Kollontai/Trotksy duopoly Succeeds Lenin.

[eliphas8]

What it says on the tin, what do people think of the idea of a Duopoly emerging from the leadership of the Left Opposition and Workers Opposition in the Soviet Union. With Trotsky giving in on the idea of union control of the factories rather than direct state power.

 

[David T]

Kollontai was simply not a serious contender for power. And Trotsky--whose advocacy of statification of the trade unions went too far even for Lenin--was hardly a likely ally of the Workers Opposition...

 

[GeographyDude]

With Trotsky giving in on the idea of union control of the factories rather than direct state power.

and this would have made for a far different Soviet Union

 

[yourworstnightmare]

Weren't Kollontai and Trotsky quite far from each other ideologically?

 

[Masteroftheuniverse]

This idea seems rather doubtful to me- neither Trotsky nor Kollontai were well liked by their colleagues and they didn't think much of each other either.

 

[Richter von Manthofen]

Stalin was a very caotious man when itt cam to foreign affairs - Trotzky was advocating "world revolution" - Would a Trotzkyist SU have started wars to spread the revolution?

Would this have seen as threat enough to lessen Versailles - as the
Entente would see a strong Germany as bulwark against Communism?

I smell a potential timeline...

 

[wilji1090]

Basically, if Hitler's still in power, we might see the USA begrudgingly championing "Uncle Adolf" as the bastion of freedom from the Red Menace

 

[Keb]

Would this have seen as threat enough to lessen Versailles - as the Entente would see a strong Germany as bulwark against Communism?

That was a close enough thing OTL, there was a German proposal during the disarmament conference that would allow the Wehrmacht to abolish the Versailles limitations (with the explicit agreement to match the pace of disarmament with the rest of the signatories, albeit with a starting pool set up so that the Wehrmacht could be expanded into a significant force first). OTL, the proposal actually got the approval of the representatives of Italy and the USA, with the British being willing to consider it, provided France agreed.

The French were in the middle of an election cycle at the time, though, and several opposition politicians in Germany sent messages that any future German government might be willing to accede to the disarmament treaty without such demands. The French eventually ignored the request and the Germans went away, defeated. The following, 1932, election did put a new government in power, but not a friendly one.

Of course, a more aggressive Soviet Union might stop this entire debate, but the will was there for the most part (except with France).