This is one that has fascinated me for months now. WI Trotsky had won the power struggle and become leader of the Soviet Union? No purges? Would Communism in the USSR work? He showed a willingness to work with Americans (writing Stalins biography). Would the Cold War occur, or at least in a more withdrawn state? Or would he be the same ruthless tyrant as Josef Stalin.
Trotsky would have been a lot more aggressive in spreading Communism. He may overextends and cause the USSR to fall earlier. Alternatively, he may expand the Communist sphere so far it survives for much longer.
Shouldn't this be in the post-1900 section?
What people need to keep in mind is that Trotsky wasn't for USSR expansionism: he was for supporting communist revolutions in other countries. So, he wouldn't have tried to take over Europe - he would've supported European communists in overthrowing their own governments, so the new communist states could be allied with the USSR.
What people need to keep in mind is that Trotsky wasn't for USSR expansionism: he was for supporting communist revolutions in other countries. So, he wouldn't have tried to take over Europe - he would've supported European communists in overthrowing their own governments, so the new communist states could be allied with the USSR.
Which amounted to the same thing.
Not really. Compare life in Yugoslavia to life in Romania or North Korea to life in the USSR. Not only would the Communist states probably astonish the world with their ingratitude, but they need not be Soviet puppets.
Anyway, could you see a Communist League of Nations?
They would almost certainly end up as Soviet puppets.
Who? Where?
A Poland conquered in 1920? Probably. A Revolutionary China? Not so much.
This statement is rather, ah, vague.
Most of what would be Communist Europe, actually. Russian nationalism has a natural tendency to push it that way. The thought being "We gave them all this help and they think they don't have to give us anything in return. HA!"
Yeah, but that doesn't mean homegrown commies would be anything but paranoid of the USSR. Certainly Polish or German People's republics wouldn't touch vassalhood with a ten-foot pole...
What could they do about it? Russia is much larger and would be able to force its way in.
What could they do about it? Russia is much larger and would be able to force its way in.
IIRC Trotsky was against Russification of the other SSRs - so you could end up with a larger but more decentralised & confederative USSR, yeah.To be fair, it's not clear just what form Trotsky wanted for the USSR government. Into the early 1920s, it wasn't sure if the USSR would be a unitary Republic, or if it would be a confederation of Socialist states with a varying amount of autonomy. It was thought that Poland, for instance, would join such a federation.