Reds fanfic
- Thread starter E. Burke
- Start date
IOTL, reality television was pushed as hard and wide as possible by TV execs because of the labor factor. With people onscreen who don't fall under the SAG guidelines and no need to compensate screenwriters, the format was really cheap to pull off and weakened union power in Hollywood and on Madison Avenue. Eventually, the backlash to reality TV took not only the form of viewers rediscovering scripted TV shows, but also the 2007-2008 writers strike. That strike itself didn't have an immediate effect on reality TV as a whole, but its public support did indicate a move away from reality programming as the place to go for TV networks.
Assuming that those kinds of TV show formats become dominant in capitalist networks, with all the same kinds of labor shortcuts as IOTL, there won't be an audience for such programming in the UASR.
Edit: here's our own @Zimmerwald1915 with a take on the matter:
Bookmark1995
Banned
I am confused. This doesn't look like a cell. It looks like a slightly more orderly motel room. The bed, while basic, seemed comfortable. There were no bars on the windows. The floor looked clean. And the bathroom, though small, did not have an ounce of mold or grime on its surface. I looked over to the small dresser drawer. I thought I would find a Bible, and instead I found a copy of the Communist Manifesto.
"These people worship Marx the same way an Englishman worships God." my father said.
Here, they think political theories will bring me the same spiritual awakening a desperate European can get from Christ. What loons!
****
"That was the day when I realized, that the real prison suit was not the red and black jumpsuit I had been wearing in the last three months, but the Savile Row imitation suit I had worn for the last 4 years. That it was in this so-called prison where I was free."
-Excerpts from When Red Chains Set Me Free
When Red Chains Set Me Free: A Memoir of American Rehabilitation
When Red Chains Set Me Free is a 1996 memoir written by Siride Chatterjee. It recounts Nehru's four months at Sing Sing Rehabilitative Kibbutz, and how his time there gradually turned him from a salaryman to a committed communist. It was later adapted to a 2004 film starring Kal Penn.
Background
Siride Chatterjee was born on November 10, 1964 in New Delhi. After graduating from the University of Delhi in 1987 with a degree in business and working as a clerk at the Tata Group, he was put into an arranged marriage with Aruna, the daughter of a Tata business executive. Chatterjee described his marriage as "more toxic than a cobra", and writes that Aruna would chase after him with a kitchen knife, and that he would often throw bricks at her head. The stress from work and a terrible marriage drove him to alcoholism.
On June 10, 1991, during a vacation to Metropolis, Chatterjee got into a drunken bar fight, where he hospitalized a man with a broken bottle. On July 1, Chatterjee was convicted of assault and sentence to six months to Sing Sing Rehabilitative Kibbutz.
The quality of life, kindness of the staff, and education he received turned Chatterjee into a committed communist. Due to good behavior, Chatterjee's sentence was reduced to four months. Upon his release on November 3, he asked for and was granted residency in the UASR.
Synopsis
Siride Chatterjee is an Indian salaryman, working as a low level clerk for the Tata Group in the city of Bombay. He is overworked by his abusive boss, Jamal Jewerlan, and he gets into several violent fights with his wife Aruna, the daughter of a Tata executive, whom he was forcibly wed to by his parents. The stress from overwork and a failing marriage drives Siride to the bottle.
Out of spite, Jamal sends Siride to a dead end position in Metropolis for several months. To cope with his anger, Siride goes to a small dive bar. After knocking down a few drinks, he gets into a bar fight with a young anarchist who insulted his business suit and called him a wage slave.
A Metropolis judge sentences him to 6 months at Sing Sing Correctional Kibbutz. While awaiting transport to Sing Sing, he learns that he has been fired from his job, and that his wife has filed from divorce from him. During his transport, he is filled with anxiety over what the Reds will do to an Indian bourgeois.
Upon arrival at Sing Sing, the things he finds fill him with both confoundment and frustration. The "prison" lacks border guards or electrified fences. Instead a small picket fence surrounds the facility. His "cell" is relatively clean and his decent appointments. He even can go into town once a week (albeit with an ankle bracelet).
To his anger, he finds himself lorded over by female correctional officers, and. He also exasperated by the various "trust" projects (gardening, construction) he is forced into participating in with his fellow prisoners, and his paid prison job as a short order cook, which his disdainfully considers to be work for the "Dalits". He also is annoyed by the unisex facilities. He also sent a therapist, Doctor Harold Sternberg, who tries to get him to open up about his reasons for drinking.
Early on in his sentence, he frequently gets into scuffles with his fellow prisoners, and angry arguments with the corrections officers who act condescending to him because of him being an "Indian bourgie".
To his shock, he finds that despite doing what he considers "scut work" he is treated better by the corrections officers than he was by his old bosses, despite being the lowest of the low to them. Overtime, he finds himself bonding more and more with his fellow prisoners. In an emotional moment, he breaks down in tears in front of Doctor Sternberg where he opens up about his abusive childhood.
Eventually, he becomes a vociferous volunteer at the various group projects, and slowly starts to embrace American socialism. His good behavior allows him to be released early, but he ends up staying in Ossining.
"These people worship Marx the same way an Englishman worships God." my father said.
Here, they think political theories will bring me the same spiritual awakening a desperate European can get from Christ. What loons!
****
"That was the day when I realized, that the real prison suit was not the red and black jumpsuit I had been wearing in the last three months, but the Savile Row imitation suit I had worn for the last 4 years. That it was in this so-called prison where I was free."
-Excerpts from When Red Chains Set Me Free
When Red Chains Set Me Free: A Memoir of American Rehabilitation
When Red Chains Set Me Free is a 1996 memoir written by Siride Chatterjee. It recounts Nehru's four months at Sing Sing Rehabilitative Kibbutz, and how his time there gradually turned him from a salaryman to a committed communist. It was later adapted to a 2004 film starring Kal Penn.
Background
Siride Chatterjee was born on November 10, 1964 in New Delhi. After graduating from the University of Delhi in 1987 with a degree in business and working as a clerk at the Tata Group, he was put into an arranged marriage with Aruna, the daughter of a Tata business executive. Chatterjee described his marriage as "more toxic than a cobra", and writes that Aruna would chase after him with a kitchen knife, and that he would often throw bricks at her head. The stress from work and a terrible marriage drove him to alcoholism.
On June 10, 1991, during a vacation to Metropolis, Chatterjee got into a drunken bar fight, where he hospitalized a man with a broken bottle. On July 1, Chatterjee was convicted of assault and sentence to six months to Sing Sing Rehabilitative Kibbutz.
The quality of life, kindness of the staff, and education he received turned Chatterjee into a committed communist. Due to good behavior, Chatterjee's sentence was reduced to four months. Upon his release on November 3, he asked for and was granted residency in the UASR.
Synopsis
Siride Chatterjee is an Indian salaryman, working as a low level clerk for the Tata Group in the city of Bombay. He is overworked by his abusive boss, Jamal Jewerlan, and he gets into several violent fights with his wife Aruna, the daughter of a Tata executive, whom he was forcibly wed to by his parents. The stress from overwork and a failing marriage drives Siride to the bottle.
Out of spite, Jamal sends Siride to a dead end position in Metropolis for several months. To cope with his anger, Siride goes to a small dive bar. After knocking down a few drinks, he gets into a bar fight with a young anarchist who insulted his business suit and called him a wage slave.
A Metropolis judge sentences him to 6 months at Sing Sing Correctional Kibbutz. While awaiting transport to Sing Sing, he learns that he has been fired from his job, and that his wife has filed from divorce from him. During his transport, he is filled with anxiety over what the Reds will do to an Indian bourgeois.
Upon arrival at Sing Sing, the things he finds fill him with both confoundment and frustration. The "prison" lacks border guards or electrified fences. Instead a small picket fence surrounds the facility. His "cell" is relatively clean and his decent appointments. He even can go into town once a week (albeit with an ankle bracelet).
To his anger, he finds himself lorded over by female correctional officers, and. He also exasperated by the various "trust" projects (gardening, construction) he is forced into participating in with his fellow prisoners, and his paid prison job as a short order cook, which his disdainfully considers to be work for the "Dalits". He also is annoyed by the unisex facilities. He also sent a therapist, Doctor Harold Sternberg, who tries to get him to open up about his reasons for drinking.
Early on in his sentence, he frequently gets into scuffles with his fellow prisoners, and angry arguments with the corrections officers who act condescending to him because of him being an "Indian bourgie".
To his shock, he finds that despite doing what he considers "scut work" he is treated better by the corrections officers than he was by his old bosses, despite being the lowest of the low to them. Overtime, he finds himself bonding more and more with his fellow prisoners. In an emotional moment, he breaks down in tears in front of Doctor Sternberg where he opens up about his abusive childhood.
Eventually, he becomes a vociferous volunteer at the various group projects, and slowly starts to embrace American socialism. His good behavior allows him to be released early, but he ends up staying in Ossining.
Last edited:
Bulldoggus
Banned
I was thinking about how FP intellectuals would approach overseas affairs. In the Comintern, it would be "what group can spearhead the revolution?". In the AFS, however, it would be very focused on Geopolitics (How do we hold the Suez/Hormuz?, How do we defend the NEP? How do we protect commerce by sea?, How do we make sure we have enough food and energy?). Both, of course, would lead to some crankery and baffling decisions. The Comintern would likely sink obscene amounts of money into every Irishman who claims he can overthrow the FBU bourgeoisie, and the AFS would sink ridiculous blood and treasure into holding various alleged chokepoints or irrelevant areas that could theoretically be used to deprive them of resources.
Of course, I'm biased, because I find geopolitics very interesting, but still...
Of course, I'm biased, because I find geopolitics very interesting, but still...
Bookmark1995
Banned
I have discussed the idea of Irish people being solicited, if not harassed, by Comintern to incite Revolution in the United Kingdom.
I guess the AFS could use Indians and Blue Africans as agents of anti-Communist in their respective regions?
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
I like exploring the various differences in working class movements myself.
I have a theory that theres a strain of Far-Left Nationalism in the UK and France where they agree with the ideas of Republicanism and Syndicalism but, as a result of close to 80 years of Cold War, would be non-aligned to the Americans and at worst tell them to fuck off.
My new AH character would fall under this category.
Probably post-war with the amount of money, men and advisers there were various warlords, soldiers of fortune, gangsters and so on that took advantage of it. Especially in Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America where they could act as 'trusted local advisors'. By the 60's 70's and 80's the more outrageous ones are either dead, retired, in prison or now 'respectable' men in the Developing World. There are still con men, fanatics, and fundamentalists but both sides probably think really hard and evaluate the costs before one cent or bullet is sent.
Bulldoggus
Banned
I was actually thinking that the big difference between AFS Labour and Communist parties could be that Labour is Anti-Russo-American Left, socially conservative, and not opposed to a Cold War between different shades of red, while the Commies are pro-UASR. So Peter Shore would be mainstream.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Labour is described as collaborating with the Communists, but thats more out of necessity to gain more votes. I do agree that Labour would fit more of an anti-Comintern Syndicalist organisation, though.
"Socially Conservative" by American Standards? I also think they'd be British and French patriots.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Well, I think that could be how it is starting out, but parties do evolve over time.
Bulldoggus
Banned
And I think there have to be serious ideological differences for the two not to merge.
I understand that, and it has been stated that it began as a big tent, but its right wing and much of its center left. However, it also said that it was now dominated by " Marxists who wished to chart a more moderate path to revolution." This could refer also to democratic socialists and reformists.
The ideological difference seems to be two-pronged: the approach to revolution, with Labour favoring a "Ballot, not Bullet" approach, and the Communists, while nominally participating in electoral politics, also supports more proactive measures towards an eventual revolution, and social issues, with Labour, like you said earlier, being more moderate on social issues (Jello specifically notes that it was the party of "leftists from Middle England and Parisian haute culture", whatever that means).
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Right, but I'd think that a sizable anti-Comintern socialist wing would occur, especially with all these years of cold war.
Bookmark1995
Banned
I don't think an anti-Comintern wing would get very far. I think most ITTL socialist parties would look to Comintern for ideas and policies.