Birlikism
Birlikism 𑐧𑐶𑐬𑐮𑐶𑐎 Birlik | |
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| Ideology | Chandan nationalism Cultural nationalism Multiculturalism National syndicalism Militarism Corporatism Guided democracy Republicanism |
| Political position | Right-wing (social) Syncretic (economic) |
Birlikism (Chandan: 𑐧𑐶𑐬𑐮𑐶𑐎, Birlik, lit. "oneness") is a Chandan political ideology formed from the syncretism of Chandan nationalist movements that first arose during the independence of the West Shalegho Commandery in 1935. Unlike similar ideologies, Birlikism is a general set of ideals rather than a detailed set of principles and theories. The implementation of Birlikism in Chanda has differed greatly, but the country's ideology has been described as a mix of nationalism, militarism, and corporatism.
Birlikism promotes the formation of a pan-Chandan national identity based upon an adaptation of socialist patriotism and the legacy of the West Shalegho Commandery. It opposes the existence of ethnic nationalism, instead promoting social cohesion and cultural harmony between ethnic groups. In order to implement these ideals, the ideology supports the temporary creation of a one-party state until there is no longer a perceived threat to Chandan unity. Then political pluralism and democracy would be reintroduced from the ground up, according to the Four Step Plan. Birlikism promotes a national syndicalist economy to unite the people of Chanda and economically develop the country. Birlikism espouses corporatism and thus aims to mediate tensions between the classes of society through corporatist political institutions.
History
Birlikism traces its origins to anti-imperialist sentiment when the region was a part of the Heavenly Xiaodongese Empire. Various nationalist militias rose up during the Chandan War of Independence before they were integrated into the People's Liberation Army of Chanda who controlled the West Shalegho Commandery. Nevertheless, nationalistic feelings continued to grow as an alternative to the Pardal's pan-Coian ideology. Nevertheless, the Pardals promoted an inclusive multiethnic identity based upon socialist solidarity, declaring the birlik or "the oneness" of the people united to defend the Pardal cause. Birlikism would derive its fundamental principles, and its name, from this concept.
Beginning in the 1940s, many Chandans grew increasingly disillusioned with the Pardal ideology, especially the goal to create a pan-Coian state. As a result infighting in the West Shalegho Commandery and the PLA began between various factions. In turn the previous nationalist ideologies began to be adopted by an increasing number of Chandan intellectuals including the members of the PLA. Some of these members included Abdug'ani Yoʻldosh, Nurlan Sabir, Inomjon Alikhan, Wu Khar, and Kadri Badi together known as the Five Leaders of Chanda. The five men agreed that the Commandery no longer could fully serve the people of Chanda, and believed in the establishment of a republic. Influenced by the Imaharist concept of republicanism they embraced more authoritarian methods of rule.
Doctrine
Nationalism & Multiculturalism
The central concept of Birlikism is a pan-Chandan national identity. Birlik thought places the creation and continuation of a Chandan national identity as essential to the country's continued existence as an independent state. The Five Leaders sought to establish an national identity by adapting the socialist patriotism promoted by the Pardals into a pan-Chandan nationalism that could unite Chanda's culturally and religiously diverse population. They argued that since Chandan nationalism is a pan-nationalist ideology it would unite people into a common cause instead of dividing them. Furthermore it adopted the Nemtsovite concept of national liberation to argue that the Chandan people had to be united to defend against foreign imperialism.
Birlik nationalism explicitly rejects any kind of ethnic nationalism, labeling it as bourgeois nationalism and declaring it unworkable for Chanda's multiracial and multicultural society. Instead it promotes the multi-ethnic cultural unity of the people, and defines ethnic groups as "sub-divisions" of the Chandan people. Abdug'ani Yoʻldosh wrote in 1937 that "Chanda is of many races, languages, religions and cultures; to center an identity on any one would only serve to divide our country." As a result, he and other members of the Group vehemently opposed support of ethnic nationalism and especially separatism by any ethnic group. They believed that only with a single purpose, the country could achieve prosperity and defend its independence.
Birlikism seeks to prevent ethnic tension between the peoples of Chanda by promoting the concept of multiculturalism which is viewed as the logical extension to Nationalism, as a united identity requires that there be no conflict between the diverse people of Chanda. It the state as the active guarantor and protector of Iv. In 1938, Yoʻldosh wrote, "to secure multiculturalism, the new Republic must guarantee the principles of freedom, equality, and equal representation." The principle of freedom is the basis that all the people of Chanda are able to express their own culture without facing restriction by the state or prejudice by their fellow citizens. Equality refers to the principle that all the cultures and religions of Chanda are of equal worth so they are all equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law. Next, representation establishes the principle that the peoples of Chanda are entitled to fair representation in Chandan society. The latter principle is achieved through corporatist ideals such as functional constituencies in legislative bodies and diverse regulatory institutions.
Birlikism places the survival of Chanda on the state being able to defend the nation's sovereignty from external threats and secure internal stability from internal threats. It argues that Chandan independence and security can only be accomplished by a sufficiently militarized and orderly society that is united under Birlikist principles. A major concept within Birlikist militarism, is the concept of dual function, which holds the idea that the armed forces should assist in maintaining Chanda’s political and social order as well as its territorial cohesion. Nurlan Sabir argued in a speech in 1951, that "a total people's defence is the ultimate goal of the Republic, where the military is completely dedicated to the strength and prosperity of Chanda". What roles the military should fulfill varied among the Five Leaders, but they universally agreed the military should focus on construction, especially of public works. Despite the integration of the military into domestic affairs, they opposed the creation of a military dictatorship or any kind of control over the civilian government. Rather they believed that the military should have a degree of independence from the government and they should only be given fair representation in the government, following corporatist ideals.
Democracy & Republicanism
Many Birlikists believed that the government of the Commandery was inadequate to address Chanda's issues. Heavily inspired by the Imaharist principles of Statism and Republicanism, Birlikists envision the formation of a strong centralized government in the form of a republic that would follow the ideology's principles.
Birlikist republicanism accepts the concept of popular sovereignty as a means to ensure that the government continues to act in the best interests of Chanda. However at the same time, Sabir and other Birlikists argued that Chanda could not achieve full democracy since Birlikism and other "enlightened ideals" were still largely unknown to the general population. Thus they argued that they would not understand how important the ideology was to the survival of the country and would fail to follow its principles. Birlikist theory held that a Birlikist political front would hold power as a vanguard party while they spread enlightened ideas to the people, and continue to do so until the people were able to govern themselves. According to Sabir, they would keep the uneducated masses out of politics until the population was was "sufficiently enlightened".
In Birlikist thought, the spread of Birlikist and enlightened ideals require the material and intellectual advancement of Chandan society. As a result, the introduction of full democracy and complete popular sovereignty would be a process that would continue over decades, which Sabir called the Five Steps to Democracy.
- Consolidation: A Republic and its government is established by Birlikists. A Birlikist front retains total control in order to effectively develop Chanda by keeping the country secure from its enemies and implementing policies such as infrastructure construction and literacy programs.
- Enlightenment: The Chandan government educates the population about Birlikist principles through programs aimed at the youth and young adults. They are encouraged to challenge reactionary and conservative elements in society.
- Development: Democracy is introduced at the local level. The Front uses its grassroots movement to educate the people on how to exercise their democratic rights and other civic duties.
- Revolution: Democracy is introduced at the national level. The Front opens its membership to all members of society as they have been properly educated.
- Democracy: The democratic system is fully established and the people fully exercise their political rights "in a productive and educated" manner. With democracy complete, the Front naturally loses its power to political parties created by the common people.
Economics
Birlikism supports a national, trans-class society while opposing individual-class-based societies such as bourgeois or proletarian societies. Birlikism opposes class conflict and espouses corporatism and thus aims to mediate tensions between the classes of society, with the state responsible for assigning with negotiating between managers and workers. Nevertheless, it incorporates some Nemtsovite principles. The ideology views the main purpose of Birlik economics is toeconomic equality, which would help achieve a unified Chandan society. The goal of creating a classless society found in traditional socialism is only mentioned in Birlik thought in the context of unifying Chanda's people. It opposes the confiscation of private property, the seizure of the means of production, some aspects of class conflict, and leftist internationalism. Instead it embraces the principles of common ownership, distributism, and class cooperation.
Birlikism rejects both capitalism and state socialism, instead promoting "national syndicalist" economy. It denounces capitalism as an individualist economy at the hands of the bourgeoisie. Furthermore it viewed that the state is not the most efficient means of managing the economy Although the ideology does not specify a particular economic policy, it promotes the idea of "patriotic" organisations with significant liberty over implementing economic policy while remaining accountable to the people and the government. As a result, most economists consider it to be similar to market socialism.
The partial rejection of class conflict is another concept divergent from traditional leftist thought. To a certain extent, Birlik economics has a less hostile view of the bourgeoisie in Chandan society, than traditional socialism. It views the Chandan bourgeoisie as petite bourgeoisie who were exploited by Xiaodongese imperialism and thus were an oppressed class. It still opposes the rest of the bourgeoisie and views the Xiaodongese as a fundamentally "haute bourgeoisie society" who exploited the people of Coius for millennia. To resist their influence, the ideology promotes the idea of a united front consisting of the petite bourgeoisie along with the working class, peasantry, and the intelligentsia.
However Birlikism recognizes that including the petite bourgeoisie in a Birlikist front, would continue exploitation between them and the rest of the classes. To end exploitation, Birlik socialism promotes a tripartite model that would establish fair labor regulations and strong collective bargaining for workers. Furthermore It supports an expansive welfare state implemented by various social programs.