Butterfly Effect
November 1932. Paris, France. A superman appeared in the French Communist Party (PCF), which had been scraping by with a mere 11% vote share in the lower ranks.
He was an extreme communist, yet at the same time, a man who drew tremendous inspiration from the neighboring country, Germany. Georges Sircson. A communist born to a Finnish father and a French mother, he had originally lived in Finland but fled to France to escape communist persecution there as an immigrant.
With his brilliant oratory and charisma, he rocketed to stardom within the PCF overnight.
"French people! With our nation divided as it is, where is our future headed? Can a country move forward when the state, the citizens, society, and politics all stare in different directions? People, unite! People, join together!"
He had been an ardent fan of Falkenrain even before this. Ideologically polar opposites, yet the man he respected most was none other than Falkenrain.
Inspired by Falkenrain's speeches, he armed himself with the same logic and rhetoric. At the same time, he pushed conspiracy theories that instantly captured the hearts of the French people.
"Do you know how many tons of gold we contributed in the gold collection drive? When the Great Depression tore our lives apart at the roots, we acted bravely to protect ourselves! So where has that national treasury gone now? While the right and left bicker, who stole that gold and ran off?"
"The Jews!"
"That's right! The Jews! The Jews are gnawing away at our lives from that vault to ruin France! Billions of francs have vanished like smoke! People, unite! Rise up, you too!"
Extreme communism laced with antisemitism. Even the failures of the gold collection drive and the Great Depression—internal French social ills—were mixed in, leaving no one able to refute Georges Sircson's claims.
Of course, his background held him back at times.
"That Sami bastard's pretending to be a true French communist. Who the hell brought that guy in?"
"Finnish scum! Get the hell out of our France!"
In the early days of the PCF, Sircson received no support from either the left or the right. But as public backing grew, his overwhelming charisma and eloquence began turning the tide.
He even forged an alliance with the military, which had shone in the Rif War, and the PCF's size swelled uncontrollably. The French branch of the Labor International (SFIO) voluntarily merged with the PCF, and various other leftist parties joined as well.
Something impossible in the original history.
"The Jews have sided with Germany and Britain! Britain is just a former friend! They're nothing but shameless mosquitoes sucking France's economy dry to grow fat! Germany, with its Jewish friends, and Britain, with its world banks and Jewish capitalists, eye France hungrily! People, unite!"
The ripple from the small flap of wings Falkenrain had created circled the world and was now altering France's fate.
Falkenrain was oblivious.
France had been noisy lately. Well, to be precise, Germany was far noisier thanks to the Enabling Act, but France had its own commotion.
I learned from the newspapers that a leftist party was gaining overwhelming support in France.
"Did all the German communists flee there or something?"
I had no idea, but it was possible. Compared to Hitler's era, I'd started crushing the German Communist Party and Social Democrats much earlier, so just as Jews fled to America, communists might have escaped to France.
But whether France leaned right or left didn't matter much. It would be a potential enemy nation down the line anyway. And no matter who held power, they couldn't dodge the six-week cut.
When internal politics descended into chaos and the economy failed to support the military, nations crumbled. History proved it time and again.
"For now, focus on domestic affairs."
March 1933. After enjoying a quiet birthday party with Catalina, I headed back to party headquarters. My son had been born, and Catalina was busier than ever, so I wanted to focus on family as much as possible... but priorities were priorities. Serving Germany came first.
Upon arriving at headquarters, I heard a brief report from Hess, then read the letter from Hjalmar Schacht to check on the New Deal's progress.
Mefo bills had stabilized as currency, and infrastructure rollout was improving national logistics distribution. Railroads and ports—key for commodity trade—were boosting Germany's price competitiveness. The stalled economy was stirring back to life.
It was only half a year into the New Deal, just the beginning, but positive reports poured in from everywhere.
"Chancellor, too many Jews are crossing from France into Germany. We lack the capacity to accommodate them."
And so, a problem arose for our smoothly sailing Germany. Jews were immigrating from France to Germany.
I naturally tilted my head.
Even if I've abandoned antisemitism, I haven't given Jews any special privileges either.
"Why are they specifically coming to Germany?"
It was puzzling.
"A man named Georges Sircson is rapidly seizing power there. It might be because of him."
"That leftist Finn?"
Georges Sircson. Honestly, I didn't know the guy. He popped up occasionally in newspapers... but I'd never heard of him in the original history, or even in my second loop.
Other than being a butterfly effect creation of mine, I had zero info. Except that he was a horrific hybrid of communism and antisemitism—I knew nothing else.
I'm gradually drifting from the history I know...
The Great Depression's aftermath was far milder than I'd expected, too. America, Britain, and France had mimicked our gold collection drive.
Like this, my butterfly effects were snowballing, smashing the future I knew.
"They say his oratory style resembles yours, Chancellor."
"Hmm..."
Did Hitler's soul migrate there? Anyway, even if the future changed, it was still within predictable bounds.
"First, we need to screen the Jews immigrating to Germany. Not all Jews are the same. Send those with anti-German sentiments, communists, or extreme Zionists to temporary camps. For the rest, arrange rental apartments. Limit daily influx to 500."
"Understood, sir."
Rather than expelling the Jews, I decided to accept them—with conditions. Only those without disqualifying factors.
Not all Jews are alike. Some are Jewish by faith, others Christian. Some are the stereotypical capitalists, others thugs, and some are staunch patriots.
Fritz Haber was one such. He wasn't even religious, an incredible patriot who ignored his Jewish heritage.
It's moments like this that show how idiotic Hitler was, lumping them all together for extermination over "Jewishness." Blind hatred makes every Jew look the same.
"Oh, and limit entry points to Westphalia. Dispatch military police to bolster security for a while."
"It might provoke backlash from Westphalian citizens."
"Offset it by funneling public works there temporarily. Focus on infrastructure expansion west of the Rhine."
"Understood, sir."
For now, this settled the Jewish immigrant issue from France.
April 1933. As vitality returned not just to Jews but to the German economy, immigrants from various countries began flocking to Germany—Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Denmark, seeking jobs.
But I enacted the International Equal Labor Act to protect German citizens from losing jobs to immigrants.
It defined a "minimum wage" and included foreign workers under it. At the same time, I established the "Minimum Wage Committee" and appointed economist Walter Eucken as its head.
As a Reichsbank subsidiary, Hjalmar Schacht would oversee it.
"My Führer, the people worry we're copying the failed policies of the Paris Commune."
Back then, minimum wage was seen as a radical, near-communist idea. The French communists had been the first to try it, after all...
But minimum wage had its role—not for welfare, but to sustain productivity and push automation to some degree.
In simple terms, companies would cut labor and automate more due to minimum wage costs. Jobs might shrink, but with booming public works, it didn't matter.
Better to shit now while everything's a mess—no one notices. Plus, fixed per-capita income boosts economic vitality—basic economics. Nations thrive when citizens have purchasing power.
Bonus: it chased out foreign workers. Who'd pay minimum wage to foreigners who can't even speak the language?
"This is purely for the national economy, Hess. The Paris Commune botched it with gimmicks. I'll set the minimum wage as conservatively as possible."
In modern South Korean terms, it equated to about 1,200 won per hour—practically nonexistent, ultra-conservative.
Still, meaningful at the national economic scale.