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What a glorious day brother comrades! With the strength of the militarists combined with the ideals and vision of Lenin's faction there can be no limit to our glorious Volksrepublik! We shall spread the revolution not only to our brother workers in Europe but soon also to our brothers in Africa, America and Asia! The first true Golden Age of humanity has set its roots here today!
 
My thoughts on the coalition: Meh, I was split between voting for ML or Mil so, I don't care. :D

our glorious Volksrepublik!

Heretic!
It's Volksstaat. (Though re-reading some, I've noticed that it's actually called volksrepublik, but that makes little since germans at the time associated republik with France, so, what gives?)
 
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Bloody commies everywhere

That is right, join the anarchist cause, we shall cleans the world of commies!
Lenin is selling himself to the army!
How is it that the counter-revolutionary forces have gained so many seats, how are they to rule us?
Lenin is becoming the new king, someone slay him in name of justice!
We cannot tolerate this tyranny!

Wherefore do we even need an chairman who is above us others?
Those Marxists are the ones abusing the working-class!
They want cheap production, then they sell the products to foreign bourgeoisie, for profit!
Let the poor ones starve, as long as the chairman and his party profit from exports!

Are you slaves of money, can you not serve your own people?
 
@Enewald
I have to say that, you really won't be gathering many sympathisers for your cause that way.
You actually scared me away from voting for the anarchists at all. :p

I mean, is this some kind of strategy from you to get people to vote Anarchist? :confused:
Just wondering, it's just that, atleast for me, it has the opposite effect.
 
@Enewald
I have to say that, you really won't be gathering many sympathisers for your cause that way.
You actually scared me away from voting for the anarchists at all. :p

I mean, is this some kind of strategy from you to get people to vote Anarchist? :confused:
Just wondering, it's just that, atleast for me, it has the opposite effect.

I am not someone who tries to buy votes.
I am the one who tries to make blind see.
A Marxist state, which might be better than some monarchy, is still a state that must be torn down.
State is a method of enslaving, taxes mean stealing and the party stands for making profit.
I want freedom.
 
I am not someone who tries to buy votes.
I am the one who tries to make blind see.
A Marxist state, which might be better than some monarchy, is still a state that must be torn down.
State is a method of enslaving, taxes mean stealing and the party stands for making profit.
I want freedom.

Well, you don't have a kind way of doing it.
Kindness is much more effective than terror. (don't believe me? Look at OTL)
 
I can understand why Lenin would not want a coalition with the UF, but I wish that coalition had been pursued instead of the coalition with the militarists. The militarists just make me very uneasy, hopefully we will not have to throw too many concessions their way. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
 
I can understand why Lenin would not want a coalition with the UF, but I wish that coalition had been pursued instead of the coalition with the militarists. The militarists just make me very uneasy, hopefully we will not have to throw too many concessions their way. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

A coalition with the UF had only had 49 votes; one short of a majority.
 
Why can't people just accept that a coalition with the faction most in line with Lenin and with enough votes to secure a majority was the most likely to be chosen?
 
A coalition with the UF had only had 49 votes; one short of a majority.

Tommy said that if no majority could be found the largest coalition would appoint the Chairman, so if Lenin had chosen an alliance with the UF he would have been definitley in. If he had allied with the Moderates, which he should have IMO, his coalition would have had 46 seats. Even if the Anarchists and the UF banded together they only had 37, and the Militarists would never go Anarchist. So if Lenin had allied with the Moderates he would have become chairman. He absolutely had a choice, and he chose the authoritarian racist millitants. Hardly a great testament to his judgement.

Why can't people just accept that a coalition with the faction most in line with Lenin and with enough votes to secure a majority was the most likely to be chosen?

Because a) There was a very good alternative and b) The militarists are reactionaries who want to bring down everything our republic is based on.
 
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Tommy said that if no majority could be found the largest coalition would appoint the Chairman, so if Lenin had chosen an alliance with the UF he would have been definitley in. If he had allied with the Moderates, which he should have IMO, his coalition would have had 46 seats. Even if the Anarchists and the UF banded together they only had 37, and the Militarists would never go Anarchist. So if Lenin had allied with the Moderates he would have become chairman. He absolutely had a choice, and he chose the authoritarian racist millitants. Hardly a great testament to his judgement.

On the position of Chairman, I'm not sure that'll be as powerful as before with the new assembly; I'm guessing that for there to be any point with the assembly, it should have some sort of parliamentarist powers over the Chairman of the party, meaning that even though Lenin might have become chairman, he'd had had to deal with being in minority in the Assembly had he chosen such a path.

On the militarists, I don't see where you find racist in their program; as to authoritarian I guess you're referring to the issue of the private press, where I'll have to remind you that only the anarchists and later on the UF ever supported that. On militants, well, most factions are in favour of military action, and in my opinion it is absolutely nessecary that the republic stays a strong military power, or we'll be swept away by interventional armies from the imperialist powers.

However, I agree with you that the militarists seem to be a faction with some shady leanings; I don't want the military to have any special influence in the republic, and I definately don't approve of any division in the treatment of different peoples within the republic. However, I can't really see how Lenin could have chosen differently in this, except perhaps to go for a super-grand coalition with the UF and the moderates. However, i don't think that had been a stable coalition, if it even could've formed. The UF have a hard time sticking together already with their disparate tendencies.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the coalition with the militarists mainly mean that Lenin has the support of the military in foreign policy, i.e. expanding the borders of the revolutionary republic, while domestic policy goes along the lines of the traditional marxist programme: social reforms and taxes for wealth redistribution and the betterment of the lives of the proletariat. Only time will tell how the militarists - a young and yet unproven faction - behave within a ruling coalition; we haven't actually seen anything of them until now. Let's wait and see, and let's not label anyone as racist authoritarians.
 
Surely Lenin could have formed first a small coalition with the moderates then made a broad coalition with a few of the militarists and the UF on an ad hoc basis. He could have easily gotten a compromise with the moderates that would have left them agreeing with his agenda virtually unchanged, then brought a handful of militarist or UF votes on board with concessions to the military establishment or by promising to lower the tax rates. He would have only needed to peal off 4 out of 39 militarist and UF votes.

Maybe next time each party could nominate a leader and we could negotiate coalitions through an instant messenger conversation as soon as the elections close?
 
Surely Lenin could have formed first a small coalition with the moderates then made a broad coalition with a few of the militarists and the UF on an ad hoc basis. He could have easily gotten a compromise with the moderates that would have left them agreeing with his agenda virtually unchanged, then brought a handful of militarist or UF votes on board with concessions to the military establishment or by promising to lower the tax rates. He would have only needed to peal off 4 out of 39 militarist and UF votes.

Maybe next time each party could nominate a leader and we could negotiate coalitions through an instant messenger conversation as soon as the elections close?

I'm guessing that might be stretching the interactivity of the AAR a bit too far, it's Tommy's story after all. Anyway, I agree that there could probably have been different choices for coalition. Allying with the Militarists seems to have been by far the easiest choice for Lenin though. Also, remember that the whole idea of an Aseembly is new to the republic, and haggling for coalitions is probably not all that advanced yet.

Looking forward to seeing a more in-depth description of the forming of the coalition and its policies from Tommy!
 
On the position of Chairman, I'm not sure that'll be as powerful as before with the new assembly; I'm guessing that for there to be any point with the assembly, it should have some sort of parliamentarist powers over the Chairman of the party, meaning that even though Lenin might have become chairman, he'd had had to deal with being in minority in the Assembly had he chosen such a path.
I had assumed that once the chairman was elected he could follow his program, we will have to wait for Tommy to clarify that, I guess.

On the militarists, I don't see where you find racist in their program; as to authoritarian I guess you're referring to the issue of the private press, where I'll have to remind you that only the anarchists and later on the UF ever supported that. On militants, well, most factions are in favour of military action, and in my opinion it is absolutely nessecary that the republic stays a strong military power, or we'll be swept away by interventional armies from the imperialist powers.
They believe that non-Germans should be "residents" in our nation and that ethnic Germans should be considered first by the state. This is a mixture of bourgouis nationalism and racism and is abhorrent to any socialist. If you will recall the press freedom issue was one of the reasons many Marxists voted UF. But I was not just referring to the free press, the prospect of military men becoming political men is inherently worrying. Do we want political power to grow from the barrel of a gun? Their desire to censor what the common man writes and says is indicative of their wider tred to authoritarianism. By "militant" I meant that they place the military above all things, including the welfare of the people. I myself am in favour of military action.

However, I agree with you that the militarists seem to be a faction with some shady leanings; I don't want the military to have any special influence in the republic, and I definately don't approve of any division in the treatment of different peoples within the republic. However, I can't really see how Lenin could have chosen differently in this, except perhaps to go for a super-grand coalition with the UF and the moderates. However, i don't think that had been a stable coalition, if it even could've formed. The UF have a hard time sticking together already with their disparate tendencies.
Well, he could have persuaded the Moderates and left-wing UF members to vote with him on key issues even if he was not in a formal coalition with them. I am sure there are more than 4 former Marxist deputies in the UF in the assembly. Should he put the maintenance of political power or principles first?

Anyway, I'm hoping that the coalition with the militarists mainly mean that Lenin has the support of the military in foreign policy, i.e. expanding the borders of the revolutionary republic, while domestic policy goes along the lines of the traditional marxist programme: social reforms and taxes for wealth redistribution and the betterment of the lives of the proletariat. Only time will tell how the militarists - a young and yet unproven faction - behave within a ruling coalition; we haven't actually seen anything of them until now. Let's wait and see, and let's not label anyone as racist authoritarians.

Well, they describe themselves as wanting to curtail freedom of speech and promote the German "ethnicity" so I say that that is exactly what they are. I will wait and see, but in a firmly pessimistic mood.
 
Election of 1875

The 1875 election was dominated by one man – Vladimir Lenin. He secured a massive swing in support towards himself within the party as so many flocked to his exhilarating banner. Meanwhile it was the fear of Lenin that mobilized his opposition. There was talk of the man himself clouding people’s eyes to the true stand of his faction but there was also the promise that he was the man to lead the Republic to untold greatness.

The 1875 election was also to be the first for the new Constituent Assembly. For too long the Republic had been dominated by Chairmen who could not call upon the majority of voters to support them. Indeed prior to 1875 there had never been an election with a clear majority winner. This was to be changed in 1875.

Party Vote

Marxist-Leninists: 24
Anarchists: 13
Militarists: 7
United Front: 3
Moderates: 3

Workers’ Vote

Marxist- Leninists: 13
Anarchists: 12
Militarists: 10
United Front: 9
Moderates: 6


The results of the election were very different within the Party than amongst the Workers. 24 of the 50 seats awarded by the People’s Party were won by Lenin’s surging Marxist-Leninist faction. The Anarchists saw one of their worst results within the Party itself for years whilst the Moderates and United Front also received a kicking. For the United Front in particular this was particularly damaging as the Front had traditionally relied upon a strong showing within the Party in elections. The emergence of the Militarists was another intriguing change as 7 seats were snapped up by the new faction.

Amongst the Workers’ things were much more even. The Marxist-Leninists, Anarchists, Militarists and United Front all scored very similarly. Unsurprisingly the Militarists dominated the soldier’s vote (taking away many traditionally Marxist votes) but they also raised many head by securing support outside of this power base. The moderate position was definitely damaged by the split of that vote between the United Front and the Moderates. Overall the amount of votes won by the moderate factions actually grew (at the expense of the Anarchists and Marxist-Leninists) whilst the rise of the Militarists snatched many votes from the traditional big two.

Electionof1875.jpg


In the end the Marxist-Leninists fell short of the needed 50 seats to appoint Lenin as Chairman without a coalition as they secured just 37. The Anarchists secured a solid but ultimately disappointing 25 seats, the Militarists became the third faction with 17, Engels’ United Front suffered humiliation as they won just 12 seats whilst the Marxist splinter faction – the Moderates – secured a paltry 9 seats.

There was initially a great push from the less extreme members of the Lenin’s faction for the Marxist-Leninists to find some common ground with both the United Front and the Moderates. However these calls never had a realistic chance of swaying the faction from its course. Lenin had no intention in aligning himself with those who had openly rejected him and left his faction whilst they had little desire to ally themselves with him. Instead Lenin looked to the rising power of the Militarists for support and formed a Marxist-Leninist – Militarist Alliance. Schlieffen’s faction promised the support of the armed forces and, on the whole, support across the board for Lenin’s vision of the Republic. With just a few compromises he granted himself the opportunity to shape the Republic towards his own vision of Communism.

Following the election the Central Committee experienced yet another period of great change. By the end of January 1875 only 6 of the 10 members of the Central Committee on January 1st 1870 would remain (Malatesta and Lenin had entered the Committee over the course of the 5 years between that date and the most recent election).

First of Lassalle decided to retire from the Central Committee to take on a lesser role in the Party. Lassalle had been the youngster who picked up the pieces of the German Socialists following Wilhelm Weitling’s electoral defeat and subsequent shaming. However the faction had battled against obscurity since. Prior to the 1875 election he had joined forces with the breakaway moderate Marxists to form the Moderate faction; however this force failed to capture the imagination of the people and fared disappointingly in the election. Following this defeat the Marxists within the Moderate faction quickly bandied together and in the name of ensuring a more coherent front they quietly ejected Lassalle. He was truly a politician who could have been, in his younger days he had all the ingredients of a great leader for the Republic yet never succeeded in restoring the German Socialists to their 1850 level of popularity.

The greatest casualty of 1875 was not a single person but an entire faction. Even before the election the United Front had started to crumble. The former Anarchist Necazian, of all people, had jumped ship from the Front and joined the Marxist-Leninists in the belief that by bringing a large dose of moderation to Lenin’s faction he could disarm the extremist parts and force them to toe an undestructive line. The support of the respected Necazian drew many Marxists towards Lenin and indeed many who had never considered voting Marxist before. This undermined an important base of support for the Front whilst the lack of an Anarchist in its leadership further weakened the Front’s position. When the final results came in the Front’s life was effectively terminated. Shortly after Lenin formed his government alongside the Militarists Engels announced his retirement from the faction and two hours later Liebknecht announced its dissolution. Most of the faction moved to unite with the Moderates however Liebknecht decided to return to the position he occupied prior to the formation of the United Front – he became an Independent socialist and was joined by a small group in this position separate from the major factions.

marx_engels.jpg


Friedrich Engels was still a political titan and both the Moderates and Marxist-Leninists sent out requests for his support; however the 55 year old decided to instead enter into a state of semi-retirement. His old friend Karl Marx had spent the past decade reacquainting himself with philosophy and sent a request to Engels to help him formulate his great work – Das Kapital. It was a request, graciously accept. This was how the two co-authors of the Communist Manifesto would reunite to create another work of titanic significance for the Leftist movement.

schlieffen.jpg


With the rise of his faction to major significance Alfred Schlieffen was an obvious replacement for one of the leaving Central Committee members. It was decided that he would take on the obvious position of Commissar for Military Affairs – thus forcing Kadon into changing his position. This move would encourage Lenin to perform a major shakeup of positions within the Central Committee.

ClaraZetkin_jpeg.jpg


However, whilst the first new arrival had been largely expected, the second gave Lenin an opportunity to make a real statement of intent. He intended to change things, and he didn’t care if he ruffled a few feathers along the way. Whilst women had theoretically enjoyed equal rights with men since the revolution this had simply not been the case. In industry very few women were allowed to go to work outside of the likes of the textile industry whilst in politics they were an extreme minority. In the Red Army, meanwhile, they were not allowed to serve for fear that their ‘’frail bodies would be unable to take the strains of combat’’. In order to convince the young Clara Zetkin to join the Central Committee Lenin had to immediately push through a few reforms – namely the repealing of all laws that restricted women from working in the same positions as men (outside of the military the main gain for women was the right to work in steel mills) whilst it was also made illegal for anyone to try to prevent someone else from voting (a law designed to prevent the endemic problem of men preventing their wives and daughters from voting in elections). Placing Zetkin in the Central Committee proved to the women of the Republic that for the first time the boy’s only club of government was reaching out its hand to them.

CentralCommittee1865-1.jpg


Malatesta, Necazian and August Bebel all retained their former positions. Being a rather junior figure Zetkin was started low as the Commissar for Foreign Affairs. This was rather controversial as several major figures (including coalition partner Schlieffen) feared that other countries would laugh at the Republic if their Foreign Office was headed by a girl but Lenin believed it would show the rest of the world that anyone could indeed succeed in the Republic in a manner they simply could not anywhere else on earth. Zetkin’s appointment allowed Iglesias to rise up the ranks to the powerful position of Chair of the Comintern, Kadon meanwhile became Party Secretary for the Ruhr. These movements in turn allowed Kropotkin and Liebknecht to proceed upwards as the Anarchist became Commissar for Finance and the Independent became General Secretary. Finally, Vladimir Lenin, of course, took the position of Chairman of the United Socialist People's Republic

Electionof1875-Aftermath.jpg


The events in the immediate aftermath of the election had changed the make-up of the Constituent Assembly somewhat. The ruling Marxist-Militarist coalition held 54 seats. The Moderates had expanded to 17 seats whilst a new block of Independents had formed to hold just 4 seats. On the whole the 3 opposition factions would be relatively cohesive although they would stop along way short of forming a full coalition in opposition.
 
To those who are asking if Lenin really needed to get 50 seats.

Ideally only ever want to have Chairmen who secure a coalition with 50 seats. I said they could if no coalition could be formed as a loop hole just in case I found it impossible to form one. However in this situation we didn't even come near to that situation so I went ahead and formed the coalition.

I think people are a lot more afraid of the Militarists than they should be. They aren't that much more authoritarian than a solo Marxist-Leninist position would have been. Remember Lenin himself was never a happy clappy democrat.
 
Surely Lenin could have formed first a small coalition with the moderates then made a broad coalition with a few of the militarists and the UF on an ad hoc basis. He could have easily gotten a compromise with the moderates that would have left them agreeing with his agenda virtually unchanged, then brought a handful of militarist or UF votes on board with concessions to the military establishment or by promising to lower the tax rates. He would have only needed to peal off 4 out of 39 militarist and UF votes.

Maybe next time each party could nominate a leader and we could negotiate coalitions through an instant messenger conversation as soon as the elections close?

I don't want to sound rude but - God No!

This is pretty similar to Realpolitik and that proved to be totally uncontrolable and very laible to be closed down.

I'll stay in control of things. really its a choice between the current system where I basically run the show on the advice of you guys or a few days of anarchic control from the readers before this is shut down.
 
No Rosa Luxemburg yet, but Clara Zetkin and women's rights, that's awesome! With this, I think Lenin has already proven his visionary nature. Let these reforms be a call for women throughout the world to pick up the revolutionary banner! Perhaps Clara Zetkin could institute some sort of International Women's Day to be launched with the help of the Comintern and it's front organizations? If so, I propose the 8th of March :)
 
I don't want to sound rude but - God No!

This is pretty similar to Realpolitik and that proved to be totally uncontrolable and very laible to be closed down.

I'll stay in control of things. really its a choice between the current system where I basically run the show on the advice of you guys or a few days of anarchic control from the readers before this is shut down.

Can I ask how is it that Necazian and Kadon became persons in the story?
And how can an independent member make his way into the central committee?
 
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