• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I can now finally announce the result.

The German Socialists have won. Wilhelm Weitling is the first Chairman of the United Socialist People's Republic. Long Live the Revolution!

Over the course of the election 54 people cast their votes. The results were as follows:

German Socialists - 20 votes

Marxists - 17 votes

Anarchists - 15 votes

Trades Unionists - 2 votes

As a side note my initial tally was perfectly correct - so yay me! :p

Good election guys. A large vote, only one rule violation (a double vote that I suspect was accidental) and lots of good natured debate. If the AAR can continue like this than I'm sure it will have a long and successful future ahead of it. :)

I'll make a short election update and then I'll get to playing the game itself.
 
The Election of 1850

In January 1850 the VSVR, for the first time in its history seemingly secure from external threat, decided its leader through an election. Four candidates stood for election. The leader would be voted for by the members of the People’s Party.

Karl Marx, the leader of the Marxist faction and the most intellectually brilliant man in government, stood on a program of rapid and severe reform in all areas of the state and of society. He called for big government and large scale social reform. He wished to focus on internal politics but pledged to expand the VSVR’s territory into Germany whenever an opportunity arose.

Wilhelm Weitling, the leader of the German Socialists, called for everything in moderation. He took on many of Marx’s policies but softened them. He also promised less government interference in the economy than Marx but far more than either the Trade Unionists or the Collectivist Anarchists. However in foreign politics he was somewhat of an extremist. He put forward the idea that if the Republic failed to expand then it would die. He proposed that any state not protected by a Great Power was to be a target for annexation.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the leader of the Anarchists and only non-German to stand in the election, represented one of the most radical wings of the People’s Party. He called for the immediate division of everything equally amongst the people. Then government would reduce in size alongside the military – the Anarchists were unique in their call for peace and this pacifist policy proved very effective in drawing in support for sceptics.

Finally Johann Eccarius, the leader of the United Trades Unions and the only man standing for the Chairmanship who had a background as a common worker and soldier, stood as an effective puppet of the Unions. His agenda for focussed entirely on empowering the Unions whilst he also called for peace (unless easy opportunities for expansion arose) and most controversially an end to the immigration of socialists from foreign countries (many had grown worried at the presence of numerous non-Germans in the highest offices of state).

The election itself was a very tightly contested affair as it quickly became apparent that the Marxists, Anarchists and German Socialists all had virtually the same level of popularity within the party. At times it seemed that any of the three could achieve victory whilst for the majority of the time the Marxists held a narrow lead. However towards the end of the election the German Socialists experienced a sudden surge in votes and managed to secure a slim victory. Voting began on January 1st and finished on January 7th.

Electionof1850.jpg


The German Socialists secured 37% of the party’s vote and with that Wilhelm Weitling was made the first Chairman of the VSVR. With such a narrow difference between the leading factions there was a strong feeling both within the higher ranks of the party and amongst the lower ranks that reform to the system was required – after all 63% of party members had voted against Weitling.

CentralCommittee1850-1.jpg


With Weitling’s victory temporary Chairman Karl Marx quickly stepped down and assumed Weitling’s previous role as Party General Secretary – a position of immense power but clearly poorly suited to Marx himself.

Elsewhere the horrific showing of the Trade Unionists (who received just 3.7% of the vote) had raised question of the viability of the faction. Perhaps it would be better if the Unions compromised and withdrew from political affairs. Over the next 5 years the movement clearly needed to do some soul searching to decide how it could proceed.

437px-WilhelmWeitling.jpg


Weitling himself was far from the most capable man in the Central Committee, indeed, it was arguable that he was the most capable man in the German Socialists. Yet he was a marvellous politician. No other man in the People’s Party could so effectively rouse a rabble through oratory skill alone and few others had struck such a cord with the common people. The lofty economic arguments of Karl Marx frequently went over the heads of the miners and factory workers of the Rhineland yet Weitling’s evangelical and emotive rhetoric was something they could clearly understand. His faction was clearly the most popular with the people, even if his position within the party had been dangerously weakened by his actions during the Revolution (namely his reluctance to join the People’s Party until after a terrible military defeat). Weitling’s greatest advantage was moderation – Marx and Proudhon’s ideas were frightening for most people. Such radical change could easily go wrong, Weitling promised to ease the people into the new world rather than revolutionarily change the way they lived their lives.
 
Victory! I petition we follow our momentum by invading some small, pitiful German state!
Why are there more Marxists in the cabinet and as many anarchists if the Socialists won?
 
While I voted for the Marxists, now is not the time to bicker and argue. We must unite under one banner and follow he government. The people have spoken and we must obey them for they are us, and we are they.
 
My fellow comrades, a warning:
This is a sad day for all people devoted to the progressive cause. Nationalism will lead us nowhere, comrades! I remind all of you: the nation-state has been the invention of the ruling classes!
Do not indulge in petty quarrels for more land, more resources or more power! This is not the aim of our revolution. Do not give in to the temptations of personal gain!
We must keep in mind what happened after 1789! We must watch out not make the same mistake again! I ask everyone to stay vigilant so that our revolution does not deteriorate into just another war of conquest. Though I understand the need to defend ourselves against the reactionary forces, it is imperative not to become one ourselves. We have to continue to shape our own society along the lines of equality, justice and freedom for everyone. Please, comrades, do not let yourselves become distracted from our actual goal: a society free from oppression, free from terror and free from sorrow. We have to be on the lookout not only for the foe on the outside, but also for the foe within our very selves. That is all I have to say for now.
 
Dear comrades of the People’s Party I admit it is with mix feeling I receive news of the German Socialists victory in resent election. Mark my word Glorious World Wide Revolution will not be achieved at the barrel of a gun like any other petty imperialist ideology, the People’s Party will be looked upon as oppressors by the very same people we seek to free. Those same people will resent us every step of the way we seek to break there chains and we will push them back in to the bussom of aristocrats and capitalists ,forever ending any hope of revolution. No I say the VSVR must be a light in the darkness ,a shining star in the dark world that we live in, if the VSVR leds by example people will look to us and see that they really have nothing to lose but there chains. If we do this No force no matter how powerful, No god no matter how great, No army no matter how big will stop the Revolution.
So next time vote anarchist and Revolution will be ours.

P.S. Great aar tommy I have bin one of those silent reeder for about a year or 2 but I could no stay out of this. And let me now if this count as spamming or to much roll play.:rolleyes:
 
The German Socialists have won the election!

Brothers, comrades, fellow workers, while I do not agree with the doves' total aggressiveness to the concept of war, I must agree that we cannot allow this revolution to become a war of conquest; always keep in mind, that our only goal that involves war is to bring unity to the German Fatherland; while the idea of world-wide socialist revolution is invigorating, we must remember that if we take the wrong steps too quickly, we may fall short of our goals, and we will be no different than that of the bourgeois tyrant Napoleon Bonaparte.

Now is not a time to bicker among ourselves; the Socialists have won fairly and honestly. Now, we must unite under their banner and lead the workers of the world, no matter what their ideologies might be.
 
Marxists, though I am forever an internationalist, do not despair. A Germany, once unified, will be in a position of great power to aid revolutionary movements abroad. Who knows, perhaps a German nation-state will be a crucial stepping stone on the way to a unified world proletarian republic. So even though this result is not as radical as we may have hoped, I urge you to support the new Chairman in his endeavours, while constantly arguing for more radical reforms.
 
Alas the Anarchists did not win this election. As comrade Loli says, a revolution by the barrel of a gun will be no better than the failed and corrupted revolution of 1789. The spread of revolution should be by our benevolent influence, by letting the people of the other nations rise up and join our cause. But as our fellow comrade Coola567 says, we must unite under one banner for the time being and act as the shining beacon of the upcoming world-wide socialist revolution!
 
Lamentably my preferred candidates have not gained victory but we shall try, try again.

I am worried by the fact that the victors have allowed the Marxists three cabinet positions when no other faction has more than two. While I did not vote for the GS either, it is indeed curious.
 
Alas the Anarchists did not win this election. As comrade Loli says
Sorry comrade Necazian I do not think I said that if I can quote my self
Dear comrades of the People’s Party I admit it is with mix feeling I receive news of the German Socialists victory in resent election
I am surprised that you missed that its the first line. But honest mistakes we certainly all make them (especially me if I might ad:confused:)
 
Victory! I petition we follow our momentum by invading some small, pitiful German state!
Why are there more Marxists in the cabinet and as many anarchists if the Socialists won?

Wrong we shall not invade our brothers and bring misery to their nation.
We shall liberate them, all of them, we shall set them free, strong under one flag, our flag.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.