Well blood is thicker than water. There'll be some who'll be considering themselves Patriots first and foremost, regardless of who is in charge of Germany.
And then there's the Napoleonic approach: Promote veteran nonComs to officer rank.
"Our Struggle": What If Hitler Had Been a Communist?
- Thread starter The Red
- Start date
And then there's the Napoleonic approach: Promote veteran nonComs to officer rank.
I'll try and expand on the new regime's policy towards the colonies soon but Hachim was right in that it won't be anything good for colonised peoples, veterans or otherwise.
The Comintern was pretty active in anti-colonial movements around the world up until its dissolution. There was something of a hesitancy on Stalin's part to be seen as actively antagonising the Anglo-French when trying to work on collective security against Germany in the late thirties and then during post-1941 (hence why the Comintern was dissolved) but in Asia the Soviets were pretty much permanently railing against the Japanese (including the botched plan to support a Manchurian Soviet which came into fruition ITTL) and then ultimately against the western powers.
That sounds...elaborate, can you remember the source or if it gave any examples? The Soviets were happy to support non-socialist countries and groups when it suited and there were explicitly socialist groups that they weren't fond of. Have a look into the 1971 revolt in Sri Lanka if you want a headache.
There's an element of that in Petain is willing to pay lip service to monarchism without making any specific plans towards a monarchy or what claim will be favoured. At the same time Petain is more confident of his own authority and so there's less of a desire to merge all of the disparate groups together, for now at least.
Most the old Reichswehr officers have either been sacked or left of their own accord beyond a few opportunists like Guderian. The bulk of the Citizens Defence Council/People's Guard is largely people who did well in the civil war, some of whom having prior experience as NCOs or occasionally lower commissioned ranks in the First World War. Looks like @Drizzt covered this whilst I was writing.
I knew there had to be an Ernst fan somewhere amongst the readership!
I wouldn't say it's likely to be averted, the intentions towards the left-opposition and former Whites going into the Moscow trials are still likely to be there even if the general situation is a bit better and there's less paranoia because of that. Without Nazi Germany as a boogeyman it could be smaller, there's also no Heydrich to stir the pot but French/Italian/Japanese intelligence may be happy to fill in for the Nazis in that regard.
There wasn't one driving accusation given the multitude of plots alleged but the foreign perpetrators brought up tended to be the Germans or the Japanese, usually in conjunction with Trotsky, Zinoviev and associates. This was why Warner Bros 1943 film Mission to Moscow was able to depict the Moscow trials as uncovering a plot for Axis world domination to western audiences.
Of course with Trotsky as a 'guest' of Petain's new regime he has a perfect base of operations for his wrecker activities. Perhaps he orchestrated the coup in Paris as a test case for what he has planned for the Soviet Union?!
As hinted in previous updates there are a few butterflies affecting Spain, which we'll soon come to.
France's colonial troops were used as cannon fodder on the Western Front. 134,000 served there, and suffered 31,000 dead. Not total casualties: dead.
Hachim is unrepresentative in that he survived intact.
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Ah I see, And yeah, he probably is right to have that sort of Confidence, given that the Man already had his personality cult full up and running, as the wise stern Grandfather to the nation who will part the petty diffrences in the name of something Greater, FOR GOD, FOR FRANCE!!tm. Of course wether this withstands the test of time, particualy when the French start getting kicked by the germans... Well we come to that when we come to it dont we.
Ah interesting and yeah that does make sense. I think their is probably going to be some flux to say the least, as Veteran Non Com dosent nessicarrily translate into direct command material . however once they get going, its good start kicking butt... As for Guiderian, For as much as he was a self serving asshole who built the Clean Werhcmart myth and exaggerated his own importance, he was a formidable force and I do expect him to probably be one of the most competent German Officers in the begging...I look forward to his auto biography saying how he was such a bad ass Soldier and he was only in it for his country but really Revolutionary Ideolgy was justified because he was demolishing the evils of Facism and Colonialsim tm. Please forget that Mansion I may of stolen from a banker on Campagin....and then asked for all his cash.
Rest In peace Man, Rest In peace...
Ah gotcha and just looked that movie up...Just astonshing how much US media before (Hi Walter, Hows that Pulitzer doing) and during the war made this...abomination, possible.
Ah I see, so abit better but not completely scot free... I wonder whose going to avoid the bullet and whose going to get it this time around.
Looking forward to it!
It'd be interesting to see how Japanese fascism is going to develop without the influence of the Nazis and with the main European fascist nation a direct obstacle in its colonial ambitions.
The Germans might actually be a Opposition force, see how Stalin and the rest of the Communist world actually backed the nationalists for a long while...
A few decades after the war, American College Students will be wearing Heinz Guderian shirts
.Mmm, I wonder what it will be Wearboo or Tankie...or something even more hideous, a hideous lovechild of asinine Military and Political takes: a Panzerboo!A few decades after the war, American College Students will be wearing Heinz Guderian shirts
Nice chapter! It's always interesting, what's happening in a France that has gone Bleu.
And waaait a second. That Senegalese soldier... Could he be, the same one Hitler talked with? A long time ago, when the Red Front was about to start operating in the Ruhr Occupation Zone.
Adolf: "You're African. Why do you fight for France? Go back to Africa and fight for your people!"
Hachim(?): "You're Austrian. Why do you fight for Germany? Go back to Austria and fight for your people!"
Adolf: "...I hate you."
And waaait a second. That Senegalese soldier... Could he be, the same one Hitler talked with? A long time ago, when the Red Front was about to start operating in the Ruhr Occupation Zone.
Adolf: "You're African. Why do you fight for France? Go back to Africa and fight for your people!"
Hachim(?): "You're Austrian. Why do you fight for Germany? Go back to Austria and fight for your people!"
Adolf: "...I hate you."
Yeah, but he's German by blood. That's something that Hachim (?) will never be. It could be a good tool of division that the German Communists could use.
Chapter CXVIII
It cannot be expected that workers who are under the influence of those Social Democratic the ideology of class collaboration with the bourgeoisie, which has been instilled in them for decades, will break with this ideology of their own accord, by the action of objective causes alone. No. It is our business, the business of Communists, to help them free themselves from the hold of reformist ideology.
~ Georgi Dimitrov, Unity of the Working Class against Fascism
Rosa Luxemburg Platz, Berlin; April 1934
The ministerial car drove through Berlin’s streets faster than was really necessary, it was the way Chancellor Hitler preferred to travel now that he had grown accustomed to the ministerial car.
Willi Munzenberg, Minister for Economic Affairs and the car’s other passenger, would have rather continued to use public transport when moving to and fro between the Reichstag and Communist Party headquarters but he understood why two senior cabinet members might not be able to take a tram in the same way one might.
Today he was glad for the car however, the Chancellor’s current remarks weren’t fit for public consumption. Or his own for that matter.
“Reformists! Cowards! Pacifists! Idiots! We should have shot those bastards when we had the chance, now they will sacrifice the country for their arrogance. We find ourselves trapped in a coalition of treachery!”
Each curse the Chancellor made towards the United Front cabinet technically beholden to him was laced with more venom than the last. Hitler looked out into the streets of Berlin passing by the window, trying to maintain a sense of calm in the glowing sunlight of a dying, arduous day, until he started punching the door frame to the visual despair of the driver.
Munzenberg would have agreed that the cabinet meeting hadn’t gone particularly well, albeit not to that extent.
The events in France over the preceding months had provoked a war scare amongst many Germans. The response of the People’s Guard in the Rhineland and Saar Basin had been partially motivated by this and had largely been welcomed by the German people, but it hadn’t put minds at ease. Germany was now surrounded by overtly hostile powers and it seemed they might be conspiring to attack at any moment. The People’s Guard took this threat as seriously as the public and had issued a report regarding it to the cabinet. This had been the purpose of the day’s meeting, to consider a report which had made for grim reading.
The findings of the report stated that in spite of the progress made since the civil war, there was little chance of Germany withstanding a full blown French invasion. Even with the remilitarisation of the Rhineland and the occupation of the Saar Basin there was little chance of being able to hold off any large-scale offensive for long enough to offset the French advantages in airpower, armour and artillery. Although it was estimated German industry could allow the People’s Guard to match France in the long-term there was no chance of doing so immediately in such a scenario. If Italy and Poland were to attack alongside France it was estimated Germany would be overrun in a matter of weeks.
With the aim of resolving these issues the report had recommended the increased development of the current German-Soviet military cooperation up to and including a formal military alliance between the two countries. Alongside this it had called for remilitarisation to become a major focus of state economic planning in the future to bridge the gap between the People’s Guard and the reactionary powers surrounding it as quickly as possible. These were recommendations that the Chancellor approved of but his cabinet had been divided.
Alongside agreeing to the principle of one unified workers party, Hitler had sworn to President Zeigner that his cabinet would be representative of the equality between Communists and Social Democrats that made up the United Front, as it had been with Paul Levi. Although the proposals for a merger of the two parties continued to face difficulties in coming to fruition, Hitler had managed to organise a cabinet which would allow the two parties to govern as one without causing the leadership of the Social Democrats to bolt. The approaches the two parties made regarding the issues continued to diverge however and whilst the report had been alarming to them all, the recommendations had not gone down well with the Social Democratic members, or indeed some of the Communists who felt their leader had overstepped the mark in his endorsement.
Whilst the cabinet agreed on the principle of increased defence spending in certain areas and for greater cooperation with the Soviet Union, the idea of an alliance with Stalin was too much for some, as was prioritising the military in state planning. Furthermore, the way in which the People’s Guard was attempting to set economic and foreign policy drew comparisons to the way the Reichswehr had operated prior to the civil war. The entire meeting had devolved into a farce over the line between party and state and the interference of each. The question of how to get appropriate measures through the Reichstag hadn’t even been brought up when the cabinet itself was in revolt over them.
In regrouping to Karl Liebknecht Haus, Munzenberg could understand Hitler’s rage but that didn’t make him any more willing to be a party to it.
“They are miserable worms! But they will be made to suffer. They will answer to the German worker!” Rather than subject the doorframe to more punishment Hitler suddenly brought his hand to his mouth, suddenly deep in calculation.
“How many party members do we currently have?” He barked at Munzenberg, as if he were still party treasurer. Luckily he remained a man with a keen eye for numbers.
“It’s steady at over a million people if we include all composite organisations under the party.”
“And what truly is our level of interference in the state?”
“It’s more than the Social Democrats would like, if they knew the extent truly they likely would have made more of an issue of it than they have so far. It’s mostly passive however and those more active in actually building cells within said organisations are the sorts who are most hostile to the current German Workers Party proposals.”
“Forget that!” Hitler snapped.
“Well,” Munzenberg sighed, “the party wouldn’t be in a position to take power rather than merely exercise it if that is your meaning. And any hint of such to Zeigner may well ruin our relationship with one of the few SPD leaders we can actually count on.”
“Yes, Zeigner is a true comrade.” Hitler relented. His tone calmer than it was before but no less direct as he looked Munzenberg in the eyes.
“But how do we detach him from the traitors?”
“Knowing what we do about the President. I don’t think he would go in for any sort of attempt to separate him from his party, he is genuinely keen on us all being one big happy family remember. If we’re to deal with the Cabinet then it must not be unilateral.”
“But what if it were public?”
“I fear hashing out Cabinet differences in a public forum would only be of advantage to our enemies in the Reichstag. It could be enough to give Noske’s gang the ammunition they need to try and get rid of us.”
“But if the public were to know the details of the report and that there were some in the cabinet who resisted acting on it…”
Hitler was smiling now but Munzenberg could only shake his head.
“People are alarmed as things stand, the panic that would cause-”
“And the anger it would cause,” Hitler interrupted, “directed towards our enemies in the cabinet...”
“People won’t be able to see who's in the right and who’s in the wrong if they’re losing their heads!” Munzenberg exclaimed. “The way we are spending would make Keynes weep and the extent of remortgaging we have had to undertake is a financiers dream. If this were to get out there could be mass hysteria and then everything we have built could go up in flames. Hell, if I were the French that’s when I’d invade!”
Munzenberg hadn’t been able to control his outburst but now he expected another in response.
Hitler merely continued to smile however.
“Comrade Munzenberg, you seem to be forgetting. For we Communists chaos can be a gift. As long as it is given its proper regard.”
---
The painting is The Wanderer by George Grosz
France has never really held to blood based nationality though. A lot of colonial fighters were promised citizenship at times.
Wow another update and in a day I got off from work early too, certainly shaping up to be a great day!
That chapter was certainly ominous though, and I’m glad we get to see flashes of the maniacal “fuhrer” at times too- kicking and screaming when he doesn’t get his way just to remind us that for all his ideological differences for better or worse, it’s still the same little man under them
That chapter was certainly ominous though, and I’m glad we get to see flashes of the maniacal “fuhrer” at times too- kicking and screaming when he doesn’t get his way just to remind us that for all his ideological differences for better or worse, it’s still the same little man under them
Hitler, no matter what ideology he would join, is a man who thinks about nothing but his goals.
Whether that goal is a pure master race or the dictatorship of the proletariat.
You can argue whatever mental deficiencies he might have, but Hitler in any role is a man who only thinks about what he wants.
Zeigner: "We are all one big happy family here!"
Hitler: "Those damn traitors! I hate them! DIEEE!"
Zeigner: "...It's a work in progress."
Of course! After all... "Chaos is a ladder." Has Hitler considered changing to a goatee? It would go along wonderfully, with his Evil Thinking Pose.
There's always an implicit ethnos to any group of united people, whether had the ethnos existed in the past, is extant, or is in the process of forming.
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