Really? The teachings of Jesus Christ are remarkably similar to socialism.
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Really? The teachings of Jesus Christ are remarkably similar to socialism.
Karl Marx (One of the creators of the Socialist/Communist Ideology) said that Religion was unreal and used as 'The Opium of the People'. So in my eyes this leafage of Christians are against the new regime and illegitimate.
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Just because one socialist/communist spoke out against religion doesn't mean all have to, nor does it mean religion is inherently anti-socialist/communist.
Basing everything directly off a man who lived during the mid-to-late 1800s generally isn't the way to go. Changes and adjustments will have to be made, and not everything that he said or predicted is 100% true or likely to happen.
I accept revisionism and I believe that revision for the Marxist ideal is good, just as Lenin did. But I do not support the acceptance of lies into the nation. Communism has and always will in my mind be a pro-atheist ideal and I shall fight for said ideal. I will not accept the proletariat to be lied to be a system that has already brought many deaths and mass murders through history!
Not to mention the LOC seemed to have the the kernel of the idea of setting up a European Union...
THAT my friend was mainly the reason I voted for them.
Good joke Capitalist. No. Religion has brought multiple deaths. Or have you all already forgotten the crusades, the Teutonic order,ect.
Religious wars and persecutions have brought more deaths then another reason on this earth.
The Old World is Dying, the New is Struggling to be Born
1947-1952
1947-1952
From the late 1940s until the beginning of the 1950s the Union of French Communes essentially changed sides in the Cold War. Although holding pretensions of acting as a 'Third Force' in international politics as a revolutionary and socialist alternative to the superpowers. France could never truly compete, dwarfed in economic muscle, military power and diplomatic influence. Having been saved from a long war that would inevitably have led to the destruction of France and possibly even the use of nuclear weapons against it by the Soviet Union in 1945 – France was clearly under the influence of the USSR during the middle 1940s. Not recognised by the the West, having all trade links cut off with it, shorn of its place on the UN Security Council as the exiled Fifth Republic was given France's seat and in many ways seen as more dangerous than the Soviet, France was a clear enemy of America. Meanwhile, the Comintern had offered the hand of friendship and provided vital economic and diplomatic support. Yet, largely as a result of French belligerence against their former friend, this alliance with Moscow was to rapidly break down and France move to more amicable relations with the West.
In May 1947 the high point of Moscow-Paris relations during this early period of the Cold War was reached as President Monatte travelled to Moscow to meet with the Soviet leadership. The Soviets' primary aim was to seal an alliance with France – bringing the country into both the economic union of the Comintern and its military alliance structure. The French, on the other hand, were keen on the idea of economic cooperation but also concerned with the 3 countries where it could be possible in the near future for the Far Left to seize power – Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Greece. The French wanted unity between the Communists and Trotskyists (controlled by France through the Fourth International, similar to how Communists were controlled by Moscow) and a commitment from both France and the USSR to do everything to aid the struggles. Monatte left the Soviet Union disappointed. The Soviets had aggravated him by pushing hard for a military alliance and demanding that France cease to 'interfere' with internal relations of the Comintern (by consistently offering diplomatic support to Yugoslavia which was drifting from Soviet control), they were also difficult to deal with on the issue of the revolutionary movements abroad. In Greece the Soviets were not willing to commit to offering material assistance to the Communist led rebellion. In Indonesia both the Communist Party and the Trotskyist group had experienced explosive growth in the past few years, but the Communists were still several times as strong as the Trotskyists and the Soviets therefore demanded that the Party maintain its independence. However in Sri Lanka an agreement was reached for the Communist Party to join a Revolutionary Leftist front led by the much more powerful Trotskyist movement.
The Sri Lankan elections of 1947 proved to be the last major victory of the short lived alliance between Communists and Trotskyists. With Britain looking to begin its process of decolonisation elections were called on the island of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). The country was extremely polarised between the United National Party (vigorously pro-Western and capitalist the party only wanted limited independence in the form of Dominion status) and various far left groups. With the agreements reached in Moscow these groups began to join together as the People's Socialist Front. Led by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (the largest Trotskyist Party on earth outside of France) and included, in order of size, the Bolshevik-Leninist Party (another Trotskyists grouping), the Communist Party, Tamil socialist groups and other smaller leftist parties the Front was a powerful force. In the election the People's Socialist Front won a narrow electoral victory – the triumph was followed by the outbreak of social revolution on the island as the oppressive plantation class and urban elites were expropriated and forced to flee the island, at the same time British were harassed and often attacked and killed as the people attempted to throw out their old oppressors both domestic and foreign. Within a week the new government had appealed to both the Comintern states and France for protection. Swiftly receiving diplomatic recognition and economic aid the most important assistance came from the French who sent 5 destroyers to the island to patrol the waters – whilst not a large enough contingent to defeat the Royal Navy if the British attempted invasion, this force would mean an attack on Sri Lanka would also bring Britain into a war with France.
With events just across the strait, Sir Lanka was really merely a sideshow to the independence of the Indian sub continent. A hurried and botched plan for the partition of India between a Muslim Pakistan and a predominantly Hindu India sent the 2nd most populous country on earth hurtling into Civil War. With tens of millions displaced and neither state happy with its share of the partitioned country was broke out almost instantly. In the first Indo-Pakistani War that lasted for most of the rest of the year the Indians were decisively victorious with all Kashmir as well as the almost entirely Muslim provinces of East Bengal coming under Indian control. As India increasingly drifted to the left, with both a powerful socialist presence in the dominant INC and a growing Communist and smaller Trotskyist movement the country quickly became one of the most sought over prizes in international diplomacy as the Soviets, French and Americans all struggled to secure the country's friendship.
Taking advantage of the chaotic events in India China moved to annex Tibet in the late Summer of 1947. For a thousand years Tibet had been ruled by a theocratic elite that lorded over a downtrodden population of slaves and serfs. With virtually no connection to the outside world this was a strange land where food was often so scarce that a large part of the population had to regularly eat grass - yet there was abundant came and unharvested land that it was forbidden to touch, where there was a constant struggle amongst the population to scrape together enough low grade fuel so that they would not freeze in the mountain climate – yet tons of it was burned every day by the monastery elite, where the ruling elite preached spiritualism and non violence – yet practised mutilation and torture in order to maintain their worldy rule. Over the course of the next decade the Tibetan system was gradually dismantled, forever.
In Greece, the Civil War was approaching its end. The Axis invasion in 1939-40 had provoked resistance from the population in the form of a left wing partisan movement which had as its dual aims the defeat of the occupiers and a social revolution. As Axis and Allied armies regularly moved through the country a Civil War was in the offing between these social revolutionary partisans and the forces loyal to the Monarchy and the Old Order. After the final defeat of Nazi Germany in 1943 the workers and peasants of Greece attempted to seize power – they were faced with the overwhelming power of a large and well equipped regular army supported by the money, arms and soldiers of Britain and later the United States as well. Aided by Yugoslavia and to a lesser extent Albania and Bulgaria as well the Greek revolutionaries fought long and hard, at times appearing to be on the brink of victory. But by 1950 their final defeat was secure – there was to be one nation in the Balkans that would not come under the control of a Communist Party.
The worsening situation in Greece, the potential support of France and Yugoslavia's own desire for a more independent course led to the final expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Comintern in early 1949. This was the first example of a Communist Party actively rebelling against the Moscow Party Line and shook the worldwide Communist movement badly as the myth of its worldwide unity was revealed. None the less, this split did not cause a major rift in the movement as a new round of purges swept the movement against Titoist-Trotskyism. The involvement of France in encouraging the split and its subsequent signing of an alliance with Yugoslavia in December 1949 marks a clear end to the alliance between France and the Soviet Union. From this point onwards France would travel its own course.
Less than a year after the Tito-Stalin split the Soviet Union announced to the world that it had exploded its first atomic bomb. There were now two powers armed with nuclear weaponry on earth, and American fear of Soviet power grew immensely. With the USSR entering the nuclear age in January 1950, France took note and in secret set up the Foundation of Atomic Research in secret in March of that same year. It was clear that in order to be a Great Power in the second half of the 20th century, a state would require nuclear weapons.
From 1944 and into the early 1950s Indonesia experienced a series of upheavals, as revolutionary mass movements fought against both the domination of the islands by foreign Imperialism and the oppressive class structure at home. In the last months of the Second World War a wave of nationalist revolts broke out across Indonesia – in focussed in Borneo and Java (Sumatra and New Guinea also experienced significant action but were battlegrounds between Japanese and Allied armies). After the Japanese surrender it was agreed that Indonesia would return to the Netherlands. Supported by Britain, Australia and a reluctant United States the Dutch attempt to re-establish their control over Indonesia until 1947. Then a US brokered peace deal saw the Netherlands agree to Indonesian independence and power transfer to a clique of pro-Western Generals. Later that same year Britain and Australia (facing nationalist problems of their own) agreed to transfer their territories in the islands of Borneo and New Guinea to the new Indonesian Republic. One of the world's most populous and resource rich nations, the security of Indonesia for the West was vital – beyond its own abundant resources the country was strategically positioned along the sea lanes between the Pacific and Indian Oceans and extended to within a few miles of both Australia and the great port of Singapore.
But Indonesia was under threat of Revolution. Taking the leadership of the independence movement that would not settle for a half liberation and called for both total victory over Imperialism and a social revolution the PKI (Communist Party) grew rapidly. At its height in 1951 the PKI had 2.5 million members, making it the world's 3rd largest Communist Party behind the CPC and CPSU. At the same time a Trotskyist party the PRS (Revolutionary Socialist Party) grew to an impressive 400,000 members. From 1948 the agitation between the revolutionaries and the new government exploded in civil war. By 1950 virtually all of Sumatra and Borneo had been lost to the government whilst New Guinea and Sulawesi were battlegrounds – as were the cities and fields of densely populated Java. Yet from this point the war took a decisive turn in favour of the government.
A dramatic increase in aid from the United States (including 500 state of the art bombers and volunteer pilots) was accompanied by the effects of the Franco-Soviet split. Having previously fought together the Trotskyists and Communists turned on one another. Although the Communist led movement was far stronger than the PRS and its supporters, the Trotskyists were powerful enough to cause major problems for the PKI. The war quickly turned in favour of the government, by 1952 a revolutionary movement now purged of Trotskyists controlled only a shrinking territory in the jungles of Indonesia's many islands.
Events in Indonesia were mirrored elsewhere as the brief period of cooperation between the Trotskyists and Communists around the world came to a decisive end. The massive disproportion in size between the two groups around the world (with the Communists always many, many times larger than the Trotskyists) meant that this change only really had a major effect in the countries where the Trotskyists ruled – Sri Lanka and France. 1951 saw a purge of Communists from the government and a massacre of their leaders and most prominent cadres in Sri Lanka – eliminating the Party. In France things were more complicated, but that shall be dealt with later.
In August 1951 Egypt experienced its own Anti-Imperialist Revolution. A group of left wing officers centred around the young Colonel Nasser as well as the more experienced Major General Naguib. The officer overthrew the Monarchy of King Farouk which had existed as little more than a puppet of the British Empire. They moved to establish a secular Republic, crushed internal social revolutionary forces (most notably the Communist Party and aligned movements), proceeded with wholesale agrarian reform, nationalised foreign property and began a large scale industrialisation programme as the officers looked to bring Egypt kicking and screaming into the 20th century.
The Egyptian Revolution was a disaster for two key force – the Soviet Union and the Communist movement, and the old Empires of Britain and France. On the one hand, ever since the independence of the Arab Federation in the mid 1920s the nationalist and anti-Imperialist movement in the Arab world, and the Muslim world as a whole had been dominated by pro-Soviet forces, often involving a powerful Communist Party. The 'Arab Socialism' of Egypt offered an attractive alternative to this, by the end of the year the largest Arab nationalist and revolutionary group in the world (the FLN of Algeria) had shifted away from its pro-Soviet position and broken off and alliance with the Communist Party. Egypt was now directly challenging the Arab Federation for leadership of the Pan-Arabist movement. For the old Empires the Egyptian Revolution was a more obvious disaster in that it reinvigorated the movement opposed to their domination of the Arab world. In Algeria and Tunisia the French Fifth Republic faced powerful Arab Nationalist movements opposed to white minority rule, in Libya and Morocco pro-British and French Monarchies were under threat whilst in the Southern reaches of Arabia, in the Sudan and in Iran the British Empire and its clients still attempted to hold down countries with bubbling anti-Imperialist movements.
But Nasserism had attracted an unlikely pair of allies – the United States and the Union of French Communes. For the Americans, Arab Socialism offered an alternative to the decayed, overstrained and collapsing rule of the European Empires in the Arab world and offered the possibility for the nationalist movement to be harnessed by an anti-Soviet force. A modern and dynamic post-colonial world would be both safer from Revolution and from Soviet intrigue. The French, on the other hand, saw the Revolution as a sign that anti-Soviet nationalist and revolutionary forces could indeed triumph in the colonial world. As tensions between Egypt and the Arab Federation quickly began to escalate both the US and France lined up behind Egypt.
The Egyptian Revolution was the final shock the Fifth Republic needed to be convinced that, with the chances of restoring power over metropolitan France now fading, a reform of the Empire was necessary. The colonial revolts of 1945 came very close to overwhelming the Empire and played a role in bringing an end to the war with the revolutionaries in Europe. It took almost an entire year and the aid of large numbers of British and American troops to restore order. Since then the colonies had remained restless with revolts a frequent threat. At the same time the Republic had grown into an armed camp, despite the European population being only about 5 million, the Republic's army could amass 400,000 men (more than half the UFC's military strength as of 1952), the 3rd largest fleet on earth and a large air force. Although most foot soldiers were African, Arab or Berber the entire officer core, air force, navy and all elite and well armed units were white Europeans. The majority of the male and European population of the Republic was involved in some arm of the state attempting to keep a vast body of hostile populations under control whilst still presenting a powerful front to the outside world.
On October 8th 1951 the Fifth Republic issued a new constitution that created the French Union. The French Union consolidated white minority rule over Algeria and Tunisia as these areas were placed under the sovereignty of a civilian National Assembly and a powerful President – both elected exclusively by 'full citizens' (in other words the Pied Noir European population). In Sub Saharan Africa a series of constituent Republics were created. These Republics were under the control of military governments run by pro-Western Generals from each respective territory. The African Republics (their official title in the French Union) were given control over all domestic issues on the condition that property rights were respected, they remained loyal to Algiers and their militaries (recruited from the local populations with black African officer cores and commanders) were integrated into a Union wide command structure. In essence the Union consisted of a series of client states bound to Franco-Algeria which was in turn under white minority rule.
Domestically, during the late 1940s a strange thing settled down in metropolitan France. For the first time since the First World War there was an absence of street fighting, of political violence and denunciations. All the parties of the Grand Council were cooperating with one another – although the PCF was growing increasingly sidelined. There seemed to be a truce between the town and the country as the Communes ensured that the most militant Marxists were mostly concerned with their local communities than the far off villages where there were next to no proletarians and most relied on small scale property to eek out a living. Sadly, economic problems and the Franco-Soviet split would act to end this brief tranquillity in the early 1950s.
In the excitement of the political turmoil of France in the first half of the 20th century it is often forgotten that much of this turmoil was caused by economic problems. In 1950 France was one of the few countries on earth with a notably declining population. After stagnating at around 40,000,000 from the time of the Franco-Prussian War whilst the rest of Europe saw explosive growth the population began to fall from 1914. Wars, internal conflict and emigration all played a major role as by 1950 it had reached its lowest point at 34.5 million. Whilst the introduction of women into the workforce following the Revolution helped to offset the major decline in the male population (by 1950 the adult population was also more than 60% female) this still had its effects. Worse still France's economic recovery from the war was slower than the rest of Europe. The ruthless Stalinism employed in the Eastern Block produced economic results that were the envy of the world as Eastern Europe set the standard for the post-war recovery despite having suffered the worst out of any country during the War whilst the states of Central and Southern Europe benefited from the huge advantages of Marshal Aid. France, on the other hand, was cut off from support from either superpower and did not employ the hyper industrialist policies of the Eastern Block. Its rates of growth were therefore the worst in Europe during the 1940s. These economic problems were one of the reasons that France began to look to quickly repair relations with the West after 1950 – even going so far as to recognise West Germany in 1951 and setting up embassies in every country of Western Europe and North America (accepting Franco-Algeria). But the economic difficulties also had political consequences within France.
Pierre Poujade seemed to be a dark spectre from the past. Born in 1920 he had been involved in the PPF and the Imperialist movement as a teenager. He was briefly involved in the PPF run pro-Vichy youth movement from 1939 until the German occupation of Southern France the following year. After that he drifted away from Fascism as he fled to Algeria where he signed up with the Free French Forces. Serving as a solider in the Free French Army from 1940-1943 he also fought on the side of the government during the Civil War, being captured by revolutionary forces. Whilst in a POW camp he attempted to organise Anti-Communists politically and for this was not released with the rest of the POWs at the end of the war but instead served 3 years hard labour and underwent 'political re-education'. After his release in 1948 he moved to rural Southern France where he became a small shopkeeper, although no longer a Fascist he was anti-democratic and stridently against the socialist regime.
The vast self employed population of rural France had for many years subsisted just above the breadline, better off than urban proletarians in the good times, but far less secure in the bad. With the economy struggling forward and an increasing emphasis on expanding heavy industries a large part of this rural self employed population was being driven into pauperisation. This usually forced the individuals to emigrate to the cities where they in turn provided much needed labour. Evasion of tax and, indeed, any interference from the state was endemic amongst these populations as the only effective method of avoiding the fate of being forced into the cities. Since the middle 1940s this social group had rallied around the organisations that united under the banner of the CNI. After 1947 the CNI essentially became a part of the hated state apparatus and in 1950 agreed to force the Communes (in these areas dominated by CNI cadres) to begin to collect taxation that could be in turn invested in order to push forward France's development.
In a small town in Southern France Pierre Poujade organised the population in resistance to the collection of taxes – running the tax collectors out of town. From this victory Poujade, an inspiring and tub thumping speaker, quickly became a symbol of resistance – not just against the collection of taxation, but of the town against the country, the little man against the state and private property against the socialist regime. Within weeks Poujade's supporters had taken control of several regional Communes and banned the tax collectors from returning. By early 1951 the movement had spread across the entire country and a political party had been formed – Fraternite Francaise. The party differed from both the PPF and the older far right groups dominated by Action Francaise. Unlike the PPF its base of support remained the traditionally right wing rural self employed, but unlike Action Francaise it was a spontaneous mass movement from below. The Poujadist of the FF demanded the end of the socialist regime, unification with the Empire and the disbanding of the Grand Council, all political parties and all democratic organs. Beyond this their ideas tended to be less focussed and less coherent.
It was not just the countryside that saw a return of violent political action – in the cities too form 1950 the period of peace began to break down. The Franco-Soviet split made the Communists an enemy of the state. Yet, priding itself on being the 'freest country on earth' a simple slaughter of the PCF leadership was not an option. Instead the Trotskyists looked towards towards grass roots confrontations. In the Communes, whenever a known Communist rose to speak he would be shouted down and even attacked by Trotskyists, in factories Communists who attempted to organise workers in opposition to a government measure would be chased away by pro-regime workers with clubs, Communist meetings were interrupted and frequently attacked. The most prominent example of this policy against the PCF came when the Party's leader since 1926, Maurice Thorez, was murdered on October 18th 1951. After a quarter of a century at the head of one of the most significant political bodies in French history the one time Prime Minister of France was dead. The death of Thorez caused an upsurge in anti-state feeling amongst the Trotskyists' working class body of support – the death of the popular figure was attributed by many to the policy of the regime (although it remains to this day unknown whether the murder was sanctioned by the state or not). The PCF came under the leadership of long term Resistance leader Jacques Duclos as it attempted to fight for its survival.
After a brief period of social peace during the late 1940s political division and violence had returned to France in the 1950s. Meanwhile, internationally, the process of decolonisation had begun in earnest with only one large European colony remaining in Asia (Malaya), whilst most of Africa still remained under the rule of Britain, the French Union and Portugal and Latin America was still tied tightly to its own master to the North, steps had been taken towards the end of Imperialism.
Will France ever be at peace? It would be cool to do an election of the French Union in Africa, I think.
Atleast they aren't shooting at eachother any more.
I thought about having parallel elections in the UFC and in Franco-Algeria, but I couldn't really think of a good way to manage one. So we'll stick to metropolitan France.
Yes, you really are an excellent story-teller. This aar is the best one on the paradox forums right now.
It's just as well we don't have reader-elections in Africa, or we'd just get a communist government there too. But the situation there is extremely interesting. Will it be able to transition into a non-discriminatory democratic union or will it fall apart and become the proxy-wartorn prey of super-power puppets?
It's just as well we don't have reader-elections in Africa, or we'd just get a communist government there too. But the situation there is extremely interesting. Will it be able to transition into a non-discriminatory democratic union or will it fall apart and become the proxy-wartorn prey of super-power puppets?
The French people should unite! Like in the days of the Old in which France became a Superpower all on its own so these Rebels are not French if they dont understand there needs to be unity!
But execelent,oh and I hope im not im too War Hungry but will there be possibly WW3?
But execelent,oh and I hope im not im too War Hungry but will there be possibly WW3?
The Election of 1952
Since 1947 France had been dominated by the relationship between the Trotskyists who enjoyed the support of a plurality of the population and held the reigns of political power and the Christian Democratic LOC and the CNI. This alliance between the revolutionaries and those who were opposed to revolution created a compromise in which the Trotskyists would push no further and in exchange these two parties would support the continuation of their rule, so long as their opinions always taken into account. Outside of this system lay the Communist Party – the minority faction of the labour movement and the most organised and vocal critic of the Trotskyist government from within the working class and from the beginning of the 50s the Poujadist movement which had swept across rural France.
Internationalist Party (Parti Internationaliste)
- PI or Trotskyists
Political Position: Far Left
Description:
The Internationalist Party was the single largest electoral party in France. It closely followed the line of the Trotskyist leadership of the Revolutionary Party – supporting the power of the clique who had led the Revolution in 1944. However, there was a growing contradiction within the Party. On one hand there are those who remain attached to the revolutionary ideas of Bolshevism – of workers' power, militant atheism, total abolition of private property, egalitarianism and the belief that a perfect society could be built. On the other hand was the power of the 'technocratic' wing of the Party – these section saw the road to socialism as coming through economic development, only the enrichment of the productive forces could improve the conditions of everyone's lives and continue to allow France to support revolutionary movements the world over.
Domestic Policy:
We must protect our political system of working class power and democracy. In order to do this it is vital that we protect the power of our Revolutionary Party which guides our great nation and offers inspiration to all the peoples of the world who quake under the jackboot of Imperialism, Capitalism and Stalinism.
We should agitate for further revolutionary changes in our society. Either we march forward or we stagnate. In the countryside there is a crisis. The old ways of life – of artisan workers, petty bourgeois shopkeepers and independent farmers are being swept away by the unstoppable advance of the machine and the modern world. Let us industrialise the countryside! Push for the collectivisation of agriculture that will allow for the use of new technologies and machines, the construction of industries in the towns and villages that will offer an alternative life for the classes of society that are receding from history. Let us push for further secularisation. The Revolution has transformed the city, now it is time it arrived in the country!
Meanwhile, in urban areas we must support new and large scale projects to modernise and expand our industrial base. If France does not look to the future she will be destroyed by her enemies whether they be in Algiers, Moscow, London or Washington.
Foreign Policy:
France will support revolutionary movements around the world that oppose the evils of Imperialism, Capitalism and Stalinism. We shall fight to combat the influence of Muscovite puppet organisations in these revolutionary movements in order to inspire the independent force of the masses of the oppressed in their battle to liberate the peoples of the world.
The eyes of the world are currently fixed upon the Middle East and Egypt. The brave and revolutionary Colonel Nasser has offered hope to the peoples of the Middle East and the Arab World that there is a salvation from Imperialism that does not involve chaining themselves to a new master in the Soviet Union. The great Colonel offers an alternative, we must support him wholeheartedly. Long Live the Egypt Revolution! Long Live Colonel Nasser!
Christian Workers' League (Ligue ouvrière chrétienne)
- LOC
- LOC
Political Position: Centrist
Description:
The LOC is supported by a wide section of French society. After finishing second to the Trotskyists in the 1947 elections the party was quick to adapt itself to being an upholder of the regime. Adapting from being an oppositional force into a pressure group within the regime demanding greater democracy, the protection of the Church and religious freedom, a halt to revolutionary changes and a foreign policy that pursued the improvement of relations with the capitalist states that bordered France around Western Europe and with the West in general. Although the LOC had not seen the relaxation of the Trotskyists' grip on power all its other aims had been to an extent accomplished – even an unlikely improvement in relations with the West.
Domestic Policy:
The Christian Workers' League shall always be an upholder of the ideals of democracy and freedom within our system that also promotes an egalitarian economy. The Revolution altered property relations in this country forever, but it is over. We cannot allow the over enthusiasm of certain elements of the Far Left to spill over towards a tyrannical exertion of the Marxist minority's will on a majority that merely wants to carry on with their lives.
The LOC will fight to protect the existing small property owners from any unjust attempts at expropriation, it will defend freedom of thought and religion – protecting the beloved Church from atheist attacks, it shall fight for democracy in all levels of French society and for an end to social conflicts.
Let peace and freedom reign across the French nation!
Foreign Policy:
It is growing ever clearer that the Soviet Union means to rule over the entire world. Any dissent from Moscow's line is violently punished – only Yugoslavia, and only with the aid of France, has managed to break from Soviet shackles. Across the world they seek to dominate and take control of the decolonisation movement. Using violence and terror to destroy those who would proceed peacefully and democratically. They are the greatest enemy of freedom in the world today.
France must continue its policy of improving relations with our European neighbours and with the United States. Their friendship will not only improve our economic situation and thus the lives of our people, but also safeguard both France and the peoples of Europe from further warfare.
National Centre of Independents and Peasants (Centre National des Indépendants et Paysans)
- CNI
- CNI
Political Position: Right
Description:
In post revolutionary France the mere existence of private property seemed to be a strange flicker of a past world that would soon die out. In this sense the achievements of the CNI are quite extraordinary. Not only has the small property of artisans, shopkeepers and peasants remained unconquered by the socialist state – the number of property owners in France has actually grown. Within this strange situation in which the ownership of property was expanding in a nation ruled by forces explicitly opposed to private property there was another contradiction. Although their numbers and confidence was expanding the strength of these small holders was weakening. Just as new small holders entered the market others were going bankrupt whilst at the same time, in the struggle to survive, they dodged the influence of the state and worked illegally without paying taxes. Having become a part of the regime, like the LOC, the CNI could not follow its constituents in supporting illegal measures like tax evasion – causing a rift with much of its supporters from which Poujadism had emerged.
Domestic Policy:
The CNI shall continue to fight to protect any and all existing private property in France from the expanding power of the centralising state. It shall protect the autonomy of communities and families from state power and protect the rights of the localities. The CNI is the party of the everyday man that mitigates the influence of the socialist state in his life.
We support democracy and an end to the dictatorship of the Trotskyists and the Revolutionary Party they dominate. We demand that the Grand Council become the sovereign power in France and we shall fight for the power of the Communes to the last.
Foreign Policy:
France's battle against Soviet Communism is invaluable to the safety the world and the security of Europe. But if we are to continue this fight we must make peace with the Western powers and improve our relations with the United State – not to mention our exiled compatriots in Algeria. The world is clearly divided into two camps – we must choose whether we stand on the side of the free countries or if we stand alongside the Soviet Union. The choice is clear.
French Communist Party (Parti Communiste Français)
- PCF
Political Position: Left
Description:
In decline since the mid 1940s the PCF was verging on extinction by 1952. The murder of its long term and inspirational leader Maurice Thorez was the most high profile part of a deliberate campaign by France's Trotskyist leaders to destroy the disproportional influence the PCF still had within the working class and the labour movement and in doing so ensure their own domination in those parts of French society, as well as eliminating the supports of their Soviet enemy. Now headed by another popular figure and veteran of many struggles – Jacques Duclos – the Party is once again struggling to reinvigorate itself and offer a Left alternative to the Trotskyists.
Domestic Policy:
The dictatorship of the Trotskyists and the Revolutionary Party (in reality a front of the Internationalists) must be brought to an end if France is to be free. The Trotskyists undermine the democracy of the Communes by attacking those who oppose their line, they organise the assault of speakers who pose dissent amongst groups of workers. This supposedly working class and socialist party has created a very strange form of class struggle indeed – they have aligned themselves with the non-proletarian elements of French society so that they might discipline the working class itself and ensure the endless perpetuation of their power. Our Revolution has been corrupted and bastardised – let us fight against that degeneration.
Foreign Policy:
The sectarian policies of the Trotskyists have cost the working class victory in Indonesia – resulting in hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. They support the division of the Arab World and the Anti-Imperialist movement by supporting the nationalist and class collaborationist movement of Abdul Nasser. They believe that the Marxist movement and Communism are so evil that they align themselves with the enemies of the proletariat at every turn. They have sold their souls to the bourgeoisie out of a fantastical hatred of the land of socialism – the Soviet Union. This hatred the legacy of the quasi-comprehensible ravings of a single, bitter, Anti-Socialist who has been dead for over a decade. The fantasy world they have created is a genuine danger to world socialism and the movement to defeat Imperialism. It is a danger to us all and leaves France increasingly at the mercy of the United States.
Let us move towards friendship and unity with the Soviet Union – a country that has never offered anything else to France. May we return to a rational and true course that recognises our friends in the Socialist and Anti-Imperialist Camp, and our enemies in the Capitalist and Imperialist one.
Fraternité Française
- FF or Poujadists
Political Position: Far Right
Description:
The Poujadists were a partially coherent expression of the rage of the little man against the overwhelming power of the socialist state in France. At the basis of the movement lay this simple contradiction between the interests of the small property owners, independent producers and the countryside as opposed to the proletarians, mass production and the modern world embodied by the city and the socialist regime. In expressing their despair the Poujadists evoked anti-democratic ideas traditional to the French Far Right, but also those traditionally associated with the Republican Left. Although their movement was clearly the least politically developed of the French parties up for election, it also offered the clearest break from the Trotskyist regime.
Domestic Policy:
Our country is ruled by uneducated fools and ignorant brutes. This is not the nation we fought for in the War, this is not the liberation that the socialists and the democrats promised after the War. This is a world in which men are emasculated, where the Jew controls government whilst the Frenchmen is powerless, a world where everything that is new is considered wonderful and every tradition derided, where money is taken from the hands of a citizen in order to pay a Marxist in some far off land to kill another Marxist. What is this world? This insanity?
Enough!
The Fraternite Francaise offers a chance for a brotherhood of Frenchmen to rise up and end this psychopathic 'modern world'. Let us tear down the socialist dictatorship along with its totalitarian state. Let us forever close the greatest whore house in all France – the Grand Council, National Assembly or whatever the powerful men wish to call it these days. The people of France have had enough.
We propose a different way of government – the Communes may stay in place but national government must be changed forever. A council of wise and educated men may lead a limited central government that shall not interfere with people's lives – but these men must not be elected as the very act of election forces them to pander to the animalistic urges of sections of the population who will exert their violent and destructive will over the whole nation.
Down with this bestial 'modernism'! Long Live France!
Foreign Policy:
France should aim to reunite with its colonial Empire and with our compatriots in Algeria. We should also stand against the power of the Soviet Union and its expansionist interests into Europe. However, France should not entangle herself in wars that do not directly involve her interests in Europe and her colonial Empire.
You may vote for either:
PI/ Trotskyists
LOC
CNI
PCF
FF/ Poujadists
Once again, spamming is not tolerated, you may not campaign outside this thread and I ask that you remain civil with each other.
Voting will close on Thursday at 18:00, I will post in this thread to officially close the polls and return with the results shortly later.
With that out of the way, get voting!!!
How did you even reply so fast?
Also, are the pictures working? They aren't showing up for me, but my internet is pretty slow.
The Poujadists platform make my inner french sick.
I reserve my vote for later.
BTW, I can see the pics.
I reserve my vote for later.
BTW, I can see the pics.
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