amenable to a caveman's advances for that nice piece of juicy wooly mammoth steak or that nicely carved bone figurine ;)

But I wonder if those two professions aren't intertwined so much as to be indistinguishable to normal people...^^
 
That's exactly the attitude of contemporary Germany's Left. THEY know what is best for everybody. THEY know that they need not deign discuss their views as it is blatantly obviout that those are the only ones acceptable. Everybody who is not of their opinion is a damnable Rightist or Neo-Nazi who needs to be punished. In whatever way possible (doesn't matter if it's legal or constitutional).

This makes me want to puke.


That's mostly the extreme left wing of the Green Party and the SED-succesor Party whom I refuse to name or ever consider voting for. For the most part we have the usual bunch. And for the un-constitutional things we have the BVG.
 
Its safe to assume that fanatics, extremists and idealists of any stripe tend to be annoying. Those of you who live in Europe consider yourselves lucky. Here in the US we have politicians who claim that they are on speaking terms with God and that God answers back telling them what to do, people still vote them in to office. :eek:

When I listen to news reports from overseas that sort of madness doesn't seem as prevalent.
 

abc123

Banned
Its safe to assume that fanatics, extremists and idealists of any stripe tend to be annoying. Those of you who live in Europe consider yourselves lucky. Here in the US we have politicians who claim that they are on speaking terms with God and that God answers back telling them what to do, people still vote them in to office. :eek:

Well, USA is God's-own-country, isn't it?
:D:cool::rolleyes:
 
Its safe to assume that fanatics, extremists and idealists of any stripe tend to be annoying. Those of you who live in Europe consider yourselves lucky. Here in the US we have politicians who claim that they are on speaking terms with God and that God answers back telling them what to do, people still vote them in to office. :eek:

When I listen to news reports from overseas that sort of madness doesn't seem as prevalent.

Yea i mean Europe has a lot of crazy stupid politicians and lot of political bickering but rarely God comes into it a part from the few who think they are greater than God
 
The European politicians don't need the help of god to make them look like idiots, they manage to do that all by themselves quite well. ;)
 
[FONT=&quot]The consequences of waging war are today so deeply embedded and far-reaching in nature that the military outcome has only minimal affects on it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](Rosa Luxemburg) [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The rumour was out: Rosa Luxemburg was terminally ill, her remaining lifespan numbered in weeks, perhaps in months, but not in years. There was no official dementi to this rumour, and informed persons usually declined all comments. Luxemburg herself was not available for the media; she was said to sojourn in a Swiss sanatorium near Winterthur, meticulously screened from the media.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Clever journalists like Jupp Goebbels were not wasting their time lingering around at Winterthur hoping to get a chance to interview Luxemburg. Jupp was searching the ranks of the senior PDS leadership for details. After some finessing, he had succeeded in getting an interview with Philipp Scheidemann. Scheidemann, who had retired from the office of Imperial Chancellor in 1931 after a severe heart attack, was today living comfortably in his hometown Cassel, spending his time writing books and newspaper columns and articles.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Scheidemann, who knew the star journalist well and rated him highly, had come to meet Jupp at the train station.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Let’s take a cab to my home.” he suggested. “We can talk privately in the cabin.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]While the horses were dragging the cab with modest speed towards the borough of Wilhelmshöhe, where Scheidemann’s house was situated, the two men were making conversation. Jupp knew that it would not be easy to squeeze the information he wanted out of Scheidemann; thus he didn’t press for it – but interviewed the former chancellor on his overall world view as elder statesman.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Scheidemann, always happy to be asked for his opinion, made no bones about appraising Jupp about his appreciation of world affairs – and Jupp was eagerly taking shorthand notes. After all, Scheidemann was in fact an elder statesman – and was excellently cross-linked with the current PDS leadership.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]While it was nice to know Scheidemann’s view of the state of the world, it didn’t help Jupp in gaining knowledge about the Luxemburg case. Nevertheless, this material could be useful for other purposes – and thus Jupp kept fuelling Scheidemann’s oral fluency by pointed questions.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Scheidemann, Jupp discovered, was dismayed about British expropriation and socialisation and firmly believed that the experiment would fail miserably. In contrast, he was very positive about Léon Blum’s coalition government in France. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“That’s the way we did it in Germany after the war, the only way that promises success. We had to get the bourgeoisy on board; otherwise they would have gone over to the extreme right. – One cannot rule complex modern societies with Karl Marx’ outdated theories!”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Carefully guiding Scheidemann’s talkativeness to domestic matters, Jupp eventually was closing in on the Luxemburg case. Yes, it was generally assumed that the present minister of economy, Kurt Schumacher, would become the new minister of the interior. – And Luxemburg?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Scheidemann fell silent and made a sad face. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“You have heard that she has lung cancer? – A tragedy...” he whispered finally. [/FONT]
 
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