Ch.150Black Thursday

# The Great Depression Looms Over Russia

Russia was in the midst of an automobile craze just before the Great Depression hit.

Recently, news headlines exclaiming “The Tsar himself drives this car!” had caused sales to skyrocket.

“A car driven by His Imperial Majesty the Tsar himself! A perfect domestically-produced automobile! Shouldn’t every Russian own one?”

“WOW! Automobiles!”

Cars were selling like hotcakes.

Though not yet at the export stage, the automobile business was progressing exactly as Anastasia had envisioned.

Especially effective was Alexei Gastev’s new propaganda poster—an image of Anastasia as a giant goddess bestowing cars upon the Russian people.

That alone was enough.

Meanwhile, as other countries observed Russia preparing for the predicted Great Depression, they all had similar thoughts:

“They predicted the Great Depression, yet Russia is just having fun selling cars?”

“Isn’t it just a lie? If an economic crisis really comes, would the Tsar be living so comfortably?”

“Surely not. America couldn’t possibly…?”

Except for economists, prominent tycoons and high-ranking officials from various countries deliberately ignored the warnings.

If a world-shaking economic crisis were to occur, their own positions wouldn’t be particularly secure either.

They hoped it wouldn’t happen, but while watching Russia’s situation, they noticed that Russia itself wasn’t preparing for the Depression first but was instead focusing on the automobile business.

Especially in America, they dismissed it as nonsense from an anti-communist Tsar—but soon came to regret their attitude.

Finally, the inevitable arrived.

The American-born Great Depression had finally erupted.

“Ahhh! My stocks!”

“The stock market is collapsing!”

The economic crisis began in September 1929 and culminated on October 24, known as Black Thursday, with the collapse of the Wall Street stock market.

Factories and businesses were devastated, the stock market collapsed, and many Americans, caught completely off guard, fell to their knees.

“Son, my hometown is actually a river. I must return to the river.”

“Father!”

Investors increasingly expressed that their hometown was “the river” as they jumped into rivers, while those who still wanted to live somehow endured through the depression.

America’s gross domestic product plummeted mercilessly.

Both great powers and poor nations suffered tremendous damage without distinction.

International trade fell below 50% of previous levels. The United States, which had inherited the position of hegemon from the British Empire after the Great War, saw unemployment rise to 23%, and other countries fared even worse.

Many cities dependent on heavy industry worldwide were severely impacted.

Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon prioritized restructuring and balanced budgets, insisting that investment responsibility fell on individuals while the government would not intervene.

This briefly prevented economic bubbles and reckless borrowing for investments, but as deflation became prolonged, ordinary people couldn’t afford to buy food.

“Haha. We’re ruined.”

President Herbert Hoover dismissed Andrew Mellon, but it was already too late.

France, a great power that had returned to the gold standard after World War I, also suffered damage.

The damage was somewhat less severe because many people had died in the war, but that didn’t mean there was no damage at all.

Unlike in the original history, Britain had not returned—actually, they had returned to the gold standard.

“We need to prepare for the Great Depression!”

“We aren’t wealthy enough to prepare for a Depression that hasn’t even happened yet.”

“We followed the Treasury Secretary’s advice and were lenient with Germany, and look what happened! Don’t change your tune now—let’s stick with the gold standard.”

Churchill staked his political career on a gamble, urging abandonment of the gold standard to prepare for the Depression, but the Baldwin cabinet found Churchill’s position puzzling.

After all, hadn’t he advocated for the gold standard before changing his mind?

Considering Churchill’s track record (Mr. Gallipoli, Save Germany), the cabinet was honestly reluctant to listen to him.

“Isn’t it just a temporary economic crisis?”

Britain only realized the severity after it hit, and only Churchill, who had insisted on abandoning the gold standard, criticized the incompetent cabinet.

“What did I expect from people who bow to communists? Since it’s happened anyway, let’s change our approach.”

“Ahem. The Treasury Secretary suggests we must maintain our colonies while solving the Depression, but ultimately there’s no way to do that.”

The Depression’s impact made maintaining colonies a significant challenge.

The Prime Minister had planned to consolidate internally, but Churchill had different ideas.

“Our British Empire has many colonies.”

“The problem is having to manage those colonies during this difficult Depression.”

“Why do we have colonies? We should squeeze the colonies dry to solve the Depression. That way, colonies already infected with communism will find it difficult to rise up.”

Churchill, an imperialist, suggested solving the Depression by exploiting and tightening control over the colonies.

This wasn’t much of a solution, but the British Empire, whose colonial management was already disrupted by communist Germany, had little choice.

After all, they had to maintain the authority of the British Empire.

If they focused internally to prepare for the Depression, communist Germany would surely mock them, and seeing Britain falter, the colonies might rise up.

So they needed to wring the colonies dry like a rag, squeezing out every last drop.

Naturally, Churchill’s proposal was too outrageous to be accepted by the cabinet.

However, the cabinet couldn’t offer any better solutions either.

For now, they planned to address the colonies most affected by the Depression, monitor the situation in neighboring countries impacted by the Depression, and then develop countermeasures.

Meanwhile, Germany and Italy were spared damage due to the characteristics of communism.

“Look! See how imperialism struggles in the Depression!”

“Communism is the path to happiness for all!”

“Communism was right all along!”

After the Depression hit, seeing neighboring Germany unaffected, the communes in France became increasingly agitated.

France had a love-hate relationship with Germany through the Napoleonic Wars, the Franco-Prussian War, and the Great War.

Now that Germany had undergone a communist revolution and was behaving recklessly, yet standing firm during the Depression, even French citizens who had little affection for Germany outside the communes began to take notice.

In other words, they started developing favorable attitudes toward communism.

“How can this be! The Russian Tsarina’s prophecy was true!”

The French government tried to prevent French people from being swayed by communist Germany by reporting on other countries’ situations in newspapers, advertising that France was relatively better off.

“So what! It only seems less affected by the Depression because we suffered so much in the war!”

The response from the French people, who were on the verge of turning communist, was cold.

Of course, the cognitive dissonance that the German Empire had caused that war damage was notable.

By this point, everyone recalled one thing:

The Tsarina’s prophecy.

That an American-born Great Depression would bring crisis to the entire world.

Although Anastasia had only broadcast this via radio within Russia, those who had previously dismissed it as nonsense changed their minds when the Depression began.

Some countries had scoffed that it would just be a brief economic crisis, but once it actually hit, they began to pay attention to Anastasia.

“Is the Tsarina truly a saint sent by God?”

After all, her prophecy had come true precisely.

Japan in particular—where Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) had died in 1926 as Anastasia predicted—had not anticipated the economic depression and considered the Tsarina’s warnings to be exaggerated and limited to Russia, resulting in significant damage.

And Russia, now the focus of everyone’s attention…

“Huh, why is everyone committing suicide and becoming unemployed?”

…was surprisingly resilient.

Russia had been directly planning consumption and production for national reconstruction and capacity building.

The state had implemented various initiatives based on Anastasia’s principles.

“Oh, Tsarina.”

“The Tsarina watches over us! Unlike other countries, we are intact!”

“Only our Russia remains unscathed from the clutches of communism!”

Unlike Nicholas II, who had promptly shot protesters begging for help, Anastasia enjoyed unprecedented public adoration due to her achievements, foresight, war hero status—popularity incomparable to that of tsars during the imperial era.

Since the civil war, reforms and various projects had accumulated wealth. Money earned this way, combined with the Romanovs’ enormous fortune, was used to squeeze the nobility instead of the people. Roads and railways, neglected since imperial times, were repaired to ensure smooth logistics.

The entire nation united under the Tsarina.

People accustomed to government oppression since Nicholas II’s time could endure the Depression’s effects, which turned out to be less severe than expected.

What would later be called the Second Five-Year Reform was essentially initiated for Russia’s growth during the Depression. Even before the Depression, Russia had built railways and roads for development, constructed various infrastructure, and mandated employment of the unemployed.

In other words, large-scale public works created jobs, and agricultural production was coordinated through collective farms—replacing Makhno’s peasant-beating approach.

With the state planning consumption and production, Russia initially reacted with “Oh! Depression! We’re doomed!” but continued to grow during the Depression due to ongoing projects and policies.

This was essentially a Russian New Deal policy.

Unlike France, which was teetering on the edge of communism, many countries wondered why Russia remained so stable during the Depression. They couldn’t help but admire how this was achieved through State Duma policies—essentially reforms implemented by the Tsarina.

“Russia was right!”

“Is the Tsarina truly heaven-sent for Russia? Did she prepare for everything in advance?”

“But I heard those communist bastards are copying Russia.”

The problem was that communist Germany and communist Italy had similar structures.

Russia itself was ostensibly modified capitalism, but in reality was accelerationism—Anastasia’s principle of selectively incorporating advantages from various ideologies as needed—so there was no concern about the Tsar or State Duma being labeled communist.

The Soviet Union had never been established, and communist Germany was a latecomer as the center of communism.

Unlike the original history, communist Germany’s claim to be following Russia’s system earned mockery from the Paris Commune and foreign communists.

“Is she a messiah in the lineage of David and King Solomon?”

Jews settled in Northern Manchuria, living in the only growing country in the world, couldn’t help but suddenly worship the Tsarina.

Countries under Russian influence quickly followed Russia’s example.

Notable examples included Poland, which became Russia’s second-in-command after being forced to purchase Russian weapons, Turkey led by Atatürk who believed in Anastasia, and the Kingdom of Finland, part of the Eastern Military Alliance, which had implemented reforms around the same time as Russia.

And…

A world hit by the Depression needed someone to blame.

Naturally, people couldn’t help but consider what the Tsarina had said during her broadcast about who was behind the Depression.

Of course, economists argued that there were specific causes beyond just blaming communists.

“Look, they’re saying the Depression was bound to happen anyway.”

“Are you a communist?”

“W-what?”

In the original history, the Soviet Union had been a communist model during the Depression, but here, the anti-communist United States of Russia served as that model. As this nation overcame the Depression and thrived, its Tsarina identified communists as the culprits behind the Depression.

Many countries in the world, needing someone to curse and blame during difficult times, despised communists even more.

After all, weren’t communist Germany and communist Italy following Russia’s example?

“That’s the communist way, I tell you!”

Communist Germany and communist Italy strongly objected, insisting their approach was truly communist, but their protests fell on deaf ears as they were already disliked.

Only the French communes liked them.

Britain, unable to partially follow communist Germany and communist Italy to escape the Depression, closely observed Russia’s modified capitalism. Though it hurt their pride to emulate Russia, they couldn’t follow communism, so they proudly referenced Russian policies.

Around this time, one man was exploiting the Depression.

His name was Adolf Hitler.

The National Liberal Workers’ Party was striving to become the leading party during the Depression.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Great Depression brings difficult times. Behind this Depression, as always, are the communists—the axis of evil in the world. Just look at our neighbor, communist Germany! But if we unite, we need not fear any communists! People of the Danube, let us stand together!”

“Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!”

Hitler’s National Liberal Austrian Workers’ Party borrowed Russian methods for dealing with the Depression to attract supporters. The former Austro-Hungarian constituent states—Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary (which was showing signs of rejoining the Eastern Military Alliance)—began to unite, defining the Depression as communist aggression.

A new wind was also blowing in Kentucky, United States.