Bookmark1995
Banned
But yes, Edison was not a particularly nice person. The story about him cheating Tesla is a fabrication, but it is easy to believe because Edison was pretty self-aggrandizing jerk.
Reds fanfic
- Thread starter E. Burke
- Start date
But yes, Edison was not a particularly nice person. The story about him cheating Tesla is a fabrication, but it is easy to believe because Edison was pretty self-aggrandizing jerk.
There was that whole "electrocuted an elephant on film to prove a point" episode.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Its completely plausible. Most people didnt know Edison personally, but his business deals describe him as inflexible and stubborn with a bad view of other scientists, mostly becuase he lacked the higher education that they did because his ADHD got him kicked out of school.
He liked Tesla though. He thought he was incredibly smart, but thought his ideas were too dangerous to market.
Adapting Oceania: Bringing "Last Man in Europe" to other media
George Orwell's Last Man in Europe is an unabashedly political novel. It not only critiques corporatist totalitarianism, but also the revolutionary totalitarianism, and its ending shows a strong preference for syndicalist socialist democracy. When released, it was a large hit in the Comintern sphere, but caused major controversy in the FBU. In any event, adaptations began to be planned almost immediately.
PBS-7 aired a radio adaptation of the novel in 1949, shortly after its publication. A film followed in 1953, produced by George Pal Marczincsak and directed by Irving Pichel. While praised at the time, it would be criticized in later years for downplaying the parallelism between Eurasia and Oceania, pumping up Oceania as a larger threat. Still, the ending scene of Winston Smith(Edmond O'Brien) arriving in North America, and viewing the public debate is considered an iconic scene from the late Golden Age of American Cinema. However, in the FBU, the book and its themes would find itself in a hostile environment. With the victory of the conservative People's Alliance in 1951, works with leftist sympathies were put under increased scrutiny, and it became difficult to adapt these works. A planned film adaptation was scuttled in the early stages of production. Nigel Kneale and Rudolph Cartier, fresh off the success of the Quatermass Experiment, attempted a live teleplay adaptation in 1956, and had a script ready and actors being contracted when the BBC pulled the plug on the production. While the BBC claimed that it was primarily because of "sadistic content", leaked documents in the early 2000's revealed pressure from state security to stop the "distribution of subversive content."
The 1953 film had largely defined the book in America through the 50's and 60's, discouraging other direct adaptations in the 60's. There was discussion of a television miniseries based closer on the source, to be written by Rod Serling, but Serling decided against it, instead working on adapting Ray Bradbury's Mars Chronicles to miniseries form. As part of the science fiction anthology series Strange Worlds , Marvel Comics adapted Last Man in Europe in 1970. With decline of anti-leftist sentiment in the FBU during the 60's, Kneale's script was eventually produced in 1974, as a BBC teleplay, though some scenes were cut, and references to major corporations included in the script were changed to avoid controversy. It was a moderate hit, though conservatives still protested the production. However, plans for a full film either stalled or fell through. In the meantime, its imagery and themes were being used in other films, including Francois Truffant's Alphaville and Andrei Tarkovsky's We.
The book gained a new relevancy in the era following the Quebecois Crisis, and the brief Lion's rule in the FBU. In the years after the crisis, sales of the book skyrocketed. Terry Gilliam, after considering a straight adaptation of the book, ultimately decided to go with a satirical take on the material, Eurasia[1], satirizing American/Soviet bureaucracy. Finally, after the return to normalcy in the late 80's, socialist director Ken Loach was able to finally release a theatrical version of Last Man in Europe in 1992. Unlike the Pal film, it shows the equivalency between Oceania and Eurasia, making an explicit full anti-totalitarianistic message. Loach also added subtle references to the brief Emergency period, with the "Two-Minute Hate" showing look-alikes of prominent figures arrested during the Emergency. The film was critically acclaimed when shown at the Venice Film Festival, and was nominated at the Academy Awards.
Currently, the Loach version has been considered the best adaptation, though other adaptations have been made, including a 2010 independent video game, which takes a "chose your own adventure" approach, where Smith could becomes a major figure of the regime, or ends up overthrowing it.
[1] Roughly equivalent to Brazil.
------------------------
George Orwell's Last Man in Europe is an unabashedly political novel. It not only critiques corporatist totalitarianism, but also the revolutionary totalitarianism, and its ending shows a strong preference for syndicalist socialist democracy. When released, it was a large hit in the Comintern sphere, but caused major controversy in the FBU. In any event, adaptations began to be planned almost immediately.
PBS-7 aired a radio adaptation of the novel in 1949, shortly after its publication. A film followed in 1953, produced by George Pal Marczincsak and directed by Irving Pichel. While praised at the time, it would be criticized in later years for downplaying the parallelism between Eurasia and Oceania, pumping up Oceania as a larger threat. Still, the ending scene of Winston Smith(Edmond O'Brien) arriving in North America, and viewing the public debate is considered an iconic scene from the late Golden Age of American Cinema. However, in the FBU, the book and its themes would find itself in a hostile environment. With the victory of the conservative People's Alliance in 1951, works with leftist sympathies were put under increased scrutiny, and it became difficult to adapt these works. A planned film adaptation was scuttled in the early stages of production. Nigel Kneale and Rudolph Cartier, fresh off the success of the Quatermass Experiment, attempted a live teleplay adaptation in 1956, and had a script ready and actors being contracted when the BBC pulled the plug on the production. While the BBC claimed that it was primarily because of "sadistic content", leaked documents in the early 2000's revealed pressure from state security to stop the "distribution of subversive content."
The 1953 film had largely defined the book in America through the 50's and 60's, discouraging other direct adaptations in the 60's. There was discussion of a television miniseries based closer on the source, to be written by Rod Serling, but Serling decided against it, instead working on adapting Ray Bradbury's Mars Chronicles to miniseries form. As part of the science fiction anthology series Strange Worlds , Marvel Comics adapted Last Man in Europe in 1970. With decline of anti-leftist sentiment in the FBU during the 60's, Kneale's script was eventually produced in 1974, as a BBC teleplay, though some scenes were cut, and references to major corporations included in the script were changed to avoid controversy. It was a moderate hit, though conservatives still protested the production. However, plans for a full film either stalled or fell through. In the meantime, its imagery and themes were being used in other films, including Francois Truffant's Alphaville and Andrei Tarkovsky's We.
The book gained a new relevancy in the era following the Quebecois Crisis, and the brief Lion's rule in the FBU. In the years after the crisis, sales of the book skyrocketed. Terry Gilliam, after considering a straight adaptation of the book, ultimately decided to go with a satirical take on the material, Eurasia[1], satirizing American/Soviet bureaucracy. Finally, after the return to normalcy in the late 80's, socialist director Ken Loach was able to finally release a theatrical version of Last Man in Europe in 1992. Unlike the Pal film, it shows the equivalency between Oceania and Eurasia, making an explicit full anti-totalitarianistic message. Loach also added subtle references to the brief Emergency period, with the "Two-Minute Hate" showing look-alikes of prominent figures arrested during the Emergency. The film was critically acclaimed when shown at the Venice Film Festival, and was nominated at the Academy Awards.
Currently, the Loach version has been considered the best adaptation, though other adaptations have been made, including a 2010 independent video game, which takes a "chose your own adventure" approach, where Smith could becomes a major figure of the regime, or ends up overthrowing it.
[1] Roughly equivalent to Brazil.
------------------------
I am pleased to inform you all that I have plans for Posadism.
Because an ideology that surreal is too good to not reference.
Besides, all the best revolutions are spread by ATOMIC FIRE that will signal the Aliens to come down and bring us Communism to save us from destruction and help us communicate with our Dolphin comrades.
Because an ideology that surreal is too good to not reference.
Besides, all the best revolutions are spread by ATOMIC FIRE that will signal the Aliens to come down and bring us Communism to save us from destruction and help us communicate with our Dolphin comrades.
What about Anti-Japaneseism? I know you guys are against Japan going down a dystopian path but could you imagine a Mao-style Cultural Revolution based on that!
That is quite the self loathing complex, they should channel it into self-deprecating memes on reddit instead.
Posadism though is rather like Mac and Me, everything about it sounds so incredibly ridiculous you can hardly believe it even existed to begin with.
Let alone that they tried to deliberately push the Cuban missile crisis into full scale nuclear war.
Bookmark1995
Banned
The Free American State: The Grim Story of American Nazis (Part 3)
On the eve of the Second World War and during its first year, both Virgil Effinger and William Dudley had well integrated into Nazi life, or at least as much as anybody non-German could've. Effinger had become an auxiliary officer of the Gestapo, and used the gruesome skill set he obtained in the Second American Civil War to torture and weed out German communists. Dudley worked as both an English translator at a Nazi book publisher and as an editor of Security, an English language newspaper read by British and American expatriates. Both men had become good friends, with Effinger giving interviews in Security often on how to be a good Aryan.
The early successes of the Nazi Reich in the Soviet war would give fascists ground for their twisted beliefs, and Effinger and Dudley would prove to be no exception to the rule. In Berlin, Effinger and Dudley and their ability to organize and fund-raise made them virtual leaders of the American exile community.
When instant victory proved to be out of reach, the war effort in Germany became all hands on deck. Effinger, Dudley, and their thousands of American expatriate followers became eager to join the war effort that sought any able bodied male. Seeing the dedication shown by American expatriates, Heinrich Himmler authorized the creation of the 39th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, better known Schwarz Legion (German for black, a throw back to the Black Legion), in January of 1942.
Schwarz Legion was used mainly for the murder of partisans and civilians throughout Belarus, and often sought to match the cruelty of their Nazi masters. Many rank and file of the SS were impressed by the efficiency of Schwarz Legion and their dedication to the cause. At the same time, victory in Southern Russia and the Caucasus seemed certain.
William Dudley, now serving as a war correspondent, wrote optimistically about "the eventual reversal of the Red Tide, not just in Russia, but in America". He began pressuring his superiors for the creating of an American government-in-exile, that would serve as a symbol for those seeking freedom from Jewish Bolshevism.
While even the most optimistic of Nazi leaders understood that toppling the UASR government would be virtually impossible even in the event of a Soviet defeat, many nevertheless saw an American government-in-exile as having incredible propaganda value.
"By showing the bounty our Aryan Americans cousins enjoy under the Reich," wrote Joseph Goebbels,"we can convince Americans in Debs to rid themselves of Bolshevism without firing a shot on their land."
On July 7, 1942, the Free American State was established in the Belarusian town of Maly Trostenets, the site of an extermination/concentration camp. Dudley would become its first "President", living and governing in the home of a murdered commissar, while his good friend and Amerika Korps commander Virgil Effinger would serve as Secretary of War .
By January 1943, over 5000 Americans (Schwarz Legion, their families, and some former American capitalists) settled in Maly Trostenets.
In the community, a demented, outwardly clean version of Old Republic had been recreated in Maly Trostenets. The Old Constitution, amended of course, to support racial oppression, was used to govern this community. On paper, The Free American State actually had a representative government (the only thing that the Nazis ever truly objected too), but the franchise was very much an illusion. The 20 man congress that supposedly checked the power of the President was composed of Dudley's appointed puppets, many of them too corrupt or feeble-minded to not rubber stamp any of his policies. Men and women walked around wearing the more conservative fashion of the 1920s. Minstrel shows, the long extinct art form of Jim Crow, was brought back and enjoyed. The old Stars and Stripes hung over the town, albeit a Swastika in place of the stars. The town seemed like a museum to the darker aspects of the Old Republic.
The community itself was unusually developed. It had a radio station, post office, newspaper, library, and local police. There was even a small studio where Dudley made his propaganda films about the wonders of Maly Trostenets (only a few films have survived, and most of them are studied in film history as an example of propaganda).
A school was set up for the children of Schwarz Legion members, set up by Dudley to indoctrinate the "future leaders of a restored America." Many of the kids would be trained in the art of torture and murder, with many lessons consisting of beating on Belarusian prisoners and civilians.
The members of this community even had their own church set up by Dudley, calling it Silver Christianity. It combined Nazi Positive Christianity with Dudley's own spiritual beliefs.
The Free American Republic was described as "a micronation with teeth."
For a period of time, this community enjoyed a disgustingly high standard of living, eating on average almost 15 times the calories allowed to Soviet and American POWs. The streets were orderly, and there was no ounce of crime or disorder.
In exchange for their bounty, the members of the Free American Republic would be party to some of ghastly crimes of the war. Almost all the Americans would work at the nearby concentration camp. Like the Croatian fascists, the so-called Free Americans would exceed their Nazi captors in terms of the violence they unleashed upon their enemies. Many Jews, Soviet civilians, and POWs are often savagely tortured. Mutilation became a disturbingly common punishment at the hands of Effinger's cronies.
Life was no easier for Soviet citizens who were forced to work in the American community itself. Many were at the mercy of their American masters, who were at best condescending, and at worst sadistic and predatory. Many Belarusian women found themselves conscripted into a brothel for Schwarz Legion leaders. Effinger was reported to have beat a servant to death at breakfast for accidentally spilling coffee on his lap, and to have raped up to 30 women.
But one group in particular was singled out by Dudley and Effinger: American POWs. Blacks, Jews, and Trinitarians (who the anti-Catholic Effinger considered "worst than Papists") were often murdered on the spot for "selling out America to Bolshevik slavery." Female soldiers were often subjected to savage beatings and rape for "violating their place in life," in the words of Dudley.
Male American POWs considered to be of "Aryan or Nordic stock," however, were given the choice of "throwing of Bolshevik chains and embracing true America." Dudley considered his Faustian bargain "an act of true repentance by true Americans." Many of them were paraded around the American part of Maly Trostenants, and made to look at the "true beauty of a restored America", fed large meals, and subjected to propaganda, and eventually brought before Dudley himself, who would use his oratory powers to convince the POW in question to switch sides.
The propaganda was in some cases, unusually powerful. One tragedy was when an American POW had been convinced to not only switch sides, but rape and murder his female comrade.
But the vast majority of these "Aryan" POWs did in fact refuse. But those that did were often subjected worse tortures than their female and non-Aryan comrades. In Effinger's words, "these men are worse than Jews. Jews make no light of their greedy, backstabbing ways. But an Aryan betraying his own kind is even worse." Effinger would take these ill-fated men into the basement and let his dogs maul these "Aryan traitors to death."
The Free American State, while claiming to be virtuous and clean, became a microcosm of the evils of old America. In the words of Edward Murrow, "Maly Trostenants is the closing thing to Lucifer we've seen on Earth. Like the Prince of Darkness, it hides a twisted psyche underneath a tempting image of wholesomeness and cleanliness."
On the eve of the Second World War and during its first year, both Virgil Effinger and William Dudley had well integrated into Nazi life, or at least as much as anybody non-German could've. Effinger had become an auxiliary officer of the Gestapo, and used the gruesome skill set he obtained in the Second American Civil War to torture and weed out German communists. Dudley worked as both an English translator at a Nazi book publisher and as an editor of Security, an English language newspaper read by British and American expatriates. Both men had become good friends, with Effinger giving interviews in Security often on how to be a good Aryan.
The early successes of the Nazi Reich in the Soviet war would give fascists ground for their twisted beliefs, and Effinger and Dudley would prove to be no exception to the rule. In Berlin, Effinger and Dudley and their ability to organize and fund-raise made them virtual leaders of the American exile community.
When instant victory proved to be out of reach, the war effort in Germany became all hands on deck. Effinger, Dudley, and their thousands of American expatriate followers became eager to join the war effort that sought any able bodied male. Seeing the dedication shown by American expatriates, Heinrich Himmler authorized the creation of the 39th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, better known Schwarz Legion (German for black, a throw back to the Black Legion), in January of 1942.
Schwarz Legion was used mainly for the murder of partisans and civilians throughout Belarus, and often sought to match the cruelty of their Nazi masters. Many rank and file of the SS were impressed by the efficiency of Schwarz Legion and their dedication to the cause. At the same time, victory in Southern Russia and the Caucasus seemed certain.
William Dudley, now serving as a war correspondent, wrote optimistically about "the eventual reversal of the Red Tide, not just in Russia, but in America". He began pressuring his superiors for the creating of an American government-in-exile, that would serve as a symbol for those seeking freedom from Jewish Bolshevism.
While even the most optimistic of Nazi leaders understood that toppling the UASR government would be virtually impossible even in the event of a Soviet defeat, many nevertheless saw an American government-in-exile as having incredible propaganda value.
"By showing the bounty our Aryan Americans cousins enjoy under the Reich," wrote Joseph Goebbels,"we can convince Americans in Debs to rid themselves of Bolshevism without firing a shot on their land."
On July 7, 1942, the Free American State was established in the Belarusian town of Maly Trostenets, the site of an extermination/concentration camp. Dudley would become its first "President", living and governing in the home of a murdered commissar, while his good friend and Amerika Korps commander Virgil Effinger would serve as Secretary of War .
By January 1943, over 5000 Americans (Schwarz Legion, their families, and some former American capitalists) settled in Maly Trostenets.
In the community, a demented, outwardly clean version of Old Republic had been recreated in Maly Trostenets. The Old Constitution, amended of course, to support racial oppression, was used to govern this community. On paper, The Free American State actually had a representative government (the only thing that the Nazis ever truly objected too), but the franchise was very much an illusion. The 20 man congress that supposedly checked the power of the President was composed of Dudley's appointed puppets, many of them too corrupt or feeble-minded to not rubber stamp any of his policies. Men and women walked around wearing the more conservative fashion of the 1920s. Minstrel shows, the long extinct art form of Jim Crow, was brought back and enjoyed. The old Stars and Stripes hung over the town, albeit a Swastika in place of the stars. The town seemed like a museum to the darker aspects of the Old Republic.
The community itself was unusually developed. It had a radio station, post office, newspaper, library, and local police. There was even a small studio where Dudley made his propaganda films about the wonders of Maly Trostenets (only a few films have survived, and most of them are studied in film history as an example of propaganda).
A school was set up for the children of Schwarz Legion members, set up by Dudley to indoctrinate the "future leaders of a restored America." Many of the kids would be trained in the art of torture and murder, with many lessons consisting of beating on Belarusian prisoners and civilians.
The members of this community even had their own church set up by Dudley, calling it Silver Christianity. It combined Nazi Positive Christianity with Dudley's own spiritual beliefs.
The Free American Republic was described as "a micronation with teeth."
For a period of time, this community enjoyed a disgustingly high standard of living, eating on average almost 15 times the calories allowed to Soviet and American POWs. The streets were orderly, and there was no ounce of crime or disorder.
In exchange for their bounty, the members of the Free American Republic would be party to some of ghastly crimes of the war. Almost all the Americans would work at the nearby concentration camp. Like the Croatian fascists, the so-called Free Americans would exceed their Nazi captors in terms of the violence they unleashed upon their enemies. Many Jews, Soviet civilians, and POWs are often savagely tortured. Mutilation became a disturbingly common punishment at the hands of Effinger's cronies.
Life was no easier for Soviet citizens who were forced to work in the American community itself. Many were at the mercy of their American masters, who were at best condescending, and at worst sadistic and predatory. Many Belarusian women found themselves conscripted into a brothel for Schwarz Legion leaders. Effinger was reported to have beat a servant to death at breakfast for accidentally spilling coffee on his lap, and to have raped up to 30 women.
But one group in particular was singled out by Dudley and Effinger: American POWs. Blacks, Jews, and Trinitarians (who the anti-Catholic Effinger considered "worst than Papists") were often murdered on the spot for "selling out America to Bolshevik slavery." Female soldiers were often subjected to savage beatings and rape for "violating their place in life," in the words of Dudley.
Male American POWs considered to be of "Aryan or Nordic stock," however, were given the choice of "throwing of Bolshevik chains and embracing true America." Dudley considered his Faustian bargain "an act of true repentance by true Americans." Many of them were paraded around the American part of Maly Trostenants, and made to look at the "true beauty of a restored America", fed large meals, and subjected to propaganda, and eventually brought before Dudley himself, who would use his oratory powers to convince the POW in question to switch sides.
The propaganda was in some cases, unusually powerful. One tragedy was when an American POW had been convinced to not only switch sides, but rape and murder his female comrade.
But the vast majority of these "Aryan" POWs did in fact refuse. But those that did were often subjected worse tortures than their female and non-Aryan comrades. In Effinger's words, "these men are worse than Jews. Jews make no light of their greedy, backstabbing ways. But an Aryan betraying his own kind is even worse." Effinger would take these ill-fated men into the basement and let his dogs maul these "Aryan traitors to death."
The Free American State, while claiming to be virtuous and clean, became a microcosm of the evils of old America. In the words of Edward Murrow, "Maly Trostenants is the closing thing to Lucifer we've seen on Earth. Like the Prince of Darkness, it hides a twisted psyche underneath a tempting image of wholesomeness and cleanliness."
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Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Was wondering when this would come up again.
Really good job, though I do have one tiny critique. Considering Waffen SS divisions had rather grandiose names, names like "liebstandarte" "Das Reich" and "Totenkopf" the American SS just don't fit in as simply being called the "America Korps". Rather, I think Effinger and Pelley would insit on keeping the name Black Legion.
The 39th Waffen SS Grenadier Division "Schwarz Legion" sounds much more like an SS unit, especially considering the English SS are known as "St. George".
Bookmark1995
Banned
That is actually a good point.
I figured they would keep the name "Amerika Korps," because they consider themselves to be "true America", but I think you might be right. I'll change it.
I kinda hope that Jello Biafra and The Red Star Rising will add your posts about "Free America" to the main canon, @Bookmark1995 perhaps you should PM it to the Author's to see if they'll add it or not?
I do like what I'm reading, although I will note that Hitler himself hoped to invade and conquer America to destroy its Jewish population and planned to ally with Britain to accomplish that. His hope would be that France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Britain could join forces to launch an invasion of America through Canada and forever eradicate the world's largest bastion of Judaism.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Yes, I'm aware Hitler's megalomania, but most Nazi planners would have guessed that the Nazis didn't have the resources for that.
So, when I write the final part, can I edit all four parts, and send them to either you or Jello to put in on the main thread?
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Just thinking back to this early piece.
I remembered that Lysenkoism is not a significant factor in Soviet science ITTL, due to its founder's early death. Had I known that, I might have included Soviet geneticists like Nikolai Vavilov, or Raissa L. Berg as part of the American side.
Who doesn't?
Also, curious about a couple things in this TL.
1. What will be this TL's version of the Miracle on Ice?
2. What's the fate of the Beatles in this TL? THey still going to appear, and if so, would they do the same kind of music as before?