Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International
Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International | |
|---|---|
 Goaboabanga of the Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International | |
| Founded | 1901 |
| Legalised | 1939 |
| Dissolved | 1980 |
| Headquarters | Bazadavo |
| Ideology | Council socialism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| International affiliation | International Congress of the World Socialist Movement |
| Colors | Red |
The Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International was a communist party which advocated Dezevauni independence and council communism. Founded in 1901, it was repressed by Gaullican colonial authorities, but a government-in-exile established by it achieved actual power after the Great War. It established the basic framework of the Republic of Dezevau and never lost power until its disestablishment at the end of the Cultural Revolution, giving way to non-partisan politics, though despite its extinction, Dezevau continues to be communist. It was moderately internationalist and moderately centralised, affiliated with InterCon, and its official colour was red.
History
Foundation
The Bureau for Southeast Coius was a Gaullican organisation that administered Désébau, which was a protectorate of Gaullica, and it held actual power despite the Zeja formally being the monarch; this was the state of affairs in place since the nationalisation of Saint Bermude's Company by the Gaullican state in 1889.
In 1901, the Social Liberation Party was established in the library of the Mount Palmerston Girls' Grammar School, in Estmere-controlled Mount Palmerston; Estmerish authorities were much laxer than the Bureau on this kind of activity, and additionally the founders were largely industrial workers and academics rather than the peasants in the greater part of the country; it is also speculated by some that Estmere was happy to cause trouble for Gaullica in this underhanded way. This founding is the date and place the foundation of the party is generally traced back to. At this time, its advocacy was not so much for independence as much as against high taxes, the imposition of Catholicism and Gaullican language, bureaucracy and military presence; it opposed the centralisation and harshness of Bureau rule generally, but did not have a political conception of a sovereign Dezevau.
Early activity
The Social Liberation Party was fairly liberal in its outlook, at first emulating the activities of political parties in Euclea. However, the harsh repression of Gaullican authorities quickly drove it to change its ways, and its membership was soon chiefly composed of elements described as "subversive" by the administration; academics, sex workers, members of the Dezevauni diaspora, members of the underworld, creatives, Badist and Southern Orthodox priests, and some of the more politically active peasants, students and industrial workers. Despite it having gotten its start in the Binhame Coast region, and still operating out of Estmerish Mount Palmerston, its presence became strongest in the inland, western parts of the country; near the Gurani Ranges and around the Eagle River as it reached into Cavunia. There, the Bureau tended to be less present, or was still expanding its presence, and it conducted actions such as the spreading of literature, unionisation, slowdown strikes, education and sabotage. Despite its advance in organisational capability, its presence was generally limited; it was recognised and considered an organisation of moderate interest at this time.
Great Collapse
The Great Collapse in 1913 had little immediate impact on the region's economy, but it had important knock-on effects in the following years. Unemployment became very high in the more industrial and commercial cities, owing to the worldwide slowdown, while domestic consumption of industrial goods dropped off greatly with the revival of suppressed artisanal production. Many industrial workers deindustrialised, bringing radical ideas and urban life to their families and areas which had previously no exposure, and the decline in industry meant a decline in profits for both extraction and manufacturing. Gaullican domestic discord with the rise of the national functionalists caused further disorder; it was in this context that as the Bureau lessened its suppressive activities, having less money and political will to do so, the Social Liberation Party's star rose.
Communicating with the new socialist Second Republic regime of Chervolesia, influenced by a burgeoning international socialist movement and increasingly a party of both the industrial workers and the increasingly indebted, increasingly politically aware peasantry, the party renamed itself to the Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International. However, they continued to be called Socialists in common parlance. At this point, it explicitly advocated for independence from colonial rule. It began to conduct itself in a more militant way, being especially open for a few years before the national functionalist government cracked down; encountering greater hostility from Estmerish authorities for this reason too (as well as heightened national security concerns owing to their Airdale War), much activity was relocated to the new Panswetanian Council Republic.
Prewar
Though the party had become a household name around the turn of the 1920s, the National Functionalist policies quickly established themselves as even harsher than what came before. Up until this point, the Zeja had largely remained aloof, respected in a traditional way by some who did not associate him with Bureau rule and dismissed by others as a colonial stooge. However, he began to take limited moves to resist the new Bureau, sometimes in alliance with both indigenous groups and pre-functionalist Euclean power structures. The Bureau considered removing him but did not move to do so; in any case, while it was now very much underground again, the Section was generally able to continue to conduct popular work. However, infiltrators and agent-provocateurs had begun to leave their mark on the organisation, which continued to be fairly open, in the years approaching the Great War. Additionally, during this period, it declared a government-in-exile, both on the basis of a fairly spurious claim that the nationalisation of Saint Bermude's Company had been conducted illegally, as well as on the basis of popular sovereignty, contending that Gaullica was occupying the country and that Désébau was merely a front for its influence. The government-in-exile operated out of Swetania, and was recognised by both their host and Chervolesia; it had little impact on the nature of operations in the country, but set the scene and international context for their operations during the Great War.
Great War
The Great War broke out in 1927 between the Entente and the Grand Alliance; Gaullica, as a member of the Entente, took Désébau to war, with the Zeja declaring war on the Grand Alliance even though it was not clear if this was legally required of him.
The Great War saw martial law imposed and resource extraction accelerate. The Bureau, which despite its reorganisation was not as ideologically committed to National Functionalism, saw some of its powers and responsibilities moved to the military. At the beginning of the war, Désébau formally had its own troops which it contributed to the effort, but by 1930 they were folded into the regular Gaullican military, with conscription also imposed. The war amongst the Euclean colonies of central and northern Coius went well for the Entente, and so troops were generally shipped out from Bahia and Dezevau. The Party took advantage of this, and while the government-in-exile took some months to declare war, once it did, much of its work was dedicated to damaging the Gaullican war effort. With Gaullica having reorganised its administration a couple of times in the past decade and become more nationalistic and extremist in conservatism, collaboration with both local Eucleans and Dezevaunis were damaged. Tax collectors were turned around, routes (especially easily concealed vine bridges) disappeared off maps or from the landscape, "water spirits" obstructed navigation, workers' skill dropped, would-be conscripts and workers disappeared, and machinery turned out broken. Often referred to as the Dezevauni Resistance as a whole, the Socialist operatives in Mount Palmerston evacuated to the countryside to join the rest of the Party in-country shortly before Gaullican forces occupied the Estmerish base. The whole early period of the war was characterised by unconventional but massively popular resistance against the regime, which generally lacked the military strength to enact reprisals as it moved those it could conscript to other fronts.
By 1933, small spontaneous outbreaks of violence were occurring in parts of the country over high expropriation, and as the frustrations of both locals and the authorities simmered. The Belmonte! and Ukyou Uprising also occurred shortly thereafter. In this context, the party leadership made the decision to begin low-level uprisings across the country, founding the Dezevauni Army of Liberation and training groups in guerrilla warfare. Early attempts went poorly, but within a year there were small defended camps in parts of remote areas such as the Gurani Ranges, the Mhuogezu and the Panjang Ranges. From there, they expanded into the forests and farmlands, with the result that while Gaullican conventional supremacy went unchallenged, unguarded transportation was largely impossible away from the cities, main waterways and coasts. Many local garrisons deserted, being formed of recruits who had never been expected to withstand serious combat, much less against their own. With Swetania in the war, other Grand Alliance countries also recognised the government-in-exile, and aid was forthcoming, notably from Senria via southern sealanes, which were safer than the northern approaches.
Postwar
When the war ended, widely dispersed units were able to accept Gaullican surrenders; the Zeja, who attempted to assert independence, was arrested and his government collapsed. The new government, under some pressure from the Grand Alliance members to do so but also confident it could win, arranged for elections from the city-states using council democratic systems. The peasantry largely turned out for Socialists or Socialist-sympathetic candidates, and the industrial workers even more so; the Party won a healthy mandate, additionally with expectations that it would be more moderate in immediacy to unite the country, and given its fierce opposition to the harsh command economics of the Bureau. Its first actions were largely in matters such as establishing diplomatic recognition, arresting war criminals, establishing national symbols, bringing the dislocated home, liberalisation of the economy, cooperativisation of agriculture (mainly through restoration of geguonhi) and such. It secured Saint-Bermude from the defeated Gaullica, but Crescent Island was given from Gaullica to Estmere, which retained its territory of Mount Palmerston, additionally.
Industrialisation
Despite the Party's commitment to council communism, its centralised, wartime nature was not entirely dissolved; this shone through in its pursuit of industrialisation in the period a little time after the war's end. Relying heavily on aid and loans from international socialist regimes, as well as what little was available from other countries (many of which were more preoccupied with rebuilding Euclea and the impending Solarian War), industrialisation was prioritised, at times over food production, which was exported to pay. While no famines resulted, there was a period of food shortage and sluggish growth in living standards after it had spiked up in the postwar liberalisation, which was now reversed. Rapid electrification and pursuit of literacy were other important programmes from this time. Criticism of party policy mounted, and opposition parties began to appear, including the Liberal Party.
Cultural Revolution
As large cohorts began passing through the education system, and with rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, and yet increasing inequality from liberalisation (even though the pace of it had been slowed since the postwar period), in 1970 a pro-socialist march at the Association of Emerging Socialist Economies conference in Bagabiada morphed into protests about social and economic inequality, and council and democratic power. They rapidly spread across the country, reaching cities such as Naimhejia and Biunhamao earlier and cities such as the capital Bazadavo and Jodojia later. The Congress of Twenties, relatively quickly, adopted the resolutions of a number of lower councils, declaring a Cultural Revolution; it is unclear whether this was a measure favoured by the party leadership generally, but in any case it passed. Across Dezevau, encouraged by academics and radicals in the party, students and then industrial workers and peasants reinvigorated the councils, often passing somewhat contradictory measures but generally effecting radicalism. The movement was largely bottom-up, and soon control was largely lost by the party over their direction; earlier demands included more power being handed to local councils from the higher assemblies, constitutional dedication to internationalism, more radical wealth equality, universal provision of some services, state promotion of unions and more autonomy to rural communities. Later on, as the revolution became more advanced, there were demands of tertiary education as a right, the abolition of the Party, the reform of the Ziba language to be more egalitarian and spontaneous mass communes. The movement was often self-contradicting and messy, but generally it was a movement of not only those traditionally left-wing, but women, LGBTQ+ people, ethnic minorities, disabled people and those who might've fallen into the class of the lumpenproletariat.
Many of these demands were incorporated into government, such the removal of old socially discriminatory law, while others fell by the wayside, such as radical linguistic reform. The trend was generally decentralising, but in some fields and areas was the opposite, or liberalising. There are many schools of thought on how and why the Cultural Revolution occurred, and what it achieved; it is however generally recognised that it set up the Dezevauni state in its modern incarnation. The Cultural Revolution ended when the Section voted to disband itself in 1980, and a constitutional convention was called, whereupon a plebiscite passed many of the measures which were still popular.
Legacy
The Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International began its life as a party that was scarcely socialist, and ended it with a revolution that was further left of it; despite its disestablishment, Dezevau continued on, and remains one of the only successful socialist states. In this sense, it might be said that even though it veered towards centralism from the council communism it espoused, it ultimately succeeded in its goal, which was socialism in Dezevau.
While the party is gone, it is common to phrase its political stance as socialist, internationalist and progressive; the mainstream in the non-partisan system who are considered descendants of the party hold these three tenets.
The party has been an inspiration or influence around the world, both during its existence and after it; people and groups influenced include Tagai Chulgetei, a Badist who led a movement for an independent socialist Zalykia in Narozalica, in particular during the Sostava War.
Policy
The Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International for most of its existence espoused council communism, similar to that of Swetania: a system of government where participatory local councils would make most decisions, with a hierarchy up to the national order to coordinate decentralised governance. Economically, this meant economic democracy, again localised but with national coordination by a state. However, one of the most significant criticisms of the party was that its own centralisation as an organisation and domination of governance meant that it imparted centralisation.
It was also in a manner a supporter of constitutional socialism, whereby the judiciary safeguarded the existence of a socialist form of government. This, while not orthodox council communism, generally worked well enough, though it was not necessarily recognised as an official policy rather than an incidental expression of national will through the council system.
The party was mildly internationalist; it believed in internationalist ideals in spirit, but largely saw it as something to be paid lip service until more progress could be made in future.
Generally, the party was progressive; it considered itself scientifically inclined, and atheism was standard amongst its members. It did not suppress religion harshly but was not religiously founded itself, and tended to oppose what it considered superstition; it also tended to avoid leaning on traditionalism, and was generally modernist.
Affiliation
The Dezevauni Section of the Workers' International was an attendee to InterCon; its second and final name was homage to the formula that other similar parties took around the world. After its dissolution, attendees often identified themselves as part of the Dezevauni Section of the International Socialist Movement for the purposes of attending under the aegis of an organisation.