WI: Republican Spain in the Comintern.

So let's imagine the Republican side wins the Spanish Civil War. They join the Comintern in 1938. WW2 starts in schedule, with Molotov-Ribbentrop, so the Allies are at war with the Axis but not with the Comintern. Does Barbarossa proceed as usual, just with an invasion of Spain too? Does this mean Vichy France formally joins the Axis as Barbarossa begins? How would this alt-WW2 go? Do the Spaniards hold, or are they easily overrun? Is there an Anglo-American landing in Spain? If so, what is the fate of Spain after WW2?
 
So let's imagine the Republican side wins the Spanish Civil War. They join the Comintern in 1938.
What do you mean "join the Comintern"? Countries couldn't "join" the Comintern, it wasn't an alliance or a national organization, it was more of a union of communist parties controlled by the Soviet Union. The PCE was already a member of the Comintern if that's who you are talking about.

And which Republicans are we talking about, too? They ranged from liberal democrats to revolutionary anarchists, they were far from a unified force.
 
What do you mean "join the Comintern"? Countries couldn't "join" the Comintern, it wasn't an alliance or a national organization, it was more of a union of communist parties controlled by the Soviet Union. The PCE was already a member of the Comintern if that's who you are talking about.

And which Republicans are we talking about, too? They ranged from liberal democrats to revolutionary anarchists, they were far from a unified force.

The Republican side wins the Spanish Civil War under the guiding hand of the PCE, who by the end, have supressed the liberals and the anarchists.
 
The Republican side wins the Spanish Civil War under the guiding hand of the PCE, who by the end, have supressed the liberals and the anarchists.
I doubt that's going to work unless you really ramp up Soviet aid by orders of magnitude, which I don't see as even infrastructurally feasible. I don't think the Republicans couldn't have won, but the PCE alone couldn't have pulled it off - look at how Republican infights weakened the left IOTL already. Escalating that is only going to make matters worse.

I can see, at some point, a sort of coup/general strike/revolution in which the PCE marginalises its former allies after the Spanish Civil War we know (only with a Republican victory), but that would cause a second civil war, and that one won't have ended in 1941.

Now if your question is, what if a Frente Popular Spain beats back Franco et al., and the Communists emerge as the most powerful political force among others from all of this, how would they interact with WW2, then I suppose the way they view their situation isn't likely to change all of a sudden on June 22nd, 1941. Republican Spain would have clearly leaned anti-Axis, and what would have held them back from directly joining the Allies is probably that the country had just gone through a horrible bloodbath already and that Britain and France had stabbed them in the back, and that their military potential to withstand an Axis attack is not ideal, either. None of that changes when Hitler invades the Soviet Union. There are many ways in which this can go: Spain can join the Allies as early as 1939, which could mean Axis invasions not only of France but also of Spain in 1940. Or Spain can join the Allies in 1941, as you suggested, although I wouldn't think orders from Moscow would be decisive here, rather that Hitler is now quite distracted and has clearly bitten off more than he can chew, so joining now looks both less dangerous and more profitable. Or Spain can join late, as late as 1943, opening up a new front against the Germans in the West, which would mean the invasion of the Normandy is not necessarily the only landing option.
 
If the Republicans win and if they join Comintern, then Germany may invade after the invasion of France, or possibly not at all. If the Germans do invade then the Germans will not have enough time for Yugoslavia or Greece and maybe both.

If the Germans do not invade then Spain:

May be like Sweden or Switzerland which can sell things to the Geramans and make money thereby decreasing local unemployment, if Spain still has a market economy of sorts

Will receive a number of French refugees who will work and increase the Spanish economy.

Will increase the size of its military and military industrial complex making both bigger and better.

May send volunteers to help the fighting in Africa.


When 1944 arrives then there may be an invasion from Spain itself into France in addition to the Normandy landings.

If Spain plays its cards right it might emerge much richer especially if it demands significant war reparations from the Axis powers and does not agree to any type of debt forgiveness.
 
Republican Spain joining the Comintern before WW2 would also freak out Stalin. While a victorious Republic would be an ally to the USSR, it'd be an independent base of power within the communist movement, outside of Stalin's control. NKVD domination would eliminate the threat, but be, at least, a PR problem.
 
Republican Spain joining the Comintern before WW2 would also freak out Stalin. While a victorious Republic would be an ally to the USSR, it'd be an independent base of power within the communist movement, outside of Stalin's control. NKVD domination would eliminate the threat, but be, at least, a PR problem.
What do you mean by "NKVD domination"? Establishing dominion over Spain is a tall order.
 
So let's imagine the Republican side wins the Spanish Civil War. They join the Comintern in 1938. WW2 starts in schedule, with Molotov-Ribbentrop, so the Allies are at war with the Axis but not with the Comintern. Does Barbarossa proceed as usual, just with an invasion of Spain too? Does this mean Vichy France formally joins the Axis as Barbarossa begins? How would this alt-WW2 go? Do the Spaniards hold, or are they easily overrun? Is there an Anglo-American landing in Spain? If so, what is the fate of Spain after WW2?

(1) The Comintern was for parties, not for nations.

(2) The Spanish Communist party was already a member of the Comintern.

(3) The Soviets wouldn't want the PSOE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Socialist_Workers'_Party to join the Comintern even if it were completely dominated by people like Negrin. Much better to use it to support pro-Soviet elements within the Labour and Socialist International. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_and_Socialist_International Indeed, calls for cooperation between the Comintern and the LSI were a staple of Comintern propaganda during the Popular Front era.
 
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