Netaji Thought
Netaji Thought | |
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| Founder | Arjuna Kalsarah |
| Ideology | Ajahadyan nationalism Cultural nationalism Socialism Collectivism Militarism Trade unionism |
Netaji Thought, or Netajism, more rarely called Kalsarahism is an Ajahadyan political philosophy inspired by Sattarism, Imaharism, National Principlism, Tretyakism and the personal ideology of Arjuna Kalsarah, known by his honorific Netaji. Netaji Thought was created as an ideology 'to guide Satria forwards' by synthesising other post-colonial, socialist and anti-colonial ideolgies to create a 'path for Satria'. It was developed by Arjuna Kalsarah during the 1950s and 1960s through his writings, personal correspondence and speeches, and after his death in 1966 was largely adopted by the left-wing faction of the Satrian Republic in the early 1970s and was implemented in Ajahadya in the late 1970s..
Netaji Thought revolves around the concept of the 'worker-soldier', the Kāmadāra Sainika (lit. 'working soldier'). Inspired by Tretyakist ideas, Netaji Thought instead called for a total mobilization of the working class to take up arms against 'reactionary and capitalist forces'; there was no distinction made between a worker and a soldier in Netaji Thought. Netaji Thought states that the nation must be 'formed from the worker-soldiers, run by the worker-soldiers, and run for the worker-soldiers' and that only through this primacy could the survival of a socialist state be assured.
History
Socialist Survival Theory
Netaji Thought was largely an ideological prescription on what Kalsarah termed 'Socialist Survival Theory'; the conditions under which a socialist revolution, once successful, would continue to survive and avoid reactionary and capitalist forces crushing the new state.
Looking to history, Kalsarah identified three crucial factors, any one of which would ensure the survival of a socialist state;
- Pre-existing rivalries among capitalist and reactionary states. Kalsarah held that in the case of Kirenia, rivalries among the great powers of Euclea precluded the formation of a coalition to crush the new state, as any state that did so alone would be weakening its own position against its rivals, and the lack of trust created by the anarchic multi-polar system prevented coalition formation.
- A lack of threat posed to the interests of capitalist powers. Pointing to the Brown Sea states of Dezevau and Lavana, Kalsarah identified their survival was primarily due to their relative geographic isolation from powerful capitalist and reactionary states and their spheres of influence.
- A strong and robust military force capable of causing grevious harm in the defence of the socialist state. Kalsarah attributed Chistovodia's survival to its willingness to arm the population and build a strong military as deterrence against the reactionaries and capitalists.
Of these three means of survival, Kalsarah said that as the former two relied on 'luck of history and geography', any socialist state must first and foremost be focused on its own defence.
Six Principles
Swaraj
A central concept of Netaji Thought is Swarāj, literally "self-rule", referring to Kalsarah's concept of freedom and independence. He defined it as not only independence from foreign domination, but an integral revolution that encompasses all spheres of life. In 1949, Kalsarah wrote "At both the individual and national level, Swaraj is the capacity for rational self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification and able self-reliance." As a result, the concept is applied throughout the ideology's other components. Economically, Swaraj means economic freedom from moneyed interests and the ability to gain wealth, inspired by a history of Satrian asceticism. Socially, Swaraj is self-rule, self-reliance and self-restraint for the individual. It forms an integral part of Kalsarah's personal values and the Code of Moral Socialism.
For the state, Swarāj calls for a statist form of governance, modelled after Shangean National Principalism. It rejects liberal democracy which it considers as a bourgeoisie democracy and councilist democracy which it considers to produce a 'weak, slow, indecisive and bureaucratic state'. The state, according to Swarāj, must first be 'independent from all foreign interests and influences that might prevent the state from acting in its own interests', which includes its own citizens, 'as the individual will always be tempted to act for their own short-term gain rather than the long-term benefit of the nation.' The ideal way to achieve this, according to Netaji Thought, is rule by the worker-soldiers.
Republicanism
Netaji Thought declared that monarchies were 'hopelessly backward and reactionary, a dead end of an ideology'. Therefore, all monarchies at all levels must be dissolved immediately, without any compensation, and the former monarchs property seized 'for the common good of the working people'. Kalsarah was a fervent supporter of the abolishment of the privy purse payments paid to all rulers of monarchies within the Satrian Republic and their autnomous rule over their lands as per the Constituion of the Satrian Republic.
After Ajahadyan independence, all property and lands owned by monarchs within the new state was seized, with their titles being formally abolished.
On the structure of the republic, Netaji Thought states that it 'will be a republic of the worker-soldiers, led by a soldier-president.' Despite Kalsarah being a member of the Pan-Satrian Congress, Netaji Thought decries political parties, calling them 'little more than cliques of those with the same self-interest and impose their own worldviews that distort and fracture society'. Kalsarah wrote in 1951 in Letter #9 that the incorporation of the Green Bashurat Movement into the Pan-Satrian Congress 'had made his throat fill with the most foul-tasting bile at the necessary evil.' Instead, Netaji Thought calls for 'direct rule by the worker-soldiers through the appointment of worker-soldiers to the legislative body and executive positions, with these bodies to induct new members by the pre-existing membership selecting soldier-workers to replace empty seats, in order to prevent subversion and corruption.'
Nationalism
Kalsarah was an ardent Pan-Satrian throughout his whole life, and wrote in 1964 in Letter #141 that he 'fervently believed in the national, cultural, political and spiritual unity of all the Satrian peoples' and believed that this unity was the nacence of a Satrian nationhood that did not need an ethnic, religious or linguistic connection between peoples to foster unity. Netaji Thought formerly idealised the political unity of ancient Satrian empires such as the Sangma Empire as a sign that Satrian unity was the natural state of affairs but after the end of the Satrian Republic, this idealisation was changed to idealise the supposed cultural and religious unity of ancient Satrian empires rather than the political unity. After Ajahadya broke away from the Satrian Republic, this principle was instead applied to Ajahadyan nationalism instead of pan-Satrianism.
Netaji Thought calls for a 'strong, proud, forthright and honest national identity, with no shame being taken in that identity and it indeed being displayed with pride; with this identity to be based upon the historical cultural, political, spiritual and class consciousness that permeates society at all levels, for the purpose of creating national and popular unity.'
To create this national identity, Netaji Thought calls for 'a nationalistic teaching of history in schools, suppression of media that causes national distress, suppression of regional and international languages in favour of linguistic national unity and strong limitations on on the ability of foreigners to enter the nation and for citizens of the nation to leave the nation without good and proper reasoning.' Nationalism is also to be encouraged through conscription and the use of propaganda.
Socialism
Netaji Thought is anti-capitalist and views socialism as 'the only available means of achieving common prosperity, preserving national economic unity and societal harmony.' Socialism is, according to a Netaji Thought, a liberating economic system that 'throws off the colonialist shackels of Euclean capitalism'. Socialism was also viewed as a means of preventing rampant materialism and individualism from overtaking the nation and encouraging autarky.
Netaji Thought states that private property is to be limited to one house per family group, except during the purchase of another property to move to or the sale of one previously lived in. Public transport is to be owned and run by the state, as are 'industries of societial interest, where common ownership is for the common good' such as healthcare, education, utlities, the media and arms production. Land, as the 'scarcest commodity', is to be seized from landlords by the state and rented to farmers at 'fair and just prices' by the state. All major private firms and all international firms are to be nationalized, with prices of goods strictly controlled by the state to prevent inflation. Small independent private businesses are allowed, but owners must join the Union of Independent Businesses. All workers are expected to join their industry's trade union.
Nationalized industries are to be placed under the control of workers, with profits being split between the workers, the state, and the industry's trade union, with the ratio of the split varying between industries.
Collectivism
Netaji Thought states that 'the ideal organisation of a society of worker-soldiers is by the places of work and then the industries of the worker-soldiers; that is to say, through trade unions.' Under Netaji Thought, all workplaces are to operate under a closed shop principle. The trade unions, in turn, are organised into a Central Congress of Trade Unions, which will 'represent the popular mass of worker-soldiers.'
The state is expected to be a strong, centralised entity with power flowing from the top down in order to enable the state to preserve internal unity, to combat external threats to its existence and to mobilize and control the popular mass of worker-soldiers to achieve state objectives and aims.
Militarism
In a development on Tretyakism, Netaji Thought calls for all workers to become worker-soldiers. In addition to the soldier-workers of Tretyakism, who made soldiery their profession, Netaji Thought calls for all workers, regardless of industry, to be capable of soldiery. Netaji Thought calls for a period of mandatory conscription, prior to further education or employment to 'create a base of basic military skills among the populace'. Each trade union is expected to be able to form a number of paramilitary units for military service in wartime, often with individual workplaces forming into a specific unit. Specific unions may be asked to form specific types of unit, such as unions of medical staff being expected to form medical units, or units with more modern equipment and a higher state of readiness, such as police unions being expected to form more capable paramilitary units with heavier equipment in the event of wartime.
Netaji Thought views this 'mass mobilization of the worker-soldiers' as not an alternative to a professional army of the soldier-workers, but an enhancement of it. In addition to the mass mobilization, Netaji Thought calls for a 'large number of dedicated, hardened and revolutionary in character worker-soldiers to form a revolutionary vanguard, which will be bolstered by the popular mass of other worker-soldiers when the nation finds itself in distress.' A large and capable military is viewed as vital to a nation under Netaji Thought as 'a nation without a strong and capable military is a nation incapable of asserting its will against others, and will in turn find itself subjugated to them.' Kalsarah argued for a 'Military First' policy in 1961 in Letter #119.
This 'Military First' policy enters all aspects of life; the military of the worker-soldiers must dominate the political sphere, be the first priority of the economic sphere and be the 'revolutionary core of the nation, to inspire the popular mass of worker-soldiers.' The primacy of the military was necessary to ensure the survival of the socialist state against reactionary and capitalist forces.