alternatehistory.com

Here's an interesting idea. Have the postwar British Empire and the Soviet Union have close diplomatic, economic ties, and military, and have this close relationship continue even under Conservative governments. The basic idea is to have the USSR tacitly supporting the British Empire (and maybe also the French) as a counterweight to the USA. Such an alliance would appeal to both radical socialists as well as conservatives worried about Britain's declining influence on the world stage and hoping to encourage the Soviet Union to tone down their support for anti-colonial movements.

The whole colonies and imperialism thing might be a bit of an issue, but it's not as if the USSR, especially under Stalin, wasn't capable of some spectacular ideological U-turns when Realpolitik was concerned. It wouldn't be too hard to bastardise some of the things Marx said about India to justify a "progressive imperialism" view of the colonies, although that's likely to upset a lot of radical leftists, and would probably be seen as a betrayal by 3rd world Communists (the Trotskyists would also likely have a field day).

One possible PoD might be a Labour or Lib-Lab government in 1935 willing to take Bevan's calls for an Anglo-Soviet pact to contain fascism seriously.
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