From Sea to Shining Sea

Communist-Controlled America is the name for an alternate timeline in which the United States transformed into a communist state in the early-20th century.

Points of Divergence
Multiple points in this timeline diverge from our own. However, the history of most countries in this timeline is identical to that of our timeline, even after the timeline first diverges.

China
The first point at which this alternate timeline diverges from our timeline is in 19th century China. The Guangxu Emperor drafted a reform plan, named the Hundred Days' Reform, to transform China into a constitutional monarchy. In our timeline, opposition to this reform was intense, with condemning it as too radical. This lead to the 1898 coup, in which Empress Dowager Cixi thwarted these plans and took control of the government. In this timeline, Yuan Shikai gave up support of the empress. He saw her actions as a disgrace to the honor of China and more extreme than the emperor's, and lead a new conservative movement against the empress. The opposition to the reform was much less intense than in our timeline as a result of Shikai's actions. Without his support, the coup engineered by the empress was a failure as Cixi lacked support, with Yuan convincing many conservatives to give their support to himself and the Emperor, Guangxu. Cixi was put under house arrest instead of Guangxu. The coup lead to the discrediting of conservatives, making any further attempt to stop the reform practically impossible. On September 22, 1899, the reform was completed, and China had transformed into a modern constitutional monarchy. On December 12, 1899, the first annual election was held in China, with Yuan Shikai being inaugurated as Prime Minister of China that same day. Political division lead to sections of China becoming partially self-governing "provinces" and the Chinese Federation was formed.

Russia
In December of 1904, in the Russian Empire, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant, starting what is known as the Russian Revolution of 1905. A workers' procession preceded to the Winter Palace to deliver to a petition to the Tsar. Troops guarding the palace opened fire on demonstrators in an event known as "Bloody Sunday". Workers went on strike throughout the empire and thousands of protesters died. This lead Nicholas II to create the State Duma of the Russian Empire on February 18 in 1905. On our timeline, this Duma would posses consultative powers only, which only caused civil unrest to increase and the revolution continued, ultimately ended in a victory for the Imperial Army as the revolution was ended. The Imperial Army's victory only highlighted tensions, eventually leading to the Russian Revolution and the creation of the Soviet Union. In this timeline, however, Nicholas II took inspiration from the Hundred Days' Reform when creating the Duma. The Russian Revolution of 1905 was simply known as the Russian Revolution. He drafted and ratified the Articles of Democracy, a document that turned Russia into a constitutional monarchy. A federal government structured after that of that of the United States' and of China's would take control. The Tsar would still own the territory of the Russian Empire, but would give all profits of and control over it to the Russian government. In exchange, the royal family would receive an annual salary that would allow them to continue their life of luxury in the Winter Palace. The Russian Provisional Government was set up to govern the Russian Empire's territory, with the capital moved from Saint Petersburg (which was never renamed to Petrograd) to Moscow. On June 18, Vladimir Lenin was elected as the first prime minister of Russia. Russia was renamed the "Republic of Russia", later renamed the "Democratic Republic of Russia" by Trotsky. Lenin implied socialist policies intended to help the working class. Russia industrialized, but millions did not die under the soviet polices of our timeline. The Russo-Japanese War ended much earlier than our timeline, with Lenin negotiating a cease-fire with the Japanese Emperor. Without his arrest and escape to Europe, Trotsky's relationship with Lenin never improved. Trotsky lead the Mensheviks against the Bolsheviks, leading to the rise of the Mensheviks and right-wing groups. Without the Tsar in power and the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks fighting each other for popularity, the Russian Revolution never occurred. Russia became socialist, but not communist, and was only briefly involved and World War 1.

United States
to be added