Aliska Géza
Aliska Géza | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Economy of Gylias | |
| In office 2 January 1958 – 26 December 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Darnan Cyras |
| Minister of Finance of Gylias | |
| In office 2 January 1958 – 26 December 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Darnan Cyras |
| Minister of Planning and Development of Gylias | |
| In office 2 January 1958 – 1 February 1962 | |
| Prime Minister | Darnan Cyras |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Gylias | |
| In office 2 January 1958 – 26 December 1975 | |
| Prime Minister | Darnan Cyras |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 June 1926 Melina, Alscia |
| Died | 26 December 1975 (aged 49) Raupen, Salxar, Gylias |
| Political party | Democratic Communist Party |
| Occupation |
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Aliska Géza (17 June 1926 – 26 December 1975) was a Gylian economist and politician. She was Gylias' economy and finance minister in the Darnan Cyras government. She had a fundamental impact on Gylias' post-war economy and its economic boom, and is considered a key figure in the construction of the Gylian consensus.
She began her career in Free Territories politics, serving in the Finance Commission of the General Council. There, she introduced measures to improve coordination of the economy. She joined the Darnan Cyras government in 1958, initially holding the portfolios of economy, finance, and planning, but gave up the latter in 1962 to her protégé Theophania Argyris.
In office, Aliska helped preserve the fundamentals of the Free Territories, and oversaw revolutionary changes to the Gylian economy. These included socialisation and cooperativisation of the economy, decentralised indicative planning, national price controls, and the creation of a vast and effective public sector, encompassing universal health care, public education, and comprehensive social security.
During the National Obligation period, she introduced rationing and relied on unconventional policies to finance rebuilding and protect quality of life. The subsequent 1960s–1970s economic boom was based on successful coordination through the Hermes Programme, light industry and services, and a parallel currency system with the þaler as a common denominator.
Although Gylias' GDP remained behind the Sidurian average, it achieved great advances in quality of life, and inequality and poverty fell drastically. This general prosperity coincided with the Golden Revolution, and is credited by historians with aiding its success.
Aliska was considered one of the most influential people in the Gylian economy. She was one of the cabinet's most popular ministers, recognised for her charismatic personality, refined presentation, and energetic conduct of her duties. Her importance was reflected in her post as Deputy Prime Minister, and she was considered Darnan Cyras' successor.
Her death in a car accident on 26 December 1975 shocked the nation and threw the PA into disarray before the 1976 federal election, and is seen as the start of the wretched decade.
Early life
Aliska Géza was born on 17 June 1926 in Melina, a village near Alscia's western border. She was of Ruvelkan descent. Her parents wished to name her Alice, but could not decide between its Ruvelkan variants, Alíz and Alida. The name "Aliska" came from the notary misinterpreting her parents' discussion, and writing it using the Gylic alphabet rather than Ruvelkan phonology.
Throughout her life, she would be known by the hypocorisms Alis or Lizsi (Gylic transcription: Liji).
Her parents were successful landowners in Melina, growing coffee and cocoa. They provided housing, medical care, and recreation for farm employees, established a community vegetable farm and a dairy with free milk for workers' children. Aliska had a comfortable middle class childhood.
Her politics were shaped early on by her parents' work and support of the Imperial Separatists, as well as Alscia's role as a Gylian radical nexus.
She attended primary and secondary school in Alscia. Her formal education ended when Alscia joined the Free Territories in 1939, and was replaced by volunteer classes. She showed an aptitude for working with numbers from an early age, and decided to study economy. She joked that she spent her adolescence in the Free Territories "unlearning everything I'd unconsciously absorbed in Alscia."
Free Territories
Aliska became involved in the Melina communal assembly aged 16. She was first elected delegate to the General Council in 1948, months before her 22nd birthday.
In the General Council, she concentrated her work on economic policy, and was soon elected to its Finance Commission. Pamela Freeman took note of the young Aliska, and brought her into the Democratic Communist Party. She became part of a circle of young allies cultivated by Darnan Cyras, including fellow future ministers Rin Tōsaka and Sakura Tōsaka, Justina Mendonça Ferreira, Eoni Nalion, and Régine Walras.
Overcoming initial skepticism due to her youth, Aliska made a name for herself as a talented administrator. She eagerly studied unconventional economics, and threw herself into the task of improving the Free Territories' anarchist coordination.
She took the initiative in establishing the zauþar, a scrip system serving as common unit of reference for the Free Territories' diverse monetary and non-monetary systems. She promoted the use of demurrage-based currencies in order to finance reconstruction and provision of services, inspired by Silvio Gesell's freigeld theory and social credit.
She was sometimes criticised by her more anarchist Finance Commission colleagues for more pragmatic approach to policy, and difficulty understanding the functioning of moneyless economic models. One of her lasting preoccupations was proper measurement of economic and social progress, leading to an interest in statistics.
Frustration with the Free Territories' piecemeal price control attempts during the Liberation War convinced her that a degree of nationwide coordination and information-gathering was necessary for their success.
Towards the end of the war, Darnan asked her to join the post-war Executive Committee to handle economic portfolios. She accepted the offer.
Minister of Economy and Finance
Aliska took office with the rest of the Executive Committee on 2 January 1958. She held three posts at first, retroactively renamed "Minister of Economy", "Minister of Finance", and "Minister of Planning and Development" when the Constitution was adopted in 1961. She relinquished the planning post to Theophania Argyris in 1962. In addition, she was named Deputy Prime Minister in 1962, a more symbolic post reflecting her importance to the cabinet.
She inherited a difficult situation. Gylias had been devastated by 20 years of war, was one of the poorest countries in Tyran. However, there were unexpected advantages left by the Free Territories: some reconstruction already ongoing, an effective supply network, a vast system of social services provided by volunteers. Most crucially, the war and its popular front had created a broad consensus behind anarchist policies.
The first years of Aliska's term were dominated by the National Obligation period: reconstruction and reorganisation of the economy amidst great challenges. She used a mixture of coordination, persuasion, conventional mechanisms and experimentation to carry out this task.
Rationing was officially implemented, the zauþar became the Gylian þaler, and a transition to Lange model market socialism took place. The National Prices Board was established to set and adjust prices nationally, and the National Capital Investment Board to direct investment based on social priorities.
To compensate for the degree of financial repression necessary to channel resources into economic development, she relied on complementary currencies, scrips and promissory notes to cover additional spending while the NPB and NBG worked to stabilise the þaler and money supply.
She used deficit spending to cover massive public works programs nationwide, which helped stimulate the economy and build up Gylian infrastructure. Key sectors of the economy were brought into public ownership on the basis of workers' self-management, while the rest of the private sector was cooperativised.
As the federal government's responsibilities were limited by design, Aliska forged close relations with communal assemblies, municipal and regional governments, the GCWUA and NCC in order to get approval for her policies and recommendations. Gylias joined the Common Sphere, which brought not only crucial assistance but also a common market of broadly leftist-oriented governments, making it easier to coordinate economic policies.
Reconstruction and vigorous stimulus measures sustained modest growth rates during the transition. The abolition of rationing in 1961 and maturation of reforms allowed an economic boom to begin. Between 1962 and 1976, the economy grew by an average of 10,61%, one of the highest rates in Siduri.
Average per capita income grew dramatically, inequality and poverty were drastically reduced, and GDP per capita grew from Ŧ700 (1958) to Ŧ3.248 (1976). One crucial component of the boom was the Hermes Programme, conceptualised and overseen by Aliska's protégé and successor as planning minister, Theophania Argyris.
Aliska believed in the ideal of a cooperative, self-managed economy. She was suspicious of heavy industry and concentrated on light industry and consumer goods, a stance that resonated with demopolitan, appropriate technology, and environmentalist movements. She pushed for the Bureau of Statistics and Accounting to develop more appropriate macroeconomic indicators, to account for distribution of income and collective happiness and well-being.
Within the Lange model framework, she was eclectic in her policies and willing to experiment. She saw her role as creating a basic framework that would guarantee equal quality of life and access to services, while leaving communities, municipalities, and regions to experiment and refine policies best suited to them.
The resulting system allowed for the coexistence of multiple models, and made community markets and merchants a notable component of distribution. In a nod to her Ruvelkan roots, she quipped that her approach was "goulash socialism", referring to goulash being made with an assortment of unlike ingredients.
Aliska's budgets were strongly progressive, maintaining high levels of social spending. She used taxation to redistribute income, reduce inequalities, and prevent accumulation of wealth. She favoured direct taxes as more transparent, and relied particularly on income tax, whose highest bracket reached 95%. The cooperativisation and great compression of income and wealth engineered by her policies created a climate of general prosperity that contributed to enthusiasm for Golden Revolution, and fostered the ideal of socialised luxury throughout society.
Public image
Aliska was one of the cabinet's most popular and high-profile ministers. She had a talent for working with numbers and a prodigious memory. She always carried her famous "black notebook", in which she kept her notes and observations, and it was said that the entire Gylian economy was supervised from it.
She made her annual federal budget speech, delivered in Parliament on 1 March and televised by GTV, a popular event through her ability to quote figures from memory and explain policy in accessible language.
She was possessed of a faculty for working quickly, and was an energetic minister, capable of working long hours, much of which was spent coordinating and negotiating with communal assemblies, local governments, and the GCWUA and NCC. In her free time, she enjoyed reading and cycling. She travelled extensively both for work and leisure, and enjoyed campaigning and meeting with members of the public.
Under the influence of colleagues like the ferroses, Rin Tōsaka, and Neelie op het Mensink, Aliska developed an elegant personality and an image to match. She wore Levystile clothes in public, becoming a famous symbol of combining political radicalism and sophisticated presentation.
She was recognised for her "Aliska suit", a blue skirt suit with white or golden collar, often accessorised with hats, jewellery and long gloves. Her enjoyment of fake fur clothing earned her light-hearted chiding from agriculture minister Sesi Liol for "setting a bad example".
Aliska's popularity was closer to a film star than a politician, and her glamour drew a contrast with Darnan's avoidance of charisma and conventional leadership. She gave many interviews, wrote articles on economics, and used any platform to promote and explain her economic policies, even seemingly soft media ones such as breakfast television and lifestyle magazines.
Weekly cabinet meetings gave her full opportunity to play the part of charming hostess, at which she excelled. She was something of a salonnière in her spare time, enjoying bringing together artists, intellectuals, and hétaïres for meetings at her home in Mişeyáke.
Although their policies and approaches were very different, she acknowledged in interviews her admiration of Alscian finance minister Letizia Silvestri, and saw her as a model for a finance minister's conduct: possessed of unassailable integrity, moral purpose, and forthright about policies.
Aliska was a strong supporter of the Common Sphere, and was close friends with Gina Campanelli, Chair of its Economic Commission. The refined Gina, with her equally passionate commitment to indicative planning, dirigisme, and comprehensive social security, became another inspiration for Aliska in office.
Together, Gina and finance ministers Aliska, Ayane Satō and [Dennis] formed a tetrarchy of the most influential figures in Common Sphere economics, with broadly similar goals despite different approaches. Aliska befriended fellow ministers Ayane and [Dennis], and notably enjoyed the company of the Delkoran finance minister. The taller [Dennis] towered over the shorter Aliska when they were together, amusing them both. They would engage in light-hearted teasing while together, and would try to crack each other up when official photographs were taken at Common Sphere summits.
Within the cabinet, Aliska was representative of "the lucky group" — younger ministers who had not endured harsh upbringings in Xevden or suffered during the Liberation War. Several of her colleagues joked that Aliska, Rin, Eðe Saima, and Julie Legrand formed a cartel that shaped cabinet meetings and agenda, acknowledging their vital contribution and high esteem among the cabinet. Certainly, Aliska, Eðe, and Julie were indispensable to the workings of government, due to their ministerial influence over public spending, public works, and coordinating the public sector.
Final years and death
Aliska was widely considered Darnan's successor, a fact reflected in her appointment as Deputy Prime Minister. At the DCP's 1974 congress, Darnan stepped down as General Secretary, and Aliska was elected with little opposition. Over the next two years, she consolidated her profile as "Prime Minister in waiting", undertaking several foreign visits that built anticipation.
As General Secretary, she agreed with Jessica Freeman's complaints of "revolutionary complacency", and made plans to use her first term as Prime Minister to bring new blood into the cabinet, and prepare the smooth retirement of towering figures such as Tōsaka sisters, Erika Ďileş, and Eðe and Julie, among others.
During the Parliament's winter recess, Aliska visited a deputy from Salxar. The two spent time skiing together in the Salxar mountains, and she accepted an offer to be driven back to Şet to take a train back to Mişeyáke.
While driving back to Şet, they were caught in a sudden thunderstorm on 26 December 1975, and their car fell into a steep ravine near Raupen. She died on impact, while her colleague was severely injured, but managed to reach Raupen to call for help.
Aliska's death, a week before the 1976 federal election, shocked the public and threw the election into disarray. With many of her grief-stricken colleagues unwilling to step into the role, the Progressive Alliance found itself demoralised and leaderless. In the end, the PA finished joint first with the formerly marginalised Revolutionary Rally. Her death is commonly seen as marking the end of the Golden Revolution and the start of the wretched decade.
Legacy
Aliska remains an iconic figure of the Golden Revolution, and remains respected for her achievements as finance minister. She is credited with playing a significant role in solidifying the Gylian consensus, mainly in its economic aspects.
She was a significant contributor to Gylian political culture, as one of several cabinet ministers renowned for their combination of policy accomplishments and elegant appearance. She became a style icon, notably influential on the georgettes.
Aliska has been often referenced in Gylian pop culture, her personality being homaged in various fictional characters, and her speeches being sampled by musical artists. She famously took part in Project Nous, and posed for photographs and portraits by leading Gauchic artists, including Annemarie Beaulieu and Vivian Meyer.
Her death gave her a reputation as "the Prime Minister who never was", in Ŋéida Vaşad's words, and thus she often appears in Gylian alternate history and counterfactual history works, which speculate on how she would have fared as Prime Minister and its possible effect on Gylian politics.
Her childhood home in Melina is now a museum dedicated to her life and career, exhibiting numerous documents, photographs, films, and artifacts from her career, including her "black notebook" and a collection of her "Aliska suits".
Private life
Aliska identified as pansexual, and she was married with two children. Notably, she once had a one-night stand with erotic novelist Anaïs Nin.
She was mainly a practitioner of Concordianism. She was fluent in several languages, including Italian, French, German, and English, but expressed regret in life that her Ruvelkan was poorer than her Zineran, which she used more as a native language.