Incorrectly used even today. Still that was not speech, and it's hardly written in the style of a 1930s text otherwise far more of it sounds very anachronistic. As such the author clearly intended to exclude Scotland and Ireland from the manifesto, perhaps suggesting dissolution of the UK in the future.
"Our Struggle": What If Hitler Had Been a Communist?
- Thread starter The Red
- Start date
Incorrectly used even today. Still that was not speech, and it's hardly written in the style of a 1930s text otherwise far more of it sounds very anachronistic. As such the author clearly intended to exclude Scotland and Ireland from the manifesto, perhaps suggesting dissolution of the UK in the future.
Indeed, particularly Stateside.
It can be found in countless pieces of text, literary, academic and journalistic, right up to the early postwar period. An obvious example is Orwell's The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, being as it was written around this time and is about Britain as a whole and namechecks the mythical symbol of Scotland in its title while using the word 'English'.
Here we disagree on the anachronism (it's not from a book, it's a perspective-focused narrator writing a narrative, so we can assume it's Marinelli's mind thinking of England, not any author) but observations about foreshadowing are always interesting.
As much as I love implications about Scottish independence I'm afraid that this is correct.
'I am an Italian Futurist poet, and a
passionate admirer of England. I
wish however, to cure English Art of
that most grave of all maladies-passe-ism.'
~ Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Foreword to A Futurist Manifesto: Vital English Art
Chapter V
'My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.'
~ Wilfred Owen
I remained focused at that time on the struggle between nations and peoples. Even though my understanding of these concepts were rooted in fallacies I did not yet understand, futurism offered a bridge between my convictions about the nation state and my hatred of the Hapsburg tyranny. In the same way the Italian futurists declared that the Austrian Empire was oppressing its Italians I found common cause in the Hapsburg oppression of their Germans, but the basis of their outlooks provided a greater emphasis. It seemed that this could be the way forward for the ten million Germans trapped in chains.
The advancement of technology, the expansion of industry and the new evolution of mankind that would be brought with it would not only free the German-Austrian people. In its wake, the old mother country could be brought into the twentieth century, mightier than she had ever been. This was before it became evident to me that socialism was the only true way of harnessing such advancement, a fact that has been proven time and time again by the power of the worker's industries in comparison to the decay of fascist-capitalism. As for many fellow workers, as a young man I was more focused on the caricature of the German rather than the true plight of the German worker. My enemy was not just the Hapsburgs, they lived amongst me.
I was not betrayed, though these futurist ideals were very attractive to me. The fact that the movement aimed to improve not only the nation itself but also the harmony within it seemed to be a great strength. These aims are not wrong, though it became clear in time that the movement was not interested in them. The disgraceful courting of the bourgeois and international capital had become apparent before I'd left Vienna, I who accepted their stated aims of advancement and empowerment without realising how easily those forces could be manipulated towards the enslavement of the common man.
Hence, prior to the beginning of the great imperialist slaughter you might indeed have called me a futurist but I would have protested, as I still protest. For even before the futurists disgraceful alliance with fascism or their willing veneration of the great slaughter of European youth between 1914 and 1918 they were already revealing themselves to be a cancerous element in both the Viennese intelligentsia and proletariat.
Marinetti, the self-proclaimed leader of the movement has become a mere lackey of Italian fascism. He dare not speak about against Mussolini nor does he wish to. He is content with being a higher caste of slave. He has been made a jester. ’
~ The Degeneracy of Fascist Culture, Adolf Hitler
‘Though it is officially claimed that Hitler had lost any identification with futurist ideals prior to his leaving Vienna in 1913, it seems likely that the basis of this epiphany was motivated by a bitterness over being fooled that he was being sent to defend Germany during what he refers to as 'The great imperialist slaughter' in his infamous Our Struggle and various other writings.
Hitler’s ideological zealotry is claimed to have been formed in his own words by three complementary factors, his experiences of union politics and mistreatment in the building trade whilst in Vienna, his discussions with socialist intellectuals introduced to him via Cizek, and his experiences of the war, where he suffered with millions of others in the mud of Belgium and France. There is undoubtedly some truth to these claims, despite the tenuous nature of Hitler’s autobiographical accounts and their slavish echoing for the organs of the Worker’s Republics propaganda. Though far too many, especially on the left, have contented themselves with these accounts it is not quite the full picture, as recently discovered correspondence has shown.
Hitler’s experience of trade unionism is something of a mixed bag according to letters to his half-sister in the period between 1912 and 1913, his conversations with intellectuals are also mentioned but the young Hitler seems to stress the art-related nature of the content of these discussions. It seemed that much of the political content of these discussions were mere background noise for a painter who wanted to emphasise his work. Furthermore Hitler continues to write to his friend Franz of the strength and appeal of futurist ideals despite the hypocrisy of their advocates. They detail a man in high spirits about a conflict to ensure German domination of Europe rather than a devotion to the defence of the mother country.
It seems that a man resigned to the slaughter of “great betrayal” might have been even more duped than he let on’
~ Hitler: The Man Behind the Infamy, Michael Green
---
The pai,...,sorry, the youtube video is sometimes going to serve as an opening rather than a painting. I hope everyone likes Blue Oyster Cult.
Chapter VI
'I am not a man who believes that we Germans bled and conquered thirty years ago...in order to be pushed to one side when great international decisions call to be made. If that were to happen, the place of Germany as a world power would be gone for ever, and I am not prepared to let that happen. It is my duty and privilege to employ to this end without hesitation the most appropriate and, if need be, the sharper methods.'
~ Kaiser Wilhelm II upon launching the SMS Wittelsbach
~ Kaiser Wilhelm II upon launching the SMS Wittelsbach
‘Even as they busied themselves in union affairs and café culture, the workers and petit bourgeoisie of Vienna were not blind to the major events unfolding in Europe. By the second decade of the twentieth century many feared that a conflict would be inevitable and it seems that as a young man, having recently received his inheritance, Hitler was one of those people as he witnessed Europe drifting into two massive alliances.
Joined by the hip on the European continent sat the aptly named Central Powers, with Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire principal amongst them. All these nations had their different and occasionally contrasting aims, seeking each other out as allies of convenience. The German Empire was keen to make their mark on the world after decades of Bismarckian diplomacy aimed at securing a peace in Europe. A new generation of Germans had become self-assured, harbouring imperialist ambitions and a new order in Europe more advantageous than that which had been brought about by the unification of Germany in 1871. Austria-Hungary was a lumbering giant that aspired to survive as much as conquer. The state was a multicultural community under joint oppression via the Hapsburg monarchy, threatened by internal economic and ethnic strife from within as well as from the outside. The Ottoman Empire was already collapsing and sought relief, they found reassurance in the German Kaiser, the self-proclaimed protector of Islam. The Germans were equally impressed by the actions of Enver Pasha and his fellow ‘Young Turks’, whose overt proclamations echoed a nationalist ethic that was well underway in the Balkans. In Slavic form, it was the albatross around the Hapsburg’s neck.
This threat principally came from the newly assertive Kingdom of Serbia, emboldened by its victory in the Balkan Wars and the patronage of its Russian ally. The Russian Empire faced its own internal strife but unlike the Hapsburg’s the Tsar saw this as all the more reason to rock the boat. A missionary pan-Slavism in the Balkans conveniently fit in with Russia’s goal of access to the warm water of the Adriatic Sea and influence over the straits of the Bosporus that had been threatened by the growing German-Ottoman friendship. With their pride far overextending their reality, Austria-Hungary had spread itself across the Balkans in a fit of malaise and bureaucratic inertia, emboldened by its German ally despite the growing threat from both the Russians and the Serbs. In many ways, Bismarck’s warnings of the German frigate tying itself too closely to the worm infested Austrian gallion had come true, though most within the German establishment seemed ambivalent towards this liability.
Despite his beliefs being rather contrary to our contemporary assumptions, Hitler nonetheless hated the Hapsburgs. This hatred likely stemmed from the Austrian sovereignty over lands he saw as rightfully German rather than any resentment over aristocracy or class conflict. Hitler wanted to avoid conscription into the Austro-Hungarian, not out of an unwillingness to fight in what he would eventually decry as “imperialist slaughter” but because he wanted to fight for the Kaiser rather than his Hapsburg allies, or at the very least a rather idealistic portrayal of the German nation inspired by his upbringing and contemporary futurist political beliefs.
Whilst Austria saw the danger to the east, Hitler likely held the popular opinion of most other Germans that the threat was in the west and that as such Germany needed all the allies she could gather, even if it was a moribund imperial state. Having been diplomatically isolated in the wake of German and Italian unification, France had gradually built an anti-German alliance with the Russian the British empires out of collective disdain for the intransigence of the German Kaiser. Most Germans were well aware that in France’s case containment was not enough, there were scores to be settled dating back forty years, a French lust for revenge that posed an existential threat to most Germans.
Ofically it is stated that with the new means granted to him by his inheritance, Hitler moved on from his artistic and political experiences in Vienna towards Munich, where he did not have to wait long before he got his wish to fight for Germany.’
~ Steven James The Making of the Man: Hitler in the First World War
---
The café debate was alive as always and Adolf found himself less uncomfortable in sparring than he had once been, his views would now be regularly denounced as vile by his friends and he loved them for it. He realised his strength was in their opposition, and their tendency to occasionally buy his paintings or “loan” him cash when he couldn’t sell one anywhere, although that was increasingly rare these days. Franz’s connections had finally allowed Adolf to rent out an apartment and though the two rooms weren’t much on paper it offered more respectability than the couch of a friends and more stability than the boarding house.
He was happy, as it were, even though he was becoming increasingly conflicted. It was a shame it was all coming to an end.
He had been raised to venerate German nationalist ideals, for a while they had played in the back of his mind, with his poverty they had become far more ingrained in his character. His belief in an innate superiority of being German made him feel strong inside but had it also not made him and many others overtly malleable to the ideals of those in power who also claimed to be German? Why did so many argue for the greater Germany he had been brought up to believe in when no-one was acting on it, even as Britain, France and Russia slowly encircled the Kaiser and the Hapsburgs alike?
Why had so many establishment types indulged an Italian radical like Marinetti, and why had Marinetti tolerated them even though they were exactly the sort of people he had outlined as being inhibitive in society? The answer was perplexing but it nonetheless shone light upon an inarguable that there was something dispossessing about this current form of German nationalism.
His socialist friends sneered upon all nationalisms of course despite being more German than they like to admit. Could he make them see sense when he was having his own doubts?
Rudolf was the perfect example, supporting a united Germany despite his desire for it to be socialist, their differing political views hadn’t mattered a great deal since Adolf had first met him, his friend remained relaxed in his breaks from activism and party work and preferred to talk art in any case. If there was any strong disagreement it would be in regard to foreign affairs, a topic which was difficult to escape in the early months of 1913. Both men faced the draft, though each had his own solution.
“I don’t care what the conflict is started over, be it Africa, the Balkans or China, we all know how these wars go, death and destruction for the working class and profits for the rich.”
Adolf scoffed, he enjoyed his friends conversation but his tendency to find conspiracy everywhere was tiresome. Rudolf's plans to go to Switzerland were equally frustrating.
“Come on, we’re talking about national sacrifice here. War isn’t pretty but it drives progress, we wouldn’t have had a Germany otherwise and that victory has been to the benefit of all Germans, rich and poor.”
"And you think this war will unite Germany further? Even if we're going to war to prop up this decrepit feudal state?"
Adolf had to admit he had doubts about that one, though it seemed the die had been cast already. Germany was joined at the hip with the Hapsburgs, it was better to scoff at the thought than let it sink in.
"German victory is the end of the Hapsburgs, they cannot maintain their grasp on power even if we succeed together but if we allow Russia to topple them for us they will be the beneficiaries, not the German people."
"So you'll fight with the Hapsburgs but not for them?" Rudolf was smiling but Adolf could tell that he was angling at genuine, his socialist friend could sense his discomfort and he wondered not for the first time if he wasn't coming over to his side, even unwittingly.
"If I fight for the Hapsburgs who knows if I'll be fighting Russians or suppressing German uprisings when the time comes." If Adolf's dig at Rudolf's pan-German sympathies had any impact it didn't show, his friend appeared quite happy that he'd mentioned the subject if anything.
"Oh I agree about that, I just don't see why you what the difference is with suppressing Germans for the Hapsburgs or suppressing Germans for the Kaiser?"
Rudolf had expanded on this theory before, the claims of secret deals between the French socialists and German social democrats to mutually opt out of the war sounded like treachery, especially if it left Russia unchecked in the east. Adolf could never be sure if Rudolf was teasing him, though he would play along regardless before they bid each other farewell.
"If that ever happens, we'll be on opposing sides of the barricades regardless of whether or not I'm the army!"
The days for talking would some come to an end across Europe.
---
The cartoon is originally by Punch magazine, arguably somewhat one-sided.
Though the Wittelsbach was rendered obsolete by the Dreadnought era it did see some service in the First World War before having to retreat in the face of British submarines. The ship's remaining skeleton crew were present at Kiel during the mutiny.
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I wouldn't be shocked if TTL's National Socialism is going to be more literal (i.e. both nationalist and socialist). Unless TTL's Hitler realises Nationalism's role in the upcoming Imperialists' War and turns to internationalism.
Zeldar155
Banned
It has been implied that Hitler fancies the thought of deporting the foreigners to give the germans their rightful jobs. Of course, this is still early, but I've got my money on a Socialism in One Nation kind-of deal.
I think that's the third or so TL dealing with a Red Hitler, but, from all ofthem, that's the most original and well-written I've read so far.
I presume that so far Hitler is not important enough to cause major butterflies in WW1. So I guess it'll be the same outcome here.
I'm crossing my fingers for a Communist Lithuania under Kazys Binkis. If one futurist communist can get into power, why not a second one?
And Salomėja Nėris as leader of STT.
I'm crossing my fingers for a Communist Lithuania under Kazys Binkis. If one futurist communist can get into power, why not a second one?
And Salomėja Nėris as leader of STT.
Chapter VII
'The long one does seem simple enough. It ought to mean: “Who is this who is coming?” Well, the best way to find out is evidently to whistle for him.’
~ M. R. James, 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad'
‘Hitler had been in Munich for little over a year when the news of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo sent shockwaves across Europe. It had been a time of harassment for the man who would later make a great show of his German patriotism, and regardless of the popular enthusiasm for war in the 1914, he was likely happy to headed away from the police.~ M. R. James, 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad'
Many reasons have been given as to why Hitler left Vienna for Munich in 1913, the dictator’s own explanations have changed over time and have often come across as contradictory. As far as official suspicion was he was attempting to avoid being drafted into the Austrian army, perhaps an understandable motivation given Hitler’s lifelong disregard for the Hapsburgs, though perhaps not the most glamorous one. “Draft dodgers” were given very little sympathy post-war, even if the individual could qualify their motivations for avoiding the fight.
Hitler resided in Munich for some eight months, continuing to paint his vaguely futurist style alongside various watercolours for tourists and a handful of clients. This business was not especially lucrative and Hitler could not enjoy the contacts he had benefitted from in Vienna. Nonetheless, he was apparently noteworthy enough for his business in Munich to be questioned by the Bavarian police. Hitler ultimately avoided deportation, it seems that his antipathy towards Austria-Hungary may have been mutual.
Nonetheless it seems as if Hitler did want to fight, simply not for the Hapsburgs. Though there is little testimony on his reactions at the time it is appears to be evident that he was not particularly apprehensive to the impending crisis in regards to the news coming from Sarajevo. Even prior the outbreak of war he had already enlisted in the Bavarian army.
There has been some speculation as to why it was so easy for a foreigner to join up, given that he had already been deported in early 1914 over allegations of avoiding the Austrian draft. At such a time of heightened national hysteria it would not be impossible to imagine any able bodied man being rushed into the military, there are stories of boys as young as 13 being accepted into fighting for Germany, but it is likely a definitive reason will never be found. The German establishments mix of anticipation and resignation towards a European conflict was expressed on the streets by a groundswell of pan-German nationalist sentiment that even swept up many of those sceptical about the war. It would have been an easy time for a German who just happened to have spent almost all of his life in Austria to be granted the ability to serve his ‘true’ fatherland without what might have been seen as bureaucratic dithering.
After two months of training, eventually under the command of the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, Adolf Hitler eventually set out towards the front with his new comrades. There is little knowledge of Hitler’s time at training other than one or two mentions of daydreaming as black marks on a fairly unproblematic record. Not much of a report card for what would soon become a budding revolutionary but it was unlikely we will know much more than what the Bavarian bureaucracy has already shed light upon.
Within the first day at the front, the vast majority of Hitler’s new unit had been wiped out.’
~ Steven James, The Making of the Man: Hitler in the First World War
---
‘It is perhaps tempting in writing this work to put a particularly German spin on events. I fought for the German nation for four years in the Great War but I can assure you that the fate of the Kaiser was always the least of my interests.
My interest was in the German nation and its people, and so it remains, nonetheless this work would not be complete without a frank understanding of the causes of the great imperialist slaughter. It is important to acknowledge the motivations of international capital, a crime which was not purely the burden of the exploitative Entente that now shackles German industry and emboldens the Weimar state to enslave the German worker.
In this way I am referring to what I have previously termed the Military-Industrial complex. The tragic merging of the military aristocrats to the industrial bourgeoisie in a marriage of convenience that spread as a mutually beneficial ideal throughout Europe until it inevitably broke out in mutual disaster, not for the perpetrators of the conflict but for the global proletariat forced into fighting their war for them.
In regards to Versailles to it is often dictated to the German population that the building of our previously vast navy was a needless provocation. A disgusting hypocrisy from those who flaunt their dominance of the high seas but an interesting statement nonetheless, for if German “provocation” needlessly antagonised the British why was it not considered such a blunder at the time?
The reason is simple, a giant naval campaign was sponsored by those who would benefit!
In this I refer of course to Admiral Von Tirpitz and the various business interests gathered to support the Navy League, the basis of supporting the Fleet Acts was to create profit for those who would build them and to do this an enthralling narrative was required, one of competition with the British Empire.
This alliance of industry and state was repeated throughout Europe in all major powers, the vitriol used not only to promote ever larger armies but also to cement this alliance’s dominance over any group that would have attempted to thwart them. The communists rallied against militarism throughout Europe and were accused of treachery, whilst those who lined their pockets continued to needlessly antagonise one another, blind to the risk as long as it provided greater profit.
The establishment that calls us traitors now was the same one that started the war and the same one that lost it amidst their greed and corruption. It is important that every comrade emphasise this fact.
The German people have been betrayed, it is time to mark this treachery!’
~ Adolf Hitler, Our Struggle
---
“Why are we here?”
It was a question Adolf had asked himself many times beforehand in these last months. The nights had become dark again and as he sat crouched waiting for someone to take over his watch he became all the more wary, for the grand ideals that had brought him to this point did not echo as nearly as loudly as they had in that great rush to war several months beforehand.
In the Munich square he had joyously chanted “War” along with what seemed to be all of Germany. There he was, only recently arrived, freed from the overbearing Hapsburgs to live amongst the real Germans and suddenly he had the chance to participate in the great struggle that had been predicted by so many. He had partly left Vienna in fear that he would be forced to fight for a foreign aristocracy, in Munich he had been free to prove that he was not a coward but that in this great struggle he would fight for the nation of his heritage. Such sentiments rung in his mind as he had journeyed west, now they rang very hollow indeed.
Adolf dearly missed his friends in Vienna, for it was far more difficult to have companions at the front. His unit had already been all but wiped out twice. He was not a weak sort, but he missed the luxurious chairs in the cafes where he would sit and debate the issues of the day. Now he was part of a global conflict that used artillery and mortars rather than words, and his voice was unsurprisingly silenced. The early advances of August and September had declined into stalemate and with it the entire reality of the conflict became readily apparent.
Futurism had promised the world a birght future, one which men and technology would be seamlessly combined to create a better future. Now he had seen the implications, he was beginning to wonder whether Marinetti should have been warning people rather than encouraging them. He had seen men from torn limb from limb by hot metal as their dwellings blew up around. Sometimes it was hard to tell what the remains were. Did heads have a hinge? The real winners of this war didn't seem to care.
The rats were everywhere, they were eating the corpses and with plenty to feast upon the vermin had become as large as cats. Even in this giant size they could usually be beaten away easily enough when directly discovered, the same could not be said for the lice. Even as he sat stationary he could feel them all over him, most of his comrades in the damp trench had driven themselves had mad trying to beat them out, Adolf included. In the end all had realised the notion was futile. The lice and rats were here to stay for as long as the Germans were, and that amount of time seemed to be indeterminate.
Adolf had been swayed along with the triumphant proclamations of a short war despite his deeper feeling that the conflict would allow a national consciousness to emerge, a popular uprising that would sweep out the old institutions and replace them with a new Europe under German guidance. It wasn’t a dream that had died as much as one that had been replaced by mundanity. Keeping socks dry, boots repaired, your stomach vaguely filled on meagre rations. These trumped his greater nationalist concerns and he couldn’t help but feel resentment towards the men that put him there, not because the war wasn’t necessary, but why were the old orders still being allowed to stuff their faces whilst he and his comrades always seemed to be half-starved.
His comrades, the new comrades who might be dead tomorrow just as soon with new men coming to replace them, such was the reality of the trench. He pondered whether Franz would have approved of their conversations. He was popular for different reasons here. Adolf didn’t smoke, though he still received a tobacco ration and by default he was a popular man. There were endless reasons to smoke amongst the eternal hellfire of the British and French artillery.
For a fleeting moment he wondered whether it was worse that they were firing upon him, or that their commanders had put them there to be fired upon in the knowledge they were exposed. He tried to cancel out such a thought immediately.
Nothing good could come of such doubts.
---
The painting is a part of La Mitrailleuse by Christopher Nevinson, like many futurists he served in the First World War and lost all idealism during it. His technological utopias have now become apocalyptic scenes of men who've lost their humanity.
There is at least one recorded case of a thirteen year old joining the German army. Josef Zippes' body lies in Neuville-St. Vaast, near Arras, in the German war cemetery. His gravestone is written in Hebrew.
Well, he serves in the same unit (6th Bavarian Reserve Division) as his OTL counterpart, so that's a start.
Yes, Hitler's in the same division and roughly the same area of the front but he's in the midst of the combat ITTL.
I know that being a courier was a risky job but to my knowledge it wasn't as relentlessly horrific as perpetually sitting under fire.
If Hitler had been a leftist, he might have been less conservative in his artwork (he insisted on staying tied down to romanticism, he had the skill but not the inclination for the contemporary art movemeny) and actually managed to draw positive attention to stay in art school in Vienna. We might see only art historians knowing of Hitler.
Well, apparently futurism has only one vital weakness - getting accepted into Habsburg art schools.
Should've picked impressionism, Schiklgruber.
I presume that so far Hitler is not important enough to cause major butterflies in WW1. So I guess it'll be the same outcome here.
I'm crossing my fingers for a Communist Lithuania under Kazys Binkis. If one futurist communist can get into power, why not a second one?
And Salomėja Nėris as leader of STT.
Futurism in Eastern Europe was handled somewhat differently, in my view correctly, but you'll have to wait and see.
Well, I do know that it was very big in Lithuania, but I won't irk youFuturism in Eastern Europe was handled somewhat differently, in my view correctly, but you'll have to wait and see.
Thanks! I've seen the question brought up before but I can't say that I've seen any actual TL's?