Reality Rosa: A world where Communism works

[Xenarthral]

Originally Posted by sn0wball

I don´t know how Centrum feels about Marxism

I imagine that they feel it is misguided and irrational like all other
non-Centrum ideologies. However, it is noted (Infinite Worlds, box p. 87) that they support transnationalism like the early Communist movement (but not Soviet Russian imperialism) and (Infinite Worlds, box p. 56) suggests that
Centrum Dark might be a Communist technocracy.

It seems as if Rosa would be a timeline where Infinity would assume that
Centrum is about to take control while Centrum would be severly hampered
by Rosa's irrational choice of language.

I don't think the timeline has reached its "now" yet and if it's peaceful (and
looks like it would be once all the revolutions are finished rather than dissolve
into factionalism) I could see Centrum seeing it as not being worth the effort,
what with the current conflict with Infinity and all, unless it has some rare
and useful resource (like on Orichalcum) or is very easy to access. Maybe
drop off an insufficiently connected Unattached Agent with orders to to make
Infinity think Centrum is actually up to something.

[JAW]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

I like the setting, though I can't see myself roleplaying in it though. mainly because the setting is too perfect, there is no conflict to resolve. Some scenarios for roleplaying would be nice.

Well - most obvious campaign type for the world would be of course defending it form outside threats -
Nazi zombies from other alternative worlds or bug-eyed monsters from space - or maybe the capitalist agents trying to ruin it.

Scientific exploration missions -
Maybe the Antarctis is unexplored - maybe "dark africa" too. And then there's always "space the final frontier". ewen if the action happens outside the communist society it still isn't irrelevant - the PCs status and goals in the society will affect roleplaying. And after they get back to civilization the competition and conflicts for who gets the credit and who's wiev about the findings can get fierce enough..

Criminal campaigns -
who said the society is perfect - crime rate might be lover than in our world - but there can be some around. And as I suppose the legistlation is done democratically and locally some "bad" laws that may be passed if they get popular support.. Suddenly vodka becomes illegal - lot of opportunities for smuglin it..

Vigilante campaing -
on the other hand the legistlation process might be slow and sometimes the laws might allow things that the PCs feel are just wrong. So they take the law in their own hands and fight for justice - they might gain even popular support doing it and the authorities that agree with them but cannot act might let them do what they're doing. And of course the soviet police force is too soft handed to deal with mad supervillains - plenty of those around when the society is "too perfect" - it's "too perfect" for the criminal types to bear.
War veterans and former revolutionaries might find it hard to adjust to now peaceful society - good material for villains and vigilantes.

[mjj1976]

Originally Posted by smurf

Note I don't see the point of the calender thing.

I think it's just a solidarity-propaganda tactic. If you can free the public consciousness from its past, it provides a false sense of newness and innocence by distancing itself from the evils of yesterday. That, when combined with compulsory education, results in a new generation of subservient fanatics with no experience by which to judge whether the new age is really better than what came before (usually because talk about the "good old days" has been declared seditious).

[Michael Cule]

It works because the meme 'Communism cannot work' has been deliberately propagated by the Insidious Conspiracy that has dominated politics on our world for so long is just subjective tosh...

Or how about:

The fact that all the communist dominated worlds accessed by Infinity so far have been disasters is just an observer effect caused by what they expected to find. Eventually, they are bound to run into a slew of worlds where 'it ain't necessarily so'. They will probably waste a lot of time trying to find subtle variations in the local reality that just aren't there...

Go with it! Here is a world where communism works and is getting better all the time. Imagine how the 'corporate partners' of Infinity are going to react: demanding either a total quarantine or an immediate effort to 'liberate' the poor oppressed peons... Which the professionals in the I-Cops are going to know will increase the chances of the Secret eventually falling into the hands of another player.

[smurf]

I think it's just a solidarity-propaganda tactic. If you can free the public consciousness from its past, it provides a false sense of newness and innocence by distancing itself from the evils of yesterday. That, when combined with compulsory education, results in a new generation of subservient fanatics with no experience by which to judge whether the new age is really better than what came before (usually because talk about the "good old days" has been declared seditious).

Er yes, but it won't work. This is the type of 'top down' rhetoric which means it has all gone crazy.

May Day is an important day too!

[Cowd]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

Imagine how the 'corporate partners' of Infinity are going to react: demanding either a total quarantine or an immediate effort to 'liberate' the poor oppressed peons... Which the professionals in the I-Cops are going to know will increase the chances of the Secret eventually falling into the hands of another player.

Exactly! I just did a write-up of this.

Outtime Penetration

Infinity is terrified out of its wits.

The discovery of Reality Rosa three months ago (at first designated Lenin-8, later changed because of its obvious difference from the previous, more or less dystopian Lenins) started off an historical crisis in the organization. Many researchers simply refuse to believe it. Even after having seen it with their own eyes, they continue to invoke sentient memes, elder gods or variant laws of physics. For some reason Aztec steamships, stable Nazi empires, shrunken people, wizards, vampires and civilized dinosaurs are all more plausible than a functioning Marxism. This discrepancy appears inexplicable unless one considers the substantial vested interests involved.

The enormous superiority of soviet democracy to liberal capitalism, let alone the many dictatorships of Homeline, is clear to anyone who so much as pokes their nose into Rosa. But Homeline's entire world order is founded on the idea that Marxist socialism is inherently unworkable, or at least vastly inferior to capitalism. The Red World, were it to become known, would immediately, even without its own participation, gain massive support with Homeline's poor, especially in the Third World. Eventually, some goody-two-shoes or other would hitch a conveyor and inform the good Communioners of their long-suffering neighbors. The worst scenario is an Interworld Revolutionary War supported by massive Fifth Columns of homeliners. In any case the implications would be earth-shaking, and a mortal threat to Homeline's capitalist world order. Most timelines that diverged with the non-invention of parachronics saw a popular reaction to market liberalism in the early 21st century. A few, such as Bolivar-4 (local year 2014) have seen a massive return to revolutionary socialism with a complete destabilization of international relations. Leading cliodynamicists theorize that the reason Homeline is still largely neoliberal is the influx of plundered outtime wealth, which had a similar function to Saudi Arabia's cushion of oil money in the late 20th century in easing social tensions. Nevertheless, there is more than enough combustible material piled up for the slightest spark to light a revolutionary conflagration.

For this reason Infinity, on the urging of its corporate and government backers, has classified Reality Rosa beyond top secret. The brass has already had to relocate some too-enthusiastic Patrolmen to Coventry, which is causing a deep crisis of confidence within Infinity itself. The so-called "whistleblowers" consider it criminal not to inform this benevolent higher civilization of Homeline and vice versa. Under the ideological impact of successful socialism, the whole organization is straining and threatening to burst at the seams. The Red Army may be disbanded on paper, and its military technique outdated, but Rosa's global GDP, by Infinity's most conservative estimates, is 9 times greater than that of Homeline. Add to that the fact that its world organization is incomparably more efficient, and it's clear that within months of the Secret's discovery, the Communion would produce a force that could beat Homeline's combined armies with one hand tied to its back. The Firefall option (see the Reich-5 section of IW) has been on the table, but was shelved for the same reason the original plan was discarded, with the added stipulation that while a revenant Reich-5 could pillage and enslave but hardly find a base of support, Rosa would have billions on their side from day one. Simply put, the Communion would squash capitalism like a bug, be hailed as liberators by most Homeliners, and go on to spread the message across the multiverse. And it's difficult to say that Homeline would be worse off.

This situation presents numerous campaign possibilities.

If PCs represent Infinity, they themselves have to make the choices outlined above. Do they help Infinity coverup and possibly attack this reality, compared to which Homeline's most advanced countries seem like banana republics? Do they 'blow the whistle'? Or do they just get on with their jobs regardless of office politics? On the practical side, infiltration is fairly easy - there's no such thing as a passport, surveillance is light, and Communion citizens are extremely helpful and trusting from a Homeliner point of view.

Adventure seeds

1. Rosa is a no-mana parallel, to the very uncharacteristic chagrin of Paralabs. However, much to Infinity's horror, psychotrons brought in from Homeline work perfectly - the Communists could conceivably develop psionic worldjumping. And on Rosa this isn't so much of a fringe science. The World Communion's foremost authority is Academician Sofía Bouba Diaw of the Institute of Parapsychology at the Buenos Aires Academy of Sciences. The operatives are to establish the nature and progress of her work, and take whatever measures necessary to divert the research onto harmless paths.

2. The agents discover revealing correspondence between a respected Infinity man, known for his right-wing opinions, and one 'Jack Gordo', who after some detective work turns out to be a CIA operative. Apparently the Agency plans to unleash the Gotha virus upon Rosa, in 24 hours no less. The agents have to think fast and make lots of tough and world-changing decisions. Should they warn Infinity, they might find the brass more or less unbelieving of, or even acquiescent to, 'Operation Homecoming', and themselves treated with suspicion. Homeline has a vaccine, but can the agents retrieve it from the labs in time, let alone deliver it to the Communion without revealing the Secret? And won't the CIA try to kill them as well?

Rosa (AKA Lenin-8), 2008
Current Affairs: As victorious Marxism delivers on most of its promises, New Socialist Humanity reaches for the stars.
Divergence Point: 1918; Rosa Luxemburg escapes her Freikorps pursuers and assumes leadership of the German Communist Party, steering it to power in 1923. She, Lenin and Trotsky oversee the beginning of the World Revolution that takes place over the next half-century.
Major Civilizations: All the old civilizations are fusing into a single world culture.
Great Powers: Socialist World Communion (Representative, with elements of Athenian, democracy, CR2)

Worldline Data
TL: 9 (Military, TL8)
Mana Level: No mana
Quantum: 6

Infinity Class: Z3
Centrum Zone: Red

[Cowd]

Reaction raises its head

As the world's stock markets plunged in history's deepest crash, no doubt intensified by the ripping of China from the fabric of world trade, the Soviet Federation's economic advance proceeded parallel with the political Great Relaxation. Radicalism and Communism grew irresistably among the workers of the world, in spite of the vitriol of the bourgeois press and politicians. So did the violent anticommunist reaction.

In America, Socialist Norman Thomas rocketed to the presidency in 1932 atop an elemental wave of strikes and factory occupations. The "sectarian mistakes" of the CPUSA (in Chairman Trotsky's words) in refusing to work with the Socialists and the AFL, despite their persistent hard work, limited their influence. Thomas' program was far from Bolshevik, limiting itself to partial nationalization, socialized insurance, increased income tax and Keynesianism. But even this limited program was extremely unpopular among the business community. The administration came under attack from the very first day. The corporate press printed spurious allegations of electoral fraud and irregularities, hinting of Bolshevik subjugation of the democratic process.

Most of the Establishment felt quite nervous, but still believed they could control the moderate Thomas. A vocal minority, however, was terrified of the movement he represented and furiously demanded decisive action against the 'Reds'. Foremost among this tendency were the army officers, headed by the always rambunctious General MacArthur. MacArthur was already infamous thanks to his bloody crushing of the Pennsylvania miners' strike of 1930. During that historic strike, the masses were radicalized to such an extent that the organizing committees approached the function of labor councils and, despite the wishes of the leaders, the movement took on the character of a mass uprising. In the end, 122 strikers were killed and thousands imprisoned by MacArthur's troops. This was already a portent of things to come. Claiming electoral fraud and Red insurrection, in late 1932 MacArthur attempted a nationwide coup d'etat. Not all the nation's millionaires were impressed. "Has he gone mad!?" they cried, white with fright. But the subsequent course of events was to make them march in lockstep behind the Great General.

Marx remarked that the revolution sometimes needs the whip of the counter-revolution. This was indeed the case in 1932. Although the coup failed to take the nation in one fell swoop, MacArthur's men seized control of key areas including much of the South, massacring and imprisoning labor organizers. This frontal assault on democracy radicalized broad working masses who had never had anything but contempt for the Red organizers. The US workers were radicalized more in a few days than in the preceding 20 years. All across the nation, bosses who supported the coup were literally sacked - put in a sack and thrown out on the street - with the workers taking over the factories. The proletarian masses did not demand Communism, only defence of the republic. But the very fact of such a working class rebellion would inevitably split the nation along class lines, pushing the upper and middle class into the camp of reaction. In the words of Henry Ford (one of the Commander's biggest sponsors): "Today, every American must choose: MacArthur... or Bolshevism". The workers had to be punished; the Communists, exterminated. As the workers' fight to defend democracy grew over into a genuine socialist revolution, MacArthur's gang snowballed into a fully-fledged fascist movement. Norman Thomas, the great moderate of yesterday, declared the necessity of using armed force to defeat the rebels. As MacArthur's army threatened Washington, the government had to relocate to Chicago. Overnight, the United States was plunged into civil war.

Civil War Two was to last for three years and claim more than a million lives. On one side stood the Republic headed by Norman Thomas, backed by Communists, Wobblies, anarchists and left Democrats. On the other stood Commander MacArthur's hastily-assembled Patriot Party with its paramilitary Minutemen, absorbing in itself every reactionary current in American politics. There was no middle ground: America was divided down the middle between revolutionary democracy and fascist dictatorship. The conflict was distinguished by extreme brutality on both sides. General Patton, later known as the Butcher of the Bronx, was asked by a New York Times reporter why he was in favor of suspending the fundamental rights granted by the Constitution. Patton's reply? "They didn't have Reds back then." Al Capone actually fought and died for the Republican side, having left the life of crime at a young age. "Bugs" Moran, on the other hand, ended his days as a low level fascist bureaucrat. (J. Edgar Hoover didn't have the right attitude to rise above a low rank Minuteman) In the end, despite Soviet support and heroic resistance, the Republic was crushed, with blacks, Jews and labor organizers cruelly persecuted. Some lucky left-wingers managed to flee to the SSF. Others, like John Reed and Big Bill Haywood, were to end their lives in hellholes like Oak Ridge Concentration Camp. The totalitarian Iron Heel of fascism was to reign for decades on the bones of American democracy, while millionaires like Henry Ford and Walt Disney profited handsomely from the subjugation of the workers.

With fascism victorious in the USA, most of Latin America followed suit. As Britain had gone Fascist in 1933, this was the death of the last liberal democracy. By the mid 1930s, the entire world was divided into two great camps: on the one hand, capitalist dictatorship; on the other, socialist democracy. The equilibrium couldn't last. War was inevitable. War... and permanent revolution.

(Next: The World Revolutionary War)

[vicky_molokh]

I just love it when someone/something trumps Infinity. I hate their 'we are the good guys period' attitude. I'm holding my fingers crossed for the Secret coming out on both sides.

[Xenarthral]

Originally Posted by Molokh

I just love it when someone/something trumps Infinity.

But it's getting as Anvilicious as Lenin-1 and -2.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Xenarthral

But it's getting as Anvilicious as Lenin-1 and -2.

So-so. Have you ever thought that in the infinity of worlds, some all-knowing power sees our world as anvilicious regarding some group of issues? To me, the Infinity's organization looks like an ugly example of OneTrueWayIsm.