Fiucce

Republic of Fiucce Repubblica di Fiucce
Flag
Motto: "Forward the Fasces!"
Capital and largest city	Fiucce
Official languages	Italian
Government	Unitary one-party fascist republic
• Duce	Massimo Cafaro
• PLF Chairman	Sabazio Schiavoni
Legislature	National Assembly
Establishment
• Formation	1931
Area
• Total	696,000 km2 (269,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1980 estimate estimate	1,600,000
• Density	18.4/sq mi (7.1/km2)
Currency	Lira
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Driving side	right

Fiucce, officially the Republic of Fiucce, is a self-proclaimed fascist state situated on the south-western side of the Vulpes Mountains, bordering the Grand Principality of Livoli to the east. Occupying an area of 696,000 km² with a population of about 1.6 million, the state holds its capitol in Fiucce (hence its colloquial name), a small town near Lake Mondelli. Massimo Cafaro serves as the Duce of Fiucce, a position with absolute power and one who delegates positions within the government to a number of high-ranking officers and advisors. The Chairman of the Fiucce Fascist Labour Party (Fiucce Partito Laburista Fascista) is another influential position within the government.

The Doctrine of Fascism (1932) described the nature of Fiucce Fascism's totalitarianism, stating the following:

Fascism is for the only liberty which can be a serious thing, the liberty of the state and of the individual in the state. Therefore for the fascist, everything is in the state, and no human or spiritual thing exists, or has any sort of value, outside the state. In this sense fascism is totalitarian, and the fascist state which is the synthesis and unity of every value, interprets, develops and strengthens the entire life of the people.

— The Doctrine of Fascism (1932)

According to the government of Fiucce, the state is not simply a mechanism which limits the sphere of the supposed liberties of the individual, neither has the Fascist conception of authority anything in common with that of a police ridden state. Far from crushing the individual, the Fascist State multiplies his energies, just as in a regiment a soldier is not diminished but multiplied by the number of his fellow soldiers.

Economically, the state lays down the limits within which industry may operate, and how those limits will be in the interest of national welfare. The economy functions like that of a socialist planned economy working towards autarky. Workers are all required to be members of the Fascist Labour Party, and required to be members of the state-run trade union, the National Union of Fascist Workers (Unione Nazionale Operai Fascisti; UNOF), which provides ostensible worker representation and serves only to implement the economic decisions made by the state. The economy involves worker syndicates being linked together by the UNOF to collectively represent the nation's economic producers and work alongside the state to set national economic policy. These syndicates can, in theory, decide on production of goods, quality, price, distribution and labor standards, but in practice they typically impliment the decisions issued by the UNOF, which are decided above all by the state.

Fiucce hosts a very regimented and controlled society. Televison, radio and newspapers are all controlled by the powerful Ministry of Information, led by Minister Mariano Iacovelli. Non-government trade unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum are either suppressed or controlled by all means, including police repression. Most country towns and rural areas are patrolled paramilitary guard units, which functions as a chief means of social control. Larger cities are mostly under the protection of heavily armed military police, seen patrolling clean and orderly streets. Massimo Cafaro is the focus of a personality cult, as were all previous Duces' prior. The cult mainly stands to represent Cafaro as a savior, fatherly-figure, protector and teacher for and of the state.

Geography

Most of the land area is covered by the Vulpes mountain range running from north-west to south-east. The hills and mountains lie parallel to the coast. On the coasts the climate is Mediterranean, while further inland it is moderate Mediterranean. In the mountains, winters are frosty and snowy, while summers are hot and dry. To the south winters are milder. Over the centuries many forests have been cut down and replaced with bush and brush. There is evergreen vegetation on the coast. The soils are generally poor, except on the plains where areas with natural grass, fertile soils, and warm summers provide an opportunity for tillage. Elsewhere, land cultivation is mostly unsuccessful because of the mountains, hot summers, and poor soils, although olives and grapes flourish. Energy resources are scarce. Electricity is mainly produced by hydropower stations. There is a considerable amount of bauxite.

Duce Massimo Cafaro

Politics

The politics of Fiucce take place in the framework of a one-party fascist state, which revolves around the Duce, Massimo Cafaro. As with the other fascist states, Fiucce follows an ideology which closely resembles fascist syndicalism. The republic's sole party, the Fiucce Fascist Labour Party (Partito Laburista Fascista; PLF), maintains absolute control and is the only legal party. In the greater government, the two most powerful position are the Duce and the Chairman of the Fascist Labor Party (Presidente del Partito Laburista Fascista), currently led by Sabazio Schiavoni. The Parliament of Fiucce is the unicameral legislature of the republic, usually headed by the Duce. The Ministry of Internal Affairs hold a great deal of power and influence in the republic, as it controls and coordinates the activities of the other Ministers and Ministries. The Duce maintains superiority to both the executive and judicial branches, and as a whole the Duce rules autocratically. There have been times in history where conflict has occured between the Duce, Chairman of the PLF, National Assembly and other prominent roles within the government. One notable example is the succession crisis of 1961.

Economy

On a wider scale, the Fascist economic policy of Fiucce has pushed the country towards the corporative state, an effort that lasted well after it's implimentation. The idea is to create a national community where the interests of all parts of the economy are integrated into a class-transcending unity. Membership in the state-run trade union, the National Union of Fascist Workers (Unione Nazionale Operai Fascisti; UNOF), is compulsory for all workers. The economy involves worker syndicates being linked together by the UNOF to collectively represent the nation's economic producers and work alongside the state to set national economic policy. These syndicates are known as "Fascio" or "Fasci". Only these syndicates can negotiate agreements with industrialists, with the government acting as an "umpire". Despite strict regimentation, the labour syndicates have the power to negotiate collective contracts (uniform wages and benefits for all firms within an entire economic sector).

Employer syndicates have a considerable amount of power as well. Membership within these associations is compulsory and the leaders have the power to control and regulate production practices, distribution, expansion and other factors with their members. The controls generally favoured larger enterprises over small producers, who were dismayed that they had lost a significant amount of individual autonomy.

The Charter of Labour, enacted by Duce Salomè Forcucci, declared private enterprise to be the most efficient, thus helping the state to confirm the support of the rich industrialists who were the initial backers of Fascism in Fiucce. It insists that state intervention is legitimate only where private enterprise was deficient. The Charter layed out a list of guidelines as well;

Article 1:

"Fiucce is an organism having ends, life, and means of action superior to those of individuals, singly or in groups, of which it is composed. It is a moral, political, and economic unity, realized wholly in the Fascist State."

Article 2:

"Work, in all its intellectual, technical, and manual forms, is a social obligation. To this end, and only to this end, it is safeguarded by the State. The totality of production is unitary from the national point of view; its objectives are unitary and comprise the well-being of the producers and the development of national strength."

Article 3:

"There is freedom of professional or union organization. But only the union legally recognized by, and subject to, the control of the State has the right to legally represent the entire category of employers or employees by which it is constituted [...]; or to stipulate collective labor contracts binding on all those belonging to the category; or to impose on them dues, or to exercise on their behalf delegate functions of public interest."

Article 4:

"In the collective labor contract is found the concrete expression of the solidarity of the various makers of the product, by means of the conciliation of the opposing interests of the employers and the workers, and their subordination to the superior interests of production."

Article 6:

"Legally recognized professional associations insure the legal equality between employers and workers, maintain the discipline of production and work, and promotes its perfection. Fasci constitute the unitary organizations of production and integrally represent its interests [...]. Fasci are recognized legally as organs of the State [...]."

Article 7:

"The Fascist State considers private initiative, in the field of production, as the most efficient and useful instrument of the Nation."

Article 9 stated that:

"State intervention in economic production may take place only where private initiative is lacking or is insufficient, or when are at stakes the political interest of the State. This intervention may take the form of control, encouragement or direct management."

Article 13:

"The duty of employment is under control of the Fasci organs. Employers have the obligation to hire workers who are official members of the appropriate trades, and have the power to choose from the rolls of membership, giving precedence to the members of the party and the Unione Nazionale Operai Fascisti according to their seniority of membership."

The Charter of Labor also created a Labour Court supposed to regulate labour controversies, as well as Fasci aimed at superating class conflict, and created the framework for workers also having the possibility of electing their union representatives, who are nominated by the state.

Agriculture

Fiucce's geographic features and soils make growing crops a particular challenge. The country lies west of the Vulpes Mountains, and roughly half of the available farmland is mostly poor soil, with low organic matter, weak struture, high salt content and limited moisture retention. Annual precipitation is usually sufficient, but because of the soil composition it has little effect for large scale farming efforts. Farmers in rural areas have have relied on growing varieties of crops, with soybeans being the most successful in poor soil areas. Most arable farmland was originally forest, with the trees logged off and the soil cultivated over years to neutralize the excess acid and to improve fertility. Irrigation projects have had varied success. The chief agricultural products produced are soybeans, wheat and beets. Almost all agricultural products are used consumed domestically, with almost no exportation of food products.

Bauxite mine in Guidoni, northern Fiucce.

Fishing

Fiucce relies on a relatively large fishing industry for food. Shrimp, sardines and oysters make up a majority of seafood consumed. As the people of Fiucce are not culturally acustomed to animal husbandry, the fishing sector has always been larger and dominating over the use of cattle. Beef, pork and chicken are uncommon and usually considered a delicacy, with a majority of the population preferring fish or other seafood.

Forestry

Forests play a key role in the country's economy, making it a leading wood producer and providing raw materials at competitive prices for the crucial wood processing industries. Along with the aluminum industry, forestry makes up a significant portion of the country's revenue and this recieves sizeable attention from the state, including technical improvements and the establishment of long-term plans to ensure that the country's forests continue to supply the wood-processing industries.

Logging operations in southern Fiucce to clear land for agriculture.

Mining

Bauxite mining and alumina operations in Fiucce make up about 80% of Fiucce's mining operations. Bauxite is refined into alumina, which is later smelted into aluminium. Fiucce exports about 14 million tonnes of high-grade bauxite annually. Refineries in Fiucce export about 4 million tonnes of alumina annually. Activities associated with the aluminum industry employ roughly 28% of the working population. This number is expected to grow as more bauxite deposits are discovered. Reliance on the aluminum industry is creating fears of over-reliance and the possible economic collapse when the bauxite mines do eventually run dry. Other minerals mined include iron, nickel, copper and boron.

Fiucce also hosts a number of natural gas extraction sites, but few crude oil deposits. Most natural gas extracted is used in electric generation or refined into propane, which serves as the main heating and fuel for commercial and residential use in Fiucce. Propane is a major export of Fiucce and is exported to several countries. Scharnau is very reliant on natural gas and propane imports from Fiucce. Crude oil is extracted in small quantities and is mostly refined into kerosene and tar. Crude oil has proven difficult to extract in Fiucce.

Manufacturing

The main manufacturing industries are machinery, food products, contruction materials and textiles.

Transport

Fiucce hosts a large maritime passenger and shipping fleet. Steamships carry passengers and freight to mostly to Kouryssos and Scharnau, and make up 65% of all goods transported to and from Fiucce. Railroads move bulk goods across the country, mainly servicing heavy industries such as iron mines, steel mills and forest products.

Culture

The state mostly criticizes egalitarianism as preserving the weak, and instead promote social Darwinist views and policies. In principle, the state is also opposed to the idea of social welfare, arguing that it "encourages the preservation of the degenerate and the feeble."