Social Republicanism

Social Republicanism was originally a Florencian nationalist ideology that supported the creation and development of a left-orientated federal republic through progressive revolutionary means. The ideology represents a fusion of civic nationalism, workers democracy, and democratic socialist economics within the structure of a liberal republic. It supports political pluralism and individualism, rejecting such concepts as a vanguard party or heavy handed confiscatory policies in regards to private property.

A social republican state seeks the enlightenment of the existing culture and traditions within a free and democratic society. The main organization of this society and smallest organ of government is the local workers', peasents', and citizens' council. The popularly elected national legislature is answerable to the workers' council, while the executive and judicial branches should remain separate, distinct, and democratic. Social republicans promote non-authoritarian socialist economics within the framework of the liberal republic as a means to develop a society that is equal and united.

As of 2020 the Union of Florencian Social Republics is the only nation that claims to be subscribe to social republicanism, which is enshrined into the 1919 Constitution as the official ideology. Though during its earlier inception the UFSR prevented criticism of it's ideology during the violent period of the Scarlet Terror, since the early 1930's free speech has been protected. Though persistent critics of the Florencian Union and perceived reactionary movements can receive harsh government scrutiny and social criticism.

History

Social Republicanism is the brainchild of Lukas Cencius and Juilo Max. The pair published a series of pamphlets and newspaper articles critical of the harsh methods employed by the Velorénsian Empire in subjugating the citizens of the former Shinjin Republic following the War of Unification. These articles expressed Pan-Florencian views and criticized the Empire for slaughtering "fellow Velorénsian brothers and sisters". The publication of these views would result in the exile of both Cencius and Max Up North in 1872. It'd be during their time in exile that the pair would grow further disillusioned with the Empire upon interacting with other radicals, republicans, and intelligentsia that had been analytic or condemning of the regime.

Exchanging views with banished radical abolitionist republicans from Shinjin such as Jan Jae-bong both Cencius and Max would adopt republican and further their Pan-Florencian views. These viewpoints would be articulated in their join political treatise of 1878, For a Florencian Republic, bringing more attention to the growing republican movement in the Empire and themselves. The type of government advocated in For a Florencian Republic would be much closer to the type of republican governments present in Aurora or Zhenia today, then what the Florencian Union would become. However Cencius and Max stressed the importance that the "Florencian identity is neither Achysian nor Zhenia. Neither Vayonist nor Wuist. The Florencian identity ought be all the great peoples bonded over the ideals of liberty...then can can the Florencian people only be truly free from government tyranny."

For a Florencian Republican would land both Cencius and Max in the cross hairs of the Imperial Government, for it was considered both rebellious and treasonous. The Emperor and Autocrat issued a decree they both be arrested and promptly hung, prompting the pair to flee. Max would be killed after a shootout with police on February 4th of 1879. Cencius would famously go into hiding with migrant Lyudic peasants within the interior of the Empire, assuming a false identity. The death of his close compatriot Max and having been reduced to the near serf conditions experienced by the Lyudic peasants would push some of Cencius's views to the left. Divesting into Mutalist and more radical left literature, along with speaking to other exiled or hiding intelligentsia Cencius would articulate and lay the foundation for what would become social republicanism.

On July 5th of 1886 Cencius published Commonwealth and Liberty under the pseudonym Ot redaktsii. The ideas espoused in Commonwealth and Liberty were that the future of the Florencian peoples lay in a republic that would provide for the commonwealth and liberty of the people through an economic structure that will uplift them from serfdom and autocracy. The Florencian toiling class is the mover of history and the material economic conditions of life belong to them, and only them". Furthermore Cencius elaborated that ... a democratic republic can only truly be democratic and free if both the political arena and economic arena are modeled according to the needs of the people. A government should be responsible to and run by the people. In that same way so should the enterprise. However he strayed from the more collective works typical of such left-wing revolutionary talk: "The Florencian people are a patch work of many different unique individuals...and it is the individual's interaction with economy and government that is the smallest organ of governance. This must be protected."

Translated copies of his work would soon be published in Zhenian, Lyudic, and several native languages. Years after Cencius's passing in 1893 from cancer, Commonwealth and Liberty would form the ideological basis for multiple radicalizing parties and groups forming within the empire that sought change or revolution.

The Social Democratic-Republican Labor Party was created in 1898 by Markus Chingo. The party would later adopt the title of the Social Republican League (SRL) and formalize the tenants espoused by Cencius and Max onto it's platform, which it declared to be social republicanism. The disastrous performance of the Empire in the First World War alongside the Great Florencian Blight of 1918 would result in the popular revolution that overthrew the Old Regime and the subsequent provisional republic. The Social Republican League and the similarly ideological agrarian Social Revolutionary parties would form the majority of the government. The Constitution crafted by the provisional government and voted on by referendum would create the Union of Florencian Republics. Thus on November 2nd of 1919, Florencia became the world's first social republican nation.

Definition

Lukas Cencius and Markus Chingo are considered the founders of the ideology, and Cencius it's most notable and influential contributor. Once the Florencian Republics was founded there were other contributors to the development of the ideology into the modern era, but Cencius remains the face of the movement. He cast the republican and Pan-Florencian sentiments of intelligentsia movements in the Empire of the 1870's and '80's into a secular and more revolutionary philosophy. The core basis of social republicanism is Florencian nationalism and workers' self management within a liberal republic. Cencius believed that a popular expression of the people would eventually bring about change, and his works would become the basis of constitution penned by the provisional government in 1918-19.

It's a uniquely Florencian-centric left wing development. Chingo, the founder of the Social Republican League and whose responsible for the infusion of workers' councils into the ideology would declare it "Florencian history and spirit against autocratic and corporate reaction".

Concepts

Florencian Nation

Cencius disagreed with other Pan-Florencians of his time on what constituted the Florencian nation. Contemporaries such as Pearon Ryswi argued that the Elyrian language and Vayonism could be a uniting factor the many different cultures and ethnic groups that made up the then Velorénsian Empire. Cencius and Max both believed that a fair, secular, and federal republican government could unite the "many disparate groups of the empire who are also further united in one thing. Dislike for the current inept autocratic regime". Later after his radicalization Cencius went further. It was his belief that the multiple ethnic groups that constitute the imperial realm could be united in a federal structure that promoted "...fraternal brotherhood and labor alongside the ideals of freedom and liberty".

The Scarlet Terror of the 1920's would manage to hold together the patchwork peoples of the Florencian Republics and quash reactionary or separatist forces. The Empire's decline, increased authoritarianism, and the literal loss of sanity by the last Autocrat ensured the Old Regime would be discredited. The issue the Union found would be managing to hold the people together. Considering the spontaneity the Great Revolution of 1919 and the relatively bloodless democratic transition from provisional government to Union of Florencian Republics, the new regime did at the very least originally have popular support.

During theFirst Cultural Renaissance of the 1930's the Union government would take great strides to promote miscegenation among it's populace. This policy would be considered well into the 1950's after the Second Great War, when by then more than 20 percent of the population was considered mixed race. The ideals of the revolution united the Florencian people, and perhaps as equally important, so did blood. Some constituent republics initially resisted these programs, but the war brought about a revival of nationalism that ultimately lead to all twelve republics supporting them.

Language would and to some extent continue to be the big dividing factor. The Elyrian and Zhenian languages equally constituted most spoken tongues in the UFR. Lyudic and several native languages each having around 15% of the population being able to speak them. Though the Union government declares no official language (though most constituent republics do), the de facto working language is Lyudic. Heavy promotion and educational programs by federal and republican authorities since the First Cultural Renaissance has brought Lyudic to most every school class-room since the 1940's. Today roughly 74% of the population can understand the language.

Reactionary Classes

According to Cencius the reactionary classes that opposed the Florencian people were both the supporters of the Imperial status quo and regional separatists. Proper change and unity among the Florencian people "would only be capable through a spontaneous example of solidarity" and bring about "success of the progressive revolution". The aristocracy and the supporters of the Emperor were direct enemies of the Florencian people in the sense that they would continue to seek the oppression or subservience of the individual and the masses. And ethnic or religious separatists were as equally dangerous because "If the whole of the Florencian nation is not united then the resource constraints would strangle a progressive revolution in it's cradle".

Though the Old Regime was swept under the rug relatively easily during the Great Revolution, the Florencian Republics would initiate the Scarlet Terror to combat more than a dozen secessionist movements. By 1923 combat moved from violent suppression to a low level insurgency. By 1927 organized separatist movements had all but ceased to exist.

Councilism

Markus Chingo is responsible for synthesizing the idea of workers' councils into the ideology following his creation of the Social Republican League in 1898. Chingo supported the concept of a republic organized along the lines of three branches of government. However he believed that there would still exist a separation between the public and the government, even with political democracy and socialist economics. Chingo believed that the workers' and peasents' council to be the smallest and most democratic expression of governance. In that way municipalities and counties of every constituent republic would be lead by a popularly elected government. These local delegates can and should change often and can be instantly revoked should they lose the confidence of their constituents. Most every constituent republican government is composed of delegates chosen from these local councils. In that way social republicans consider that a greater voice, right, and responsibility is given to the people.

Individualism

Both Cencius and Max from their interactions with exiled intelligentsia from the Shinjin Republic were aware of the possibility the ideal Florencian state they had begun to describe could be corrupted. Independent Shinjin wasn't perfect and continued to practice slavery up until the War of Unification. Though it's republican government provided a building block for them to develop their views off of, they remained cognoscente of the fact tyranny was equally as possible in a republic as in an autocracy. Cencius would continually stress in both For a Florencian Republic and Commonwealth and Liberty that "it is from the people which the government is derived power and it is the people who should have all the power...a democratic and fair government should uplift both the individual and the masses".

It is for this reason and the concerns of the provisional government that an extensive bill of rights was listed to ensure the rights and liberties of the people were enshrined in the constitution. And it is for that reason that the idea of an armed populace and the responsibility to bear arms is considered sacrosanct in the Florencian Republics. Not only to deter foreign invasion but, if necessary and proper, defend the values and ideals of the revolution and social republicanism against government tyranny. Other rights stressed in the constitution are those of the fair labor, healthcare, privacy, assembly, and respect of worship.

Socialism

Both Lukas Cencius and Markus Chingo after him believed that democratic socialism would be the only way the Florencian people could be properly elevated into a new age of enlightenment, freedom, and unity. Though they both didn't necessarily clarify what this meant in detail. As the Florencian Republics have developed and progressed they're socialist economy has changed and adapted over the years to meet the needs of the people. However since the conclusion of the Second World War the Union has been organized as market socialist economy. Most important heavy industries, the commanding heights of the economy, are nationalized as state owned enterprises. Light industry cooperatives and even small scale capitalist businesses are permitted and encouraged as well. The one constant in the socialist economy of the Florencian Republicans has been the practice of workers' self management. The federal government alongside the titular republican governments have been steadfast in protecting and ensuring the rights of the workers to organize, unionize, and elect delegates to their councils and most often their managers in the work place.

Controversy

There is no controversy. It is the perfect ideology. Ba'athism with more steps. Give me Lions.