Communist Party of Venadia
| Communist Party of Venadia | |
|---|---|
| File:CPVflag.png | |
| Native Name | Коммунистическая Партия Венадии |
| Leader | Aleksandr Myatlev |
| Founded | 9th of March, 1931 |
| Headquarters | Venagorod, Venadia |
| Membership | 365,500 |
| Ideology | Eurocommunism Democratic Socialism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Official colours | Red |
| Great Veche | 16 / 400
|
| Website | http://www.kpv.vda |
The Communist Party of Venadia (Venadian: Коммунистическая Партия Венадии, transcript: Kommunistisheskaya Partiya Venadii) is a left-wing parliamentary party in the Republic of Venadia. The party originally adhered to strict Marxism-Leninism and was founded as a split from the Socialist-Revolutionary Party when it moderated their politics and adopted reformism. The Communist Party have since themselves shifted their stance from hardline Marxism-Leninism to more moderate and reformist eurocommunism.
History
The Communist Party of Venadia was founded in 1931, largely by a breakaway faction of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party who protested the party's increasingly moderate political platform. The CPV adopted Marxism-Leninism as their ideology and structured the party around Leninist principles, with the aim of overthrowing the Venadian state and the implementation of a dictatorship of the proletariat. The leading figure of the party in this era was Maksimillian Baryshev who served as the party's General-Secretary between 1931 to 1949. The party was successful in the 30s and 40s in terms of consolidating its support in the industrial towns of central Venadia, but failed to gain broader support especially among the rural population. The first decade of the Communist Party's existence proved tumultuous and marked by frequent power-struggles between individuals and groups within the party, and the party failed to cross the electoral threshold in 1935 despite initial strong polls following its formation.
With the outbreak of the Second Ardanian Great War in 1936, the Communist Party was banned due to their support of the aggressive Comintern that Venadia found itself at war with. The CPV split during the war between those who directly supported the People's Brigades (a military formation of the CPV, formed in 1935) and those who grew neutral or even opposed to comintern aggression. The party never formally split, but by 1939 it did in practice have several distinct organizations operating under the name of Communist Party of Venadia. After the end of the war, the Communist Party of Venadia was conditionally legalized in 1947. The pre-war CPV leader, Maksimillian Baryshev who had ended up on the side of the moderates and anti-war faction, became the leader of the now legalized Communist Party of Venadia and is by the modern party considered to have been the uninterrupted leader of the party. Only half of its pre-war membership remained members of the legalized party, with many others continuing illegal operations under the name of Communist Party of Venadia until the 1960s.
The party had by then lost almost half of their support, and the mid-to-late 20th century proved a steady period of decline for the Communist Party both in terms of members and in terms of popular support. The party formally abandoned Marxism-Leninism as their ideology in the 1972 Party Congress, which saw the Worker's Party split from the party proper. The new moderate platform did not lead to electoral success but may have slowed down the decline of the party in the latter 20th century.
By the 21st century, the Communist Party was a shadow of its former self, marked by the party's failure to cross the electoral threshold in the 2003 Parliamentary Election, the first time the CPV was completely without national elected representation since 1935. The party managed to re-enter the Great Veche in 2007, despite not crossing the electoral threshold, Aleksandr Myatlev managing to win a constituency. The CPV's sole national representative being a hardliner and old-fashioned Marxist gave the left-wing of the party an impetus for the protracted 2008 National Congress, where Myatlev was elected Party Chairman and a new more radical party platform was instituted. The CPV has seen growth in both membership and popular support since, and has managed to cross the electoral threshold in 2011 and 2015.
Policies
- Supports the gradual implementation of socialist economics, with the state controlling the commanding heights of the economy. Nationalization of key industries and greatly expanded labour rights.
- Opposes sales taxes and other regressive taxes in favour of higher taxes on capital gains.
- Strongly supportive of trade unions.
- Supports an expanded welfare state.
- Supports the rights of oppressed minority groups.
- Supports increased military spending and the involvement of Venadia in international missions to combat dictatorship and tyranny.
- Supports the unitary state and equal development and opportunities for all Venadian citizens.
- Opposes the penal system in its current form, and wishes to reform it into a productive asset where convicts repay their debt to society.
Organization
The Communist Party is structured around local and district cells. The Communist party has a total of 19 district cells, and more than two thousand local cells. In areas where Communist support is the strongest, individual workplaces might contain a local cell, while in other areas several Gorods and Mirs has one shared local cell. The main decision-making body of the Communist Party is the central committee, appointed by the National Congress every three years. All district cells send a certain number of delegates to the National Congress based on membership, voted on by the local cells. Financial, administrative and membership matters are handled by the individual district cells.
Membership
As of 2016, the Communist Party had a total of 365,500 members, of which 312,000 are fee-paying members. The remaining members tend to be retirees or others who are exempted from paying the party fee due to personal financial situation. The party has seen steady growth in its member mass since 2005, including 2008 despite several leading party figures leaving the party. The membership fee is variable, ranging from 5 NSD a year to 200 NSD a year depending on personal income.
Electorate
The Communist Party sees its primary support among the working class of Venadia, primarily in the industrial towns of the central and north-west Tysyacha. A disproportinate number of the CPVs electorate are ethnic Venadian, and most work in the industrial, public and transportation sectors. In recent years, support for the Communist Party has grown among the Venadian military.
Party Factions
Formalized party factions have only been allowed and tolerated in the CPV since 1972 in tune with the party's break with Leninism. The Communist Party has a total of five recognized internal factions, with approval for faction status being granted by the Central Committee and requires four thousand signatures by party members from all nineteen districts.
Modern Socialist Union
The MSU is a reformist faction within the CPV who advocate closer relations with the Socialist Party, participation in electoral coalitions, compromise and a more moderate economical policy. The MSU opposes revolution on principle, preferring a gradualist approach. The second-largest faction within the CPV, despite a large number of their members leaving after the 2008 Party Congress.
Democratic Communists
The DC is the currently dominating faction of the CPV, and consists of hardliners and conservatives who want a more radical platform and for the CPV to pursue a "democratic and peaceful revolution". The current policies of the CPV are largely in tune with the DC, and they hold the majority of the seats in the Central Committee.
Libertarian Socialist Group
The LSG is a libertarian socialist and communist faction within the CPV who wishes for the party to fully put its weight behind a wide variety of progressive causes, such as feminism, anti-racism and environmentalism. Consists to a large extent of the CPV's minority members, sexual as well as ethnic, and a large amount of the youth.
Communist Labour
CL considers themselves non-ideological communists and workers who seek to improve the conditions for Venadian trade unions and workers on the local and workplace level, and less focus on electoral politics. The CL is sympathetic to syndicalist thought.
Revolutionary Communist Group
The RCG is a Marxist-Leninist faction within the CPV, wishing to take the CPV back to the glory days of the 1940s. They advocate revolution against the Venadian Republic, the implementation of the dictatorship of the proletariat and turning the CPV into a vanguard party built on democratic centralism. The smallest of the five recognized factions.