That's like, deep man.
(I know what you're referring to but I can't pass up opportunities to get to say this in context.)
Reds fanfic
- Thread starter E. Burke
- Start date
(I know what you're referring to but I can't pass up opportunities to get to say this in context.)
I assume Cuban exiles have far weaker prospects for amnesty? Unless they actively turn against MacArthur in some way.
teg
Defectors seems interesting but UFOs tho.I vote for Blue Book.
UASR's declassification procedures will make it quite interesting.
UASR's declassification procedures will make it quite interesting.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Here's my idea on a defector from America: someone, who like my character, Emile DuMont, was angered by their aggression, annoyed by their manipulative practices, or had traditional ideas on family and gender, may be motivated to leave.
A defector to America can be anybody who honestly feels that capitalism is an oppressive society.
Would they be defecting to the USSR, the Socialist Federation of China; or somewhere in the Alliance of Free States?
Bookmark1995
Banned
That is a highly personal decision. It depends on who you are and what kind of society you want. As well as other things like quality of life and political freedom.
I think it might be worthwhile for Mr. E to consider stories in both instances that could be seen as unconventional reasons for going to or leaving from Comintern nations. For the first it might be interesting to have someone be a victim of a state security apparatus like PubSec for a trumped up charge of some kind that later turns out to be totally false. That would be a pretty effective way to break someone's idealism I think...
As for coming to the Comintern: what about someone who's totally reactionary being forced to come over? I'm not sure how that would work, or even if they would be allowed in, but it'd be pretty funny to see one of those types gaining sanctuary with people they despise.
Well, the traitor from America I'm thinking of is doing it for more personal reasons.
I know I jokingly suggested UKIP as a minor progressive FBU party, but I have rough outline in my head about their rise and fall. It just seems a bit presumptuous to start speculating of the FBU's postwar political culture before WW2 is finished.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Well, there are a multitude of reasons for moving from one bloc to another besides political conviction:
1. Family Issues:
I already provided a minor example of this: In this post, I imagined an in-universe movie where a woman reunites with her long-lost parents in pre-1978 Canada. Her family and her parents don't get along well, but the woman tries to find common ground. It is a minor example because it is vacation and not a permanent relocation.
I can imagine family events forcing people into living in a different bloc, like marriage. Like a kid growing up in England moving to America because her mother remarried an American.
2. Economic Reasons:
In the UASR, I'm sure there is a minority of people who dream of having great wealth, despite already having a decent standard of living. Maybe some grow tired of communal existence and move to Blue countries to get filthy rich.
In contrast, someone in the FBU might move to the UASR to escape poverty and get free healthcare. Or depending on how open the UASR is to foreign investment, an FBU businessman maybe reassigned to a post somewhere in the Comintern.
What is the immigration policy of the UASR? Is it an open door, or is there a cap on immigration.
3. Spite
Someone may just up and leave their nation because of spite. The reason for this spite may range from betrayal to a lack of advancement.
4. Greed
Again, not every socialist American is going to be content with their so-called utopia. Maybe FBU secret services bribe UASR agents to reveal secret information with either money or a high-paying job in general.
Yep. There are a lot of reasons for abandoning the place you call home.
I had that idea for Roy Cohn. He is paid by Franco-British intelligence to get state secrets, and then sprinted to Cuba when he is almost caught.
I'm not focusing on him, but the woman who is defecting from the UASR will be doing it for completely apolitical reasons
Two Tales of Love and Treachery
Published in the New York Times, August 4th, 2009
Revmira Malekov leaned in her chair, staring out the window in her room at the Joseph P. Cannon Housing Community in Des Moines. Her face, framed by her dark brown hair and brown eyes, hadn't changed from the pictures nearly 30 years ago. Most of her devices seemed to harken back to that era. "It's hard to catch up with 30 years of advances." She chuckled, " especially having gotten used to a different system. I'm trying though. My son helps me out." All over the house, pictures of her and her son Antonio hang all over. However, only a couple of Antonio's father, Fredrico Perez. "Not that I regret meeting or falling in love with him. Just what I did because of it."
It all began in 1987, when Mira moved to Miami. Born in Tashkent to Russian parents, she moved with her parents to Los Angeles at age 3. As many of her contemporaries would later attest, she was a fairly standard American communist growing up, having no real inkling of discontent. She concurs, but admits she hadn't really considered the importance of what she was doing. " I always did the standard activities, because my parents were doing it, and that's what I was expected to do. I never thought of its importance" After militia training and college at UCLA, having been used to the setting of Los Angeles, she decided to take a change of scenery. "I needed to have some new experiences. Something that I couldn't get in LA."
In Miami, she took a job, doing administrative work at the Transportation office. It was in Miami where she meet Fredrico. "To quote the old cliche, it was love at first sight." The square jawed, muscular Cuban was born in Santiago. A mere three years earlier, he had defected to Miami. He was now a militia trainer, helping high school graduates go through their service. Mira's feelings were reciprocated, and the two began dating."He was the most charming, kind man I had ever met.
3 years into their relationship, they were in their apartment, where Fredrico admitted that he had wanted to marry her. However, he said he had a massive secret to tell her, which could change their relationship. He was a deep undercover Cuban agent, sent to gather info on the militia training and civil service, analyzing their capacity and capabilities. He wanted to go back to Cuba to get married. While stunned, she feared what might happen to Fredrico if she turned him in to Public Safety. Thinking through it, she began to consider the idea of defecting. "I wasn't very devout to communism, I wasn't important politically, I did the bare minimum of political involvement. I think I thought maybe Cuba wouldn't be as bad as I assumed. Plus, Fred would be there, and we could be together." A few days later, she gave her answer, and on October 5th, 1991, they boarded a Westland helicopter, and arrived in Cuba.
News of her defection spread across the nation, causing a major controversy. Many condemned her, while friends and family pleaded for her to return. Some insinuated that Fredrico had kidnapped Mira. Soon, the story entered into the public consciousness. The 1992 musical Traitors featured her story, along with other famous Cuban defectors. A 1995 TV movie was made. There was a certain amount of romantisizing. The idea of someone naive who believed love trumped politics.
None of those reached her in Cuba. Isolated from American media, she found herself in a strange, unforgiving land fairly quickly. Her loose sexuality clashed with conservative Cuban society. She found that they had repressed their naural urges. "Even during the hottest summers, they refused to take off any of their clothes. I was warned not to be topless on the beach. It was strange because there were scatily clad women in the ads." She also found their society gawdy and extravagent. "They seemed utterly obsessed with wealth. All the ads, the stories, was about attaining more wealth." She was especially upset with the poverty, the fact that people were left on the streets to die, or not given any assistance.
It didn't help that Fredrico was gone for long stretches of time, assigned to other locations. She was stuck with his deeply conservative family, who disdained her, calling her "That Russian whore" behind her back. The only bright spot in her life was her son, Antonio, born in 1995. Even then, she couldn't work outside the house, because Fredrico had all the money. She was expected to stay home and merely care for her son.
She stuck it out for years because of her love for Fredrico and Tony, and the fact that she was monitored by guards due to her husband's secret agent status. What finally changed her view was Fredrico's death in 2000, while on assignment in Panama City. She was given a meager goverment stipend to live on, because of her husband's job. Fredrico's family refused to support her. With little prospects for a job, and fearing for her son, she made a decision.
Knowing she will probably be interrogated and potentially charged upon her return, she printed a list of operatives in Comintern her husband kept for reference, took some momentos in a single suitcase, and soon found a raft with other refugees. She held her son tightly during the journey.
She was immediately interrogated upon her return, with the suspicision that she had become an undercover agent. In turn, she handed them the list. That, along with the trial, which had old friends, psychiatrists, and others testify, lead to her being cleared. Though that wasn't the end of her troubles. "I was brought in two other times just to make sure. I also needed to keep a small guard around to prevent Cuban agents from killing me." She also learned that her parents had moved back to the USSR, and had died while she was in Cuba.
She has little time nowadays to consider this threat. She now works at Iowa Public Parks, raises her son, and is working on a novel. It's not about her times in Cuba, which has been dissected multiple times in interviews, books, movie. Rather, her own story of defection due to love has inspired her interest in another such story, only with the blocs switched....
(End of Part I)
------------------
The reasons this is two parts is because I'm writing this on a tablet, and it's hard to write longer pieces on such a device.
Last edited:
Bookmark1995
Banned
Ah, Love. That mysterious compound in our brains that makes us act foolish. (Just kidding)
Great story.
I got to say, the UASR is pretty lenient toward defectors who defect. Of course, the fact that Remvira stayed out of prison probably underscores her newfound gratitude toward America.
Can't wait for part 2.
Harmless one, didn't bring classified info to Cuba, and came back, of her own accord, and WITH info at that.
Why overreact?