The Ruins of an American Party System: From 1920 Onward
- Thread starter Emperor Julian
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The Nazis were not a particularly logical group. They were restricted to East Prussia, but they were still convinced that victory was possible. Rather than negotiating with Schleicher or attempting to secure themselves an independent East Prussia, the Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, ordered the SS forces still hiding in mainland Germany to begin to carry out terrorist attacks against the German government. Furthermore, they began recruiting ethnic Germans living within Poland, both to join the fight in Germany, and to try and rally the Germans within Poland to revolt and reclaim the lost German territory. A series of assassination attempts on major Polish figures, and murders and bombings of random civilians, served to make the Nazis rather unpopular among the Poles. On February 13 of 1934, Ignacy Moscicki, the official President of Poland, following the "recommendation" of the unofficial leadership of General Józef Piłsudski, announced that the Republic of Poland officially recognized the restoration of the German Empire under Wilhelm III, and would intervene against the "dangerous extremists" who were attempting to overthrow the rightful government of the German people.
The Nazi forces were bled dry due to the long war. Hitler's war plan already wasted most of the resources of East Prussia, and the troops were disorganized and suffering from low morale. The fresh Polish army crushed the SA easily in a series of battles, killing numerous high profile Nazis such as Hermann Goering. The fact that half of his remaining territory was under occupation by Poland did not phase Hitler, who ordered the leader of the SA, Ernst Röhm, to send his men once more into battle. Hitler might have been delusional enough to think that the Nazis could still triumph, but Röhm knew that it was only suicide. The SA's commander shot Hitler several times in the chest, and had his troops arrest all Nazi leaders still loyal to the now-deceased Hitler. Röhm, along with Gregor Strasser, officially surrendered to the Polish forces on March 31. The new Nazi leadership's only condition of the surrender was that their own lives be spared. Piłsudski agreed to this condition, as the trial and public execution of Heinrich Himmler, who organized the terrorist attacks and assassinations, and the other imprisoned Hitlerite Nazis would satisfy the Polish peoples' revenge, and Schleicher was content with victory. Röhm and Strasser were placed under house arrest for the rest of their lives, and East Prussia became part of the Empire of Germany.
The German Empire allowing Polish troops into German territory to crush Germans enraged many on the far-right across Germany. A wave of pro-Nazi terrorism erupted in the Spring of 1934, aiming to gain retribution on Schleicher for his betrayal of the German people. This wave of terrorism distracted the Imperial forces, and allowed the Iron front to hold its ground in an increasingly grim war. The most high-profile assassination was that of Alfre Hugenberg, the second-in-command of the Imperial government, and leader of the German National Peoples' Party. With Hugenberg dead, Schleicher officially joined and seized control of the German National Peoples' Party (abbreviated DNVP in German). Even though the Empire had been a one-party state before, with all opposition to the DNVP banned, now the DNVP became constitutionally enshrined as the legal party of Germany. Schleicher was looking toward the south, towards Mussolini's Italy, as his model for his dictatorship.
The German Empire, along with Poland, officially formed the Anti-Communist Alliance shortly thereafter. Italy soon joined as well, and many suspected that Austria would follow as soon as the German Empire could negotiate a peace with the Bavarian separatists. However, it was not only in Europe where fascism rose.
Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro lost three fingers on his left hand, which were shot off as he seized a machine gun as he helped overthrow President Guillermo Billinghurst of Peru in 1914. After being exiled for supporting another (failed) coup in 1921, he fought alongside groups such as the Spanish monarchy and the fascist Italians. Sánchez first came to power in Lima via a military coup in 1931, but due to only having weak control over the military, he resigned from his control of the junta, and ran for office in the democratic elections. His victory in the election began the dominance of the Revolutionary Union Party. Despite protests from the opposition, and numerous assassination attempts, Sánchez became the newest President of Peru, and began working to consolidate his power.
By 1934, after three years in control, the entire political system had been bent under Sánchez's will. He had purged the military of all disloyalty, seized control of the media, which was now pro-regime and anti-immigrant propaganda, and won great popular support due to his huge public works projects and military buildups helping the economy. Having set up a paramilitary organization modeled after the Black Shirts of Mussolini, Sánchez felt confident enough to officially ban the Apristas and other opposition to the Revolutionary Union Party. After a week of violence, Sánchez managed to monopolize all legal political activity in Peru, and immediately began strengthening control on his new, totalitarian fascist regime.
In Argentina, a military coup in 1930 placed José Félix Uriburu in power as the President. After a brief bout of stomach cancer in 1932, which he survived, Uriburu continued to rule Argentina as military dictatorship. After a riot carried out by communists, Uriburu began to look favorably upon the anti-Communist Alliance. Both Argentina and Peru would join in 1935. After them joined Brazil, led by the Integralist dictator Getúlio Vargas. The fascist alliance had become global.
The Nazi forces were bled dry due to the long war. Hitler's war plan already wasted most of the resources of East Prussia, and the troops were disorganized and suffering from low morale. The fresh Polish army crushed the SA easily in a series of battles, killing numerous high profile Nazis such as Hermann Goering. The fact that half of his remaining territory was under occupation by Poland did not phase Hitler, who ordered the leader of the SA, Ernst Röhm, to send his men once more into battle. Hitler might have been delusional enough to think that the Nazis could still triumph, but Röhm knew that it was only suicide. The SA's commander shot Hitler several times in the chest, and had his troops arrest all Nazi leaders still loyal to the now-deceased Hitler. Röhm, along with Gregor Strasser, officially surrendered to the Polish forces on March 31. The new Nazi leadership's only condition of the surrender was that their own lives be spared. Piłsudski agreed to this condition, as the trial and public execution of Heinrich Himmler, who organized the terrorist attacks and assassinations, and the other imprisoned Hitlerite Nazis would satisfy the Polish peoples' revenge, and Schleicher was content with victory. Röhm and Strasser were placed under house arrest for the rest of their lives, and East Prussia became part of the Empire of Germany.
The German Empire allowing Polish troops into German territory to crush Germans enraged many on the far-right across Germany. A wave of pro-Nazi terrorism erupted in the Spring of 1934, aiming to gain retribution on Schleicher for his betrayal of the German people. This wave of terrorism distracted the Imperial forces, and allowed the Iron front to hold its ground in an increasingly grim war. The most high-profile assassination was that of Alfre Hugenberg, the second-in-command of the Imperial government, and leader of the German National Peoples' Party. With Hugenberg dead, Schleicher officially joined and seized control of the German National Peoples' Party (abbreviated DNVP in German). Even though the Empire had been a one-party state before, with all opposition to the DNVP banned, now the DNVP became constitutionally enshrined as the legal party of Germany. Schleicher was looking toward the south, towards Mussolini's Italy, as his model for his dictatorship.
The German Empire, along with Poland, officially formed the Anti-Communist Alliance shortly thereafter. Italy soon joined as well, and many suspected that Austria would follow as soon as the German Empire could negotiate a peace with the Bavarian separatists. However, it was not only in Europe where fascism rose.
Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro lost three fingers on his left hand, which were shot off as he seized a machine gun as he helped overthrow President Guillermo Billinghurst of Peru in 1914. After being exiled for supporting another (failed) coup in 1921, he fought alongside groups such as the Spanish monarchy and the fascist Italians. Sánchez first came to power in Lima via a military coup in 1931, but due to only having weak control over the military, he resigned from his control of the junta, and ran for office in the democratic elections. His victory in the election began the dominance of the Revolutionary Union Party. Despite protests from the opposition, and numerous assassination attempts, Sánchez became the newest President of Peru, and began working to consolidate his power.
By 1934, after three years in control, the entire political system had been bent under Sánchez's will. He had purged the military of all disloyalty, seized control of the media, which was now pro-regime and anti-immigrant propaganda, and won great popular support due to his huge public works projects and military buildups helping the economy. Having set up a paramilitary organization modeled after the Black Shirts of Mussolini, Sánchez felt confident enough to officially ban the Apristas and other opposition to the Revolutionary Union Party. After a week of violence, Sánchez managed to monopolize all legal political activity in Peru, and immediately began strengthening control on his new, totalitarian fascist regime.
In Argentina, a military coup in 1930 placed José Félix Uriburu in power as the President. After a brief bout of stomach cancer in 1932, which he survived, Uriburu continued to rule Argentina as military dictatorship. After a riot carried out by communists, Uriburu began to look favorably upon the anti-Communist Alliance. Both Argentina and Peru would join in 1935. After them joined Brazil, led by the Integralist dictator Getúlio Vargas. The fascist alliance had become global.
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Hitler gets reverse-Long Knived, nice.
Did I miss Poland becoming a Kingdom ITTL instead of OTL's Republic?
Did I miss Poland becoming a Kingdom ITTL instead of OTL's Republic?
And the Nazis get beaten by the Polish.
I meant to type "Republic of Poland". Fixed.
Would anyone be upset if I did not calculate out percentages of the vote for Congressional elections? Because I really don't want to calculate turnout and stuff for the Congressional elections, and plus I'd just be making stuff up anyways and it probably wouldn't be accurate. For the purpose of this TL, I'll say something like that large amounts of data in Louisiana and other parts of the South were lost and alt-Wikipedia could not calculate accurately.
That's ok with me. I'm amazed that you even attempted to do that in the first place. I just kinda made up numbers back when I was wiring a TL with "actual" congressional results.
I was distracted by a debate on artificial intelligence and some crossdressing, and now it is almost 2:00 and I'm tired, so I'll post the next update tomorrow. It will have the 1934 House Election, as well as some general updates on the situations in France, Germany, the US Supreme Court, Southern US, and Justice Department.Weeee that mean an update soon?? With wikiboxes!?
I am still working on the numbers, after realizing my spreadsheet was slightly off. Apparently, I forgot the existence of New Mexico.
The same Kingdom of Polamd whose refusal to allow Hitler in led to Neville Chamberlain starting WWII?
On June 21, 1934, Floyd Olson, Fiorello La Guardia, Huey Long, and numerous other public figures, all gave speeches about the events which occurred in Asheville, North Carolina, a year before. Under the direction of Olson, all Progressives and allies who gave speeches did so without any reference to ISA, which was in the Supreme Court, or any partisanship. He swore to personally endorse a future primary challenger to any politician who attempted to use the anniversary of the tragedy for anything other than commemorating the victims. Olson's speech that day was considered politically moving; even some of his staunchest conservative enemies were stirred, as they remembered the events that occurred at Galahad College.
Seven days later, large portions of the Internal Security Act were struck down by the Supreme Court in the cases of Buchanan vs. Long, Williams vs. Long, and MacDonald vs. Long, barely less than a year after it was passed. Chief Justice Miller, writing the opinion of the majority of the court, wrote that calling any crime committed to advance a political cause to be a too broad interpretation of "unlawful insurrection" (specifically, the case where Huey Long arrested someone for unlawful insurrection due to bribery to get a tax lowered). They ruled that only if a crime was violent, and if the political goal was the toppling of the existing US government or of the structure of US society, could it be considered unlawful insurrection. Furthermore, they banned the use of military tribunals to try alleged rebels. A minority of the justices wanted to totally strike down the entire act, but were unsuccessful.
Many Americans expected Long and Olson to be very upset over the damage done to ISA. However, the Attorney General gave a speech shortly after, deeply regretting any "mistakes committed by lower-level members of the FBI in their honest desire to see the United States rid of dangerous madmen", and saying that he believed that ISA had accomplished its purpose and broken the far-right paramilitaries (some might say that it also accomplished its secondary purpose of breaking the Conservative Party).
A couple days later, Huey Long gave a speech in Mississippi. There, he confronted southern racists who demanded to know why he stayed in the administration of someone opposed to segregation like Olson. Huey Long responded by saying that while he was outraged by some of the things that Olson desired, that his job was to enforce the law of the land, not to challenge the President on political matters. Long said that all disputes should go to Congress, and pointed to the fact that the Commonwealth Party voted against the Equal Wage Act, and that all of its representatives supported "Separate But Equal" as a sign of their commitment. He remarked that those Southern Progressives loyal to "true Southern values" had already defected to the Commonwealth Party, and that he hoped that the voters would vote Commonwealth and drive the Progressives out of the South. Then, his tone shifted. He said that no matter what Olson did, as Attorney General, he was the man in charge of crushing the Christian Party and other extremist organizations. He proclaimed that "if it be a sin to want to be the man to personally destroy those Silver bastards, then I call every true American man a sinner!" The crowd got wrapped up in anti-Pelley bloodlust, and cheered for the man to crush the remnants of Pelley's gang.
Some conservatives in the United States were happy to hear that the French government fell on September 13, 1934. The numerous left-wing parties could not cooperate, and enough moderate socialists quit the Popular Front for it to lose a vote of no confidence. The French Right swept the election, and ended all support for the slowly collapsing Iron Front. Both the US and USSR realized that the Empire of Germany would win the war, especially after it negotiated a return to a separate "sub-monarchy" for Bavaria, along with more autonomy.
However, while the Left in France was defeated, the Progressives in the United States was not so weak. True, they failed to accomplish much of their agenda. True, they were wracked with infighting. True, many moderates had been alienated, and were going to the Republican Party. However, Floyd Olson had anticipated this. Deciding not to waste the person of his Vice President, he made Fiorello La Guardia's primary mission in the first two years of the Olson presidency to be the setting up of a massive Progressive Party apparatus. In 1932, they had been barely organized in many states in the Northeast and Midwest. After La Guardia's efforts, well-organized Progressive parties existed in every state outside of the South. Coupled with dramatically improved party organization was the economic improvement. The massive public works projects, the banking regulations, the lowering of tariffs, and the end of the gold standard had worked. The US economy had clearly turned around, and was at its highest point since the middle of Calvin Coolidge's brief presidency. More than half of the formerly unemployed were now employed, with the unemployment rate dropping to "only" 15%. People had more money to give to charities, and the lives of the unemployed were improved. It was clear to most Americans that the Depression was over, and the recovery was well under way.
The Progressives suffered a minor net loss of seats to the Republicans in the North, not enough to shake things up, but enough to show that the Republican Party was not about to collapse. 20 Progressives switched to the Commonwealth Party for their reelection bid, and numerous Progressives and Conservatives were defeated across the South in a massive Commonwealth sweep. Meanwhile, while the Socialist Party lost a couple seats in the Northeast and Midwest to more moderate Progressives or to Republicans via vote-splitting, they gained 6 seats in California. While Olson knew that Hiram Johnson was unbeatable, he had made it his goal to break Johnson's machine's dominance over California politics, and with the successful election of Upton Sinclair as governor of California, he was successful.
Some things to note about the infobox/map:
Seven days later, large portions of the Internal Security Act were struck down by the Supreme Court in the cases of Buchanan vs. Long, Williams vs. Long, and MacDonald vs. Long, barely less than a year after it was passed. Chief Justice Miller, writing the opinion of the majority of the court, wrote that calling any crime committed to advance a political cause to be a too broad interpretation of "unlawful insurrection" (specifically, the case where Huey Long arrested someone for unlawful insurrection due to bribery to get a tax lowered). They ruled that only if a crime was violent, and if the political goal was the toppling of the existing US government or of the structure of US society, could it be considered unlawful insurrection. Furthermore, they banned the use of military tribunals to try alleged rebels. A minority of the justices wanted to totally strike down the entire act, but were unsuccessful.
Many Americans expected Long and Olson to be very upset over the damage done to ISA. However, the Attorney General gave a speech shortly after, deeply regretting any "mistakes committed by lower-level members of the FBI in their honest desire to see the United States rid of dangerous madmen", and saying that he believed that ISA had accomplished its purpose and broken the far-right paramilitaries (some might say that it also accomplished its secondary purpose of breaking the Conservative Party).
A couple days later, Huey Long gave a speech in Mississippi. There, he confronted southern racists who demanded to know why he stayed in the administration of someone opposed to segregation like Olson. Huey Long responded by saying that while he was outraged by some of the things that Olson desired, that his job was to enforce the law of the land, not to challenge the President on political matters. Long said that all disputes should go to Congress, and pointed to the fact that the Commonwealth Party voted against the Equal Wage Act, and that all of its representatives supported "Separate But Equal" as a sign of their commitment. He remarked that those Southern Progressives loyal to "true Southern values" had already defected to the Commonwealth Party, and that he hoped that the voters would vote Commonwealth and drive the Progressives out of the South. Then, his tone shifted. He said that no matter what Olson did, as Attorney General, he was the man in charge of crushing the Christian Party and other extremist organizations. He proclaimed that "if it be a sin to want to be the man to personally destroy those Silver bastards, then I call every true American man a sinner!" The crowd got wrapped up in anti-Pelley bloodlust, and cheered for the man to crush the remnants of Pelley's gang.
Some conservatives in the United States were happy to hear that the French government fell on September 13, 1934. The numerous left-wing parties could not cooperate, and enough moderate socialists quit the Popular Front for it to lose a vote of no confidence. The French Right swept the election, and ended all support for the slowly collapsing Iron Front. Both the US and USSR realized that the Empire of Germany would win the war, especially after it negotiated a return to a separate "sub-monarchy" for Bavaria, along with more autonomy.
However, while the Left in France was defeated, the Progressives in the United States was not so weak. True, they failed to accomplish much of their agenda. True, they were wracked with infighting. True, many moderates had been alienated, and were going to the Republican Party. However, Floyd Olson had anticipated this. Deciding not to waste the person of his Vice President, he made Fiorello La Guardia's primary mission in the first two years of the Olson presidency to be the setting up of a massive Progressive Party apparatus. In 1932, they had been barely organized in many states in the Northeast and Midwest. After La Guardia's efforts, well-organized Progressive parties existed in every state outside of the South. Coupled with dramatically improved party organization was the economic improvement. The massive public works projects, the banking regulations, the lowering of tariffs, and the end of the gold standard had worked. The US economy had clearly turned around, and was at its highest point since the middle of Calvin Coolidge's brief presidency. More than half of the formerly unemployed were now employed, with the unemployment rate dropping to "only" 15%. People had more money to give to charities, and the lives of the unemployed were improved. It was clear to most Americans that the Depression was over, and the recovery was well under way.
The Progressives suffered a minor net loss of seats to the Republicans in the North, not enough to shake things up, but enough to show that the Republican Party was not about to collapse. 20 Progressives switched to the Commonwealth Party for their reelection bid, and numerous Progressives and Conservatives were defeated across the South in a massive Commonwealth sweep. Meanwhile, while the Socialist Party lost a couple seats in the Northeast and Midwest to more moderate Progressives or to Republicans via vote-splitting, they gained 6 seats in California. While Olson knew that Hiram Johnson was unbeatable, he had made it his goal to break Johnson's machine's dominance over California politics, and with the successful election of Upton Sinclair as governor of California, he was successful.
Some things to note about the infobox/map:
- It may look like the Commonwealth Party really swept the Upper South in comparison to the Lower South, but that is because a lot more Lower South Progressives switched parties, while in the Upper South they stayed loyal and were defeated.
- There is one ex-Progressive independent in Missouri still, so that is why the numbers do not line up.
- The Socialists lost a single seat in Connecticut, Illinois, and New York
- When the at-large Progressive for Illinois decided to run for governor instead, Parley Christensen switched to his seat and allowed another Progressive to fill the 10th district
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Constantinople
Banned
Can't wait to see the Senate results... those are the really important ones...
Also, how close ideologically are the Commonwealth and Progressive parties? At the very least, they can work rather closely together right?
These are dark, dark days for American conservatives. 325 seats for the moderate left to very far left parties and only 109 for the more conservative parties... and that's assuming there aren't quite a large number of progressive Republicans.
Interesting to see that the Imperial Germans will win the war. I wonder if they'll keep their promises to the Bavarians...considering they're fascists and everything.
EDIT: Oh and a socialist California.... should be interesting. And an official end to the Democrats!
Also, how close ideologically are the Commonwealth and Progressive parties? At the very least, they can work rather closely together right?
These are dark, dark days for American conservatives. 325 seats for the moderate left to very far left parties and only 109 for the more conservative parties... and that's assuming there aren't quite a large number of progressive Republicans.
Interesting to see that the Imperial Germans will win the war. I wonder if they'll keep their promises to the Bavarians...considering they're fascists and everything.
EDIT: Oh and a socialist California.... should be interesting. And an official end to the Democrats!
Economically, pretty much exactly the same. On racial issues and other civil rights issues, the Commonwealth Party is significantly more conservative.
The American right suffered a net loss of 9 seats in this election. There are some semi-Progressive Republicans (who would generally identify as "Liberal" now), but most are all about as conservative as Hoover, with the far-right Mellonites driven from the Party.
Giving the Bavarians their own king (under Wilhelm III) and some mostly ceremonial autonomy won't cost the Empire anything.
Governor Sinclair?!? Uhh ohh. IOTL, there was someone who ran as a Progressive to the right of Sinclair and got 10-15%. I'm interested to see under what circumstances Sinclair won.
Upton Sinclair (Socialist): 40.8%
H. L. Carnahan (Progressive, Incumbent): 40.1%
James Rolph (Republican): 18.2%
Essentially, a massive revolt occurred in the Progressive ranks, with the support of the Olson Administration. Meanwhile, while a bunch of Republicans abandoned Rolph to back Carnahan to try to, stop Sinclair, the incumbent governor (since C.C. Young resigned to become Secretary of War) had already alienated too many conservatives with his progressive policies. Plus, conservative Republicans were under the delusion that with the moderate Rolph would be able to win with Sinclair and Carnahan splitting the left-wing vote, and voted for Rolph. They soon came to regret that mistake.
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