Bookmark1995
Banned
Thank you.
Yes it was, it order to add to the bias.
I wonder what TTL version of "drink the Kool-Aid" would be.
Reds fanfic
- Thread starter E. Burke
- Start date
Thank you.
Yes it was, it order to add to the bias.
I wonder what TTL version of "drink the Kool-Aid" would be.
There's probably also politics involved. UASR might allow Brazil to go to the FBU, but that would have to be compensated for in some way, less they start deciding to take their own steps.
Meaning FBU has to throw the Reds a bone, less they say, stop supplies going their way, or some other form of revenge.
Meaning FBU has to throw the Reds a bone, less they say, stop supplies going their way, or some other form of revenge.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Unless they completely fucked off from their African and South Asian trade partners, they should be relatively fine.
Also, why have they not switched to a social corporatist tripartite economy? Yeah, Keynesian economics were doomed to stagnate, but austerity and socialism are not the only ways out.
False equivalency. One is a state-controlled dictatorship, the other is a militarist liberal democracy with economics that should actually work.
Bookmark1995
Banned
OTL Communism (which was sadly dominated by Stalinism) was a complete shambolic mess.
ITTL, the FBU is a more mixed economy operating under market principles. So it would a lot easier to reform than the OTL Soviet Union.
An American in Moscow (1937)
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Marlon Johnson (Clark Gable) is a clerk at the American Embassy in the Soviet Union. He is a holdover from the old State Department, and not entirely converted to the cause of communism. He spends his days working, learning Russian, or walking around Moscow. He finds himself in a strange land with a culture entirely foreign to him. His attempts at Russian elicit laughter or confusion amongst locals.
One day, while sitting in Gorky Park, he bumps into Svetlana (Lyubov Orlova), a Russian schoolteacher, who is learning English as part of the new curriculum. Johnson agrees to help her with her English. The meeting eventually blossoms into a relationship, as the two become closer. Svetlana shows Marlon Russian life and culture, which he comes to enjoy and appreciate. He even sings "l'Internationale" with several bar patrons.
The third act has Johnson uncover a sinister truth: the high ranking official at the embassy (another old State Department holdover) is actually a Nazi spy, using his position to send the Germans information from the Soviet high command. Johnson and Svetlana help foil him and his Nazi couriers. Johnson is rewarded with a promotion
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Trivia:
- Filmed primarily in Moscow and the famed Gorky Film Studio
- American debut of Soviet star Lyubov Orlova
- Popular film in the USSR, due to its honest and strong portrayal of the Soviet Union; favorite of Joseph Stalin
- Remade as a musical with music from the Gershwin brothers in 1954.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Marlon Johnson (Clark Gable) is a clerk at the American Embassy in the Soviet Union. He is a holdover from the old State Department, and not entirely converted to the cause of communism. He spends his days working, learning Russian, or walking around Moscow. He finds himself in a strange land with a culture entirely foreign to him. His attempts at Russian elicit laughter or confusion amongst locals.
One day, while sitting in Gorky Park, he bumps into Svetlana (Lyubov Orlova), a Russian schoolteacher, who is learning English as part of the new curriculum. Johnson agrees to help her with her English. The meeting eventually blossoms into a relationship, as the two become closer. Svetlana shows Marlon Russian life and culture, which he comes to enjoy and appreciate. He even sings "l'Internationale" with several bar patrons.
The third act has Johnson uncover a sinister truth: the high ranking official at the embassy (another old State Department holdover) is actually a Nazi spy, using his position to send the Germans information from the Soviet high command. Johnson and Svetlana help foil him and his Nazi couriers. Johnson is rewarded with a promotion
-----------
Trivia:
- Filmed primarily in Moscow and the famed Gorky Film Studio
- American debut of Soviet star Lyubov Orlova
- Popular film in the USSR, due to its honest and strong portrayal of the Soviet Union; favorite of Joseph Stalin
- Remade as a musical with music from the Gershwin brothers in 1954.
Bookmark1995
Banned
Seems like a typical 30s Hollywood flick, albeit with red paint.
Anything is better than Gone with the Wind.
Anything is better than Gone with the Wind.
Exactly my intention.
I actually wanted to this to be a double feature with a TTL version of "An American Werewolf in London", called "An American Werewolf in Moscow", but given I've never seen "An American Werewolf" I'll postpone that.
BP Booker
Banned
Was it a succesful musical? I knew this is a really niche question but considering Im the weirdo that wrotte that Prince and the Sweeper post, I just have to know
I suppose, yeah. It was based on Silk Stockings (an adaptation of Ninotchka)
Let me highlight those words and make a response. Again, this reflects the bias of TL that developed over time.
One thing is that I remain resolute to the words "Socialism or Barbarism". Keynesianism is doomed to stagnate and there is no way out but socialism.
It also actually contradicts your statement about "economics that should actually work" because what you see that should actually work, the FBU already has it and has worked... but not for much longer. Even earlier versions of the TL mentioned that the FBU is doomed to fall anyway so what's the difference. I also don't see any difference between a "corporatist" economy that you advocate and Keynesian economics given that the FBU is very much a social corporatist tripartite economy itself since the wartime era reforms. Keynesian theory supports the establishment of this economy and yes, at some future time, the FBU has to give up something between supporting a comprehensive welfare state, provide profits for capitalist firms and then spend a lot on armaments because those three will not forever support each other. The US with a bigger economy can't do it IOTL. What makes the FBU special that it can do it with less favorable circumstances? It's not just about economic systems or actually it's less so about "economics that should actually work". It's about geopolitical circumstances and resources. ITTL, the FBU do not have it. The Comintern has it. IOTL, the Soviet Union do not have it. The capitalist West has it. At some point, the FBU has to go something "neoliberal" and with the circumstances of TTL, that neoliberalism has to be backed up with more appearance of exercise of police powers and force, thus "more junta-like". IOTL, we can afford it even though Reagan and Clinton did a lot of stuff that substantially is very illiberal but ITTL, capitalism can't afford it. It's a lot less than that of Pinochet's Chile, of course, but as mentioned, the FBU is more Singapore, Japan and South Korea... than Germany or Scandinavia of OTL.
And regarding "f**k*ng off their partners in Africa and South Asia? The FBU may look liberal democratic appearance-wise but it's still an imperialist state and I don't see Africa and South Asia not being f**ked up by the metropole... It's just the way it is. Of course, the FBU can't afford to keep the colonies as source of raw materials and that's it but the FBU will make sure that the economic framework with the Commonwealth is deliberately to its favor, not as something fair. For all of the growth of India ITTL, India will remain servile to Britain that's for sure.
"Drunk enough of the kool-aid" kind of sucked me out of the immersion due to how rooted the expression is in OTL circumstances; namely the existence of a kool-aid brand and the Jim Jones cult.
Maybe "ate the sky-pie" as a reference to pie in the sky when you die.
I suppose we'll just have to wait until we have an incident with a cult that becomes memetic in-universe.
I also realized just how inversely Reddish neoconservative the world revolution doctrine is. It really allows the UASR to be pseudo-imperialist and hyper-aggressive and be unilateral in its actions, with limitations set by geopolitics of the day and of course if a less aggressive administration is in power, maybe Communist Labor.
Rather than the Greek classics (classical republican and modern republican), political philosophy and the Judeo-Christian heritage as essentials for an OTL neoconservative to be defended as foundations of the West; it became Marxist texts, modern social science, scientific socialism, secularism and the world revolution as the essentials.
Rather than the Greek classics (classical republican and modern republican), political philosophy and the Judeo-Christian heritage as essentials for an OTL neoconservative to be defended as foundations of the West; it became Marxist texts, modern social science, scientific socialism, secularism and the world revolution as the essentials.
I'm personally not fond of the term "Judeo-Christian" as it immensely exaggerates the degree to which Judaism has had power in western society and was largely concocted to exclude Islam which already is included in the term "Abrahamic".
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Bookmark1995
Banned
But I imagine people commenting about how Marx and all that humanism is merely a new religion for the UASR, and how the world revolution is their version of the Crusades, as they are willing to risk nuclear war to bring it about.
It is unlikely - such a film most likely would have been filmed a movie concern Mosfilm. The Gorky Studio specializes in films for children and young people (Fairy tales, light fiction, youth dramas and so on). And you have a typical for that era film about "ordinary Soviet people."
If you delve deeper, you will notice that in the USSR and in the US ... and even in the Third Reich they shot extremely similar films. Up to tropos and cliches (for example, a positive character is most often a blond).
One of our Marxist critics called Stalinist cinema "Hollywood about the Communists."
Bookmark1995
Banned
Aside from that error, which I will correct, did it seem like a plausible in-universe analysis?
I suppose it's fair enough.
Anyway, now that this thread has reached 350 pages me, Jello, and Mr.E have decided that it's time to close it and open a new threat that we can threadmark and curate.