Argue pointlessly with Al about history and so on

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Seen Mikado's excellent new thread? This is the dark side. Mention a historical topic or question of interest to you, and I'll happily argue with you about it until I get bored or you run off crying. My main interest is in what used to be called social history, but there's nothing I would rule out starting a meaningless internet fight over.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Why was the German working class so pro-Nazi?

[MalaspinaGold]

Was Operation Anvil Dragoon justified?

[The Mikado]

Why was the German working class so pro-Nazi?

Pre- or post-the Nazi takeover in 1933?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Why was the German working class so pro-Nazi?

LOL

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What might a William Morris Government have looked like, and under what circumstances would it have fallen? (I'm honestly not sure if I intend this to be a joke question or a serious albeit extremely far-fetched hypothetical.)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Though actually there were working class areas where the Nazis polled very well; the classic examples are the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland in Saxony, which were depressed rural-industrial (mostly textiles) regions, without much in the way of trade union strength or SPD organisation.* And as this was before the mechanisation of agriculture all of those little Lutheran villages in North Germany were full of agricultural labourers and many obviously voted Nazi.

_{*There was also strong KPD support in much of the area, giving 1930s election results a rather... apocalyptic look.}

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What might a William Morris Government have looked like,

Brief.

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Some kind of Zinoviev Letter type situation.

[bore]

Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman were great historians, and Time on the Cross is the best work written on slavery. Discuss.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What might a William Morris Government have looked like,

Brief.

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Some kind of Zinoviev Letter type situation.

That's about what I would have expected, yeah.

[afleitch]

Was the move towards gas central heating propogated by well meaning Labour led local authorities and Labour governments in the 1970's partly reponsible for the halving of coal production by the mid 1980's leading the the pit closure programme?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Why was the German working class so pro-Nazi?

LOL

You said you wanted pointless argument.

[beaver2.0]

What if the Hittite Socialist Peoples Republic (HSPP) was the worlds dominant power?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

What if Bolivia used their vast navy to re-establish the Incan empire?

[Cranberry]

Though actually there were working class areas where the Nazis polled very well; the classic examples are the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland in Saxony, which were depressed rural-industrial (mostly textiles) regions, without much in the way of trade union strength or SPD organisation.* And as this was before the mechanisation of agriculture all of those little Lutheran villages in North Germany were full of agricultural labourers and many obviously voted Nazi.

_{*There was also strong KPD support in much of the area, giving 1930s election results a rather... apocalyptic look.}

Is this just me, or does any one else find it ironic that exactly the areas you mentioned are the strongest areas for the NPD today?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman were great historians, and Time on the Cross is the best work written on slavery. Discuss.

Shut your whore mouth.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Was the move towards gas central heating propogated by well meaning Labour led local authorities and Labour governments in the 1970's partly reponsible for the halving of coal production by the mid 1980's leading the the pit closure programme?

It was clearly partly responsible for the declining market share of coal and for subsequent declines in production (along with various other factors). Which means that it would have been responsible (in a hypothetical past-future) for another round of 'rationalisation' in the coal industry (i.e. 'strategic' pit closures and the running down of older coalfields; as happened in the 1960s) at some point in the latter half of the 1980s. But the actual pit closure programme was mostly political (rather than economic) in motivation; the aim being to take effective control of electricity generation out of the hands of a trade union that was notably hostile to the Conservative Party. Of course you could argue - and there were those in the NUM who did - that the path to the destruction of the coal industry was made easier by the movement towards gas central heating and towards a larger nuclear sector. There's something to this, but I tend to think that it's important not to lose sight of the political impetus.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Though actually there were working class areas where the Nazis polled very well; the classic examples are the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland in Saxony, which were depressed rural-industrial (mostly textiles) regions, without much in the way of trade union strength or SPD organisation.* And as this was before the mechanisation of agriculture all of those little Lutheran villages in North Germany were full of agricultural labourers and many obviously voted Nazi.

_{*There was also strong KPD support in much of the area, giving 1930s election results a rather... apocalyptic look.}

Is this just me, or does any one else find it ironic that exactly the areas you mentioned are the strongest areas for the NPD today?

Is 'ironic' really the word you're looking for?

[Cranberry]

Though actually there were working class areas where the Nazis polled very well; the classic examples are the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland in Saxony, which were depressed rural-industrial (mostly textiles) regions, without much in the way of trade union strength or SPD organisation.* And as this was before the mechanisation of agriculture all of those little Lutheran villages in North Germany were full of agricultural labourers and many obviously voted Nazi.

_{*There was also strong KPD support in much of the area, giving 1930s election results a rather... apocalyptic look.}

Is this just me, or does any one else find it ironic that exactly the areas you mentioned are the strongest areas for the NPD today?

Is 'ironic' really the word you're looking for?

I suppose you know what I mean...

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What, in as much detail as you care to give, were the cultural, artistic, and religious policies, if any, of Red Vienna like?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A more detailed answer will eventually emerge, but one little anecdote arguably says more than an essay could: a question that was seriously debated amongst Social Democrats in the city was whether a Beethoven symphony was a socialist work if it was performed by a workers orchestra.

[DC Al Fine]

Why were the UK Liberals so incompetent?

[politicus]

Why did the ruling elite in Britain allow democracy to prevail?

[Yeahsayyeah]

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They are not. Vogtland had the smallest NPD percentages of a Landkreis in the state election of 2009. Erzgebirge is mixed. Best NPD results are in the Sächsische Schweiz, which really is a rural, formerly industrialized region, Eastern Saxony (Upper Lusatia) that never was a real SPD or KPD stronghold in the first place and around Großenhain, which is rural and quite remote.

[CatoMinor]

Historically which voting block has had more political clout in Wales, miners or sheep?