Leopoldism

Holder of the Bundespräsidium Leopold IV

Leopoldism (Weranian: Leopoldismus) was a political doctrine in Werania articulated by the monarch Leopold IV following the Great War. Its supporters were called Leopoldists and became influential in the Weranian government from the early 1930's to Leopold IV's death in 1936.

During the war Leopold IV increasingly began to set forth plans for a radical restructuring of the Weranian nation when the war was over, seeing the pre-war political class as corrupt, lacking foresight and putting their interests before the nation. Leopold IV advocated an essentially non-partisan system of democracy based on a stronger role for the monarch, a more advisory legislature, a shift away from federalism in favour of greater centralisation and the more frequent use of plebiscites in determining national policy. Leopold IV also endorsed making colonial territories integral parts of the Weranian state and pursuing an economic policy based around dirigisme.

In 1932 Otto Röttgen, considered to be within Leopoldist circles, was appointed Chancellor in the so-called "Leopoldist cabinet". The Leopoldists reached the height of their power following the end of the Great War when Leopold IV started to implement his political programme, particularly in administrative and economic spheres. A highly unpopular centralisation law and the imposition of Weranicisation in Ruttland led to Leopold IV to be assassinated by a Ruttish nationalist, Zigmas Bobelis, on the 17 September 1936. Leopoldism quickly fell out of favour after his son and successor Maximilian III did little to implement his father's vision. Historian Martin Werner stated that Leopoldism was the "last attempt by a Weranian monarch to impose their own coherent political programme".

History

Origins

Leopold IV became the monarch of Werania - the Holder of the Bundespräsidium - in 1913 during a period of political turmoil in Werania. Chancellor Lothar von Kuehnelt had expanded the suffrage and amended the voting system which meant that Weranian parliaments (previously dominated by a two-party system) became increasingly fragmented. Leopold IV in contrast to his father envisioned himself to govern as a more constitutional monarch on the Estmerish model (Leopold IV being a greater admirer of Estmerish culture) and so allowed the Bundestag to determine the government and chancellor rather then the monarchy. However the advent of the Great Collapse shortly after his assumption of office led to the political scene to devolve into greater instability and extremism. As parties deemed to be extremist gained ground in successive elections (Weranic Section of the Workers' International, National Völkisch Movement, Weranic Syndicalist Union, National Resurrection Party) governments increasingly became centrist coalitions that spanned from centre-left social democrats to right-wing conservatives.

These coalitions requiered constant compromises in order to retain power leading to governance to become slow and resistant to change. In the face of the economic instability emanating from the economic crash and the rise of functionalist Gaullica this frustrated Leopold IV and his advisers who wanted decisive action from politicians to deal with the country's problems. In a letter to his wife Princess Sophia of Estmere in 1925 Leopold wrote

But how I despise of our current political situation. The deputies endlessly argue and debate about the most banal of topics whilst forces against the state - both outside and within - threaten our very existence. The men who run this country are either venal as is the case of von Ratzinger, delusional as is the case of the entire socialist delegation in the Bundestag, or utterly hopeless as Chancellor Reinhold [von Schönborn-Herz] is. Ah, but only if I had my fathers' brilliance to order these politicians into line! It is nothing short of a tragedy that the Weranian nation is to be governed by them.

— Leopold IV

During the Great War Leopold IV became hugely popular due to his frequent radio speeches calling for the continuation of the war as well as occasionally visiting and leading troops on the front. Several politicians attempted to persuade Leopold IV to create a royal dictatorship but he refrained from doing so citing that the constitutionality of the state was paramount.

However Leopold IV during the war did centralise power in the war council, empowering the executive and the military staff at the expense of the Volkstag. He also exercised his discretion in appointing Chancellors rather then listening to the will of the Volkstag. This was justified on the grounds that it was to support the war effort but was the start of increasing measures by Leopold IV to de-legitimise the role of political parties in Weranian public life.

Application

Otto Röttgen led the so-called "Leopoldist cabinet" from 1932 to 1937.

During the Great War Leopold IV surrounded himself with a small coterie of advisers on the future direction of the Weranian state. These included politicians, economists and intellectuals that shared his instinct for a new society to emerge in a post-war Werania. This informal group came from a wide variety of political backgrounds - although a majority came from conservative or Sotirian backgrounds some were national liberals or even socialists. This group was sometimes named as the "camarilla" due to its enormous influence over the monarch.

The group lacked a common political programme or apparatus. Many of its members - such as philosophers Dietrich Olbrich and Cäsar Rabe, bishop Lutz Rupert von Brauweiler or former chief of staff Kurt Weckersdorf - distrusted political parties as self-serving entities that needed to be eliminated from Weranian public life. Leopold IV himself never outlined a clear description of his full views, instead preferring to adopt the points of his advisers at any given point. Nevertheless, it was clear from the offset that Leopold favoured the works of Olbrich and Rabe, the pair of whom would become known as the "crown princes of Leopoldism".

Leopold himself presented his political plans for the nation as being neither left nor right. In a speech in May 1932 Leopold stated that following the war he would pledge to ensure that a government would be formed that governed "beyond left or right...not merely in the centre, but one that rejects both class struggle and race-based politics and places only the welfare of the people and nation at its priority, not ideology or factionalism".

In June 1932 the government of Gustav Kroetz resigned after military failures on the front had undermined confidence in Kroetz's administration. Leopold ensured that rather then the Bundestag appointed a replacement he would ensure a more acceptable candidate would be appointed in Kroetz's stead. Leopold was able to successfully ensure that Otto Röttgen was able to replace Kroetz as Chancellor. Although Röttgen was a member of the Catholic Social Party he was considered to be somewhat of a maverick, having often advocated policies such as social reform and a hawkish foreign policy that went against his peers. Röttgen was however given credit for his perceived prescience regarding war with Gaullica and so was easily elected Chancellor by the Bundestag. More importantly for Leopold however was that Röttgen was one of his closest allies and a staunch support of the monarch, whilst being particularly approving of Olbrich's writings regarding the governance of postwar Werania.

Röttgen was able to secure near total power in the appointment of his cabinet. As such he brought in ministers from outside the political elite. Some of the more notable of these included the former leader of the Soldaten des Reichsbanners (a conservative paramilitary group) Julius Steinhäusser as Minister of the Interior, media magnate Josef Eckhardt as Minister of Information and Public Enlightenment and former socialist Karsten Gerstacker as Minister of Munitions. This cabinet was seen as sympathetic to the intellectual movement that had emerged around the monarchy and as such was termed the "Leopoldist cabinet" by outside sources.

From 1933 Werania began a large series of military offensives (Operation Dove and Operation Hawk) which led to a rout of Gaullican forces in northern Euclea and the liberation of Alsland and Estmere. With victory being seen as highly likely the government of Röttgen began closely consulting the monarchy and the chief of staff Karl von Straußenburg on the future of postwar Euclea, which also implicitly regarded the future of Werania itself. Leopold envisioned that the defeat of functionalism would discredit the "banal politics of race forever" but that also the failure of parliamentary politics meant that that would be "inevitably abolished" over due course. Leopold envisioned that the post-war world would be split between republican liberalism, council communism and what he termed ordered constitutionalism, which he saw Werania as striving towards. In this, Leopold saw the maintenance of a balance of power preferable following the Great War to allow Werania to possess a "comfortable sphere of influence in northern Euclea" whilst undermining the influence of Soravia, Kirenia and Estmere. For the latter, the Leopoldists concurred with the Weranian military in a preference for a non-partisan regime under Wolfgar Godfredson and discouraged the return of parliamentary politics in Fighting Estmere.

Ferdinand Bader and Bastian Fritz drafted the Bader-Fritz Plan which emphasised economic dirigisme.

The increasing success of Weranian forces during the war led to the Leopoldists to reinvigorate their efforts to remodel the Weranian state. During the war the government had encouraged the growth of massive industrial conglomerates that were made up of a large amount of diversified affiliates and controlled by an owner or family with a vertically organised management structure. These were named großkombinats and had been formed to streamline production for munitions and other vital goods.

Leopold on the advice on economists within his inner circle approved of the großkombinats to be used to spur economic growth following the war and commissioned the Minister of Finance Ferdinand Bader and a civil servant Bastian Fritz to formulate a plan that would serve as the basis of Werania's economic reconstruction following the Great War. They produced the "Bader-Fritz" plan which called for a short period of rapid economic deregulation following the war mainly in the form of devaluing the Reichsmark and abolishing price controls followed by a period of state intervention where the government in concert with the großkombinats would use indicative planning to direct economic reconstruction. Although opposed by liberals and socialists the Bader-Fritz plan was adopted by the Röttgen government as the basis for post-war economic growth. Partial nationalisation mainly of key infrastructure was also endorsed.

The end of the Great War saw the zenith of the Leopoldists power. The Röttgen government was able to successfully acquire colonies from the defeated Gaullican Empire (albeit under the oversight of the Community of Nations) and sought to work in integrating them into the Empire. Another key aspect of the Leopoldist project was to solve growing anti-colonial sentiment by encouraging Weranian settlement to the colonies then after a significant portion of the population was Weranian integrating these under the direction of the metropole. Leopold cared less about colonies with a minimal ethnic Weranian influence such as Kuthina and Siamat, which he was more content to continue to be governed by local rulers who as long as they pledged loyalty to the empire could be allowed to govern in peace.

Following the war Röttgen's cabinet was kept in place, with Röttgen leading the government to a comfortable victory in the 1935 election. The Röttgen cabinet immediately began plans to implement the Leopoldist agenda. This started with the enactment of the Bader-Fritz Plan as well as measures to encourage colonial migration. However the real aim of the Leopoldists was to ensure that a centralisation of power around the monarchy would be implemented as quickly as possible, and that once that was achieved an increasing marginalisation of legislature and the eventual abolition of political parties would be feasible.

Demise

The Leopoldist programme was intensely opposed by many powerful interests. Socialists were most opposed to what they saw as a regression into monarchist absolutism; whilst Leopold often indicated support for workers' rights, he did so with the caveat that with a strong state protecting the workers' trade unions would no longer be needed and should be abolished, which heightened fears of an alliance between the throne and capital to undermine the socialist movement. Whilst some social democrats lent support to the Leopoldists the mainline syndicalist and communist elements of the Weranian left vigorously opposed Leopoldist measures. They were joined by the anti-clerical radicals, who distrusted the understanding developed between the church and the monarchy and the Leopoldists open distaste for democracy whilst reinforcing their own republican leanings. The right-wing National Liberals opposed the economic dirigisme of Fritz and Bader whilst also stressing parliamentary rule. The right meanwhile, particularly the conservatives, saw Leopold's support for social reform and direct democracy as a threat to the landed aristocracy whilst more extreme elements bemoaned the lack of focus on race.

Zigmas Bobelis being captured following the assassination of Leopold IV.

Ideology

Dietrich Olbrich and Cäsar Rabe were the two most prominent thinkers behind Leopoldism.

One of the most prominent Leopoldists was the philosopher Dietrich Olbrich. Olbrich had acquired some note due to his anti-positivist political philosophy and coining of instrumentality and value-rationalism but soon came to promote a strong civic state based around Leopold IV coached both in rationalism and nationalism over political expediency. Alongside other Leopoldists Olbrich was most prominent in articulating Leopold IV's political inclinations into a coherent political programme that would favour a authoritarian, centralised state based on a charismatic authority, popular support over elitist oligarchy and rationalism over reactionary conservatism. In this Olbrich emphasised the synthesis between both the liberal rationalism of Werania's first monarch, Rudolf VI, and of the authoritarian conservatism of Leopold IV's father Adalbert which according to Olbrich more broadly reflected the twin forces of civic and romantic nationalism that drove Weranian Unification and as such the very basis of the Weranian nation.

Olbrich's theories were paired with the ideas of the popular writer and former socialist theoretician Cäsar Rabe. Following the failure of the 1918-1922 popular front government Rabe had moved to the right, disgusted with political parties which he saw as promoting their own interests rather than supporting the state and the people. Rabe called for the end of the parliamentary system and instead supporting a system based around plebiscites and strong executive rule. Rabe was crucial in persuading Leopold IV to advocate replacing representative democracy, which he saw as inevitably corrupt, with direct democracy that could be tempered with monarchical oversight. Rabe saw this as a more effective method of ensuring social reforms that would be accepted by the entire population rather then one that would be split across class lines.