Sotty Haloranov
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The Right Honourable Sotty Haloranov | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Sotty Haloranov, 1954 | |
| 16th Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas | |
| In office 23 April, 1952 – 23 April, 1956 | |
| President | Victor Redmond Keswick |
| Deputy | Jim Stevens |
| Preceded by | Frederick Maynard |
| Succeeded by | Martin Ellingham |
| Member of Parliament for Tarnstead | |
| In office 12 February, 1917 – 23 April, 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Harold Cavalier |
| Succeeded by | Dwane Harris |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sotirian Perkins February 24, 1876 Evertsgard, Saint Christopher's, Colony of Imagua |
| Died | 6 August 1969 (aged 93) Cuanstad, Imagua and the Assimas |
| Resting place | Evertsgard Cemetery |
| Nationality | Estmerish Imaguan |
| Political party | Democratic Labour Party |
| Other political affiliations | ISESWI (1903-1919) ISP (1919-1937) Labour Party (1937-1948) |
| Spouse | Gwendolen Haloranov |
| Children | 2 |
Sotty Haloranov (born Sotirian Perkins, 24 February, 1876 - 6 August, 1969) was an Imaguan politician and trade union leader who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas, serving from 1952 until 1956.
Early life
Sotty Haloranov was born as Sotirian Perkins on 24 February, 1876 in Evertsgard, Saint Christopher's Parish (present day Evertsgard, Cuanstad) to Archibald Perkins, a blacksmith of mixed race, and to Tabitha Perkins (nee O'Halloran), a housewife of Caldish descent, as the youngest of six children, and the only son to survive childhood.
His early life was marked with tragedy: his father abandoned Tabitha and their children in 1879, and in 1881, Martha died of scarlet fever, leaving Haloranov and his siblings orphaned.
According to his biography, a sailor from Vinalia took pity on him, and adopted him as his own, bringing him back to Vinalia where he was sent to school and studied at a university. In gratitude, he would adopt the sailor's surname as his own. However, most historians dispute the veracity of his claims, citing Imaguan census records from 1891 reporting that he and his siblings lived with his paternal uncle near Lundholm, his lack of knowledge of the Soravian language, his surname's similarity to his mother's maiden name, and his "penchant for embellishing stories," with his 1942 and 1961 accounts of his experiences in Vinalia barely matching up.
In 1899, Haloranov moved to Cuanstad where he took a job as a dockworker. His experience as a dockworker made him interested in politics, particularly as he resented "contributing to the economy of Imagua but not having a say in the politics of this land." This led him to becoming involved with the Dockworker's Union by 1900, and by 1903, he would join the Imaguan Subsection of the Estmerish Section of the Workers' International.
Political career
Early political career
After Sotty Haloranov joined the Imaguan Subsection of the Estmerish Section of the Workers' International, he became involved in the party newspaper, where he wrote about his experiences and his treatment during his time at the dockyards in Cuanstad, and the necessity for the Imaguan working class to "stand together against the elites."
At the same time, he remained involved in the trade union movement, but now focusing on trying to get the trade unions to cooperate with one another. In 1907, he was able to help forge an agreement between several trade unions to form a trade union centre, the Imaguan Trade Union Federation, with Sotty saying that it would "strengthen ties among the labour movement." Sotty would become involved in the ITUF's operations, although he was not in a leadership position for the ITUF.
In 1908, Sotty Haloranov would stand in his first election, standing for Tarnstead. Although he stood little chance of winning, due to the fact that most people in Tarnstead did not own enough property to be able to vote for the Chamber of Commons, this experience taught him "the value of campaigning and the value of appealing to the common man." He would place a distant third, only securing five votes.
This experience emboldened Sotty Haloranov to fight for universal male suffrage, as Haloranov believed that "if anyone is deprived of the opportunity to vote just because they are poor, like my parents and family were, then it is a sign that we need to change the system."
Haloranov would run again in 1909 and 1913 but failed to get elected. However, in 1917, Haloranov succeeded in getting elected to the Tarnstead constituency, defeating Suthmeer MP Harold Cavalier, and he was sworn in on 12 February, 1917.
MP for Tarnstead
One of his first acts as MP for Tarnstead was advocating for universal male suffrage, with Sotty Haloranov supporting the Labour Party's demand to introduce universal male suffrage. At the time, Sotty Haloranov opposed women's suffrage, believing that women would "only vote as their husbands and the church dictated to them," effectively "diluting the voice of the people."
However, when the Estmerish Section of the Worker's International split in 1919, the Imaguan subsection also split. Despite his left-leaning views and sympathy to council socialism, his dislike of Ethel Cropper, who he later described as being "uncooperative and impossible to reason with" meant that Sotty Haloranov stayed with the party, which would become the Socialists.
After Peter Hansson died in 1920, Nelson Egnell became Chief Minister, and per constitutional convention, a snap general election was called. Due to the passage of universal suffrage, the Socialists were able to take advantage of newly-enfranchised supporters to sweep into power, as well as poor economic conditions as a result of the Great Collapse, with Sotty Haloranov winning his seat with 68% of the vote. During this time, Sotty Haloranov began advocating for "Imaguan independence," believing that Imagua was "now at a stage where it can and should take its rightful place on the world stage," while he served as parliamentary secretary for the Labour Minister.
Thus, by 1924, Haloranov comfortably won with 73% of the vote against his Liberal opponents. After the 1924 election, Haloranov was sidelined by Nelson Egnell, due to Haloranov's advocacy of Imaguan independence, although he retained his position as parliamentary secretary. Following the start of the Great War and subsequent Gaullican occupation of Imagua, Sotty Haloranov would use his position among the trade unions to "sabotage Gaullican authority" and advocate for Imaguan independence from both Estmere and Gaullica. This led him to being arrested in 1930, where he was detained until the liberation of Imagua.
Post-war
Following the liberation of Imagua, Sotty Haloranov would briefly enter cabinet as Labour Minister, but after the 1936 elections, the Labour Party returned to the opposition benches, but Haloranov was able to keep his seat with 81% of the vote. However, the stint in opposition, plus Haloranov's history of resistance, garnered him respect, and helped increase his position within the Labour Party.
He would develop close ties to Wilbur Smith, who would lead the left-wing faction of the Labour Party. During his time in the backbenches, Haloranov started to advocate for including more Bahio-Imaguans in government, and in 1939, declared segregation on the island "a sin."
Haloranov would win his seat with 76% of the vote in 1940, and 71% in 1944. During this time, Haloranov emerged as an opponent of the United Provinces, fearing that the larger provinces would overwhelm Imagua, and criticised the adhesion of the Assimas and New Accadia (present-day Bonaventure) as "reducing Imaguans to a mere minority in the federation." He would help promote the idea of Imaguan independence among working class Imaguans, which would play a factor in Imagua's expulsion from the union in 1948.
That year, Haloranov would keep his seat with 72% of the vote. Due to his high position within the newly-formed Democratic Labour Party and the Imaguan labour movement more generally, he was expected to become the party's nominee for the Imaguan premiership for the 1952 elections.
As opposition leader, Sotty Haloranov criticised the governing Sotirian Democrats, accusing them of having made "no tangible progress" on worker's rights and on the rights of Bahio-Imaguans, and accusing them of continuing to operate "as if Imagua was still part of the Estmerish Empire." Haloranov also promoted the establishment of several state-owned enterprises to help "bind the country together," and promised to engage in land reform.
His rhetoric, in addition to the growth of trade unions meant that by 1952, he was seen as a serious contender to become Prime Minister. During his campaign against incumbent Prime Minister Frederick Maynard, Haloranov promised to engage in land reform to help the poor, begin ending segregation on the island, and making "twenty years of progress in four." Despite concerns of his age, Haloranov was able to lead the DLP to victory in that year's general election, winning 34 seats with 50.03%. Haloranov kept his seat, with 75% of the vote in his constituency.
Prime Minister
On 23 April, 1952, President Walter Redmond Keswick appointed Sotty Haloranov to be the Prime Minister. Haloranov would appoint his cabinet, appointing Jim Stevens to be his Deputy Prime Minister on the same day.
Immediately after being sworn in, Sotty Haloranov began setting up state-owned enterprises. Two of them included the Imaguan Television Service, which would broadcast television across the country, and the Imaguan Maritime Service, whose goal was to provide cheap service between Imagua and the Assimas, so to enable people to travel more freely between the two. Sotty Haloranov also passed laws to help strengthen labour rights in the country, with a law in 1952 enshrining the principle of equal pay for equal work and by another law in 1953 to institute a card check system.
However, the outbreak of the Carucerean Revolution in 1953 and the collapse of the United Provinces would prove to be his greatest challenge as Prime Minister, because Haloranov was sympathetic to the goals of the Social Liberation Movement. However, he felt constrained because the United Provinces was Imagua's largest trade partner at the time, and he feared that if he were to recognise Carucere's independence, Imagua would be isolated in the West Arucian. In addition, outright supporting Carucerean independence would make Imagua appear to be "moving towards Tretyakism," which he felt would further isolate Imagua on the world stage.
After discussions with Raymond Rivière, Prime Minister of the United Provinces, Haloranov would recognise Carucerean independence on September 9th. This decision was met with harsh criticism from the Sotirian Democratic Party, as the SDP believed that Carucere would be a "Tretyakist base in the West Arucian," and condemned land reform as being "proof" that Carucere was going to be pro-Chistovodia.
This, combined with some opposition among the former Liberals who joined the DLP, led to Haloranov not engaging in wide-reaching land reform, as he feared that it could "split the DLP into two parties, and allow the Sotirian Democrats to return to power." However, Haloranov's decision to not engage in land reform alienated supporters of the DLP, while his support of Carucerean separatists made Haloranov appear radical among SDP supporters.
In a last-ditch effort to recover some of his popularity, Haloranov's government made emergency medical care free in 1955. That year, despite Haloranov's age and declining popularity in the aftermath of the Carucerean Revolution and his decision to abandon land reform, he was nominated to run for a second term as Prime Minister. He would face off against Martin Ellingham of the Sotirian Democrats in the following general election, where he was unable to counter Ellingham's accusations of Halaronov's policies undermining his base of support and Imagua's competitiveness, and failed to effectively defend himself and his party from accusations that Imagua would become Tretyakist.
Thus, Haloranov would lead the Democratic Labour Party to a defeat, only gaining 29 seats and a mere 40% of the vote. However, Haloranov was able to keep his seat, albeit with only 62% of the vote. After conceding, he announced his resignation as parliamentary leader of the Democratic Labour Party.
Later career
Sotty Haloranov would not be included in Efrem Lacovara's shadow cabinet after Lacovara succeeded Haloranov as the leader of the Democratic Labour Party. Despite him being a backbencher, his position as former party leader and Prime Minister allowed him to wield substantial influence within the party, while Haloranov once again focused on civil rights for the Bahio-Imaguan majority, as well as issues facing his constituency in Tarnstead. In addition, due to the retirement of colleague Rupert Easom, who served from 1913 until the 1956 election, Haloranov became the Father of the House, as he was the longest-serving member of the Chamber of Commons.
In the 1960 general election, Haloranov would run for a tenth term as Member of Parliament for Tarnstead. During the election campaign, Haloranov endorsed Eric Fleming for President, with Haroranov calling Fleming "a very wise man," and would campaign alongside Fleming and Lacovara. When the results came in, Haloranov kept his seat with 59% of the vote, showing a slight decline as many voters grew tired of Haloranov's presence.
After the DLP won, Sotty Haloranov was not included in the cabinet. However, as he was still the longest continuously-serving member of the Chamber of Commons, he remained as the Father of the House. During his final term in the Chamber of Commons, Haloranov "wholeheartedly" supported Lacovara's policies, especially concerning universal healthcare and the separation of Cuanstad from Saint Ellen's.
In 1963, Haloranov declared that he would not run for another term as Member of Parliament for Tarnstead, citing his "old age." He endorsed Dwane Harris to succeed him in the 1964 general election, and Harris would succeed him on 23 April, 1964.
Retirement and death
After retiring from politics, Sotty Haloranov would remain a member of the Democratic Labour Party. However, Haloranov would cease being involved in active politics, instead only giving his support for DLP candidates. In 1965, Haloranov was inducted into the Order of Imagua as a Companion of the Order.
Haloranov's health declined after his retirement, and by 1968, Haloranov was unable to give more than a written statement endorsing Eric Fleming as Prime Minister. On 6 August, 1969, Haloranov died at his home in Cuanstad at the age of 93. Per his wishes, a state funeral was held on 16 August, before being buried next to his wife at the Evertsgard Cemetery.
Personal life
Sotty Haloranov married 23-year old Gwendolen Haloranov (nee Holmes) in 1916, and would remain married until her death in 1963 at the age of 68. They had a daughter, Rosella Haloranov, who was born in 1918 and died in 1921 from tuberculosis, and a son, Grant Haloranov, who was born in 1922, and died in 1983. At the time of his death, he was survived by his son, two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.
Haloranov was baptised as part of the Embrian Communion, and was part of the Low Embrian traditions. His native language was Estmerish, although most historians say that his actual native language was Eastern Imaguan Creole. Haloranov also spoke some conversational Vespasian and Gaullican. Despite his claims that he went to Vinalia, he had "zero knowledge" of Soravian.
Politically, Haloranov was a democratic socialist. Although initially opposing female suffrage, Haloranov would later support that, as well as supporting civil rights among Bahio-Imaguans.
Honours
- File:ImaguaFlag.png Companion of the Order of Imagua, 1965
