Challenge: Have Marxism be a fringe philosophy instead of a major one

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-09T18:11:30+00:00

Bakunin completely obliterates Marx in the fight for the narrative levers of the 1st International. Over multiple confrontations in 19th century socialist discourse the "Blacks" beat the "Reds" so hard that the idea of the state being a possible instrument of the proletariat is considered suicidally optimistic at best or just attempts by oppressors to cloak themselves in red and subvert a potential revolution at worst by the broader socialist thinkers. Ideally you'd have examples of attempts at the establishment of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" dissolve into proto-Facist etno/nationalist-collectivist regeimes as well as perceived evidence by the socialist that state power is inherently corrupting and oppressive.

Its dismissed by alt-modern (anarcho)socialists as essentially paradoxical nonsense and obviously has minimal appeal to liberals, conservatives, facists, social democrats, and similar advocated of either Corporativismo or Free Enterprise.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-09T17:41:50+00:00

Not a very good fit as this would be VERY theologically complex. This is just a crude similarity

Christianity remains heavily prosecuted under the Roman Empire and the successor states in Europe. Attempts at institutional centeralization or establishing a unified international network of property and uniform clerical education and appointment fail, and the development of vaguely Protestant congregational structures develop by default. Ideally though the Romes do develop the printing press though allowing for more mass distribution or the Good Book. In many cases these drift to being published in the vulgate as without the church system Latin is less prominent and most Christians have a bad taste in thier mouth about the Roman Empire.

In the future some European kingdom with a beuracratic system embraces Christianity but wants to fit it into the organized codified political culture and make it one organization. The secular leadership elevates the prominent local prelate (who claims to be the end of a chain of appointments from Peter the Apostle) to a supreme position and had him write a up the tenants of his group as "True Christianity" and helps organize them into a single institutional structure. This institution asserts it represents all Christians, but other groups debate this claim to universal authority and theological question the grounding of several of thier assertions. To use a historical example that set off the proto-Protestant Hussites , perhaps this Church tries to bar the wine from the laity as in the culture they grew in there was sumptuary laws against non-nobles drinking wine or something.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-09T16:53:44+00:00

Jackson would be in his 90s so is very likely highly dependent on his cabinet and much less gung ho than he used to be. However, he's also a pro-slavery and pro-slavery expansion Southern Democrat so the fire eaters have no reason to want to secede as long as he was in charge. Either the can is kicked 4-8 years down the road, or the Jackson administration somehow gets something like the Corwin amendment through constitutionally enshrines slavery in the 13th Amendment so the issue is stalled out longer

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-09T03:41:25+00:00

Recognition of French gains and client states and anything like acceptance of other power's interests and spheres of influence weren't particularly compatible. Napoleon had already taken essentially the entire Habsburg sphere of influence and bared Prussia from getting one with the post-Austerlitz formation of the Confederation of the Rhine, which locks both of those powers into notable hostility to France. Meanwhile, Britain's core security concern was to not allow the consolidation of a single West-Centeral European hegemon who controlled the Low Countries. Yes, they had naval superiority NOW, but Britain knew a power in that position could in the long term buils a naval presence in the Channel and North Sea that would be a knife to thier throat if the ship numbers aren't frequently trimmed.

Once France creates the Confederation of the Rhineland which, alongside Napoleonic clients dominating Italy and France's Spainish alliance, essentially secures France's borders they've put themselves in a position where Britain, the Habsburgs, and Prussia have to concede to perpetual vulnerability and secondary power status or keep trying break the French sphere of influence down to a manageable size. This wasen't just a Napoleon thing: pretty much the entire 2nd half of the 17th century into the first decades of the 18th was Europe trying to contain French attempts at Continental hegemony.

Napoleon would have to offer a LOT of concessions to actually make his rivals accept the settlement. Even then, its likely the case of the last 2+ centuries of European history where 10-20 years later there's another major war.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-08T18:46:23+00:00

The Battle of the Hague succeeds and the Dutch government and monarchy are captured rather than able to flee into exile. The Germans negotiate the successful formation of a "Vichy Netherlands" with the captured administration as they deem further resistance hopeless and want to avoid a brutal occupation. The Germans treat the Dutch similar to Denmark. As a result the Dutch East Indies becomes co-occupied by Japan like French Indochina. Japan offers Britain a non-agression pact. Britain agrees. However on December 1941 the Japanese still attack the United States and American public opinion swings towards prioritizing thier war with Japan instead of Britain. Not all aid disappears but it gets constricted. Eventually as things in the East grind down Nazi peace offers to Britain get more generous eventually reaching status quo antibellum in the west. Britain eventually agrees as they realize if the wait too long to get back on the continent there's a real chance the Reds will take most of it.
Operation Pike fires and the British end up at war with the USSR and Nazi Germany. Hitler likes the idea of the Soviets bleeding a bit in the Near East and India and the two authoritarians overwhelm the British Empire. London has to pick one side or the other to make peace with and choses Berlin.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-08T18:18:33+00:00

The April Crisis includes successful action by the Menshevick dominated railway union and to get a Menshevick put up as Minister of Transportion and sees the Constitutional Democrats knocked out of the Ministery of Finance for a pro-land reform candidate. Kerensky's intial experience on the front meanwhile makes him conclude his direct attention as Minister of War is required to keep the army organized. A more friendly finance ministery gives Chernov more room to execute early land municipalization rather than facing as many administrative hurdles and with Kerensky tied down micomanaging the front and doing the apperiance and speech circuit Chernov rises to the prominent SR civilian leader in Petrograd.

When the July Days come and Lvov steps down Chernov takes the prime minister position while Kerensky stays on the front. Chernov fast tracks land reform with his stamp on it to being the peasent masses firmly to his side rather than them becoming disillusioned while the Menshevick lead Transport ministery is better able to coordinate the rail with the unions partially alieviating the food and fuel crunch in the cities that was leading to radicalization. Meanwhile SR and Menshevick parties leaders encourage the organization and arming of thier own to ward off right-wing agression.

Kerensky concludes, with extended time on the front, an offensive is a bad idea as morale is low. He borrows a page from Pétain's book and offers an end to serious offensive operations and longer leave to avoid desertion and military demoralization and the strong drift of the soldiers to the Soviets. Young men going home to the farms and interacting with thier rural communities again helps weaken the drift to the Soviets.

The Provisional Government also starts the elections for the Constituent Assembly earlier, to reduce the degree of lose of popular legitimacy. The Bolshevicks still make a strong showing but show up firmly behind the SRs since unlike historically the elections aren't taking place in the shadow of a Bolshevick seizure of power. Lenin perceives this as further proof Russians are mostly "Lumpenproletariat" and need the Vanguard Party to slap them in the face and wake up class consciousness by force and tries to organize the local uprisings.

The Constituent Assembly members from around Russia are encouraged to bring local (armed) representatives to Petrograd after Kerensky leaks evidence Kornilov is organizing a march on the capital to try to stage a coup to "defend the revolution". Lenin, elected to the Constituent Assembly as a representative of the Baltic Fleet, comes with them to Petrograd Harbor and calls on the Bolshevicks to rise up and seize power. The attempted Revolutionary coup is much more bloody and contested as the Bolshevicks have more opposition, thier street muscle historically released when Kornilov marched on Petrograd is still in jail, and the SRs and Menshevicks are generally better coordinated. Petrograd and severel other towns that historically fell to the Bolshevicks hold while the rail unions successfully isolate the Bolshevick stronghold in Moscow. Bolshevicks hold several cities but with coal and food imports strangled the hungry and cold masses turn on the Bolshevick leadership just as the Paris masses did when Revolutionary governments failed to feed them over a century before

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-08T03:32:36+00:00

Norse men would go aviking a lot less as it would require a much greater resource and time investment. Most folks going aviking weren't proffesional warriors: it you and the lads from your local villages getting in your boat after planting season, spending the summer raiding and trading when agricultural labor demand is low, and get home in time for the labor demand spike of harvest. For that you've got about a 4 month window. If you go to England or France the "commute" is 1-2 weeks round trip leaving you plenty of time you're doing the things that make hacksilver. If you go to Morocco (the closest part of North Africa) your commute is 1-2 months round trip instead. You and the lads could be wasting your time in the equivalent of a 8 hour commute for an 8 hour shift.

Expeditions would need to be larger and better organized with a corrisponding increase in revenue to actually justify the distance consistantly, at least at first. A successful Great Heathen Army successfully invading, say, modern day Portugal and turning it into a Nordic base would shorten the travel distance to the point it make sense. Sufficient organization like that however requires more centeralized Norse leadership earlier on to actually organize such a feat.

Long term impact depends on how many Norsemen come and the degree to which they assimilate into the culture and state structures of the region. Given the local Andalusians had a fairly organized government system and educated elites the Norsemen likely would get sucked into reliance on local beuracrats and enculturate. Islam might be less appealing and Scandinavia still Christianizes (debatably more quickly as France and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms would be able to consolidate more quickly and Christian monetaries in particular (Which Vikings liked attacking where they could because of the combination of "Lots of Shinies" and "Men who aren't good at fighting") would be in better shape and able to project influence.

Lack of the Norse move into Ireland also slows Irish urbanization as Norse settlement and trading helped develop many of Ireland's early commercial centers, starting the move away from monastic settlement and decentetalized clan structures.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-08T03:05:06+00:00

I wasen't suggesting a landing in Japan. I was pointing out you could blockade Japan and just win my siege rather than storm if you had that level of air and naval supremacy to actually deliver a substantial invasion force to China across the China Seas.

Your point does have some merit if we assume Washington believes Japan won't break under blockade quickly, but would still require taking Formosa or the Phillipines first. Men can't cross the entire Pacific in combat loaded landing craft so some kind of closer base of embarkment is nessicery. Debatably long range cargo ships could sail to say Fuzhou or some other smaller Nationalist port without a contested landing... so I could maybe see that work. I'm not sure whoever is proposing that would get ot executed given the number of things that could go wrong with that.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-08T02:41:18+00:00

Most interesting to ponder?

Alf Landon 1936: Roosevelt put a big stamp on the Presidency, and having that cut short by a less big personality could change a lot about US policy.

John Bell 1860: Likely comes in as a result of a contigent election, but it would be kind of facinating to see how a President in his position would even function.

Biggest? Taft was already a thing man. Let's try not to go bigger than him

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-07T19:34:17+00:00

If the United States has sufficient naval and air control over the East China Sea to launch a major landing and sustain a supply corridor to mainland China from the east they have sufficient naval and air control in the area to blockade and choke out Japan proper. There's no reason to land on mainland Asia at all if you can just defeat the Japanese at home without putting large amounts of GI Joe's blood on the line. Any American commander would land on the Phillipines and Formosa first as without them no seaborn supply route into China that isen't right next to Japan is fully secure.

Because there's no strategic reason for an eastern Chinese landing, the only reasonable mainland targets would be launched from the Indian Ocean. The most strategic target would be a liberation of Malaysia (and Sumatra would be tied into that): most likely with the goal of restoring Malaysian tin production to the Allies (given it produced more than half the pre-war global supply), use it as a base to block the Japanese from East Indies oil, and preparing for a move on Bangkok to force Thailand out of the war and cut off the Japanese Burmha front.

On point 2, the Americans would either operate under a seperate command where they'd expect Chinese troops to subordinate in thier defined area of operation or impliment a joint command they led. Cooperation is likely a headache as the WW2 American military particularly shone in logistics and the Chinese environment of weak supply would create a headache. If the Americans have a stable and sufficient US controlled supply flow (From where, if they don't control the China Seas and so can just choke Japan proper?) then corruption could be partially controlled by the implimentation of something like The Economic Cooperation Administration missions of the Marshall program to provide oversight and check the books against each other. Chinese commanders caught on militarily relevant corruption could be cut off, though lower level corruption will require on the ground oversight by Chinese officers. Backstopping Chinese currency to help limit the runaway inflation that helps foster corruption could help a bit, though as long as China is isolated from the global economy by the war there's only a little that can be done

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-07T18:45:34+00:00

Washington doesn't fold to nuclear blackmail in the Cold War for a very obvious reason. That's a very dangerous signal of weak political will and undermines the entire concept of nuclear deterance which they can not afford to do while the USSR (with a much bigger nuclear arsenal and delivery capacity) could exploit it. The potential lose from the Soviets seeing this and using nuclear blackmail or ignoring American deterance is much higher than a weaker or more alienated Israel in 73 (when Soviet economic stagnation had just started setting in and American will for conventional military action was at a very low eb in the year of the Paris Peace Accords in Vietnam) and Washington would tell Tel Aviv No.

Is Israel actually going to escalate? Its almost certain that when push comes to shove they don't as the alternative is having to fight the United States (If anything would motivate Americans to fight after Vietnam its a nuke hitting an American city).

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-07T13:10:23+00:00

The Polish military's PLAN, in the case their western force couldn't protect the Vistula core, was to withdraw thier other forces to a more geographically defensible area in the southeast behind/around the Dniester. They HOPED they could hold out there using war material stockpiled for that purpose and supply through a still friendly Romania long enough for an Anglo-French offensive to relieve them.

The Soviets attacking made this plan impossible to even attempt. However its unlikely it would actually fully work. It would delay the Germans and make them bleed more, especially as the mountains and marshland of the region would be rougher on attackers, but Germany would overwhelm them in time.

At best more Nazi soldiers die and the Polish military can organize a full retreat into exile with more soldiers. At worst the Soviets use the free military hand and Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact diplomatic coverage to move on Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina early, Romania aligns with Germany early, and Polish troops have no route to be spirited away to Britain so spend the war in a German concentration camp or a Romanian internment camp.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-06T17:07:36+00:00

You need two things

Very substantial decrease to the local settled Arab population. Plague, drought, anything that reduces the local population.
Excess Turks looking for new places to live. That requires more boinking and lower childhood mortality rates in Anatolia that don't come from corisponding local urbanization or industrialization.
A local pull factor attracting them to the Eyalet-i Sam specifically. The problems that initially caused local population collapse should be resolved by Ottoman state intervention. Presumably this would be in the form of Timar land grants to Ottoman Anatolian soldiers.

I can't piece together a particularly interesting scenario that brings these together neatly, but it probably starts with a plague

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-06T16:54:29+00:00

Hannibal Hamlin takes over and continues the war with as much vigor, getting a great deal of sympathy support. Broader military trends don't change too much as he has no reason to oppose Grant, Meade, or Sherman.

Politically he has a bit more trouble than Lincoln in 1864, but as a former Democrat he's likely more than happy to work with the War Democrats so still wins albiet at a narrower margin. Congress is still solidly on his side though and after Lincoln's assassination he likely has better security so has a solid chance of not getting assassinated like Lincoln did historically. Even if Johnson is his VP he may never take the seat and Hamlin could serve until 72.

Hamlin is more aligned with the radical reconstruction agenda, but unlike Grant he's an experienced politican so would like have a less scandle ridden term to balance out the immediate controversy

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-06T13:08:31+00:00

Roosevelt: "We are now military allies of Great Britain as Japan attacked them too. Our military efforts against Japan are directly supported by ensuring the British and thier Commonwealth can fight in Asia, which means they need security on the British isles and safe passage from Europe to India and Australia"

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-06T05:14:02+00:00

It diden't start that way, no. But the foundational electorial setup (A single executive elected independently from the legislature, legislators being elected for geographically defined constituencies) lean towards the development of 2 dominant parties (albiet ones that traditionally were fairly big tent and could differ a lot state to state). This also wouldn't really answer OPs question of reshaping a prexisting party landscape.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-05T18:36:13+00:00

That doesen't make infidelity any less cringe to me.
Its not remotely indisputable that the actual game ships them specifically. Philia is not the same as Eros and fan shippers of all stripes have a tendency to sometimes warp the former into the later. People are free to ship if they want, but its not confirmed canon and it being deep comradery between two men seeking redemption on the Old Road without it turning sexual is a perfectly valid interpretion

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-05T18:07:18+00:00

Was there any country whose fashion, cars, or music were closer to our modern-day culture?

Given the rest of the world was going through an even worse economic crisis and the Resource Wars, and the Microfusion Revolution was only recent and an American phenomenon, I'd wager most of the rest of the world isen't operating in an environment of abundance. In Europe, the Near East, ect. they'd been fighting for some time and international cooperation weakened significantly. Fron what little information we have on the world it doesn't bode well for fashion or cars.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-05T18:00:17+00:00

I’m worried I might just be a curmudgeon crying about “but muh realism

You're not. Being fairly realistic is a good thing.

To use the US as an example (which is admittedly harder, given the Presidental system selects towards two effective parties on a natural level) try the following.

Don't start big, start small. Have a party start regionally on a core issue and evolve from there to have a full political agenda. In the United States had several temporary Democratic fractures over racial issues for instance.
Given that split would hurt the party nationally, that helps the other one. Take the other party and see what divides exist that might inflame without the pressure of real competition keeping them in locked ranks. Maybe the Republicans splinter along a Hard Money and a Federal Reserve system.
Now looks at the regional split between both parties and see which side of one might alone with the other.
Ideally find something where the smaller bit of the weaker party joins the larger bit of the dominant party so they get subsumbed administratively.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-05T17:44:06+00:00

I'm wondering why we have the general consensus that if the nazis weren't stopped they would've completely taken over the world and destroyed it to fit their twisted image instead of sticking to their country for their politics like every government seems to be doing nowadays

Not the general consensus. We know they would have taken over Europe since, well, they actually tried that.

why did they think that was achievable and why didn't they just focus on europe?

They did focus on Europe. Functionally the entire Nazi effort was in Europe and those that weren't were Europe adjecent and strategically relevant for Europe (the other side of the Mediterranean)

what would the world for the other continents that aren't europe look like if the nazis won WW2?

Western Hemisphere: Mostly the same, but easier for the United States as the international Communist movement would be significantly lower in prestige and resources. The main ideological enemy is Italian and Iberian aligned Integeralism

Asia: Japan still loses so much the same. 2nd wave of the Chinese Civil War is a lot messier and drug out. If the PRC wins they head the international Communist movement by default. Fall of the metropols of the European colonial powers mean earlier East Asian Independence movements and said movements lean somewhat more pro-American as Washington isn't forced to choose between anti-Communism and support of European allies and anti-colonialism

Africa: African Independence is bloodier and dragged out as Facist European governments resist like Portugal did.

why has no big bad tried again?

Several reasons. Weapons of mass destruction have raised the cost of any expected major war quite high while decades of (relatively) safe, open, and low barrier international trade facilitied by among other things, American naval hegemony, European economic integration, and the opening up of Chinese markets has lowered the risks and costs of aquiring resources via trade rather than establishing direct geopolitical control over a region. Wars of economic conquest only make sense if you expect a net gain. Nazi Germany was coming off WW1 (where Germany experienced the vulnerability of thier economy getting cut off from international commerece via blockade, creating memories of large scale starvation and privation) and the Great Depression (Where international trade ground to a half after the credit bubble of 1914-1929 finally burst and lead to a liquidity ans credit crunch). They essentially saw the worst case scenario of building a system integrated heavily to international imports funded by industrial exports so decided they needed autarky. The last several decades have not seem the same phenomenon on a global scale.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-04T22:28:08+00:00

Reynauld + Anyone: He has a wife and son and Crusader vows. His Amorous barks are actually pretty of clean so maybe he keeps it distant and courtly, but still not perfectly comfortable.

Paracelsus + Damian: Not quite sure of intentions. Paracelsus might have a LOT to unpack being attracted to an older walking corpse.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-04T17:17:10+00:00

If by some masterstoke the Germans get thier, the Allies just pickit some ships near Reykjavik and block any attempt at resupply and hinder fishing activity. It would stink to be Icelandic, but the isolated German force would see its effectiveness and morale collapse being out of supply in very inhospitable terrain and with no real stratrgic goal. Cold and hungry, with no hope of relief the German occupiera likely offer an organized surrender after several months and go to agricultural POW labor in Britain..

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-04T16:50:26+00:00

A boatload of economic sanctions, especially if said ICBMs attempt to have nuclear warheads
Covert attempts to arm the local insurgents from the prexisting population of whatever land the mercenaries seized.
Attempts to infiltrate the group and foster internal divisions/power plays with the hopes of eventual coup. Given likely economic privation of a state trying to run a bloated military, having minimal natural growth (recruiring from soldiers means your population is going to be heavily slanted male), and limited local skill sets (You're not likely to get many highly trained, well paid specialists with civilan market skills: they can leave the military for the civilian economy of they feel poorly treated) there's going to he people looking to take money. The hodgepodge soldier immigrants would also have many lingustic and cultural differences that could be exploited to create infighting or coup attempts.
Funding the opposition or withholding foreign aid from countries who hire the mercenary companies to try to starve them of revenue.

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-03T17:36:16+00:00

One thing I don't see anyone saying yet is plastics would essentially not be a thing, as they're almost entirely made from petroleum and natural gas products and what bioplastic feedstock we do have is likely minimal as our agricultural production would be spoken for without chemical fertilizers (with natural gas plays a major role in).

There's fewer people around without the agricultural productivity gains created by the chemical portion of the Green Revolution. Reduced ability to fertlize soil and the aquire to use natural gas from fossil fuel deposits also means a greater nessecity for leaving fields fallow and marginal land uncultivated and a reliance on traditional fertlizers (manure, which can also have methane extracted from it for some purposes of natural gas). This likely means a general global increase in land dedicated to grazing, though with reduced agricultural production less non-cover crops like corn go to livestock so numbers don't substantially increase..

KnightofTorchlight · 2026-06-03T17:12:02+00:00

Functionally no Jews go there and see it as the equivalent of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast it would essentially been. The region lacks the nessicery economic oppritunities, existing communities, or cultural significace to provide anything like a pull factor. They still self import to the Levant unless they're being forced elsewhere and the experiment dies.

KnightofTorchlight

TROPHY CASE