Autonome Thought

Autonome Thought, also known as Autonomeism or Vaillantism (for its modernizer and enacter, Marion Vaillant) is an economically State Partist and culturally Ultranationalist and Militarist ideological school of thought derived from the post Red Winter development of existing Lorist strains of thought in the République Autonome d’Arcadie. It traces its ideological lines of descent from existing anti-Seurian ideological strains in the period before the Red Winter, most pertinently associated with the École Solidaire and the Des Syndicats Fidèles, both groups associated with centralistic and nationalistic opposition to the Republic of Arcadie.

Vaillantism is opposed to Substantive Democracy as practiced in nations like Meridon or Anagonia, instead promoting a system wherein an nationally-connected group of individuals, in the case of Arcadie the military, take charge of the key issues of state - such as foreign policy, military affairs, and the mass mobilization of the population into a Front Guerrier, or "Warrior Front", while the establishment of "Economic Democracy" is achieved through the formation of a council of state associated union structures, with control of economic policy with the exception that it must be fundamentally focused on the development of the military industries.

The fundamental nature of Vaillantism was that there must be a distinct development of an "All-Arcadie" national consensus, doing away with what was perceived as the fundamental failing of the Republic - their lack of correction of the fundamental issue of the state - the allowance of Seurian voices to continue cultural and political independence against the Arcadie national identity. Seurian independence was a development of this failure - with the re-establishing of an "imaginary" cultural basis for the state to function off of being seen as the fundamental result of not suppressing independence to a far greater extent.

Name and Definition

Vaillant would not consciously add himself to the name of the ideology - with his own actions instead promoting the name of "Autonomeism". This lack of desire to be associated with the direct name of the ideology was born from a number of factors, including distaste towards the concept of a cult of personality, his belief that making it a more general ideology would assist in its spread, and his perception that he was enacting the "national will", and was therfore not an influential thinker in the sense of its development. After his death due to prolonged sickness, the ideology would immediately be described as the state of an extension of his ideals, as a part of their general establishment of a cult of militaristic faith in the ideal that Vaillant was a prophet of a new era of Arcadie, which would lead to the renewal of such.

Autonome Thought was not initially organized as an intellectual movement - instead being the forced cohabitation of ideals and concepts caused by Vaillant's forcible fusion of anti-state nationalist groupings as a means to provide support to the new then newly-formed Autonome. Over time it has taken a more intellectual viewpoint - with the codification of key ideological tenants taken from the non-clashing ideals of the movements the state was forged from, alongside the incorporation of certain foreign ideologies in order to provide a more solid economic and political viewpoint. This fundamental incoherence has resulted in the movement being described in a number of differing fashions, although the most commonly used modern descriptor is that it is economically State Partist and socially on the far right, due to both its deep connection to the Arcadie Neterist Church, the promotion of the morality espoused by such, and the severe revanchism and racialism inherent in its interactions with Seuria.

Foundations and Development

Origins

Déclin et Décadence

The earliest seeds of revolutionary nationalism in Arcadie were born from the perceived "Déclin et Décadence" - the "Decline and Decadence" of the Republic of Arcadie as a whole in the immediate period before the Great War. The Déclin et Décadence was largely a reaction to the ruling policies of the then-in-charge Parti Républicain Populaire, a populist center-left party which had won an upset victory in the 1926 Republic of Arcadie Elections, and the following 1932 and 1938 elections, - beating the institutionally powerful Parti de l'Unité et de la Stabilité due to exhaustion with the continued oligarchical rule represented by the latter. The leader of the PRP, Léonard Sault, would pass wide-reaching social and economic reforms with the parliamentary majority he had gathered, including the forced nationalization of several major agricultural and mining Agglomérer, the establishment of a nationwide minimum wage of 18 Livre (Equivalent to approximately 20.4 Meridonian Dollars in the modern day) for any and all jobs believed to be of a key nature by the state, a policy that generally favored aforementioned agricultural and mining works, and - most scandalously to the political right as a whole, the abolishment of the death penalty.

While these policies would have economic and social benefits, they were perceived as having expanded the fundamental power of the state to an absurd extent in many ways, with the 18 Livre minimum wage being especially criticized, as it overturned the power of provincial governments to set their own wages. This reaction to his policies would begin to consolidate in the years before the war, with the École Solidaire and other organizations coming into existence to argue against his economic and political policies, while the ex-general Célestin Vaugrenard Savatier enshrining himself as Sault's firmest parliamentary opposition, in the form of his Parti des Soldats et des Martyrs, which accused Sault of failing to account for the needs of the many veterans of anti-Seurian partisan campaigns.

École Solidaire

As mentioned, the École Solidaire would be formed from the counter-reaction to Sault's government, more specifically being the work of Leroy Noyer, who pointed to the "overt policy of betrayal" represented by Sault's economic policies as a threat to a percieved traditional way of Arcadie life. To disperse with this threat, the state would be forced to take a role of both intervener and provider of guarantees - taking an explicit pro class-collaborative stance, and working to inoculate such amongst the population as well. The Solidaire was also notable for its connection to the Arcadie Neterist Church, which it gathered legitimacy from through the overt approval of Noyer's economic and social policies by members of the church.

The Solidaire would grow into a greater movement throughout the course of the pre-war years, as it began to incorporate aspects of general Arcadie nationalism. More specifically, it would begin to promote the ideals of a general "All-Arcadie" nationalism, although at this time such a term included the Seurians as members of the Arcade - this nationalism was to be in contrast to the vulgar regionalism of Anagonia and Meridon - in line with the Solidaire's belief that Arcadie should enter the war on the side of Kaskaida. This belief would see it be actively suppressed by Léonard Sault following the entry of Meridon into the war, which he used to draw Arcadie into such as well under the justification of potential spoils to come from such.

Great War

Arcadie's entry into the Great War would fundamentally radicalize society in a number of ways - with the far left splitting from the Parti Républicain Populaire as a result of Sault's support of entry into such, the far right taking an overtly anti-governmental stance as a result of the state joining the "wrong side" of the war, and Sault himself instituting a "Government of National Defense" which disenfranchised the right wing parties of the state and instead vested all power into his role as the president for the duration of the conflict. Sault's seizure of power would especially be crucial to the growth of the right in Arcadie, with his hated rival Célestin Vaugrenard Savatier accusing Sault of attempting to be a dictator - a claim Sault would verify in the eyes of many when he forcibly had Savatier drafted and sent to the Kaskaidan front. The system of drafting as a whole would have a negative impact on the state's perception - with no carveouts of any sort being offered, effectively meaning that any male in Arcadie could be chosen for the front, especially if they opposed the government in a public fashion. "Labor Mobilization" would also be used - with the workers of many notable factories being forcibly drafted to prevent them from excercising strike rights or other forms of refusal to work during the war.

An additional development of these massive drafts were the growth of "Soldier's Unions" - groups of soldiers who went on "strike" by refusing to fight until their demands are met, these forces pacting as a major issue for Republican Arcadie due to the lack of ability to have them censured or removed en masse, especially as higher ranking officials began joining the strikes. Sault would solve this issue by instituting the Garde-Barrière - an extension of the military police with the right to force soldiers back into combat, preventing retreat or desertion. This harsh reaction by the state would see the growth of anti-state thought amongst the soldiers of the state as a whole, with ideological pamphlets from the Solidaire and other right wing institutions gaining increasing prominence amongst what had originally been an fairly institutionally apolitical body. Over time, the Sault government would attempt to improve relations - but the damage had already been done.

Front-Line Development

The Soldier's Unions would become one of the few bodies of support for soldiers as a whole, representing a group which provided institutional support and consoling to those who had been effected with "Trench-Shock", an early form of PTSD. They would provide funds to the widows and children of the dead, and additionally attempted to organize domestic support for those families as well. This transformation into a body of support meant that as the bodies became more right wing, they dragged a notable portion verging on majority of soldiers with them as an extension of the support they had provided and continued to provide.

Concepts and Characteristics

New Nationalism

The fundamental conception of nationalism in the context of the post Red Winter political environment was an exclusive one - a counter-reaction to the Republic of Arcadie's attempt at civil nationalism including both Seurians and Arcadie on an equal basis. This was perceived to have been the major failing of the state - and therefore, it became a politically accepted truth that the nature of the Seurian was in opposition to that of the Arcadie, and furthermore that they must therefore be separated from the rest of society and gradually either forced out of such or incorporated into an Arcadie-dominant cultural sphere.

The nationalism of this movement was fundamentally separate from the more immediately-reactionary variety practiced by the Organisation de la Restauration Nationale, which promoted a return to clan-based social and political development. In the perception of the practitioners of Autonome Thought, the nation was a fundamentally self-developing organism, which could not be stopped from changing in the same fashion the wheel of history would not stop turning. Therefore, it was crucial to inoculate the vision of nationalism in the minds of the youth first and foremost, to ensure that the values of such were carried on successfully to the next turning of the wheel.

Moralité du Front

The "Morality of the Front" was the fundamental basis for Autonome Thought's focus on economic class collaboration and the development of a militarized population at all points in social development. Derived from the comradeship of soldiers during the Great War, it was believed that through the mobilization of the population in a similar fashion to soldiers - including their subordination under military leadership, the end of individualism as a focused-upon concept, and a focus upon both the supposed meaninglessness of life and the value of interactions with others occuring during such. This philosophy, the École de Vie, therefore created and promoted the need of ensuring one was remembered by history to resolve their lack of inherit value, and insisted that through this process of death and memorialization of such that society could be fundamentally remolded into a "pure" version of such. This was expanded into also including the death of soldiers - with their deaths being promoted to not be a tragedy, but instead a final act of joy and value which inscribed their existences onto the patchwork of life forever, providing them an "eternal role" in history.

This conception of morality also included a belief that it was in the glorification of action and life that the truth resided - that reason was a failure of an ideal which only brought general suffering and failure when compared to the justice inherent in taking action and showing strength through such.

Influence on Other Nations

it has none lol