I want to write a story set in a TL where Great Britain leads a league of European communist states, Russia is a constitutional monarchy, and the USA is, well, the USA.
I was thinking about a POD. Could one of the Tsars between 1800 and 1850 have become enamoured of liberal Western thought, such as that of Locke and Rousseau. He could travel abroad, catch the liberalism bug, and start use his power to slowly reform Russia.
Also, I think that this TL's George V doesn't manage to update the British monarchy—he's just a hard-ass. This leads to workers' unrest in WWI and the eventual overthrow of the British government.
I'd like suggestions as to potential progressivist tsars and also possible leaders of Communist Britain.