AHC: LaRouche movement a serious political force

Is there any way for Lyndon LaRouche or any of his affiliates in Europe to become a political force to be reckoned with?

He already seems to have enough infrastructure and campaign experience behind him (he operates the largest private intelligence network in the world) - it's just his bizarre, self-contradictory and quasi-fascist ideology that's holding him back. Is there a country where he could win followers with his present teachings? Or an opportunity for him to get ahead in America on a local level if he moderates his views slightly?
 
Kesha Rogers (D-TX) actually did fairly well considering her associations. It's been commented on by Democratic chairman Gerry Birnberg that had she been part of a group called "LBJ Democrats" she would have probably gone much further. What if she and others in the organization had done just that and toned down the talk of conspiracies in public? And before you dismiss that there have certainly been radicals that got through the cracks in this country (e.g. Bill Johnson; communist spies like Sam Dickstein). Besides that, there are plenty of places LaRouchism could make significant gains. Russia and Argentina in particular come to mind...
 
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Kesha Rogers (D-TX) actually did fairly well considering her associations. It's been commented on by Democratic chairman Gerry Birnberg that had she been part of a group called "LBJ Democrats" she would have probably gone much further. What if she and others in the organization had done just that and toned down the talk of conspiracies in public? And before you dismiss that there have certainly been radicals that got through the cracks in this country (e.g. Bill Johnson; communist spies like Sam Dickstein).

That second part about radicals slipping in is very true, but I think the only reason LaRouche's supporters have been able to win a few Democratic primaries are because of low turnout in extremely Republican areas (the same way seemingly mentally unstable nobodies like Alvin Greene and Jim Rogers have won primaries). I doubt any of them would be able to be elected, because of the public outcry that always follows when something like that happens.

Besides that, there are plenty of places LaRouchism could make significant gains. Russia and Argentina in particular come to mind...

1990s Russia came to mind after I wrote this. What if LaRouche made contact with the National Bolsheviks? They would fit together well. LaRouche's electoral experience might come in handy - he could persuade Limonov to drop the Nazi imagery (which obviously would never fly in a country that still remembers the Great Patriotic War) but keep the rhetoric.

That means they're in a better position to win over more moderate nationalists and pose a real threat.
 

Thande

Donor
1990s Russia does seem like the best bet--LaRouche's views bring to mind a comparison with Fomenko's New Chronology, they're both about trying to claim that reality itself is a fabrication of a conspiracy that dominates intellectual discourse and has fooled people into thinking that its view is the only view. That kind of thing might well have some appeal with disenchanted Russians coming to terms with, not only the end of the USSR, but by analogy the idea that "the world of two opposing economic ideologies has ended and capitalism has triumphed as the one true way"--people might be open to ideas which emphasise "an alternative to the orthodoxy that everyone assumes to be the only option", no matter how crazy the details are.
 
1990s Russia does seem like the best bet--LaRouche's views bring to mind a comparison with Fomenko's New Chronology, they're both about trying to claim that reality itself is a fabrication of a conspiracy that dominates intellectual discourse and has fooled people into thinking that its view is the only view. That kind of thing might well have some appeal with disenchanted Russians coming to terms with, not only the end of the USSR, but by analogy the idea that "the world of two opposing economic ideologies has ended and capitalism has triumphed as the one true way"--people might be open to ideas which emphasise "an alternative to the orthodoxy that everyone assumes to be the only option", no matter how crazy the details are.

Exactly. The breakdown of the Soviet system followed by the wrenching pain of privatization and economic collapse under capitalism left a yawning ideological gap that could easily be filled by something promising a Third Way - whether it be religion, fascism or LaRouche's conspiracies. It is extremely lucky that in OTL nobody was able to take advantage of this situation.

I'd be interested in writing a TL based on this, actually, but I'm no expert on post-Soviet Russian politics. Might have to file it away for later unless someone more knowledgeable wants to take it on.
 

Ismail

Banned
(he operates the largest private intelligence network in the world)
No he doesn't. In the 1970's, 80's and early 90's his intelligence stuff was notable (although you can look at old Executive Intelligence Review articles and see how "good" said intel was) but today he doesn't have much going for him.

The problem is that LaRouche runs a political cult and is not the sort of personality who could ever take power unless the USA was put in a crisis situation and everyone else was dead.

In foreign countries the best you'd get are LaRouche-influenced groups dropping him or only formally adhering to him but otherwise going their own way.
 
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