Life After The World Revolution

So I think that most of us can agree that Communism was a flawed Utopian philosophy, irrespective of whatever merits it possessed.

And I think that further we can agree that the World Revolution posited as the natural endpoint in Marxism's Historical Determinism is rather implausible.

But what if, to some extent, it succeeded, and Communism became the dominant global ideology? By this I don't necessarily mean the Proletariat of every nation rising up and casting off their chains to join the Comintern, but perhaps a situation analogous to today with the U.S., ie, a Communist nation as the sole reigning Hyperpower, central planning and state capitalism being the strongest schools of Economic thought, and Equality becoming the global 'ideal', as Freedom and Democracy are in today's world. Or maybe one global Union of Soviets. Whatever.

What I'd like to know is - what would life and politics be like in a world where Communism won, Marx is revered, etc.? How sustainable would this paradigm be, and how soon might it fall? How would modern technology impact it? And so on and so forth. Further discussion might be worthwhile of how this state of affairs came to be - perhaps the popular 'USSA' model which runs as a current through these forums, or perhaps some other, earlier PoD?

I open the floor to you, fellow Comrades. Workers of the World Unite!
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Workers of the World Unite!

And Dyslexics of the World Untie!

(Sorry; I was bored and it seemed silly :p)

Well, I think it depends what sort of Marxist hyperpower the USSR is. If it's a Stalinist one...eww...

But if it was a Gorbachev-sort of Marxism, or the Chinese form we've been seeing (though that's more corporatist) then things would be odd.

Chances are that there would be no World Union of Soviets or anything. Powerful countries would find reasons to break over ideological points to try and assert their own supremacy.

It's weird to think of how communism could've worked out with the whole world's resources and no "capitalist-imperialist class enemies" to oppose.
 

Sachyriel

Banned
If central planning and state authority was extended to the entire world the Global Communications networks would be utilized to the effects of folding@home and similar projects, utilizing the computing power that usually runs off like water down a drain; perhaps more advances as the scientists don't have to wait for a single super-computer. Distributed computing would replace the Internet for some research projects. Many projects which you see here would be greatly expanded, probably bringing about a greater application and sooner than OTL.

While personal computers might not be a big part of everyday life, I imagine mobile devices would be given out to the public to ensure a standard network of communication and monitoring. Certain things like Google Documents, where many people can work on a single document, are the default application for many workers, who would need to gain approval from others or their superiors for a document.

However, there would be large-scale environmental problems, maybe even more so than today seeing the Communists approach to industrialization as a way to get a worker revolution. Environmentalism, if not killed in the cradle, would be a way to get dissent out of the workers mind, directing it away from a ban on hentai (ask the UN about that one;)) and onto the fact that the coal plants have to be shut down every so often and you will experience some black outs.

Another point would be space, where not many commercial opportunities lie to entice capital in our Capitalist-world, the Communistic Global Approach might be harvesting things on the moon, certainly more satellites than today as co-operation to communicate from Bombay to New York would get more results.

City planning would be a tiny bit better, though lodged in the bureaucracy we would see some bad policies. Then again, there wouldn't be $1,000,000 condos, but the standard of living might not be better than $40 a month rooming houses for a 3 person family. Detached houses in the suburbs would not be a major thing like they are today, or at least not for a single family.

Workers rights, while important for propaganda to the state, would most likely be something like what we see from China; Workers who worked in Jilin near a chemical plant fell ill en masse and the Government said it was hysteria. Patients were two to a bed and the Government didn't instantly shut down the plant.

Also while Universal Health Care may be derided as socialistic, we would only see it if you have met your quota, could produce ID and were expected to be able to contribute or were appreciated for the contributions you had already given (so no, Grandma won't die unless she was a lazy couch potato).

Public transit would be big, I can see much of the capital for transportation going to this sector, much more than what we do in OTL society. I do think we would see more trains than cars, however there would be more mag-lev trains for high-density industrial areas and they would be introduced faster than OTL. Roads still exist, however I'm guessing you would see more transport trucks, buses and emergency vehicles than state-owned limousines.

Agriculture would be boosted, though in some areas failed genetically engineered crops would be a disaster, so the Global Governments plan would not be run by a Lysenko-esque moron, but a careful committee of people who are trying to ensure that the agricultural industry can handle the amount of crops harvested, which are then put to distribution centres for handing out to the people.

I'm going to stop writing now, but this is what I think, I'm not trying to endorse a Global Government, but I don't endorse governments at all.
 
Interesting ideas, mmmeee. Your thought on gbreater environment disasters made me think - a big reason for a lot of those in the Union and in China (Aral Sea, Three Gorges Dam, etc) is the bigger Communist ideal of engineering the Planet and Social Engineering. I wonder what kinds of grand projects might be set upon if the global resources could be dedicated unimpeded to the task. Greater space eploration, as you mention, is one, but I'm sure that wouldn't be all. Possible the infamous Dam of Gibralter? It would probably have an analogous goal to the Aral Sea project - make the Sahara into good, fertile land fit for cultivation.
 
Interesting ideas, mmmeee. Your thought on gbreater environment disasters made me think - a big reason for a lot of those in the Union and in China (Aral Sea, Three Gorges Dam, etc) is the bigger Communist ideal of engineering the Planet and Social Engineering. I wonder what kinds of grand projects might be set upon if the global resources could be dedicated unimpeded to the task. Greater space eploration, as you mention, is one, but I'm sure that wouldn't be all. Possible the infamous Dam of Gibralter? It would probably have an analogous goal to the Aral Sea project - make the Sahara into good, fertile land fit for cultivation.
RE damming the Gibraltar Strait: um, if that was dammed, the Med would eventually evaporate. Not sure how that helps irrigate the Sahara...

Anyway.

Interesting idea. I agree with mmmeee0 about the horrific environmental consequences.

Obviously, there would not have been a huge banking-led economic collapse. However, what about world-wide economic stagnation?
 

Sachyriel

Banned
Sounds like fun, if you enjoy endless shortages, and waiting in long lines for everything you need.

That's only in a large Union like the USSR, the smaller the state gets the easier it is to keep track of what goes where. While the idea of this thread is World Revolution, it doesn't really mean one government messing around in everyones business, just a higher number of socialist states.
 

The Sandman

Banned
Do we actually know what sort of policies Trotsky would have carried out had he been in charge of the Soviet Union instead of Stalin? I'm assuming here that Trotsky winning the succession struggle after Lenin's death is a prerequisite for the World Revolution being started by the Russians.
 
Do we actually know what sort of policies Trotsky would have carried out had he been in charge of the Soviet Union instead of Stalin? I'm assuming here that Trotsky winning the succession struggle after Lenin's death is a prerequisite for the World Revolution being started by the Russians.

There's a lot of contradictory information regarding Trotsky and his policies, enough so that one could easily say that he would be an enlightened and progressive Democratic Communist or an Insane Monster Worse Than Stalin and have loads of statements and history to back either position up.

He seemed to be in favour of giving greater power to Elected village Soviets, desired capitalist investment in the Union and something like the NEP, he was pretty ruthless in purging the Red Army while he was in charge of it (much as his actions as head of an irregular army during a brutal civil war may not inform his actions as a Head of Government or State during peace-time {see the White Finnish government and its war-time atrocities as an example}), but he was still a very hardline Marxist and an Old Bolshevik through and through, believing firmly in a strongly interventionist Soviet Union. All the same, he wasn't insane or paranoid like Stalin, and generally seemed to like the company of competents rather than lackeys. His Union would probably be closest to Titoist Yugoslavia or Castro's Cuba OTL.

EDIT: I dislike using a Wikipedia article, but it's the only good assessment of 'Trotskyist' policy that isn't written by extremists from either the Far Right or the Far Left: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trotskyism
 
So I think that most of us can agree that Communism was a flawed Utopian philosophy, irrespective of whatever merits it possessed.

And I think that further we can agree that the World Revolution posited as the natural endpoint in Marxism's Historical Determinism is rather implausible.

But what if, to some extent, it succeeded, and Communism became the dominant global ideology? By this I don't necessarily mean the Proletariat of every nation rising up and casting off their chains to join the Comintern, but perhaps a situation analogous to today with the U.S., ie, a Communist nation as the sole reigning Hyperpower, central planning and state capitalism being the strongest schools of Economic thought, and Equality becoming the global 'ideal', as Freedom and Democracy are in today's world. Or maybe one global Union of Soviets. Whatever.

What I'd like to know is - what would life and politics be like in a world where Communism won, Marx is revered, etc.? How sustainable would this paradigm be, and how soon might it fall? How would modern technology impact it? And so on and so forth. Further discussion might be worthwhile of how this state of affairs came to be - perhaps the popular 'USSA' model which runs as a current through these forums, or perhaps some other, earlier PoD?

I open the floor to you, fellow Comrades. Workers of the World Unite!

I direct you to a little known TL called;
Reality Rosa - A world where Communism works

By a member called Cowd. It's short, sweet and been dismissed as utopian ASB but I think it's the only TL of its kind and well worth the quick read.
 
Top