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the obvious capital for a west ukrainian state would be lvov. BTW take a look at that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Ukrainian_People's_Republic

I'll try to reproduce something like that then. It makes more sense than giving it to Poland straight away, could be used as a means by which the Syndintern to rile up Ukrainian sentiments in Russia in the future.

Still don't know what to do about Belarus/ White Ruthenia, whether or not to transfer that to Poland or leave it to Russia, or maybe like you said to make it independent. At any rate once I Figure this out I might adjust the previous update to make it more clear.

and what are the plans for east prussia? coz if germany won't keep it, i would incorporate it into the baltic republic (with the exception of allenstein which would go to poland)

Germany keeps East Prussia.

Yes, they have cores on it anyways, and I think it would make more sense for the Syndintern to keep a Baltic port. Poland already has its corridor to the sea, but it effectively doesn't matter since borders don't play as significant a role among Syndintern states that they would elsewhere.
 
as for belarus what i would actually do (although i think it might be a little too late now) is to recreate the grand duchy of lithuania, which would be composed of lithuania and belarus.
look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litvins

offtopic: is there a way in the newer kaiserreich versions for poland to become syndycalist by events? of course other than conquest by foreign syndycalists?
 
as for belarus what i would actually do (although i think it might be a little too late now) is to recreate the grand duchy of lithuania, which would be composed of lithuania and belarus.
look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litvins

Hmm, think I might just leave it to Russia. Might be too messy to bother with at this point- Ukraine will come. I *might* substitute this with an independent Georgia which my forces occupied in the Caucus, but I wasn't sure if it would be plausible to have Russia recognize it. Might rethink that.

offtopic: is there a way in the newer kaiserreich versions for poland to become syndycalist by events? of course other than conquest by foreign syndycalists?

Yes, you can. Even in the present, older version I have it is possible for it to occur, though it's rare and more likely to occur by player events. Its similar to how Sweden would go syndicalists- elections have a choice of a socialist party which can transform the country into a syndicalist one. The AI chance is 5 though. You have to make sure that Poland decides to write a constitution as a republic- IIRC a constitutional monarchy won't allow for the choice of the radical party. Note though you'll probably get a big hit in dissent, and your agreements with Germany and other states are broken. I'm *not* sure how the AI reacts to this, never tried it.

I think the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth can, upon creation, become Syndicalist. You just have to unify the countries first and then select the syndies.

It could, but I think it would require a total rewrite of the last update. As things stand I want to make as little changes as possible. The Commonwealth government, at least for the Syndies, is mostly a copy of the Poland Syndicalist government. I guess though I could transfer parts of Lithuania to Poland and leave the rest of Baltic Confederation as it is, though it might be implausible as far as an agreement is concerned. But hell, it's my AAR I guess, though by this point it's more an alt-history than updating of things that happened as I played.
 
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It could, but I think it would require a total rewrite of the last update. As things stand I want to make as little changes as possible. The Commonwealth government, at least for the Syndies, is mostly a copy of the Poland Syndicalist government. I guess though I could transfer parts of Lithuania to Poland and leave the rest of Baltic Confederation as it is, though it might be implausible as far as an agreement is concerned. But hell, it's my AAR I guess, though by this point it's more an alt-history than updating of things that happened as I played.

I think that the Lithuanians would riot if you were to give, for example, Vilnius to Poland, after all it was a part of Lithuania in this timeline all along.
 
I think that the Lithuanians would riot if you were to give, for example, Vilnius to Poland, after all it was a part of Lithuania in this timeline all along.

No offense, but I really think people overestimate the influence of Lithuanians and other Eastern European peoples.

This is great power politics as dictated by Rome, London, Petrograd, Paris, and Chicago. What the Lithuanians want doesn't matter.
 
I would go with Cruzon Line B as a base since it fits with what you've already got in the north for the most part and is a fairly good border. Given the advance positions of Synditern, it seems unlikely that they would give up too much of the southern region. A small Ruthenian state carved out of part of Galicia-Lodomeria would make the most sense to me depending on how you've already assigned the Czechoslovak border. I'm working on setting up a minor alt history BoC game so I've gone over the borders a bit lately. To the degree the OTL info is helpful I could answer questions.
 
Curzon Line variant B sounds good indeed. It's pretty much the present day eastern border of Poland, except for Lwow, which would end up on the Polish side.

Since in this timeline Lwow remained Austro-Hungarian all the way through the 1920s and 1930s until the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy, the Russians don't have much of a claim on it anyways.

However if the screenies in post #231 are still an accurate depiction of the Russo-Syndicalist front in the south, then the Syndies could press claims to a lot of Ruthenian territory as well. Enough to form a state of its own?

They could also just dump it in Poland's lap, based on the same reasoning as in OTL Versailles: (1) It's good for France if Poland is strong enough to form a counterweight to Germany; and (2): The eastern border of Syndie Europe needs to have a credible defense. A Ruthenian state, fresh from the cradle, would be a weak spot since its institutions would remain very feeble for a long time. However Poland can be relied on to quickly establish strong national institutions, and they would be able to put up a credible defense against Russia, without the need for France or Britain to maintain heavy border garrisons.
 
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Sorry folks for the long absence, got swamped by finals more than I expected. Those are over now though, and all I got now is to graduate from university with my biology degree. At any rate, I've read your suggestions over time and have leaned towards the suggestions of forming two buffer states- a rump Ukraine and a Belarus. As Leviathan mentions in his previous post, my forces had already gone to about that distance anyways and sat on it for some months, which makes it plausible to release. This is how it would look:

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I'll work that into the previous update soon. The one I promised would come last time will be up by Friday or Saturday, and will cover the Congress of the Greater Syndicalist Union. That'll be the last part of this war chapter before moving on to the epilogue, and a close to this first AAR of mine. I must say I'm pleased I hit the 50k view marks, though it's hard to tell how much were unique or just readers checking to see if I updated anything. I apologize to those in the latter category expecting this post to be a big update :happy:, but you'll get it later this week.
 
Just to recap, as it stands:

Yugoslavia is split with the Balkans generally dominated by a Russia leaning Balkan Pact.

There are three buffer states of Ukraine, Belarus, and Baltic Union that are Finlandized in the RL sense.

The Middle East is ambivalent toward both sides.

So the areas I'm not sure of are Scandinavia and the Caucuses.
 
Hmm, three buffer states east and northeast of Poland? That could turn out to be a bit unstable. If I were French I'd "suggest" that White Russia and Ruthenia seek as close political ties as possible with Poland. Political federation, if possible.

White Russia and Ruthenia already have a bit of history as independent states in the Kaiserreich timeline, right? So they'd be capable of reestablishing their national institutions (laws, government, army, economy) much faster than if they were fresh creations (like the Baltic federation). Still, militarily they should team up with Poland.
 
@thekonkoe: You are right on the first two. The Middle-East has pro-Syndicalist nations in the forms of Turkey, Kurdistan, and the Arab Federation. Hashemite Arabia, Iran, and Egypt are neutral, but are on the whole anti-Syndicalist for obvious reasons. The Caucasus region is still under the control of the Russian Empire. In Scandinavia, Denmark is home to a British-leaning Syndicalist government that was created from the Syndicalist invasion of the kingdom. Sweden, Norway, and Finland all exist, but are not in the Syndintern or other political blocks.

@Leviathan: The Belarus and Ukrainian nations are pro-Syndicalist and tied to the military and economic bloc. They are more or less reliant on Poland for trade, and on the stronger nations of the Syndintern for development. Both existed in some form already. The Baltic Confederation essentially has taken the state apparatus of the old German duchy, but is supposed to be a "neutral" buffer between Syndintern and Entente, I guess in the sense Finland was in our post-war era.

Anyways, sorry for the delay yet again. Guess I shouldn't be setting deadlines I can't possibly meet. Anyways...

Chapter XV: The 25th Anniversary of the Republic

[Broadcast from Radio Italy October 10th, 1946]



The war in North Africa is proceeding in the favor of Syndicalist forces. The defenders at Algiers have been defeated and now Dakar is being besieged. The Entente have abandoned their French allies and withdrawn to recover from their losses in the recent wars, both in the Tsar’s court in the Russian Empire and the British monarchists now in Canberra.

The International has already agreed on a road map for free states in West and North Africa, consisting of large federations drawn from local revolutionary groups. The false French government has been scattered, with the Commune of France taking up responsibility for their remnants and beginning the process of forming the new independent federations with the Union of Britain. Ottoman Libya and German Morocco are more than likely to be liberated as its own nation, and then given a referendum later to decide on a union with Algeria to form a Maghreb Union that has already been formed from former French North Africa.

Further south in Africa the continent is ravaged by war as Egyptian imperialists attempt in vain to create their own colonies from the ruins of the German Mittelafrika. The International has refused to recognize such gains as legitimate and has called for an open uprising among the many peoples in Central Africa for their freedom. The Kingdom of Egypt has called on the International to tone down their rhetoric, but there is little that they can do to force that on the Syndicalist revolution. The Syndicalist forces attempted to form a defensive line along the Congo River, but found that the Egyptians had managed to slightly advance beyond the river before meeting the Syndicalist forces. Egyptian forces began to establish their borders there and moved their forces southward where they were making a troublesome advance into the Angolan interior. Germany only held on to Madagascar, though the seeds of rebellion were already growing from the Malagasy natives who saw that their opportunity for independence was near.

President Togliatti has indicated that the International is pressuring the socialist government in South Africa to join in the war to grab parts of German Southwest Africa before the Egyptians do. In an interview with Radio Italy, Togliatti felt that such an arrangement was nearing a breakthrough and that South Africa would soon join the International against Germany on the continent.

The feasibility of Egypt in holding on to its vastly expanded holdings in Africa has been called into the question by observers not just within the International, but the bourgeois news sources in Russia, Japan, and Australasia. There is widespread doubt on how Egypt, a country who was only just relatively recently able to break from a long period of dominance from the British at the beginning of the century, can administer a colonial empire that has nearly tripled the size of its original national boundaries. Add to that the real issues in trying to deal with the multitude of ethnic divisions it has come into possession of along with its desire to exploit those regions. Such is the folly of Imperialism.[/quote]

The scaling down of hostilities in Europe turned the attention of the world to a less covered theater in the war- the African front. The Union of Britain had already made significant inroads in Southwest Africa while a combined International force did landings across the Mediterranean coast which rocked the National French government. By October of 1946, the National French government collapsed and few of them managed to escape the advancing International forces. Those that did enter into Egyptian controlled territories then took transport to the Australasian Confederation, or attempted to offer their services to the Egyptian sultan.

For the most part though, it just took the shape of a very, very ugly reunion that neither side really was prepared for. Needless to say it was a major, crushing defeat in morale for the National French government and their followers who expected themselves to have marched into Paris triumphantly once the radical government was crushed by the war with Germany. Precisely the opposite happened, and quite suddenly the balance of power was rapidly changed in the world, and that had no place for the remnants of the French Third Republic.

Charles de Gaulle, the Generalissimo of the National French war government, was present at the treaty signing in Algiers formalizing the end of the long state of hostilities between National France and the Commune of France. As records can attest to, de Gaulle was evidently uncomfortable with the circumstances he had landed in. Privately he told his advisors that the “struggle would go on for freedom”, but as we know such thinking betrayed the mentality of the Ancien Régime that made up the National France government. The workers had finally overcome the remnants of the Monarchists, and the revolution that began in France back in 1789 had finally reached its logical conclusion.

German Morocco was put under direct control of France before it could be liberated in order to wipe the remnants of German colonialism from those lands. France signaled it would be given a referendum on whether to be its own state or join with Algeria in the Maghreb Union. The rest of free Africa under joint occupation by the Syndintern created four large federations in the former colonial holdings of French Africa and Mittelafrika- the Union of Mali, an enlarged Sierra Leone, the West African Federation (Benin-Sahel), and Equatorial Africa. These large federations had to overcome significant ethnic and religious divisions, but the Syndicalists were sure that the benefit of pooling resources would be seen by the anti-colonialists in Africa as they begin emerging as independent states in Africa.

The Commune of France also entered into discrete negotiations with the socialist government of South Africa to get them to join the war in order to secure parts of German Southwest Africa from Egyptian forces. South Africa demanded recognition of the Mozambique annexation as well as those in German South Africa as part of a large union. The Commune of France found no issue with the demands and soon South Africa joined the war in Africa, swiftly taking control of German Southwest Africa in the coming months and halting the Egyptian advance any further beyond Central Africa.

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The Italians had to set their own sphere into order as well. Within Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, Italy set up arrangements for reconstruction and technical aid as the new governments began to assume their new duties. Italy now took a dominant role in the continent’s affairs, a position that had eluded previous Italian governments. Italian forces were also assigned supporting roles for Libyan revolutionaries, helping them set up councils and forming up coordination between the economic sectors of the country. Italy emphasized it would leave behind the legacy of the Italian kingdom’s colony in Libya, stressing it would stand by whatever decision Libya makes in its own affairs and whether or not it joins the Maghreb Union like France was planning with German Morocco.

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Africa’s new nations. In the north, there is the Algerian Republic (light brown), bounded by Moroccan and Libyan occupation zones to the west and east. Going southward, the Union of Mali (Yellow) and then Sierra Leone. Eastward is the West African Union (light blue) and Equatorial Africa (Dark Blue)
In the Mediterranean, Italy began ambitious plans to expand its navy within the next 20 years to become a genuine power, as well as expanding naval establishments in Taranto and Venice. The former German possession of Malta was also scheduled to be incorporated into Italy itself, which was incorporated into its naval ambitions for the future. Italy asserted the Cypriot decision to disassociate with Turkey, and proclaimed that it would also open the borders of both Italy and Cyprus to Greek revolutionaries who were chafing under the Greek monarchy. The Kingdom of Greece reciprocated the offer with a similar one capitalizing on nationalist demands to join Cyprus into a Greater Greece and blasting syndicalist “conspiracies” to subjugate Europe under a new French empire.

Within the Middle-East itself, Italy promised aid for the revolutionary governments in Turkey, Kurdistan, and the Arab Federation in fending off reactionaries who would resist land reform that was being drawn up by all three nations. There were also border disputes between all three nations, with some of their population existing in each of the states, and Italy now faced the task of resolving those before the Russians could attempt to divide the alliance between the peoples of the Middle-East. This was compounded with the task in laying the groundwork for a common economy between the three nations and integrating them with the existing Syndicalist economic block between France, Italy, and Britain.

In South America, the war was moving in the syndicalist governments in Brazil and Bolivia. In the past year, the favor suddenly turned to Brazil as the last of aid and support to La Plata from both Mitteleuropa and the Entente collapsed. This moved the momentum to Brazil which was still getting aid from the Syndintern, and finally the long stalemate in South America was broken. The capture of Buenos Aires earlier in the year was achieved with the breaching of defensive lines which had been set up along the Uruguay River. The Syndintern showed displeasure at the Brazilian decision to not push for a peace settlement with the destruction of the La Plata military and their Chilean allies. The total war that emerged saw Brazil successfully defend Buenos Aires on three occasions and slowly push into the surrounding country side, further demoralizing the remnants of the La Plata military as they see that Brazil may very well get revenge for their defeat over 10 years ago.

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South America at the end of 1946

In the Far East, Japan’s rise to power in the region was finally absolute with the collapse of the German Empire in the world. With its hegemony over the former realms of the Qing Empire and South East Asia assured, Japan would now look to the future. The Syndintern was concerned with the developments, but even the analysts in Europe could not predict how Japan would fit into the new Russian-dominated Entente, and whether it would come into a rivalry with the Australasian Confederation over Oceania.

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The Syndintern influence in the East was limited; in the Middle-East there was Kurdistan, Turkey, and the Arab Federation, though they were still in the process of formation. In South Asia, there was the Bhartiya Commune which was engaged in a conflict with the Princely Federation, and its attempts to cause a revolution in Burma failed. Revolutionary Vietnam saw its ultimate victory stolen from the Japanese as they landed in force in the south, destroying the German administrative center at Saigon and limiting the legitimate government to the north. Taiwan, having broken free from Japanese yoke, was isolationist and its contacts with the Syndintern were limited. Simply put, all the socialist groups in Asia were dependent on some extent to foreign support and could not exert their influence independently in their immediate region.

Hashemite Arabia’s invaded German Yemen and Oman before the Syndintern could launch attacks on the territories. Italy was only able to prevent the Hashemites from moving in on the Musandam peninsula to keep a strategic position on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran for its part was already making overtures to the Russians and Australasians in the Entente to secure itself against the growing Syndicalist influence in the north of the Middle-East.

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For Italy though, the end of the war brought back concerns more locally. The long delayed 25th anniversary of the Republic was scheduled to be held in early November, followed by a meeting of the delayed Congress of the Greater Syndicalist Union in mid-November. It was the latter that occupied the minds of the longest running government in the Syndicalist block, and it was not looking good for the Anarcho-Syndicalist faction going into the Congress.

The beginning of the 25th anniversary was formally started on November 7th, to coincide with the Russian Revolution of 1917 (the 10th anniversary of the Chicago Uprising was also marked in the Combined Syndicates of America). In a way, it was both a formal commemoration of the failed Bolshevik Revolution that started nearly 30 years ago, the event that excited the spirits of the broken workers in France and Italy, and despite its failure and the virtual demise of Marxism, socialist revolution continued in a different form.

“We must not forget the revolution in Russia as we commemorate our own”, Chairman Bordiga told a crowd of people in front of the Council of Republic building in Rome, “The spark that started in Petrograd showed the workers of Europe another way was possible, even as the reactionaries solidified their grip on the continent. Even as the German capitalists massacred the workers in Russia, those in Italy and France rallied and joined the revolution that would later liberate Europe. We cannot understate the importance of Lenin in the revolution that created the Commune of France, and later the Socialist Republic of Italy”.

The anniversary was marked with recreations of important events, legend and historical. Mussolini took the opportunity to recreate his March of the Ten Thousand as they moved from Turin to Naples on foot. The legendary story of the distraught farmer and his exploitation by his landowner as returned from the front lines was recreated with the Pirandello play outside of Bari. This was followed by the lighting of fires on top of hills and mountaintops all over Italy [1]. Remembrances for the dead soldiers of the revolution and subsequent combat, the deaths caused by the Mafia, as well as dead leaders such as Gramsci and Turati [2].

The center of celebrations focused on the recreation of the Battle of Naples, where fierce street battles saw the overthrow of the newly restored Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Spectators and actors converged in Naples from across the country as they saw the main events of the uprising- the fighting in the outskirts of the city as revolutionaries converged on it from the south and east and the raising of the revolutionary tricolor over the old Royal Palace and the Church of San Francesco di Paola [3]. The day’s events were finished with a reenactment of the assault on what was once the royal palace at Caserta [4]. The next day, the events of April 25th, 1921 were recreated with Bordiga reading the Proclamation of the Republic from the Congress to a throng of people [5]. A parade took place in Naples for the rest of the day, with a large airshow showing new ships added to Italy’s civil and military fleets. In all cities, fireworks took place illuminating the night skies across Italy. Foreign delegates from all the nations of the Syndintern, even as far as Vietnam, were present in the celebrations

Festivities in the north were notably more muted than those in the south. While larger cities like Turin and Venice [6] saw large celebrations, many villages were quiet and reserved. To any observer, this was a clear indication that even with several years of unification achieved between the two regions, there was still a ways to go before a concrete national identity could be formed. Reasons for this varied and still are debated to this day, but it has been acknowledged that at the very least a combination of loyalty to the Papacy and the dominance of the southern experience in Italy’s new identity played a role.

The events were also notable for being one of the first in Italy’s history to be completely recorded on video, with hours long footage being archived rather than selections of certain speeches and events. A formal television network in Italy was still some years away, but already such “newscasts” were common place in movie theaters throughout the country.

Despite the nearing Congress, there was relatively little activity by any of the platforms within the Greater Syndicalist Union in advocating for local councils to send their delegates to the meeting. Only the main newspapers had some opinion pieces by activists calling for their localities to send their delegate to the Congress. Even the Anarcho-Syndicalists, despite being in government, did not attempt to use the 25th anniversary celebrations to benefit their own chances in the Congress. Maybe they had thought their rivals were too disorganized to pose a threat and that the war itself would have brought more favor to the Anarcho-Syndicalist platform, despite the exhaustion from years at conflict.

The Anarcho-Syndicalists for their part would take advantage of their continued success in industrializing Italy and nearing completion of land reform in the country, while integrating the north without many issues. The platform also made a point that Italy was able to come out of the war with benefits- new partners where former enemies once more and Italy’s greater importance in world affairs. To counter accusations of an impersonal policy that was focused more on industrialization than benefits to the populace, L’Unità proudly announced in August that for the first time in the republic’s history, there would be no rationing of food supplies [7]. The Anarcho-Syndicalists, simply put, pointed out that Italy had been doing fine under their watch, and would continue to do so. It was not known who would form the new Council of the Republic after the Congress and if the Anarcho-Syndicalists would decide to use a new set of figures all together. The dispute with Anarchist members in the group also took its toll, and with the end of the war the rationale for the “tactical” alliance was rapidly falling apart.

The Social-Reformists decided to stick with their approach of using more new faces and reaching out to northern councils to secure their delegates from those regions. At the front of this new face were Alessandro Pertini and Giorgio Amendola [8], two figures with roots in the old Italian Federation and relative newcomers to the political scene. Economically, the Social-Reformists advocated for a greater shift to consumer goods in the economy and a settlement with the remnants of the Catholic Church which had been left stranded with the disbandment of the Vatican and the government’s own ambivalent position to the clergy. The Social-Reformists made a strong case out of the Anarcho-Syndicalist long dominance over the state apparatus, having been in power for as long as the Republic has existence.

The National-Syndicalists were in a very precarious situation, as was the case with many of Totalism’s adherents across the Syndicalist world. With the German Empire defeated and the Syndintern in a much more secure position than it was before the war, the Totalist demands for a strong state to safeguard the gains of the revolution became less appealing. The calls for even more heavy industrialization were even more unappealing in an already war weary populace. To that end the National-Syndicalists in Italy shifted focus, noting the failure of Mosley and his Maximists in the Union of Britain in the extraordinary Congress of the Trade Unions a few years earlier, and shifted to a more “patriotic” role that emphasized a single Italy, with no reference to the north or the south.

The Congress opened on November 20th, 1946 in Rome. Speeches were given with arguments between the heads of the different factions- Bordiga, Togliatti, Amendola, and Mussolini took up most of these debates trying to emphasize that their line was the correct one to pursue for Italy’s continued existence and the progression of the revolution. Notably the Anarchist element of the Anarcho-Syndicalist bloc broke with their Marxist and syndicalist counterparts in the Congress and attempted to win over the delegates friendly to the Anarcho-Syndicalists to their position.

More than anything else, it was this split that severely hampered Anarcho-Syndicalist efforts to win over the Congress to continue the direction of the Greater Syndicalist Union. This weakness proved to make a Congress even more of a challenge than the 1936 Congress when the emergence of the National-Syndicalists proved to have sapped much of the Anarcho-Syndicalist support.

As platforms and decisions were voted on, the Social-Reformists found one victory after another. Economically, plans to create more factories were passed over in favor of increasing efforts on the infrastructure projects in progress as well as greater support to education and research firms. Militarily demobilization was favored over the Anarcho-Syndicalist calls to maintain them, and the National-Syndicalist calls to further expand them. The most pitched conflict was that over the long-term fate of the clergy in Italy. Should they be integrated? Expropriated? The Anarcho-Syndicalists took the position that an aggressive secular position should be taken, with the clergy’s influence limited by 20 years. The Social-Reformists argued the clergy should be utilized as they were in the early years of the Republic and used as a counter to the remnants of the Vatican. The National-Syndicalists did not argue a position, though their aggressive position on totally destroying the churches and removing them from social life. As one platform after another was voted on, the Social-Reformists showed a strong showing for the first time in their history, and the Anarcho-Syndicalists nervously looked on as the delegates showed they were tired of the 25 year-long direction of the party.

The final tally showed not only a plurality, but a majority of delegates favoring the Social-Reformist direction. Such a feat had not been accomplished since the Anarcho-Syndicalist victory in 1926, and thus it was unlikely that the Social-Reformists would feel the need to incorporate other platforms into their new government. Once the new makeup of the House of Commons was determined, the Anarcho-Syndicalists were only left with significant representation from Naples, Rome, Venice, Sicily, and Sardinia [9].

Togliatti stood down in light of the defeat and Bordiga did not request re-election from the newly formed House of Commons. The Social-Reformists went to work forming the first new government in Italy since the 1926 Congress, and it resulted with Pertini as President and Amendola as Chairman. And so it was on the 25 years of commemoration of Italy’s success and bright future that the Anarcho-Syndicalists, the revolutionaries who guided the country to its present state, found themselves out of government and reduced to opposition in the House of Commons with the National-Syndicalists.

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The new government of the Italian People’s Republic

1946 drew to a close with Europe at peace and a growing Syndicalist presence in Africa, Middle-East, and the Americas. In the Far East much was left to be desired, but the Syndintern was assured that Russia would not see rest for some time, at least not for another year. In January of 1947, a border conflict between the vast Turkestan state and the Russian Empire turned into a full-blown war after Cossack divisions from Russia spilled over into the northern parts of Turkestan to “liberate” their kin. The incident provoked Turkestan to respond in kind, and Russia was brought into the chaotic Central Asian war which had been raging with Iran. Its entrance also meant the Delhi Sultanate would also join the war, and the Entente could find a war that they could save face with after the disastrous defeats it faced in Canada and Africa.

For the Syndintern though, it was a more calm time; a Time to rebuild, reorient, and reevaluate its goals. For the first time in the Syndintern’s history, it was no longer in a position of danger from the world, but in a position of power. The socialist revolution had certainly benefitted from its destruction of traditional enemies and humbling those that doubted the Syndintern’s power. It certainly was not over, for tensions would remain in the new world order.

But as far as the citizens of Italy was concerned, as with their fellow Syndicalist nations, it was time to finally return to normalcy and peace. For the first time, Italians could return to more pressing concerns like the football matches in the country.

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Italy and the rest of Europe at the beginning of 1947
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[1] See prologue for more on the history of mountain top fires and the popular legend behind the beginning of the revolution. According to popular legend, once the oppressive landowner was killed, the fires of his manor on the top of the hill motivated surrounding latifundum workers to rise up and spread the word of the insurrection. Mussolini’s March of the Ten Thousand took its inspiration and name from Garibaldi’s brigade of volunteers, and gathered fellow Republicans, trade unionists, and militants from the north of Italy as they left the doomed uprisings in the northern industrial cities to the fertile grounds of the south.
[2] Filippio Turati was among the founders of the Socialist Party of Italy (PSI) in 1892. Turati often took reformist positions against the more radical demands of the Maximists. Unlike Mussolini and even fellow reformists, he did not support Italy’s involvement in the First World War Turati led the Social-Reformist platform for much of its early existence along with his protégé Giacomo Matteotti. Turati died in late October of 1945 at the age of 88, and was accorded a state funeral despite his differences with the figureheads of the Anarcho-Syndicalists like Togliatti and Bordiga. After his death, Giacomo Matteotti took control of the platform and began recruiting from Italians in the north of the country.

[3] The Church of San Francesco di Paola is now the Museum of the Risorgimento, with much of its religious iconoclasts missing. The Royal Palace became the Congress of the Republic until the unification of Italy in the Second Risorgimento, after which it was converted into a museum commemorating the early years of the Republic.

[4] See prologue. The assault on the Caserta Palace took place in the last days of the revolution where the royal family of the Two Sicilies and their government fled to after Naples fell to revolutionaries. Caserta was about 25 km north of Naples in the hills, and was one of the many residences of the royal family in both the old and resurrected Kingdom of Two Sicilies. After the revolution, it briefly served as the site of the Constituent Assembly and was then turned into a museum marking the triumph of the revolutionaries, and the surrounding grounds into a public park.

[5] Video of this event, as mentioned later on, was preserved by the government and is easy able to be seen on the internet now. It is also worth noting that many of the attendants were fairly young, having been born after or too young to remember the events of 1920-1921. This was largely in line with Italy’s own demographics at the time which saw a predominately young population.

[6] Venice was probably the most pro-Republic city in all of Italy. Along with Trieste and other cities which were under Austrian control for the interwar period, they viewed the Italian People’s Republic as liberators, rather than conquerors, which was a sentiment expressed by some in rural villages in the north.

[7] For much of the Socialist Republic of Italy’s history, food rationing was an unpleasant reality that was brought upon by Italy’s economic isolation with the rest of Europe, with significant trade only occurring with France, Britain, and Georgia. It was only until the mid-1940s that the Italian People’s Republic saw that its growing access to American and European resources as well as improvements to agriculture in Italy with successful land reform allowed for a surplus of food for the first time in its history.

[8] Both Alessandro Pertini and Giorgio Amendola were from the north. Pertini was born to a well-to-do landowner in 1896 and became an eager member of the PSI due to his radicalization brought upon by the experiences of the First World War. For various reasons Pertini was not able to go southward and remained in the north, acting in underground union activity and creating a partisan brigade during the war between North and South Italy. Amendola was born into a fairly well-to-do and cosmopolitan family, his father Giovanni, was a liberal politician who participated in early governments of the Italian Federation. Amendola’s own political trajectory has been a matter of controversy, but it is acknowledged that the growing influence of the Catholic Church may have pushed him into the orbit of the underground socialist movement in the Italian Federation.

The “privileged” backgrounds of both men were a point of contention among Anarcho-Syndicalists, but they were able to overcome initial resistance to their appointment, even from within Social-Reformists who disagreed with Matteotti’s choice in candidates.

[9] Naples had always been a strong source of support for the Anarcho-Syndicalists. Rome was closer, but due to being the capital of the Republic had close ties to functionaries with the Anarcho-Syndicalists. Venice, for reasons mentioned before, favored the Anarcho-Syndicalists. Sicily’s loyalty to the Anarcho-Syndicalists was a combination of its efforts in the fight against the Mafia and implementation of land reform. Sardinia also appreciated the aggressive land reform from the Anarcho-Syndicalists, but the legacy of Antonio Gramsci had essentially secured the loyalty of the island to them. Trieste, despite being in a similar situation as Venice, saw a strong National-Syndicalist delegation.​
 
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Nice update! I think I need to go back and read previous posts; I honestly don't remember the fall of Canada or the Middle East.
 
Nice update! I think I need to go back and read previous posts; I honestly don't remember the fall of Canada or the Middle East.

For the fall of Canada,
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...rreich-AAR&p=13028702&viewfull=1#post13028702

For the Middle-East,

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...rreich-AAR&p=13283897&viewfull=1#post13283897

Honestly this is more my fault because of irregular pacing. Had I kept to the original 1 update 1 week deal it wouldnt've happened, but real life and such comes up with my university and work. Maybe I can do a retrospective on the war, summarizing important events, before moving on to the last part of this AAR.

Looking back at those I also see that some images fell victim to image hosting problems. Guess I'll get around to replacing those when I can.
 
A summary would be nice.:)

And finally peace is in the horizon!
 
If you like, I could go back, refine all the spelling and grammar, and compile it into a single work.
 
nice update :) is this going to be continued until all of entente is finally crushed, or is it more or less the end of the storyline in this AAR?
btw it seems that the synditern has conquered a lot, but i think if the entente is left alone, then after a couple of decades of free market capitalism they will outproduce the synditern.
what the entente should do is to start an arms race and wait until the 1980s-90s and watch syndicalism collapse :p