[Forum Game] World in Revolution: 1929

[Sneakyflaps]

”The Government of India Act 1930 is the symbol of our power, of our strength and the future of the Indian people and nation. Together as one group we marched, as one nation we spoke, and as one people we shall strike out and shape our new future. The British listened for they had no other choice and they have consented in the next step towards Indian self-rule.

There is no doubt that provincial government is far from our goal, and we will without doubt continue relentlessly to fight for our status as a nation. But Britain has recognized our status as a people and a nation within the Empire, within this British Commonwealth. The establishment of the Indian Federal Court, for the legal cases of India to be tried here, not far away in Britain is major step towards the recognition of not just Britain, but the world as a whole of our just cause and the strength of our movement.

The main topic of our meeting here today however is that of the Indian Electoral Commission in which I, among others, sit to decide the future of the districts which will form the basis of our democratic nation. Britain herself has presented several points in regards to the electoral circles, the rights and securities of minorities, which after long consultations with Mahātmā Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi are elements upon which we agree. Our India will be one of the largest nations in the world, not simply in mere terms of landmass, but of people, people from all walks of life with diversity of religion, backgrounds, wealth. A never ending list and all must be guaranteed and have their voiced heard, a democratic nation, without discrimination of any sort, is that which is our ultimate goal for India. For only through this democracy can we unite the people behind our new nation, behind a common ideal, behind a common purpose.

But for that purpose, these new election districts must represent all of India. There will not and cannot be several federations of India, or several Indias. We are not British India, we are not Mysore, we are not Hyderabad, we are not Travancore. We are India! The new Federation must incorporate all of them, represent all of them and so these various Princely States must become a part of the new Federation, a part of the Provincial elections. The Princely States must be incorporated into the new federation, into our elections, we are a people, we are to be a nation, not five, and the incorporation of the Princely States must be one of our main objectives. Both in these negotiations with the British, but also in the construction of the new Indian State.”

Opening of Nehru’s speech in front of the Indian National Congress at which they set their aims for the Indian Electoral Commission.

 

[Korona]

AN ACT TO GIVE EFFECT TO CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY IMPERIAL CONFERENCES HELD IN THE YEARS 1926 AND 1930
December 11, 1931
​

WHEREAS the delegates to His Majesty's Governments in the United Kingdom, the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland, at Imperial Conferences holden at Westminster in the years of our Lord nineteen hundred and twenty-six and nineteen hundred and thirty did concur in making the declarations and resolutions set forth in the Reports of the said Conferences:

And whereas it is meet and proper to set out by way of preamble to this Act that, inasmuch as the Crown is the symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and as they are united by a common allegiance to the Crown, it would be in accord with the established constitutional position of all the members of the Commonwealth in relation to one another that any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:

And whereas it is in accord with the established constitutional position that no law hereafter made by the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall extend to any of the said Dominions as part of the law of that Dominion otherwise than at the request and with the consent of that Dominion:

And whereas it is necessary for the ratifying, confirming and establishing of certain of the said declarations and resolutions of the said Conferences that a law be made and enacted in due form by authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:

And whereas the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland have severally requested and consented to the submission of a measure to the Parliament of the United Kingdom for making such provision with regard to the matters aforesaid as is hereafter in this Act contained:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--
​

1. In this Act the expression "Dominion" means any of the following Dominions, that is to say, the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland.
2. (1) The Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865, shall not apply to any law made after the commencement of this Act by the Parliament of a Dominion.
(2) No law and no provision of any law made after the commencement of this Act by the Parliament of a Dominion shall be void or inoperative on the ground that it is repugnant to the law of England, or to the provisions of any existing or future Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, or to any order, rule, or regulation made under any such Act, and the powers of the Parliament of a Dominion shall include the power to repeal or amend any such Act, order, rule or regulation in so far as the same is part of the law of the Dominion
3. It is hereby declared and enacted that the Parliament of a Dominion has full power to make laws having extra-territorial operation.
4. No Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the commencement of this Act shall extend or be deemed to extend, to a Dominion as part of the law of that Dominion, unless it is expressly declared in that Act that that Dominion has requested, and consented to, the enactment thereof.
5. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this Act, section seven hundred and thirty-five and seven hundred and thirty-six of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, shall be construed as though reference therein to the Legislature of a British possession did not include reference to the Parliament of a Dominion
6. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this Act, section four of the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890 (which requires certain laws to be reserved for the signification of His Majesty's pleasure or to contain a suspending clause), and so much of section seven of that Act as requires the approval of His Majesty in Council to any rules of Court for regulating the practice and procedure of a Colonial Court of Admiralty, shall cease to have effect in any Dominion as from the commencement of this Act.
7. (1) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to apply to the repeal, amendment or alteration of the British North America Acts, 1867 to 1930, or any order, rule or regulation made thereunder.
(2) The provisions of section two of this Act shall extend to laws made by any of the Provinces of Canada and to the powers of the legislatures of such Provinces.
(3) The powers conferred by this Act upon the Parliament of Canada or upon the legislatures of the Provinces shall be restricted to the enactment of laws in relation to matters within the competence of the Parliament of Canada or of any of the legislatures of the Provinces respectively.
8. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to confer any power to repeal or alter the Constitution or the Constitution Act of the Commonwealth of Australia or the Constitution Act of the Dominion of New Zealand otherwise than in accordance with the law existing before the commencement of this Act.
9. (1) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to authorize the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia to make laws on any matter within the authority of the States of Australia, not being a matter within the authority of the Parliament or Government of the Commonwealth of Australia
(2) Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to require the concurrence of the Parliament or Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, in any law made by the Parliament of the United Kingdom with respect to any matter within the authority of the States of Australia, not being a matter within the authority of the Parliament or Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, in any case where it would have been in accordance with the constitutional practice existing before the commencement of this Act that the Parliament of the United Kingdom should make that law without such concurrence.
(3) In the application of this Act to the Commonwealth of Australia the request and consent referred to in section four shall mean the request and consent of the Parliament and government of the Commonwealth.
10. (1) None of the following sections of this Act, that is to say, sections two, three, four, five, and six, shall extend to a Dominion to which this section applies as part of the law of that Dominion unless that section is adopted by the Parliament of the Dominion, and any Act of that Parliament adopting any section of this Act may provide that the adoption shall have effect either from the commencement of this Act or from such later date as is specified in the adopting Act.
(2) The Parliament of any such Dominion as aforesaid may at any time revoke the adoption of any section referred to in sub-section (1) of this section.
(3) The Dominions to which this section applies are the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, and Newfoundland.
11. Notwithstanding anything in the Interpretation Act, 1889, the expression "Colony" shall not, in any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the commencement of this Act, include a Dominion or any Province or State forming part of a Dominion.

12. This Act may be cited as the Statute of Westminster, 1931.​

 

[Cloud Strife]

Speech by the President of the Council of Ministers on the prevailing conditions in today's Spain;

José Sanjurjo y Sacanell, 1st Marqués del Rif,
Presidente del Consejo de Ministros​

"I want my first words inaugurating the beginning of my leadership to be clear and crisp, a statement of my political faith;

"The destiny of Spain depends upon the preservation of her eternal values, the suppression of which would create slavery and chaos. On this path we must be intransigent in exacting sacrifices from all for the benefit of our national unity. Some of those listening might not be with Spain, but what is unacceptable is that any one should be against Spain. We are living through historical moments that have so complicated a nature that, just as external events produce reaction in the internal life of a nation, that internal life has had effects beyond its frontiers.

"We are actors in a new era in which we can have no truck with the mentality of the past. Spain's way of thinking cannot go back to the nineteenth century, accursed by so many false conceptions. It is necessary for Spaniards to abandon the old prejudices and take a survey of Europe, nay, the World at large, in order to analyze contemporary history.

"All contemporary events show us we are witnessing the end of one era and the beginnings of another; that last remnants of the Belle Epoque are going down a victim to its own errors, the happiness promised by the French revolution became nothing but barter business, competition, low wages and mass insecurity.

"Wealth did not go hand in hand with equitable distribution. The greater part of humanity was prey to misery. True freedom promised became impossible as long as bondage and want existed. These factors are cleverly exploited Marxist-Leninist slogans are catching on with the masses because they deceitfully promise a change in the justice of the pressing situation. Yet from the wild fields of Ukraine to the high rises of Manhattan all have been laid low by this economic crisis. Do not be seduced by honeyed words out of desperation.

"Whatever projects there may exist now, the historic destiny of our era will be settled, either according to the barbarous formula of Bolshevist totalitarianism, or according to the spiritual, patriotic formula Spain offers us, that combines the best of a thousand years of tradition with modern economic principles and rational organization. As St. Thomas Aquinas makes clear, faith and reason are the twin pillars of the Church, and so shall faith in our unbroken and unbent Spain and a realistic inquiry in how to preserve and enrich the glory of our Patria, be our guiding principles.

"In these days our generation it not merely faced with territorial and political problems, but also with supreme issues of the existence of our faith, our civilization and our culture, which are now at stake once more. Thus a renewed Spanish presence in the international sphere becomes so very important.

"We have called you together to carry our work to completion. The government shall work with the people. Success shall be heralded by the continuous triumphs of his Majesty, our King, the magnificent work of Spanish people, and pious endeavors of our social institutions.Yet, our country demands more from us! The essential task lies before this new ministry to deliver. It may well be that life will become more difficult. Perhaps our paths are shall be strewn with thorns, but there can be no flagging in pursuit of our ideals.

"It is not enough to set our goal and stand back. It must be pursued with constancy and sacrifice. Fortitude, as well as good-will, is needed. When we have all this, the triumph will be complete, because we shall feel strong and secure. We have the strength of our truth, backed by the reality of our power. We promise a hard life, but a Spanish life worthy of our country and its destiny.

"We do not work for ephemeral ends, but for a resplendent tomorrow. The people of Spain is in the flower of its youth. Let us strive for Spain as it is and Spain as it shall be; one and united, pious and generous, great and glorious!"

 

[Rolman99]

The Republic of China
中華民國

Chairman Chiang Kai-Shek (Jiang Jieshi)

禮義廉恥/耻!
Order, Justice, Honesty, Morality!​

 

[Noco19]

The 25/48/53 Formula
A Guide for a Presidential Government
​

Among the Kamarilla which held the ear of President von Hindenburg, it was most certainly Kurt von Schleicher who devised the implementation of the 25/48/53 Formula, an exploitation of the spirit of the constitution. Named so for three article within the constitution, Article 25 allowed the president to dissolve the Reichstag, Article 48 allowed the president to sign into law emergency legislation without the consent of the Reichstag, and Article 53 allowed the president to appoint the chancellor.

Thus, the 25/48/53 Formula offered a means to completely sideline parliamentary democracy; the Reichstag could annul emergency measures under Article 48 through a simple majority vote, however the threat of dissolution by Article 25 proved a strong counter. President von Hindenburg himself was wary of such a gross violation, however with the support of his own son Oskar, Otto Meißner, General Wilhelm Groener, and of course von Schleicher, President von Hindenburg accepted the Formula as the best means to secure the stability and strength of Germany.

Heinrich Brüning was poised to become the first benefactor of such a Formula, courted by von Schleicher and approved by von Hindenburg to become chancellor. With Brüning's economic acumen, he could serve as a great force for the presidential government and likewise serving as a sort of whipping boy for the expected backlash of austerity. Much to the chagrin of von Schleicher however, President von Hindenburg was seized with indecision when Brüning requested emergency powers in line with the Formula, leading to the rapid collapse of the Brüning Government.

It could be theorized that Brüning's policies in regards to land distribution served as one of the primary points of von Hindenburg's refusal. A coalition of Prussian Junkers fiercely denounced Brüning for his attempts to equitably address the issue of the indebted Junker estates and the unemployed and landless workers, and von Hindenburg's status as an indebted estate-holder himself raised a certain conflict of interest. In a letter to von Hindenburg, Elard von Oldenburg-Januschau labelled Brüning an "Agro-Bolshevik". When Brüning was called in to hear of von Hindenburg's refusal, the man broke down into tears, asking why he deserved such treatment. President von Hindenburg was cold and told Brüning to leave his sight.

Not in attendance but nevertheless well-informed, von Schleicher was already in the process of arranging a successor. The reversal of his plan was of a grave shock to von Schleicher, who now regarded von Hindenburg as far more unreliable than once thought and his own status in power threatened due to reliance on the president. For Brüning's replacement was found a highly unlikely man - Franz von Papen.

A nobleman, former general officer, and Zentrum politician, Franz von Papen was a virtual nobody in national politics. A member of the Prussian Landtag, von Papen rarely attended sessions and never spoke when he did. Although he had attempted to secure placement on the Zentrum list for the Reichstag elections of 1924, von Papen was heavily rebuked by party leadership as a troublemaker. This was an understatement, as von Papen proved disloyal to the party line, siding with the DNVP on occasions in the Landtag and voting for Hindenburg over his own party's Wilhelm Marx for president.

Short in qualities befitting a politician, instead more suited to socializing in high society, what von Schleicher cared for instead was von Papen's malleability. The two were great friends, having spent hours carousing at the exclusive Deutscher Herrenklub, and what von Papen represented was a loyal stooge with some degree of importance to the conservative right that von Schleicher sought to court.

When a friend remarked to von Schleicher that von Papen was a bit of an airhead, von Schleicher responded - "He need not have [a head], but he'll make a fine hat!". And that precisely how von Schleicher treated von Papen's role as chancellor; when assembling his cabinet, von Schleicher simply handed von Papen a planned cabinet, completed before von Papen even accepted the chancellorship. Through von Papen, von Schleicher now regarded himself as the true steward of the government, and with support of the 25/48/53 Formula, his power would be immense over the running of the Reich.

Now, von Schleicher sought to minimize opposition against the government, currying allies with Hugenberg's DNVP and even Hitler's National Socialists...

 

[Nax24]

The Voice of the Religious Right

​

Father Charles Edward Coughlin was the son of two Irish-Catholic parents who lived in Canada. He was raised Catholic, attended Catholic schools, and acted upon what he felt was a calling to become a Catholic priest. He was a priest in Toronto, where he taught at the local Catholic college. When his order of Priests, the Basilians, were ordered by the Vatican to adopt a life of poverty and obedience, Father Coughlin refused, and immigrated across the border into the United States. From there, he became a priest of the Archdioceses of Detroit, and was assigned to a small parish in the suburb of Royal Oak Michigan. From there, he preached to twenty-five Catholic families in a widely protestant neighborhood. But one thing that Father Coughlin excelled at was preaching and speaking to the public. From his little church, he attracted many to Rome's church, and soon aspired to spread his message to all of the state, perhaps to all of the nation.

In 1926, Father Coughlin spoke on the radio for the first time. He spoke on WJR against a KKK cross-burning on his church (the KKK in Michigan were anti-Catholic and anti-Immigrant). From there, he spoke weekly on an hour-long program, discussing various religious topics. Four years later, he would be picked up by CBS and begin his national-career as one of their radio talk-show hosts.

As the Depression hit and grew in 1930 and 1931, Father Coughlin began switching from debating religious topics to debating political topics. His audience soon grew from a mostly Irish-Catholic base to include other Christians. He preached vehemently against socialism and Soviet Communism. He critiqued capitalists for creating the conditions for communism to grow in the world, "Let not the workingman be able to say that he is driven into the ranks of socialism by the inordinate and grasping greed of the manufacturer.". His anti-communist rhetoric was so appeasing to the American population that he was called as a witness to a House Committee investigating communist actions.

In 1931, CBS dropped Coughlin's free sponsorship after Coughlin refused to have his scripts reviewed by the network. In return, Coughlin raised his own independent money to create his own national linkup, which would go on to include a 36-station hookup. His radio would attract millions of listeners. To many, he was the voice of religious conservatism in a time where socialism was ripe to grow within the United States. Yet, will Coughlin's message still appeal to the people if the Depression ends?

 

[Noco19]

Chancellor von Papen Speaks
on the economic crisis in Germany
​

"Imposed upon the German People is an underlying system of exploitation; whereas the rest of the world stands equal with one another, we are continually forced into subservience made woefully manifest by the current economic crisis. We are expected to address the concerns of the economy with our arms bound by the twin shackles of mistrust and reparations.

Through the Treaty of Versailles, a massive burden has been heft unto the German spirit, and even in spite of our perseverance, our will, we are still held as the lesser-thans. But we are not lesser-than and shall not acclimate ourselves to any such status that leaves our nation forever gated to the representation we deserve on the international scale. As Chancellor, I stand committed to the principle of equality of status, that Germans have a place, one not below that of the French, or the British, or any other sort of people.

To that end, I shall propose to Paris and to London that we commence soon in conference, to address the unfair treatment of Germany and to create solution that will lead towards the end-goal of equality of status. Already, Washington D.C. has issued a moratorium on payments - for which I thank the United States for - which is but the first step needed to rectify our current crisis.

Let it be known that only through diplomacy shall we weather this current storm without a further complication of the world's woe, and let it likewise be known that Germany shall be the champion of that peaceful pursuit, steadfast in our pursuit for cooperation, but not slavery."

 

[MastahCheef117]

Tenno Heika Banzai

The Great War had entrenched in the hearts and minds of world leaders the need to prevent as disastrous and destructive a war from ever again occurring. Even as the various peace treaties establishing payments of reparations and territorial changes were being written, new agreements of arms limitation were being contemplated and laid out, with the object being to reduce the total expenditures on militaries worldwide. Perhaps the most prominent and far-reaching of these agreements was the Five-Power Treaty, or Washington Naval Treaty, of 1922. Limits were set on the size of various ships, the caliber of their weapons, and the number allowed by each nation. Each signatory -- the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France, and Italy -- were to abide by the solemn oath of the treaty and to never surpass a certain point of naval strength. In less than a decade, Japan had already broken that promise.

Japan had been allowed to maintain a total of 315,000 tons’ worth of battleships and battlecruisers, with no single vessel being allowed to surpass thirty-five thousand tons displacement. The government’s authorization, in 1929, to contract eight new capital ships, including the new modernized forty-nine thousand ton Kii-class battleships and forty-five thousand Amagi-class battlecruisers had set a firestorm off in the foreign ministries of the other signatories. Only in 1931, as the worldwide depression deepened, did the four signatories issue a joint declaration “condemn[ing] in the strongest of terms” Japan’s violation of the Five-Power Treaty and demanded it acquiesce to their demands to scrap the new ships. As harsh as the language may have been, it carried little true weight; several in Japan, however, whether through ignorance or crafty opportunism, took the chance to underscore the threat posed to Japan by foreign powers.

Already in office for just several weeks, Prime Minister Inukai gave a speech before the assembled Diet and condemned the “wanton aggression” and “dangerous actions” of the military lobbyists; some claimed he was attacking the military itself. Within his new cabinet, he pushed to have the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Osumi Mineo, suspend construction of the capital ships indefinitely, to save face and restore national relations as much as to curb the increasing power of the military in what should have ostensibly been civil affairs. Mineo, himself a liberal, began drafting a declaration to be issued to the contracted shipyards, while simultaneously meeting contacts throughout the Navy to soften the blow the declaration would cause. However, word of his efforts leaked to several important people; one was Adachi Kenzo. A conspiracy soon formed: to defend the kokutai and the effeminization of Japan by foreign powers and collaborating liberals, a group of officers were to take charge, eliminate the tumors of civil government, and inaugurate a new dawn for Japan. Inspired by Okawa Shumei and Kita Ikki, the officers, forming the “League of Blood”, set out to achieve one objective: to return absolute rule to Japan, and to create a new imperial restoration. They set their sights on Inukai and his cabinet.

Inukai shortly after giving his speech to the Diet.​

In the early morning hours of 15 May 1931 some three-hundred naval and army officers stormed the residence of the Prime Minister and the primary offices of the War, Navy, Home Affairs, and Communications ministries. Two-dozen officers broke into the Prime Minister’s office and, without much of a struggle, quickly executed him. Another group in the naval ministry’s office shot three men working directly under Minister Osumi before finding him in a closet and executing him as well. The guards at both the Prime Minister’s residence and the naval ministry were disarmed and detained without a fight (though one guard resisted and was shot and bayoneted repeatedly, before his body was strung up outside the latter building with a sign reading ‘He was a traitor to the Emperor’s Government and the kokutai’).

By 4am, just thirty minutes after the operation began, news started to spread throughout the capital. General Araki Sadao, Minister of War, traveled to the Imperial Palace with a company of guards to inform the Emperor that there was a “disturbance among the ranks of the army in and outside the city”, but that the nature and size of the “disturbance” was as yet unknown. This, of course, was a lie. The Emperor, disgruntled and tired from a long night of entertaining various guests at the palace, demanded constant updates from Araki, and ordered his personal secretary to contact the Prime Minister in order to summon the cabinet to an emergency session. The truth had yet to reach the Palace -- or, at least, the Emperor -- as the situation deteriorated throughout the morning.

Conspirators meet and discuss their next step after the assassination of the Prime Minister.​

The communications and home ministers, Chuzo Mitsuji and Nakahashi Tokugoro respectively, had been arrested and thrown in makeshift cells under constant guard by the revolutionary officers. News spread throughout a city that began to awake from its slumber; by 7am some two-hundred officers and enlisted throughout the city, nearly all of them from the Army, joined the ranks of the plotters. The Ministry of Finance was seized and a gun battle broke out at the offices of Foreign Affairs and Justice as troops loyal to the now-deceased Prime Minister did what they could to ward off the attackers. Araki received a steady stream of information from the now-seized communications and naval ministries, the latter of which became the provisional headquarters for the revolt, and selectively chose to supply the Emperor with data on the progress of the revolt. The nature of it only became clear to the Japanese monarch at around 7:30, when he asked Araki about the true nature of the soldier’s revolt. Araki claimed to have just received a letter of demands from the officers and enlisted soldiers, who claimed to be setting out to restore the kokutai, and to defend the prestige of the Emperor. At around this time, Makino Nobuaki, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, was detained alongside several guards after he left the residence of a friend (he had not initially been found at his residence by the officers). After a brief exchange with the officer-in-charge, he, too, was dead; he had been compelled to commit seppuku. The elderly Saionji Kinmochi, a former Prime Minister and Keeper of the Seal, having been arrested in the first moments of the uprising, was around this time beaten to death by a gang of soldiers, his mangled body left on the steps of his house for all to see.

Soldiers raise their banner above a hotel across the street from the war ministry.​

With much of the central government paralyzed by the course of the coup, and with the Emperor largely unaware of its progress and objectives, there was little that could be done to arrest the development of the uprising. Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, belatedly receiving news of the Tokyo coup, sent a telegram to the Imperial Palace -- which Araki promptly intercepted -- in an attempt to notify the Emperor that news of the uprising was spreading across the country and inflaming tensions and passions in thousands of Japanese, within and without the military. At 8:30, despite having failed to take the finance and justice ministries, the rebels drafted, with preliminary commands from Araki, a formal letter to the Emperor himself, pledging their loyalty to him and urging him to declare a new imperial restoration via the dissolution of the Diet and grand political and economic reforms. It is unknown whether the Emperor suspected Araki’s complicity in the coup, as he was the only cabinet member to successfully gain entrance to the palace that day; but, receiving news from his brother Yasuhito that the soldiers had effectively seized control of the government, and with rumors that the Prime Minister and others had been assassinated, he decided he had no choice. He dressed himself in the uniform of a Grand Marshal in the Army and ordered Araki to issue an imperial declaration in his name, officially recognizing and accepting the demands of the revolutionaries and pledging himself to their ‘just cause”.

Protests and celebrations erupted across the nation. Thousands marched in solidarity with the soldiers in Tokyo amid protests and several riots from liberals and socialists, many of whom were promptly arrested under the Public Security Preservation Law. Dressed in his grand marshal’s uniform, the Emperor, with Araki and others close behind, rode through the streets of Tokyo on horseback, saluting cheerful onlookers and, in several cases, the revolutionary soldiers and officers themselves. Late in the afternoon, the Emperor officially dissolved the Diet under “circumstances of national emergency”, and, in the wake of Inukai’s death, appointed Adachi Kenzo as Prime Minister. Five minutes after the formal proclamation, Adachi submitted to the Emperor his proposed cabinet, including Kita Ikki as Home Affairs minister; Araki would be kept on as Minister of War. If the Emperor had not been certain that Araki was one of the main movers of the coup before this point, he was now most certainly aware.

16 May bore witness to a new Japan. In one single day, the era of the Taisho democracy had been swept aside in a bath of blood. “The impurities of the nation that have manifested themselves to destroy the kokutai”, wrote Kita Ikki in his journal that day, “shall now begin to be purged through the slow and intense fire of righteousness”. The words “Tenno heika banzai” were on the lips of every Japanese. The Showa Restoration had begun. [Adachi Kenzo made Prime Minister]

 

[Ab Ovo]

The Supremest Thing:
The Danziger Constitution of 1930 and its introduction

The new Danziger flag as stipulated by the Constitution of 1930
​

The people of Danzig were rather nervous in 1930, watching the rise of nationalists in both Germany and Poland with deep concern. It wasn't that they did not support Papen or Pilsudski -- they very much did -- but rather that almost the entire population was divided between them. The recently-installed High Commissioner was an Italian named Manfredi di Gravina, and due to his League of Nations-affiliation was treated with cool disdain by the PNF in Rome; himself no big fan of Il Duce. High Commissioner di Gravina entered into quiet talks with Senate President Heinrich Sahm in the lead-up to the 1930 elections for the Volkstag, and their negotiations bore fruit almost as soon as the polls closed. Danziger politics were in many ways a mirror to those of Weimar Germany but the results of the elections still shocked the nation: the NSDAP of Danzig gained 11 seats whereas every other party lost seats. The Social Democratic Party, previously the driving force of domestic politics, retained its position as the single largest party of the Volkstag but still suffered the catastrophic loss of over twenty delegates.

The negotiations to form a governing coalition were a much more intense affair than in previous elections as the various factions scrambled to form a cordon sanitaire against the National Socialist, the Germans deeming them too radical even as the Poles felt nothing but revulsion for Nazi policies. The SDP reached out to the Zentrumspartei in order to form a coalition with the Communists (which would reach the required 37 seats for a majority) but Zentrum's leader, Willi Jentzsch, balked at the idea of any alliance with Red politicians and any such idea quickly fell through. Jentzsch himself advocated for a broad-tent alliance between the SDP, DVNP, and the Zentrumspartei but was stymied initially by SDP's reluctance to team up with a party perceived as conservative as the German Nationalists. It was only after extensive negotiations between Bernhard Kamnitzer and Ernst Ziehm that the two agreed to enter into a coalition together. Kamnitzer was a prominent Social Democrat and judge as well as being a leading member of Danzig's Jewish community, and it was that last identity which spurred him to work hard to convince the two parties to work together. The idea that the DVNP could be driven to coalition with the NSDAP terrified Kamnitzer and his efforts were unflagging. Finally Ziehm assented to coalition (Ziehm was a lawyer himself and the two men got along rather famously) and Kamnitzer himself bullied the Social Democratic leadership into submission.

As the architect of the new 40-seat coalition Jentzsch was elected to the Danziger Senate by the Volkstag, and thereafter was elected to the position of President of the Senate. As the new President he immediately set to work arranging the inducements that had been hammered out by and for the three parties... only to discover it was more difficult than anticipated. Although it was Jentzsch himself, and therefore his party, which had driven for the new government to begin with he had still demanded one central concession: the establishment of a new constitution. While the Danziger Zentrumspartei was similar to the German mother-party in that their tolerance for Nazism was low to begin with, the Danziger DVNP was much, much more anti-Nazi than their own progenitor. Unlike the German party -- which wasn't especially pro-Nazi but wasn't averse to working with them either -- the Danziger German Nationalists bled bluer-than-blue and were composed almost exclusively of Ostpreußischer nobility. They regarded the National Socialists as vulgarian socialists no better than the KPD, possibly even worse for their perversion of conservative values, and were sympathetic to Zentrum's demands. Neither they nor Zentrum were anything but horrified by the rise of the Nazis in Danziger politics and both were willing to introduce a new constitution solely to cut them out of any chance at power. The SPD initially drew away from any such 'undemocratic' schemes, but an immediate post-election rise in anti-Polish and anti-Semitic assaults quickly changed their minds. Sometimes the ends justifies the means.

The establishment of the Danziger state was explicitly provided for in the Treaty of Versailles but outside of the fact of its existence the nature of that state was almost entirely undefined. This left the Danziger government with almost unlimited autonomy in its internal affairs and in turn allowed it all the powers necessary for the introduction of a new constitution. This was undertaken with a great deal of verve, and the final draft sailed through the Volkstag on party lines (50-12, with the rare delicacy of an NSDAP and KPD voting alliance) before making it through the Senate. Jentzsch officially promulgated and signed it the next day before forwarding copies to Geneva, Warsaw, and Berlin. As had been agreed upon there was something for everyone: Zentrum had managed to squeeze in articles barring 'extremist elements from disruptive participation in the democratic process' and ensuring that elements such as the NSDAP and KPD would be forced to moderate themselves extensively before standing for elections. The SPD ensured that elementary social guarantees were written into the constitution, strengthening their electoral base and giving them control over nascent social agencies overseeing the new regulations. The DVNP's inducement was on the most part a purely cosmetic one, but it soon drew the most attention.

In a public proclamation gazetted in Danziger newspapers, the Senate of the Free City of Danzig -- in accordance with stipulations laid out in the new constitution -- formally offered the position of Grand Duchess of Danzig to Her Imperial and Royal Majesty Archduchess Adelheid of Austria, who later accepted the position in a letter to President Jentzsch, written by her mother. The demands of the DVNP were themselves quite simple: that the establishment of a Danziger monarchy be promulgated, and that the newborn crown be offered to a German. This demand was initially greeted with great reticence on the part of Zentrum and the SPD but their Nationalist counterparts proved unexpectedly inflexible on the matter. The DVNP, as with their German counterparts, had already tended toward monarchism as an ideology and while Danziger politics traditionally did not provide an outlet for such sentiment the Nationalists seized the new constitution as a moment of opportunity. The German citizens of Danzig were keenly aware that it was Poland, and not Germany, who was in the best position to overthrow the city's government and annex the tiny nation. The cession of foreign policy to Warsaw, the economic customs union with Poland, and Danzig's very position on the map all added up to what could have been an easy target. As increasingly unpalatable rightist elements gained strength in both Poland and Germany it became clear that the preservation of the city's sovereignty would require more than the status quo.

Even as Poles in Danzig welcomed the accession of Slawek to power and segments of the German population in the city were only too pleased to see the NSDAP rise to prominence both at home and in Germany, other powerful factions were aware that the traditional divide which shaped Danziger politics -- pro-German or pro-Polish -- was becoming untenable. The majority of German Danzigers were already sceptical of Polish interests and actions and began to be increasingly uncomfortable with politics in Germany as well. Eventually the DVNP's most forceful argument for monarchy, namely that the democratic establishment of a Danziger crown would give Danzig's sovereignty more international respectability and make it harder for unilateral annexation, won the day and the constitution was carried through into law. Protests from Nazi-sympathisers, Communists, and Poles rocked the Free City for several days after the constitution came into effect but order was quickly restored with the aid of the Danziger Schutzpolizei. The SPD's support of the constitution, although it had turned rather lukewarm in the immediate aftermath, also served to keep the city on an even keel as Grand Duchess Adelheid and her mother arrived weeks later from Belgium and took up residence in the famous Artushof. With their arrival he newly refreshed nation began to step tentatively into a future that, despite her efforts, looked all the more uncertain.

 

[Korona]

His Majesty's Ambassador to the League of Nations
​

His Majesty's Government and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been following the events occurring in the Free State of Danzig with the utmost concern. The abolition of the governmental structure of the Free State of Danzig without prior warning or consultation with the League of Nations is most concerning to His Majesty's Government and should be a concern to this body, for it sets a poor precedent.

Additionally, the United Kingdom and this body should find the offering of the throne of Danzig, again, without any consultation with any other body, is incredibly concerning to the United Kingdom. Although the United Kingdom respects Mrs. Adelaide of Habsburg, but the United Kingdom must question the the leadership of Danzig's decision to offer a throne to a girl who has not yet reached maturity. Thus, the United Kingdom strongly protests the actions of the leadership of Danzig and requests that this body step in to rectify the questionable and concerning events that have occurred in the Free State of Danzig.

SIR FRANCIS HUMPHRYS
HIS MAJESTY'S AMBASSADOR TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS​

 

[Ab Ovo]

The Senate of Danzig

Senat Gdańska
Der Senat von Danzig

​

Forwarded to the Rt Hon Manfredi di Gravina,
High Commissioner of the League of Nations to the Free City of Danzig

Having received news of the communique which was published by the honourable Ambassador of the Court of St James to the League, the Senate feels that it is incumbent upon this body to issue a response addressed to your eminent person. Her Royal Highness' Government finds the concerns of the United Kingdom to be perplexing, seemingly resting as they are upon preconceptions of Danziger sovereignty which appear to be baseless. According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles the Danziger state was, at that time, established as a 'Free City' which resided under 'the protection of the League of Nations'; and furthermore that upon a constitution having been established with the consent of the High Commissioner it would henceforth be guaranteed by the League. Nowhere is the right of Danzig to conduct its internal affairs freely impinged upon, nor is the consent or even advice of any foreign power stipulated as a precondition to altering the government of the Free City via legitimate means.

It is the position of Her Royal Highness' Government that Danzig is fully within her rights to alter the constitution of the state as it sees fit, bound only to respect those conditions which are explicitly enumerated by the Treaty. To that end Danzig has made no attempt whatsoever to disturb or abolish the High Commission, the customs union with the Polish Republic, or the right of Warsaw to represent Danzig in matters of foreign affairs; and in fact has taken great pains to ensure that such provisions and institutions continue without interruption or molestation of any kind. Beyond such matters the Danziger government again asserts its right to conduct its sovereign internal affairs without let or hindrance by any other foreign power; and remains confused by the seeming assertions of His Majesty's Government that Danzig is somehow incapable of administering its own affairs in a competent manner -- assertions which contain no basis in fact whatsoever. As such it is the formal request of Her Royal Highness' Government that His Majesty's Government withdraw its statement to the League of Nations, which remains a scandalously insulting communication which demeans both the Free City and the United Kingdom itself by way of such outrageous and unwarranted attacks on Danziger sovereignty.

With cordial sentiment,

Willi Jentzsch
President of the Senate of Danzig

Her Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty Empress Zita of Austria,
Apostolic Queen of Hungary and Regent of Danzig

 

[aedan777]

The Free City of Danzig is in violation of the Treaty of Versailles with its attempted creation of a new constitution that imposes a monarch on the people of Danzig. The pre-existing constitution of Danzig, in effect since 1922, is protected by Article 103 of the Treaty of Versailles, placing it under the guarantee of the League of Nations, preventing its removal or violation. Thus the attempts by the Danziger legislature to unilaterally create a new constitution overwriting the old is illegal, as well as harmful to general European peace and stability. Further, even if the Treaty of Versailles makes no explicit decree against the imposition of a Habsburg monarch on spuriously created thrones, it is the opinion of the Republic of Poland that such a move is completely to the detriment of European order, particularly if they retain claims upon the old lands of the Habsburgs.

Thus the Republic of Poland demands that the new Danziger constitution be abrogated and the would-be Habsburg Duchess and her family removed from Danzig for the sake of regional stability. Failure to comply with these demands will result in the deployment of the Polish Armed Forces to enforce the Treaty of Versailles and prevent a breach of European peace.

-August Zaleski, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of Poland

 

[Korona]

His Majesty's Ambassador to the League of Nations
​

The United Kingdom shall refrain from withdrawing any statement made on the curious decisions of Danziger leadership until the Right Honourable High Commissioner Manfredi di Gravina has made it clear of whether or not he has approved the change of Danziger constitution.

However, the United Kingdom wishes to avoid violent confrontation if at all possible, and thus proposes the following course of action to this body as to ensure peace.

• The Danziger Constitution of 1930 shall be abrogated.
• The previous constitution of Danzig shall be restored in full on a provisional basis.
• A Commission on the Constitution of the Free State of Danzig shall be held.
  • The High Commissioner for Danzig, a German Representative, a Polish Representative, and a Danziger representative shall comprise the council, with a impartial observer as appointed by the League of Nations being Chairman.
  • The Commission shall deliberate whether or not the Danziger Constitution of 1930 is legitimate.
  • If deemed illegitimate, the Danziger Constitution as established by the Treaty of Versailles shall become the supreme law and fully binding in the Free State of Danzig.
  • If deemed legitimate, the Danziger Constitution of 1930 shall be amended to ensure full compliance with the Treaty of Versailles and with the relevant powers comprising the Commission on the Constitution of the Free State of Danzig.

SIR FRANCIS HUMPHRYS
HIS MAJESTY'S AMBASSADOR TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
​