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I need to rant about Red World's GDR a bit.
In the Red World scenario, Germany is reunified under the GDR in 1984, during the ongoing collapse of America and after several landslide leftist election victories ind West Germany.
*in
Reunification includes Austria, as per directive of the European Union (makes sense in context).
There are some problems with this, however.
If you've read a bit about the economy of the GDR and its state apparatus, you'd have noticed several things:
Reunification includes Austria, as per directive of the European Union (makes sense in context).
There are some problems with this, however.
If you've read a bit about the economy of the GDR and its state apparatus, you'd have noticed several things:
1. The economy was a bit of a mess. The GDR tried several times to restructure the economy, which was generally blocked by someome in power (either the Central Committee or the Soviets), and while the had an acceptable standard of living, the didn't "take off".
*2x they
2. The state was highly focused on maintaining Stalinism (not in name, but you get the point), so much that they blocked even Soviet reform attempts (e. g. Chrushchev).
3. Late GDR state funding was largely dependent on the West.
The "Kommerzielle Koordinierung"
2. The state was highly focused on maintaining Stalinism (not in name, but you get the point), so much that they blocked even Soviet reform attempts (e. g. Chrushchev).
3. Late GDR state funding was largely dependent on the West.
The "Kommerzielle Koordinierung"
, short KoKo (Commercial Coordination) was a state organ that was tasked with getting as many Western funds as possible by all means necessary.
This included but wasn't limited to:
Reselling North Korean or Vietnamese goods under German labels.
Getting Western companies to
This included but wasn't limited to:
Reselling North Korean or Vietnamese goods under German labels.
Getting Western companies to
outsource to the east (e. g. Ikea).
Selling prisoners to West Germany.
Let's think of these as three central problems.
1. Missing dynamics.
2. Thick head.
3. Foreign funding.
Selling prisoners to West Germany.
Let's think of these as three central problems.
1. Missing dynamics.
2. Thick head.
3. Foreign funding.
Let's try to fit this into Red World.
1 and 3 go hand in hand.
Since Western funds would slowly dry up during the collapse of American influence, the KoKo could've managed to maintain some funds by lowering prices of exports. Since this wouldn't be a permanent solution,
1 and 3 go hand in hand.
Since Western funds would slowly dry up during the collapse of American influence, the KoKo could've managed to maintain some funds by lowering prices of exports. Since this wouldn't be a permanent solution,
some economic restructuring would've been deemed necessary (think private business under Dengism), although Honecker would probably focus on getting more Soviet funds.
Remember that the GDR's economy worked, just not on a Western level.
What about 2?
Remember that the GDR's economy worked, just not on a Western level.
What about 2?
The problem with a thick head is self explanatory.
Honecker wouldn't have reformed by himself, and would need to be replaced.
As Red World has Hans Modrow in charge in 2010, who OTL was kind of a moderate, so I guess reform of the state is a possibility.
Honecker wouldn't have reformed by himself, and would need to be replaced.
As Red World has Hans Modrow in charge in 2010, who OTL was kind of a moderate, so I guess reform of the state is a possibility.
On the contrary, reform would be necessary to not immediately anger the new citizenry, since the GDR is outnumbered and can't just wait for resistance to cease like West Germany did OTL.
Cont. when I catch a break.
Cont. when I catch a break.
And I don't mean reform in a DemSoc sense, I am talking about decentralizing the state (to some extent) and at least pretending to care about citizen's opinions.
This is the administrative division of the GDR. It contained roughly 16 million people in 1990.
This is the administrative division of the current federal republic, with the new states (former GDR) highlighted.
Not only is Western Germany much larger, it also contained around 63 million people in 1990.
Not only is Western Germany much larger, it also contained around 63 million people in 1990.
Which means we have a glaring issue:
Size, both in area and population.
When OTL Reunification happened, it instantly crashed Germany's economy.
While I doubt such a collapse would happen to the GDR (since the economy was dependent on the state), these issues would result in
Size, both in area and population.
When OTL Reunification happened, it instantly crashed Germany's economy.
While I doubt such a collapse would happen to the GDR (since the economy was dependent on the state), these issues would result in
a much, much slower assimilation/integration of the West.
So what does one do?
The GDR, unwilling to "liberalize" it's core territory would most likely do the following things:
1. Appoint a more "moderate" dude-in-chief (like Modrow as Prime Minister) to save face.
So what does one do?
The GDR, unwilling to "liberalize" it's core territory would most likely do the following things:
1. Appoint a more "moderate" dude-in-chief (like Modrow as Prime Minister) to save face.
2. Go a little softer on direct measures like Stasi abduction, but keep the surveillance.
3. Use collaborators to slowly transform the Western states into a more socialist model.
This would mean that the Western states would be more or less autonomous.
3. Use collaborators to slowly transform the Western states into a more socialist model.
This would mean that the Western states would be more or less autonomous.
Example flag of Schleswig-Holstein under GDR transitional authority, courtesy of 5 minutes in GIMP.
(I'll be honest, I just made this thread to post this. It was a funny idea.)
(I'll be honest, I just made this thread to post this. It was a funny idea.)
