What other countries could have become part of the Eastern Bloc?

Well, Communist puppet states in Finnmark and Bornholm could make good bargaining chips ("We will stop propping up Red Bornholm/Finnmark if you stop propping up "Free Greece"" or something along those lines)

They could also well achieve the opposite: the West refusing to bargain elsewhere as the USSR isn't apparently even going to respect its wartime allies' borders. Like I said, I don't believe Stalin was that ready to antagonize the US and Britain especially virtually the minute hostilities against Germany ended in Europe.
 

nbcman

Donor
Unlikely Communist countries in Western Hemisphere
Grenada (assuming the US doesn't invade in 1983).
Peru (Shining Path more successful).
Columbia (FARC more successful).
El Salvador (FMLN more successful).
 
Actually, I think that France is a fairly likely place to go communist. Their communist party was immensely popular after WWII and they were also very pro-soviet at that time.

As for Italy, I think it's important to keep in mind that Eurocommunism only showed up in the 70s. If the PCI manages to take power before that, than I think Italy will likely join the Eastern Bloc. They could certainly also go down the Yoguslavia path, but for that they need a Tito-like figure.

What about a united Communist Korea or a North Japan?

I could the southern communists taking power if the early RoK is even worse than it was IOTL. Provided they can sort all of their issues with Kim, which can likely happen with Soviet and Chinese mediation, we coul certainly see a pensilula-wide DPRK.

Now regarding Japan, I think that even if the Japanese continue the war the most that the soviets are likely to get is Hokkaido. Given that, any eventual "North Japan" is probably going to be very small and likely also very poor, so I don't know if the Soviets would be that interested in keeping it as satelite. It certainly still happen though, and maybe, who knows, there's a scenario in which the soviets can grab most of the tohoku region. In that case you could get a larger North Japan

However, when it comes to getting a communist Japan, I think there's another possibility that is fairly doable but I never really saw explored. If the post-war American occupation of the country goes bad enough, I could see a home-grown communist revolution happening there. We could have a unified communist Japan.

Now, of course this requires the Americans to screw up really, really badly, which they're not really likely to do since they knew what was in stake...
 
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Actually, I think that France is a fairly likely place to go communist. Their communist party was immensely popular after WWII and they were also very pro-soviet at that time.

As for Italy, I think it's important to keep in mind that Eurocommunism only showed up in the 70s. If the PCI manages to take power before that, than I think Italy will likely join the Eastern Bloc. They could certainly also go down the Yoguslavia path, but for that they need a Tito-like figure.



I could the southern communists taking power if the early RoK is even worse than it was IOTL. Provided they can sort all of their issues with Kim, which can likely happen with Soviet and Chinese mediation, we coul certainly see a pensilula-wide DPRK.

Now regarding Japan, I think that even if the Japanese continue the war the most that the soviets are likely to get is Hokkaido. Given that, any eventual "North Japan" is probably going to be very small and likely also very poor, so I don't know if the Soviets would be that interested in keeping it as satelite. It certainly still happen though, and maybe, who knows, there's a scenario in which the soviets can grab most of the tohoku region. In that case you could get a larger North Japan

However, when it comes to getting a communist Japan, I think there's another possibility that is fairly doable but I never really saw explored. If the post-war American occupation of the country goes bad enough, I could see a home-grown communist revolution happening there. We could have a unified communist Japan.

Now, of course this requires the Americans to screw up really, really badly, which they're not really likely to do since they knew what was in stake...

Big difference between being communist and being part of the Eastern Bloc. I cant see France or Italy being subservient to the USSR, regardless of the success of the local communist parties.

India has interesting potential, particularly after the Sino-Soviet split.
 
Why Israel?

Israel was energetically supported by the Soviet Union and their satellite states until the Israeli left started to weaken and the West just flat-out outspent the Soviets. (A likely PoD would be if the Soviet Union had allowed more democracy in occupied Eastern Europe meaning the Israeli left and center left don't lose respect for the Soviets as OTL and the Israeli voters aren't spooked by the association of their left with the oppressive actions of the Soviets in Eastern Europe.)

Big difference between being communist and being part of the Eastern Bloc. I cant see France or Italy being subservient to the USSR, regardless of the success of the local communist parties.

Heck, the French and Italian Communists being successful in elections would make them less subservient in and of itself - they've just shown that they can win power in elections in a way that hadn't happened in the SU or Eastern Europe. They'll be floating high on their own moral authority.

India has interesting potential, particularly after the Sino-Soviet split.

It would make for an interesting TL too!

fasquardon
 
In a TL where the Nationalists win the Chinese Civil War you probably would see a PRC that is just Manchuria, and the Second East Turkestan Republic might still exist.
Well, we could have Molotov win out over Khrushchev ITTL, ensuring that the Communist bloc would be more of a unified entity.
The Sino-Soviet Split wasn't just about ideology, it was also about power. China didn't like having to play second fiddle to the Soviets, and the Soviets didn't like the idea of having to share their spot as leader of the Communist world with another country. Even during the Stalin era a rift was starting to grow between the two sides, and it just got worse as time went on. Having Molotov as leader would delay the Sino-Soviet Split, but not prevent it.
 
What about some sort of "Iranian People's Republic"/North Iran established in the areas of Iran the Russians occupied in 1941?
 
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