Albion and Empire - A (very) British Victoria II (NWO) Interactive AAR

[DensleyBlair]

THE TIMES



REGISTER​

MARR On Saturday 15th April to Rt Hon Major Parris and Mrs Cordelia Marr, a daughter Ellen Rosa; brother of David Bonner and Evelyn William; grandson of Mr Robert and Mrs Rosa Marr and
Sir Ralph and Lady Agatha Bonner.​

 

[99KingHigh]

Prime Minister's Questions

Mr. Speaker: ORDER! Questions to the Prime Minister, Sylvia Leighton!

​

Honourable Member For Sutton and Cheam: Number One, Mr. Speaker!

Mr. Speaker: The Prime Minister.​

The Prime Minister: Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today.

Mr. Speaker: Sylvia Leighton!​

Matthew Rees: Mr. Speaker,

The Government has made much of the Soviet menace. Yet their solutions are not only injurious to our national liberty, but grossly insufficient. The conscription bill will do nothing to improve the security of the realm against the Soviet Union and its satellites, just as a ditch shall not obstruct a flood. There is only one measure that can guarantee this country against foreign invasion: the nuclear defence. The Prime Minister should know this; it is the opinion of the General Staff, the national intelligence services and the entire defence establishment. And so I ask the Prime Minister, does the Government intend to make any progress on parity of nuclear status with the United States and the Soviet Union? Or shall the nuclear programme succumb to the same Damoclean sword that befell the Royal Navy?

The Prime Minister:

The Honourable Lady has made some bold claims, Mr. Speaker. As much as we respect the Honourable Lady's intelligence, the Government is not in the position of allowing a Labour Party Member to occupy the voice of our National Forces!

Members Interject

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Honourable Lady that protecting our colonies from Soviet infiltration will not be satisfied by means of a nuclear deterrence, and neither will it protect against the Russian behemoth outside Berlin. But as to the development of a nuclear capability, I can make no comment.

Mr. Speaker: ORDER! ORDER! Dr. Arthur Bennett!

​

Leader of the Opposition: Mr. Speaker,

In light of the recent censure bills proposed by right wing elements of the Conservative Party, does the Prime Minister agree that these bills are worrying for the liberties of the British People as the State's responsibilities are expanded to arrest and prosecute on the basis of convictions rather than crimes?

The Prime Minister:

Let me prelude my response to the Honourable Gentlemen by congratulating the Gentlemen Opposite for his victory in the Labour Party. I am sure he shall do a fine job in representing the party opposite and holding this government to account.

In this particular circumstance, Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Gentlemen has not done such a fine job. Strictly speaking, Mr. Speaker, a conviction is ex post facto to crime and case. It seems, Mr. Speaker, that the honourable gentlemen has gotten the law capsized!

Tory hollering

Mr. Speaker: Dr. Bennett!​

Leader of the Opposition: Mr. Speaker,

As our troops in Burma are increasingly unable to provide the law and order which were vital for the last Government's policy of Progressive Decolonization, which was based on the United Liberals' Five Point Plan, and with calls from Force Britannia and Right Wing elements in his party against even the consideration of self-determination of the many Burmese People at any time, can the Prime Minister announce what the Government will do? Will it be the continuation of the present policy of perpetual and too costly, in both funds and lives, military occupation to exploit the natural gas present without true cooperation with the locals as wished for by your right wing allies or will it be the adaptation of Labour's successful plan for India?

The Prime Minister: Mr. Speaker,

If the Honourable Gentlemen had forbearance, and not rash sentimentality, than the party opposite would understand that the provision of autonomy to the Burmese colony, preceding the completion of the present developmental plan, would be a recipe to repeat the former failures of the released Burmese Dominion. It is a failure that Labour caused before -- and evidently, it is a failure that they shall try again. Mr. Speaker, this Government will defend the timeline for departure, and we will not shirk our obligations or flee from hardship whilst developing the Burmese country into one best for the Burmese people.

Mr. Speaker: Dr. Bennett!
​

Leader of the Opposition: Mr. Speaker,

Labour has not and will not run away from responsibilities and challanges, it will face them head on as it has done in the past.

Labour jeering

The Prime Minister says he seeks to develop Burma, but due to the lack of support of our troops present, British control is practically nonexistant outside Rangoon. While I understand many of his colleagues see no problem in this situation as our companies can still exploit the natural gas present, it makes development and eventual decolonisation practically impossible. I ask again, in the hope that the Prime Minister will do away with the insults and answer the question, how will the Prime Minister, if he does not wish to flee from those obligations, develop Burma without either a bloody and costly military campaign to regain control outside Rangoon or by peaceful talks with the moderate natives, as Labour did in India?

The Prime Minister:

Mr. Speaker, if the Gentlemen Opposite wishes to make comparisons to the sub-continent, so be it! Shall we review the Labour record in India?

Tory MPs; Aye!

Mr. Speaker, did the Labour Party strike a deal for departure with moderate Indians? No, it did not!

Tory MPs: Hear, Hear!

Mr. Speaker, did the Labour Party make a conciliatory agreement between the Muslim League and the Congress? Certainly not, Mr. Speaker!

Tory MPs: Hear, Hear!

Mr. Speaker, did the Labour Party's failed management of their much-desired departure yield anything but religious bloodshed? Not at all, Mr. Speaker!

Mr. Speaker, this Government will not compromise with Soviet insurgents, and I can assure this house that all efforts will be made to secure the developmental completion of the infrastructure plan as a mandatory tenant for departure.

Mr. Speaker: Order! Dr. Bennett!
​

Leader of the Opposition: Mr. Speaker,

It is quite evident that the Prime Minister has no plan in India and Burma...

Members Interject

He insists on boring us with hysterical platitudes and half-truths. Instead of focussing on the past, he would be well advised to keep his head in the present. As the British troops present are figthing a war of atrittion, we need to act in Burma to prevent another Khartoum. Can this Government inform this house of any planned action regarding Burma or a coherent policy to India?

The Prime Minister: Mr. Speaker,

The Government has already made public its plans for the Burmese colony. Direct control will be maintained until the Burmese countryside has been sufficiently developed for local administrative rule, and we take no shame in our devotion to that cause. As to India, Mr. Speaker, it is the current preference of this party to see a United Dominion in the sub-continent, but we shall not proceed until the consent of the local parties are provided to the Lord Mountbatten.

Mr. Speaker: Jimmy Owen!​

Jimmy Owen: Mr. Speaker,

Nationalist and regionalist sentiments are running high in Wales right now; case in point, I was elected to parliament as a regionalist. While some in the extremist fringes of my party would settle for nothing less than complete and total separation of Wales from the United Kingdom, other members have suggested more of a middle road, one of increased Welsh autonomy stopping short of outright independence. Thus, my question for the Prime Minister is as follows: does the government have any plans to address a possible devolution for Wales and/or the establishment of a separate Welsh legislature?

The Prime Minister: Mr. Speaker,

I take no shame in unequivocally refusing the petitions of the Honourable Gentlemen. This Government is proud of the uncompromised unitary nature of our Parliament -- and we will fight with all our energy to ensure that Westminster is never undermined by regionalist sympathies which seek to disturb our proud British history. Devolution is a concession to internal nationalism; a dangerous stream which can do no good to our collective identity.

Mr. Speaker: Lachlan Barclay!
​

Lachlan Barclay: Mr. Speaker,

As the Conservative Party takes pride in stating, their mission is to "preserve and tender" Britain's established institutions. Unfortunately, over the past year their government has failed miserably in preserving and tendering the nation, having taken but a brief pause from bickering with their Liberal "allies" to determine the Empire's overseas and military policy. The Tory members' disdain towards the NHS in particular is well-publicized - however, their complete negligence in the field of social affairs has caused a terrifying surge in disillusioned, radical Communist voters. Neither did the government file a single bill related to domestic policy, nor were domestic matters discussed at any length.

Thus, my question to Prime Minister Eden is as follows. Establishing the fact that domestic policy has been severely neglected during the last government's tenure; regarding that in particular the National Health Service, like any newly established government or business project, requires guidance and sufficient funding; considering that the majority of Britain's working and middle classes rely on the NHS for the good healthcare befitting our British Empire; does the Prime Minister intend to take steps to ensure that the NHS is once again governed and funded to meet its capacity?

The Prime Minister:

Mr. Speaker, the Government has simply (stutters)

Labour jeers

Mr. Speaker: Order! The Prime Minister will be heard! The Prime Minister!
​

The Prime Minister:

...this Government has softened the sumptuous expenditures of the Labour Party's devolopment of the National Health Service. The Government could not fulfill debt obligations with such an inflated start-up cost; the NHS will operate just as efficiently, considering the NHS' implementation required a greater initial investment.

Labour jeers​

​

Mr. Speaker: The Rt. Honourable Parris Marr!
​

Parris Marr: Mr. Speaker,

‘This House is fully aware of the troubles we face in Burma, on the Subcontinent, in Libya and now in Cyprus. The members opposite are always very keen, I know, to portray themselves as the party of Empire and competent diplomacy, therefore I wish to give them an opportunity to demonstrate as much:

Mr Speaker, would the Prime Minister inform the House what he intends to do to deal with these problems?

Members interject.

The Prime Minister: Mr. Speaker,

The Rt. Honourable Gentlemen will not be surprised to hear that this Government cannot oblige the results of the recent referendum, given the present status of the Turks on the island. We will not allow reunification or independence without an expansive settlement for both ethnic parties. I can assure the Rt. Honourable Gentlemen that a parliamentary inquiry and further investigations by the Foreign Office will be held before any further action is undertaken.

​

 

[Syriana]

Upon entering the House the next day, Sylvia Leighton was ambushed by reporters looking for a comment on Question Time...

"You heard it from the Prime Minister, gentlemen: no comment. In other words, no progress. Instead, we hear this baseless assertion that the nuclear deterrent would do nothing to stop the Soviets. I suggest that someone should inform the Americans right away."

Polite laughter.

"But seriously, gentlemen. The nuclear capacity is an essential pillar for our national defence. The Prime Minister has made much of his conscription plan, but against the Soviet hordes, what deterrence is that? A strong army alone did not save Poland. The United States has fully invested in a nuclear programme. Does the Government believe British lives to be of less value than their American ally? A nuclear arsenal may not suppress the colonies - although the Lord knows, Mr. Gibbon may surely be temped - but it shall provide a final ultimatum against Soviet aggression in Europe. It is hardly a victory if we manage to retain our overseas possessions only to lose the fatherland to Mr. Stalin. I thought that the colonies were supposed to provide for the security of Great Britain, and not vice-versa?"

 

[Dadarian]

Upon entering the House the next day, Sylvia Leighton was ambushed by reporters looking for a comment on Question Time...

"You heard it from the Prime Minister, gentlemen: no comment. In other words, no progress. Instead, we hear this baseless assertion that the nuclear deterrent would do nothing to stop the Soviets. I suggest that someone should inform the Americans right away."

Polite laughter.

"But seriously, gentlemen. The nuclear capacity is an essential pillar for our national defence. The Prime Minister has made much of his conscription plan, but against the Soviet hordes, what deterrence is that? A strong army alone did not save Poland. The United States has fully invested in a nuclear programme. Does the Government believe British lives to be of less value than their American ally? A nuclear arsenal may not suppress the colonies - although the Lord knows, Mr. Gibbon may surely be temped - but it shall provide a final ultimatum against Soviet aggression in Europe. It is hardly a victory if we manage to retain our overseas possessions only to lose the fatherland to Mr. Stalin. I thought that the colonies were supposed to provide for the security of Great Britain, and not vice-versa?"

((SECRET))​

A letter from Gibbons arrives.

"Dear Mrs. Leighton,

I have a gap in my schedule between 8:30 and 8:50 AM on the 25th. I expect to meet you at Baronger's Coffeehouse at that time. Questions will be answered and you will be made aware of certain advancements in British engineering. In return you need to drop the issue personally and publicly.

Sir R.J. Gibbons"

 

[Syriana]

"Message from a Mr. Gibbons for you, Miss."

Sylvia Leighton glanced up from her desk. Usually, she hated being interrupted when she was polemicising; but irritation was swiftly replaced by interest. Gibbons. What on earth could he want?

"It's not a letter of resignation, is it?" she ventured, hand already reaching for the drinks cabinet.

"I would not know, Miss. It was marked private and confidential."

Most interesting.

"Oh, very well. Give it here."

Sylvia sliced open the letter and perused its contents.

Oh, my. Very cloak and dagger. She wondered if she would have to come dressed as a femme fatale, but then she remembered that all spies were homosexuals these days.

"Veronica, clear my schedule for tomorrow morning."

"But Miss, you are due to visit the Children's Hosp-"

"They're not going anywhere," she declared, rising from her chair. She could have been due on death's row and she would still have deferred it. Politics was always more interesting to her than people.

"Oh, and be a dear and see if you can fetch me a trench-coat and a pair of large, dark sunglasses...."

 

[99KingHigh]

((Update hopefully tonight.))

 

[Ticket Cookie]

National Service Act, 1950: No
Visiting Forces Act, 1950: Yes
Prohibition of Totalitarian Symbols Act: No
Amendment to The Prohibition of Totalitarian Symbols Act 1950 (Lib): No
Amendment to The Prohibition of Totalitarian Symbols act 1950 (CPGB): Yes
The Proportional Representation of the People Act 1951: No
The Representation of the People Act 1951: No
Anti-Pornography Bill of 1951: No
Amendment to the Anti-Pornography Bill of 1951: No
Amendment to the Anti-Pornography Bill of 1951: Abstain
Common Informers Act of 1951: Abstain

[Politician]
[No Bonus]
- Willie Jennings, Communist MP for Rhondda West


William Jennings on the Questions for the Daily Worker:

On the Nuclear Weapons and Soviet Union:​

Peace!
The British and Soviet peoples are united in their commitment to an everlasting peace and brotherhood.
But the wicked Tories and their Labour Lapdogs want war!
The arms manufacturers and traders fear the global peace instituted in Europe by the Soviet army, and are as always eager for more money, even at the price of British blood.

A drastic change of foreign policy to end dependence on American imperialism and bring Britain alongside the Socialist Soviet Union and the progressive peoples of the world, to ensure peace and national independence, is needed.

In the meantime, we must support disarmament program in the hope that, together, we will be able to build a world with durable and lasting peace and security, free from imperialism.

Nuclear weapons in Tories hand will only lead to more deaths, and bring us closer to war.
And one can only fear what "Sir" Gibbons could do to the freedom fighters in the colonies with nuclear weapons.

On the NHS:​

Once again, the Tory Government threatens what little the Proletariat could achieve through the Labour mandate.
On the contrary, we need more money for the social services, housing, health, and education, and effective measures to tackle the crisis at the expense of the big monopoly interests by cutting profits and prices, raising wages and standards of living, extending nationalisation, and reorganising foreign trade.

On the devolution:​

It is essential that the Scots and Welsh be given self-government in their domestic affairs at the earliest possible moment.
The truth is that Eden considers Wales and Scotland as no more than colonies, just as Ireland was.

On the colonies:
​

The Conservative party is blinded by imperialism and ideology, and cannot see that the peoples of the colonies are already preparing their future, free from colonial oppression.

In place of colonial wars and suppression, the Communist Party stands for the independence of all colonial peoples.

 

[99KingHigh]

((Sorry for the delay everyone, I'm writing the update, but it's an especially long one. I'll hopefully finish it tomorrow night.))

 

[Terraferma]

((Sorry for the delay everyone, I'm writing the update, but it's an especially long one. I'll hopefully finish it tomorrow night.))

(So long as its good take your time and all that jazz)

 

[99KingHigh]

Chapter 10: The Red Tide (December 1949-March 1952)​

In the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War, the Secretariat and the Politburo of the Communist Party in Moscow were charged with sweeping away the residue of diplomatic failure. The American intervention had spoiled Stalin’s plan for a puissant ally in Asia, and crippled the triumphant image of Russian ebullience on the international stage. When the clock ticked to 1950, the last corpses of that Chinese failure were finally brushed back to the dirt. Although the participants in the Asian catastrophe were now scrubbed clean from Soviet memory, their legacy was all too potent in Stalin’s conscience. The torpidity of Russia’s foreign affairs had been sustained for far too long -- Stalin knew it was the time arouse the Motherland into action. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrey Vyshinsky, charged the NKVD with a brazen plan to stir disturbances abroad. Vyshinsky, backed by Stalin, devised a brilliant strategy to crack open the strategies prescribed in George Kennan’s X Article and President Truman’s Doctrine of Containment. In order to disturb the Western bloc, Soviet intelligence officers dispersed across Western Europe and accumulated intelligence on the fragility of each state. The motion was mostly a formality; Vyshinsky and the powerful Internal Minister, Sergei Kruglov, both knew that Franco’s Spain was the most sensible target. According to recently released records, Kruglov and Vyshinsky had secretly been shuffling agents to Catalonia since the end of the Chinese Civil War. The Soviet objective, unsurprisingly, was to buoy the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), and allow it to access the vast Russian smuggling networks for armaments and supplies. Communist deployments were contrived to complement a series of illegal demonstrations against Franco’s FET y de las JONS and the abuses of the Spanish Trade Union Organization (or the ‘Vertical Syndicate’) -- the only-legal state-sponsored trade union. The PCE, for pragmatic reasons, had conveniently infiltrated the VS to score labor victories from within the organization. With approval from Moscow, the PCE began to leak fabricated internal memorandums reportedly suggesting wage reductions for industrial workers. The leaks fueled outrage from a population already suffering from the economic insecurities of autarky -- and instigated riots in Madrid and Barcelona.

Josef Stalin (left) and Andrey Vyshinsky (right).
​

Back in London, the Conservative Party was fresh off its January victory and eager to begin the legislative session. The Government’s most prominent proposals were a series of justice reforms and defense alterations. The Defense Minister’s National Service Act,, a motion to create a peacetime conscription, was patently at the forefront of Eden’s parliamentary agenda. Sir Reginald Gibbons took great pains to defend and promote the bill in the House of Commons, but it was never the NSA or the accompanying Visiting Forces Act that grasped the national interest. From the very beginning, two acts -- the Prohibition of Totalitarian Symbols Act and the Anti-Pornogrophy Act -- stole nationwide attention. Both were acts proposed by members of the hard-right Force Britannia Club, with the former a private member’s bill, and the latter, a government proposal. The Honourable George Dunlap, the author of the POTS Act, faced considerable criticism from both sides of the House, warding off charges of authoritarianism. The Labour Party, under the new leadership of Dr. Bennett, successfully depicted POTSA as a Government proposal, and forced Eden to publicly clarify that Mr. Dunlap’s legislation was not representative of the Government view. Eden’s statement intrigued the press as it aroused questions as to the true extent of the FBC’s government power. Some politicans, such as Mr. Marr, were convinced that Eden was the hostage of reactionary forces, while others viewed the FBC as little more than a semi-influential backbencher group. The truth is perhaps somewhere in between; Eden withdrew support for POTSA and refused to propose any legislation of a similar variety, but elevated the Honourable Maxwell Macpherson, a backbencher, as the first FBC Commons member of Cabinet. The Prime Minister also sponsored the Anti-Pornogrophy Act (which was simularly derided in the Commons) as a conciliatory move to rightist elements in the Conservative Party. Divisions, however, were becoming more pronounced in the Tory ranks, especially after the moderate President of the Board of Trade, Johnny “Dungarees” Chipps, refused to support the Pornogrophy Bill. Nonetheless, POTSA’s parliamentary failure was quickly camouflaged by the successful passage of the Anti-Pornogrophy Act, The National Service Act, and The Visiting Forces Act -- and furthermore, all the Government’s judicial reforms. With the economy growing comfortably at six-percent per annum, and social spending on the NHS and Whitehall gradually recovering, Eden departed from the world of domestic action and turned the Empire’s eye abroad.

The Force Britannia Club -- the Tories best kept secret.
​

On February 27th, Dolores Ibaurruri, the heroine of the Madrid Siege and the exiled General Secretary of the PSE, was smuggled back into Spain to catalog the factions rioting in Madrid, Catalonia, and Galicia. Communist operatives were quick to raise the banner of the civil war's Republican Popular Front as Franco scrambled to suppress the spontaneous insurgency. Ibaurruri, determined to prevent a potential fracturing in the anti-Franco ranks, conceded to an alliance with the enfeebled Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and Federación Anarquista Ibérica. The PSE also courted the underground Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) and its clandestine associates in the Unión General de Trabajadores. But rather than repeat the mistakes of the Civil War, the PSE swiftly asserted its dominance and imbued itself with a sense of total control over the composite organizations. While rioters in Barcelona, for example, might have shrouded themselves in the standards of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Soviet operatives were pulling the strings behind every motion. Gifted with the entire intelligence network of the NKVD, underground unionists and anti-Francoists protesters were able to form enclaves of no-go areas in the very heart of Spanish cities. When the Caudillo motioned the army against the metropolitan protesters, entire regions along the Iberian coastline rebelled with shouts of "Azana, Azana!" It looked, for a brief moment, as if Spain was tumbling towards another Civil War, with Spanish Traditionalists and Leftists once again poised to deal blows. But the battle never came, and Franco's regime was quickly undermined by military defections and a "surprisingly” well coordinated campaign by the rebel forces in metropolitan regions. Within four months, Spain's Revolution was completed, and Franco hurried across the border into Portugal, where Anglo-American troops received his exile. Europe was suddenly in panic; Spanish protesters had seized control of a Western state and endangered the flank of the new NATO bloc. In Congress, internationalist Republicans and Democrats demanded that President Truman take action to prevent the inflammation of the revolution. Truman bowed to the pressure and departed for Lisbon, where Prime Minister Salazar and Eden were already waiting. Salazar was prepared to evict the Popular Front government in Madrid with a military intervention, given Anglo-American support, but Eden and Truman were nervous. The government in Madrid had yet to formally align with the Soviet Union, and the dou feared that military maneuvers would provoke a Soviet reaction in Berlin. However, the mere congregation between the three leaders was enough to galvanize the PSE in Spain. On June 10th, Ibaurruri and the Communist Party seized control of the Madrid Government and enacted a coup against their former allies. Within several hours, it became apparent that the new Spanish government would be placed on an accelerated track to join the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, otherwise known as The Warsaw Pact.

​

Truman knew that he was about to be massacred in Congress for his refusal to make a timely intervention -- and thus implored Eden to comeuppance the Soviet action. The Prime Minister, who was personally worried about Gibraltar's safety, agreed to take action, but only if the U.S Sixth Fleet would shadow any maneuver by the Royal Navy. Truman folded to Eden's suggestions, and on June 14th, the Royal Mediterranean Fleet blockaded the Spanish coastline and halted passage of Spanish goods through the Straits of Gibraltar. One day later, the United States Marines of the USN Sixth Fleet occupied the Balearic Islands in the Gulf of Mallorca, and began to clamp down on the maritime Soviet-Spanish smuggling network. The contest of showmanship had begun, and neither side would yield their honour in the face of an international conflict. The Soviets were energized by their continental triumph, even if the new People’s Republic of Spain was physically dissevered by the blockade. Vyshinsky planned to remedy this problem by initiating a commercial trade through aerial methods, which would also provide access to the former Spanish possessions in Africa. The independence of the People’s Republic of Equatorial Guinea and the Worker’s Republic of West Sahara provided the Soviets with satellites on the periphery of the Anglo-French continent. This worrying territorial provocation was only worsened by the immunity of these puppets -- an immunity made especially clear by the detonation of Joe-2 in August. Even in Finland, Prime Minister Karl-August Fagerholm happily folded to a series of diplomatic pressures from the Soviet Union, and affixed the national signature to a de facto alliance with Moscow. And if the year couldn’t get any better for Uncle Joe, George Orwell kicked the bucket in September.

US Marines prepare for an assault on the Balaeric Islands.
​

The turbulence in continental Europe frightened politicians and the public in Britain. Tories and Fabians were eager to shrug off the possibilities of a Spanish repetition in a colony, or (god forbid), in the Isles. The Prime Minister, fatigued by impromptu events, resolved to assume the initiative and take command of international issues. Eden and the cabinet redoubled British efforts in Burma, and accelerated the timetable for Burmese autonomy (and therefore, the infrastructural program) to November. The cabinet's initiative was all the more incentivized in September, when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a zealous Indian nationalist, who was discontented by the lack of progress towards independence. Some estimated that nearly 11 million Indians were ready to take arms in resistance if the independence process dragged out longer, but the Conservatives were determined to settle the crisis in their own way. Many members of the cabinet believed that a successful withdrawal from Burma would ease tensions in the subcontinent and relieve the revolutionary sentiments of the fiercely nationalistic Hindu National Coalition (HNC) in The Raj. In Burma itself, Major General Presley remained unable to locate Aung San, who was now the preferred candidate for insurgency by the Moscow elite, but nonetheless secured the corridor of transport that lined through the western countryside. Meanwhile, Sang and his foremost lieutenant, U Nu, were unable to use their de facto control of the Burmese countryside to launch an uprising -- a delay that afforded the Conservatives the opportunity to complete their Burmese program. In late November, the House of Commons received testimony that the developing railroad networks in Sagain, Magwe, and Rakhaing would be completed by the end of the month. Governor-General Sir Hubert Rance congregated with Major General Presley, and invited the ambitious U Nu for talks on conflict resolution. U Nu’s growing disillusionment with Aung San’s Communist sympathies incentivized him to strike a deal with the British; Presley and Rance promised to prevent the participation of San’s Communist Party in any Burmese election, essentially offering U Nu the Burmese Premiership if he swallowed the pill of the Commonwealth. U Nu negotiated certain tacit assumptions, and accepted the offer. On November 21st, Rance and Presley received a formal agreement from U Nu. The next day, with information having obviously been conveyed through U Nu, MI6 operatives under the command of Gifford Mansfield discovered and executed Aung Sang in the Shan countryside.

U Nu, Prime Minister of Burma.
​

The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favour of the reimplementation of the Burmese Act, which formally created the Dominion of Burma on November 30th. Eden had scored his first foreign victory, and prevented an apparatchik presence near The Raj. Whether the new Burmese Dominion would be able to weather domestic enmity to the British and the prominent ethnic divisions would be a question for another time. Meanwhile, the Government was forced to return its contemplations to Libya, where Eden had reorganized the British Military Administration of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania into an official colony. The administrative reorganization into an amalgamated Libyan settlement provoked local Sunni aristocrats, who were exasperated by the Anglo-Jewish settlements, into offering Prince Iris of the House of Senussi the crown of a potentially independent Libya. The cabinet considered the proposition, but was swayed against the motion by the JNF-UK (Jewish National Fund in the United Kingdom), which wished to defend the hospitality “city” of Tripoli. Liberal Tories in the Cabinet were also dissuaded by fervent defenders of the settlers in the oil-rich Fezzan, who had just recently embraced the colonial elevation of Antigua, Montserrat, Tortola, and Saint Kitts -- all dominated by loyalist Black Anglos and English vacationers. The rejection of Libyan independence coincided with the introduction of the famous Anglo-American protester phrase: Politics is big oil and big race. The validity of the expression would begin to become apparent in March of 1951, when Mohammad Mosaddegh ascended to the Premiership of Iran. The new administration launched a wide range of social reforms: unemployment compensation was introduced, factory owners were forced to pay benefits to sick and injured works, and the countryside peasants’ were allowed to depart from their compulsory labor in the lordly estates. But Mosaddegh’s ambitions were not set on social networks, but the very entrepreneurial crown of the British Empire: the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). On April 3rd, Mosaddegh nationalized the AIOC, cancelling Iran’s oil concessions and expropriating the company’s assets. A committee of majlis was immediately formalized to enforce the nationalization in Khuzistan. In Iran, the nationalization was remarkably popular and viewed as a long overdue staunching of the bleeding of Iran’s national wealth. In Britain, however, the nationalisation was widely seen as an intolerable breach of contract or theft. British emissaries in Washington argued that permitting Iranian nationalization would be regarded as a Russian victory and would also seriously destabilize the Exchequer’s balance of payments, consequently disturbing the rearmament and Britain’s cost of living. With a blank cheque from the President, the Cabinet voted to blockade the primary petroleum exporting port in Iran, the port of Abadan.

The occupation of the Abadan oil fields (left) and Mosaddegh (right).
​

The National Coal Board was especially concerned about the Abadan Crisis, as the Government’s blockade unfortunately coincided with a series of local expansions by the National Union of Mineworkers. The NUM was maneuvering to unionize the major coal-powered energy plants in the North East of England -- movements that were disrupting the fluidity of work and causing shortfalls in energy provision. President Johnny Chips (an increasingly popular figure among the Tory left) of the Board of Trade believed that a quid pro quo agreement between the the NUM and the Coal Board would temporarily suppress the possibility of electric outages. Chipps pressured the Prime Minister and Cabinet to endorse a 4 shilling wage floor for coal workers, and recommend its immediate adoption by the NCB. Chipps found expected opposition from Force Britannia ministers, but Cabinet overwhelmingly approved the motion -- receiving special approbation from the Prime Minister. The Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers struck a deal in late April, which secured the implementation of the four shilling advance and prevented troublesome union expansionism. Britain looked prepared to weather any consequences from the energy crisis, but was quiescent to union advances in other industries, such as a Cherming Group arms factory in Cornwall that was forced to close due to unionization action by the National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehouseman, and Clerks. Nonetheless, nationalized energy remained stable in Britain, and coalmines enjoyed a brief period of increased profitability with Iranian oil scratched from the market. But Iran’s forced isolationism would revolutionize the Middle-East -- and change the very fabric of the West, literally. In late-April, Mossaddegh’s reliance on the pro-Soviet Tudeh Party and the wave of Iranian nationalism compelled the ruling National Front to cease the exportation of textiles and cotton to the United States and the British Empire. International exporting networks in Iranian Khorasan were forced to relocate due to the protectionism of the new Iranian state, with many western companies moving across the Afghan border into Farrah, itself a prominent textile-cotton producer. Although the British clothing industry was comfortably supported by a vast reserve of imperial cotton (only 2/7ths of cotton produced in the Empire was used in industrial manufacturing, with the remnants exported to Europe and America), American companies were eager to strike a deal with Mohammed Zahir Shah -- King of Afghanistan.

Johnny "Dungarees" Chips, President of the Board of Trade.
​

The increasing American interest in Afghanistan disturbed what had previously been a convenient buffer between Soviet Central Asia and the British Raj. Until 1951, neither side had infringed on this unspoken agreement or seriously attempted to sway the Afghani government into the Democratic Bloc. The American incursion made Moscow jittery, but Vyshinsky and Stalin saw opportunity in this diplomatic infringement. Believing themselves capable of manipulating Mossaddegh, Stalin planned to push the frontiers of the Soviet bloc to the very edge of Britain’s turbulent crown jewel. In early March, the People’s Commissariat for Finance offered the Iranian finance ministry a nihil in reditum cash stimulus -- truthfully a bribe of compliance. The Soviets wanted Iranian assistance in intelligence operations in Afghanistan, and the Iranians complied (although notably circumvented the Shah) to the Russian request. When, at last, the Soviet plan came into fruition, the Iranian government hurried to jettison all evidence of their co-operation: Soviet tanks had shattered the Afghani border. Moscow ordered 240,000 Soviet soldiers into the Hindu Kush, spearheaded by hundreds of armored divisions and extensive air support. The Afghani army, not unexperienced with matters of Russian and British incursions, entrenched into the mountains, especially in the southern Ghazni province. Russian tanks quickly overran the periphery of Afghanistan, and occupied Kabul, but were unable to make noteworthy gains in Bamyan or Eastern Herat. Truman and Eden rushed to the UN Security Council for an unequivocal condemnation of the invasion, but Moscow vetoed the resolution and forced Eden to take unilateral action. American and British armaments flowed into Ghanzi from British Quetta, arming Afghan Loyalists and Tribalists from the South. When the war dragged into the winter, Dean Acheson considered an intervention in Afghanistan, possibly with the restoration of the King in Northern Kandahar.

Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan (left) and Afghan divisions in Herat (right).
​

The restrained optimism of the American bloc did not last beyond February of 1952. The Soviets rooted out the last remaining pockets of resistance in March and established their new Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Although the Russians quickly withdrew from Afghanistan’s southern flank, Moscow now had total access to Southern Asia -- from the Raj to Indochina. The Tory cabinet was ringing with war’s alarms, and began to plot radical action to placate the angered passions of His Majesty’s angered subjects. Westminster was terrified that the crown jewel was the new objective of Stalin's appetite -- the Prime Minister was compelled to transport the new divisions from the National Service Act to the sub-continent -- where domestic passions were nearing a boiling point. President Truman, under pressure from the Democratic internationalists, enjoined the British Government to find a solution to the Indian question. Eden, however, needed no impetus to fight the enlarging threat. The Conservative Government proposed the India Act of 1952, a motion that would abolish the princely confederations and integrate their territories into The Raj. Eden also delegated investigative powers to the Commons Committee on Colonial Reform, chaired by Sylvia Leighton but dominated by reformist Tories, in an effort to find a unilateral solution for an Indian Dominion. Further instructions were given to the Colonial Police to pursue and prosecute the new Hindu National Coalition and its military wing, विष्णु के भाई (Vishnu's Brother). Simultaneously, newly elected Prime Minister U Nu presided over the Third Panglong Conference, which afforded the ethnonational independence of Shan and Kayin -- two states unaffiliated with the Statue of Westminster. All over the world, countries reeled from the turbulence of the last three years. Indeed, the Red Tide was changing the world -- the Cold War had begun.

​

--

PMQ sign-up template will be opened. Debate is open, legislation may be proposed. Aforementioned India bill is open for discussion. A new budget will be posted. Government can do as they please in terms of proposals, etc. If you're thinking about a time-frame, next update will hopefully cover 2-2.5 years.

 

[loup99]

((Just to get things clear. IC-wise, does this mean the Conservatives and the US directly supported Franco? And Labour directly supported the Kuomintang in China. Did I miss NATO forming?

Good to see Finland in the Comintern.))

 

[99KingHigh]

((Just to get things clear. IC-wise, does this mean the Conservatives and the US directly supported Franco? And Labour directly supported the Kuomintang in China. Did I miss NATO forming?

Good to see Finland in the Comintern.))

((No, not directly. Labour didn't do much with the Kuomintang, it was mostly the Americans. And yes, NATO has sorta formed, although it's still in its premature stages.))

 

[LoggingOut]

Article from the Socialist Appeal

Time Bomb
by Iain Sutherland, Leader of the CWP​

I want to make a roll call to the honorable members of the parliament of the United Kingdom: leave India to indians. And so on to the other cultures.
We can't take all this land. We as British people don't have time and resource to think for foreign countries' problems. We know that it is impossible to keep everything like this if we keep to do the wrong choices, like our government. We need to leave dead weights because, in a short time, they can became harder and harder to mantain. Just look what happened in Spain: this may be us if we won't change the system.
There could be a war. Tomorrow? Five years from now? Ten years from now? I don't know; without a drastic change we cannot survive.

(continue at page 12)​

 

[loup99]

Article from the Morning Star

​

((I find it weird to see CWP material in the Morning Star, a paper owned by the CPBG. Your party is in direct opposition to the CPBG, so I don't see how this would be tolerated. Or the paper has completely changed its line or you have adopted the CPBG line. Or can I publish articles in The Telegraph first-page? Will the Force Britannia Club share its propaganda on The Guardian?))

 

[LoggingOut]

((I find it weird to see CWP material in the Morning Star, a paper owned by the CPBG. Your party is in direct opposition to the CPBG, so I don't see how this would be tolerated. Or the paper has completely changed its line or you have adopted the CPBG line. Or can I publish articles in The Telegraph first-page? Will the Force Britannia Club share its propaganda on The Guardian?))

((Wikipedia said that The Morning Star is a left-wing socialist journal so I was thinking that they can publish something from a socialist party like the CWP. I put the first socialist newspaper I found.))

 

[DensleyBlair]

The House of Commons. December 1950.

‘… It is by now quite evident, Mr Speaker, that the Prime Minister flatters to deceive. The government congratulate themselves on what they frame as a “victory” in foreign policy – a victory, Mr Speaker, which it should be pointed out merely represents the completion of a Labour policy – and yet do my Hon friends and I see great statesmen on the benches opposite? No! From our vantage point, Britain might as well be ruled by a bunch of cut flowers: The government merely sits and keeps up appearances whilst waiting for a gust of wind to come and force it into action! …’
​

The House of Commons. February 1952.

‘… The situation on the Subcontinent, Mr Speaker, is farcical. For years, this government has resisted Labour calls for action against communist influence. There was no need, the government so confidently reassured this House, to act: No need poke the hornet's nest. What the government did not count on is the fact that they aren't the only ones who can reach it! This government's foreign policy is confused and reactive. The Conservative Party promised us that through their rule we would remain as a leading power in the world. Mr Speaker, Britain wants to know when its rulers are going to live up to this promise and lead! …’​

 

[ThaHoward]

Oh intactive aar, count me in Or can I still join?

 

[99KingHigh]

Oh intactive aar, count me in Or can I still join?

((Character creation is always open; reference the first page for the correct template.))

 

[Ticket Cookie]

((Wikipedia said that The Morning Star is a left-wing socialist journal so I was thinking that they can publish something from a socialist party like the CWP. I put the first socialist newspaper I found.))

((You could perhaps publish in the Socialist Appeal, it was the newspaper of the trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party in our timeline, with what I believe to be a similar stance to your Common Wealth Party. But you should really join us in the CPGB, we have stalinist cookies! And MPs!
The alternative to the labourites social-traitors should unite ))

Friends, Comrades,

You all know that far from those cut off from reality politicians (i.e Labour), we at the Communist Party of Great Britain believe that the Worker's fight needs to be waged equally in the industrial field and in the electoral field. We need to defeat the attempts to bring down wages and cut the social services, and for that we need to send fighting representatives of the working people to Parliament.

But we also need to fight in the streets and in the factories. That's why the CPGB supports so strongly the Unions: only through active struggle against the capitalist class can the working class rally its strength for the final defeat of Toryism and advance to a Socialist Britain freed from exploitation, slump, and war.

Recently, the National Union of Mineworkers obtained a 4 shilling wage floor for coal workers, a great step for the workers. We, at the Communist Party, are proud of having our part in that victory, by pressuring the Government and capitalist fat cats in greater concessions to the Proletariat. It is, once again, the proof that only through sheer power balance and strenght can we achieve progress.

That class-conscious workers are able to resist, and eventually defeat, the capitalist class is intolerable for the Tory Government and it's rich backers.
In Cornwall, the Cherming Group arms factory was forced to close due to unionization action by the National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehouseman, and Clerks.

We cannot stand this injustice. This is an unbearable act against the workers' fundamental right to unionize.

Under Comrade's Pollit wise guidance, the Communist Party of Great Britain immediatly supported the factory's workers, sending financial support to the laid off employees, organizing fundraises and a great demonstration with the NUSAWC and is already preparing further answer, including a general strike in solidarity.

But where is the Labour Party? Where are the dozens of Labourites MPs and Union bosses?

As always, not in the streets with their fellow workers, nowhere to be found when the oppressed masses need them.

True Labour, join us in a Popular Front in the fight!

William Jennings, Communist MP for Rhondda West.

 

[Ignominius]

((Private))

It had been two years since the Burma expiration, and Harry was now a senior sergeant with the Rhodesian SAS instructing commonwealth forces on the details of Operation Cataphract, a military coup in Equatorial Guinea.

The Rhodesian government was balking at the people's republic of Equatorial Guinea, a new nation dedicated to African nationalism and, most likely, diametrically opposed to white colonial rule on the continent. It would be very unlikely to install a white government in Equatorial Guinea, but the goal was to follow through with what the government of South Rhodesia saw as the next best thing - install a ruler whose love for wealth and prestige outweighed any ideological sense to side with the Soviets. The SAS had found their man in Francisco Macías Nguema. The People's Republic was effectively a country whose political and administrative centers were all based either on the island capital of Malabo or in the coastal city of Bata. The RSAS had planned to show up on Bioko with 1 million pounds in gold and bribe as many members of the securit force as they could to side with Nguema, already a popular official in the country before the communists had mucked it all up, and seize control of local radio stations and power plants. The harbor at Venus bay would be blocked by a pair of South African destroyers, the Jan van Riebeeck and the Simon van der Stel while the government in Bata would be informed of the change in hands sometime later in the afternoon when the Rhodesians turned control of the radio waves back to the locals.

Before the plan could be put in to action, it had to be forwarded to the Commonwealth Africa command for review, but the hope was with this simple blow a very tangible gain could be made against the communists in Africa.