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You are born 100 years earlier, but in the same place; what do you do with your life?

CaliGuy

Active member
If you are born 100 years earlier, but in the same place, what do you do with your life? In my own case, this would be being born as a Russian Jew in Ottoman Palestine in 1892. In such a scenario, I would probably try to immigrate to the US as soon as I could--and hopefully I would make it before the start of World War I. In the US, I would probably engage in various left-wing but non-Marxist labor and socialist movements and would also probably be a big supporter of FDR's New Deal in the 1930s. I don't know what kind of career I would have had--maybe a blue-collar one like most people back then, or maybe something having to do with political organizing for some left-wing but non-Marxist movement(s) and/or cause(s). I might have gotten drafted during WWI, but possibly not due to my arrythmia. By WWII, I would have been too old to get drafted. I would have supported the civil rights movement and the Great Society had I lived long enough to see the 1950s and 1960s. I would have also probably opposed the Vietnam War during this time. In the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, I would have probably passed away--unfortunately without actually seeing the end of the Cold War. :(
 
I'm a c-section baby, so good chance I do not survive birth. Assuming I somehow do, I'd be an Asian person born in the last year of the Kingdom of Hawaii and so I'd probably spend much of my adult life slaving away as an impoverished, uneducated sugar cane plantation worker in a hot muggy US island colony with no air conditioning. If I'm lucky, I save up enough money to move to the city, get a better job, and start a family with my picture bride wife. I'd be 49 during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and 66 by the time of statehood, assuming I survive that long.
 
I'm a c-section baby, so good chance I do not survive birth. Assuming I somehow do, I'd be an Asian person born in the last year of the Kingdom of Hawaii and so I'd probably spend much of my adult life slaving away as an impoverished, uneducated sugar cane plantation worker in a hot muggy US island colony with no air conditioning. If I'm lucky, I save up enough money to move to the city, get a better job, and start a family with my picture bride wife. I'd be 49 during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and 66 by the time of statehood, assuming I survive that long.
Will you ever consider moving to the West Coast?

Dead before age 10 because of untreated diabetes.
Sucks. :( Diabetes didn't actually have an effective treatment until the early 1920s, if I recall correctly. :(
 
Will you ever consider moving to the West Coast?


Sucks. :( Diabetes didn't actually have an effective treatment until the early 1920s, if I recall correctly. :(

The great Frederick Banting in 1923. I was born in 1993-born in 1893, diagnosed age 7 I'd be lucky to see 1902.
 
I was born in a C-section, so I may not survive my birth. But assuming I do, I would be in what was then North York, a largely agrarian suburb of Toronto. My physical appearance is certainly different from the then-standard, but I could be mistaken for being southern European. Of course, Orange Order-dominated Toronto wasn’t a very nice place for immigrants from southern Europe, so I imagine I’d have to move to a minority slum. Not exactly a nice place to live.

The past really was a bad place.
 
I'd be born a second generation Irish Catholic in Tynemouth several miles from where I was actually born in 1895. Obviously I'd be raised by different people, but assuming I had the personality I do now approximately I don't think I'd be driven enough to 'beat' my upbringing and dedicate my life to Philosophy, instead likely becoming a member of the skilled working class like the rest of my family. Assuming I had relatively similar politics I'd see the first world war as a mass slaughter of the working class and do my best to avoid joining the army, assuming I was a boilermaker like my grandfather I assume that would be easy. As the war wound up I assume I'd be one of the many members of the working class who rejected the efforts of Empire to attack the Russian Revolution and refuse to repair or construct anything that was going towards an attack there, efforts which in OTL ofc forced the forces of reaction to abandon their attacks on Russia.

Assuming I kept the same politics I'd continue to fight for the working class and to repeat the Russian Revolution in England throughout the various setbacks the British and international working class suffered during the 20s and 30s. As I have done in my real life I assume I would join the International Brigades of the time, and go Spain as I actually went to Syria. Assuming I survived I'm unsure if I would volunteer for the British Army, especially since at this point I'd be in my mid forties, but I would certainly support Harry Pollitt in his efforts to martial the British Communist movement towards fighting Nazi Germany, and be shocked when his was forced to resign for this. While Pollitt was restored in 1941 I think this event would shake my belief in the Communist Party of Great Britain. If I survived the war (Even if I didn't join the army Tynemouth shipyards were of course a target of the Nazis) I assume I would look at the Labour party successes and the growth of socialism across the world with great optimism. This optimism would probably be dashed by Khrushchev's Secret Speech, the Sino-Soviet split and the invasion of Hungary. If I was alive for the events of 68' I would probably find them confusing and strange, and probably take those feelings to the grave.
 
If you are born 100 years earlier, but in the same place, what do you do with your life? In my own case, this would be being born as a Russian Jew in Ottoman Palestine in 1892. In such a scenario, I would probably try to immigrate to the US as soon as I could--and hopefully I would make it before the start of World War I. In the US, I would probably engage in various left-wing but non-Marxist labor and socialist movements and would also probably be a big supporter of FDR's New Deal in the 1930s. I don't know what kind of career I would have had--maybe a blue-collar one like most people back then, or maybe something having to do with political organizing for some left-wing but non-Marxist movement(s) and/or cause(s). I might have gotten drafted during WWI, but possibly not due to my arrythmia. By WWII, I would have been too old to get drafted. I would have supported the civil rights movement and the Great Society had I lived long enough to see the 1950s and 1960s. I would have also probably opposed the Vietnam War during this time. In the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, I would have probably passed away--unfortunately without actually seeing the end of the Cold War. :(

Scania in 1890, then?

Well, all my ancestors at the time were either dirt-poor farmers or dirt-poor blue collar workers, so, well, probably that.

Politically? Would I be a massive fan of Karl Staaff? I dunno. Maybe? The man did have some fervent admirers in the working and farming class. Admittedly, I look at him, and I've always sort of felt a bit like, I don't get the appeal. My maternal grandfather was a staunch conservative, but he was born in 1920. According to my father, on his mother's side, they were loyal supporters of the agrarian movement. Perhaps I would come to admire Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp? I dunno.
 
Scania in 1890, then?

Well, all my ancestors at the time were either dirt-poor farmers or dirt-poor blue collar workers, so, well, probably that.

Politically? Would I be a massive fan of Karl Staaff? I dunno. Maybe? The man did have some fervent admirers in the working and farming class. Admittedly, I look at him, and I've always sort of felt a bit like, I don't get the appeal. My maternal grandfather was a staunch conservative, but he was born in 1920. According to my father, on his mother's side, they were loyal supporters of the agrarian movement. Perhaps I would come to admire Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp? I dunno.
Would you ever consider emigrating elsewhere, such as to the US?
 
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