Rivera 1892-1894: Red Guard Rising
The Andonist Rebellion of 1892 was short-lived. There was little support for the old liberal agenda to be found in the Rivera cabinet or among his generals, and the 21,000 rebels were soundly routed by the army of the south and order restored to Patagonian provinces within two weeks. However, that was not to say that they were unsuccessful everywhere, or even that they had failed. The rebellion along the Argentinian border had not been confined to Chile, and a much smaller force of about one brigade of poorly armed Libertarian rebels overran the crippled remnants of the Argentinian army shortly thereafter, and after a series of skirmishes, seized Buenos Aires in 1893. The incumbent government of the Republic of Argentina announced its intention to continue fighting the ragtag rebels, but as of 1894 had only ultimately lost more and more ground to the guerillas, including most of the coastline.
Ultimately, though, the 1892 Rebellion was little noted, even in the most sensationalist elements of the Chilean media. Most of the nation's attention was on the continued immigration and industrial boom under Rivera, which the papers nominally termed "the Gilded Age of Chile." In the next year and a half, Chilean industrial output would jump a third again and the nation's population would near a benchmark 20 million total, with a workforce of nearly five million. The Congreso roundly debated how best to fuel or harness this boom, with the "Industrial Encouragement Act" - seeking to lower taxes and increase protective and revenue tariffs - was eventually defeated by a narrow margin in the senate, the Chilean upper house concluded that there was no need to fix what wasn't broken. This would not be the only bill to be defeated during these gold-plated years. The Patriota-backed Land Seizure Compensation Act, seeking to compensate those land-owners who had been stripped of property under the Gogolów administration, was also soundly beaten due to FNT/Comunista opposition and controversy over the tax obligation it would impose on the new owners. Much to President Rivera's chagrin, the vote on the bill was not even close. The only landmark piece of legislation passed was the Equality Act, an act regarding the rights of indigenous peoples.
The heavily conservative Reclaim our Youth Bill, which regulated the militias in Chile with special exemptions for the church, was soundly defeated, essentially ending any ambitions the Patriotas might have had of legislative progress in Chile. Rivera, supposedly frustrated with his inability to advance his own agenda in the Senate, was said to have proclaimed that he would have gone before the Congreso and argued the points himself were he not convinced they would vote against hearing him.
That is not to say the Rivera administration had now accomplishments. One of its principle successes was the re-integration of Haiti into the South American common market, and the completion of the construction of the new Chilean fleet and naval bases (rapidly expanded the power of the navy and, by extension, Eduardo Alvarez - who said he had never seen Panama so crowded.) However, despite the success of industry in Chile, employment began to balloon in many key regions. Tucuman, Arequipa, and Potosi all nearly reached 20% unemployment as free market industry was unable to keep up with the pace of immigration into the regions; Crazzio's industrial ministry initially authorized the state-funded expansion of defense related industries, such as canned food and rations, but eventually agreed to broaden the definition of "defense-related" to include textiles (which he justified by way of uniforms) and ultimately liquor, much to the chagrin of the temperance movement. The FNT heavily criticized these measures as insufficient to abate the unemployment crises, and the Comunistas actively recruited from the lines outside the soup kitchens.
Perhaps in response to heightened Comunista activity, a purge of Comunistas within the military also began under Ferrari's defense ministry. Though many Comunistas, such as General Renin, had found their way into the military by political appointment, Ferrari (under orders from Rivera) claimed that "Juarista" revolutionary communists had concealed their presence within the military and intended to attempt another overthrow of the Republic. Particular attention was given to Renin's Army of the South, with 20,000 of the 30,000 troops discharged nation-wide from purge coming from his army. Renin was vocally opposed to the moves, asking if Comunistas could not serve Chile like all other patriots. Comunista anger following the purge of 1893 quickly ballooned into rebellion, and on February 15, 1894, 50,000 Red Guards - including many former soldiers - took to the streets in open rebellion.
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Allied Government Stability Act
1. The President is authorized to use Chilean Military Forces to intervene against rebels attempting to overthrow an allied government in our sphere.
2. Chile will also give military aid to allied governments facing a rebellion.
1894 Land Reform Act
The Government of Chile will form a committee with the goal to create fair deals between the aristocracy and the peasantry over the land seized by President Gogolow. The committee's sole purpose is to create deals and contracts, not to seize land form either the peasantry or the elite. If a deal cannot be worked out, the aristocracy will be compensated with unused government owned land of the same value.
Agrarian Agglomeration Act
1. The individual plots created by the Agrarian Land Redistribution Act will be agglomerated into cooperative farming units (CFU), on a basis of fifty families per CFU,
2. The families of each CFU will elect a Superintendent, responsible for managing agrarian affairs in the CFU and reporting to agricultural authorities,
3. The Government of Chile will issue compensation to all landlords affected by the Agrarian Land Redistribution Act, adjusted for inflation,
4. This compensation will be divided as debt between all the CFUs, to be gradually repaid over the course of five to ten years.
Player Actions Needed:
Ministers and Generals either need to declare themselves For the Government or For the Revolution.
We additionally have three bills to vote Yes or No on: the Allied Government Stability Act, the 1891 Land Reform Act, and the Agrarian Agglomeration Act.
Sample Declaration:
I am For the Government/Revolution.
Sample Ballot:
Allied Government Stability Act: Yes/No/Abstain
1894 Land Reform Act: Yes/No/Abstain
Agrarian Agglomeration Act: Yes/No/Abstain
In case of conflict between two bills, the one with more votes takes force over the other.
Voting closes in two days, on the 16th, 10 AM PST. (6 PM GMT, I guess.)
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