This is very unrealistic in my opinion and may even be impossible, but I just thought of it because why not? The Labour Party was a party of socialists that was center-left, not far-leftism like communism was. So in this alternate timeline, the Communist Party of Great Britain was formed way earlier than it was in our timeline, and it somehow gets enough popularity to win the 1910 election, what would happen next?
What if Britain became communist before WW1
- Thread starter JewishBolshevik
- Start date
It's ASB with a POD between 1900 and 1914.
With a nineteenth century POD, you could potentially pull it off via messing around with the Reform Act, and basically turning reformers into outright revolutionaries. But it would be an extremely odd flavour of revolution, quite different from twentieth-century Marxism-Leninism.
With a nineteenth century POD, you could potentially pull it off via messing around with the Reform Act, and basically turning reformers into outright revolutionaries. But it would be an extremely odd flavour of revolution, quite different from twentieth-century Marxism-Leninism.
ASB, Labour was a spin-off of the Liberal party pre-WW1 and there is no realistic way to make Britain go communist even with a 19th century POD.
Maybe later like in the 1920s-30s? Although that would be after WW1 so may as well change the title
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IMO the best option would be a big PoD which drastically changes how the people and the elites view the British system. An early 19th century PoD in which Napoleonic Europe doesn't collapse or a very different 1848 spring of nations which affects the UK in the long term for example. However, in those alternate TL communism doesn't mean the same thing as IOTL, but is still a far-left egalitarian ideology. IMO, a later PoD wouldn't allow a communist GB, exccept if you go ASB.
Depends on what the definition of Communism is that we're using. If any other country went so far as having a socialist revolution, then Communism would mean something very different from how it developed IOTL in the Russian Empire. From that angle, even an overwhelming victory in a general election could be seen as The Revolution (TM) or the beginning of an ongoing process (cf. Mexico). It all depends on the precise context we're using- and in a system as class-ridden and tense as Britain was pre-WW1 IOTL (on top of the colonial empire, to boot!) of course it would be conducive to *a* form of Communism. Not only that, it would get to define what Communism and what it entails before Russia gets the chance.
Tense it may well be, but I just don't see one of the foremost powers naturally going over without any stressor, just a regular election cycle, sorry.
That sounds like a cool scenario to be honest. Why didn't I think of that before? Yeah sure, anything to make communist Britain possible because I don't want to go insane and become ASB
*After* 1914 becomes more likely. It just wouldn't be via election.
Have Britain lose the First World War in ugly circumstances, and have that simmer over into something nasty. Throw in the Irish mess. Have the government try to send in the tanks, and matters escalate.
Yeah I agree, but that's quite a hard TL to make IMO because you have to rewrite the whole 19th century, but if you're motivated it should go fine. That's true it would be really interesting to follow a GP's, like the UK, path to Communism and revolution and original on top of that.