The Third Flame: From Mexico’s Red Dawn to Latin America’s Ashes (1942–2000)

In our world, Leon Trotsky died in exile—his revolution extinguished with an icepick. But in this timeline, he survives. In 1942, as the world burns in war, Mexico erupts in a socialist uprising unlike any before—neither Stalinist nor capitalist, but forged in Trotsky’s vision of permanent revolution. What begins as a beacon of hope soon spirals into a brutal ideological war, as Trotskyists, Stalinists, and Maoists tear each other—and Latin America—apart. Betrayal, invasion, and civil war follow. By century’s end, millions are dead, and the continent lies in ruins. This is not the Cold War you know. This is the revolution that could have been—and almost was.