Miersan Section of the Workers' International
Miersan Section of the Workers' International Mierska Sekcja Międzynarodówki Robotniczej | |
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| Abbreviation | MSMR |
| Founded | February 2, 1901 |
| Dissolved | October 21, 1967 |
| Succeeded by | MSMR-C |
| Newspaper | Dźwięk Socjalizmu (the Sound of Socialism) |
| Youth wing | SiCR |
| Trade union wing | KMZZ |
| Membership (1967) | 3.4 million |
| Ideology | Council socialism Socialism with Miersan characteristics Personal national autonomy |
| Political position | Left-wing to far-left |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan | "Przerwij Łańcuchy!" "Break the Chains!" |
| Anthem | La Sobrosienne "The Zobrodzian"  |
The Miersan Section of the Workers' International (Miersan: Mierska Sekcja Międzynarodówki Robotniczej), also known by the abbreviation MSMR, was a council socialist political party in Miersa that existed from 1901 to 1967. It officially espoused council socialism, socialism with Miersan characteristics and personal national autonomy; prior to 1936 it had also advocated for Miersan independence, and could be considered Miersan nationalist.
Founded in 1901 by Miersan émigrés attending the first congress of the Workers' International, the MSMR emerged as one of the primary forces for independence in occupied Miersa. Due to the rise of the working class in industrial cities like Dyńsk and Ryża, the MSMSR was most influential in the Gaullican-occupied east, but it also organised in the Soravian-occupied west. Prior to the Great War, the party focused on organising the growing Miersan trade union movement and radicalising the Miersan working class with the aim of achieving independence through a revolutionary general strike.
The party was heavily repressed by the functionalist regime under Rafael Duclerque, but re-emerged in the later stages of the war, organising workers' militias to fight the Gaullicans. These were met by the advancing Soravian army with mixed reactions. After the war, the party was instrumental - alongside the KMZZ - in organising the 1936 general strike, and it was a key party privy to the ratification of the Gofredson Plan, being instrumental in the foundation of the Miersan Socialist Republic. From the foundation of the republic until its dissolution in 1967, it was the leading party in the country, effectively operating a one-party state via its control over the vetting of candidates in the country's council democracy, despite a nominal commitment to council socialism.
The party promised to end the vetting of candidates when the threat of a Western invasion had been prevented, but this and other aspects of party control were called into question following economic mismanagement, and the party lost power in the country following the Rose Revolution, in which reformist elements within the MSMR and the country at large peacefully secured control over the party apparatus. The party was officially dissolved in 1967, at the 66th annual party conference, and the East Miersan constitution was amended to ban all political parties from the the political process.
History
Foundation
The Miersan Section of the Workers' International was founded on the 2nd of February 1901, alongside other Sections such as the Gaullican and the Weranic Sections, to act as the primary communist party in Miersa affiliated to the Workers' International. Miersan émigrés were incredibly influential in the foundation of the party, but the formation was controversial; the Gaullican Section, the SGIO, believed that Gaullican-occupied eastern Miersa should be represented by the SGIO itself. The Soravian Section had similar feelings about the Soravian-occupied west. Nevertheless, the SGIO eventually acquisied, and a separate Miersan Section was formed; though the two parties would share fraught relations.
Activity in occupied Miersa
The MSMR was most active in the Gaullican-occupied east of the country, and the industrial cities of Dyńsk and Ryża soon became strongholds for the party, alongside the industrial coal-mining region known as the Czarny Kraj. The party focused on organising the growing Miersan trade union movement, and worked closely with the Congress of Miersan Trade Unions to this end.
Though the party primarily focused on industrial organisation through trade unions, and officially advocated a general strike to achieve a socialist revolution, the party organised itself to take part in parliamentary elections on both sides of the border. It had little to no success to this end in the Soravian-occupied west - where conservative nationalists and religious elements had more success - but in the Gaullican-occupied east it continually secured representation in the Senate of the Gaullican Empire. The Gaullican government unofficially worked to hinder its operations, such as by gerrymandering Senate constituencies in Miersan-majority areas.
Repression and wartime activities
When Rafael Duclerque and his Parti Populaire came to power in Gaullica in 1919, one of the first acts of their functionalist regime was to move to repress the MSMR. The Miersan Section was proscribed alongside the SGIO, and as such was banned from contesting elections, had its delegates to the Senate imprisoned, and was banned from organising. The organisation as a whole was also declared to be a terrorist organisation. Throughout this period, the Miersan Section was heavily repressed by the Duclerque regime, and organised largely underground.
main wartime bit
In the later stages of the war, when the tide had turned against the Entente, the MSMR re-emerged from hiding. Its organisation of the resistance came to fruition, as the party began to assemble workers' militias to help liberate Miersa from Gaullican functionalist rule. The results of this was mixed; MSMR resistance cells in Dyńsk were essentially obliterated by the Gaullicans after they entered open resurrection, whereas in the north of the country the MSMR militias were able to link up with advancing Kirenian forces to achieve more success. Miersan militias which encountered the advancing Soravian army from the west were met with mixed reactions, with the Soravian army on some occasions treating the militias as hostile forces, and other times as begrudging allies, depending on the overall strategic situation.