Communist Workers' Party (Blackhelm Confederacy)
The Communist Works Party (CWP) are a Marxist–Leninist organization involved in the continuing Blackhelm Confederate Backlands Conflict since the mid 1990's. The CWP claim to be a peasant army with a political platform of agrarianism and anti-imperialism the intends to topple the current Confederate government and redistribute the wealth to the people of the nation. The operations of the CWP are funded by kidnapping and ransom, gold mining, and the production and distribution of illegal drugs. The CWP was not initially involved in direct drug cultivation, trafficking, or trans-shipment prior to or during the 1990s. Instead, it maintained a system of taxation on the production that took place in the territories that they controlled, in exchange for protecting the growers and establishing law and order in these regions by implementing its own rules and regulations. During the early 2000's, however, the CWP expanded its operations in some areas to include trafficking and production, which has provided a significant portion of its funding
The strength of CWP forces is difficult to determine exactly. In 2007, the CWP said they were an armed force of 230,000 men and women, of which more than half are armed guerrillas. Confederate intelligence estimates also report that anywhere from 15-30% of CWP members are minors, many of whom have been taken from their villages and towns and pressed int the movement. The CWP has been classified as a terrorist organization by the governments of the Blackhelm Confederacy, Bungussi, Jafala, Polarus, and Cote d'Cuivre, and many CWP operations will spill over the border into the neighbors of the Confederacy, where CWP forces feel they are safer as these countries have a less powerful military presence.
History
The modern Communist Workers' Party was born from the Healers' Movement during the Albandaean Crisis in 1896. Following the conclusion of the crisis, the party entered into the political world of the Empire of Exponent, where the remained a minor player until they were outlawed in 1984 for their overt support of the independence movements during the Hesperidesian Revolutions. Following this, the group moved their activities undergroumd, often organizing in the basements and tunnel networks below major cities, as well as in the villages and towns of the dense Hesperidesian Backlands.
When the Empire of Exponent collapsed in 1996, CWP members attempted to pick up the pieces, often forming communes of their own throughout the jungles. When the Blackhelm Confederacy was formed in 1997, these communes resisted reintegration. Military crackdowns on these communes followed, forcing CWP members into the jungle, beginning a long querilla war against the Confederate government.
Financing
The CWP draws much of its finances from the drug trade, making use of bases and plantations deep within the Hesperidesian Backlands to cultivate and process an array of narcotics. In addition to direct cultivation, the CWP also imposes a tax on independent cultivation and trafficking operations, asking for protection money in exchange for allowing the independent groups to operate on their territory. Similar arrangements are also made with coffee and cocoa planters within the CWP's area of influence.
The CWP also conducts kidnapping operations, targetting wealthy and middle class individuals as well as foreigners and rival drug traffickers in order to demand ransom payments. These payments are then used to cover local operational expenses for CWP cells.