I remember reading an account of Hitler getting updates during Bagration and Cobra and how the endless reports of unfolding disaster caused veins to appear on his forehead, his face to turn purple, and then for his entire body to start trembling until he sat down. Officers at the time feared he was having an embolism but given the amount of drugs he was on its hard to tell if the terrible news was responsible at all.
"Our Struggle": What If Hitler Had Been a Communist?
- Thread starter The Red
- Start date
I remember reading an account of Hitler getting updates during Bagration and Cobra and how the endless reports of unfolding disaster caused veins to appear on his forehead, his face to turn purple, and then for his entire body to start trembling until he sat down. Officers at the time feared he was having an embolism but given the amount of drugs he was on its hard to tell if the terrible news was responsible at all.
Md139115
Banned
My goodness, if the British government reveals that in 2045, it will far and away count as the greatest espionage operation of all time.
Deleted member 92121
Morell practiced his "Unconventional" medicine as early as in the 1920's. It was the reason Hitler took notice of him in the first place, a unconventional doctor with "Original" treatments that managed to cure Hitler's personnal photographer in 1935. If they had indeed recruited him before '35, or after, he would become the best possible spy on the planet. But i fail to see why they wouldn't use his control over Hitler's health in a more direct way. It would be a incredible waste of opportunity to just use him to get information.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Well, maybe they reckoned that a deranged Hitler would be more likely to win the war than a Nazi that would replace a dead Hitler.
Deleted member 92121
Sure, but that would assume that at NO point the british saw the death of Hitler as benefitial, wich is kinda very unlikely.
Chapter XL
"Today, we face the choice exactly as Friedrich Engels foresaw it a generation ago: either the triumph of Imperialism and the collapse of all civilization as in ancient Rome, depopulation, desolation, degeneration – a great cemetery. Or the victory of Socialism, that means the conscious active struggle of the International Proletariat against Imperialism and its method of war."
~ Rosa Luxemburg
~ Rosa Luxemburg
The backrooms of the Duisburg library was not quite what Adolf had had in mind as a centre of operations when this conflict had first started. Although the old books and folders illuminated by the lamp light had a certain cosiness to the setting, he had hoped for a larger arena where he could address the workers personally. He felt his rhetoric had come a long way since Munich, and he had been eager to employ it to a crowd. The lack of the ability to organise such an event under French noses had proven impossible, hence why he was hidden away with a small team of lieutenants that seemed to grow and then shrink after every major attack. The French were on the backfoot now, but not enough for him to become complacent and end up like Liebknecht or Eisner. He would stay out of the public view until he could be sure there was no-one in the crowd that would shoot at him, but his voice was a different matter.
Carried across the airwaves, his voice allowed him to speak to millions of Germans directly without even having to step outside, and as much as he despised the bunker mentality required by an underground conflict, his freedom on the airwaves was a release of sorts. The idea to use radio had been inspired by an Irish uprising in 1916, where the revolutionaries had tried to use radio to get their message out beyond the controlled media of the British state. Their idea had been inspired but the time had been against them, for radio had still been in its infancy, now it was very clearly becoming the information tool of the future and Adolf realised that if used properly it could become a powerful weapon in the Red Front’s arsenal. It had turned out that the futurists had been wrong about a great many things, but there remained inside him a passion for the onward march of technology.
In some ways the tactic had been too successful, for in establishing themselves as the primary resistance to the French occupation of the Ruhr, they had gained admirers of a dubious ideological background. Such was the case of the man that was now being brought into his cramped office. The man claimed to be an officer in the Reichswehr and when told to leave had revealed a letter that he insisted on delivering himself. When this had come back to Adolf he had considered shooting the man immediately, the Reichswehr had already killed too many good comrades, but the story was bizarre enough to warrant his interest. The officer could always be shot afterwards.
Although he was wearing a civilian suit it was clear to Adolf that the man was the sort of stuck-up elitist that could easily be a German army officer, there was a certain hardness to his persona that gave off the impression even more, although perhaps that was just his bald head and clean shaven face. Adolf couldn’t remember the last time he’d shaved.
“Herr Hitler, I presume?”
“That depends who wants to know.”
“I am Colonel Kurt Von Schleicher and I come with a message of the highest priority.”
“You’re of a rather high rank to act as a courier, Colonel.”
“I came personally because I wanted you to understand the importance of the situation.”
“And what situation would that be?”
The officer removed a letter from the inside of his suit and placed it on the table.
“The time has come for you to end this conflict”
Adolf looked away from the letter and scowled, “The cowardice I would expect from the agents of capitalism,” The colonel seemed unfazed by the accusation, though he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“We are the agents of Germany, as will you be, by allowing her to survive for as long as it takes for her to grow strong.”
“To strong enough to suppress the workers on their own.”
“These orders aren’t coming from me, you’ve been invited to Moscow. To meet your boss.”
Von Schleicher tapped his fingers on the letter as Adolf raised an eyebrow about this comment, he attempted to appear as aloof as the officer.
“We don’t have ‘bosses’ here, certainly not from Moscow.”
“So shall I presume that you do not want this letter from Comrade Lenin?” The officers voice were cool but his words meant to be anything but.
“You’re acting as Lenin’s postman?!” Hitler scoffed, “No doubt you’re bringing in a forgery.”
“I’m happy to say it’s not a forgery, I’m here to take you to him.”
“Back to a Bavarian prison you mean,” Hitler snorted
“How could we? Von Schleicher laughed, “your name is in the papers now, you would be out in a week. The Soviet’s are asking for you and we want you out of the country. It’s an easy compromise.”
“And if I don’t leave?”
“We tell the French where you’re hiding. If they hadn’t pissed off every German within a thousand kilometres they might have figured it out for themselves already!”
“You would sell out your fellow Germans to the French?” Spittle erupted from Hitler’s mouth, as he had begun to tremble
“The French are a disease of the skin, you communists are a disease of the soul,” The officer remained passive as he spoke, despite the reactions of those in the room. “I have no taste for the French, but if you continue to get in our way, I don’t see why we shouldn’t let them deal with you.”
The Reichswehr officer began to smile, and for a moment Hitler saw in him those who had beaten all those years ago, in the toilets of the old gymnasium, all for standing up to them. He reached for his gun, the officer didn’t flinch as he raised it to his face.
“German won’t have to endure your ilk for much longer!”
The officer stopped smiling, his eyes staring down at the barrel as he raised the letter once more.
“Of course, if I die, then you’ll never know whether this letter is fake. Wouldn’t you be curious to meet Comrade Lenin at least once in your life?”
The gun lowered, Hitler snatched the letter from the officer’s hand. Very gently, the man exhaled. The letter was from Lenin, or at least from someone with excellent handwriting. Of course this could be a trick, but if they were so relaxed about handing him over the French when why had they bothered? Adolf was puzzled, but his curiosity for the contents of the short letter were even greater:
Comrade Hitler!
Fraternal greetings and congratulations to the great strides you and your movement have made for our shared cause, your resistance to capitalist exploitation has been a beacon of inspiration for all of progressive humanity and now they only wonder, what will come next?
This question has compelled me to send this letter to you and your movement with the greatest urgency, for whilst you have dealt a great blow against international capital, there are greater ones still to come.
That is why I implore you to come to Moscow at the nearest opportunity so that we can cooperate in greater depth than correspondence would allow. Although your work in the Ruhr is of great importance, I’m sure that you will agree that the struggle of the international proletariat requires your attention as well.
Until we meet,
V. I . Lenin
V. I . Lenin
Lenin’s message was blunt, but the words had already burned an imprint on Adolf’s mind. He was nonplussed as many questions began to form in his mind: Making the Red Front a pillar of the international revolution? To go to Moscow to consult with Lenin? These were opportunities that hadn’t even been offered to Levine in Bavaria. The Red Front was working and Moscow had taken notice, the question was whether or not to go.
“You might be surprised that we haven’t read the document, but we got the general picture.” The officer’s tone was dry now, almost businesslike, “We’re willing to dispatch you to Moscow if you’ll come, in the same way we did for Comrade Lenin and his gang of misfits in 1917. We’ll give the French everything we know about this ‘Red Front’ if you refuse, if that sweetens the deal.”
Adolf was still enraged at the notion of Germans selling out Germans, but Lenin had offered him the ability to project a bigger picture, one where their truly were no nationalities, merely classes, and a global struggle that he was merely fighting on the fringes of. In Moscow, he could join the real fight.
Adolf held the letter aloft once more as he holstered his pistol.
“It would appear that you’ll live to see another day Colonel. When do we leave?”
---
The still is from Good Bye, Lenin! Go and watch it just now if you haven't already.
So, he’s both a nationalist and an internationalist? Let’s see how this trip to Moscow goes.
The only thing Von Schleicher was better at than spinning webs of intrigue was his ability to shoot himself in the foot.
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QueerSpear
Banned
Great update.
Ah, Lenin. Considering how demanding they were OTL, it's not a good idea to attach themselves to the Comintern (btw, has the Third International been founded already?) considering the only successful revolutionaries were the ones who ignored the directives from Moscow and did their own thing. The Soviets will probably order him to join the KPD.
Ah, Lenin. Considering how demanding they were OTL, it's not a good idea to attach themselves to the Comintern (btw, has the Third International been founded already?) considering the only successful revolutionaries were the ones who ignored the directives from Moscow and did their own thing. The Soviets will probably order him to join the KPD.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
I don't see why he'd want to attach himself to Moscow considering Moscow could barely take care of itself in this period.
By this point, Moscow had literally strongarmed its way to control over most of Europe's communist parties, and even taken over the entire labour movement in Norway wholesale (although they would split off within a couple of years). They'd continue to give orders to communists in western and central Europe for the entire period up to WWII (and, for that matter, afterward), and their positions on whether or not to take part in government were largely determined by whether popular front doctrine or denouncement of revisionism was en vogue in the Comintern.
QueerSpear
Banned
The arrogant atttitude and unreasonable demands from the Comintern are more likely reasons to not attach himself to Moscow. I think currently the TL is up to 1923-1924, by then the Soviet Union was in control of nearly every territory of the former Russian Empire and had effectively taken over the revolutionary left in Europe.
That's certainly going to make things very interesting.
Considering the Red Front has been doing a better job than the KPD by most measures I wouldn't be surprised if they put him in charge of the KPD or arrange something similar. Regardless of what Moscow says I doubt Hitler would feel completely constrained by it. It's also very telling that this Hitler seems to be a bit more pragmatic than OTL Hitler.
Does this mean this Hitler will be trading his mustache for a Marxian beard?
Sorry about that, there was a bit of a jump between 1920 and 1923.
