True but assuming the Balfour Declaration still occurs there’s still going to be issues about the Palestinian leadership being adamant to any Jewish state in the region. So unless the British actually have some sort of good plan to address this I don’t see this not leading to some conflict.
The Fire Never Dies, Part II: The Red Colossus
- Thread starter Meshakhad
- Start date
The Balfour Declaration still occurred. I couldn't come up with a way to butterfly it that didn't feel arbitrary, and I think I used up my credit on that when I had Yuan Shikai's gambit at winning himself a throne succeed.
Yeah I figured. That’s going to cause issues down the line.
Question how influential will the Jewish Labor Bond become, due there being a Socialist America (as they were based in New York), will they have as much influence as the Zionist movement, will they cooperate with them, I do wonder how this group will evolve.
After Sun Yat-Sen died and with the considerably more radical turn the KMT developed compared to OTL, who is the current leader of the Kuomintang-in-Exile, @Meshakhad?
Not sure there is one... or, rather, only one. The KMT may have suffered the same fate as the USA and splintered in exile. There are also KMT remnants within China who are merging into the broader Chinese socialist movement. One of their recent recruits, in fact, is a young man by the name of Mao Zedong.
On that note, maybe Wang Jingwei, Deng Yanda, Liao Zhongkai, and Soong Ching-ling are ITTL notable for being leaders of the KMT exile community?
Wang Jingwei backed the Emperor. I'll look up the others later, but a good chunk of the KMT went over to the Imperials.
By empire do you mean the Qing or the Xinhai? Sorry if that's a really dumb question,, I'm finding it a little hard to follow.
I really enjoyed that one.
Xinhai. The Qing are (rightfully) seen as little more than Japanese puppets.
Sort of. I have zero intention of ever abandoning it. However, as I just started a full time teaching position, I am completely overwhelmed. Don't expect any major updates anytime soon. If I manage to get more than one update in by the end of the school year, I'll consider that a victory.
That said, I have recently been working on something: a series of vignettes depicting the on-the-ground reality of the transition to socialism. This is material that might actually end up in Labor's Star Ascendant's final draft, but I'll post it here for now.
No worries dude, this TL is worth the wait and I'm no stranger to life throwing continuous wrenches into writing time 😅
Oh that sounds rad I look forward to it
I just got all caught up with this timeline (I binged it over the course of two days), and I'm definitely following for updates.
I saw a ways back in this thread that you were considering dropping the replacement of "state" with "commonwealth" on account of the latter term being in use for some states prior to the 2AR. I'd just like to point out that one of the most influential American books on socialism released prior to the POD was The Cooperative Commonwealth, written by SLP member Laurence Gronlund in 1884, so the term definitely would have a certain amount of cachet with the generation of socialists to which the leaders of the Revolution belonged.
I saw a ways back in this thread that you were considering dropping the replacement of "state" with "commonwealth" on account of the latter term being in use for some states prior to the 2AR. I'd just like to point out that one of the most influential American books on socialism released prior to the POD was The Cooperative Commonwealth, written by SLP member Laurence Gronlund in 1884, so the term definitely would have a certain amount of cachet with the generation of socialists to which the leaders of the Revolution belonged.
We'll see some states adopt the name "commonwealth" (and maybe a few go with "Republic") but I think the default term will be "state".
Thanks!
Change Is Messy I: Garibaldi, Oregon
This is the first in a set of vignettes, collectively entitled "Change is Messy" providing a ground-level view of the changes brought by the Revolution. The general theme is of how the former bourgeoisie adapt (or don't adapt) to the new world.
While I'm posting them here, when I eventually publish Labor's Star Ascendant, all of these will be included in that book.
---
Garibaldi, Oregon
Arnold Bowers stared at the man who had just walked into the store. He was tall and wiry, with short-cropped blonde hair. He certainly didn’t look a day over 20. He wore an olive green uniform with red chevrons on the sleeve and had a rifle slung across his back.
“What’s the meaning of this, Mr…”
“Mark, sir. Sergeant Anton Mark. Army of Seattle.” His accent wasn’t American. Maybe Finnish or Swedish. “I’m here to enforce co-operativization.”
“Co-oper… what the hell are you talking about?”
“Sir, by order of the General Defense Committee, all businesses in our territory must adopt an elected, cooperative structure, placing them under control of the workers.”
Arnold squinted at the sergeant. “In other words, you’re seizing my store for your Red Army.”
“No, sir. Your store is now the joint property of its employees.” He leaned to one side, trying to peer around Arnold. “Are all of your employees here today?”
Arnold glanced behind him, then nodded. “Yeah. Dick ran off to join the National Guard. I reckon he’s holed up in Portland or something, assuming your boys didn’t kill him.”
“Good riddance I say,” Jack Caulfield said, his Irish accent thick. “Pain in the arse, that one.”
Arnold didn’t respond. Dick Hampden had been a hard worker, very conscientious. He’d also been a minor headache given his attitude toward immigrants. Which was a lot of people around here.
“That leaves me, Jack, and Noah Marsh.”
Noah was a big, shy man in his twenties. He didn’t talk much, but he did a great job handling inventory and helping customers carry heavy loads. He was standing in the far corner, where he’d been putting away some boxes of tackle when Sergeant Mark had entered.
“In that case, I suggest the three of you hold a vote now to elect a general secretary. Once that’s in place, you can work out a constitution. I have a sample one here.” He passed over a pamphlet. “You’ll have to register with your local and file your constitution by the end of the month.”
Arnold sighed and turned to face his employees. “Well, boys. I hope you won’t mind if I propose myself for manager. After all, I have been running this here store for eight years.”
Jack grinned. “Beggin’ your pardon, sir, but I don’t want the job. I see how much work you have to do. If I worked as often as you did, me wife would never let me hear the end of it!” He grinned. “Of course, since she’s in a family way, I will be advancin’ a motion to raise our wages.”
Noah shrugged. “Sounds good to me. We’re both co-owners, now.”
Sergeant Mark chuckled. “All in favor of electing Arnold Bowers as secretary-general of Arnold’s General Store?” He frowned. “You might want to change the name.”
“Aye!” Jack called out.
“Aye,” grunted Noah.
Arnold turned back to Sergeant Mark. “Well, it seems the ayes have it.”
Sergeant Mark nodded. “Congratulations on your election, Comrade Manager. I’ll be off now. Make sure to file your constitution by the end of the month!”
And with that, he was gone. Arnold flipped through the sample constitution. “Ugh… I’d best get to reading this.”
Jack shrugged. “The burden of leadership. Now, what should we call the store?”
While I'm posting them here, when I eventually publish Labor's Star Ascendant, all of these will be included in that book.
---
Garibaldi, Oregon
Arnold Bowers stared at the man who had just walked into the store. He was tall and wiry, with short-cropped blonde hair. He certainly didn’t look a day over 20. He wore an olive green uniform with red chevrons on the sleeve and had a rifle slung across his back.
“What’s the meaning of this, Mr…”
“Mark, sir. Sergeant Anton Mark. Army of Seattle.” His accent wasn’t American. Maybe Finnish or Swedish. “I’m here to enforce co-operativization.”
“Co-oper… what the hell are you talking about?”
“Sir, by order of the General Defense Committee, all businesses in our territory must adopt an elected, cooperative structure, placing them under control of the workers.”
Arnold squinted at the sergeant. “In other words, you’re seizing my store for your Red Army.”
“No, sir. Your store is now the joint property of its employees.” He leaned to one side, trying to peer around Arnold. “Are all of your employees here today?”
Arnold glanced behind him, then nodded. “Yeah. Dick ran off to join the National Guard. I reckon he’s holed up in Portland or something, assuming your boys didn’t kill him.”
“Good riddance I say,” Jack Caulfield said, his Irish accent thick. “Pain in the arse, that one.”
Arnold didn’t respond. Dick Hampden had been a hard worker, very conscientious. He’d also been a minor headache given his attitude toward immigrants. Which was a lot of people around here.
“That leaves me, Jack, and Noah Marsh.”
Noah was a big, shy man in his twenties. He didn’t talk much, but he did a great job handling inventory and helping customers carry heavy loads. He was standing in the far corner, where he’d been putting away some boxes of tackle when Sergeant Mark had entered.
“In that case, I suggest the three of you hold a vote now to elect a general secretary. Once that’s in place, you can work out a constitution. I have a sample one here.” He passed over a pamphlet. “You’ll have to register with your local and file your constitution by the end of the month.”
Arnold sighed and turned to face his employees. “Well, boys. I hope you won’t mind if I propose myself for manager. After all, I have been running this here store for eight years.”
Jack grinned. “Beggin’ your pardon, sir, but I don’t want the job. I see how much work you have to do. If I worked as often as you did, me wife would never let me hear the end of it!” He grinned. “Of course, since she’s in a family way, I will be advancin’ a motion to raise our wages.”
Noah shrugged. “Sounds good to me. We’re both co-owners, now.”
Sergeant Mark chuckled. “All in favor of electing Arnold Bowers as secretary-general of Arnold’s General Store?” He frowned. “You might want to change the name.”
“Aye!” Jack called out.
“Aye,” grunted Noah.
Arnold turned back to Sergeant Mark. “Well, it seems the ayes have it.”
Sergeant Mark nodded. “Congratulations on your election, Comrade Manager. I’ll be off now. Make sure to file your constitution by the end of the month!”
And with that, he was gone. Arnold flipped through the sample constitution. “Ugh… I’d best get to reading this.”
Jack shrugged. “The burden of leadership. Now, what should we call the store?”
Nice start to this sub-series. Good to see not everyone will get forced into the new program, though I'm sure that there'll be plenty who have to.