"Back In The USSA" (alternate history about communist revolution in the USA)

[Os Cangaceiros]

http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/byrne.jpg

from wikipedia:



Back in the USSA (ISBN 0-929480-84-8 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0929480848)) is a collection of 7 short stories by Eugene Byrne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Byrne) and Kim Newman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Newman), which was published in 1997 by Mark V. Ziesing Books. The stories are linked through their setting, an alternate history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_history) of the twentieth century in which the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) experienced a communist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist) revolution in 1917 and became a communist superpower, whereas Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia) did not. Six of the stories first appeared in Interzone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interzone_(magazine)) magazine, and the concluding story in the sequence, On the Road, was written especially for the collection.

sounds kind of amusing. has anyone read it?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

I haven't read it, looks interesting. There's a Harry Turtledove novel where the US has a "communist revolution" and Al Capone, a leader of the US SP, becomes a Stalin like dictator.

There's this
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=148698

[OhYesIdid]

Al Capone, a leader of the US SP, becomes a Stalin like dictator.


Nonsense, everyone knows John Dillinger would make a much better leader.

[The Dark Side of the Moon]

i really want to read this

[Jose Gracchus]

Its garbage, what do you expect to be published on such a scenario in the U.S. for the pulp market?

[BostonCharlie]

My favorite alternative history for a 20th Century Communist world is "Reality Rosa." (You'll have to google it, I still can't post links here. :blushing:)

[OhYesIdid]

My favorite alternative history for a 20th Century Communist world is "Reality Rosa." (You'll have to google it, I still can't post links here. :blushing:)

A GURPS campaign setting?

[Red Commissar]

I haven't read it, looks interesting. There's a Harry Turtledove novel where the US has a "communist revolution" and Al Capone, a leader of the US SP, becomes a Stalin like dictator.

A Turtledove novel? That sounds exactly like the summary to this collection:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_in_the_USSA


The stories imagine that, in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was reelected President of the United States as the Progressive Party candidate, only to be assassinated before taking office when personally breaking a labor strike at the Chicago Union Stockyards with the Rough Riders. Following this, his vice president, Charles Foster Kane takes power, and gradually leads the United States into greater levels of oppression, class division and bureaucratic incompetence and corruption - including an earlier entry into the First World War in 1914 and the assassination of his rival candidate, Woodrow Wilson, during the 1916 election campaign.

Gradually, by 1917 the United States is unstable politically and socially, with overwhelming civil unrest stemming from the massive (and seemingly pointless) loss of American lives in the mud of the Western Front and the increasing gap between the wealthy 'robber barons' and the poor workers, and the massive corruption and exploitation this has resulted in. The Socialist Party of America led by Eugene V. Debs gains increasing support, and soon the unrest has led to outright civil war, following which Kane is ousted from the White House and a new socialist order, led by Debs, takes over.

The early idealism of this change is misplaced, however; upon Debs' death power is seized by Al Capone (an obvious parallel to Joseph Stalin, just as Debs is used to mirror the achievements of Vladimir Lenin), who proceeds to rule over the USSA with a brutal, repressive fist of iron, establishing a cult of personality around himself, exiling and executing his political rivals and ruling the country more brutally and ruthlessly (and incompetently) than any of the robber barons who were previously deposed. Gradually, following the Second World War, the Cold War between the USSA, the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire (still ruled by the Tsars, although vaguely more open and democratic than previously) and the war in Indo-China (a Vietnam War-like affair in which armies from Russia and Great Britain attempted to support a somewhat democratic regime under attack from USSA-backed Communist guerillas), the USSA begins to stagnate economically and socially, before finally collapsing into separate, bickering nations by 1991, leading to an uncertain future for both America and the rest of the world.

TBH this just sounds like a copy-paste of the USSR, put in the United States and changing the names of certain figures. Some of the stuff is creative like incorporating figures from popular culture (the main characters from Citizen Kane and Grapes of Wrath make appearances as real people), but that's about it.



There's this
http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=148698

That's a great one.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

My bad, obviously Harry Turtledove did not write that series.

http://www.amazon.com/All-Times-Possible-Gordon-Eklund/dp/0879971177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311912311&sr=8-1

I can't find a good review of this, the premise is that FDR lost the Democratic nomination by one vote, the 1930s Depression became much worse and the US had a communist revolution. The book follows the ups and downs of the revolutionary leader's careers though the 20s, 30s, and 40s.A bit one dimensional, mainly written to illustrate the author's metaphysical ideas but a good read.

This one's short but a masterpiece.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_on_the_Mountain_(1988_novel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_on_the_Mountain_%281988_novel))

[Comrade_Stalin]

Nonsense, everyone knows John Dillinger would make a much better leader.

I again John Dilinger has more in come with Stalin then Al Capone. But John Dilinger and Stalin both robbed banks and both went to jail a number of times for it. Al Capone went to jail for tax evasion. In fact he has more in come with the white army then the red army.

You could also use Baby Face Nelson as Nikita Khrushchev who hero worshiped Stalin when he was in power very much like how Baby Face Nelson worshiped John Dilinger when he was robbing banks.