The Great Crusade (Reds! Part 3)
- Thread starter Aelita
- Start date
I like take 1. It evokes someone who just might be a dangerous fanatic.
But I agree, sunglasses would help round it out
As requested by comrade Jello, UASRBall, take 3!
PS: What do you think of the Coat of Arms?
Hard to say. A lot of things have changed.
ITTL, the Comintern is split through the 1920s between American-led, left-opposition/internationalists, and Moscovite "national roads to socialism". In some cases there may be split CPs in the Comintern, one on the 'left' with the WPA, and one with Moscow (e.g., the KAPD and the KPD). The CCP is going to feel the tidal forces between America and Russia as well. Jello and I were thinking the CCP splits between Left Oppositionists and Moscovites prior to 1927, so the Left Oppositionists go down fighting and refuse to bloc with Chiang, while the 'anti-imperialist united-front' folks like Mao and other Stalinists get the stuffing kicked out of them. You have an underground urban-worker-based party aligned with America and you have a rural peasant land-reform and guerrilla movement led by Mao, but much weaker than IOTL.
The aftermath of WW2 ITTL is more like WW1 than WW2 IOTL, in that it is greeted by a wave of revolutionary upsurge. Urban workers and mutinying soldiers take power throughout Europe, North Africa and the Levant, and East Asia, in the face of general reactionary and capitalist defeatism with the UASR-USSR triumph immanent. There was some of this IOTL too, but the Allied Powers (including the USSR in its specific occupation zones) were very keen to immediately suppress it.
I honestly don't know if there will be a successful French re-colonization after 1945. The Japanese occupation collapses, and workers take power, and the FBU, especially France, is just not really in a position to take it back against the will of the UASR, USSR, and Soviet China.
Perhaps "Bay of Pigs"-type exile-army, and Montagnard/Hmong-type insurgents harassing the nascent Soviet Indochina?
Germany is divided along the Rhine, mostly. The FBU sponsors a Grand Duchy of the Rhineland, the Kingdom of the Piedmont, and a Kingdom of Asturias (Pyrennes borderland of Catalonia + Pyrennes Aragon + La Rioja + Navarre + Basque Country + Galicia + Asturias + Cantabria + northern third of Castile and Leon) with a german dynastic pretender, the Savoyard heir, and Juan de Borbon (with Generalisimo Franco as military caudillo and President of the Government) respectively. Asturias, Piedmont, Rhineland, Belgium, Netherlands all as pro-FBU buffer states and allies.
Germany-east-of-the-Rhine+Austria-minus-East-Prussia, Denmark, Poland, Italy-minus-Piedmont, Hungary, Czech state, truncated Spain, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Levantine Republic, Soviet Philippines, Soviet Korea, Soviet China, and Soviet Indochina are all pro-American soviet republics of varying levels of functioning/developing socialism (plus all of Central America and the Caribbean minus foreign colonies and Cuba, and South America minus Brazil). Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Slovak state, Karelo-Finnish state, Romania, Turkey, Kurdistan, Persia, Xinjiang, Mongolia, and Manchuria are pro-Soviet IOTL Eastern Bloc-style or Nasser-type developmentalist-regime states. The FBU maintains control of the entire British Empire, French colonial empire, and re-establishes its Dutch and Spanish satellites their colonial empires. The FBU takes Italian colonial possessions, and Afghanistan and Tibet become protectorates. Perhaps the overt sign of breakdown in the seeming 'red tide' is the electoral fraud of 1946 in the FBU, the subsequent shuttering of soviets and factory occupations in their occupation zones from '46-'47, and the final straw is a sham vote to maintain the British Raj.
I don't think it too controversial to point out that war-rape will probably be quantitatively less bad, if extant (always is) in Allied-occupied Europe. The huge scale of Russian army abuse has more to do with poor discipline and socialization--it reflects the USSR as a developing/newly industrializing country, and the Soviet Army as a peasant conscript force, more than any 'moral values' of a given country; though of course bad examples and policies set by the top don't help.
Another factor is much of the homeland nations will revolt as the Allied armies bear down. The lack of an apparent and obvious revanchist policy by the Reds, the much more difficult road to consolidation of power by the Nazis (the Left contests the taking of power in 1932-4), the years of low-level resistance in Germany, will all help change the character of the end of WW2. Again, WW1 (amongst the capitalist powers, that is) part deux, now with "revolutionary war" added courtesy of the UASR and its political allies.
Another factor is much of the homeland nations will revolt as the Allied armies bear down. The lack of an apparent and obvious revanchist policy by the Reds, the much more difficult road to consolidation of power by the Nazis (the Left contests the taking of power in 1932-4), the years of low-level resistance in Germany, will all help change the character of the end of WW2. Again, WW1 (amongst the capitalist powers, that is) part deux, now with "revolutionary war" added courtesy of the UASR and its political allies.
Wait, what? Nobody theorized gender-sex social dynamics prior to 1949? Simone de Beauvoir is the Great Woman [of History] Forge of Feminist / Gender Consciousness?
I think he mean more in reference to the dynamics of rape with regards to gender.
Of course they did. Marx and Engels of course did. Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State is perhaps the most definitive exemple of pre-Beauvoirian gender analysis, but these analysis' are limited in their usefulenss because they subordinate womens' struggle, history and lived experience to other (though interconnected) systems of oppression and domination.
Engels' work is historical materialism. He (and other socialist using Marxist analysis, see August Bebel) theorized a theory of gender oppression basically identical to class oppression. In that woman's position in society is tied to the productive forces in society. Changes in production leads to a change in woman's status. Her original oppression came about because of her biological lack of the same muscle strength as her male counterpart. The limitation of this analysis is brought up by Beauvoir herself (see. de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, Book One: Facts and Myths; Part One: Destiny; Chapter 3: The Point of View of Historical Materialism).
Theories of gender oppression was very, well, tied to the positions of whoever was advocating the theory (as it still is). Suffragette theorists saw the legal position of wome nas the origin of her oppression and saw the removal of those (especially the barrier to voting) as the way to end oppression. Marxist analysis of course argued that control over means of production as well as abolishment of the family would lead to the end of sexist oppression. Communist women, most notably Alexandra Kollentai, argued that free love and a sexually free society would end the oppression of women.
In the end, none of these theories were adequete. Also it's worth noting that all of these theories had theoretically been tested by 1949 ITTL. Two socialist states in the world, suffrage, though important, obviously didn't lead to the end of patriarchy and yet gender oppression is still around, because a socialist state doesnät magically lead to the end of sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism or any deep rooted oppression. Simone de Beauvoir's analysis is important because it was one of the few which based itself in the social, political, sexual, emotional and psychological realities of being a woman. Her importance stems not from analysing why women are oppressed (which is what previous gender oppression analysis had done) and just say "fix this and gender oppression is no more," but from analysing the effects and realities of that oppression. She started feminist analysis because feminist analysis is based on analysing the effects of sexist oppression on the social order and social relationships between genders as well as on the lived experiences of people, suggesting remedies and Plans of Action in which sexism is centeral, not peripheral.
Also, unlike the suffragists, she did not ignore the way women were seperated by race, ethnicity and class and never suggested the oppression was the same for all women (which Marxists also did), thus her analysis also just has held up.
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Brazil would not go Red? I thought that World War II's South American front ITTL between a fascist Brazil and a communist or socialist South America would lead to something like an occupation of Brazil and its immediate transformation towards socialism?
By the way, it's nice seeing a Soviet Philippines out there. Hahahaha. Most likely a more successful Hukbalahap movement with an American aligned PKP leading the way, why not?
By the way, it's nice seeing a Soviet Philippines out there. Hahahaha. Most likely a more successful Hukbalahap movement with an American aligned PKP leading the way, why not?
Oh man, the musical discussion is fascinating. The only thing I can add is that some kind of simple, fun, rhythm-heavy black funk like James Brown created - and thus Hip-Hop - is IMHO inevitable and could very well arise earlier than OTL. Once you start putting badass breaks like "Funky Drummer" and "Ashley's Roachclip" and "It's a New Day" down on wax, it's only of matter of time before someone starts looping it.
Max Roach said it best:
"For centuries, Mozart and Charlie Parker and Ellington and Bach and Beethoven stood for the proposition of harmony, melody and rhythm equally balanced. Now here come these rap kids, dealing with a world of sound that makes the palette much broader. There's no melody, no harmony, just this very repetitive rhythmic thing. Rap completely obliterates Western concepts of music. It's revolutionary."
Way more female MCs, no shitty "rap moguls" like Diddy & Birdman who can't spit to save their lives, "gangsta rap" is a niche, dudes like dead prez and Talib Kweli are mainstream superstars.
Max Roach said it best:
"For centuries, Mozart and Charlie Parker and Ellington and Bach and Beethoven stood for the proposition of harmony, melody and rhythm equally balanced. Now here come these rap kids, dealing with a world of sound that makes the palette much broader. There's no melody, no harmony, just this very repetitive rhythmic thing. Rap completely obliterates Western concepts of music. It's revolutionary."
Way more female MCs, no shitty "rap moguls" like Diddy & Birdman who can't spit to save their lives, "gangsta rap" is a niche, dudes like dead prez and Talib Kweli are mainstream superstars.
May Luca Enoch forgive me!
OK, since it looks like some people have started giving their views about popular culture in the world of Reds! why can't I do the same too? If you are easily scandalised, please ignore this piece, otherwise write anything that bothrs you. I'll try to smooth your understandable puzzlement.
[FONT="](Excerpt from "Top 5 funniest non-comedy animated shows" video-review by [/FONT][FONT="]Мудрец[/FONT][FONT="], posted on the criticsunite.su web community on September 20, 2010)[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Number 3.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]"Gaia"[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Aired from 1998 to 2000 and composed of thirty-six episodes divided in two seasons, it had been developed by producers Valentin Kovalev and Ida Dorofeeva in the mid-Nineties as a series targeting adolescents and young adults. It aimed at creating a world where figures and creatures of mythologies from all over the world were actually a system of warrior castes involved in an endless war that had started before human history and spanned this and a cornucopia of other realities. The protagonist, the titular Gaia is herself a member of one of these orders, the "Bulwarks" who were actually the inspiration for the Angels and Archangels of Abrahamic faiths. And yeah, I know what you're thinking -- it's very possible that the creators knew perfectly well that a universe with more classes of characters and power levels than you can shake a stick at would have been an instant hit among the geek community in those years, quality notwithstanding -- but such blatant nerd-bait shouldn't distract from the awesomeness that "Gaia" truly is!
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The series was originally supposed to have a serious tone, but when Japanese-born Director Natsumi Anno -- more on her later -- was attached to the project in late 1996, the key words of the whole project became something like "let's light up this thing". So was born one of the most recognizable characters of USSR animation: the sword-wielding, bass-playing spunky blondie known simply as Gaia, with her sailor mouth and golden heart, always ready to throw herself into a fight on her moped and sexually dominate her boyfriend during the numerous -- and meme-worthy to the extreme -- bed scenes.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]But the moments which, in my opinion, really stand out are -- well, whenever she shares screen time with a "Heavyweight". You have to understand that at the time of their introduction, only two Bulwarks besides Gaia had been shown and in both cases what really stood out in them was their paternalistic attitude -- even aloofness, at times. So, when at the end of episode five Gaia calls for much needed backup to solve a case involving a renegade Bulwark, all of us viewers expected some other lean jerk with a stick inserted deep up his or her bunghole. Instead, we received Boris, his greasy black leather jacket, aviator hat, oversized bike, manners that could have shocked a Neanderthal and language so refined that even bleach wouldn't have been enough. For me, and not few other viewers, it was love at first sight.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Every time they interacted, they simply worked as a comedic couple on all levels, even when both of them tried to pull themselves together and talk about important things. While Gaia is irrepressibly bubbly because she exceedingly enjoys the weirdness of her duty, Boris is so relaxed about the fulfillment of his obligations that even when he's cutting a building in half with his sword, you still see a stocky, unwashed biker. If Gaia is often pictured trying desperately to probe the arcane philosophies that govern the Bulwarks' powers, Boris is so laid back about his status as Knowledgeable Man -- ah, it's the name the Heavyweights use when trying to pass as a respectable warrior-philosopher caste, if you can believe that -- that he inevitably ends up making her angry, since his "teachings" are mostly made of obscure hints to something vague dressed in him gleefully fucking around with her.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Even approaching the series finale and the Last Battle, that is when the Heavyweights pretty much become a semi-regular presence in the show, their exchanges remain as hilarious as ever, even more so when they re-gain independent caste status -- like the one they enjoyed 9,000 years ago before being driven to near-extinction by a war and becoming confederates of the Bulwarks, if you go nuts for such details -- and both Boris and Gaia become Leading Officers in the All-Caste General Staff. While I'd like to show you some scenes from those episodes, I'd like you watchers, if you aren't already fans of the show, to go check for yourselves the whole series, so I wouldn't like to spoiler many things happening in the finale. But heck, you deserve some treats anyway! Enjoy this, instead!
[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]DRAMATIS PERSONAE[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Gaia: [/FONT][FONT="][first appeared in episode I, "The Bulwark"] our heroine, age 16; orphaned when she was 9, she was raised by the Coordinator, the mysterious strategist of the Bulwarks, and designated as Resident Bulwark of her native city of Fyodorovsk one year before the start of the series.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Lev:[/FONT][FONT="] [first appeared in episode III, "Dionysus' cortège"] Gaia's boyfriend, age 20, crippled by a car crash that confined him to a wheelchair; despite his disability he's Gaia's trusted Acolyte (having discovered her Bulwark status by accident) and sex-slave.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Boris:[/FONT][FONT="] [first appeared in episode VI, "The way of the Black"] one of the "Heavyweights", a subgroup of the Bulwarks known for their unpolished attitude; 6' 1'' and 370 lbs. (not counting his sword) of ass-kicking in greased biker clothes.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Timo:[/FONT][FONT="] [no previous appearances] leading intellectual figure among the "Heavyweights", mostly meaning his language is somewhat refined; called by Boris to help him with an infestation of mythological creatures that's bothering Gaia. [/FONT]
[FONT="]
(Episode XII, "Son of thunder", originally aired on February 24, 1999)[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<Scene 7>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<external view of the upper half of the building where Gaia lives; it's night-time, light comes only from the windows of the protagonist's loft> [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](unseen, his voice comes from indoors)[/FONT][FONT="] Look at my aim! I'm not spilling even a drop! -- Whoops! A wee bit on the floor -- Oh, well, all ammonia anyway -- It disinfects! [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<we enter Gaia's loft; two burly men (the Heavyweights) are playing a game in the background while Gaia and Lev, in the foreground, watch> [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](celebrating a passably aimed squirt) [/FONT][FONT="]Bull's eye! Wah! Ah! Ah! [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]Yah! Ah! Ah![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](very amused, unlike Gaia who is literally fuming)[/FONT][FONT="] Those two guys are so off the wall it's unreal! I'm fetching up some more beer from the ice-room downstairs! (exits frame)[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](angrily addressing Boris and Timo) [/FONT][FONT="]ENOUGH OF THIS! Now you're telling me that pissing into bottles, for the Knowledgeable Man, is just another way to "see", right?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](quickly zipping up) [/FONT][FONT="]Hoy! No peeking.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](waving an empty bottle at Gaia)[/FONT][FONT="] Honey, beer's terminated.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<close-up of Gaia>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="]You don't do anything besides drinking, eating and expelling venomous gas from every orifice! What kind of Bulwarks are you?[/FONT]
[FONT="]<close-up of Boris>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](putting a hand on his chest and looking like pride incarnate) [/FONT][FONT="]We are VĪRA -- heroes![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<bird's eye view of the three characters>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](skeptical) [/FONT][FONT="]"Heroes"?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](turns his back on Gaia)[/FONT][FONT="] Pre-cisely! For explanations, ya kin ask him. (points out to Timo) He's our group's philosopher. Now, where's th' loo?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<back to eye-level, shot of Gaia and Timo, face-to-face>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]So, about that -- a vīra is a hero who has mastered both his mind and his senses. He's endowed with a pure heart, since he renounced everything; he devotes himself to inner life, in which he proves his courage and spirit of adventure. Thus during feasts where everyone eats and shags like there's no tomorrow, he diverts his thoughts and senses from the source of stimulation; by forgetting pleasure at the same time delight reaches its acme, he delves into "Brahman's happiness".
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](pointing her finger at Timo)[/FONT][FONT="] Yeah, nice philosophy. But don't you ever put in doubt your conduct? I mean -- "vīra"? You're more akin to swine![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](pulling a cylindrical pipe out of his pocket)[/FONT][FONT="] Doubt? No --(lighting his pipe) You see, the most dreadful enemies of mystic life are uncertainty, dilemma, scruple and doubt, which imply conflict between two opposing forces and thereby produce an energy dispersion.(bringing the pipe closer to Gaia) Hence, the energy of our organs needs to be satisfied and propitiated with the help of "prohibited substances". Indeed, nothing eradicates doubt as well as transgressing the main bans orthodox Bulwarks are subject to: meat, alcohol and sexual intercourse.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](sniffs the smoke coming from the pipe with a quizzical expression)[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]The true follower of the "heroic way" is the person who gives himself up to such bans, who rejoices in life's joys without being enslaved by them -- Sure enough, pleasure, if it isn't the pursued objective, never becomes an obstacle for he who transcends every desire; on the contrary, it allows you to become free because, like any other display of energy, it can change into spiritual power.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](unconvinced)[/FONT][FONT="] You're bullshitting me, aren't you?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]*sigh* Understood -- here (hands out his pipe) -- have some sagebrush.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<now Gaia is seen frontally while Timo heads for a sofa in the background>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](incredulous/outraged)[/FONT][FONT="] Sagebrush?[/FONT]
[FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](re-enters frame, adjusting his trousers and scratching his groin) [/FONT][FONT="]Say, blondie, ya look different from last time we saw each other -- Did anything odd happen ta ya, recently?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](doesn't understand)[/FONT][FONT="] "Odd"? What do you mean?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](sitting in the background while examining a few CD's)[/FONT][FONT="] Wow! Charizma's greatest hits![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<Boris and Gaia's conversation is seen from behind her back, Timo cannot be seen>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](affable, in his own way) [/FONT][FONT="]Why, there's sumthin' different in your eyes, nobody couldn't notice that. Might it be that ya were de-maidened since last time?
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](beginning to understand and therefore horrified)[/FONT][FONT="] I was what?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="]C'mon, did anybody trim your flowerbed? Peel your potato?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<the three characters are all visible now, Gaia on the left, Timo sitting on the right, Boris in the center but coming to join Timo on the sofa>
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](shouting at the top of her lungs)[/FONT][FONT="] HOWDAREYA!?[/FONT]
[FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](addressing Timo)[/FONT][FONT="] What was I tellin' you? Sumbody had a jolly good time wit' her![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](making a thumbs up gesture)[/FONT][FONT="] Mas vale tarde que nunca![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<back to the framing used during Boris's return from the toilet, now Lev is back too>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](snapping his fingers)[/FONT][FONT="] Liquids, here![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](addressing Lev)[/FONT][FONT="] What did you tell him, you prattling doorwoman?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](shocked by his girlfriend's welcome)[/FONT][FONT="] M-me? Nothing, Iswear![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="]Liar![/FONT]
[FONT="]<full frontal view of Lev>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](appearing behind Lev, suddenly very interested in the young man) [/FONT][FONT="]So what, tiger -- what did ya do ta her? But above all how, since we all know that th' tools down there are no more under warranty --
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](while Boris is talking, surprised) [/FONT][FONT="]Hey![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<beat>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<side-view of Lev and Boris>[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT="][[/FONT]Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](swallowing)[/FONT][FONT="] I -- well -- let's say I made use of other techniques --[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](triumphant)[/FONT][FONT="] Ha! I knew it! (addressing Timo) Got it? Th' billy-goat here nibbled at her bush![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](palm to his face) [/FONT][FONT="]Jee-jus -- She's so gonna kill me![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<external view of the building, now the garden can be seen; Lev can be seen talking to Gaia from a window while she is inside a tent assembled on the lawn>[/FONT]
[FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="]Come on, Gaia, come back up here. These two guys are a scream![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="]No, thank you! I've stood enough farting contests and heard enough dirty jokes about blondes! Have some manly fun and leave me alone![/FONT]
OK, since it looks like some people have started giving their views about popular culture in the world of Reds! why can't I do the same too? If you are easily scandalised, please ignore this piece, otherwise write anything that bothrs you. I'll try to smooth your understandable puzzlement.
[FONT="](Excerpt from "Top 5 funniest non-comedy animated shows" video-review by [/FONT][FONT="]Мудрец[/FONT][FONT="], posted on the criticsunite.su web community on September 20, 2010)[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Number 3.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]"Gaia"[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Aired from 1998 to 2000 and composed of thirty-six episodes divided in two seasons, it had been developed by producers Valentin Kovalev and Ida Dorofeeva in the mid-Nineties as a series targeting adolescents and young adults. It aimed at creating a world where figures and creatures of mythologies from all over the world were actually a system of warrior castes involved in an endless war that had started before human history and spanned this and a cornucopia of other realities. The protagonist, the titular Gaia is herself a member of one of these orders, the "Bulwarks" who were actually the inspiration for the Angels and Archangels of Abrahamic faiths. And yeah, I know what you're thinking -- it's very possible that the creators knew perfectly well that a universe with more classes of characters and power levels than you can shake a stick at would have been an instant hit among the geek community in those years, quality notwithstanding -- but such blatant nerd-bait shouldn't distract from the awesomeness that "Gaia" truly is!
[/FONT]
[FONT="]The series was originally supposed to have a serious tone, but when Japanese-born Director Natsumi Anno -- more on her later -- was attached to the project in late 1996, the key words of the whole project became something like "let's light up this thing". So was born one of the most recognizable characters of USSR animation: the sword-wielding, bass-playing spunky blondie known simply as Gaia, with her sailor mouth and golden heart, always ready to throw herself into a fight on her moped and sexually dominate her boyfriend during the numerous -- and meme-worthy to the extreme -- bed scenes.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]But the moments which, in my opinion, really stand out are -- well, whenever she shares screen time with a "Heavyweight". You have to understand that at the time of their introduction, only two Bulwarks besides Gaia had been shown and in both cases what really stood out in them was their paternalistic attitude -- even aloofness, at times. So, when at the end of episode five Gaia calls for much needed backup to solve a case involving a renegade Bulwark, all of us viewers expected some other lean jerk with a stick inserted deep up his or her bunghole. Instead, we received Boris, his greasy black leather jacket, aviator hat, oversized bike, manners that could have shocked a Neanderthal and language so refined that even bleach wouldn't have been enough. For me, and not few other viewers, it was love at first sight.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Every time they interacted, they simply worked as a comedic couple on all levels, even when both of them tried to pull themselves together and talk about important things. While Gaia is irrepressibly bubbly because she exceedingly enjoys the weirdness of her duty, Boris is so relaxed about the fulfillment of his obligations that even when he's cutting a building in half with his sword, you still see a stocky, unwashed biker. If Gaia is often pictured trying desperately to probe the arcane philosophies that govern the Bulwarks' powers, Boris is so laid back about his status as Knowledgeable Man -- ah, it's the name the Heavyweights use when trying to pass as a respectable warrior-philosopher caste, if you can believe that -- that he inevitably ends up making her angry, since his "teachings" are mostly made of obscure hints to something vague dressed in him gleefully fucking around with her.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Even approaching the series finale and the Last Battle, that is when the Heavyweights pretty much become a semi-regular presence in the show, their exchanges remain as hilarious as ever, even more so when they re-gain independent caste status -- like the one they enjoyed 9,000 years ago before being driven to near-extinction by a war and becoming confederates of the Bulwarks, if you go nuts for such details -- and both Boris and Gaia become Leading Officers in the All-Caste General Staff. While I'd like to show you some scenes from those episodes, I'd like you watchers, if you aren't already fans of the show, to go check for yourselves the whole series, so I wouldn't like to spoiler many things happening in the finale. But heck, you deserve some treats anyway! Enjoy this, instead!
[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]DRAMATIS PERSONAE[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Gaia: [/FONT][FONT="][first appeared in episode I, "The Bulwark"] our heroine, age 16; orphaned when she was 9, she was raised by the Coordinator, the mysterious strategist of the Bulwarks, and designated as Resident Bulwark of her native city of Fyodorovsk one year before the start of the series.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Lev:[/FONT][FONT="] [first appeared in episode III, "Dionysus' cortège"] Gaia's boyfriend, age 20, crippled by a car crash that confined him to a wheelchair; despite his disability he's Gaia's trusted Acolyte (having discovered her Bulwark status by accident) and sex-slave.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Boris:[/FONT][FONT="] [first appeared in episode VI, "The way of the Black"] one of the "Heavyweights", a subgroup of the Bulwarks known for their unpolished attitude; 6' 1'' and 370 lbs. (not counting his sword) of ass-kicking in greased biker clothes.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]Timo:[/FONT][FONT="] [no previous appearances] leading intellectual figure among the "Heavyweights", mostly meaning his language is somewhat refined; called by Boris to help him with an infestation of mythological creatures that's bothering Gaia. [/FONT]
[FONT="]
(Episode XII, "Son of thunder", originally aired on February 24, 1999)[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<Scene 7>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<external view of the upper half of the building where Gaia lives; it's night-time, light comes only from the windows of the protagonist's loft> [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](unseen, his voice comes from indoors)[/FONT][FONT="] Look at my aim! I'm not spilling even a drop! -- Whoops! A wee bit on the floor -- Oh, well, all ammonia anyway -- It disinfects! [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<we enter Gaia's loft; two burly men (the Heavyweights) are playing a game in the background while Gaia and Lev, in the foreground, watch> [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](celebrating a passably aimed squirt) [/FONT][FONT="]Bull's eye! Wah! Ah! Ah! [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]Yah! Ah! Ah![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](very amused, unlike Gaia who is literally fuming)[/FONT][FONT="] Those two guys are so off the wall it's unreal! I'm fetching up some more beer from the ice-room downstairs! (exits frame)[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](angrily addressing Boris and Timo) [/FONT][FONT="]ENOUGH OF THIS! Now you're telling me that pissing into bottles, for the Knowledgeable Man, is just another way to "see", right?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](quickly zipping up) [/FONT][FONT="]Hoy! No peeking.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](waving an empty bottle at Gaia)[/FONT][FONT="] Honey, beer's terminated.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<close-up of Gaia>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="]You don't do anything besides drinking, eating and expelling venomous gas from every orifice! What kind of Bulwarks are you?[/FONT]
[FONT="]<close-up of Boris>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](putting a hand on his chest and looking like pride incarnate) [/FONT][FONT="]We are VĪRA -- heroes![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<bird's eye view of the three characters>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](skeptical) [/FONT][FONT="]"Heroes"?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](turns his back on Gaia)[/FONT][FONT="] Pre-cisely! For explanations, ya kin ask him. (points out to Timo) He's our group's philosopher. Now, where's th' loo?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<back to eye-level, shot of Gaia and Timo, face-to-face>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]So, about that -- a vīra is a hero who has mastered both his mind and his senses. He's endowed with a pure heart, since he renounced everything; he devotes himself to inner life, in which he proves his courage and spirit of adventure. Thus during feasts where everyone eats and shags like there's no tomorrow, he diverts his thoughts and senses from the source of stimulation; by forgetting pleasure at the same time delight reaches its acme, he delves into "Brahman's happiness".
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](pointing her finger at Timo)[/FONT][FONT="] Yeah, nice philosophy. But don't you ever put in doubt your conduct? I mean -- "vīra"? You're more akin to swine![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](pulling a cylindrical pipe out of his pocket)[/FONT][FONT="] Doubt? No --(lighting his pipe) You see, the most dreadful enemies of mystic life are uncertainty, dilemma, scruple and doubt, which imply conflict between two opposing forces and thereby produce an energy dispersion.(bringing the pipe closer to Gaia) Hence, the energy of our organs needs to be satisfied and propitiated with the help of "prohibited substances". Indeed, nothing eradicates doubt as well as transgressing the main bans orthodox Bulwarks are subject to: meat, alcohol and sexual intercourse.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](sniffs the smoke coming from the pipe with a quizzical expression)[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]The true follower of the "heroic way" is the person who gives himself up to such bans, who rejoices in life's joys without being enslaved by them -- Sure enough, pleasure, if it isn't the pursued objective, never becomes an obstacle for he who transcends every desire; on the contrary, it allows you to become free because, like any other display of energy, it can change into spiritual power.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](unconvinced)[/FONT][FONT="] You're bullshitting me, aren't you?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="]*sigh* Understood -- here (hands out his pipe) -- have some sagebrush.[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<now Gaia is seen frontally while Timo heads for a sofa in the background>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](incredulous/outraged)[/FONT][FONT="] Sagebrush?[/FONT]
[FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](re-enters frame, adjusting his trousers and scratching his groin) [/FONT][FONT="]Say, blondie, ya look different from last time we saw each other -- Did anything odd happen ta ya, recently?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](doesn't understand)[/FONT][FONT="] "Odd"? What do you mean?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](sitting in the background while examining a few CD's)[/FONT][FONT="] Wow! Charizma's greatest hits![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<Boris and Gaia's conversation is seen from behind her back, Timo cannot be seen>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](affable, in his own way) [/FONT][FONT="]Why, there's sumthin' different in your eyes, nobody couldn't notice that. Might it be that ya were de-maidened since last time?
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](beginning to understand and therefore horrified)[/FONT][FONT="] I was what?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="]C'mon, did anybody trim your flowerbed? Peel your potato?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<the three characters are all visible now, Gaia on the left, Timo sitting on the right, Boris in the center but coming to join Timo on the sofa>
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](shouting at the top of her lungs)[/FONT][FONT="] HOWDAREYA!?[/FONT]
[FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](addressing Timo)[/FONT][FONT="] What was I tellin' you? Sumbody had a jolly good time wit' her![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Timo] [/FONT][FONT="](making a thumbs up gesture)[/FONT][FONT="] Mas vale tarde que nunca![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<back to the framing used during Boris's return from the toilet, now Lev is back too>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](snapping his fingers)[/FONT][FONT="] Liquids, here![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="](addressing Lev)[/FONT][FONT="] What did you tell him, you prattling doorwoman?[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](shocked by his girlfriend's welcome)[/FONT][FONT="] M-me? Nothing, Iswear![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="]Liar![/FONT]
[FONT="]<full frontal view of Lev>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](appearing behind Lev, suddenly very interested in the young man) [/FONT][FONT="]So what, tiger -- what did ya do ta her? But above all how, since we all know that th' tools down there are no more under warranty --
[/FONT]
[FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](while Boris is talking, surprised) [/FONT][FONT="]Hey![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<beat>[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<side-view of Lev and Boris>[/FONT]
[FONT="][FONT="][[/FONT]Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](swallowing)[/FONT][FONT="] I -- well -- let's say I made use of other techniques --[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Boris] [/FONT][FONT="](triumphant)[/FONT][FONT="] Ha! I knew it! (addressing Timo) Got it? Th' billy-goat here nibbled at her bush![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="](palm to his face) [/FONT][FONT="]Jee-jus -- She's so gonna kill me![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="]<external view of the building, now the garden can be seen; Lev can be seen talking to Gaia from a window while she is inside a tent assembled on the lawn>[/FONT]
[FONT="][Lev] [/FONT][FONT="]Come on, Gaia, come back up here. These two guys are a scream![/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT][FONT="][Gaia] [/FONT][FONT="]No, thank you! I've stood enough farting contests and heard enough dirty jokes about blondes! Have some manly fun and leave me alone![/FONT]
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Yeah I can see definitely hip hop in the UASR taking more than a few queues from the likes of Public Enemy rather than NWA. Gangster rap I feel will be a bit more nihilistic than OTL's incarnation focusing more on the brutality of life in the ghetto. Jay Z might be a bit less relevant than OTL too. I can see a more politically minded Kanye being very popular and Lupe Fiascos first 2 albums at least would have a lot more impact. Artists like Drake and the Weeknd would probably be very popular in the FBU sphere I don''t know how they would do stateside. I dont know how the signature sounds of Hip hop would develop though. Would Outkast exist ITTL? Cause they're pretty critical in the development of the southern sound in Hip Hop. I wonder if Chicago will have an established sound ITTL if it does I feel most artists will sound more like Common,Kanye and Lupe than Chief Keef maybe artists like Chance ,Noname Gypsy , Vic Mensa or Mick Jenkins will be a part of a long tradition of Jazz influenced Chicago artists rather than part of a new movement of sorts. Definitley agree with you on Female MC's I could see a lot of female rappers being influenced by Lauryn Hill and Jean Grae
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With the black population much more integrated than OTL and equal will there even be something like gangster rap? I mean we don't really know the status of organized crime in the UASR, but I assume it's very different from OTL.
Copy pasting this from the Alternate Political Parties thread
The Franco-British Union
The Entente Cordiale of Great Britain and the French Republic/L'Entente Cordiale de la Grande Bretagne et la République Française
On paper, the FBU is one of the three superpowers, challenging the UASR and the USSR for mastery over the entirety of the world. It retains control of a large colonial empire within its so-called "Commonwealth," and all remaining capitalist states are under its suzerainty. But there is a cancer at the heart of the Entente Cordiale, and increasingly the last great hope for capitalism is held together by an ever mounting tide of repression and the spread of denialist political culture at home.
The FBU is at a crossroads now. External experts believe the Union is entering the terminal phase of its existence, but internal reformers believe that now is the chance to fix the endemic problems of the system without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
People's Alliance/Alliance Populaire
The party of perpetual government in the post-WW2 era, formed at the start of the Cold War in 1949 from the ad hoc alliance between the British Conservative and Unionist Party and the French Rally of Popular Republicans (itself a merger of the pre-war French center and right). The People's Alliance is founded on the "Three Arrows" which form the core of its ideology: Free Enterprise, Civilization, and Anti-Communism.
The practice of these, of course, is hotly contested and seldom resembles the conventional meanings of the words. The left-wing mocks the Three Arrows with their own slogan, "Cronyism, Imperialism, and Fascism".
In spite of the genuflections to free market ideology, the People's Alliance has deliberately constructed the political economy of the FBU along corporatist lines, establishing pro-business "patriotic unions" as a counterweight to the left-wing unions, and doling out patronage through a very sophisticated system of government planning to ensure social stability.
On social matters, they have remained consistently conservative, holding back women, minority, and LBGT movements and only making reforms opportunistically. However, only a small percentage of the party leadership are true reactionaries seeking to turn back the clock; most recognize that some pretense of "progressive conservatism" is necessary to grease wheels.
As the capitalist fortress state, an ever increasing prerogative of the corporatist economy has become national defense. Even those on the right who come to lament that the level of defense spending cannot be sustained indefinitely.
The party is currently led by Prime Minister Anthony Blair, an ambitious reformer who has been described, perhaps prematurely, as "the Franco-British Kirov". Nonetheless, his attempts to bring armistice to the government's confict with the revolutionary trade unions, restructure the ailing economy and seek detente with the Comintern have appeared promising.
The People's Alliance has a number of cadet branches in the various Dominions of the FBU Commonwealth. They are more ideologically diverse than the mother party, and occaisionally come into conflict with it, but they keep the Dominions on the same general course.
Algeria: Algerian Unity Party
Australia: Liberal Party
French Congo: People's Party
India: Indian National Congress
Newfoundland: Progressive Conservative Party
New Zealand: United Reform Party
South Africa: National Party (government-in-exile)
Liberty/Liberté
Liberty is the predominant right-wing opposition in the FBU. While it functions a traditional political party, electing representatives to parliament and to local councils, it does not style itself as a political party. Rather, Liberty is a counter organization to the existing state, supported by a group of close knit venture capitalists and an armed paramilitary wing.
Liberty styles itself as an ideologically liberal organization, but it maintains a highly ahistorical and fundamentalist view of what constitutes liberal philosophy. Colored by the writings of Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand, their liberalism is fanatically egoistic.
Their far-right credentials truly come into play with the group's ultranationalism and anti-communism, and the apparent disconnect between their professed anti-statism and flirtations with anarcho-capitalism on the one hand, and their support for authoritarian measures in the battle against communism on the other, is the subject of much consternation and ridicule. A common term of abuse against Liberty members among the left is to deride them as "Reverse Jacobins,". The political mainstream considers them useful idiots, and their paramilitaries are easily used as a catspaw against the labor movement. They do not have as many cadet organizations as the People's Alliance; thus far only the Australian Liberty League has shown much success.
Labour Party/Parti d'Ouvriers*
The merger between the UK's Labour Party and the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO), the once dominant left-wing party of the FBU does not, by convention, directly translate its name. In English speaking areas, it is known as the Labour Party, but in Francophone regions it is known as the Parti d'Ouvriers (Party of Workers).
Labour is a party of contradictions. It began the Cold War era as a big tent, with factions on the revolutionary left and nationalistic cold warriors on the right wing of the party. While the reformist center dominated, the party could never bring its program of nationalization and a womb to tomb welfare state into practice.
By the early 60s, the right-wing had joined the People's Alliance, and the center, under the leadership of the Fabian Society, dwindled. By the 1970s, the party had gone from pink to red, and the leadership was taken over by Marxists who wished to chart a more moderate path to revolution.
Labour remains closely tied to the trade union movement, and both are under constant siege both by the propaganda media as well as the FBU internal security apparatus. It jockies back and forth with the Communists over which philosophy will predominate on the left. Only recently have the two been able to cooperate towards larger goals in activism and elections, thanks in no small part to the personal friendship between their leaders.
Currently led by Scottish journalist and novelist Iain Banks, Labour face the prospect of taking power for the first time in almost sixty years. Labour has several cadet branches in the the Dominions.
Algeria: Algerian Socialist Party
Australia: Labor Party
French Congo: Movement for a Democratic Congo
India: Indian Socialist Congress
Newfoundland: Labor Party (electoral registry suspended for being a "Communist front organization")
New Zealand: Social Democratic Party
South Africa: African National Congress (While South Africa has seceded from the Entente, its ruling parties still maintain fraternity with their counterparts)
Entente Section of the Communist International/Section d'Entente de L'Internationale Communiste
The ESCI, more commonly known as the Communist Party, is the long-time revolutionary rival of the Labour Party turned close electoral ally. The party, though not without its factional catastrophes, has remained united around a general program of revolutionary socialism heavily inspired by the orthodox line emanating from DeLeon-Debs.
Since the 70s, the chief difference between Labour and the Communists, beyond the level of intensity in the fanfare for revolution, has been the two party's vary differing stances on the hot-button social issues. For better or worse, Labour is the party of leftists from Middle England and Parisian haute culture, and they've been much more lukewarm about embracing identity based politics.
The Communists, by contrast, are where the hotbead of feminist, LBGT liberation, and multicultural thought is emanating from. And at times, the party's presence on campuses and the younger sections of the labor movement seems more like a Bacchanalia than a serious political movement. This image is in part calculated by the party leadership, as it ensures the party is viewed less threateningly, especially following the period after the party militant turned to armed insurrection in the 70s.
Led by the other half of the "Caledonian Mafia" of British politics, Peter Capaldi, in recent years the party has become well known for its very effective PR (for revolutionary fifth columnists, that is), and well-focused internal discipline. In spite of their open allegiance to the official enemy, they have remained an above ground party for the entirety of the Cold War largely for realpolitik reasons (though they certainly faced their share of abuse by state security).
The Communists don't have subordinate cadet parties; they insist that their relationship to the parties in the Dominions are fraternal parties, and they support their moves towards independence. They also maintain fraternal linkages to parties in nations that have successfully left the FBU.
Algeria: Algerian Party of Communists (official), National Liberation Front (de facto)
Australia: Workers' Party of Australia
French Congo: Socialist Unity Party (banned from electoral certification)
Republic of Ireland: Sinn Fein
India: Workers' Communist Party of India
Newfoundland: Communist Unity Party of New Foundland (Officially, a constituent party of the Communist Unity Party of America)
New Zealand: Communist Party of Aotearoa
Palestine: Palestine Communist Party
South Africa: South African Communist Party
Vietnam: National Liberation Front
Membership by party in the Commons Assembly
Government:
People's Alliance: 498
Independent Conservative: 24
Independents: 3
Right Opposition:
Liberty: 42
Action Francaise: 8
English Defense League: 2
Left Opposition:
Labour: 124
Communists: 131
Independent Labour: 12
The Franco-British Union
The Entente Cordiale of Great Britain and the French Republic/L'Entente Cordiale de la Grande Bretagne et la République Française
On paper, the FBU is one of the three superpowers, challenging the UASR and the USSR for mastery over the entirety of the world. It retains control of a large colonial empire within its so-called "Commonwealth," and all remaining capitalist states are under its suzerainty. But there is a cancer at the heart of the Entente Cordiale, and increasingly the last great hope for capitalism is held together by an ever mounting tide of repression and the spread of denialist political culture at home.
The FBU is at a crossroads now. External experts believe the Union is entering the terminal phase of its existence, but internal reformers believe that now is the chance to fix the endemic problems of the system without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
People's Alliance/Alliance Populaire
The party of perpetual government in the post-WW2 era, formed at the start of the Cold War in 1949 from the ad hoc alliance between the British Conservative and Unionist Party and the French Rally of Popular Republicans (itself a merger of the pre-war French center and right). The People's Alliance is founded on the "Three Arrows" which form the core of its ideology: Free Enterprise, Civilization, and Anti-Communism.
The practice of these, of course, is hotly contested and seldom resembles the conventional meanings of the words. The left-wing mocks the Three Arrows with their own slogan, "Cronyism, Imperialism, and Fascism".
In spite of the genuflections to free market ideology, the People's Alliance has deliberately constructed the political economy of the FBU along corporatist lines, establishing pro-business "patriotic unions" as a counterweight to the left-wing unions, and doling out patronage through a very sophisticated system of government planning to ensure social stability.
On social matters, they have remained consistently conservative, holding back women, minority, and LBGT movements and only making reforms opportunistically. However, only a small percentage of the party leadership are true reactionaries seeking to turn back the clock; most recognize that some pretense of "progressive conservatism" is necessary to grease wheels.
As the capitalist fortress state, an ever increasing prerogative of the corporatist economy has become national defense. Even those on the right who come to lament that the level of defense spending cannot be sustained indefinitely.
The party is currently led by Prime Minister Anthony Blair, an ambitious reformer who has been described, perhaps prematurely, as "the Franco-British Kirov". Nonetheless, his attempts to bring armistice to the government's confict with the revolutionary trade unions, restructure the ailing economy and seek detente with the Comintern have appeared promising.
The People's Alliance has a number of cadet branches in the various Dominions of the FBU Commonwealth. They are more ideologically diverse than the mother party, and occaisionally come into conflict with it, but they keep the Dominions on the same general course.
Algeria: Algerian Unity Party
Australia: Liberal Party
French Congo: People's Party
India: Indian National Congress
Newfoundland: Progressive Conservative Party
New Zealand: United Reform Party
South Africa: National Party (government-in-exile)
Liberty/Liberté
Liberty is the predominant right-wing opposition in the FBU. While it functions a traditional political party, electing representatives to parliament and to local councils, it does not style itself as a political party. Rather, Liberty is a counter organization to the existing state, supported by a group of close knit venture capitalists and an armed paramilitary wing.
Liberty styles itself as an ideologically liberal organization, but it maintains a highly ahistorical and fundamentalist view of what constitutes liberal philosophy. Colored by the writings of Ludwig von Mises and Ayn Rand, their liberalism is fanatically egoistic.
Their far-right credentials truly come into play with the group's ultranationalism and anti-communism, and the apparent disconnect between their professed anti-statism and flirtations with anarcho-capitalism on the one hand, and their support for authoritarian measures in the battle against communism on the other, is the subject of much consternation and ridicule. A common term of abuse against Liberty members among the left is to deride them as "Reverse Jacobins,". The political mainstream considers them useful idiots, and their paramilitaries are easily used as a catspaw against the labor movement. They do not have as many cadet organizations as the People's Alliance; thus far only the Australian Liberty League has shown much success.
Labour Party/Parti d'Ouvriers*
The merger between the UK's Labour Party and the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO), the once dominant left-wing party of the FBU does not, by convention, directly translate its name. In English speaking areas, it is known as the Labour Party, but in Francophone regions it is known as the Parti d'Ouvriers (Party of Workers).
Labour is a party of contradictions. It began the Cold War era as a big tent, with factions on the revolutionary left and nationalistic cold warriors on the right wing of the party. While the reformist center dominated, the party could never bring its program of nationalization and a womb to tomb welfare state into practice.
By the early 60s, the right-wing had joined the People's Alliance, and the center, under the leadership of the Fabian Society, dwindled. By the 1970s, the party had gone from pink to red, and the leadership was taken over by Marxists who wished to chart a more moderate path to revolution.
Labour remains closely tied to the trade union movement, and both are under constant siege both by the propaganda media as well as the FBU internal security apparatus. It jockies back and forth with the Communists over which philosophy will predominate on the left. Only recently have the two been able to cooperate towards larger goals in activism and elections, thanks in no small part to the personal friendship between their leaders.
Currently led by Scottish journalist and novelist Iain Banks, Labour face the prospect of taking power for the first time in almost sixty years. Labour has several cadet branches in the the Dominions.
Algeria: Algerian Socialist Party
Australia: Labor Party
French Congo: Movement for a Democratic Congo
India: Indian Socialist Congress
Newfoundland: Labor Party (electoral registry suspended for being a "Communist front organization")
New Zealand: Social Democratic Party
South Africa: African National Congress (While South Africa has seceded from the Entente, its ruling parties still maintain fraternity with their counterparts)
Entente Section of the Communist International/Section d'Entente de L'Internationale Communiste
The ESCI, more commonly known as the Communist Party, is the long-time revolutionary rival of the Labour Party turned close electoral ally. The party, though not without its factional catastrophes, has remained united around a general program of revolutionary socialism heavily inspired by the orthodox line emanating from DeLeon-Debs.
Since the 70s, the chief difference between Labour and the Communists, beyond the level of intensity in the fanfare for revolution, has been the two party's vary differing stances on the hot-button social issues. For better or worse, Labour is the party of leftists from Middle England and Parisian haute culture, and they've been much more lukewarm about embracing identity based politics.
The Communists, by contrast, are where the hotbead of feminist, LBGT liberation, and multicultural thought is emanating from. And at times, the party's presence on campuses and the younger sections of the labor movement seems more like a Bacchanalia than a serious political movement. This image is in part calculated by the party leadership, as it ensures the party is viewed less threateningly, especially following the period after the party militant turned to armed insurrection in the 70s.
Led by the other half of the "Caledonian Mafia" of British politics, Peter Capaldi, in recent years the party has become well known for its very effective PR (for revolutionary fifth columnists, that is), and well-focused internal discipline. In spite of their open allegiance to the official enemy, they have remained an above ground party for the entirety of the Cold War largely for realpolitik reasons (though they certainly faced their share of abuse by state security).
The Communists don't have subordinate cadet parties; they insist that their relationship to the parties in the Dominions are fraternal parties, and they support their moves towards independence. They also maintain fraternal linkages to parties in nations that have successfully left the FBU.
Algeria: Algerian Party of Communists (official), National Liberation Front (de facto)
Australia: Workers' Party of Australia
French Congo: Socialist Unity Party (banned from electoral certification)
Republic of Ireland: Sinn Fein
India: Workers' Communist Party of India
Newfoundland: Communist Unity Party of New Foundland (Officially, a constituent party of the Communist Unity Party of America)
New Zealand: Communist Party of Aotearoa
Palestine: Palestine Communist Party
South Africa: South African Communist Party
Vietnam: National Liberation Front
Membership by party in the Commons Assembly
Government:
People's Alliance: 498
Independent Conservative: 24
Independents: 3
Right Opposition:
Liberty: 42
Action Francaise: 8
English Defense League: 2
Left Opposition:
Labour: 124
Communists: 131
Independent Labour: 12
So basically von Hayek's "Personally I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism" in action?
Except von Hayek is a social democrat ITTL, meaning the Austrian School has lost its (relatively) moderate leader.
Add in the whole "Reds own everything" paranoia and I can see them going even further down batshit creek.
I'm guessing they're like the Antebellum South in that government's only purpose is putting down slave rebellions?
Here's some more epithets if you need them "small-government totalitarians", "their utopia is a non-state, police-state", "they want to reduce government to the size where they can stick it through the worker's ribs" and "Slavery/Esclavage" (Freedom is Slavery).
Hey Jello, don't you think that the People's Alliance/Alliance Populaire's strategy of establishing pro-business "patriotic unions" as a counterweight to the left-wing unions is the equivalent of the Party having two stones and failing to kill even a single bird?
From one of IP's posts, I understand that, with the exception of Piedmont, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta, all of Italy is under a Socialist Republic and part of UASR-leaning faction in the Comintern. While I doubt that practicing of Catholicism will be a punishable offense, with the tradition of Communist tolerance of religious worship started by the Second American Revolution, I cannot see the Pope being happy with being surrounded by a country where the regime is hell-bent on not giving him any kind of political influence, so a veeery long hecumenical trip to the most Catholic nation of France (Avignon and all the rest, you know...) could be in order just after the end of WWII, if not before.
So, why couldn't the eternal center-right government decide to co-opt him and the Church he leads, instead of keeping him in some palace as a most expensive knick-knack? In Italy, we have a long tradition of Catholic trade unions like the ACLI (Christian Associations of Italian Workers) and even nation-wide organisations like the CISL (Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions), all of them inspired by the fundamental Christian principle of solidarity. Similar organisations could very well prosper in an environment like France too, especially with the right dose of official support from the State, and eventually cross the Channel into Great Britain and Ireland. Even the religious divide between France and the United Kingdom wouldn't be an insurmountable problem, since the same siege mindset which helped cementing the two nations together a political union would do wonders to reconcile Catholics and Anglicans.
Plus, a supra-national movement of Catholic trade unions would be just perfect for the government since it could be argued that Catholic syndicalism shares the goals of the traditional workers' movement in the bourgeois/industrialised countries, since it also aims at elevating the dignity of the worker and guarantee his/her rights at the workplace, and thus is a conservative but not reactionary institution. At the same time, it's also not politically active in the traditional sense, since it's less likely to spawn political parties that are reflections of its program; from the historical relations of Catholic trade unions with the Christian Democratic Party which ruled Italy for forty years, Catholic syndicalism aims at being listened by the authorities, using the unions' membership a reliable voting bloc, rather than controlling their moves.
What do you think, Jello?
P.S.: I'm just curious, is my post on an allohistorical Soviet animated series in the last page in any way compatible with the post-reform Soviet Union? Since nobody commented, I still don't know if I wrote something that respects your canon or a true fish out of water.
From one of IP's posts, I understand that, with the exception of Piedmont, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta, all of Italy is under a Socialist Republic and part of UASR-leaning faction in the Comintern. While I doubt that practicing of Catholicism will be a punishable offense, with the tradition of Communist tolerance of religious worship started by the Second American Revolution, I cannot see the Pope being happy with being surrounded by a country where the regime is hell-bent on not giving him any kind of political influence, so a veeery long hecumenical trip to the most Catholic nation of France (Avignon and all the rest, you know...) could be in order just after the end of WWII, if not before.
So, why couldn't the eternal center-right government decide to co-opt him and the Church he leads, instead of keeping him in some palace as a most expensive knick-knack? In Italy, we have a long tradition of Catholic trade unions like the ACLI (Christian Associations of Italian Workers) and even nation-wide organisations like the CISL (Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions), all of them inspired by the fundamental Christian principle of solidarity. Similar organisations could very well prosper in an environment like France too, especially with the right dose of official support from the State, and eventually cross the Channel into Great Britain and Ireland. Even the religious divide between France and the United Kingdom wouldn't be an insurmountable problem, since the same siege mindset which helped cementing the two nations together a political union would do wonders to reconcile Catholics and Anglicans.
Plus, a supra-national movement of Catholic trade unions would be just perfect for the government since it could be argued that Catholic syndicalism shares the goals of the traditional workers' movement in the bourgeois/industrialised countries, since it also aims at elevating the dignity of the worker and guarantee his/her rights at the workplace, and thus is a conservative but not reactionary institution. At the same time, it's also not politically active in the traditional sense, since it's less likely to spawn political parties that are reflections of its program; from the historical relations of Catholic trade unions with the Christian Democratic Party which ruled Italy for forty years, Catholic syndicalism aims at being listened by the authorities, using the unions' membership a reliable voting bloc, rather than controlling their moves.
What do you think, Jello?
P.S.: I'm just curious, is my post on an allohistorical Soviet animated series in the last page in any way compatible with the post-reform Soviet Union? Since nobody commented, I still don't know if I wrote something that respects your canon or a true fish out of water.