The Communist International Becomes the Communist Interstellar? (TL) AKA another Communist Germany alt-hist.

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Introduction
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    • Teutonic_Thrash

    The Communist International Becomes the Communist Interstellar?​

    This timeline was originally supposed to be the background to an AAR I have planned for Stellaris but then I remembered that this site existed, so I may as well begin here. The alt-history is based on Spartakus, a mod for Hearts of Iron 4 that is currently in development. The mod's point of divergence is that during the German Revolution at the end of World War I the new Communist Party decides to take part in the first parliamentary elections and events spiral from there into an escalation of the revolution. A socialist Germany is born and the stage is set for a Second World War between the socialist world and the capitalist world.

    As such a lot of the early lore is taken from the mod, with some of my own interpretation, and is therefore not entirely my own work, so credit is due to the developers for making such a fascinating alt-history universe.

    It's my intention to carry on the timeline until the year 2200 (the date that Stellaris begins), so keep that in mind when reading.

    I hope you enjoy reading it, and feel free to comment.
     
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    • The Revolutions in Germany and Russia / The Interwar Period
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    The Revolutions in Germany and Russia

    The First World War came to an end with the outbreak of the German Revolution in 1918. Starved and demoralised by the Entente blockade the German people had had enough of war. Naval mutinies, first at Wilhelmshaven then Kiel, inspired revolutionary councils to appear across the German Empire. A republic was declared, and soon Emperor Wilhelm II and all of his subject monarchs abdicated; the provisional government immediately signed an armistice with the Entente. The Social Democrats, split between (‘Independent’/USPD) left and (‘Majority’/MSPD) right factions, struggled to maintain a semblance of order over a country going through the throes of social revolution. Inspired by the continuing success of the Bolsheviks (VKP(b)) in Russia the Spartacist League, a group of Independent Social Democrats, split from the party and founded a new Communist Party (KPD). The new party narrowly decided to participate in the federal elections of February 1919 and came in a close second behind the Majority Social Democrats. Leading the left-wing opposition to the increasingly rightward shifting Social Democrats, the Communists secured a majority of the seats at the next Congress of the Worker’s and Soldiers’ Councils in April. The Communists judged that the time was right to escalate the revolution and, in conjunction with the Independent Social Democrats and other socialist organisations, organised a general strike for May Day. The strike led to the beginning of the German Civil War.

    The Majority Social Democrat-led government ordered the army and right-wing militias to suppress the strike. However many soldiers simply refused to fire on the strikers, while some even joined them. In Berlin street battles between loyalist soldiers and the revolutionaries carried on for five days until the latter’s victory, during which time the government had fled to the west. Early disunity in the counter-revolutionary movement allowed the socialist forces to capture industrial areas of the Rhineland and central and eastern Germany. This turn of events forced the Entente, who were already involved in the Russian Civil War, to intervene in Germany as well. The two civil wars essentially merged into one conflict as both socialist states were fighting the same enemies. Socialist revolutions in Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia were also successful due to the arrival of Russo-German forces, while Franco-British aid to the German counter-revolutionaries pushed socialist troops out of Baden-Württemberg and the left bank of the Rhine. The German Civil War ended with a ceasefire in November 1920. The Bolsheviks had won their war by mid-1923 though similarly to Germany they had failed to maintain control over the territorial extent of the preceding empire; due to the push through Central Europe anti-communist forces had been victorious in Finland, the Baltic, and parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The stage was set for a second great conflict, though this time between the socialist world and the counter-revolutionary world.

    The Interwar Period

    The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Free Socialist Republic of Germany were both founded on the principle of workers’ council-based democracy. In the USSR however, the long civil war and the difficulties it produced were too much for the council (soviet)-based state apparatus to handle. As a result, the Communist Party leadership gradually took control of the government in order to effectively prosecute the war and govern the country. Following the war the party’s leader, Vladimir Lenin, recognised the danger of the new Union becoming an overly bureaucratic party-state, but his illness and factionalism within the party prevented any meaningful reform. Upon Lenin’s death in 1927, Lev Kamenev succeeded him and sought to restore the power of the soviets in alliance with Nikolai Bukharin. Kamenev was soon outmanoeuvered though by Bukharin, who received most of the credit for the reinvigoration of the soviets. By the beginning of the Second World War, Bukharin had become secure in his place as the unofficial leader of the Soviet Union. On the other hand, the relatively short civil war in Germany forestalled a fate similar to that of the councils in the Soviet Union; they maintained their democratic character and alongside the Communists, the U/VSPD and the anarchist Free Workers’ Union of Germany (FAUD) participated in the council government. Rosa Luxemburg served as the Chairwoman of the Congress of Ministers from the birth of the new Germany until well into the 1930s, when she resigned due to illness. She was succeeded by Wilhelm Pieck, who had earlier played a key role in establishing International Red Aid.

    The interwar period resulted in a significant weakening of the counter-revolutionary bloc with the Great Depression acting as a catalyst for many of the upcoming conflicts. Civil wars in Portugal, Italy, and Spain led to socialists gaining power in the former two countries, while the colonial empires of all three suffered dislocation and anti-colonial dissent. The other European liberal democracies became increasingly authoritarian, weakening the power of the left through both legal and non-legal means while simultaneously tightening their control of the colonies. Such heavy-handed tactics led to a republican revolution in Sweden in 1920. Though the country remained a neutral liberal democracy, it was governed by a broad left coalition that included the Social Democrats and the Communists. Colonial rebellions, often aided by agents from the Communist (or Third) International, kept the western powers occupied while the Comintern member states rebuilt themselves following their civil wars. The breakdown of authority in British India is perhaps the most emblematic event of the end of the old colonial world order; socialists, nationalists, and princely states all battled each other and the British authorities as they tried to achieve their various territorial and ideological aims. During this period, the Comintern had also agreed to limited cooperation with the reformist and revolutionary socialist parties of the non-communist International Working Union of Socialist Parties, the so-called 2½ International.

    Seeing the madness engulfing Europe, the United States of America turned their back and elected a series of isolationist Republican presidents: Hiram Johnson, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. While the United States ignored Europe they intervened regularly in Latin America, supporting friendly governments and ensuring a steady supply of raw resources for American industry. This policy agenda protected the country from the effects of the London Stock Market Crash in 1929, yet it was only a harbinger of things to come. The New York Stock Market Crash months before the election of 1932 ruined the already-stagnating economy. Democratic candidate Henry Ford won the election on his campaign of austerity, business modernisation, and continued isolation. Even though the rights of trade unions and workers were curtailed, the economy stabilised just enough to secure Ford’s re-election in 1936. Across the Atlantic, Britain was beset with terminal instability. The failure of the interventions in mainland Europe and an uneasy peace after the Irish War of Independence resulted in a loss of confidence in the Liberal-Conservative coalition government. The subsequent general election of 1922 led to an unstable coalition between Labour and the other faction of the divided Liberals under Prime Minister Herbert H. Asquith. The government struggled internally for a year until Labour finally withdrew its support and precipitated another election. The Conservatives gained a majority and embarked upon a protectionist trade policy, prompting the Liberals to unite in the name of free trade. The general strike of 1926 caused more problems for the Labour party than the government; the Labour leadership denounced the strike as revolutionary, causing the growing rift between the moderates and the Independent Labour faction to solidify. The failure of the economy to truly recover however produced a hung parliament at the election of 1928, while Labour had officially fractured into two parties. Once again the Liberals formed a coalition with (the mainstream faction of) Labour, but only a year into their government the London Stock Market Crash jettisoned any hopes of an economic recovery. The government floundered on until the next election in 1933, where the Conservatives received a healthy majority. Their solution, as ever, was more protectionism and more austerity.
     
  • Index
    • The Communist International in the year 2200
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    The Communist International in the year 2200

    As of 2200, the Communist International (sometimes known as the Third International) is not a typical world government, owing to its origin as an association of political parties rather than states. Countries on Earth are nominally independent, with the Comintern acting as a coordinator of global socialist development through its various ministries and agencies. A Congress is convened every three years for a duration of three months; delegates are sent by member and associate member parties according to their own rules. The situation is further complicated by the fact that in many worker council-based democracies political parties have effectively ceased to exist in an electoral role. As such, political factions and alliances in each Congress are temporary and determined by the issues being debated and voted upon. The Congress then elects an Executive Committee (headed by a Chairperson) which is responsible for the everyday administration of the Comintern between Congresses. The Executive Committee is elected via an electoral list, composed by the incumbent Executive Committee, which delegates debate upon and can amend or even reject entirely. In response to emergencies, the Executive Committee can convene an Enlarged Plenum at short notice. The following Congress can debate whether the Enlarged Plenum was necessary and, if not, to decide upon a course of action to take; the usual recrimination is the recall of specific Executive Committee members.
     
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    • Overview of the Second World War (1938-1945)
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    Overview of the Second World War (1938-1945)

    The civil war in Iran proved to be the spark that ignited the Second World War. Communist guerrillas based in the northern Gilan Soviet Republic had spent most of the interwar period infiltrating other parts of Iran, including the southern region of Fars which was under strong British influence. An attack perpetrated by local Communists on an oil refinery owned by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company led to a diplomatic crisis in 1938. The belligerence between the Soviet Union and the British Empire prevented any form of compromise, resulting in the UK declaring war. The Comintern states mobilised in defence of the Soviet Union while the remaining western European powers, along with what remained of their colonial empires, joined in with declaration of war on the Soviet Union. Germany’s focus on armoured warfare contributed to a rapid advance into France and the Low Countries, while the Soviet Union focused simultaneously on the Baltic and the British presence in Iran. On the other hand, socialist Portugal faced great difficulties during the early war due to their being surrounded on land by Spain and at sea by a Franco-British blockade. Portugal was eventually relieved by the Comintern’s conquest of Spain. Thus after three years Comintern forces were in control of mainland Europe.

    The war shifted to the English Channel and the North Sea as the Comintern’s combined naval and air forces sought to enforce a naval blockade, supported by a strategic bombing campaign of Britain. They were only partially successful in these aims, in part due to American trade, and so it took another four years for the British people to tire of the war. The Trades Union Congress, though weakened by Conservative legislation, called for a general strike and an immediate end to the war. The call to strike was far more successful than the TUC had planned, for non-unionised workers also joined the strike. Sensing that the war was near its end the Comintern convened its 15th Congress to prepare for peace negotiations. Meanwhile, the Conservative government refused to negotiate with the TUC and authorised the police and army to use lethal force against the strikers. Four years of garrison duty had taken its toll on the army however, and news that soldiers’ first real action was to be against their fellow Britons rather than the communist menace across the Channel led to a mutinous refusal to confront the strikers. The Conservative government swiftly resigned without dissolving parliament and so was followed by a minority Liberal government supported by the Labour Party under an agreement to negotiate a peace. The main three demands of the Comintern were: the immediate recognition of all the socialist states that had come into existence since the end of the First World War, including the provisional states established during the recent war; the cession of Gibraltar; and the decolonisation of Iran and India. Britain no longer had the ability to mount an invasion of mainland Europe, while the population clearly didn’t have the will to support such a feat. The latter demand however was much easier to swallow as it would just be an acceptance of the reality of British control having already diminished to the point of non-existence in Iran and India. The Second World War thus ended in 1945.
     
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    • The New World Order
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    The New World Order

    Besides dealing with the end of the Second World War, the Comintern’s 15th Congress also began to plan for the post-war world order. The formalisation of the occupation zones into new socialist states was vital for a return to normalcy, as was the reconstruction of war-torn Europe; though the Comintern member states had already been cooperating economically, the Congress voted for the establishment of a new Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). The responsibility for COMECON was invested in a new position on the Comintern’s Executive Committee; the inaugural holder was the veteran minister and KPD member Fritz Selbmann. Due to the intense debate on Europe’s future, the 15th Congress was also the first in which a serious proposal for a unification of the (European) socialist republics into a single country was presented. All of the delegates supported the idea in principle, but the specific practicalities were vigorously debated. Eventually a heavily-amended, and some would say watered-down, version of the proposal was approved; the Congress endorsed the idea and would establish a committee to plan for the project. The next major issue in the Congress was the future expansion of socialism. The British general strike had initially excited the delegates, but a revolution was not forthcoming and the post-war election resulted in a moderate coalition government between Labour and the Independent Labour Party. Thus by the end of the war, the last holdouts of European reaction were the British Isles, Norway, the Czech Republic, and most of the Balkans. On the other hand, colonial rule in Africa and Asia had been dealt a terminal blow. The empires of France, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain had lost their colonial metropoles, and politicians and soldiers from said metropoles fled to the colonies and attempted in vain to restore white minority rule. Britain and Japan provided “aid”, but Britain’s prestige was severely wounded by its military defeat and loss of India, resulting in further demands for decolonisation. This was a call that the Comintern were more than willing to embrace, though it would drive them into further confrontation with the remnants of the reactionary world.

    post ww2 union map.png

    Approximate borders of Europe after WW2 and the proposal for the Union of Socialist Republics*

    The British experience in World War Two had resulted in a major shift in the country’s domestic politics. The pre-war economically liberal consensus had been demonstrated as a failure in not only providing prosperity for most of the population, but even in being able to prepare the country for a global conflict. The new coalition government, led by Prime Minister Herbert Morrison, immediately set upon a relatively radical program of state investment, nationalisation, and the creation of a welfare state. Even though the economy didn’t rebound immediately, and rationing was continued, the new social democratic policies proved to be overwhelmingly popular. Labour’s main difficulty though was with decolonisation; the granting of full independence to the white dominions was uncontested yet the government’s problem began when they entered negotiations with local elites in Malaya and north Borneo for a timetable to independence, while also encouraging the Dutch exiles to do the same with their East Indian colonies, which were under joint occupation between the British and Japanese. The Independent Labour Party argued for an immediate grant of independence not only to British Malaysia, but also to the occupied Dutch colonies and British colonies in Africa. The coalition government had ceased to function by 1949 due to the colonial issue, leading to a new election being called. The result was a substantial swing in votes and seats from the ILP to Labour, giving the latter a slim majority in parliament. The Labour government continued its policies unimpeded.

    Following the beginning of the Second World War, the administration of American President Ford maintained its policy of isolation. The success of Comintern forces however reawakened a feeling of interventionism in American politics; the Democrats acknowledged the rise of this movement and nominated Wendell Willkie as their candidate for the 1940 election. The moderate, pro-business Willkie supported a continuation of Ford’s economic policies, but campaigned for America’s re-entry into global politics. His message was convincing and so he was inaugurated as the thirty-third American president. Willkie’s key policy was the provision of Lend-Lease aid to the Entente countries, chiefly Britain. The aid consisted of food, oil, and war materiel. Due to the interference of isolationist senators Willkie was forced to sell the aid, but at a heavily-discounted price. The defeat and occupation of mainland Europe by the Comintern demonstrated just how fickle public and political opinion in America was however: from all quarters Willkie was vociferously criticised for not doing enough to help America’s “allies” against the communist hordes. At the 1944 election, which Willkie was persuaded to not run for, the Republican nominee Harold Stassen won with his fiery anti-communist and pro-interventionist rhetoric. Stassen’s first major action was to occupy Greenland and Iceland, the latter of which the Danish government had fled in exile to, in order to prevent communism from gaining a foothold in the north Atlantic. At home Stassen cooperated with Senator Joseph McCarthy and his Senate Committee on Un-American Activities; hundreds of politicians, government employees, and public figures were summoned to the Committee and others like it, where they were accused and questioned on their alleged ties to communist organisations. Stassen’s other major foreign policy venture was the granting of loans at favourable interest rates to Britain, Norway, and the Czech Republic. The 1948 election resulted in Stassen’s re-election, after which his administration began planning for a trans-Atlantic military alliance.

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    * The map itself was created by the Spartakus developers, the rough editing is my work.
     
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    • lucon50

    Love the writing style! Excited to see which direction each country takes as events unfold with such interesting political characters.
     
    Establishment of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran
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    Establishment of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran

    The Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran, or Gilan Soviet Republic as it was once known, can trace its origins to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905. The unchecked absolutism of the Qajar dynasty and their haphazard, yet oppressive government pushed the population of Tehran into revolting. In response to attacks from the government’s Russian-officered Persian Cossack Brigade an alliance of bazaar merchants, intelligentsia, and the clergy took refuge at the British embassy and formulated their demands for a constitution and a parliament. The ailing monarch, Mozaffar al-Din Shah, reluctantly agreed to the two demands and soon afterwards died. The elected deputies of the new parliament proved to be relatively radical and set about drafting a modernising constitution with the aim of providing responsible government and restricting the monarchy’s power. However the new monarch, Mohammad Ali Shah, was also resolutely opposed to the constitutional government and worked towards its destabilisation and defeat. In addition to the shah’s interference, factionalism in the parliament and a corrupt bureaucracy led to ineffective governance outside of Tehran. Into the power vacuum emerged the anjomans, associations or committees based on regional and sectional interests; in the north, where many of the poor population worked as seasonal migrant labourers in the industries of Russian Azerbaijan, especially the oilfields of Baku, the anjomans became increasingly militant. This militancy was only further encouraged by the concurrent revolution in Russia and resultant contact with Caucasian revolutionaries. Order in Tehran finally broke down when the Persian Cossack Brigade, on orders from the shah, bombarded the parliament building in 1908 and arrested and executed a number of deputies. The Constitutionalists dispersed to the provinces.

    Tabriz became the new centre of the revolution, for which reason the shah dispatched an army to capture the city. Monarchist forces were unsuccessful though and the opposing sides settled into a long siege. Fearing for their influence in Iran, the Russian government coerced the shah into allowing Russian troops to lift the siege and occupy the city, ostensibly to protect Russian citizens there. The revolutionaries left Tabriz and joined with another revolutionary army that had formed in Rasht; the army then moved south towards Tehran. Meanwhile in Isfahan, the Bakhtiari tribe of Lurs had also embraced the Constitutional cause and deposed the monarchist governor of the city. After this, they also advanced towards Tehran. The two armies attacked Tehran in 1909 from opposite sides and defeated the Persian Cossack Brigade, inducing the shah to take refuge at the Russian embassy. This was for nought though, as the Constitutionalists deposed him and enthroned his young son Ahmad as shah under a regency. Prominent monarchists were summarily executed and the parliament was reconvened. The return of parliamentary government however failed to restore order to the country, with the previous factionalism now worsened by the presence of partisan armies in the capital. The northern revolutionaries and the tribal armies clashed when attempting to disarm each other, while the parliament established a Swedish-officered gendarmerie to act as a neutral party loyal to the Constitutional government. Events came to a head due to the American advisor Morgan Shuster’s attempted reform of the government’s finances; the Russians occupied the rest of Azerbaijan and Gilan, and demanded the sacking of Shuster. The parliament’s term ended in 1911, giving the regent the justification to close parliament.

    The regent Nasir al-Mulk not only managed to delay new parliamentary elections to early 1914 through extra-legal means and with the connivance of Britain and Russia, but also prevented all of the seats from being filled, particularly those from Azerbaijan. As a result the next year of the parliament was characterised by short and ineffectual governments, complicated further by the beginning of the First World War and the encroachment of foreign armies. In 1915 the Russian army advanced toward Tehran, precipitating an exodus of parliamentarians, other Constitutionalists, and their German allies; the gendarmerie sided with the Constitutionalists and so fought a rear-guard action against the Russians (it was here that a rising star in the Persian Cossack Brigade, Reza Khan Mirpanj, was killed). The Constitutionalists declared a rival government in Kermanshah and invited the remaining deputies in Tehran to join. The latter agreed and dissolved the parliament. Meanwhile the monarchist government in Tehran had to maintain a precarious balancing act between the British and Russians, the two most visible results of which were the strengthening of the Persian Cossack Brigade and the British establishment of the South Persia Rifles. Over time the Constitutionalist rival government lost steam and its members drifted back to Tehran to salvage their political careers. The war, to which Iran wasn’t even officially involved in, exacted a high price on the country; a famine began in 1917 and was exacerbated by the worldwide influenza pandemic. Unsurprisingly the ineffectual government failed to provide relief to the populace, though not for lack of trying.

    The Russian Revolution of 1917 and the following civil war had a drastic effect upon Iran. Russian forces slowly began to disintegrate and lose control of their occupied territory. As the Russian Civil War progressed, Bolshevik forces pursued Whites who had remained in Iran or fled there after defeat in the former Russian Empire. In 1920 a Bolshevik fleet arrived at the port of Anzali in Gilan, and reached an agreement with the native Jangal movement. Led by Mirza Kuchak Khan, the Jangal movement was founded by remnants of the Constitutionalist northern revolutionary army which had earlier seized Tehran. Mirza Kuchak Khan agreed to establish the Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran in alliance with the Communist Party of Iran (FKI), founded in 1917 as the Justice Party. The alliance was tense from the start however; a section of the Communist Party led by Avetis Sultanzade were in favour of the immediate sovietisation and socialisation of their territory. Mirza Kuchak Khan though was, like many old Constitutionalists, a petit bourgeois social democrat and so opposed these measures. Before the tensions could reach breaking point though, Mirza Kuchak Khan went into self-imposed exile. The Communist Party and communists in the Jangal movement took this opportunity to formally depose the erstwhile leader; Mirza Kuchak Khan conveniently died of frostbite while travelling through the mountains. With the aid of the Red Army, the fledgling Gilan Soviet Republic extended its authority to Mazandaran and Azerbaijan, though a skirmish with Anglo-French troops ended in defeat and the loss of Tabriz to the newly autonomous region of Ottoman Kurdistan. Witnessing the collapse of the country, the central Iranian government hastily signed an armistice with the Soviet Union in 1922.
     
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    • Profile of Nikolai Bukharin
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    Nikolai Bukharin, leader of the Soviet Union (1888-1962)

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    Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, 1943-1949
    General Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), 1929-1949
    Deputy Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, 1928-1943
    People’s Commissar of the National Economy of the USSR, 1928-1943

    Nikolai Bukharin was a leading figure of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Even though at times he clashed with Vladimir Lenin, both revolutionaries recognised the need to establish the New Economic Policy, whereby the government allowed private ownership in agriculture and small enterprises, reformed the currency, and attracted some foreign investment. Due to the existence of other socialist republics investment from capitalist countries was kept relatively low. Economic recovery was slow but it did occur, quelling some of the opposition within the party towards the NEP. Lenin died in 1927 and was succeeded as Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars by his deputy Lev Kamenev. Bukharin allied himself with Kamenev and in 1928 was promoted to the roles of Deputy Chairman and People’s Commissar of the National Economy; the latter position allowed him to ensure the continuation of the NEP. In addition to their support of the NEP, both Kamenev and Bukharin also decided to work towards the restoration of the power of the soviets and the official state institutions which derived from them. It was also at this time that Bukharin began to quietly manoeuvre behind Kamenev’s back both in the party and state institutions. One of his moves was the appointment of Felix Dzerzhinsky, director of the intelligence service, to the post of People’s Commissar of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspectorate; the ministry responsible for investigating government corruption and inefficiency. Bukharin’s other major feat was his ally Alexei Rykov being elected Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Communist International.

    Kamenev’s support within the party gradually diminished throughout the thirties but Bukharin kept him in place as they enjoyed an otherwise good working relationship. When Kamenev died in 1943, Bukharin finally became the official leader of the USSR. After victory in the Second World War however, Bukharin’s support began to erode. The official criticism was that the idea of the leader ruling until their death had become incompatible with the re-democratisation of the country that Bukharin himself had overseen. The more subtle, and perhaps more correct, reason though was that the victory over capitalist Europe had resulted in a new assertiveness among the younger generation. Socialism could be achieved now, they claimed, and the rest of the world deserved to have their shackles broken. Bukharin was forced to resign as Chairman in 1949, but he was appointed director of TASS, the state news agency, as a reward for his long service. Bukharin died in 1962 while still directing TASS. After death his position was cemented alongside Marx, Engels, and Lenin as one of the founding fathers of communism.
     
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    • The First Phase of the Indian Civil War
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    The First Phase of the Indian Civil War (1934-1945)

    During the interwar period, the Great Depression and a famine combined to throw British rule in India into chaos. Emboldened by the ongoing revolt in Burma, revolutionaries loyal to the Indian Socialist Congress (the successor to the defunct Indian National Congress) and the Communist Party of India rose up across the colony. Their strength was greatest in the northeast, where they declared an independent People’s Union of Bharat. On the other hand, the princely states had increased their power prior to the revolution at the expense of the British colonial government; accordingly many were able to act independently, though without officially declaring their independence from Britain. Some of these monarchs were influenced by newly-emerging religious nationalisms, while others looked to traditional ethno-linguistic nationalism. As the Second World War had not yet begun, the Comintern recognised a prime chance to weaken their arch-rival, the British Empire. The People’s Union of Bharat received a substantial number of advisors and supplies to strengthen their heartland of northeast India; the Burmese too received aid. The ISC adopted the strategy of supporting agrarian revolution at the expense of the ongoing revolutions in the major industrialised cities. Advisors from the Comintern were initially disappointed but the strategy was vindicated, as rural rebellion reached the level of the Red Revolt during the twenties. Bharat thus consolidated its control over further territory while keeping conventional warfare to a minimum.

    The outbreak of the Second World War led to Bharat’s Comintern advisors advocating for a more aggressive campaign against British-held territory, but many in the ISC were sceptical of Bharat’s conventional military capability. That was until Subhas Chandra Bose returned from exile in the USSR, and gave numerous rousing speeches reminding Indians of their duty to fight against international capitalism and imperialism; the ISC was swayed to take the offensive. Bharat’s first military offensive pushed eastwards, in order to link up with the Burmese rebels whose situation had steadily declined until the beginning of European hostilities. With their eastern flank secure, Bharat simultaneously advanced southwest toward the princely state of Hyderabad (commanded by Bhagat Singh), and northwest towards Delhi and Agra (commanded by Bose). Along the way, peasant militias and defections from the British Indian Army bolstered the ranks of Bharat’s increasingly ad-hoc military. City after city in the Ganges-Yamuna basin (also known as the United Provinces) surrendered with only moderate fighting as Imperial forces retreated towards Agra. The British defensive line was anchored there and their army was supported by soldiers from the princely state of Gwalior, which had also hired Portuguese exiles as mercenary officers. Bharat’s ad-hoc army was incapable of defeating the joint British-Gwalior army and so settled in for a long siege of Agra. On the other hand, the advance towards Hyderabad was considerably easier for a time; the minor princely states of Orissa and the Central Provinces offered negligible resistance, though the mountainous terrain of the former province slowed the army’s march somewhat. The offensive became much more difficult however when the army advanced further into the princely state of Hyderabad. The ruler, Osman Ali Khan, had invested significantly into a domestic aircraft industry, while Bharat’s anti-air capability was limited. The socialist offensive stalled before it had even reached the city.

    Bharat’s position in the war deteriorated somewhat when the princely states of Sikkim and Bhutan escalated their raiding into a more substantial military offensive. Though their armies were small and poorly-equipped, the resultant redeployment of Bharatiya forces weakened the front in Burma, allowing more British troops to escape from the siege of Yangon. Meanwhile in Hyderabad, Bhagat Singh drew on his previous experience in special operations as he sought a solution to the enemy’s air superiority. Singh and his staff devised an operation wherein army commandoes and Communist cells from the city would sabotage the prince’s military airbases. The plan succeeded and gave Bharat’s army the respite they required to finally push back the princely army. The subsequent siege of Hyderabad also managed to be a drawn-out affair; the Razakars, an Islamic extremist militia, had previously mobilised soon after the beginning of the civil war. Their activities had previously consisted of repressing Hindus and suspected leftists, but with the arrival of Bharatiya troops they attached themselves to the prince’s army. The brutal street-by-street fighting of the siege led to devastation that would take many years to recover from. Once the defeat of Hyderabad was clearly imminent, the princely state of Mysore took the opportunity to invade from the south and faced no resistance. Osman Ali Khan himself was executed by Communist revolutionaries after they assaulted his residence; the army and the Razakars held on for a few more days before surrendering.

    The north-western front, centred on the siege of Agra, gained a reprieve in the form of the USSR. Soviet forces invaded Baluchistan from Iran and through southern Afghanistan; the Afghan government was given no choice in the matter. The Soviets advanced towards Quetta and Karachi, the latter being the British navy’s main port in India and thus vital to the resupply of most of the British troops in India. The subsequent redeployment of British Indian troops to Karachi weakened the defence of Agra enough for Bharat to emerge victorious. The British defensive line retreated to the Punjab, abandoning Delhi in the process and leaving Gwalior’s troops to fend for themselves. The Soviet siege of Karachi meanwhile was hampered by the Royal Navy’s support for the ground troops in the city, but the defenders were no match for the USSR’s numbers. Even though the British army in the Punjab had had their supply lines cut, they continued resisting the steady Soviet advance through Sindh. It was at this point that the general strike in Britain began. When the news reached the British Indian army, mass desertions among the conscripted Indian soldiers occurred; even some British officers began to plan for ways to escape. Eventually however a truce was agreed upon by the new Liberal-Labour government. Once the peace treaty was negotiated, British personnel were granted permission to evacuate via the nearest port. Some looting occurred during the mad dash to the coast, but the presence of the various other armies prevented any serious incidents. Indian troops in British service were confronted with a more complicated situation though; most soldiers defected to the Bharatiya army, as did many officers. A large amount of officers though defected to the princely states or even bought passage out of India. By the end of the first phase of the Indian Civil War, the People’s Union of Bharat controlled most of the Indo-Gangetic plain, the Northeast, and parts of the east stretching into the Deccan.

    indian civil war map.png

    Approximate borders of India at the end of the first phase of the civil war (1945)*

    -----
    * Made using the same base map as the WW2 entry.
     
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    • The "Gilan Soviet Republic" Era of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran (1922-1938)
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    • Teutonic_Thrash

    The "Gilan Soviet Republic" Era of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Iran (1922-1938)

    The main problems facing the Gilan Soviet Republic in 1922 was the economy and government administration. Most of their territory was agrarian; the denial of Tabriz had been a severe blow to the country’s industrial potential. The remaining economic activity was focused on artisanal crafts, cash crops, and the trade of such goods. On the other hand the state of the military was acceptable, with the presence of the Red Army supporting the smaller Jangali-based army, though the latter would need to be improved before the attempt to reunify Iran. Now that the Communist Party was secure in its power, the old debate within the party re-emerged: there were those who argued for the immediate sovietisation of Iran and thus the resultant battle against the bourgeoisie and the landlords; and those who favoured allying with the “patriotic” bourgeoisie to remove foreign (that is, British) exploitation of the country first, and then to develop and modernise Iran’s economy within a capitalist framework. The first group were dominant in the Soviet Republic, while the latter were in Baku and other parts of the recently-founded Soviet Union. Even though the “national liberation” group, led by Haydar Khan Amu Oghli, were in closer contact with the Comintern and Moscow, the international success of socialism had imbued many in the higher echelons of government with an expansionist, revolutionary fervour. The communists in Gilan were given the go-ahead to enact their sovietisation agenda.

    The anjomans of the Constitutional Revolution provided the answer to the Republic’s economic and administrative shortcomings. During the revolution the anjomans had adequately organised economic and administrative affairs during the various instances of absent central government authority, and the Jangal movement had also encouraged their existence during the latter years of the Great War. Communist activists therefore emphasised the close similarities between socialist councils and the anjomans in order to allay fears of a foreign imposition. In conjunction with this policy, the Jangali army returned to their wartime policy of confiscating land from the (often absentee) landlords and redistributing it to the peasants. This time the land redistribution was extended to Mazandaran and Azerbaijan. The policies were generally a success: the peasants and workers appeared to be developing some class consciousness beyond just enmity towards the former landlords and business owners; and agricultural production increased. As expected though industrial development was negligible; the Soviet Republic would certainly require external intervention to surmount this hurdle. To this end Sultanzade resigned from the government and returned to his position on the Comintern’s Executive Committee to raise awareness of Iran’s plight. Progress on that front was slow through the early twenties though, as the other socialist states were concerned with recovering their own economies after their own civil wars. However there was investment into the small but growing timber manufacturing sector, in addition to an increased curiosity among European workers for previous luxury items such as silk and handmade carpets.

    With the economy stable, though still materially poor, the Communist Party turned its attention to the military. The Jangali army, comprised mostly of former peasants, was formally re-established as the Revolutionary People’s Army (Artesh-i Inqilab-i Khalq/AIK). The army numbered approximately a few thousand and what they lacked in formal training they made up for in experience, having fought the central government, the Russians, and the British in both conventional and guerrilla warfare. Continuing the trend from the Constitutional Revolution, the Communist Party invited fellow revolutionaries from Soviet Caucasia to act as officers and instructors. This time there was considerably less Armenian involvement due to their achievement of autonomy from the Ottomans. The state of the AIK’s weaponry was a concern, as their small-arms consisted of everything from muzzle-loaded muskets to the latest semi-automatic rifles; artillery and indirect-fire weapons were similarly inconsistent in addition to being rare. With next to no industrial capacity the Gilan Soviet Republic had to rely on equipment imports from the Soviet Union; the government took this chance to standardise their equipment and retire the obsolete arms. The main military threat to the young republic were the tribal groups within their territory. The nomadic tribes of Iran were at that time still a major component of the central government’s army, serving as irregular but well-armed cavalry under their tribal chieftains. The Gilan Soviet Republic possessed nowhere near the power needed to either drive out the tribes or forcibly sedentarise them. Instead the government decided to recruit individual members to the army in the hope that immersion in the sedentary lifestyle of the soldiers’ soviets would gradually diminish tribal power.

    The rest of Iran fared no better than the north however. Soon after the Gilan Soviet Republic’s expansion, the Qajar government moved to the southern city of Shiraz. The regions of Fars and Khuzestan were the centres of British influence in Iran, defended by the South Persia Rifles. Unsurprisingly the government became even more subordinate to British interests. The parliament, once a symbol of anti-imperialist sentiment, was just as susceptible to corruption as the royal court, exacerbated as ever by its perennial factionalism. Around this time, the Arab and Lurish tribes of Khuzestan declared independence under the leadership of Sheikh Khaz’al al-Ka’bi. The revolt was encouraged by the British so they could deal directly with the tribes in the vicinity of their oil refineries and not have to involve the Shiraz government as intermediaries. As such there was nothing the shah or his government could do. In addition to the British there were remnants of exiled White Russians, exercising their influence through the Persian Cossack Brigade. The situation grew to be intolerable. In late 1931 Mohammad Taqi Pessian, a Constitutionalist-inspired commander of the gendarmerie, attempted a coup against the government in Shiraz. Though they were unsuccessful in seizing power, they marched to Mashhad in Khorasan and a declared a new nationalist government.

    The Khorasan situation provided an opportunity to the Comintern. With the new partnership of Nikolai Bukharin leading the USSR and Alexei Rykov as Chairman of the Comintern’s Executive Committee, international policy had shifted perceptibly to a more conciliatory tone towards moderate, yet still anti-imperialist movements. Joining Pessian in his flight to Khorasan were a number of old, left-leaning Constitutionalists, the most prominent being Hasan Taqizadeh. Even though the Communist Party in Gilan, led by Ja’far Pishevari, was extremely sceptical of an alliance with the military-dominated government, the Comintern despatched a party led by Haydar Khan Amu Oghli to Mashhad. After a week of negotiation between the two delegations an agreement was reached: the Republic of Iran (the Khorasan government’s official name) would trade with Gilan and the USSR; Communists would be granted positions in the Mashhad government; both Gilan and Khorasan would cooperate to overthrow monarchism and European imperialism in Iran; and Gilan and Khorasan would not interfere in each other’s internal affairs. Despite Gilan’s quiet hostility to the agreement, it continued to work for some time due to the efforts of Haydar Khan and his moderate allies in the party. In 1934 a major crisis afflicted Communist-Khorasani cooperation, even though the event occurred on the other side of Asia. The left-wing of the Kuomintang government based in Wuhan broke their long cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party and violently purged them. The 12th Congress of the Comintern lambasted the Executive Committee for not preventing the tragedy, and Chairman Rykov only just retained his position. The Communists in Mashhad pulled out of the government but convinced the Congress to maintain the other provisions of the agreement.

    After the termination of the joint government in Khorasan, the Communist Party of Iran’s leadership in Gilan resolved to carry out the revolution on their own. It was decided that the successful policies of land reform and sovietisation through the anjomans could be exported to the rest of the country. Recent events had proven that the central government had barely any control over local affairs, at least outside of the southern provinces. Additionally, the famine and disease epidemics at the end of the Great War had been considerably worse than in the rest of Iran, with an estimated two million deaths across the country. Opposition to landlords and foreign armies was therefore judged to be sufficiently strong enough to be receptive towards socialist agitation. Haydar Khan Amu Oghli was appointed as the supervisor of the network of agents partly because he was one of the more famous members of the party, but also to rehabilitate his career after the disastrous Khorasani venture. Communist agents dispersed throughout the country to enact a two-fold plan: aiding peasants in overthrowing minor landlords and redistributing farmland; and encouraging urban workers to unionise. Under the direction of Haydar Khan, the propaganda focused on the British and White Russian presence rather than the bourgeois merchants and the clergy. The strategy was effective. Even though landlords complained to the government, there wasn’t much they could do as the South Persia Rifles were concerned only with protecting the oil refineries while the Cossack Brigade’s “aid” usually involved raiding and pillaging the rebellious villages, enriching only themselves. Brave members of parliament attributed the peasants’ refusal to pay taxes (a misunderstanding of the land seizures) on the predations of the foreign powers. Iran was thus at a boiling point, exacerbated by the Communist Party’s discreet arming of its new revolutionaries to the south.
     
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    • Teutonic_Thrash

    Just realised that Spartakus has a thread here on AH, so I've linked it in the first post.

    The next update will be out soon. Here's a spoiler: Khrushchev.
     

    Teutonic_Thrash

    I'll come clean and admit that this timeline is on hold for now. It's not dead, but I am having more fun writing my other timeline so I'll stick with that one for a while.
     
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