Life under Communism

Life Under Communism

If the Axis powers had won the war, we would have been living under fascism, rather than Communism, since the U.S.S.R. was on our side. If we consider living in London in a post-World War II world under fascism, it would have been completely different. Initially, the people would have continued to resist, the way that many French did during the war. London would have become heavily militarized. There would have been curfews, and gatherings in public places like squares and pubs would have been curtailed or banned outright. The city would have been badly damaged in the siege, but no rebuilding would be done as the resistance movement would be continuing to bomb Axis targets. The Tube may have been shut down or heavily militarized so that it could not be used by the resistance as a target for attack or a means of getting around town.

It is questionable whether schools would have remained open under these conditions. The occupiers would have attempted to use the schools for indoctrination purposes, not unlike what they did in the 1930s in their own countries. Most citizens of London would likely try to home school their children to avoid this indoctrination, although they would have also been compelled by law to send their children to the government schools as well.

The economy would have been ground to a halt. The occupying forces would have taken control of all key industries, and brought in many of their own people to run factories. Many facilities would have been converted to make weaponry to help defend and extend the Axis empire. Since these would be Germans, they would probably leave the breweries alone. Under the occupation, a puppet government would have been installed, like the Vichy government in France. Political power would be granted on the basis of loyalty to the regime, rather than through democracy. Whereas we had the rise of the EU, a different sort of united Europe would have occurred as the fascist governments of Germany, Italy, Spain, Vichy France and the Slavic countries would have forged an alliance to defend their interests.

The population of Britain and London would be much smaller today, for a couple of reasons. Many would have been killed defending the island. Many more would have fled, first to the Free Irish State and then when that was inevitably overrun many would have attempted to flee to America or Canada. While Britain today attracts millions of immigrants from around the Commonwealth, that would not be the case if the Allies had lost the war. The Commonwealth would have disintegrated, with Japan claiming the Asian territories, Germany and Italy claiming Africa, and resources from these regions used to extend the power of the Axis nations.