• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Status
Not open for further replies.
So I don't see why so many Democrat supporters insist on whining. The real victims of not having a 'historical celebrity' were the Moderates and their supporters (or should I say supporter) never really whined.

I don't think it's so many Democrat supporters whining. I think it's one Democrat supporter who is relentless. I was a whiner back when I was a moderate too. People just paid less attention to me back then.
 
Election of 1900

The 1900 election was to be the first of the 20th century for the VSVR. At the dawn of the new century the People of the Republic and the Party were presented with several very different visions of the Republic from the 6 competing factions. The permanent and international revolution of Trotsky, the more pragmatic but still expansive revolution and more neutral domestic policies of Liebknecht, the international pacifism of Bernstein, the Anarchism of Goldman, the peasant Republic of Sorel or the nationalist revival of Bismarck. It was a crucial moment in the Republic’s history and would mark its 50th anniversary.

x1.jpg


After initially shooting to an impressive shooting to an impressive lead in the polls Trotsky was faced with a significant challenge from Emma Goldman as the Right and Centre of the Party rallied around the Anarchist cause. Nethertheless the promise of the expulsion of the True Germans and more importantly of a great revolutionary war swayed the Party in Trotsky’s favour and he finished with a strong electoral triumph. In past election only Karl Marx’s two victories in and Lenin’s first victory had drawn a larger portion of the Party behind one man.

With Trotsky domineering within the People’s Party and securing election as Chairman the outcome of the Constituent Assembly’s election was all important.

x2.jpg


The result of the Assembly’s election was a minor disaster for Trotsky. Even before the election the Marxist factions had agreed to continue their alliance in the Assembly yet the Marxist Bloc’s share of the Assembly had fallen 5 seats being lost. Whilst this result may not appear disastrous from the outside it took the Bloc bellow the 50% mark and denied them a majority. Considering Trotsky’s plans for radicalism this could prove to be a major roadblock.

Elsewhere Sorel’s Revolutionaries suffered minor losses as they fell from 28 to 26 seats, Bismarck’s True Germans fared slightly worse than expected as they claimed just 8 seats, the Democrats lost 4 seats and the Anarchists gained 3.

With the new makeup of the Assembly the Central Committee would be forced the change. The fall of the two minor Marxist factions (the Moderates and Militarists who were both absorbed by the Marxist-Leninists) left two new positions in the Central Committee. One was gained by the Marxist-Leninists due to their large share of the vote and the other was given the Bismarck.

james_connolly.jpg


The new Marxist-Leninist member of the Central Committee was to be the Scottish by place of birth, Irish by ancestry, revolutionary James Connolly – the first ever English speaking member of the VSVR Central Committee. Born in the glorious city of Edinburgh in 1868 to Irish immigrant workers he was forced to go to work at just 11 due to the harsh economic situation of his family and of the Irish community as a whole. However after 3 years as a child labourer he struggled to find work and enlisted in the British Army at just 14 (falsifying his age). He would serve for 4 years, mostly in his ancestral homeland of Ireland, during which time he came into contact with Marxism. At his 18th birthday he returned to Edinburgh and to work in the city’s factories. However he quickly became involved in the Union movement and before long the Labour Party. In 1893 he was elected to the House of Common as a Labour MP at just 25 years of age. However he left the Party in 1896 after Labour approved the use of force to quell unrest from Irish Republican workers in Dublin. After this he turned more to radical politics and moved to Ireland where he became involved in Irish Republicanism – trying to mould the movement into a Marxist one. However after taking part in a Republican-Socialist uprising in Cork in 1897 he was forced to flee the British Empire. Like so many great figures of Leftism he was quickly drawn to the VSVR where he arrived before the year was out. With an impressive reputation (he had been seen as the leading Revolutionary Socialist in Britain) and an already significant reputation he tentatively joined the Marxist-Leninist faction which was by this time increasingly guided by Thalmann due to the leader’s ill health since Luxemburg’s assassination. Ever ambitious, hard working and inspirational Connolly overcame opposition to his roots (whilst the Russian émigré community had been somewhat accepted by the People’s Party much of the Party remained hostile to other émigré politicians) to become one of the leading lights of the faction. His reward was the position of Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

In the immediate aftermath of the election the People’s Party would go through some major changes. Firstly Emma Goldman and Eduard Bernstein agreed to form an alliance of the Old Right (the New Right was a term used to describe the new unorthodox factions who did not fit into the traditional Right-Left axis – namely the Revolutionaries and True Germans). Goldman and Bernstein agreed they had far more in common than they disagreed on, it was also clear that with the rise of the New Right as an alternate opposition to the Marxist factions their support was being squeezed. It was hoped that by uniting Anarchist and Democrat support they could once again become a force capable of challenging the Marxists and New Right for government. So the Democratic Anarchist faction was born. However the new alliance was not supported by everyone.

Kadonthewise.jpg


3 Anarchist Assembly representatives (a full ¼ of their members) and an even larger portion of the lower ranks of the Anarchists rebelled and broke away. The so called Anarcho-Kadonists supported the views of the Anarchist Revolutionary Kadon – made famous by the Young Anarchist movement he created, his victory against Blanqui in the Crisis of 1865 and his fight against Lenin the Civil War (1883-1884) which ended in his death. Essentially the Anarcho-Kadonists claimed that all Anarchist actions since the alliance with the pro-Union Independent faction in 1880 had been strayed from the true Anarchist ideology. They accused Goldman of revisionism and compromise with the statist enemies of the Anarchist movement. This back to basics Anarchist faction was largely the modern iteration of the Young Anarchist radical variant of Anarchism. They wanted to revitalise the movement, restore its revolutionary character and once again support the immediate breaking down of the Marxist constructed state edifice.

Makhno-1921.jpg


They were led by the almost legendary Ukrainian revolutionary – Nestor Makhno. Between 1893 and 1898 Makhno had led the Revolutionary Insurrection Army of the Ukraine (better known as the Black Army). The Black Army had originally started as a small band of a few dozen committed peasant Anarchists led by Makhno. They came to fame in November 1893 when Makhno led just 100 men in the spectacular capture of 1,000 Tsarist soldiers (a night time raid on a barracks caught them in their sleep). At its height in 1897 the Black Army fielded between 10,000 and 20,000 men in the Southern Ukraine. A mixture of association with the VSVR (who invaded Russia) and a violent Tsarist crackdown meant the Black Army collapsed and in 1898 Makhno was forced to flee to the VSVR. When he arrived the radical Anarchist movement seemed to be on death’s door as Goldman’s more moderate stream dominated the faction. However Makhno’s fame allowed him to re-legitimise radical Anarchism. Unsurprisingly Makhno’s radical views meant that his relations with Goldman and the leadership remained icy. The alliance with the Democrats was the last straw for Makhno and he left the Anarchist faction, both he and the entire Republic was quite surprised to see just how large a portion of the Anarchist faction he brought with him.

Shortly after the breakaway Makno published a pamphlet called ‘’The Anarchist Revolution’’:

ANARCHISM - a life of freedom and creative independence for humanity.
Anarchism does not depend on theory or programs, which try to grasp man's life in its entirety. It is a teaching, which is based on real life, which outgrows all artificial limitations, which cannot be constricted by any system.
Anarchism's outward form is a free, non-governed society, which offers freedom, equality and solidarity for its members. Its foundations are to be found in man's sense of mutual responsibility, which has remained unchanged in all places and times. This sense of responsibility is capable of securing freedom and social justice for all men by its own unaided efforts. It is also the foundation of true communism.
Anarchism therefore is a part of human nature, communism its logical extension.
This led to the necessity of formulating anarchism's basic theories by the use of factual material and by systematized analysis. Some people (enemies of freedom, enemies of solidarity) were to try and conceal anarchism's truths or to slander its ideals; others (fighters for man's right to lead a proper life) were to develop and clarify this ideal. I think that Godwin, Proudhon, Bakunin, Most, Kropotkin, Malatesta, S. Faure, and others never believed, that they could harness anarchism, a framework of immutable scientific dogma, by their theories. Instead, the teachings of anarchism represent a concerted effort to show its roots in human nature, and to prove that man's creative achievements never deviate from it; anarchism's fundamental trait, the negation of all bondage and servitude, is likewise to be found in human nature.
Anarchism means freedom; socialism cannot destroy chains or bondage.
I am an anarchist and a revolutionary myself, and I took part in the activities of the revolutionary peoples of the Ukraine. The Ukrainians are a people who grasp instinctively the meaning of the anarchist ideas and who act them out. They suffered incredible hardship, but have never ceased to talk of their freedom and freedom in their form of life. I often made tactical errors on this difficult path, as I was often weak and unable to make judgements. But because I correctly understood the goal towards which I and my brothers were working and I was able to observe the effect of living anarchism during the struggle for freedom and independence. I remain convinced on the grounds of my practical fighting experience that anarchism is as revolutionary, as diverse, and as sublime in every facet as is human life itself. Even if I only felt the remotest glimmer of sympathy for anarcho-revolutionary activity I would still call on you, reader and brother, to take up the struggle for the ideal anarchism, for only if you fight for this ideal and uphold it will you understand it properly. Anarchism is revolutionary in this and many other aspects. The more awake a man is, the deeper his thoughts about his situation are. He will recognize his state of slavery and the anarchistic and revolutionary spirit within him will wake and show itself in his thoughts and actions. It is the same for every man and woman, even if they could never have heard of it.
Anarchism is humanity set free from the constraints of the old society and of the statist Marxist society of this Republic. Anarchism is the only pure, the only just and the only possible root to communism.

We must continue the memory of Bakunin, who led the Anarchist armies during the Rhineland Revolution, of Proudhon who guided the faction during the Republic’s early years before his murder by the Marxist Blanqui and of the greatest revolutionary of them all – Kadon who defeated the most vile forces of the statist Left in 1865 and fought until his own murder by those same forces in 1884.
Long live the revolution!
- Comrade Makhno

The changes in the Old Right were just the beginning in this revolutionary period in the VSVR’s history. As Even as the Anarcho-Kadonists were still grouping together Trotsky made good on his promise of expulsing the True Germans as he put the proposal of expulsion before the Constituent Assembly. No faction had ever been expulsed from the People’s Party in its’ 50 year history.

The result of the vote would shake the Marxist Bloc alliance and undermine Trotsky in particular. The entire Democratic Anarchist faction, the Anarcho-Kadonist faction (although they hated the True Germans above all else Makhno believed that their expulsion was just the first step on Trotsky’s road to purging the entire Party of non-Marxists) and the True Germans. This together gave the No vote 26 of 100 votes. Sorel demanded that the Revolutionaries (26 members) vote against Trotsky’s proposal. However he faced a massive rebellion against his leadership from the Left of the faction – led by Chernov. Chernov was alarmed at Sorel’s cosiness with Bismarck and led a faction of the Revolutionaries which was essentially Marxist in nature although they championed the peasantry, they therefore hoped to see Bismarck’s counterrevolutionary group expelled. However Chernov was not willing to go all the way to voting in favour of expulsion and so the 6 rebel Revolutionaries abstained. This left the No vote with 46, the Marxist Bloc consisted of 48 members.

However a large section of the Luxemburgist faction and even 1 Marxist-Leninist chose to abstain from the vote.

The final tally was 41 in favour, 46 against with 13 abstentions. The Assembly had rejected Trotsky’s proposal.

However, legally, the Assembly was nothing more than an advisory body. Whilst in reality Chairmen were largely forced to accept its verdict it was the Central Committee that had the true power in the Republic and Trotsky chose to ignore the Assembly – going straight to the Central Committee (he also claimed that since the True Germans would rightfully be expelled their votes were invalid). However here the Marxist Bloc was again outnumbered with 5 members to 6 members of other factions.

It took all the political manoeuvrings Liebknecht (a pro-explusionist) and Trotsky could muster to convince the ever moderate Necazian to vote in favour of expulsion yet if the other 6 members voted against they would still be beaten. However Chernov came to save Trotsky by abstaining from the vote. Left with 5 votes in favour and 5 against Trotsky had the tie breaking vote as Chairman and passed the legislation. The only person able to challenge a Chairman’s ability to break such a tie is the Speaker of the Assembly and due to the Marxist-Leninists being the single largest faction this Speaker was Ernst Thalmann – Trotsky’s chief supporter. So Bismarck and the True Germans were expelled.

x3.jpg


Following the expulsion the Assembly looked rather different from the one that was initially elected. The Marxist Bloc now had a narrow but absolute majority, the Old Right had split between Democratic Anarchists and Anarcho-Kadonists, the Revolutionaries looked at risk of a split themselves whilst there were 8 vacant seats.

CentralCommittee1890-2.jpg


Nestor Makhno was allowed to take Bismarck’s now vacant position in the Central Committee.

Only Chernov and Weber occupied the same position as the same time 5 years before.
 
Ernst Thalmann becomes Speaker of the Assembly through the virture of being the 2nd most prominent figure in the Assembly's largest faction.

Isn't he a little too young to take up such an important post?
 
So lets review what just happened (BTW yes I did write most of this earlier - when the M-Ls had a hefty lead and seemed to have no challengers :p, turned out to be a mistake as the Anarchists rallied).

The Assembly currently has 82 members, 48 of whom are from the Marxist Bloc. Trotsky has set out his stall as a man who is willing to take authoritarian measures if he feels it is in the interests of the revolution.

The Old Right has reorganised. The moderate wing of the Anarchists have merged with the Democrats to create the Democratic Anarchists (I swithered about Anarcho-Democrats but thought that was too close to Anarcho-Kadonists). This alliance of the moderates has basically forced the hardline Anarchists to break away and form the Anarcho-Kadonists. The Young Anarchist path finally solidified as a faction.

The New Right looks in trouble. The True Germans have been expelled whilst the Revolutionaries are in trouble. The Left Revolutionaries (centred around Chernov) look likely to break away at some stage although they are yet to do so. However even if the TGs have been expelled the reasons that brought them into existence have not been extinguished and their viewpoint shall inevitably remain in the Republic. We'll see how the New Right progress.

But the most important outcome for the immediate future is the fact Trotsky's leadership means war on a scale not yet seen by the revolution nor the VSVR.

Can you hear the whispers? They are the whispers of the war minister!
 
Whoops! Forgot to mention that aside from the last couple of paragraphs the bit I quoted from Makhno is from a real life work by him called the Anarchist Revolution. So thank you Nestor Makhno! Thank you Marxist Internet Archive!

:p
 
Despite I am a firm supporter of M-L and voted for them it is simple unacceptable for a true Socialist to ignore the will of the Assembly... Not only i will not support Trosky again , but also i propose that the true power be tranfered from the committee to the Assembly , as a measure to guarrante democracy within the party. Do not mistake my words, Anarchists,Revolluonaries still represent an opportunist minority against the revollution but it is dictatorship of the working class we fought for and not the dictatorship of Trosky... Yes it is true that nationalism has no place within the Party but you cannot just ban them against the will of the Assembly.

ALL THE POWER TO THE SOVIETS [ :p ]
a dissapointed Marxist
 
Now the whole world shall know revolution at last!

Despite I am a firm supporter of M-L and voted for them it is simple unacceptable for a true Socialist to ignore the will of the Assembly.

He did not stand against the will of the Assembly. The True Germans are counter-revolutionary filth, and therefore their opinion should matter for nothing!
 
Now the whole world shall know revolution at last!



He did not stand against the will of the Assembly. The True Germans are counter-revolutionary filth, and therefore their opinion should matter for nothing!

First Trotsky came for the True Germans,
and you did not speak out,
because you were not a true German,

Then he will come for the Anarchists,
and you will not speak out,
because you are not an anarchist,

Then he will come for the pacifists,
and you will not speak out,
because you are not a pacifist,

Then he will come for the Luxemburgists,
and you will not speak out,
because you are out of words,

Then he will come for you,
and no one will be left,
to speak out for you...

(Credit goes to Martin Niemöller for this adaption)
 
And someone calls this a democracy?

I kept posting endlessly pro-Anarchist messages, the Anarchists gained their best score so far, but still Trotsky gets elected and decides to start his purges?

Meanwhile, Kadon who seems absent becomes a huge martyr and my party is split into two?

The assembly should be voted by forumites. It appears to be too dangerous to let the people listen to Trotskyist filth.
Trotsky shall contaminate our revolutionary being. Trotsky has begun the annihilation of the opposition.
Do you all want really that bad a new civil war?

I think it should be far, that after all this shit thrown around my party, the Marxists-Leninist-Trotskyist impudent, irreverent, wanton, contumelious crapola ought to be purged, decimated, annihilated, liquidated, exterminated and purged by fire.

Kill that little tyrannizing **************** and burn the corpse.

Let the ruling classes tremble. I shall send Finnish assassins.

You can only destroy my party again, but I shall destroy you.

We need a new revolution. We need some real change.

A true democracy. Where everyone should free and ought not to fear the state nor suffer under organized oppression.
 
A Special Appeal to the People of the Republic

Comrades. This is a day of sadness for all those committed to liberty and to the Party, and for all those opposed to tyranny. But above all it is a day of sorrow for those who wish to defeat the True Germans. For I speak not of this false defeat that you see here, this expulsion. That will only make them stronger. Because the True Germans represent an idea, and is not one of the truest sayings of socialism that ideas are bulletproof? Ideas cannot be killed by suppression or expulsion or censorship. Words, once said, remain said. The cat is out of the bag and will not be forced back in. Those of you who can remember the days before the Rhineland Revolution are few, but the capitalists tried to kill the idea of socialism with force. They failed. They could not succeed. And this cannot succeed. We must confront the vile ideas of True Germanism not with weapons, but with ideas of our own. Fight fire with fire. Only by showing their ideology to be the rotten corpse that it is will the True Germans be thrown back on to the ash heap of history. Trotsky has attacked a symptom but has left the disease unchecked!

What of Trotsky's co-conspirator, Karl Liebknecht? Liebknecht, inheritor of the legacy of the martyred Rosa Luxemburg, the woman who stood most of all for the liberty of thought, respect for the institutions of the republic and the soviet system. I ask you now, comrades, has he upheld that legacy? The purging of the Party, the subversion of the Assembly and the fatal weakening of the soviet system are accepted readily. Has he remained true to the ideals that made the Luxemburgists great? And for those of you that think he has: the results of the last election speak for themselves. Reduced from ruling party to a pitiful third place. This newspaper must remain true to Luxemburgism as created by Luxemburg, and therefore it hereby withdraws all support from Karl Liebknecht and his policies.

- Comrade Communard
 
That is quite an extensive change to what was being voted for. With them undesirables split off of the anarchists they will be an even greater threat to the marxists in five years. I guess it will all depend on how the next term plays out.

What was that? Did I hear someone say snap elections? The marxists will never allow that to happen...
 
I agree somewhat with Communard, as I am also very disappointed by the actions of Liebknecht. But instead of being disappointed about the expulsion of the new Germans I am instead disappointed that he ignored the assembly...

I therefore recall my support for the Luxombourgists
 
Last edited:
OK. I just started Trotsky's revolutionary war in game (OMFG :eek:). Prior to this I did a few calculations counting up standing armies and mobilisation pools and came up with this frightening little stat to wet your apetite. The League of Nations (name for counterrevolutionary alliance I'm going to use) can field in excess of 10,000,000 men. I (fighting without my allies as I don't trust them not to get stomped) cobined with the French Workers' League (there's a big ongoing commy rev in France so I thought I'd include them) have around 3,500,000 men under arms. Ever non-socialist state in Europe with the exception of Portugal is at war with me. This is going to be big lads. :D

As this war aims to actually overthrow the old regimes rather than change borders I've decided to make a few rules for myself before getting stuck in.

In order to declare my revolution a success I need 40% warscore (at least), to be occupying their capital and their 2nd and 3rd most important cities. For France this would mean I need Paris, Lyon and Marsailles (sp?), for Russia Moscow, Petrograd (I feel a name change is in order) and Kiev. For Austria-Hungary this would mean Vienna, Budapest and .... erm. I dunno about their 3rd city - Pressburg? I don't expect to be able to destroy Britain but if I did get across the Channel then it would obviously be London, Liverpool and Glasgow.

OK. Enough of the rules. On with the WAAAAR! I'm scared.
 
But the most important outcome for the immediate future is the fact Trotsky's leadership means war on a scale not yet seen by the revolution nor the VSVR.

Can you hear the whispers? They are the whispers of the war minister!

Is Comrade Bob's doomsday prediction about to come true? Short Answer: I really hope so. Wars make for excellent AAR posts.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.