San Francisco, USA

By Junior Remy Haring

In a series of stories told from multiple perspectives from all over the world– collectively known as the Kaiserreich Files (inspired by the titular mod for Hearts of Iron IV), blogger Remy Haring explores an alternate history, one in which the Central Powers won the First World War.

November 3, 1936

A deeply unpopular president, two economic crashes and new, extremist parties that could very well win the election–What could go wrong? I muttered while on the way to the ballot box. The sky was a deep gray with the Golden Gate Bridge towering over the great city. On those Victorian-style apartments that San Francisco was famous for were signs and banners for the various candidates. One banner read, “Every man a king! Huey Long ‘36” and another read, “Join the one big union! Bill Haywood ‘36.” Everywhere I went, I saw signs promoting every candidate but Herbert Hoover – our Current President. I even saw a few signs promoting the far right Old Democrat Party (ODP).

With the Great Depression and the subsequent Black Monday, both the Democratic and Republican parties have been competing with new, rising radical parties. The America First Party, led by Huey Long, has developed a stranglehold in the impoverished Midwest and promotes everyone having the basic goods they need. It’s a party that wants to enforce a wealth ceiling. However, they have been criticized for their populist, authoritarian rhetoric. The Socialist Party led by Bill Haywood wants to make America a Syndicalist nation not unlike the UK or France. They are really popular in the Rust Belt. The far right ODP led by William Murray preaches agrarianism, ultranationalism and white supremacy. For the most part they are popular in the Deep South. “Yep…” I thought to myself, “…our country is screwed.”

Outside the ballot box, there was a fist fight between two campaigners: one loyal to Huey Long, and the other was for Bill Haywood. A middle-aged man who looked like he just left his job as a day laborer spat on the Huey Long campaigner before entering the building. As I approached the building, there were campaigners desperately trying to make people change their vote at the last minute. Some teenager wearing a French beret basically forced a pin for the Socialist Party in my hand. The pin had the red and black anarchist flag with the One Big Union motto. Unsurprisingly, there was no one campaigning for Hoover at all.

As I was filling out my ballot for Huey Long, I heard a massive crash followed by the twinkling sounds of shattered glass. Looking up, there was the syndicalist campaigner with a broken bottle in hand standing over the crumpled body of a campaigner for the ODP wearing a stereotypical cowboy outfit. God save America, I muttered while making my way out of the voting station.

*A slogan commonly associated with Huey Long