Election of 1900
The Election of 1900 could potentially radically change the direction of the VSVR as it strode out into the new century. The Peasant question had still not received a decisive response, German nationalists were becoming a force for the first time in decades whilst there was a significant amount of agitation for a more aggressive international revolution.
There had been one change in the electoral system since the last election. Now the Chairman would be elected by a system of One Man One Vote rather than the second preference system used in 1895.
The Marxist-Leninists
Prospective Chairman: Leon Trotsky
Under their new leader, Trotsky, the Marxist-Leninists had taken a slide towards radicalism. Their foreign policy had now reverted to a policy of permanent revolution, their solution to the ‘scissors crisis’ had taken a certain turn even more in favour of the workers whilst they advocated a heavy handed solution to the crisis on the streets.
Position within the Party: Far Left
Economic Policy:
Our fiscal crisis has largely passed over. Through tariffs and smaller rises in taxation we have once again eliminated our reliance on bourgeois capital. This is a triumphal moment for our Republic.
However Council Communism’s weaknesses have been revealed in the most recent years. In Africa the youth of the Soviets there have made it impossible for them to create enough factories for the new mass or African proletarians who surge to work. In Europe too our adoption of new, more modern, industries has been slowed by the uneasiness the Soviets have felt over moving into new industries. We can still allow the Soviets the power to manage their local economies but we must provide them with greater direction.
Meanwhile the crisis in Wallonia is a both unfortunate and unavoidable one. Not for a single day since the Marxist Bloc came to power in 1895 has every single Wallonian industry not been in the process of expanding. Yet the unprecedented surge of hundreds of thousands towards the cities has left tens of thousands without work. If it wasn’t for the state sponsored investment things would have been far, far worse.
Reform Policy:
Two social reforms.
An 8 hour day, an 8 hour day, an 8 hour day. For how much longer can we force our workers to slave away in the factories and in the fields for 10 hours every single day? For how much longer can we expect them to sacrifice their own lives for their work? The people in the factories and the fields are more important than the goods they produce. The people must come before their industries.
We must also increase the wages of all workers. Their livelihoods should increase alongside these.
Crisis on the Streets:
These ‘True German’ thugs are the root of the crisis. Theirs is an ideology of hate, of reactionism, of nationalism and demagoguery. This son of an aristocrat and his racist bourgeois lackeys must be expelled from the People’s Party.
The True Germans are to be immediately expelled from the People’s Party. So long as Bismarck and the True Germans cease their political activity no further action shall be taken. We must also put in place laws that ensure any future reactionary elements basing their ideology on race, nationalism and misogyny are not allowed to grow to this current size.
We must then use the state policy to end the street fighting that puts the lives of ordinary citizens at risk. Any persons engaging in these activities are to face arrest. Whether they be Marxist, Anarchist or reactionary nationalist they cannot be allowed to destroy the unity of the Republic with mindless violence.
Scissors Crisis:
The Revolutionaries claim that they can stop the tide of rural-urban migration. This simply point shows that they are as deluded as they are ignorant.
The simple fact is that the collective farms can no longer support more farm workers. Advances in technology and increases in population mean that the farms need less workers whilst there are more workers at the same time. This inevitably leads to a tide of immigration into the cities as the only place where these excess workers can find employment is in the factories. This shift creates a natural demand for more food to feed the larger workforce which the farmers claim should lead to an increase in the price of food.
But we must be realists. If we increase the price of food there are risks some may starve, if we increase the price of food workers will be less able to afford the very goods they produce and our industrial subsidies shall increase. If we increase the price of food we betray the fundamental principle of the Republic in that we shall be harming the common man more than we help him.
Food prices shall remain at an affordable level for all citizens of the Republic. Deliberate attempts to horde grain must be replied to with by armed grain requisition.
Foreign Policy:
The International Revolution in 52 years old. 52 years ago the Rhineland Revolution, the root of all socialist revolutions since, began and 50 years ago this Republic was proclaimed. Today 400 million people live under socialism in the Comintern. Yet this is still just a small portion of the world population. We must ensure that the revolution is spread to all workers, to all peasants to every man and women living under the capitalist oppression of wage-slavery or the feudal oppression of serfdom. It must end now!
The Marxist-Leninists propose wars with France and the vile Habsburg Empire. The French proletariat have long fought successive governments for their freedom. It is time the Second Republic dies and a new, socialistic; Republic is created in its place. Meanwhile, the Habsburg Empire has been dying a slow death for centuries now. Let us provide the merciful bullet and smash one of just two feudal Empires left in Europe.
After this we must look to Russia, to Latin America, to Asia and perhaps even the Anglophonic Empires of Britain and the USA.
Arise Workers of the World! Arms Yourselves!
We All Know the Old Regime Must Die!
Potential Assembly Allies: Luxemburgists
Luxemburgists
Prospective Chairman: Karl Liebknecht
Since the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg Karl Liebknecht has held the position of Chairman. He has proven himself to be capable and has much better relations with the Marxist-Leninists that Luxemburg ever had. However at the same time relations with the traditional Right have wavered whilst the brief idea of an alliance with the Revolutionaries has effectively died.
Position within Party: Centre
Economic Policy:
In the early 1890s Council Communism was proven to be more effective than traditional Marxist economics as we dealt with the obscene national debt and largely eliminated unemployment. Problems of unemployment have only flared up in Wallonia due to the structural problems of dealing with an incredible level of rural-urban migration which was near impossible to deal with. It is a wonder that, even with government stimulus, the vast majority of the new arrivals in the cities have been provided with work and all with housing (even if some housing is more cramped than we would like).
Council Communism is also popular as it gives the worker more control than under a more statist economic system.
Reform Policy:
One social reform.
We should increase the unemployment benefit once more to ensure that the lives of those left unemployed due to the tremendous structural shifts ongoing in the Republic are not punished.
Increasing the minimum wage and shortening the working day would only act to antagonise the rural Soviets and the Revolutionary faction into more aggressive action against the state. It would be counterproductive.
Crisis on the Streets:
We cannot fight the vile views of the True Germans with batons. We must fight them with words. The True Germans are strong in Wallonia due to unemployment and feelings of ethnic isolation. We should provide jobs and continue to break down the divisions between ethnic groups. They are strong in Bavaria due in part to the recent urbanisation of the region (large numbers of people who were recently peasants are now workers) and frustration at the squeezing out of old German and Catholic influences. Again these are growing pains as cities urbanise. Peasant views being brought to the cities and mixing with already present frustrations there. These problems will fade in time. In the East of the Republic there is anger at Polish migration and the comparatively weak munitions based economy. We must expand other economic sectors and encourage the people to accept all national groups.
All are welcome in the People’s Party. We cannot simply ban the True Germans and hope they will go away. We should not be tough on True Germans but on the causes of True Germans.
As for stopping the physical violence on the streets. This can only be done by using the police as peacekeepers. If necessary we may even have to employ curfews in some particularly violent areas in order to protect the majority from the violent minority.
Scissors Crisis:
We propose that each year the rural Soviets shall send delegates to Cologne to agree upon a fixed price on food stuffs for that year. For the entire year the Soviets must then sell their produce at the agreed price. This should give the peasantry a say in this problem whilst ensuring a fair deal for the urban workers.
We are all proletarians no matter what the Revolutionaries may claim. They encourage the creation of a new class divide. We must combat the view that the peasantry and the workers are opposed; we must combat the view that they are not a single class. The real enemies are the reactionaries and capitalists. It is they we should be fighting, not one another.
Foreign Policy:
Our expansion into Latin America has been successful and has avoided needlessly blood soaked encounters with the Great Powers. The only war with a Great Power we have fought since the 1890s has been with Russia and that only occurred due to a Russian plot to assassinate our Chairman (which in turn may have led to the death of Lenin as well) and their invasion of Finland. Under Lenin many thousands died in wars. Compared with the 1880s the 1890s were some of the most peaceful years the Republic has ever experienced.
We should continue to expand without causing major wars. We do not want the bourgeoisie powers of Europe uniting against us.
We can defeat France, we can defeat Russia, we can defeat the Habsburgs. We may even be able to defeat all three if we turn ourselves entirely towards war. But what if the British joined them? What if America too took up arms against us? Could we defend the VSVR? Could we defend our Comrades around the world?
These are the questions we must ask ourselves as the Red Army tramples over nation after nation.
Potential Assembly Allies: Marxist-Leninists, Democrats and Anarchists
True Germans
Potential Chairman: Nicholas Bismarck
Economic Policy:
We must return to the centralised economic policies of Karl Marx. The reason for the problems of unemployment are clearly the failings of the so called Soviets
Position within Party: On traditional Left-Right , Anti Statist-Statist scale they are Left wing, however their other revisionistic views are regarded with disgust by almost the entire Party
Economic Policy:
Marxist economics built this Republic and they shall save it.
Reform Policy:
We must end our idealised belief that nationalism is dead. Different ethnic groups do exist, different nations and cultures do exist. Under the current system we Germans are bound to Poles, to Walloons and to the Flemish and they to us against each groups’ will.
We propose the freedom of Poland, Wallonia and Flanders. After we end our Imperialistic rule over these peoples the Habsburg Empire shall be the final roadblock to freedom for all the nations of Europe. It must be invaded. The VSVR shall annex the areas that were once within the German Confederation, Italy shall reclaim the Veneto whilst the Hungarians shall be granted their much desired freedom. This freedom for the Hungarians shall help solve the scissors crisis by greatly increasing our access to grain.
We must also ensure freedom of religion for all people of the Republic
Crisis on the Streets:
The current crisis on the streets is entirely caused by the oppression dealt out by the Marxist to the peoples of the Republic. If we grant people freedom of religion, if we end our oppression of nationalism, if we provide employment to our people and forever end our dismissal of whole sections of German politics then the problems shall end.
We did not start this conflict, but we are the only solution to it.
Scissors Crisis:
Creation of an independent and socialist Hungary shall help ease the pressures on food production. Unlike the Marxists and the Anarchists the True Germans understand the anger of the peasants and we shall address many of their grievances.
We support an alliance between the worker and the peasant. Food prices should indeed rise, but only at a reasonable rate – the real issue here is the oppression of the peasants by the Marxists. Defeat the Marxists and the primary roadblock to a rural-urban crisis is removed.
We appreciate that the pressure for land and the advances in technology mean that many millions of farmers must join the urban classes. But perhaps we should encourage more farmers to travel to Africa. There are already substantial German populations throughout the VSVR held African territories; perhaps we should encourage emigration to Africa as an alternative to the cities. This would help us maintain a greater balance between urban and rural proletarian.
Foreign Policy:
Our foreign policy is to focus on dismantling the Habsburg Empire and granting freedom and socialism to the oppressed nations of Europe. Whether they are in Austria-Hungary, Russia or even the VSVR. Perhaps we should also look into encouraging the CSR to free the people of the Balkans.
Potential Assembly Allies: Revolutionaries
Revolutionaries
Prospective Chairman: Georges Sorel
Despite failing to win electoral victory in 1895, although they were the largest faction in the Assembly, the Revolutionaries have maintained their strength amongst the peasantry. There are still millions who view their peasant based socialistic view as the only way forward.
Position within Party: Unreadable
I ask you Comrades, what has changed in 5 years? Things have become worse for the peasant. We have become ever more shunned by the Marxists who on one hand promise us brotherhood and on the other exploit us as slaves. It is time to end this now Comrades. It is time for the peasant revolution!
Here is our response to the new Crisis on the Streets:
The True Germans are misguided in many respects but fundamentally they fight for freedom. If freedom of religion, of nationhood and the freedom for a man to be the master of his own home are granted then the True German thugs shall no longer go out into the streets and peace shall be restored.
‘’Economic Policy:
If our Republic had no industries then taxes could plummet to almost meaningless levels. If our Republic had no industry the farmer would not be forced to pay unspeakable quantities in order to support his urban Comrade.
Yet we have become a slave Republic. The rural slaves toil each day to support his urban slave master. Is this socialism? Is this what farmers have fought and died for almost half a century now? Do we not deserve equality too?
Industrial expansion must be slowed to a halt in all industries that do not support themselves. We should also concentrate on expanding the newly emerging high-tech industries – these shall provide goods that are not over produced, that are new and desirable and that are profitable.
Tariffs before taxes, always.
Social spending should also be kept as high as possible.
Reform Policy:
The Workers’ papers effectively monopolise the Republic’s media. It is time to take them down a size. The state must provide funding for a rural based newspaper that shall represent our views for all to see. The reason such a paper cannot be supported now is because there is little access to media in the country compared to the cities. The state must ensure that every citizen has reliable access to media and the news. The worker-master cannot continue to push the face of the farmer-servant into the mud by denying him the consciousness provided by access to the news.
Shorter working days and lower minimum wages? It seems the worker government wishes to destroy rural communities. Our collectives are left with little surplus income due to the hateful price manipulations of the worker government. Then we are told we cannot work more than 10 hours a day and must pay our farmers a greater wage or release them from employment. This means we have to release thousands of men from the countryside each month who in turn head to the cities where the join the urban proletariat and place an even heavier burden on the countryside which in turn forces us to give up more men. Enough! Easing these worker imposed slave regulations might release some of the intolerable pressure we suffer.
However social regulations are not the enemy. Some are very beneficial to the people. We propose increasing safety regulations – these regulations have greatly reduced farm accidents in rural and urban areas and benefit all of society.
We should also increase the unemployment subsidy. We have already witnessed the inability of industry to provide work for all and must be prepared for another outbreak of mass unemployment.
All anti religious legislation and policies must be ended. Freedom of religion for all! We do not care if a man is Christian, Jewish, Muslim or even Animist. All that matters is that he holds socialism dear to his heart, cares for his family and for the Republic. What he worships in his own time is his business and his alone.
The Scissors Crisis
Few social crises are so entirely man made as the so called ‘scissors crisis’. This crisis is the ultimate example of the degradation of the revolution and the death of the spirit of ’48.We were once a Republic dedicated to freedom and equality. We are now a Republic whose sole purpose is creating a new dictatorship of the narrow proletarian majority. This is against socialism and against all morality.
We propose an end to all price manipulations. End the impoverishing regulations of the state! Save the farmer from poverty!
We also support the idea of acquiring new food exporting markets for the VSVR in order to relieve the inevitable pressure the hike in food prices and fall in industrial good prices shall have on the workers.
Unlike the worker factions we have no desire to create a new ruling class. We only desire equality for all, privilege for no one.
Foreign Policy:
We should both acquire new lands and expand the International into food exporting regions and unite the Republic with our German kin to the South and Ukrainian brothers to the East.’’
Potential Assembly Allies: True Germans, Anarchists, Democrats
Anarchists
Prospective Chairman: Emma Goldman
Since the 1890 re-legalisation the Anarchists have persistently struggled to reclaim their once impressive base of support. That being said Emma Goldman was second only to Lenin in 1st preference votes in 1895. Faced with new threats from the True Germans and Revolutionaries the Anarchists continue to fly the flag of anti-statism and liberty above all else.
Position with Party: Right
Economic Policy:
We advocate the Council Communist economic system introduced by the martyred hero of socialism who was Rosa Luxemburg. This system has been incredibly effective in solving so many of our economic woes. It must be praised, supported and continued in spite of Marxist-Leninist attempts to subvert it towards state control once more.
Reform Policy:
Freedom of religion has long been an issue of conflict in this Republic. Whilst the influences of the Christian Churches have been fading for decades they are still a strong enough force, particularly in the countryside and in both the South and East, to cause major problems.
We loosen our attempts to force atheism upon the people. They shall come to it on their own volition as each successive generation is educated a larger portion of them reject the superstitions of their parents. Soon there will religion shall die without our interference. As its hosts reject it the leach of the Church shall shrivel away and die, however if we attempt to rip the leach from its host then we risk damaging the host’s body permanently.
Crisis on the Streets:
The True Germans truly are a vile group of reactionaries, misogynists, nationalists and racists. Their anti-socialist views are a direct threat to the Republic and her people. They are already causing violence.
They can and will be beaten. But with neither truncheon nor legislation.
Whilst Bismarck may bleat and groan about religious freedom, German values and the rights of nations the root of the Prussian rodent’s support is the angry young men who are dissatisfied with Marxism and are suffering economically. Support for areas that are struggling through economic difficulty should cut the Herzog’s support from beneath him and that revival of the very worst side of our nation should wither away and die.
Just like the bloodsucking Churches the True Germans rely upon harsh economic conditions and ignorance to build their support. By combating the causes of these funguses on our society we can forever prevent their re-growth.
Scissors Crisis:
The Anarchists once again propose a truly Communistic solution.
‘’The state shall meet with a large Council representing each and every rural Soviet. The state and the Council shall then agree upon fair prices for food stuffs and other agricultural goods. The state shall then distribute these products to the people and industries in the cities upon the principle of ‘’to each according to his need’’. This shall be paid for by a small food levy tax upon urban proletarians which shall be equal for all. Enough state capitalism. Let Communism rule.’’
Foreign Policy:
Our international infamy is at an all time high. Perhaps the minds of the Marxists are too clouded with their victories over ailing Russia to hear the whispers in Washington and London. During the Finnish War the British Parliament was within 15 votes of declaring war upon the VSVR whilst the brief rule of the American Socialist Party (an un-revolutionary but friendly socialist party much like the British Labour Party) ended in 1898 when the anti-VSVR Democratic Republican Party (a union of the two main bourgeois parties created to oppose the ASP) came to office on a strongly anti-communist ticket.
We are at serious risk of causing a war we may be unable to win Comrades. If the British and Americans strike then the fading Continental powers shall strike at us. Faced with Britain, America, Russia, France and the Habsburgs there is a very realistic chance that our Republic and the Comintern as a whole could face destruction.
It is time for a more peaceful solution; it is time to save our young men and women from being killed on foreign fields so that we may marginally expand the Republic.
Potential Assembly Allies: Democrats, Luxemburgists and Revolutionaries
Democrats
Prospective Chairman: Eduard Bernstein
Despite his humiliating showing in the Chairmanship election of 1895 and a disappointing result in the Assembly elections Bernstein and the Democrats
Position within Party: Centre Right
Economic Policy:
We should continue the Council Communism introduced by Luxemburg, however we should also look to use the state if need be to pump extra funds into areas that are experiencing large-scale rural-urban migration on a more regular basis. The unemployment in Wallonia could not be avoided but with proper state foresight the problem could have been less severe.
We should also reduce our protectionist trade barriers and reduce tariffs. Our high tariffs (currently 10%) are playing almost as major a role in turning the British and Americans against us as our invasions of neighbouring feudal powers. So long as London and Washington know their economies are tied to ours their willingness to attack is hugely reduced. However we are pushing towards Comintern autarky. Worse still by raising the costs of imported goods we are further hindering industrial performance and raising prices for our proletarians. Tariffs are a direct threat to the people of the Republic.
Reform Policy:
Complete and total religious freedom.
Perhaps it is time to put the future of the Poles, Walloons, Flemish and Czech to the Poles Walloons, Flemish and Czechs. We propose that in each territory the people are allowed to vote on whether they wish to be granted semi-independence as autonomous Republics of the VSVR or wish to remain a part of the centralised state.
Crisis on the Streets:
We are as opposed to the True Germans as anyone. But we should not infringe on freedoms to fight this threat. As a wise 18th century revolutionary once said ‘’those who would give up a little liberty to purchase a little security deserve neither and shall lose both’’.
Bismarck may continue his ramblings in the Party and his factions should not be attacked. However, we should make sure that police are employed to break up any damaging fights on the streets and should also use police to ensure that any demonstrations made by either side are not met with violence by the other.
Our Republic was born through violence and if we do nothing it will die by violence.
Scissors Crisis:
The plight of the farmers seems to have been exaggerated. Price manipulations do indeed leave them with the short end of the stick, and this is wrong, but they are not a people struggling to survive or slaves to the workers. They enjoy a good quality of life, have plentiful food and can purchase industrial goods which are still comparatively cheap.
We propose slight relaxations of the manipulations of food prices but no more is necessary.
Foreign Policy:
If the Marxists are allowed to continue their rampages across Europe without limitation whilst reducing our economic integration with Britain and America then we will find ourselves at war. We will be engaged in the bloodiest conflict since the treacherous Napoleon. If Trotsky fancies himself a new Bonaparte then he is a danger that must be combated.
Whilst at heart Trotsky and Liebknecht’s support for aggressive revolutions are noble the imperialistic demands of the True Germans to use war to create subject Republics in Eastern Europe that shall provide us with food whilst we force them to purchase our industrial goods are not. Indeed they seem to wish to create a new class altogether – a class hierarchy of nations. The capitalist oppresses the worker and peasant to enrich himself; the Revolutionaries accuse the worker of oppressing the peasant to enrich himself. What is the solution of Bismarck to this problem? He wished to oppress other nations so that the entire German Volk may enrich themselves. Socialistic Imperialism must not be allowed to blossom.
The Labour Party in Britain, the American Socialist Party in the US and both the French Workers’ League and Socialist Party in France have all proven themselves to not only be electorally viable but actually strong enough to secure power. We should support these democratic bodies in spreading socialism rather than using the rifle to do the same job.
Potential Assembly Allies: Anarchists and Luxemburgists
All readers may vote for one of the following:
Marxist-Leninists
Luxemburgists
True Germans
Revolutionaries
Anarchists
Democrats
I will not accept your vote if you vote for an individual you want to be chairman eg Trotsky and will only accept your vote if you name the faction of your choice.
Please place your vote in a separate post from your comment OR place it in bold alongside your comment.
In this election the Chairman is appointed according to whichever faction secures the largest number of votes. The Assembly is entirely elected by in game POPs.
I encouraged you to align yourself with a faction and campaign and argue for its success. However spamming will not be tolerate (I will warn you if I think you are spamming).
Good luck Comrades!
Voting shall close at Midday on Thursday. Get voting!
The Election of 1900 could potentially radically change the direction of the VSVR as it strode out into the new century. The Peasant question had still not received a decisive response, German nationalists were becoming a force for the first time in decades whilst there was a significant amount of agitation for a more aggressive international revolution.
There had been one change in the electoral system since the last election. Now the Chairman would be elected by a system of One Man One Vote rather than the second preference system used in 1895.
The Marxist-Leninists
Prospective Chairman: Leon Trotsky
Under their new leader, Trotsky, the Marxist-Leninists had taken a slide towards radicalism. Their foreign policy had now reverted to a policy of permanent revolution, their solution to the ‘scissors crisis’ had taken a certain turn even more in favour of the workers whilst they advocated a heavy handed solution to the crisis on the streets.
Position within the Party: Far Left
Economic Policy:
Our fiscal crisis has largely passed over. Through tariffs and smaller rises in taxation we have once again eliminated our reliance on bourgeois capital. This is a triumphal moment for our Republic.
However Council Communism’s weaknesses have been revealed in the most recent years. In Africa the youth of the Soviets there have made it impossible for them to create enough factories for the new mass or African proletarians who surge to work. In Europe too our adoption of new, more modern, industries has been slowed by the uneasiness the Soviets have felt over moving into new industries. We can still allow the Soviets the power to manage their local economies but we must provide them with greater direction.
Meanwhile the crisis in Wallonia is a both unfortunate and unavoidable one. Not for a single day since the Marxist Bloc came to power in 1895 has every single Wallonian industry not been in the process of expanding. Yet the unprecedented surge of hundreds of thousands towards the cities has left tens of thousands without work. If it wasn’t for the state sponsored investment things would have been far, far worse.
Reform Policy:
Two social reforms.
An 8 hour day, an 8 hour day, an 8 hour day. For how much longer can we force our workers to slave away in the factories and in the fields for 10 hours every single day? For how much longer can we expect them to sacrifice their own lives for their work? The people in the factories and the fields are more important than the goods they produce. The people must come before their industries.
We must also increase the wages of all workers. Their livelihoods should increase alongside these.
Crisis on the Streets:
These ‘True German’ thugs are the root of the crisis. Theirs is an ideology of hate, of reactionism, of nationalism and demagoguery. This son of an aristocrat and his racist bourgeois lackeys must be expelled from the People’s Party.
The True Germans are to be immediately expelled from the People’s Party. So long as Bismarck and the True Germans cease their political activity no further action shall be taken. We must also put in place laws that ensure any future reactionary elements basing their ideology on race, nationalism and misogyny are not allowed to grow to this current size.
We must then use the state policy to end the street fighting that puts the lives of ordinary citizens at risk. Any persons engaging in these activities are to face arrest. Whether they be Marxist, Anarchist or reactionary nationalist they cannot be allowed to destroy the unity of the Republic with mindless violence.
Scissors Crisis:
The Revolutionaries claim that they can stop the tide of rural-urban migration. This simply point shows that they are as deluded as they are ignorant.
The simple fact is that the collective farms can no longer support more farm workers. Advances in technology and increases in population mean that the farms need less workers whilst there are more workers at the same time. This inevitably leads to a tide of immigration into the cities as the only place where these excess workers can find employment is in the factories. This shift creates a natural demand for more food to feed the larger workforce which the farmers claim should lead to an increase in the price of food.
But we must be realists. If we increase the price of food there are risks some may starve, if we increase the price of food workers will be less able to afford the very goods they produce and our industrial subsidies shall increase. If we increase the price of food we betray the fundamental principle of the Republic in that we shall be harming the common man more than we help him.
Food prices shall remain at an affordable level for all citizens of the Republic. Deliberate attempts to horde grain must be replied to with by armed grain requisition.
Foreign Policy:
The International Revolution in 52 years old. 52 years ago the Rhineland Revolution, the root of all socialist revolutions since, began and 50 years ago this Republic was proclaimed. Today 400 million people live under socialism in the Comintern. Yet this is still just a small portion of the world population. We must ensure that the revolution is spread to all workers, to all peasants to every man and women living under the capitalist oppression of wage-slavery or the feudal oppression of serfdom. It must end now!
The Marxist-Leninists propose wars with France and the vile Habsburg Empire. The French proletariat have long fought successive governments for their freedom. It is time the Second Republic dies and a new, socialistic; Republic is created in its place. Meanwhile, the Habsburg Empire has been dying a slow death for centuries now. Let us provide the merciful bullet and smash one of just two feudal Empires left in Europe.
After this we must look to Russia, to Latin America, to Asia and perhaps even the Anglophonic Empires of Britain and the USA.
Arise Workers of the World! Arms Yourselves!
We All Know the Old Regime Must Die!
Potential Assembly Allies: Luxemburgists
Luxemburgists
Prospective Chairman: Karl Liebknecht
Since the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg Karl Liebknecht has held the position of Chairman. He has proven himself to be capable and has much better relations with the Marxist-Leninists that Luxemburg ever had. However at the same time relations with the traditional Right have wavered whilst the brief idea of an alliance with the Revolutionaries has effectively died.
Position within Party: Centre
Economic Policy:
In the early 1890s Council Communism was proven to be more effective than traditional Marxist economics as we dealt with the obscene national debt and largely eliminated unemployment. Problems of unemployment have only flared up in Wallonia due to the structural problems of dealing with an incredible level of rural-urban migration which was near impossible to deal with. It is a wonder that, even with government stimulus, the vast majority of the new arrivals in the cities have been provided with work and all with housing (even if some housing is more cramped than we would like).
Council Communism is also popular as it gives the worker more control than under a more statist economic system.
Reform Policy:
One social reform.
We should increase the unemployment benefit once more to ensure that the lives of those left unemployed due to the tremendous structural shifts ongoing in the Republic are not punished.
Increasing the minimum wage and shortening the working day would only act to antagonise the rural Soviets and the Revolutionary faction into more aggressive action against the state. It would be counterproductive.
Crisis on the Streets:
We cannot fight the vile views of the True Germans with batons. We must fight them with words. The True Germans are strong in Wallonia due to unemployment and feelings of ethnic isolation. We should provide jobs and continue to break down the divisions between ethnic groups. They are strong in Bavaria due in part to the recent urbanisation of the region (large numbers of people who were recently peasants are now workers) and frustration at the squeezing out of old German and Catholic influences. Again these are growing pains as cities urbanise. Peasant views being brought to the cities and mixing with already present frustrations there. These problems will fade in time. In the East of the Republic there is anger at Polish migration and the comparatively weak munitions based economy. We must expand other economic sectors and encourage the people to accept all national groups.
All are welcome in the People’s Party. We cannot simply ban the True Germans and hope they will go away. We should not be tough on True Germans but on the causes of True Germans.
As for stopping the physical violence on the streets. This can only be done by using the police as peacekeepers. If necessary we may even have to employ curfews in some particularly violent areas in order to protect the majority from the violent minority.
Scissors Crisis:
We propose that each year the rural Soviets shall send delegates to Cologne to agree upon a fixed price on food stuffs for that year. For the entire year the Soviets must then sell their produce at the agreed price. This should give the peasantry a say in this problem whilst ensuring a fair deal for the urban workers.
We are all proletarians no matter what the Revolutionaries may claim. They encourage the creation of a new class divide. We must combat the view that the peasantry and the workers are opposed; we must combat the view that they are not a single class. The real enemies are the reactionaries and capitalists. It is they we should be fighting, not one another.
Foreign Policy:
Our expansion into Latin America has been successful and has avoided needlessly blood soaked encounters with the Great Powers. The only war with a Great Power we have fought since the 1890s has been with Russia and that only occurred due to a Russian plot to assassinate our Chairman (which in turn may have led to the death of Lenin as well) and their invasion of Finland. Under Lenin many thousands died in wars. Compared with the 1880s the 1890s were some of the most peaceful years the Republic has ever experienced.
We should continue to expand without causing major wars. We do not want the bourgeoisie powers of Europe uniting against us.
We can defeat France, we can defeat Russia, we can defeat the Habsburgs. We may even be able to defeat all three if we turn ourselves entirely towards war. But what if the British joined them? What if America too took up arms against us? Could we defend the VSVR? Could we defend our Comrades around the world?
These are the questions we must ask ourselves as the Red Army tramples over nation after nation.
Potential Assembly Allies: Marxist-Leninists, Democrats and Anarchists
True Germans
Potential Chairman: Nicholas Bismarck
Economic Policy:
We must return to the centralised economic policies of Karl Marx. The reason for the problems of unemployment are clearly the failings of the so called Soviets
Position within Party: On traditional Left-Right , Anti Statist-Statist scale they are Left wing, however their other revisionistic views are regarded with disgust by almost the entire Party
Economic Policy:
Marxist economics built this Republic and they shall save it.
Reform Policy:
We must end our idealised belief that nationalism is dead. Different ethnic groups do exist, different nations and cultures do exist. Under the current system we Germans are bound to Poles, to Walloons and to the Flemish and they to us against each groups’ will.
We propose the freedom of Poland, Wallonia and Flanders. After we end our Imperialistic rule over these peoples the Habsburg Empire shall be the final roadblock to freedom for all the nations of Europe. It must be invaded. The VSVR shall annex the areas that were once within the German Confederation, Italy shall reclaim the Veneto whilst the Hungarians shall be granted their much desired freedom. This freedom for the Hungarians shall help solve the scissors crisis by greatly increasing our access to grain.
We must also ensure freedom of religion for all people of the Republic
Crisis on the Streets:
The current crisis on the streets is entirely caused by the oppression dealt out by the Marxist to the peoples of the Republic. If we grant people freedom of religion, if we end our oppression of nationalism, if we provide employment to our people and forever end our dismissal of whole sections of German politics then the problems shall end.
We did not start this conflict, but we are the only solution to it.
Scissors Crisis:
Creation of an independent and socialist Hungary shall help ease the pressures on food production. Unlike the Marxists and the Anarchists the True Germans understand the anger of the peasants and we shall address many of their grievances.
We support an alliance between the worker and the peasant. Food prices should indeed rise, but only at a reasonable rate – the real issue here is the oppression of the peasants by the Marxists. Defeat the Marxists and the primary roadblock to a rural-urban crisis is removed.
We appreciate that the pressure for land and the advances in technology mean that many millions of farmers must join the urban classes. But perhaps we should encourage more farmers to travel to Africa. There are already substantial German populations throughout the VSVR held African territories; perhaps we should encourage emigration to Africa as an alternative to the cities. This would help us maintain a greater balance between urban and rural proletarian.
Foreign Policy:
Our foreign policy is to focus on dismantling the Habsburg Empire and granting freedom and socialism to the oppressed nations of Europe. Whether they are in Austria-Hungary, Russia or even the VSVR. Perhaps we should also look into encouraging the CSR to free the people of the Balkans.
Potential Assembly Allies: Revolutionaries
Revolutionaries
Prospective Chairman: Georges Sorel
Despite failing to win electoral victory in 1895, although they were the largest faction in the Assembly, the Revolutionaries have maintained their strength amongst the peasantry. There are still millions who view their peasant based socialistic view as the only way forward.
Position within Party: Unreadable
I ask you Comrades, what has changed in 5 years? Things have become worse for the peasant. We have become ever more shunned by the Marxists who on one hand promise us brotherhood and on the other exploit us as slaves. It is time to end this now Comrades. It is time for the peasant revolution!
Here is our response to the new Crisis on the Streets:
The True Germans are misguided in many respects but fundamentally they fight for freedom. If freedom of religion, of nationhood and the freedom for a man to be the master of his own home are granted then the True German thugs shall no longer go out into the streets and peace shall be restored.
‘’Economic Policy:
If our Republic had no industries then taxes could plummet to almost meaningless levels. If our Republic had no industry the farmer would not be forced to pay unspeakable quantities in order to support his urban Comrade.
Yet we have become a slave Republic. The rural slaves toil each day to support his urban slave master. Is this socialism? Is this what farmers have fought and died for almost half a century now? Do we not deserve equality too?
Industrial expansion must be slowed to a halt in all industries that do not support themselves. We should also concentrate on expanding the newly emerging high-tech industries – these shall provide goods that are not over produced, that are new and desirable and that are profitable.
Tariffs before taxes, always.
Social spending should also be kept as high as possible.
Reform Policy:
The Workers’ papers effectively monopolise the Republic’s media. It is time to take them down a size. The state must provide funding for a rural based newspaper that shall represent our views for all to see. The reason such a paper cannot be supported now is because there is little access to media in the country compared to the cities. The state must ensure that every citizen has reliable access to media and the news. The worker-master cannot continue to push the face of the farmer-servant into the mud by denying him the consciousness provided by access to the news.
Shorter working days and lower minimum wages? It seems the worker government wishes to destroy rural communities. Our collectives are left with little surplus income due to the hateful price manipulations of the worker government. Then we are told we cannot work more than 10 hours a day and must pay our farmers a greater wage or release them from employment. This means we have to release thousands of men from the countryside each month who in turn head to the cities where the join the urban proletariat and place an even heavier burden on the countryside which in turn forces us to give up more men. Enough! Easing these worker imposed slave regulations might release some of the intolerable pressure we suffer.
However social regulations are not the enemy. Some are very beneficial to the people. We propose increasing safety regulations – these regulations have greatly reduced farm accidents in rural and urban areas and benefit all of society.
We should also increase the unemployment subsidy. We have already witnessed the inability of industry to provide work for all and must be prepared for another outbreak of mass unemployment.
All anti religious legislation and policies must be ended. Freedom of religion for all! We do not care if a man is Christian, Jewish, Muslim or even Animist. All that matters is that he holds socialism dear to his heart, cares for his family and for the Republic. What he worships in his own time is his business and his alone.
The Scissors Crisis
Few social crises are so entirely man made as the so called ‘scissors crisis’. This crisis is the ultimate example of the degradation of the revolution and the death of the spirit of ’48.We were once a Republic dedicated to freedom and equality. We are now a Republic whose sole purpose is creating a new dictatorship of the narrow proletarian majority. This is against socialism and against all morality.
We propose an end to all price manipulations. End the impoverishing regulations of the state! Save the farmer from poverty!
We also support the idea of acquiring new food exporting markets for the VSVR in order to relieve the inevitable pressure the hike in food prices and fall in industrial good prices shall have on the workers.
Unlike the worker factions we have no desire to create a new ruling class. We only desire equality for all, privilege for no one.
Foreign Policy:
We should both acquire new lands and expand the International into food exporting regions and unite the Republic with our German kin to the South and Ukrainian brothers to the East.’’
Potential Assembly Allies: True Germans, Anarchists, Democrats
Anarchists
Prospective Chairman: Emma Goldman
Since the 1890 re-legalisation the Anarchists have persistently struggled to reclaim their once impressive base of support. That being said Emma Goldman was second only to Lenin in 1st preference votes in 1895. Faced with new threats from the True Germans and Revolutionaries the Anarchists continue to fly the flag of anti-statism and liberty above all else.
Position with Party: Right
Economic Policy:
We advocate the Council Communist economic system introduced by the martyred hero of socialism who was Rosa Luxemburg. This system has been incredibly effective in solving so many of our economic woes. It must be praised, supported and continued in spite of Marxist-Leninist attempts to subvert it towards state control once more.
Reform Policy:
Freedom of religion has long been an issue of conflict in this Republic. Whilst the influences of the Christian Churches have been fading for decades they are still a strong enough force, particularly in the countryside and in both the South and East, to cause major problems.
We loosen our attempts to force atheism upon the people. They shall come to it on their own volition as each successive generation is educated a larger portion of them reject the superstitions of their parents. Soon there will religion shall die without our interference. As its hosts reject it the leach of the Church shall shrivel away and die, however if we attempt to rip the leach from its host then we risk damaging the host’s body permanently.
Crisis on the Streets:
The True Germans truly are a vile group of reactionaries, misogynists, nationalists and racists. Their anti-socialist views are a direct threat to the Republic and her people. They are already causing violence.
They can and will be beaten. But with neither truncheon nor legislation.
Whilst Bismarck may bleat and groan about religious freedom, German values and the rights of nations the root of the Prussian rodent’s support is the angry young men who are dissatisfied with Marxism and are suffering economically. Support for areas that are struggling through economic difficulty should cut the Herzog’s support from beneath him and that revival of the very worst side of our nation should wither away and die.
Just like the bloodsucking Churches the True Germans rely upon harsh economic conditions and ignorance to build their support. By combating the causes of these funguses on our society we can forever prevent their re-growth.
Scissors Crisis:
The Anarchists once again propose a truly Communistic solution.
‘’The state shall meet with a large Council representing each and every rural Soviet. The state and the Council shall then agree upon fair prices for food stuffs and other agricultural goods. The state shall then distribute these products to the people and industries in the cities upon the principle of ‘’to each according to his need’’. This shall be paid for by a small food levy tax upon urban proletarians which shall be equal for all. Enough state capitalism. Let Communism rule.’’
Foreign Policy:
Our international infamy is at an all time high. Perhaps the minds of the Marxists are too clouded with their victories over ailing Russia to hear the whispers in Washington and London. During the Finnish War the British Parliament was within 15 votes of declaring war upon the VSVR whilst the brief rule of the American Socialist Party (an un-revolutionary but friendly socialist party much like the British Labour Party) ended in 1898 when the anti-VSVR Democratic Republican Party (a union of the two main bourgeois parties created to oppose the ASP) came to office on a strongly anti-communist ticket.
We are at serious risk of causing a war we may be unable to win Comrades. If the British and Americans strike then the fading Continental powers shall strike at us. Faced with Britain, America, Russia, France and the Habsburgs there is a very realistic chance that our Republic and the Comintern as a whole could face destruction.
It is time for a more peaceful solution; it is time to save our young men and women from being killed on foreign fields so that we may marginally expand the Republic.
Potential Assembly Allies: Democrats, Luxemburgists and Revolutionaries
Democrats
Prospective Chairman: Eduard Bernstein
Despite his humiliating showing in the Chairmanship election of 1895 and a disappointing result in the Assembly elections Bernstein and the Democrats
Position within Party: Centre Right
Economic Policy:
We should continue the Council Communism introduced by Luxemburg, however we should also look to use the state if need be to pump extra funds into areas that are experiencing large-scale rural-urban migration on a more regular basis. The unemployment in Wallonia could not be avoided but with proper state foresight the problem could have been less severe.
We should also reduce our protectionist trade barriers and reduce tariffs. Our high tariffs (currently 10%) are playing almost as major a role in turning the British and Americans against us as our invasions of neighbouring feudal powers. So long as London and Washington know their economies are tied to ours their willingness to attack is hugely reduced. However we are pushing towards Comintern autarky. Worse still by raising the costs of imported goods we are further hindering industrial performance and raising prices for our proletarians. Tariffs are a direct threat to the people of the Republic.
Reform Policy:
Complete and total religious freedom.
Perhaps it is time to put the future of the Poles, Walloons, Flemish and Czech to the Poles Walloons, Flemish and Czechs. We propose that in each territory the people are allowed to vote on whether they wish to be granted semi-independence as autonomous Republics of the VSVR or wish to remain a part of the centralised state.
Crisis on the Streets:
We are as opposed to the True Germans as anyone. But we should not infringe on freedoms to fight this threat. As a wise 18th century revolutionary once said ‘’those who would give up a little liberty to purchase a little security deserve neither and shall lose both’’.
Bismarck may continue his ramblings in the Party and his factions should not be attacked. However, we should make sure that police are employed to break up any damaging fights on the streets and should also use police to ensure that any demonstrations made by either side are not met with violence by the other.
Our Republic was born through violence and if we do nothing it will die by violence.
Scissors Crisis:
The plight of the farmers seems to have been exaggerated. Price manipulations do indeed leave them with the short end of the stick, and this is wrong, but they are not a people struggling to survive or slaves to the workers. They enjoy a good quality of life, have plentiful food and can purchase industrial goods which are still comparatively cheap.
We propose slight relaxations of the manipulations of food prices but no more is necessary.
Foreign Policy:
If the Marxists are allowed to continue their rampages across Europe without limitation whilst reducing our economic integration with Britain and America then we will find ourselves at war. We will be engaged in the bloodiest conflict since the treacherous Napoleon. If Trotsky fancies himself a new Bonaparte then he is a danger that must be combated.
Whilst at heart Trotsky and Liebknecht’s support for aggressive revolutions are noble the imperialistic demands of the True Germans to use war to create subject Republics in Eastern Europe that shall provide us with food whilst we force them to purchase our industrial goods are not. Indeed they seem to wish to create a new class altogether – a class hierarchy of nations. The capitalist oppresses the worker and peasant to enrich himself; the Revolutionaries accuse the worker of oppressing the peasant to enrich himself. What is the solution of Bismarck to this problem? He wished to oppress other nations so that the entire German Volk may enrich themselves. Socialistic Imperialism must not be allowed to blossom.
The Labour Party in Britain, the American Socialist Party in the US and both the French Workers’ League and Socialist Party in France have all proven themselves to not only be electorally viable but actually strong enough to secure power. We should support these democratic bodies in spreading socialism rather than using the rifle to do the same job.
Potential Assembly Allies: Anarchists and Luxemburgists
All readers may vote for one of the following:
Marxist-Leninists
Luxemburgists
True Germans
Revolutionaries
Anarchists
Democrats
I will not accept your vote if you vote for an individual you want to be chairman eg Trotsky and will only accept your vote if you name the faction of your choice.
Please place your vote in a separate post from your comment OR place it in bold alongside your comment.
In this election the Chairman is appointed according to whichever faction secures the largest number of votes. The Assembly is entirely elected by in game POPs.
I encouraged you to align yourself with a faction and campaign and argue for its success. However spamming will not be tolerate (I will warn you if I think you are spamming).
Good luck Comrades!
Voting shall close at Midday on Thursday. Get voting!
