DBWI: 1926 General Strike doesn't end in Socialist Revolution

so, as we all know, the British Radical Left movement was very strong in the late 19th and early 20th century, with it being strongest in the years following the Great War. However, they were largely a collection of divided socialist movements split on theory. they hated themselves almost as much as they hated the bourgeoisie.

But then James Connolly decides against returning to Ireland in 1910, seeing that developing the socialist movement in Britain could liberate Ireland better than cooking up an uprising against the occupying army. Based on his experiences in America with the SPLA, he forms his own take on Marxism-DeLeonism called Marxism-Connollyism (not too familiar with his take on it, I think it involves more participatory planning, internationalist patriotism, democratic centralism in the party, and a stronger strain of revolutionary militarism?) he manages to create the Workers Liberation Communist Party along with fellow socialist John Maclean, and unites much of the British Left under Connollyism or other forms of Syndicalism. Being a former British soldier, he personally creates e Party's Paramilitary, known as the Spartacus Revolutionary Front.

When the 1926 general strike went out, the WLCP called for a militant general strike of all the working class, and it worked. The government decided to call up the army to crush them, but the rank and file weren't into it. Much of the Army deserted, and quite a few regiments (most notably the Royal Highland Regiment and the Manchester Regiment) defected over to the WLCP's popular front. By late May, all of Britain is under WLCP control, and the U.K. becomes the Socialist Worker's Republic of Britain under Premier Connolly and his Deputy Premier John Maclean. The rights of minorities and women are enforced by the new government, and the economy becomes a participatory planned Syndicalist economy. Democracy remained a hallmark of the system.

By the early 1930s, Britain had an incredibly powerful military, retaining much of its industrial strength. Ireland is liberated, with several British Workers Revolutionary Army divisions assisting the IRA in defeating the Royalist remnants. Ireland becomes Connollyist, with James Larkin and Michael Collins become the Premier and Deputy Premier and Jack White becoming the People's Secretary for Defense. After the crash of 1929, America has a revolution and it becomes DeLeonist, under Premier William Z. Foster. The Revolution spreads to Canada, Mexico, and Australia become socialist, etc.. Etc... We've all heard this before.

France gets scared of revolution, starts oppressing labor movements, enacts Keynesian reforms, and builds up its military. Stalin gets purge happy in Russia due to internationalism being on the rise, and the CPSU and Red Army become greatly weakened because of this.


WW2 starts in 1940 and Britain and America spearhead the fight against the Nazis and Japanese, eventually having to invade both Germany and the Japanese islands. WW2 ends with the Allies (France, Brazil, China, and India) and Comintern (Britain, America, Ireland, Soviet Union, Canada, and Australia) victorious over fascism.

However, the Cold War starts up after Russia suffers from another civil war after Stalins death (with the White forces funded by France) and the USSR falls, with a French-allied Russian Republic being set up in its place. India and China (whose KMT nationalists ended up defeating the Communists under Mao) also ally with the French and Russians. And then, there's the world as we know it today, with the Comintern (Britain, Ireland, North and South America save Brazil, Japan, and the Philippines) and the Popular-Democratic Alliance (France, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, India, and China) locked in a global Cold War.

I'm sorry for the history lesson, but I feel like I had to list it all out to truly figure out how different the world would be for our WI, ad that's this: what if the 1926 general strike didn't end in revolution? What would have to happen to for it to fail?
 

orwelans II

Banned
With no revolution in England, is it possible that the then UK would side with the Nazis in order to help them take out the USSR?
 

James G

Gone Fishin'
This is very far from the usual way DBWIs are done. The best of those come from the abilty of the second post to lead the direction of the thread. With this first post it might as well not even be a DBWI but just a vignette.
 
I'd think so, considering Oswald Mosley and the BUF were a major influence on the Anti-Communist forces in the revolution.
OOC: If the revolution was in 1926 then the British Union of Fascists wouldn't have been around. Furthermore, Mosley would have still been in the Labour Party and one of the rising figures of the British left, so it is entirely possible that he would have been on the side of the revolution.
 
The criticism is meant in a constructive manner.

Ahh, I see.

My biggest deal with this particular DBWI is that whenever Communism comes into play, it's always hardcore totalitarianism on par with Stalin. It's dumb, boring, and it's why I hate Kim Newman's back in the USSA. So I really just wanted to set a background for it, that way we could avoid the usual "gulag" bullshit.
 
OOC: If the revolution was in 1926 then the British Union of Fascists wouldn't have been around. Furthermore, Mosley would have still been in the Labour Party and one of the rising figures of the British left, so it is entirely possible that he would have been on the side of the revolution.

Now that would be interesting. A leftist Mosley?
 
never played Kaiserreich, so I wouldn't know,

>he's never liberated the UK

>he's never lived the longest day

>he's never restored liberal democracy to a world divided by autocrats and communists

RQPBHF0.png


Seriously check it out it, the lore is really well developed. A big difference between your timeline and Kaiserreich's though is that Connolly leads a non communist anti-British Republic.
 
>he's never liberated the UK

>he's never lived the longest day

>he's never restored liberal democracy to a world divided by autocrats and communists

RQPBHF0.png


Seriously check it out it, the lore is really well developed. A big difference between your timeline and Kaiserreich's though is that Connolly leads a non communist anti-British Republic.

I gotta say, that made me chuckle. Definitely playing this.
 
>he's never liberated the UK

>he's never lived the longest day

>he's never restored liberal democracy to a world divided by autocrats and communists

RQPBHF0.png


Seriously check it out it, the lore is really well developed. A big difference between your timeline and Kaiserreich's though is that Connolly leads a non communist anti-British Republic.
Fairly sure it's Michael Collins leading the Irish Republic. Also the far-left are Syndicalist, not Communist.
 
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