Revolutionary Recovery Program

The Revolutionary Recovery Program, also known as the Great Redux or the La Recaperacion, was a massive rebuilding and industrialization/modernization program for Chilicxqua immediately following it's independence. Proposed and put forward by Sewati Montilla, a prominent revolutionary officer, war hero and career economist, Montilla described the entire plan as an effort to "-mobilize the entirety of a force meant for war to put all of their effort into preparing a country meant for peace.". The plan involved three loosely timed phases that was meant to prepare Chilicxqua to be an independent nation, an especially high priority as Chilicxqua was a pariah state at the moment of it's independence, with its new government having little legitimacy in the eyes of the world. On the surface, it was simply to industrialize and modernize Chilicxqua after decades of war, which it did, but underneath, and with protracted review, it was determined the plan was to immediately mellow out a population that was surrounded by weapons and strong-willed minds. Militia leaders were either put into important yet harmless positions or put into work camps, while unwanted nuisances in the government were sentenced to oversee far-off infrastructural projects that would take years, effectively exiling them from government forums in Cilicamanca.

The Revolutionary Recovery Program was proposed immediately after independence in the summer of 1973, and was put into effect in the late autumn of 1973. The entire plan would last until 1988, with experts believing that in all technicality, the Revolutionary Recovery Program truly lasted until 1991 due to various projects being overdue for their deadlines and the government seeking to make the entire program seem 'smooth-going'. Phase one, "Rejuvenecimiento", lasted from 1973 until 1982. Phase two, "Construir Sobre", lasted from 1982 till 1986, being the shortest phase officially, but also being where many experts and commentators believe there were hold-ups. Phase three ,"Polaca", officially lasted from 1986 to 1988. The entire program was wrought with problems ranging from food shortages from bad logistics, corruption, and bad management leading to some projects being below standards, necessitating later programs to repair bad workmanship.

Foundations

With the Final Chilican Uprising coming to a close and Northern Chilicxqua slowly falling to revolutionary forces, the Southern Chilican Provisional Government began thinking on post-war plans and how to handle immediate issues following independence. The country, by this point, had been tackling problems regarding getting food to villages and towns, as the troops were taking most of it to fight. Other problems, like getting appropriate equipment to farmers and a breakdown in the entire country's infrastructural network after myriad bombing campaigns by the Sylvans were identified as being a potential cause for initial unrest following the takeover of the country by the Chilican Communist Front. It's believed that these debates took place in Secasvalle in the spring of 1971, and that a small group of reconstruction programs were begun in the south using penal laborers and reservist units that the southern government was able to draw from. Most works undertaken by these bands of laborers were very minimal in nature. Irrigation networks, repairing bridges, putting up telephony and repaving old roads constituted the peak of what these programs were successful in doing. All-in-all, however, these programs were mediocre and unable to complete their tasks, owing to a lack of equipment and thusly, a lack of manpower needed for actual change to be felt. A lack of organization was also cited with after-program reviews, with officers overseeing these projects showing great initiative but having little skill in public works, being thusly ineffectual.

The southern government took this in stride, however, and began an education program for reservist officers, political commissars and select militia leaders in the realm of civil engineering, labor management, etcetera. Running alongside this, a separate program was instituted that offered reward ,to anyone who had skills in these relevant areas, to propose and oversee plans for post-war reconstruction. One of the most prominent of these applicants was Sewati Montilla, a CCF Main Force officer that was educated in Sylva, with an economics degree and some experience in civil projects. Immediately impressing a council of reviewers, Sewati was able to convince them in 1972 that he had a plan to repair Chilicxqua. He was kept from the lines because of this, being deemed too important to see further combat, and was given space to mull over his plan. When independence came in the spring of 1973 and the country celebrated, Sewati proposed his plan to the party, and it was approved nearly immediately.

General Policies

Initial activation of the program saw the minting of new currency, the Chilican Dinero, on which the weight of general payment of workers would be heaved. Other forms of payment to workers came in the form of general food cards, the amount of which that went to each worker depending on his/her needs and the needs of their family. This was especially important to begin as the peripherals of the plan involved also preventing another civil war, as war fervor was still high and the entire country was littered with weapons and leaders made confident and strong from decades of war against the Sylvans. CCF Main Force brigades were immediately downsized, with many becoming Territorial Force units, while others were retrained as police training forces. Local Forces were all disbanded and ordered to turn in their weapons, with the rewards in the form of food cards and dineros given in exchange for weapons on a per unit basis, also rewarding militiamen turning in additional weapons they found in the field or had stashed in arsenals. Leaders in the Main Forces and Local Forces were given offers to 'high importance jobs' that were often as foremen for construction groups or were given the option of going to get trained to do administrative jobs or engineering jobs needed for the program. Other policies instituted from the getgo outlawed the federal requisition of crops directly from farmers, forcing the government to actually purchase the produce of peasants, but further motivating the few still on the farms to continue working.

Important organizations for the program were started in this initial activation aswell. The three most important organizations included the Worker's Work Board for Rebuilding(WWBR), the Proletariat Militia Organization(PMO), and the Worker's Outreach Organization(WOO). All were initially staffed by former revolutionary officers who had seen time on the line and were considered the most fit to lead large, complicated organs for atleast the first phase of the program. The WWBR immediately began recruiting workers from the militias that were being disbanded, giving them offers for a consistent job that would keep their family fed. Working in concert with the Outreach Organization and with alot of motivation coming from the lack of other paying jobs in the country, the estimates of 1974's worker counts ranged from 500,000 to almost 1,000,000 people already in the program. The PMO presented an alternate path for former militia, but was initially more political due to the need for politically motivated law enforcement bodies in villages and towns, critical at such a turbulent time. The PMO would see it's responsibilities, oddly enough, shift onto requisition of equipment for WWBR's use, which prompted some racketeering by less ethical leaders in the organization as they sometimes stole civilian trucks and cars that were still being used to give to the WWBR, incentivized by cash rewards and loose standards for what was considered 'usable'.

"Rejuvenecimiento" | 1973-1982

"Rejuvencimiento" was meant to set the foundation of the entire Revolutionary Recovery Program and set the tempo for the next two planned phases. Being situated at the very beginning of Chilixqua's independence after decades of war, Rejuvencimiento would be the longest lasting phase of the entire program and be mostly focussed on infrastructural improvements that would support the next two phases. Most administrative changes happened within the first two years, 1973 and 1974, to not only set up the groundwork for the program's labors, but also, most importantly to a young nation as Chilicxqua was, to secure the rule of the party in power. Many of the construction projects centered around controlling the waterways and splitting up district farmland through the use of dense networks of canals, dykes to make irrigation reservoirs, and improving pre-war colonial water infrastructure. Other projects included building entire construction industries from scratch, with brick factories, lumber mills, and many other primary industries that were placed in very rural areas, with varying levels of effectiveness to the other phases.

Rejuvencimiento is the most well known phase of the entire plan, as it involved heavy manual labor, due to massive shortages of mechanical tools and vehicles that would've made construction much, much easier. Entire brigades of construction workers under the WWBR would work on canal systems for weeks, maybe even months, using nothing but shovels, picks, and the most basic of machines to do work. Foreign aid at this time came at a trickle, especially during the early years of this first phase, and as a consequence, dozens upon hundreds of work accidents would be covered up or reported on lightly as a result of the strenuous manual labor and tight schedules set by some districts. On the plus side, the lack of appropriate mechanical tooling would actually add to the second and third phases, as various workshops converting trucks and cars into construction equipment would build up a base of experience that would eventually culminate in the very small, yet active tractor/ship production industry modern day Chilicxqua benefits from.