Revolutionary Labour Movement (Tinza)

Revolutionary Labour Movement མྡུན་གྲཱོལྰྦ་ལེའྒ་ཆེ mdun agrol-ba le-ga che
Abbreviation	RLM
Leader	Kelsang Karpo
Deputy Leader	Tashi Lotsawa
Chairperson	Bhakto Lhamo
Presidium	Kunchen Lingpa Tsogyal
Founder	Pha-pa dmar Dhompa
Founded	February 23, 1922 (1922-02-23)
Preceded by	New Moon Society
Newspaper	Red Eagle
Student wing	ARS
Youth wing	LFSY
Labour wing	CRTU
Membership (2018)	2,450,000
Ideology	2011–present: Four Pillars of the Nation Left-wing nationalism 1922–2011: Agrarian socialism
Political position	Left-wing broad church
International affiliation	Intercon
Colours	Red   White
Party flag

The Revolutionary Labour Movement (Tinzan: མྡུན་གྲཱོལྰྦ་ལེའྒ་ཆེ, tr. mdun agrol-ba le-ga che), also known as the RLM, is a left-wing political party and social movement in Tinza. It is a broad church, heavily influenced by the philosophy of the popular front, bringing together socialists, syndicalists, Welzists and even social democrats under the same banner. Chiefly, the party is revolutionary in nature and seeks to overthrow the Drogon regime in Tinza, in order to institute "a worker and peasants' republic with democratic ownership of the means of production". The party has also advocated for minority rights. The RLM is a full member of the Internationale.

The Movement was founded in 1937 chiefly by Pha-pa dmar and Dhompa, former members of the New Moon Society before it's ultimate defeat. Forming the new party in opposition to the monarchical regime, the two advocated for a policy known as "going to the people", whereby the party acted in resistance by aiding the common people in rural areas. This policy made the party popular with the peasantry, but many members believed it to be too passive, and launched an aggressive attack on Ladumra soon after. The attack directly led to the May Days of 1946 where the party was all but wiped out. Since then, however, the party has recovered significantly, but never to the same level as before it's repression. In the modern day, it is the largest opposition group to openly challenge the regime of Drogon Tsering.

The party is led by Go-bo dmar, an active military leader in the organisation who was elected in October 2017 after the execution of previous leader Phu-bo, with Kunchen, Lingpa, Tsogyal and Tashi Lotsawa forming the Presidium and Bhakto Lhamo acting as Chairperson. Currently, three of these six leaders are currently either in exile in Narmada or apprehended. Go-bo dmar, Tashi and Lingpa are the only leaders actively leading the resistance in Tinza.

History

Background, foundation and early history (1894–1945)

Main articles: New Moon Society and Crisis of the New Millennium

Supporters of the New Moon Society marched in Ladumra during the Crisis of the New Millenium.

Prior to the Revolutionary Labour Movement, there were numerous social currents in Tinzan society. Among these currents were ideologies such as syndicalism and autonomism, which had gained popularity among a number of Tinzan intellectuals. By far the largest movement to encompass a similar role as the RLM was the New Moon Society; founded in 1894 by a group of revolutionary thinkers later known as the Gang of Four. These thinkers came from varying philosophical and political backgrounds, but had all adopted revolutionary attitudes, and aimed to adapt existing revolutionary ideologies to best fit the situation of Tinza at the time, eventually collating the ideology now known as New Moon Thought. They founded the New Moon Society during this time as a place for them to freely express ideas without fear of repression and as a vehicle to advance their ideas.

During the Crisis of the New Millennium which sprung forth not longer after it's foundation, the New Moon Society found itself among the combatants, attempting in vain to protect the common people from the brutality of the succession crisis, and to bring an end to the cycle of wars and conflict that had plagued Tinza for generations. Despite early successes in the conflict and general support from large segments of the population, the society was eventually beaten back and ultimately defeated by the forces of the establishment. The three surviving members of the Gang of Four were put to death, and most former members scattered to the winds lest they be put to death; among these were Pha-pa dmar and Dhompa.

Pha-pa dmar, co-founder of the RLM

Dhompa, co-founder of the RLM

After the Crisis of the New Millennium, and the ultimate disbandment of the New Moon Society, many former members of the organisation found themselves scrambling for a new party to replace the one which had fallen. From among these were two key individuals, Pha-pa dmar and Dhompa; two former members of the society's rank-and-file membership who had been key participants during the Crisis but had managed to evade capture. They had been strongly influenced by the Nordanian revolutions which had spanned the continent, and considered themselves staunch socialists. They differed slightly on some ideological points; Pha-pa dmar believed in a transitional state to guide the people to their stateless future, as was supposedly happening in Nordania, while Dhompa had a far more libertarian attitude, and believed that any revolution should lead directly to a stateless society. Despite these differences, the two managed to work together to found the party; emphasising their own differences to secure the party's nature as a broad church.

With months of preparation and the acquisition of support from other revolutionary anti-establishment elements, the Revolutionary Labour Movement was founded on 23 February 1937, with much support from the Internationale, which it soon joined. Within Tinza, however, news of the party's foundation led to a renewed persecution of leftist elements in the country by both the government and paramilitary forces - largely comprised of former soldiers who fought in the Tinzan-Xiaodongese War - known as the Black Legions. The continued operation of the Black Legions, most of whom were of peasant or working class backgrounds, led to a crisis of belief within the RLM, with many members believing that they were not in touch with the common people. With this in mind, a new policy was debated and voted upon at the third party conference session in 1940. The policy was known as the "going to the people" policy, and essentially stated that for RLM to members "resist the capitalist state" successfully, they must "go to the [rural] common people and aid in their lives; educating, agitating and organising all the while, to grow and maintain the support of the common people for revolutionary socialism". This policy would shape the actions of the RLM for years to come, and be largely successful in terms of securing the general support of the peasantry, at the expense of the support of belligerent members of the movement.

May Days and repression (1945–49)

Main article: May Days (Tinza)

Monpa Tamang, member of the Pro-Action Caucus and Chairperson, was an influential member of the RLM.

Despite the relative successes delivered by the "going to the people" policy, a large number of RLM members - even entire cells in some cases - had grown disillusioned with the policy, on the basis that it was allowing the government of the Everking to cement itself further, all while the RLM, in their view, lost it's momentum. This discordance became prevalent at the 1945 session of the party conference, where the policy came closest to it's repeal, with over 40% of the present deputies voting against the continuation of the policy. Despite this disagreement, no attempt was made by the central RLM leadership to attempt to mend the rift between those who supported and opposed the policy, and instead continued enforcing the policy. This, unsurprisingly, led to feelings of abandonment from members who had been opposed to the policy.

In the aftermath of the conference session, a group of RLM members who had opposed the policy gathered to discuss their options, since none believed that a continuation of the policy could be allowed. After much deliberation, they decided to chart their own course, and began making preparations for a full insurrection against the crown under the RLM banner, believing that the rest of the RLM would join them if they brought about a revolution with a recognisable chance of victory. The individuals involved would become known as the Pro-Action Caucus, and quickly became a major force within the RLM. Among the caucus, Monpa Tamang would emerge as the leading figure, and soon would become an incredibly important figure in the RLM as a whole. With their decision having been made, after their first meeting the members of the Caucus would begin recruiting from among the core cadre of the movement, and in turn prepared for their planned uprising. The significant movement of weaponry which occurred in preparation for the uprising did not go unnoticed however, and it was later revealed that the royal government was aware of the plans for the rebellion from as early as four months prior.

Rogue RLM student members take to barricades in Ladumra in their act of rebellion.

With their movement growing exponentially, feeding off the discontent within the movement caused by the 1945 conference session, the leaders of the Pro-Action Caucus decided to speed up the plans for their uprising. Additionally - having seen their increased support from the RLM membership - they began to plan for a full infiltration of the movement's party leadership. Orchestrating the downfall of then-Chairperson Sherpa Sambhota through the fabrication of a corruption scandal, the group put forward Monpa Tamang as a candidate for Chairperson; in the ensuing vote at the 1946 party conference session, he was elected by the Presidium and Executive Committee almost unanimously due largely to his own preeminent reputation.

As Chairperson, Monpa began to slowly divert the party's resources towards the caucus' plans for an armed uprising. Additionally, he began to suggest the idea at meetings with the RLM leadership, in an attempt to win them over to the idea. All the while, the core of the Pro-Action Caucus continued to prepare for the revolution, growing by the day as they attracted large numbers of disaffected members of the movement with promises of delivering real, tangible change. Despite the best efforts of more pacifistic members, and those in favour of the "going to the people" policy, the Pro-Action Caucus had captured not only the hearts of minds of the membership, but also a sizable portion of the leadership. Eventually, even the most peaceable elements of the movement had conceded to tacit support for an armed uprising. With the RLM primed for uprising, Chairperson Monpa and the Pro-Action Caucus waited for an unwitting spark to act as the raison d'etre for their rebellion and to call the peasants to arms.

The spark that would light the flames would, however, never materialise. Soon enough, the Pro-Action Caucus and leadership of the Revolutionary Labour Movement simply lost control. Across the country, local cells began to declare their own uprisings, and armed militias sprung up across the country over the course of a week; the May Days had begun. Realising that they had to regain control of the rebellion for it to succeed, the Caucus and RLM leadership supported the rebellions, attempting to join them together in to a single rebellion. Meeting a certain degree of success, many RLM cells descended on the capital city of Ladumra in an attempt to take control of the seat of power. Within the city, RLM militias - composed primarily of students - had already taken to their hastily-assembled barricades in the city's narrow streets. In the ensuing battle, it became clear that the RLM militias were ultimately unprepared to fight toe-to-toe with the trained army of the Everking. Across the country, the uprising was repressed, and the RLM militias defeated, by the armies loyal to the Everking. In the ensuing chaos, much of the RLM leadership, Monpa and much of the Pro-Action Caucus included, were arrested and executed for sedition and treason. Across the country, the party was arguably wiped out, with local cells dispersed and the membership depleted.

Recovery (1949–1967)

-Recovered throughout the 50s -Renewed the going to the people policy

Anti-Drogon resistance (1967–2017)

-Involved in number of plots to foil Drogon -Continue going to the people policy -Arrest and murder of Phu-bo

Renewed insurgency (2017–present)

-Gained ground -Now a war of attrition

Party-to-party relations

Socialist organisations

The RLM and the People's Liberation Movement (PLM) in Min maintains good relations and close correspondence.