The Fire Never Dies, Part II: The Red Colossus

[Blair]

I have an oddball question. Is there a housing rental market in the ASU? I imagine many apartments and tenements were turned into collectively owned housing during the revolution. However, post-revolution, is it possible for a worker to earn enough money to buy two homes and then choose to rent one of them out? If so, what percentage of ASU citizens rent vs. own their primary home? Ignore me if this is inconsequential minutia.

One more. What is William Howard Taft doing these days? Besides getting stuck in tubs that is.

 

[Meshakhad]

I have an oddball question. Is there a housing rental market in the ASU? I imagine many apartments and tenements were turned into collectively owned housing during the revolution. However, post-revolution, is it possible for a worker to earn enough money to buy two homes and then choose to rent one of them out? If so, what percentage of ASU citizens rent vs. own their primary home? Ignore me if this is inconsequential minutia.

Simply put, no. A significant part of the Commissariat for Housing's budget is spent on the construction of new apartment buildings to replace prewar tenements. While it is not explicitly stated in the Constitution, the belief that housing is a human right is widespread. Both the SLP and RSP have publicly stated their intent to add it to the Constitution in the 1929 Constitutional Convention. There is still a real estate market, but collecting rents for residential properties was banned by the GDC.

One more. What is William Howard Taft doing these days? Besides getting stuck in tubs that is.

Taft, who had volunteered for the Connecticut National Guard was captured in May 1917 during the Red advance into Connecticut. After the war, he emigrated to the Philippines, where he had served as Governor-General. He is now a professor at the College of Law at the University of the Philippines in Manila. With both Roosevelt and Wilson dead, Taft holds the dubious distinction of being the last surviving former US President. He is working on a book detailing his experiences in the White House, intended not only as a personal memoir, but to provide a glimpse into the workings of the US government in what are now seen as some of its final years.

 

[Mayukh]

GDC

Speaking of that,how's the Sucession if Debs dies in Mid Term?

 

[htgriffin]

Simply put, no. A significant part of the Commissariat for Housing's budget is spent on the construction of new apartment buildings to replace prewar tenements. While it is not explicitly stated in the Constitution, the belief that housing is a human right is widespread. Both the SLP and RSP have publicly stated their intent to add it to the Constitution in the 1929 Constitutional Convention. There is still a real estate market, but collecting rents for residential properties was banned by the GDC.

I imagine keeping people from collecting under-the-table payments for crashing in rooms in their own home is quite difficult, but unless there is an embarrassing shortage of housing that would be quite rare.

 

[Meshakhad]

Speaking of that,how's the Sucession if Debs dies in Mid Term?

Deputy Premier Mary Harris "Mother" Jones would assume the Premiership. After that, it goes to General Secretary of the Chamber Benjamin Schlesinger, Speaker of the House Victor Berger, and then the Commissariats in order of their creation.

I imagine keeping people from collecting under-the-table payments for crashing in rooms in their own home is quite difficult, but unless there is an embarrassing shortage of housing that would be quite rare.

Temporary stays are one thing. If it becomes a permanent arrangement, then that's different. But there is no real shortage of housing outside of the worst-hit cities. When I get back to working on this story, one of my updates will discuss the new housing construction and the birth of the Organic school of architecture. All hail Comrade Wright!

By the way, don't expect much in the way of updates for a while. My priority is finding a job, followed by completing a draft of Labor's Star Ascendant for submission to Sea Lion Press.

 

[Whiteshore]

Aside from Omar Bradley and Smedley Butler, what OTL US Generals would be part of the military of Red America in the future? Maybe generals who were officer cadets (or had just graduated) when the Revolution struck like Mark Clark or Matthew Ridgway could join the Red military here out of careerist reasons? It could be a good equivalent to how the likes of Zhukov, Rokossovsky, and Vasilevsky were NCOs or junior officers in the Tsarist Army prior to the Revolution, on that note

 

[Meshakhad]

Aside from Omar Bradley and Smedley Butler, what OTL US Generals would be part of the military of Red America in the future? Maybe generals who were officer cadets when the Revolution struck like Mark Clark or Matthew Ridgway could join the Red military here out of careerist reasons?

Clark and Ridgway graduated from West Point only a few days before the Revolution broke out. Both were captured when the Red Army took West Point. Clark went through something of a crisis of faith after reading reports of KKK atrocities. In November 1917, he volunteered for the Army of Manhattan, reaching the rank of captain by the end of the war. Somewhere along the way, he reverted to his mother's Jewish faith, possibly due to the Army of Manhattan having more Jewish chaplains than Episcopalian ones.

Ridgway did not participate in the Revolution. He considered joining the Red Army after the war, but found the notion hard to stomach. He moved to South Carolina to be with his father and ultimately joined the South Carolina Red Guard.

My knowledge of US WW2 generals is pretty limited - I only know Clark because he's got good stats in HOI4. But a lot of people who had military ambitions at this time would ultimately join the Red Army, or in some cases the Red Guard (particularly in states which had not had a Red Guard during the war). Only those who were strongly anti-socialist would emigrate.

 

[Mayukh]

I only know Clark because he's got good stats in HOI4

He was the US General who took Rome and was the main US Army Commander in Italy after others left for France.

 

[HonestAbe1809]

I just figured a way to have a heroic Bruce Wayne in future superhero comics. And that’s by emphasizing that Thomas Wayne was a successful doctor as well as a businessman. And that he was different from others in his class by joining the revolution as a medic. And that he was perfectly okay with his company becoming a collective. Which would mean that Bruce would be raised a Socialist. And that his supervillain nemesis would be a shameless robber baron rather than a chaos-loving clown. So more like Owlman than the Joker.

 

[SouthernWind]

I just figured a way to have a heroic Bruce Wayne in future superhero comics. And that’s by emphasizing that Thomas Wayne was a successful doctor as well as a businessman. And that he was different from others in his class by joining the revolution as a medic. And that he was perfectly okay with his company becoming a collective. Which would mean that Bruce would be raised a Socialist. And that his supervillain nemesis would be a shameless robber baron rather than a chaos-loving clown. So more like Owlman than the Joker.

Maybe someone like Thomas Elliot, or the Penguin?

 

[HonestAbe1809]

Maybe someone like Thomas Elliot, or the Penguin?

Or go for actual Owlman and have his nemesis be his evil older brother. Who didn’t like the idea of his corporate inheritance being “stolen” by the dirty Reds.

 

[SouthernWind]

Or go for actual Owlman and have his nemesis be his evil older brother. Who didn’t like the idea of his corporate inheritance being “stolen” by the dirty Reds.

In this concept, some characters like Pamela Isley or Jervis Tetch would be seen in a positive light, either to be one-time people in need or allies.

Also, maybe some more characters with racism views? I remember one story when Batman fought the KKK, and Superman did it too.

 

[MadhatterZack]

In this concept, some characters like Pamela Isley or Jervis Tetch would be seen in a positive light, either to be one-time people in need or allies.

Also, maybe some more characters with racism views? I remember one story when Batman fought the KKK, and Superman did it too.

I really like the idea of The Mad Hatter being an ally of the Big Bat or in this case Big Owl, can we use the Batman animated series design.

Maybe make his backstory, that he had a daughter named Alice who was murdered and he keeps trying to get revenge on the murderer who escaped justice, using his mind control devices and other machines to get him and just as he was about to kill him/her Owlman/Batman intervenes and convinces him to not kill the murderer.

 

[SouthernWind]

I really like the idea of The Mad Hatter being an ally of the Big Bat or in this case Big Owl, can we use the Batman animated series design.

Also, the Court of Owls concept (a cabal of rich socialites who take pleasure into making poor people suffer and who have an army of assassins at their service) would fit in quite nicely.

 

[volantredx]

Also, the Court of Owls concept (a cabal of rich socialites who take pleasure into making poor people suffer and who have an army of assassins at their service) would fit in quite nicely.

What could work is to have the Court of Owls be the villains but also have "Batman" be a major collective effort rather than just Bruce Wayne. Instead of Bruce being born rich he could have been a son of a maid who worked for the Waynes and was close to them before they were killed by a hitman hired by the uber-rich for their support of labor rights, he could then be a former soldier of the revolution who learned how to fight and always wanted to be a detective, has Alfred be the former butler for a wealthy Wayne family who has access to their estate and was an actor before becoming a butler and has Lucius Fox be a brilliant inventor who builds all of Bruce's gear. Instead of a one-man show they exist as a big team effort, with new characters being added in all the time.

The big issue with Superheroes in general is that a big concept of socialism is that crime is a result of inequality in class. A post-revolutionary America it would be expected to not have issues like gangs and corrupt cops, though obviously it still would. Yes, you could have the Silver Age idea of just fighting random mad scientists or counter-revolutionaries, but for the most part stories about regular criminal activity due to poverty being widespread would be seen as counter-revolutionary.

 

[piratedude]

What could work is to have the Court of Owls be the villains but also have "Batman" be a major collective effort rather than just Bruce Wayne. Instead of Bruce being born rich he could have been a son of a maid who worked for the Waynes and was close to them before they were killed by a hitman hired by the uber-rich for their support of labor rights, he could then be a former soldier of the revolution who learned how to fight and always wanted to be a detective, has Alfred be the former butler for a wealthy Wayne family who has access to their estate and was an actor before becoming a butler and has Lucius Fox be a brilliant inventor who builds all of Bruce's gear. Instead of a one-man show they exist as a big team effort, with new characters being added in all the time.

The big issue with Superheroes in general is that a big concept of socialism is that crime is a result of inequality in class. A post-revolutionary America it would be expected to not have issues like gangs and corrupt cops, though obviously it still would. Yes, you could have the Silver Age idea of just fighting random mad scientists or counter-revolutionaries, but for the most part stories about regular criminal activity due to poverty being widespread would be seen as counter-revolutionary.

There's still extraterrestrial/extradimensionsal/ supernatural threats you can have heroes deal with. Its more science fiction/fantasy than the typical crime stories of the likes of batman, but was and are still common adversaries of superheroes

 

[Meshakhad]

This discussion should go to the pop culture thread.

 

[Derekc2]

You know something I'm curious about...Since Britain ends up as the main bad of ITTL WWII and has the (quarter-assed in England) 'De-Falagalization' I wonder if ITTL Britain also has a bit of a 'Sonderweg' equivalent that postulates that they had been inherently corrupted by their unique cultural circumstances which resulted in them going full blown horrific Fascist Imperialist during ITTL WWII.

If so I could see it being based upon William the Conqueror and the Normans thinking on it since it seems that Germany encourages a renaissance of Anglo-Saxon cultural connections from what I can tell. As well as how it was the Anglo-Normans which began Britain's history of expansion and empire building, as the Anglo-Saxons were pretty chill during their time in charge of England.

 

[Whiteshore]

You know something I'm curious about...Since Britain ends up as the main bad of ITTL WWII and has the (quarter-assed in England) 'De-Falagalization' I wonder if ITTL Britain also has a bit of a 'Sonderweg' equivalent that postulates that they had been inherently corrupted by their unique cultural circumstances which resulted in them going full blown horrific Fascist Imperialist during ITTL WWII.

If so I could see it being based upon William the Conqueror and the Normans thinking on it since it seems that Germany encourages a renaissance of Anglo-Saxon cultural connections from what I can tell. As well as how it was the Anglo-Normans which began Britain's history of expansion and empire building, as the Anglo-Saxons were pretty chill during their time in charge of England.

On that note, Falangist France would very much be another possible reason why the British Sonderweg would very much be based on the Norman Yoke idea as well.

 

[piratedude]

I wonder if ITTL Britain also has a bit of a 'Sonderweg' equivalent that postulates that they had been inherently corrupted by their unique cultural circumstances which resulted in them going full blown horrific Fascist Imperialist during ITTL WWII.

I mean, not for the reasons they probably would propose, but there is a saying that "fascism is just colonialism brought home", and Britain is the one of the largest and most successful colonial empires in the world