Ah I see. Actually, I now doubt labour credits would be pushed for in the UASR, since they'd be seen as another form of wage slavery, whereas a moneyless economy would be preferred?
Anarchists: "Bugger your social norms"
.The Great Crusade (Reds! Part 3)
- Thread starter Aelita
- Start date
Ah I see. Actually, I now doubt labour credits would be pushed for in the UASR, since they'd be seen as another form of wage slavery, whereas a moneyless economy would be preferred?
Anarchists: "Bugger your social norms"
.Ah I see. Actually, I now doubt labour credits would be pushed for in the UASR, since they'd be seen as another form of wage slavery, whereas a moneyless economy would be preferred?
Anarchists: "Bugger your social norms"
Marxists propose Labour Credits as a temporary change, in order to facilitate a cultural transition to moneyless society.
Wow! I'm so glad I finally have caught up with this TL! I'd like to thank jello and her comrades for introducing me to leftist ideas and inspiring me to actually learn about socialism. Proper socialism mind you, not what the reactionaries call and think about socialism (As I explained to a friend of mine, learning about communism from capitalists is like learning about feminism from the Taliban)
I just have a few questions about Reds!:
Would Columbus have kept its name? I highly doubt that the pro-native UASR would have a fairly major city be named after an imperialist slaving dickhead. Some suggestions for alternate names:
Highbank- a name floated early on when the city was founded referring to the fact that C-Bus is on the high bank of the Scioto
Franklinton-the name for the oldest part of Columbus, occasionally called the Bottoms IOTL. Also, since the Founding Fathers have mostly been co-opted by the UASR, so renaming the city would after Comrade Ben would be a good PR move
Scioto- boring but workable
Tecumseh- He was born nearby and I bet people would appreciate the irony of renaming Columbus after a Native revolutionary. He might have a mixed legacy in the UASR, since he worked closely with the Brits and Canucks...
What's the state of comedy ITTL? Would stand-ups work together in collectives, like actors? Or would they be different some how? Heck would such an individualist comedic style even catch on? I guess improv would be more popular, seeing how collective it is (I guess Reds! couldn't be completely perfect if improv were more popular... ) Also, I'm hoping that the Marx brothers would be good comrades since it's in the name
I noticed that Kent State kept its name-even though the State of Ohio was replaced by the Ohio Socialist Republic and jello mentioned that Americans ITTL don't really like the word "state" thanks to Goldman & Co. Did state universities get keep their names through inertia?
Keep up the great work comrades!
EDIT: Thought of another question: Since Trinitarians are all disaffected Catholics and Mainline Protestants, are they the majority denomination amongst Christians in the UASR? And if so, how common are other denominations?
I just have a few questions about Reds!:
Would Columbus have kept its name? I highly doubt that the pro-native UASR would have a fairly major city be named after an imperialist slaving dickhead. Some suggestions for alternate names:
Highbank- a name floated early on when the city was founded referring to the fact that C-Bus is on the high bank of the Scioto
Franklinton-the name for the oldest part of Columbus, occasionally called the Bottoms IOTL. Also, since the Founding Fathers have mostly been co-opted by the UASR, so renaming the city would after Comrade Ben would be a good PR move
Scioto- boring but workable
Tecumseh- He was born nearby and I bet people would appreciate the irony of renaming Columbus after a Native revolutionary. He might have a mixed legacy in the UASR, since he worked closely with the Brits and Canucks...
What's the state of comedy ITTL? Would stand-ups work together in collectives, like actors? Or would they be different some how? Heck would such an individualist comedic style even catch on? I guess improv would be more popular, seeing how collective it is (I guess Reds! couldn't be completely perfect if improv were more popular...
) Also, I'm hoping that the Marx brothers would be good comrades since it's in the name I noticed that Kent State kept its name-even though the State of Ohio was replaced by the Ohio Socialist Republic and jello mentioned that Americans ITTL don't really like the word "state" thanks to Goldman & Co. Did state universities get keep their names through inertia?
Keep up the great work comrades!
EDIT: Thought of another question: Since Trinitarians are all disaffected Catholics and Mainline Protestants, are they the majority denomination amongst Christians in the UASR? And if so, how common are other denominations?
Last edited:
Wow! I'm so glad I finally have caught up with this TL! I'd like to thank jello and her comrades for introducing me to leftist ideas and inspiring me to actually learn about socialism. Proper socialism mind you, not what the reactionaries call and think about socialism (As I explained to a friend of mine, learning about communism from capitalists is like learning about feminism from the Taliban)
I just have a few questions about Reds!:
Would Columbus have kept its name? I highly doubt that the pro-native UASR would have a fairly major city be named after an imperialist slaving dickhead. Some suggestions for alternate names:
Highbank- a name floated early on when the city was founded referring to the fact that C-Bus is on the high bank of the Scioto
Franklinton-the name for the oldest part of Columbus, occasionally called the Bottoms IOTL. Also, since the Founding Fathers have mostly been co-opted by the UASR, so renaming the city would after Comrade Ben would be a good PR move
Scioto- boring but workable
Tecumseh- He was born nearby and I bet people would appreciate the irony of renaming Columbus after a Native revolutionary. He might have a mixed legacy in the UASR, since he worked closely with the Brits and Canucks...
What's the state of comedy ITTL? Would stand-ups work together in collectives, like actors? Or would they be different some how? Heck would such an individualist comedic style even catch on? I guess improv would be more popular, seeing how collective it is (I guess Reds! couldn't be completely perfect if improv were more popular...
I noticed that Kent State kept its name-even though the State of Ohio was replaced by the Ohio Socialist Republic and jello mentioned that Americans ITTL don't really like the word "state" thanks to Goldman & Co. Did state universities get keep their names through inertia?
Keep up the great work comrades!
EDIT: Thought of another question: Since Trinitarians are all disaffected Catholics and Mainline Protestants, are they the majority denomination amongst Christians in the UASR? And if so, how common are other denominations?
They don't like state because in the socialist context it doesn't really mean anything. As far as the UASR is concerned Republic declares the meaning they mean.
Hehehe, that made me chuckle.
Indeed, generally unwise to learn about ideologies from their opponents. In all cases.
Would Columbus be renamed, though? I can see it maybe being renamed in the 1960s or 1970s (during the Second Cultural Revolution), but I doubt it would be renamed in the heat of the 1930s social revolution, given the fairly positive opinion that (most) Marxists had of the encounter of Columbus with the 'New World' up until the 60s:
One must not forget historical context here. A lot of the ideas that are fashionable on the left now were not so in the 1930s (to say nothing of before then), and might not even develop at all in the context of a successful socialist revolution in the United States.
Friedrich Engels said:
One must not forget historical context here. A lot of the ideas that are fashionable on the left now were not so in the 1930s (to say nothing of before then), and might not even develop at all in the context of a successful socialist revolution in the United States.
E. Burke
Banned
With communism you want to be careful with the supporters to. I just got called an anti communist for not supporting Assad.
Trots can be tankies too. The naive "anti-imperialism" and the instant resort to violence to resolve contradiction is what characterize the tankie mentality.
There is a version of that ethos ITTL, and it's probably most notable on the left of the WCP.
What is a tanky? I've heard the term before. Is it something to do with Stalinists?
E. Burke
Banned
Workers World Party hack, they are super Stalinist but are technically Trotskyists. Accused a comrade of mine of being a Trot and got super pissed when we pointed out that WWP is a Trot group. Got him to defend modern China, and coined a new term "Suicide Net Socialism."
I would contend most Trotskyist groupings in the US are actually built on a Stalinist framework, and that stuff like the poorly thought through anti-imperialism many Trotskyists advocate is a product of this environment.
It used to be primarily a term for Communists who uncritically supported Kruschev's intervention in Hungary and the putting down of the Prague Spring. It's evolved into a term for uncritical support for any "anti-western" dictators (in most cases also dictators who say anti-western things, independent of whether or not they actually follow through on their rhetoric). Especially people who support Putin and Assad in modern international politics.
I'm kinda curious about what the TTL version of tanks would be like. But now I'm really curious about what the leftist groups in the FBU are like ITTL.
Japanese entry into WW2, February 1942
We're skipping forward a bit because reasons. We'll return to the Soviet theater with the next update.
The War in the Pacific
On 1 June 1941, the leading figures of the Japanese Imperial Rule Assistance Association, a parafascist clique monopolizing political power in the Empire of Japan, met to discuss the “American question.” The closed door meeting was dominated by Minister for War Hideki Tojo’s thesis, delivered forcefully, that regardless of the diplomatic niceties being observed, the UASR was in already in a de facto state of war with the Empire.
The revolutionary state’s unwavering support for the Republic of China’s resistance to integration into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere amounted to an undeclared war. What other way could the Cabinet construe millions of dollars in direct military aid totaling nearly half of China’s military budget, including some top of the line weapon systems, thirty thousand well-trained and well led International Brigade volunteers, raw materials, industrial aid, and credit? To let this go unanswered, Tojo argued, not only jeopardized the war effort, but was an insufferable insult to Japanese national bridge.
The war in China was stagnating, and the China’s resolve was bolstering. Worse, the Republic of China was being increasingly seduced into the ranks of International Communism. Tojo believed it was imperative to Japan’s national survival to thwart communist encirclement. Worse, the score of American controlled islands in the pacific were “a dagger aimed at our throats.”
The course towards war became inevitable. Some muted voices did not think that even with the UASR tied down in the struggle against Germany, the UASR would still be a dangerous adversary. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was perhaps the loudest voice for caution. Whereas the adventurists led by Tojo saw a soft-hearted enemy already stretched too far, too thin, Yamamoto drew the opposite conclusion. The UASR was an unrivaled industrial and scientific colossus able to trade blow for blow with Germany while propping up its allies in South America and China, and yet still able to hold forces in reserve to challenge Britain, France and Japan simultaneously. And every day, the factories continued to ramp up production.
The tone deaf militarists ignored his warnings. And thus it would fall to the Imperial Japanese Navy, least eager for war, to close off the aid channels to China, and drive the Revolutionary Navy from the Pacific.
The stage was set, but war wouldn’t break out for over six months. The IJN would continue to build, drill and strategize for its strike against America. The campaign would ultimately coincide with France’s descent into civil war. With the Anglo-Japanese alliance unraveling in the face of Britain’s unwanted war with the Anti-Comintern Axis, the Co-Prosperity Sphere moved to expand greedily in search of strategic resources, and strengthen its noose around China.
On 8 February 1942, seven carriers of the Kido Butai moved into striking range north of Oahu.(1) Their target: the Pearl Harbor naval base and the supporting military infrastructure. The first strike wave left in the early morning hours, armed to strike the ships and airfields on Oahu.
On the other side of the International Date Line, Imperial Japanese Army forces began invading Indochina and the Philippines. American intelligence had known that war was coming for months. A sketch of Japan’s grand strategy had been included in the legendary spy Richard Sorge’s last few communiques before his capture. Japanese intentions were clear: the moment France and Britain became embroiled in the war against Nazism, they would act quickly to exploit. Strikes against the UASR would follow suit. However, American intelligence did not know where or when the war would begin.
Pearl Harbor was the obvious target, but with so much of the Revolutionary Navy tied down either fighting the Kriegsmarine’s unrestricted submarine warfare, or countering the Royal Navy, American planners suspected that the IJN might attempt a bold attack on the locks of the Panama Canal. The long traverse around the Straits of Magellan and the dearth of suitable port facilities in South America, itself embroiled in a serious fight against Axis Brazil, meant the loss of the Canal would very effectively pen the Revolutionary Navy in the Atlantic for months. The Pacific Fleet was just weak enough that the IJN might attempt such a bold strategy.
While the recent Petain betrayal in France, German invasion and the formation of the Franco-British Union as a co-belligerent against Germany had just obviated the need to match the Royal Navy, there was no time to reposition forces to ward of the IJN. Japan had found the window of maximum vulnerability.
Pearl Harbor was by no means undefended. Admiral William Standley, Chief of Naval Operations, had steadily bolstered the Pacific Fleet’s static defenses. Oahu had one of the best radar systems available, supplemented by a picket fleet of radar equipped cruisers to extend the coverage net.
The naval base itself bristled with 125mm flak guns, manned by well drilled crews, supported by 57mm and 37mm autocannons and scores of 20mm machine guns for point defense. 90 Army and 70 Navy fighters were on alert at any given time, and a regiment of long range maritime strike aircraft would be able to retaliate hostile fleets. Coastal batteries and beach defenses made amphibious invasion a dicey proposition, even if the island’s garrison was understrength.
Admiral Husband Kimmel, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, would be in overall command during the attack, and the man most ultimately responsible for defense preparation in his role as Chair of the Hawai’i military soviet. Kimmel had been placed in command when war began to seem inevitable. Manuevered into place by the younger cadre of “Boatsheviks”(2), Kimmel was set to play the fall guy for any debacle when war broke out.
Kimmel was not going to be blindly led to the slaughter though. Though he complied with Stavka directives whether he agreed with them or not, he fought tenaciously to enact his own strategy. He was able to make a number of bold, unorthodox moves, such as retaining the Pacific Fleet at Pearl rather than remove them to relative safety at San Diego. Kimmel argued that the obsolete battleships and cruisers would serve as a decoy from the real targets of importance: the oil refineries, dockyards, sub pens and other logistical elements that any American counteroffensive would need to rely upon. He believed there was strong evidence that Japanese doctrine placed an excessive focus on decisive battle, leading them to conclude that ships would be the highest priority in any attack on the harbor. Since they were due to be replaced, and relatively quickly, they could be sacrificed and likely recovered, and reinforcements arriving from the Atlantic Fleet would be able to more than make up for any losses.
When Kimmel was awoken early on the 8th with news of a likely aerial attack, he wasted no time in scrambling defenders. The first wave, 80 B5N1 “Kate” bombers armed with a mix of armor piercing bombs and torpedos, 40 D3A “Val” bombers configured for level bombing, and 45 A6M3 “Zero” escorts, were met by 35 Army F-34E “Belladonnas”, and 30 Navy F6F “Sabocats”. In spite of the short warning time, the American fighters had managed to climbe to an advantageous altitude, and met their foes before they could begin their strikes.
But inexperience and surprise had taken its toll. The Americans had not waited to form up after climbing to altitude. Instead, they fell on their foes piecemeal. Some trapped themselves in dogfight melees, placing themselves in a serious disadvantage against the nimbler Zeroes. Many were still relatively green at aerial gunnery, and missed their targets.
But when they did find their mark, the results were spectacular. The 20mm cannons fitted with High Explosive Fragmentation/Incendiary rounds(3), tore apart the lighter Japanese planes, which often eschewed or minimized armor and self-sealing tanks to improve range and maneuverability. Even a single hit was often sufficient to make the craft unrecoverable, forcing the pilot to bail out and ditch his plane into the sea.
The bombers were able to break through thanks to the courage and skill of the Zero pilots. From there, the Kates would wade into a mealstrome of AAA fire from shore and ship, descending on battleship row and the airfields first to deliver their payloads with deadly precision.
The airfields were hit the hardest. Planes that hadn’t made it airborne were strafed. The runways were cratered, and fuel bunkers hit with armor piercing bombs. The second wave, focused on ships and port facilities, was challenged en route by thirty Army F-37 “Pathfinders”, which had been held in reserve to pursue attackers on their return flight or meet additional raiders. More organized, they met the formations of bombers in an organized fashion, coordinating their attacks for maximum effect. Their turbocharged twin engines enabled them to attack from altitude and climb away, avoiding melee with the Zeroes.
Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was placed in a difficult position. Without amphibious landings, everything was riding on well executed aerial attacks. Preliminary reports were making it clear that a third, perhaps even a fourth would be necessary. But the casualties were already mounting.
The crackback would decide the matter. In a lucky break for Kimmel, the carrier strike force was spotted by aerial reconnaissance. Kimmel had at his disposal a single carrier, the Enterprise, which was in a serendipitious position when the Japanese strike had commenced, and land based strike force. Kimmel decided to strike boldly while the Enterprise remained undetected to convince the Japanese to not linger.
The Enterprise had begun steaming at flank speed into harm’s way from the moment the attack had begun. It launched its full complement at maximum range, and began to retire. The American carrier born force would be on fumes, but they would have just enough range to land in northern Oahu. Joined by a score of B-18 medium bombers armed with torpedoes, the attackers were able to shadow the second wave as it returned to the carrier fleet. They fell upon the Kido Butai in the midst of half its decks filled with a third wave preparing to launch, and the other half recovering the second wave.
The planes still waiting to land turned to face the attacking torpedo planes, while Nagumo scrambled to launch what fighters were available from the Taiho. The combat air patrol fighters dove to the deck to meet the twin engine B-18s and the single engine SBTCs. They fought valiantly, but even the heavily armed B-18s succumbed. Several launched their torpedoes, but only a single hit was scored on the Kaga, thanks to the skill of the Japanese captains and their crews.
Unfortunately, the successful repulsion of the torpedo attack drew the defenders out of position, enabling the SBTCs configured for divebombing to strike unmolested by fighters. Two armor piercing bombs struck the Akagi, and a further four struck the Kaga.
The Akagi had been recovering planes, and her damage control parties were able to put out the fires, but her flight deck was wrecked. The Kaga, however, had been preparing its complement for a third strike. The fuel and ordnance resulted in a hellish conflagration that burned late into the night. Already reeling from the torpedo, she was evacuated and scuttled by her destroyer escort.
The third wave had already been abandoned. Unable to locate the American carrier, Nagumo had retired his fleet, leaving the Kaga behind to fight her fires. Her scuttling confirmed the wisdom of his decision.
Analysis: Pyrrhic Japanese Victory
Four Revolutionary Navy battleships were sunk (General Strike (BB-36), Haymarket (BB-41), Emancipation (BB-43) and Matewan (BB-48)), and and another three heavily damaged (Spartacus (BB-45), Mutual Aid (BB-47), and Comintern (BB-50)). General Strike and Haymarket would prove to be unrecoverable. Three other ships were sunk. Half a dozen cruisers were damaged. The local airfields were heavily damaged, and a total of 120 aircraft were lost, while dozens more were heavily damaged. 1,100 sailors and soldiers, as well as 800+ civilians, were killed. But the logistical infrastructure remained mostly intact.
The Imperial Japanese Navy lost its oldest carrier, and another received significant damage. But the true cost was the loss of nearly 140 aircraft, and the commensurate loss in experienced air crews. Due to the deficiencies in doctrine, they would prove more difficult to replace than the Kaga.
Kimmel, aware that he was being set up to take the fall, paradoxically had the freedom to take risks and innovate, and the incentive for extra diligence in his duties. Determined to do right by his country, Kimmel would ultimately fall on his sword and impale Nagumo in the process.
With the war no longer theoretical, resources could now be shifted to the Pacific Theater, expediting the reconstruction process well beyond Yamamoto’s initial estimates. On balance, the Japanese surprise attack was a costly blunder. While there has been historical confusion about whether it was intended to come before or after a formal declaration of war, high level correspondence within the Imperial Government was very clear that the attack would precede any diplomatic delivery of a declaration of war, even if the Imperial Diet’s vote on the matter technically occurred before the attack.
In itself, the attack only sped up the conflict by a few months. Japanese designs on the FBU held Phillipines and Indochina could not be deflected, and it was inevitable that America would become cobelligerent against Japan to strengthen the nascent United Nations alliance. Any gains made by seizing Franco-British strategic resources, blocking trade routes to the Republic of China, and weakening the American warfooting were ultimately illusory. The shock value the Imperial Japanese Army had gained in its lightning campaigns in the Philippines and Indochina were wasted by fall 1942, when the Kwantung Army began its ultimately unsuccessful bid to take Vladivostok and sever the Trans-Siberian Railroad; a costly undeclared war that forced the Imperial Government to sign a neutrality pact with the Soviet Union.
Kimmel’s adversaries attempted to crucify him. However, the inquiry conducted by the Defense Committee of the CEC exonerated him of any wrong doing. The damage was already done; Kimmel had been relieved of command of the Pacific Fleet. He would spend the remainder of the war supervising military research and procurement for the Revolutionary Navy.
(1) The fleet is roughly analogous to OTL. ITTL, the seventh is a modified Shokaku-class, recently commissioned, analogous to OTL’s Taiho.
(2) Originally a pejorative, implying that younger officers cared more about the party line than military science. It ultimately became adopted by a school of younger officers in the Navy known for their heterodox doctrine and fanatical commitment to the Revolution.
(3) Analagous to OTL German Minengeschoss: rather than drilling cavities in mild steel shot for explosive filler, high quality steel is drawn over a die, allowing a much larger amount of explosive without compromising structural integrity. Time delay fuses ensure that the shells detonated for maximum effect
The War in the Pacific
On 1 June 1941, the leading figures of the Japanese Imperial Rule Assistance Association, a parafascist clique monopolizing political power in the Empire of Japan, met to discuss the “American question.” The closed door meeting was dominated by Minister for War Hideki Tojo’s thesis, delivered forcefully, that regardless of the diplomatic niceties being observed, the UASR was in already in a de facto state of war with the Empire.
The revolutionary state’s unwavering support for the Republic of China’s resistance to integration into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere amounted to an undeclared war. What other way could the Cabinet construe millions of dollars in direct military aid totaling nearly half of China’s military budget, including some top of the line weapon systems, thirty thousand well-trained and well led International Brigade volunteers, raw materials, industrial aid, and credit? To let this go unanswered, Tojo argued, not only jeopardized the war effort, but was an insufferable insult to Japanese national bridge.
The war in China was stagnating, and the China’s resolve was bolstering. Worse, the Republic of China was being increasingly seduced into the ranks of International Communism. Tojo believed it was imperative to Japan’s national survival to thwart communist encirclement. Worse, the score of American controlled islands in the pacific were “a dagger aimed at our throats.”
The course towards war became inevitable. Some muted voices did not think that even with the UASR tied down in the struggle against Germany, the UASR would still be a dangerous adversary. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was perhaps the loudest voice for caution. Whereas the adventurists led by Tojo saw a soft-hearted enemy already stretched too far, too thin, Yamamoto drew the opposite conclusion. The UASR was an unrivaled industrial and scientific colossus able to trade blow for blow with Germany while propping up its allies in South America and China, and yet still able to hold forces in reserve to challenge Britain, France and Japan simultaneously. And every day, the factories continued to ramp up production.
The tone deaf militarists ignored his warnings. And thus it would fall to the Imperial Japanese Navy, least eager for war, to close off the aid channels to China, and drive the Revolutionary Navy from the Pacific.
The stage was set, but war wouldn’t break out for over six months. The IJN would continue to build, drill and strategize for its strike against America. The campaign would ultimately coincide with France’s descent into civil war. With the Anglo-Japanese alliance unraveling in the face of Britain’s unwanted war with the Anti-Comintern Axis, the Co-Prosperity Sphere moved to expand greedily in search of strategic resources, and strengthen its noose around China.
On 8 February 1942, seven carriers of the Kido Butai moved into striking range north of Oahu.(1) Their target: the Pearl Harbor naval base and the supporting military infrastructure. The first strike wave left in the early morning hours, armed to strike the ships and airfields on Oahu.
On the other side of the International Date Line, Imperial Japanese Army forces began invading Indochina and the Philippines. American intelligence had known that war was coming for months. A sketch of Japan’s grand strategy had been included in the legendary spy Richard Sorge’s last few communiques before his capture. Japanese intentions were clear: the moment France and Britain became embroiled in the war against Nazism, they would act quickly to exploit. Strikes against the UASR would follow suit. However, American intelligence did not know where or when the war would begin.
Pearl Harbor was the obvious target, but with so much of the Revolutionary Navy tied down either fighting the Kriegsmarine’s unrestricted submarine warfare, or countering the Royal Navy, American planners suspected that the IJN might attempt a bold attack on the locks of the Panama Canal. The long traverse around the Straits of Magellan and the dearth of suitable port facilities in South America, itself embroiled in a serious fight against Axis Brazil, meant the loss of the Canal would very effectively pen the Revolutionary Navy in the Atlantic for months. The Pacific Fleet was just weak enough that the IJN might attempt such a bold strategy.
While the recent Petain betrayal in France, German invasion and the formation of the Franco-British Union as a co-belligerent against Germany had just obviated the need to match the Royal Navy, there was no time to reposition forces to ward of the IJN. Japan had found the window of maximum vulnerability.
Pearl Harbor was by no means undefended. Admiral William Standley, Chief of Naval Operations, had steadily bolstered the Pacific Fleet’s static defenses. Oahu had one of the best radar systems available, supplemented by a picket fleet of radar equipped cruisers to extend the coverage net.
The naval base itself bristled with 125mm flak guns, manned by well drilled crews, supported by 57mm and 37mm autocannons and scores of 20mm machine guns for point defense. 90 Army and 70 Navy fighters were on alert at any given time, and a regiment of long range maritime strike aircraft would be able to retaliate hostile fleets. Coastal batteries and beach defenses made amphibious invasion a dicey proposition, even if the island’s garrison was understrength.
Admiral Husband Kimmel, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, would be in overall command during the attack, and the man most ultimately responsible for defense preparation in his role as Chair of the Hawai’i military soviet. Kimmel had been placed in command when war began to seem inevitable. Manuevered into place by the younger cadre of “Boatsheviks”(2), Kimmel was set to play the fall guy for any debacle when war broke out.
Kimmel was not going to be blindly led to the slaughter though. Though he complied with Stavka directives whether he agreed with them or not, he fought tenaciously to enact his own strategy. He was able to make a number of bold, unorthodox moves, such as retaining the Pacific Fleet at Pearl rather than remove them to relative safety at San Diego. Kimmel argued that the obsolete battleships and cruisers would serve as a decoy from the real targets of importance: the oil refineries, dockyards, sub pens and other logistical elements that any American counteroffensive would need to rely upon. He believed there was strong evidence that Japanese doctrine placed an excessive focus on decisive battle, leading them to conclude that ships would be the highest priority in any attack on the harbor. Since they were due to be replaced, and relatively quickly, they could be sacrificed and likely recovered, and reinforcements arriving from the Atlantic Fleet would be able to more than make up for any losses.
When Kimmel was awoken early on the 8th with news of a likely aerial attack, he wasted no time in scrambling defenders. The first wave, 80 B5N1 “Kate” bombers armed with a mix of armor piercing bombs and torpedos, 40 D3A “Val” bombers configured for level bombing, and 45 A6M3 “Zero” escorts, were met by 35 Army F-34E “Belladonnas”, and 30 Navy F6F “Sabocats”. In spite of the short warning time, the American fighters had managed to climbe to an advantageous altitude, and met their foes before they could begin their strikes.
But inexperience and surprise had taken its toll. The Americans had not waited to form up after climbing to altitude. Instead, they fell on their foes piecemeal. Some trapped themselves in dogfight melees, placing themselves in a serious disadvantage against the nimbler Zeroes. Many were still relatively green at aerial gunnery, and missed their targets.
But when they did find their mark, the results were spectacular. The 20mm cannons fitted with High Explosive Fragmentation/Incendiary rounds(3), tore apart the lighter Japanese planes, which often eschewed or minimized armor and self-sealing tanks to improve range and maneuverability. Even a single hit was often sufficient to make the craft unrecoverable, forcing the pilot to bail out and ditch his plane into the sea.
The bombers were able to break through thanks to the courage and skill of the Zero pilots. From there, the Kates would wade into a mealstrome of AAA fire from shore and ship, descending on battleship row and the airfields first to deliver their payloads with deadly precision.
The airfields were hit the hardest. Planes that hadn’t made it airborne were strafed. The runways were cratered, and fuel bunkers hit with armor piercing bombs. The second wave, focused on ships and port facilities, was challenged en route by thirty Army F-37 “Pathfinders”, which had been held in reserve to pursue attackers on their return flight or meet additional raiders. More organized, they met the formations of bombers in an organized fashion, coordinating their attacks for maximum effect. Their turbocharged twin engines enabled them to attack from altitude and climb away, avoiding melee with the Zeroes.
Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was placed in a difficult position. Without amphibious landings, everything was riding on well executed aerial attacks. Preliminary reports were making it clear that a third, perhaps even a fourth would be necessary. But the casualties were already mounting.
The crackback would decide the matter. In a lucky break for Kimmel, the carrier strike force was spotted by aerial reconnaissance. Kimmel had at his disposal a single carrier, the Enterprise, which was in a serendipitious position when the Japanese strike had commenced, and land based strike force. Kimmel decided to strike boldly while the Enterprise remained undetected to convince the Japanese to not linger.
The Enterprise had begun steaming at flank speed into harm’s way from the moment the attack had begun. It launched its full complement at maximum range, and began to retire. The American carrier born force would be on fumes, but they would have just enough range to land in northern Oahu. Joined by a score of B-18 medium bombers armed with torpedoes, the attackers were able to shadow the second wave as it returned to the carrier fleet. They fell upon the Kido Butai in the midst of half its decks filled with a third wave preparing to launch, and the other half recovering the second wave.
The planes still waiting to land turned to face the attacking torpedo planes, while Nagumo scrambled to launch what fighters were available from the Taiho. The combat air patrol fighters dove to the deck to meet the twin engine B-18s and the single engine SBTCs. They fought valiantly, but even the heavily armed B-18s succumbed. Several launched their torpedoes, but only a single hit was scored on the Kaga, thanks to the skill of the Japanese captains and their crews.
Unfortunately, the successful repulsion of the torpedo attack drew the defenders out of position, enabling the SBTCs configured for divebombing to strike unmolested by fighters. Two armor piercing bombs struck the Akagi, and a further four struck the Kaga.
The Akagi had been recovering planes, and her damage control parties were able to put out the fires, but her flight deck was wrecked. The Kaga, however, had been preparing its complement for a third strike. The fuel and ordnance resulted in a hellish conflagration that burned late into the night. Already reeling from the torpedo, she was evacuated and scuttled by her destroyer escort.
The third wave had already been abandoned. Unable to locate the American carrier, Nagumo had retired his fleet, leaving the Kaga behind to fight her fires. Her scuttling confirmed the wisdom of his decision.
Analysis: Pyrrhic Japanese Victory
Four Revolutionary Navy battleships were sunk (General Strike (BB-36), Haymarket (BB-41), Emancipation (BB-43) and Matewan (BB-48)), and and another three heavily damaged (Spartacus (BB-45), Mutual Aid (BB-47), and Comintern (BB-50)). General Strike and Haymarket would prove to be unrecoverable. Three other ships were sunk. Half a dozen cruisers were damaged. The local airfields were heavily damaged, and a total of 120 aircraft were lost, while dozens more were heavily damaged. 1,100 sailors and soldiers, as well as 800+ civilians, were killed. But the logistical infrastructure remained mostly intact.
The Imperial Japanese Navy lost its oldest carrier, and another received significant damage. But the true cost was the loss of nearly 140 aircraft, and the commensurate loss in experienced air crews. Due to the deficiencies in doctrine, they would prove more difficult to replace than the Kaga.
Kimmel, aware that he was being set up to take the fall, paradoxically had the freedom to take risks and innovate, and the incentive for extra diligence in his duties. Determined to do right by his country, Kimmel would ultimately fall on his sword and impale Nagumo in the process.
With the war no longer theoretical, resources could now be shifted to the Pacific Theater, expediting the reconstruction process well beyond Yamamoto’s initial estimates. On balance, the Japanese surprise attack was a costly blunder. While there has been historical confusion about whether it was intended to come before or after a formal declaration of war, high level correspondence within the Imperial Government was very clear that the attack would precede any diplomatic delivery of a declaration of war, even if the Imperial Diet’s vote on the matter technically occurred before the attack.
In itself, the attack only sped up the conflict by a few months. Japanese designs on the FBU held Phillipines and Indochina could not be deflected, and it was inevitable that America would become cobelligerent against Japan to strengthen the nascent United Nations alliance. Any gains made by seizing Franco-British strategic resources, blocking trade routes to the Republic of China, and weakening the American warfooting were ultimately illusory. The shock value the Imperial Japanese Army had gained in its lightning campaigns in the Philippines and Indochina were wasted by fall 1942, when the Kwantung Army began its ultimately unsuccessful bid to take Vladivostok and sever the Trans-Siberian Railroad; a costly undeclared war that forced the Imperial Government to sign a neutrality pact with the Soviet Union.
Kimmel’s adversaries attempted to crucify him. However, the inquiry conducted by the Defense Committee of the CEC exonerated him of any wrong doing. The damage was already done; Kimmel had been relieved of command of the Pacific Fleet. He would spend the remainder of the war supervising military research and procurement for the Revolutionary Navy.
(1) The fleet is roughly analogous to OTL. ITTL, the seventh is a modified Shokaku-class, recently commissioned, analogous to OTL’s Taiho.
(2) Originally a pejorative, implying that younger officers cared more about the party line than military science. It ultimately became adopted by a school of younger officers in the Navy known for their heterodox doctrine and fanatical commitment to the Revolution.
(3) Analagous to OTL German Minengeschoss: rather than drilling cavities in mild steel shot for explosive filler, high quality steel is drawn over a die, allowing a much larger amount of explosive without compromising structural integrity. Time delay fuses ensure that the shells detonated for maximum effect
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I'm guessing people how view the destruction of the FBU as the top priority of the world revolution, to the extent of defending and supporting socialist autocracies and maybe even supporting bourgeois and reactionary nationalists in the FBU and their allies on the grounds that they can be dealt with later once the bulwark of capitalism has been eliminated.
As for leftists in the FBU, I imagine the USSR/USAR disagreements over Comintern leadership would cause some schisms amongst leftist movements on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Given that the USSR is supposed to have carved out a sphere of satellites in northern China, I can see them taking the side of separatist nationalists, at least in Asia, and condemning the "social chauvinism" of the Chinese state, with China and the USAR tending to back left-wing pan-nationalist movements in response; all of which is likely to have some interesting effects on the Indian left.
Speaking of India, I have a feeling that Gandhi might end up fading into obscurity ITTL. Between the establishment seeking to marginalise separatist sentiments, the Indian revolutionary left likely focusing on the more radical voices in the nationalist movement, and the failure of Indian Independence, he may likely end up as a footnote, although I am sure that someone on the ATL Alternate History forum has tried to find a way to turn him into a major historical figure.
I suspect that Social Democracy might have some success in the early decades of the Cold War, but would eventually die out as those on the right are incorporated into the establishment, and those on the left are drawn towards revolutionary politics. Given how influential the Fabians were to the OTL INC I can see it playing a big role in the domestic policies of the Dominion of India. Maybe India might ironically become the last bastion of the cause of Fabian progressive imperialism once the INC takes its collaborationist turn.
From the breakdowns of the political parties of the FBU Jello published we know that the major social democratic parties take a Eurocommunist turn at some point in the war, which makes some sense, Gramsci is exactly the kind of figure I could see social democrats getting behind once Communism seems like the way forward. (Not an insult to Gramsci, in this case he just often has a habit of coming off as a saintly peaceful communist when people talk about him). This grouping includes most of the established left, unionized workers, and the other segments of the traditional left. Alongside that though, and in an uneasy alliance with the Eurocommunist Social Democracy is broadly Trotskyist and Luxemburgist hardcore communists who are very into the cultural revolution in the UASR and distinguish themselves in part by being more effete, but also more revolutionary. This is the party of the Radical students movement, dissident trade unionists, anarchists, and free love enthusiasts. As a whole a lot more New Left in the modern conception.
Alongside those two major groupings though I'm sure there's dozens of tiny grouplets advocating their own views, although most of them are probably along the lines of entryists rather than trying for an independent existence.
Also, I'm gonna guess that for the sake of parallel to real life Corbyn Mania happened in the FBU IOTL with a similar figure being the French leader. Given how Blair is in charge of the conservatives ITTL if I remember right it would be perfect.
Alongside those two major groupings though I'm sure there's dozens of tiny grouplets advocating their own views, although most of them are probably along the lines of entryists rather than trying for an independent existence.
Also, I'm gonna guess that for the sake of parallel to real life Corbyn Mania happened in the FBU IOTL with a similar figure being the French leader. Given how Blair is in charge of the conservatives ITTL if I remember right it would be perfect.
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I don't really get the social democrat fascination (some may even say appropriation) of Gramsci. He was a pretty hardcore in his support for a Leninist vanguard and the necessity of revolution, and he was pretty critical of reformism. As I understand it, it was Togliatti who tried to claim him for Eurocommunism, and was largely successful due to playing up the disagreements he had with Stalin. I actually think that the view of Gramsci as the, as you put it, "saintly peaceful communist" might be butterflied away ITTL, due to the widespread flourishing and acceptance of Left Communist ideas in the USAR, and the fact that the successes of the USAR and democratisation of the USSR probably eliminates the need for the Eurocommunist turn to disassociate from the legacy of Stalin and the undemocratic nature of the Warsaw Pact and China. I can see Gramsci gaining some notoriety in the USAR and wider Comintern during the Second Cultural Revolution, with his critiques of economism and determinism. His ideas about hegemony would probably pick up once it becomes clear that the FBU isn't going to suddenly collapse overnight.
I believe that the left-turn in Labour was lead by Ian Banks, who is currently planning to form an electoral pact with the Communists (headed by Peter Capaldi). Surprisingly Jello wrote that entry over a year ago, when the notion of a hard-left turn for Labour seemed rather ASB.