Reds fanfic
- Thread starter E. Burke
- Start date
Bookmark1995
Banned
During the Second World War, American soldier compounds in Alliance countries would be temporary. Americatowns are permanent settlements, and a post-war phenomenon.
After the freezing of post-war relations, I don't think Americans would eager to settle capitalist nations in large numbers. Remember, they can only exist because of a reduction of travel barriers between Comintern countries, and a willingness of Comintern nations to relax social laws for American migrants. Not to mention Americans seeking the social services they find in their own countries
I don't think the Alliance could create those conditions, thus there is no large scale Socialist American migration to Alliance countries.
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A riff of sorts on an increasingly popular AH trope.
HWBN
HWBN is a Cuban-based international television news network, owned primarily by the HRH Corporation, through its television subsidiary, RKO Television It is headquartered in Santiago, and airs 24-hour via satellite in Cuba, Australia, and the Franco-British Union. It also has subsidiaries in Brazil and India.
The network originally began as the brainchild of two men. Robert Henry Winborne Welch, Jr., a businessman with his brother James' eponymous candy company "James O. Welch Company", NSF Congressman, and almost religiously anti-communist, had grown concerned particularly after the status quo antebellum conclusion to the Horn of Africa conflict. His concerns grew, when he, as a member of the National Salvation Front, came to the FBU, only to find the "stench of socialism still rotting about." He soon channeled this intense fear when he founded the magazine, The American Conservative, in 1951. Later renamed The Conservative, the publication served as Welch's mouthpiece on politics, and particularly, his rants against the "traitor government in the mainland" and "the international communist conspiracy." While sharing a distinct anti-communist, staunchly conservative view of most Cuban papers, The Conservative was mostly distinguished by its paranoia (positing a global conspiracy was behind the Second American Revolution and its success), and its chastising of the FBU and the newly founded AFS for their "lackluster" approach to combating global communism. It proved successful and very influential in uberpatriotic Americuban circles (rumored to have been read by some of the highest ranking officials in the Cuban government), and soon, began publishing in the FBU. It would wholehearted endorse the crusade of MP Waldron Smithers, who called for a "thorough investigation" of communists within institutions such as the military, the BBC, and the Foreign Service. It would also run the notorious "Red Channel" section, which would list figures in the capitalist entertainment business as "potential communist or communist sympathizers", which formed a key part of the early blacklist in the Franco-British film industry.
Spurred by his success with the magazine, and taking advantage of the newly introduced medium of television, Welch created the television program "One Man's Opinion" in 1958 on Cuban state television, where he would give his personal opinions about various topics. He attained minor success as an run-of-the-mill talk show host who endorsed the policies of the MacArthur regime, and his show would be rebroadcast on the BBC. After MacArthur's death in 1964, he became a major backer of the "old guard" NSF faction led by Howard Buffet and Fred Trump. Still, he felt the Cuban and British news services didn't adequately deal with the growing threat, and wanted a "news station which embodies the true spirit of freedom." This corresponded with his growing paranoia. His global communist conspiracy grew. In 1965, he published The Politician. In it, he stated that the Franco-British government was "being infilitrated by communist sleepers and communist sympathizers since the Second World War." Particularly controversial was him calling Robert Kennedy "a dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy", using spurious connections with his brother back on the mainland to back this. This would end his television career, as his show was taken off the air due to the controversy, and many former allies would distance themselves from him. However, his goals would be bailed out by a bigger source.
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was a fairly prominent businessman and Hollywood producer, who fled to Britain with his tool company and other interests in 1932, fearing what a Norman Thomas victory would hold for his company. He would later become a major aircraft developer in Britain through the 30's and 40's, with his companies "Hughes Aircraft" designing commercial and military planes (with less than stellar results at times). However, he also held close business ties to Cuba, owing to his large stake in Pan-American Airways, and his real estate and casino developments throughout the island. In 1948, he had wanted to get back into the movie business, and purchased stocks in b-list Cuban movie studio RKO, and within 6 years, managed to gain near total control of the studio. In the 60's, he wanted to use RKO as the cornerstone of a larger media empire, especially with the increasing TV station divestments from the Cuban and Franco-British governments (and having to sell off his stake in Pan-Am due to a conflict of interest with Hughes Aircraft). In 1962, he purchased several television stations in the south of England, and north of France, as well as several in Cuba, and formed "RKO-TV", a new network. At first, it would just re-air movies from RKO's extensive library (and would sometimes just repeat Hughes' favorite films on his whim). However, then, Hughes learned of Welch's firing. A fan of his work, he approached Welch with reviving the show on RKO-TV. This time in color. Welch accepted the deal, and One Man's Opinion went back on the air in 1968, offering the first original content for the network.
The new deal between Welch and Hughes was solidified by a full news program, which Welch and Hughes felt could combat the "leftist sympathy" (i.e. objectivity) in coverage of Comintern and socialist movements in non-capitalist nations. RKO-TV debuted The Daily Report in 1971 to air right after Opinion. While not as politically charged, it still held a distinct right-wing viewpoint, not only against communists, but also minorities and trade unionists. The two programs gained a massive audience with radical traditionalists, which, despite the protests of moderate conservatives and especially leftists, it was enough for an entire channel to be formed on the new technology of "cable television", which was spreading at the time.
"The Hughes-Welch Broadcasting Network came into being in 1975, with more programs, dedicated ostensibly to news. By then, the Hughes company had begun to take over more of the operations of the network. Welch's paranoia was only growing. His conspiracy went now even beyond communists. He began to see a pattern which stretched back to the French Revolution, then to the formation of the Bavarian Illuminati, and even further to ancient Sparta. He had begun stating the world's governments were controlled by a "Secret Brotherhood ", which was responsible for the rise of communism. Hughes himself, while having been reclusive over the past few years (rumors abounded of urine jars and watching the film Ice Station Zebra in a constant loop)[1], reportedly distanced himself from Welch's rhetoric, and his company would begin to convince him to hand over more stakes in the network. One Man's Opinion was slowly scuttled to 9 PM, while more mainstream right wing shows took center stage.
Hughes died in 1976 at the Georgetown hotel where he had lived for several years. In the next few years, the network would become a staple of Franco-British cable. Following the 24 hour model that America had begun following, and by 1984, it had moved from cable to satellite, becoming a 24 hour news station. Following Welch's death in 1984, his brother James (right before his own death a month later) arranged for his remaining shares to be sold to HRH, giving it full control. It and its sister network RKO-TV were placed under the banner "RKO Television" in 1987.
Now in its 40th year, the channel provides a more right-wing perspective, and has significant ties to the America First Party in Cuba and the People's Alliance and the Liberty movement in the Franco-British Union. It features show such as Counterpoint with Peter Hitchens and The Report with Peter Oborne.
[1]Apparently, the novel Ice Station Zebra was based on was written by a Scot, and published in the UK OTL. So, it's a British film TTL.
HWBN
HWBN is a Cuban-based international television news network, owned primarily by the HRH Corporation, through its television subsidiary, RKO Television It is headquartered in Santiago, and airs 24-hour via satellite in Cuba, Australia, and the Franco-British Union. It also has subsidiaries in Brazil and India.
The network originally began as the brainchild of two men. Robert Henry Winborne Welch, Jr., a businessman with his brother James' eponymous candy company "James O. Welch Company", NSF Congressman, and almost religiously anti-communist, had grown concerned particularly after the status quo antebellum conclusion to the Horn of Africa conflict. His concerns grew, when he, as a member of the National Salvation Front, came to the FBU, only to find the "stench of socialism still rotting about." He soon channeled this intense fear when he founded the magazine, The American Conservative, in 1951. Later renamed The Conservative, the publication served as Welch's mouthpiece on politics, and particularly, his rants against the "traitor government in the mainland" and "the international communist conspiracy." While sharing a distinct anti-communist, staunchly conservative view of most Cuban papers, The Conservative was mostly distinguished by its paranoia (positing a global conspiracy was behind the Second American Revolution and its success), and its chastising of the FBU and the newly founded AFS for their "lackluster" approach to combating global communism. It proved successful and very influential in uberpatriotic Americuban circles (rumored to have been read by some of the highest ranking officials in the Cuban government), and soon, began publishing in the FBU. It would wholehearted endorse the crusade of MP Waldron Smithers, who called for a "thorough investigation" of communists within institutions such as the military, the BBC, and the Foreign Service. It would also run the notorious "Red Channel" section, which would list figures in the capitalist entertainment business as "potential communist or communist sympathizers", which formed a key part of the early blacklist in the Franco-British film industry.
Spurred by his success with the magazine, and taking advantage of the newly introduced medium of television, Welch created the television program "One Man's Opinion" in 1958 on Cuban state television, where he would give his personal opinions about various topics. He attained minor success as an run-of-the-mill talk show host who endorsed the policies of the MacArthur regime, and his show would be rebroadcast on the BBC. After MacArthur's death in 1964, he became a major backer of the "old guard" NSF faction led by Howard Buffet and Fred Trump. Still, he felt the Cuban and British news services didn't adequately deal with the growing threat, and wanted a "news station which embodies the true spirit of freedom." This corresponded with his growing paranoia. His global communist conspiracy grew. In 1965, he published The Politician. In it, he stated that the Franco-British government was "being infilitrated by communist sleepers and communist sympathizers since the Second World War." Particularly controversial was him calling Robert Kennedy "a dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy", using spurious connections with his brother back on the mainland to back this. This would end his television career, as his show was taken off the air due to the controversy, and many former allies would distance themselves from him. However, his goals would be bailed out by a bigger source.
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was a fairly prominent businessman and Hollywood producer, who fled to Britain with his tool company and other interests in 1932, fearing what a Norman Thomas victory would hold for his company. He would later become a major aircraft developer in Britain through the 30's and 40's, with his companies "Hughes Aircraft" designing commercial and military planes (with less than stellar results at times). However, he also held close business ties to Cuba, owing to his large stake in Pan-American Airways, and his real estate and casino developments throughout the island. In 1948, he had wanted to get back into the movie business, and purchased stocks in b-list Cuban movie studio RKO, and within 6 years, managed to gain near total control of the studio. In the 60's, he wanted to use RKO as the cornerstone of a larger media empire, especially with the increasing TV station divestments from the Cuban and Franco-British governments (and having to sell off his stake in Pan-Am due to a conflict of interest with Hughes Aircraft). In 1962, he purchased several television stations in the south of England, and north of France, as well as several in Cuba, and formed "RKO-TV", a new network. At first, it would just re-air movies from RKO's extensive library (and would sometimes just repeat Hughes' favorite films on his whim). However, then, Hughes learned of Welch's firing. A fan of his work, he approached Welch with reviving the show on RKO-TV. This time in color. Welch accepted the deal, and One Man's Opinion went back on the air in 1968, offering the first original content for the network.
The new deal between Welch and Hughes was solidified by a full news program, which Welch and Hughes felt could combat the "leftist sympathy" (i.e. objectivity) in coverage of Comintern and socialist movements in non-capitalist nations. RKO-TV debuted The Daily Report in 1971 to air right after Opinion. While not as politically charged, it still held a distinct right-wing viewpoint, not only against communists, but also minorities and trade unionists. The two programs gained a massive audience with radical traditionalists, which, despite the protests of moderate conservatives and especially leftists, it was enough for an entire channel to be formed on the new technology of "cable television", which was spreading at the time.
"The Hughes-Welch Broadcasting Network came into being in 1975, with more programs, dedicated ostensibly to news. By then, the Hughes company had begun to take over more of the operations of the network. Welch's paranoia was only growing. His conspiracy went now even beyond communists. He began to see a pattern which stretched back to the French Revolution, then to the formation of the Bavarian Illuminati, and even further to ancient Sparta. He had begun stating the world's governments were controlled by a "Secret Brotherhood ", which was responsible for the rise of communism. Hughes himself, while having been reclusive over the past few years (rumors abounded of urine jars and watching the film Ice Station Zebra in a constant loop)[1], reportedly distanced himself from Welch's rhetoric, and his company would begin to convince him to hand over more stakes in the network. One Man's Opinion was slowly scuttled to 9 PM, while more mainstream right wing shows took center stage.
Hughes died in 1976 at the Georgetown hotel where he had lived for several years. In the next few years, the network would become a staple of Franco-British cable. Following the 24 hour model that America had begun following, and by 1984, it had moved from cable to satellite, becoming a 24 hour news station. Following Welch's death in 1984, his brother James (right before his own death a month later) arranged for his remaining shares to be sold to HRH, giving it full control. It and its sister network RKO-TV were placed under the banner "RKO Television" in 1987.
Now in its 40th year, the channel provides a more right-wing perspective, and has significant ties to the America First Party in Cuba and the People's Alliance and the Liberty movement in the Franco-British Union. It features show such as Counterpoint with Peter Hitchens and The Report with Peter Oborne.
[1]Apparently, the novel Ice Station Zebra was based on was written by a Scot, and published in the UK OTL. So, it's a British film TTL.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Does the Hughes channel use powerful transmitters to broadcast into the mainland US? I bet Cuban Americans watch them just to jeer at the idiots who stole their country.
In their early days, they did try to transmit to Florida, in an attempt to "get the message to the homeland", but those transmitters were shut down as part of the conversion to satellite.
I think alternate histories where Nazis won are unpopular in UASR.I forgot where i read it,but the reason Nazi victory stories are popular is because Britain and the US was never occupied and occupation in Western Europe was relatively light(Oradour-sur-Glane came to mind,though) compared to the horror show that is the Eastern Front.
ITTL many American writers would witness firsthand,or read/listen accounts of Nazi brutality instead.Dunno about in the FBU sphere though since metropolitan France is a somewhat willing Axis partner here.
Also fringe people will always exist,whether they're popular is another story.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
I feel like Joe McCann, the famous Official IRA trooper during the troubles, might become a famous figure in the UASR. I might do a movie based on his life.
A question for all Americans - if you live in Chicago, then in which university you should study history / philosophy / philology. Well, geology just in case.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Speech Given by Former Irish Ambassador to the UASR Sean Fitzpatrick, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, March 10, 1998
The greatest mistake every young diplomat makes is assuming that the Communists are all a single, monolithic bloc. Of course, your not to blame for thinking that. Your parents and your priests used words like "regimented hordes" and "godless barbarians united in our destruction" to describe the Reds. The nuclear drills have made you see the Reds as boogeymen ready to swat you. The maps all color the Comintern as red, making us believe they think the same. Or maybe it's those Irish Communists who keep sending you mail asking you to join Socialist Brotherhood.
But understand, The Reds are not anymore united than the Blues are. Sure, the British Prime Minster and the Indian President will shake hands but you can make a drinking game every time a British lord moans the story of another Indian who made a billion pounds (chuckls hearde). Underneath the image of Socialist World Unity are chinks the armor of Communism born from history.
In my 37 years as a diplomat, I spent 25 of those of years working in Comintern nations. Enough time, and you learn the relationship between each Red nation is more complicated than brotherhood. My first assignment abroad was as an aide to the envoy to Red Italy, in 1953. When I met the customs official who stamped my passport, a woman, I was shocked. Having been reared in Ennistymon, I rarely ever saw a woman not in a dress, and here was a woman in uniform. Of course in Miami, you rarely see the women in anything.
(audience laughs louder)
While most Red Italians are known for their subversive beauty, the woman had huge bags on her eyes. I thought that woman was just a workaholic, but many of the Italian officials I communicated with all had signs of overwork, from tired eyes to many cups of coffee they drank. After a few months in Venice, I befriended an Italian policeman name Vittorio Gotti, who also had signs of exhaustion. He willingly worked a beat of 15 hours. I asked why, he admitted to me that he had been a Blackshirt.
(gasps from the audience).
Yes, I know. He even served as a military liaison to the German Reich in the Eastern front. He was captured in 1944 in the Ukraine, and he believed he was going to be executed. He was surprised to see the mercy shown him by the Reds, as were his own comrades. After five years, he was released from a POW camp and had become a dedicated Communist. He told me the officials who looked exhausted were likely former fascists who had undergone re-education [1]. Many of the officials who ran the Red Italian government were often former fascists.
Blue Italians remark that these men were simply "cowardly sycophants who took Red Silver Shekels to wear Red Chains." These men had tried to slaughter the Reds to the last man, so they expected the Reds to return the favor, only to get a second chance. The enthusiasm of Red Italians in those days came not from a quasi-religious belief in Communism, but from a desire to serve the men and women who had shown them mercy, and a feeling of atonement.
In any former fascist regime that turned Red, like East Germany or Japan, there is a culture of atonement, as many postwar leaders in these countries were once the servants of fascism who sought redemption. And this culture persists today. Japanese and East German children, for example, have the crimes of their ancestors drilled into their minds. Hungarian teenagers still go to the death camp museums in Poland for their student vacations. They seem less like brothers, and more like a man spending his life trying to serve a family he had wronged.
....
One of the worst misconceptions is the image of the Soviets and Americans as two united brothers who only differ on the means to an end in achieving world revolution. Or as the Americans would say, "good cop, bad cop", with the Americans as a the "good" and the Soviets as the "bad".
But the reality is different. The Soviets are in reality, deeply insecure about their place in Comintern. This insecurity can be seen when you compare an American parade vs. a Soviet parade. In a Soviet parade, the music is louder and more bellicose, and there are more people showing off their medals. The Soviets seemingly have shorter tempers. But again, its because they feel inferior to Americans, despite being the birthplace of the worker's revolution.
In biblical terms, their relationship is like that of Esau and Jacob: Esau was the eldest brother, and the chosen successor, but he was sidelined by a younger brother who had more dedication to the cause then he did. Sure Jacob and Esau made up, but there is still tension between the two.
The greatest mistake every young diplomat makes is assuming that the Communists are all a single, monolithic bloc. Of course, your not to blame for thinking that. Your parents and your priests used words like "regimented hordes" and "godless barbarians united in our destruction" to describe the Reds. The nuclear drills have made you see the Reds as boogeymen ready to swat you. The maps all color the Comintern as red, making us believe they think the same. Or maybe it's those Irish Communists who keep sending you mail asking you to join Socialist Brotherhood.
But understand, The Reds are not anymore united than the Blues are. Sure, the British Prime Minster and the Indian President will shake hands but you can make a drinking game every time a British lord moans the story of another Indian who made a billion pounds (chuckls hearde). Underneath the image of Socialist World Unity are chinks the armor of Communism born from history.
In my 37 years as a diplomat, I spent 25 of those of years working in Comintern nations. Enough time, and you learn the relationship between each Red nation is more complicated than brotherhood. My first assignment abroad was as an aide to the envoy to Red Italy, in 1953. When I met the customs official who stamped my passport, a woman, I was shocked. Having been reared in Ennistymon, I rarely ever saw a woman not in a dress, and here was a woman in uniform. Of course in Miami, you rarely see the women in anything.
(audience laughs louder)
While most Red Italians are known for their subversive beauty, the woman had huge bags on her eyes. I thought that woman was just a workaholic, but many of the Italian officials I communicated with all had signs of overwork, from tired eyes to many cups of coffee they drank. After a few months in Venice, I befriended an Italian policeman name Vittorio Gotti, who also had signs of exhaustion. He willingly worked a beat of 15 hours. I asked why, he admitted to me that he had been a Blackshirt.
(gasps from the audience).
Yes, I know. He even served as a military liaison to the German Reich in the Eastern front. He was captured in 1944 in the Ukraine, and he believed he was going to be executed. He was surprised to see the mercy shown him by the Reds, as were his own comrades. After five years, he was released from a POW camp and had become a dedicated Communist. He told me the officials who looked exhausted were likely former fascists who had undergone re-education [1]. Many of the officials who ran the Red Italian government were often former fascists.
Blue Italians remark that these men were simply "cowardly sycophants who took Red Silver Shekels to wear Red Chains." These men had tried to slaughter the Reds to the last man, so they expected the Reds to return the favor, only to get a second chance. The enthusiasm of Red Italians in those days came not from a quasi-religious belief in Communism, but from a desire to serve the men and women who had shown them mercy, and a feeling of atonement.
In any former fascist regime that turned Red, like East Germany or Japan, there is a culture of atonement, as many postwar leaders in these countries were once the servants of fascism who sought redemption. And this culture persists today. Japanese and East German children, for example, have the crimes of their ancestors drilled into their minds. Hungarian teenagers still go to the death camp museums in Poland for their student vacations. They seem less like brothers, and more like a man spending his life trying to serve a family he had wronged.
....
One of the worst misconceptions is the image of the Soviets and Americans as two united brothers who only differ on the means to an end in achieving world revolution. Or as the Americans would say, "good cop, bad cop", with the Americans as a the "good" and the Soviets as the "bad".
But the reality is different. The Soviets are in reality, deeply insecure about their place in Comintern. This insecurity can be seen when you compare an American parade vs. a Soviet parade. In a Soviet parade, the music is louder and more bellicose, and there are more people showing off their medals. The Soviets seemingly have shorter tempers. But again, its because they feel inferior to Americans, despite being the birthplace of the worker's revolution.
In biblical terms, their relationship is like that of Esau and Jacob: Esau was the eldest brother, and the chosen successor, but he was sidelined by a younger brother who had more dedication to the cause then he did. Sure Jacob and Esau made up, but there is still tension between the two.
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As far as I can remember, throughout the history of the GDR, the government consisted of former emigrants or political prisoners (with the exception of members of the National Democratic Party, which was specially staffed by repentant officers). Generally scandals with the ministers-members of the NSDAP belong to the FRG. In Austria, there was even a Nazi president.
Bookmark1995
Banned
AH.com Non-Pol Chat Discussion: Called for Jury Duty
KollontaianKid said:
Well, I'll tell you it is very exhausting. Especially if you are a member of an organization associated with a child rapist.
Anyways, when you get summoned, you'll have to go to a nearby courthouse, where you get interrogated. They spend a day determining whether or not you are reliable as an impartial juror. Us Kollontaians are especially grilled, since one of the dis-qualifiers is whether religious beliefs have influenced our judgement. There are other things, like connection to the victim, a criminal record, civic record etc.
These interviews can last a whole day, because they want to be sure you can serve. If you are found to have lied, you are put on a list as being unqualified as a juror, and barred from serving in a jury or working on a court indefinitely.
Is there anything else you'd like to know?
Bookmark1995
Banned
I'm sorry. Do you mean to say that OTL, the GDR government was full of former Nazis?
Bookmark1995
Banned
I was perfectly calm when I wrote this (that's the problem with non-AV communication).
My excessive used of exclamation marks was me trying to encourage you, dude.
No! The basis of the government is Refugees in the USSR and prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. I wrote about it clearly.