The ECO creates a permanent fissure with the ICA by Eden just flat out having Nasser murdered in a Suez crisis delayed to 1962 and authorising a direct invasion of the Suez and Cyrenaica as well as an Israeli absorption of the whole of the Sinai. JFK tries to get the ECO to back down by threatening sanctions and Eden not only ignores the American president but pulls ECO out of Bretton-Woods and institutes trade barriers on the US as a hostile actor while officially having the military start deploying to areas deemed to be under ICA threat along with having America's mainland now directly targeted by French and British nuclear weapons moved to Canada and the Caribbean, causing a transatlantic freeze as severe if not more so than the OTL Sino-American relationship downspiral of 2017.
Other close ICA partners like the ROC and Turkiye are also subject to economic warfare by the ECO which backs regional enemies of these partners such as the (Anglophilic Liberal) Republic of India and the Kingdom of Greece, with Turkiye in particular basically undergoing complete economic meltdown when hit with trade restrictions by British dominated Western Europe. All in all, Western Europe shifts heavily towards seeing America and its "pacific sphere" as an unruly child that needs to be humbled for gainsaying the birthplace of western civilisation and attempting to meddle in its rightful sphere of influence out of misguided idealism that fails to reckon with the realities of the old world.
This is more palatable than it would be OTL because America contributed less to Europe due to Japanese victory at Midway and the rest of 1942 leading to the US taking a "balanced front" approach and President Wheeler hurriedly disentangling the US from European affairs after WW2 to avoid potentially drawing America into another war and to also focus on Asia and Latin America which the US saw as its more proper sphere of influence. Thus America so brazenly acting against the ECO over the Suez and the Middle East as a whole is seen as a stab in the back and the US is now seen not as a co-belligerent against Communism, but merely a snake in the grass trying to revise the world order to build its own Empire like Germany and Japan before it.
Thus the largest army in the western front of a somewhat extended European theater of WW2 is actually from France which re-arms, rebuilds, and re-forms its military after its liberation during a pause in operations before the final push into Northern Italy and Germany in 1945. Restoring the honour of the French army and also meaning France is more or less fully in control of the fate of West Germany (though East Germany reaches Hamburg and Holstein due to the Soviets both doing better on the Eastern Front due to Bukharin's USSR being better prepared, stronger, and the initial German invasion not doing quite as well and also having more time due to the freeze) while Britain largely keeps the Empire intact save for the Egyptian revolution, supporting the formation of Israel, and releasing India as a neocolonial client republic while the ROC quickly backs the newly formed Pakistan.
Also Britain can elect the Monday Club tories under Patrick Wall into the Prime Minister's office, who campaign on neither dominionising nor neocolonising the British Empire as the standard Tories or the Labour Right advocate, and certainly not the shift towards a partnership of equals the labour left advocates, but reinforcing the structures of the Empire with a system of incentives, developmentalism, cultural engineering, and brute force to ensure that nobody would even want to leave the Empire. France is most likely to elect the Gaulists under Soustelle who instead advocate for a sort of French equivalent of Lusotropicalism vis a vis the African colonies, seeking to turn them French as they wish to redefine France as a Multicontinental and Multiracial French Union unified by a broader French culture.
The ICA vs ECO cold war is much more existential for the US than the OTL Cold war was by the 60s because Britain went ham on having its own independent nuclear arsenal to the point of having the biggest stockpile in the world in the 60s while America invested rather less into nukes than OTL and moves enough nukes right next to America to essentially wipe out human civilisation in the US at the first sign of America moving against the Empire. The likely seizure of American and American aligned assets in the ECO's economic sphere also brings the American post-war boom to a crashing halt while also causing an economic upset in Western Europe itself.
Patrick Wall is a very evil High Tory (not Fascist, much too anti-populist for that) diehard, but he is a very canny and cunning guy and his plan for ensuring the sun never sets on the Empire by reinforcing European imperialism, containing the Weimar Pact, and stripping America's allies away from it until its kicked back to its own shores is entirely workable. He's even willing to make some compromises like selling the Pearl River concession cities to the ROC to entice them to defect to the European bloc or at least cement the ROC choosing to favour Britain as its new partner of choice in the very likely Sino-American split and cutting deals with Peron's UNSL despite the Falklands dispute purely to further shaft the Americans in LatAm.
Emilio Mola's Pro-nazi Falangists took over Spain after Sanjurjo's death and turned the newly christened Third Spanish Republic into the single worst country in the world to live in. Genociding the Basque and Catalan peoples (and other minorities) in Spain so severely their cultures will probably never recover in Spain itself, rejigging the economy as a "worst of all worlds" actually existing national syndicalism that basically pleases nobody but the middle strata support base of the Falange, and joined Peron's clubhouse of Latin dictatorships; the Union of Sovereign Latin Nations (or UNSL). Which is the closest thing to a fourth power bloc in the world and represents the main holdout of the far-right; including Peron's Argentina, Stroessner's Paraguay, Ultranationalist Bolivia, Velasco's Ecuador, Jiminez's Venezuela, Trujilist Dominica, and Falangist Spain.
The UNSL is seen as a rather serious threat to America due to its encouraging of open defiance of the US in LatAm and efforts to expand in Central America and even woo Mexico to its side and courting of the remaining Pro-Chiangist members of the KMT and fairly open ambition to make Argentina a nuclear state. Enough so that the US encouraged Brazil to form the South American Treaty Organisation with Chile, Peru, and Uruguay after Argentina supported a Bolivian and Ecuadorian invasion of Peru that ripped away significant chunks of Peruvian territory in a shocking blitz of the American client state and the unexpected rout of the American trained and supplied Peruvian army. Also inviting Haiti to the ICA out of concern of a potential Dominican invasion of the country.
However the Falangist government is widely hated and the country is bound for an inevitable second spanish civil war with four combatants, the Falangist Government, Franco's (American backed) Monarchists, the Weimar pact backed Communists, and the ECO (especially French) backed Republicans. Everyone's just waiting for Mola to snuff it to make their move against the most widely despised regime in Europe.
Closer to home, France withdrew from Indochina after deeming it impossible to hold it due to active Soviet and American interference with its efforts to maintain the country, and it split into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (under Ho Chi Minh), the Kingdom of Laos, and the Kingdom of Cambodia. Vietnam is close to the Democratic Republic of Korea and to Dongbei but has tense relations with the ROC which, along with America, supports the Kingdom of Thailand which is under military regime personnel who were once loyal to Japan when Thailand was an ally of the Empire in the war. Sarit Thanarat is a fanatical anti-communist and a Thai irredentist and is willing to invade through Neutral Laos and pro-ECO Cambodia to conquer Vietnam if he has to.
Last update on Burma had it be a pro-soviet Left Wing Nationalist government and one of Vietnam's other friends in the region and a check on Thailand's military ambitions liable to set the whole of mainland southeast Asia ablaze. Thailand is basically an ICA client, and its military is American trained, equipped, funded, and styled. However the ROC's backing of Thailand means that its very widely disliked in Southeast Asia due to Thailand being so nakedly aggressive.
The Congo Crisis will also likely explode into war between a popular front of WEIPAC supported leftists and ICA backed republicans against the ECO supported Belgian government. And there's other crises in the 60s such as the Nasserite coup in Syria and the subsequent invasion of Pro-Israeli Lebanon, the Republican revolution in Iraq, a Cuban revolution, Revolutionary Nicaragua spreading the spirit of Sandino, the ongoing Indonesian Civil War, the potential for yet another Indo-Pakistani war as Pakistan is still furious about losing Bangladesh in the last one and India wants to retake Kashmir, and perhaps most seriously the likelihood of a SATO-UNSL war which can very easily be a WW1 level catastrophe for the South American continent. And if it ends in total Peronist victory would lead to an entire continent being reshaped to the whims of a parasocial autocrat with governments handpicked by Argentina in its bid to be recognised as the fourth leader of the world.
It seems our rate of progress shall be steady rather than radical - this is fine, for now at least. Building a socialist economy more responsive to the needs of the workers is always a good thing.
Further details for the thread about TRO that I think are going to be important to know.
Unlike OTL, America has to go through with operation Downfall thanks to reduced progress with the atomic bomb on account of reduced Anglo-American cooperation as well as Japan doing better against America in the Pacific War but less well against the UK. The invasion extends the war by about a year, during which the Soviets punch through Dongbei and Korea while the British and Dutch re-invade Indonesia as the final act of the second world war.
The experience of having to invade Japan leads to the US purging basically everyone who was anyone in the Taisei Yokusankai and force Hirohito to abdicate and pass his throne to one of his sons so Japan has a very different political makeup. For one thing, due to not feeling as threatened by the Soviets in the pacific, they're willing to let the Japan Socialist Party under Asanuma take the premiership as he has in the 60s, though the country is under formal occupation to the present which has become a contentious issue in both America and Japan.
Korea meanwhile, is liberated under a Soviet friendly but officially neutral Democratic Republic that essentially helps provide access to the global market even in the face of trade barriers as the cold war begins. The current ruling coalition of Korea includes communists and socialists allied to the Left-Wing Populist People's Party, but the country is not considered a DotP and is not a member of the Weimar Pact. Its also much more prosperous than OTL Korea due to being unified and not being reduced to rubble in the 50s nor having to spend so much of their economies on the military.
The war in Europe also goes on a bit longer due to the WAllies and Soviets choosing to consolidate their gains more often in the later phase of the war, including a nearly year long pause in western offensive operations with a second "phony war" to rebuild the French army to provide the bulk of the divisions that end up being used for the invasion of Germany and to try and make more progress in Italy as the Red army sweeps through the balkans.
In this timeline, the finnish reds win the civil war, so the USSR has the Socialist Worker's Republic of Finland assisting it from the start of the war, ensuring Leningrad is never properly put to siege and tying down German divisions in Norway before contributing to the push in eastern Europe. This, along with not purging the military at the worst possible time as well as Bukharin's more cleanly managed economic policy allows the USSR to perform better against Germany and Italy, While Wheeler is less generous with lend lease than Roosevelt was OTL, the British and Soviets are better able to handle the war without it.
Hitler flees from the fall of Berlin to try and continue the war from Weimar, only to be captured by Soviet forces in early 1946 and subject to trial by the Allies where he rejects his lawyer as a Jewish plant and tries to argue in his own defence...which goes poorly and ends in him being hanged until dead after declaring "Germans, here I stand!".
The last stage of the war in Asia was essentially the big three all dogpiling onto different areas of the Japanese Empire, with the British lifting the siege of Singapore and retaking Southeast Asia as well as the aforementioned invasion of Indonesia, America striking the Japanese home islands, and the Soviets destroying the IJA in China and Korea.
The Berlin blockade ends in the fall of west Berlin, which along with Konrad Adenauer being assassinated by a German Communist leads to West Germany being both virulently anticommunist and losing its main advocate for good ties with America in the face of continually deteriorating relations between Europe and the US over repeated clashes over colonial and economic policy. This assassination also is what kills Charles de Gaulle, leaving the French Gaulists rudderless enough for Guy Mollet to further extend his tenure as President.
Unlike OTL, Britain never joins the European Economic Community, instead pursuing greater ties with the dominion, the empire, and assorted British client states to keep them in Britain's economic sphere and to repel what is already seen as unwanted American influence. This leaves France to have more or less total control over the EEC, where their economies, especially that of Italy and doubly especially West Germany, are tooled around French interests. The West German and IIRC, Italian Armies also have to send their officers to be trained in France to ensure compatability with French doctrine/French control over their armed forces.
France in reality, is a sort of ersatz federation with full control over the economies and militaries of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, and West Germany as well as French and Belgian Africa and heavy influence over Lebanon, Israel, Cambodia, and the United States of Indonesia. France has never been so powerful over European affairs since the time of Napoleon, and many in France dream of a French dominated "guided" European Federation.
Britain meanwhile still rules a third of Africa from Sudan to the Cape, much of the OTL gulf states, and innumerable islands outright, has deep control over the major dominions of South Africa, Canada, the West Indies Federation, Australia, New Zealand, and Malysia, and counts Hashemite Iraq and Jordan, South Iran, Colombia, Uruguay, Norway, Portugal, India, Ethiopia, and Somalia as deeply ensnared client states. And with the oil boom in its arab gulf states as well as controlling BP interests in Canadian, Caribbean, Malaysian, North Sea, and South Iranian Oil the Petropound is very real and can hurt you.
This is also a source of frustration for the US as its inroads to trying to dominate trade in the British territories and Europe repeatedly get stonewalled, along with clearly irreconcilable goals for Southeast Asia and the Middle East where their spheres overlap. It isn't a single fit of pique by the British, but a long road of increasing deterioration in relations over imperial friction despite the efforts of Atlanticists to kindle a special relationship until eventually the two accept that the others are rivals for the leadership of global capital and that there can ultimately only be one world hegemon and go their separate ways.
Also something I just realized, the way Spartakad describes it at least, it's pretty cool how the Anglo-French are framed as the big bad. If this mod was made ten years ago, I damn well know it would treat the Soviets as the ultimate evil, the countries who were plundering other lands as completely innocent, and there would be options to make the locals love being colonized.
I believe the original idea for the mod was something in that vein, with it being a doubleblind TNO "what if the allies won" which, among other things had a 'Burgundian System but Red' ideology that I am glad to say I don't remember the name of. Thankfully, either they changed their tune or people who haven't had their brains completely eaten by anticommunist brainworms took over the development (Can't remember which tbh) and decided to instead explore a more believable outcome to the interwar lore set out by TNO.
I believe the original idea for the mod was something in that vein, with it being a doubleblind TNO "what if the allies won" which, among other things had a 'Burgundian System but Red' ideology that I am glad to say I don't remember the name of. Thankfully, either they changed their tune or people who haven't had their brains completely eaten by anticommunist brainworms took over the development (Can't remember which tbh) and decided to instead explore a more believable outcome to the interwar lore set out by TNO.
I'm glad, because I don't think that's what double blind means unless this was the perspective of a guy in-universe that thinks the TNO Soviets would've been just as bad as the Nazis.
I believe the original idea for the mod was something in that vein, with it being a doubleblind TNO "what if the allies won" which, among other things had a 'Burgundian System but Red' ideology that I am glad to say I don't remember the name of. Thankfully, either they changed their tune or people who haven't had their brains completely eaten by anticommunist brainworms took over the development (Can't remember which tbh) and decided to instead explore a more believable outcome to the interwar lore set out by TNO.
I believe the moment the team started digging in archives for info on wars of independence and got into British and French War crimes they knew they had to pivot to the ECO being the central antagonist.
I believe the moment the team started digging in archives for info on wars of independence and got into British and French War crimes they knew they had to pivot to the ECO being the central antagonist.
In terms of geopolitical role and overall feel, the ECO and ICA split aspects of the EINPAK and CPS between them, though the ECO is rather unique in that its an alliance between two relatively equal powers.
The Weimar Pact is in terms of gameplay feel and geopolitical position, meant to be closest to the OFN. Seemingly the most contained at the start but the most stable and with the most room to grow.
The news of Chairman Zhang stepping from his venerable position were hardly surprised to the party or the people; the man who had led the Chinese Soviet Republic through its turbulent first decade of life and the trials of forging a socialist state had lost most of his vitality and vigor as the rigors of statecraft wore him down along with old age.
That Hua Guofeng had been chosen to replace him was likewise expected; the long march veteran was well respected within the party's ranks even if he was a relatively obscure figure to the people (who received the news of his ascension with either muted hope or apathy) and was seen as a moderate on most issues whose leadership could mend the simmering the divisions within the CPC without being too much of a radical that he may threaten to unravel the dream of Chinese socialism. Though the militarists and the radicals silently fume over their loss, for now they are content to work with the new chairman until the chance arises to take full power for themselves.
But the new chairman was not a man who was going to let the opinions and ideas of others define his tenure and behind the relatively unassuming persona and mundane plans are dreams of a splendorous future for the CSR as a land of red plenty where disease and need have been banished to the dustbin of industry, a realm of marvelous industry and production that will be the envy of not only socialist states but every nation in the globe and the forging of a nation that will not only liberate all of China one day but perhaps all of Asia as well.
But as the new leader of the breakaway state sat down in his new office, looking over the veritable mountain of paperwork and reports that filled every inch of it these dreams seemed like mirages blown away by the cold hard reality. But he was unfettered, for all great things must start small…
| And he was no stranger to long marches |
Economic planning
The economy may not be everything in life, but it comes close enough that it often may as well be. While the soviet republic has achieved much, much more needs to be done before it can truly live up to its potential as a citadel of modernity to put its stumbling southern rival to shame. With the vision of Chairman Hua and his faction in the CPC being primarily focused on such matters it is only natural that tackling the hidden but insidious flaws within the red Chinese economic engine.
Industrial efficiency: While the heavy industry of the CSR is nothing to sneeze at, the nation is the second largest producer of steel in the entire Weimar Pact (with the USSR being at the helm of course), it is quite clear from both official reports and more "discreet" methods of information gathering that even this prized sector of the Chinese economy is not without its fair share of flaws and inefficiencies; such as frequent delays in raw material delivery, under or overreporting of production metrics for myriad perverse incentives, certain factories lacking more modern technology and so on and so on. This is an unacceptable status quo and something must be done; the only question is what? Some suggestions have been put forward in the supreme soviet.
Choose 1
[ ] Top-down approach: Many believe that the obvious solution is a series of aggressive state interventions and anti-corruption campaigns to streamline the production process, institute more effective management techniques and set up more efficient systems of inter-industry communication and accountability, all while keeping a closer eye on things in case any unforeseen issues pop up.
This is a relatively mundane and uncontroversial solution that will be relatively simple to gain support for but will take up a significant chunk of the party's resources, focus, and best cadres to see through, and may leave the state apparatus vulnerable to other unforeseen problems.
(This option will take 3 years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the Bukharinist faction of the CPC.)
[ ] Limited-Worker-input approach: Some within the party suggest a different approach, believing that the state is under-utilizing one of its most abundant and supposedly treasured resources: the very proletariat it claims to be fighting for. The CSR is home to many union organizations under the aegis of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and while the organization is a largely vestigial rubber stamp for the Harbin Soviet, they believe that the organization and the unions under its umbrella could be empowered to have a bigger role in managing and streamlining the processes of production and industry, with even ordinary workers being given a voice whenever possible.
Such an approach would lighten the burden off the party and the Central Soviet and allow it to focus on other matters but understandably many are wary of relinquishing any degree of control over the most vital sector of the economy, citing fears of sabotage, reactionary infiltration and exacerbation of the very problems that led to this debate; and that's without the potential for empowering the radicals within the CPC and potentially alienating the very Bukharinists who empowered Hua in the first place.
(This option will take 4 years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the radical faction of the CPC.)
[ ] Cybernetic approach: A small but loud and influential clique is proposing a third, more unconventional solution; a theory of economic management that is gaining prominence within the USSR and the Balkan Federation known as cybernetic planning which focus on establishing effective systems of feedback communication and holistic planning among other technical jargon; an approach that might have been simply ignored had it not managed to surprisingly gain the support of many within the militarist clique, who wish to import and implement this theory for military purposes but are willing to acquiesce to civilian use as well so long as the importation of experts and know-how is greenlit.
The cybernetic approach promises tremendous results if it is successfully implemented but that's a big if, as it has yet to be tested on a large scale and for now remains in the domain of local experiments rather than anything nationwide and the cost and time taken to implement it is great while also empowering the militarists, that is to say nothing about the cost of failure.
(This option will take ?? years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the militarist faction of the CPC.)
[ ] Write-in
Lighten the load: While the heavy industry sector of the CSR enjoyed the party's attention and rarely had want of anything, its light industries were deemed to be of lower priority and were thus left to languish in comparison, something that the new chairman wishes to amend post haste; for while the revolution needs arms, steel, and mines to survive, it also needs textiles, processed foods, and other civilian amenities if it is to live, no matter how much the militarists would like to deny this, and there are several proposals on how to remedy this glaring flaw:
Choose 1
[ ] The Bukharinist approach: As in Moscow, so it should be in Harbin some say as they endorse a policy of allowing the development of non-existential small-medium sized industries to be placed within private hands for the time being; whether be private or cooperative ventures while the larger heavier industries remain under the preview of the state; instead of the current status quo of a messy patchwork of public-private arrangements that seem to have the benefits of neither state socialism nor capitalism.
This is a relatively uncontroversial and safe policy that will empower the Bukharinist faction, but many fear that applying a policy invented during the post-civil war USSR in China may have unforeseen consequences, and many wonder if the policy will have the same success given the Cold War atmosphere all but eliminating most avenues of foreign investment that allowed the original NEP to succeed as it did.
(This option will take 2 years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the Bukharinist faction of the CPC.)
[ ] A cooperative proposal: Others wish to take a page from the Balkan Federation's book, believing that while the NEP's approach is sound, it can be further improved upon by ensuring that the enterprises in question are wholly worker cooperatives, ensuring that the spirit of socialism is not lost even with this temporary appeasement of the market system and undermining any potential neo-bourgeois class while potentially preparing the proletariat for the task of assuming greater command of the economy one day.
Though sound in theory, many point out that the very same market mechanisms that drive capitalist accumulation in individually owned enterprises will remain even in collectively owned ones and that this approach opens the door to the workers becoming enamored with bourgeois ideals and practices while the opening the door for counterrevolution.
(This option will take 3 years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the radical faction of the CPC.)
[ ] Write-in:
Agricultural reform: Though there remain those within the party who hold onto the long-deceased Mao's dream of a revolutionary peasant class, the majority of the CPC now is a primarily industrial worker-focused organization; a fact that has resulted in the modernization of Chinese farming being a haphazard affair with equally mixed results; some regions doing well while others remain in conditions that would be familiar to their ancestors in the Qing dynasty, an unacceptable state of affairs for a forward-looking socialist state. And while the complete modernization and mechanization of agriculture is something everyone agrees on, problems arise when the question comes of how to implement that:
Choose 1
[ ] Good-old fashioned NEP: Once again there is no need to fix something that is not broken, the Bukharinists proclaim as they argue that the problem with the CSR's agricultural program is that Harbin never truly implemented its own version of the NEP, due to a combination of Soviet aid freeing them from the need to do so for the longest time and out of a misplaced fear of empowering a peasant class seen as reactionary even as land reform went into effect. The time has come to move past such fears and fully implement an NEP-inspired program in their eyes, something most don't disagree with; if only for the lack of better ideas.
(This option will take 2 years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the Bukharinist faction of the CPC.)
[ ] A more involved approach: A second smaller camp has a similar proposal, believing in a program of partial state intervention in the agricultural sector, namely through the establishment of set quotas to be taken from communal plots while allowing any surplus or private produced to be sold by farmers, all overseen by production teams hand-picked for that purpose. While a more complicated program that will take more state resources to establish and maintain, its proponents believe that it will allow the government to maintain some control over agricultural production while reaping the benefits of controlled private enterprise as well.
(This option will take 4 years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the radical faction of the CPC.)
[ ] Write-in:
The Power Struggle: The CSR, between its rapidly modernizing society and growing industry, is an absolute energy glutton and by current estimates, its current power supply will not be enough to meet the growing demand and though everyone agrees on the need to expand the country's power production, there is disagreement over which approach to take:
Choose 1
[O] The Nuclear Option [LOCKED UNTIL ???]
[ ] The Hydro-electric Option: The Dongbei region is blessed with a respectable number of rivers and bodies of water that are potential dam construction sites or already were but had fallen to neglect such as the Japanese-built Supung Dam. Exploiting the CSR's hydro-electric potential could very well help boost its power production capabilities while freeing its coal reserves for other uses (not to mention decrease the growing smog problems within the nation's urban centers) but this option will take longer to implement and will more likely than not result in the displacement of many communities, potentially empowering the opposition and angering the populace
(This option will take six years to be fully operational, will result in ??, ??, and has a chance of empowering the radical faction of the CPC.)
[ ] The Simple Option: Some believe that the solution is straightforward; at present the CSR's primary source of power is from fossil fuels, namely coal plants and the state should simply construct more of them to meet the growing power demand, taking advantage of the nation's abundant supplies and pre-existing technical expertise. Though air quality will suffer for now, that is a problem that can be resolved later when the CSR is more secure.
(This option will take 3 years to be fully operational and will result in ??, ?? and has a chance of empowering the Bukharinist faction of the CPC)
[ ] Ask for help: No nation is an island and while self-sufficiency would be nice, there is a reason why the Weimar Pact exists in the first place. The USSR is already producing a respectable surplus of power, and some of it may be rerouted towards helping their Chinese allies, for a price of course, but nothing in life is truly free. While clashing with the CSR's ethos of pursuing self-sufficiency, this option would provide the fastest way of expanding the nation's power grid without exerting pressure on the populace but the elephant in the room will be what the Soviets demand in return for their help, and whether the militarists will exploit this to strengthen their position.
(This option will take ?? years to be fully operational and will result in ??, ?? and has a chance of empowering the militarist faction of the CPC)
[ ] Write-in
A/N: You have 72 hours to vote, write-in plans cannot exceed 150 words. Voting is by plan only and most include all four pillars. All plans can only include one non-Bukharinst empowering option.
[X] Plan: Mostly Orthodox -[X] Top-down approach
-[X] A cooperative proposal
-[X] Good-old fashioned NEP
-[X] The Simple Option
Mostly going for options that would satisfy the moderate Bukharinists who placed Guofeng in power in the first place. Largely sticking with the NEP but expanding the role of cooperatives in the economy.
The way I'm reading this, we functionally have four concerns we're balancing: Faction Power, Time to Complete, Administrative Strain, Potential for Counter-Revolution.
I offer two plans. One which seeks speed above all else, and hopes that improvements to the country will help everyone see that it was fine and necessary; and one which seeks to balance faction power and administrative strain, leaving time to complete and potential for counterrevolution as secondary concerns that the party can address at needs be.
[ ] Plan On Your Marx, Get Set, Go!:
-[ ] Top-down approach
-[ ] The Bukharinist approach
-[ ] Good-old fashioned NEP
-[ ] The Simple Option
This plan will result in the dominance of the Bukharinist faction, and will stretch our administrative capabilities, and will almost certainly have unintended negative consequences in the long term. It will also see our economy kickstarted in 3 years and leave us with both a powerful economy and a united party to deal with said consequences.
[ ] Plan Walk Together and Move with Purpose
-[ ] Cybernetic approach
-[ ] The Bukharinist approach
-[ ] Good-old fashioned NEP
-[ ] The Hydro-electric Option
This plan is slower, and will take 6-??? years to fully implement, and involves the gamble that is cybernetics. It also sees each faction given significant concessions. The radicals will see the smog clear. The militarists will have their imported experts. The Bukharinists will have the majority of their wishes granted. None of the options given have mentioned significant strain on the state apparatus.
Personally, my vote goes to [X] Plan Walk Together and Move with Purpose
Made some plans. Realized that the initial ones are Bukharinist or even majority Bukharinist. Decided to post them here anyway.
[ ] Plan: Radicalism with a hint of Militarism
-[ ] Cybernetic approach:
-[ ] A cooperative proposal:
-[ ] A more involved approach:
-[ ] The Hydro-electric Option:
The "what I want but I am not sure if it should win because we are snubbing our political base" plan.
Edit:
And because it's also an invalid plan.
[X] Plan: Radicalism with a hint of Bukharinism
-[X] Limited-Worker-input approach:
-[X] A cooperative proposal:
-[X] A more involved approach:
-[X] The Simple Option:
I decided to put the workers at the center of this plan with the exception of the differing agricultural policy.
Edit:
Invalid plan.
[X] Plan: Bukharinism with some appeasement
-[X] Cybernetic approach:
-[X] A cooperative proposal:
-[X] Good-old fashioned NEP:
-[X] The Simple Option:
[X] Plan: Mostly Orthodox
I sort-of want to gamble the dice regarding cybernetics, even if it's incredibly risky because I am not certain that Dongbei has the communications and computing tech for it. We are a worker's republic, let us give workers a say in their working conditions. NEP because I view this as a concession to the Bukharinists. Decided that having Electricity now is more important than having Clean Electricity later.
Edit:
Decided that empowering the workers is a bigger priority than gambling with Cybernetics.
I think cybernetics in 1962 is a mistake. The technology to really make it effective isn't mature yet. In that case, we should probably take the ask for help power option since we really ought to throw the militarists a bone so they don't coup us.
I sort-of want to gamble the dice regarding cybernetics, even if it's incredibly risky because I am not certain that Dongbei has the communications and computing tech for it. We are a worker's republic, let us give workers a say in their working conditions. NEP because I view this as a concession to the Bukharinists. Decided that having Electricity now is more important than having Clean Electricity later.
I like this plan but cybernetic is a gamble right now. Both of militarist options are gambles between time gamble or cost gamble. So I switch the gamble as especially Soviet electricity are noted to be the fastest to implement.
[X] Plan: Bukharinist International Cooperation
-[X] Top-Down approach:
-[X] A cooperative proposal:
-[X] Good-old fashioned NEP:
-[X] Ask for help:
