Four Stages of the Revolution
The Four Stages of the Revolution (Namorese: Комин но Сичедан, Katranjian: Четири етапа и революцията, Chetiri etapa i revolyutsiyata) is a theory introduced by Namorese Liberationist leader Antelope Yunglang not so long after the Liberationists took power in Namor.
The theory rejects the notion that the Namorese Civil War is the Namorese Revolution, claiming instead that the Civil War is only the beginning phase of a protracted Revolution that consists of four stages: Insurrection, Maintenance, Development and the Final Period. The Revolution is complete when Namor completes all four stages.
Namor officially entered the Third Stage in NMR 2320. The Liberationist Party declared the Revolution complete during the 23rd Congress in NMR 2358, citing the emergence of a multiparty state. In Katranjiev, this theory was also the nominal platform for the Katranjian Liberationists.
History
In Namor
Antelope Yunglang first introduced the Four Stages of the Revolution in an address titled Roadmap of the Revolution during the 9th Party Congress in NMR 2290, the first congress that was held by the Liberationists as Namor's ruling party.
Antelope devised the Four Stages in response to claims by several in the party that the Namorese Revolution was either already complete as a result of the Liberationist victory in the civil war, or would be complete once Peitoa came under the control of the People's Republic. In contrast, Antelope believed that equating the Revolution with the Civil War would result in the Namorese losing their revolutionary spirit. Speaking at the 9th Congress, he said "We have a job to do and a protracted revolution to wage. If we sit back and relax, we will no longer have something to fight for. This will damage our morale."
The 9th Congress soon approved of the Four Stages theory and said "Namor is in the Second Stage of the Revolution, having just completed the the First Stage, the armed struggle against the Republican reactionaries."
President-General Kiang Ssxu considered the Green Fever the "final push" to complete the Second Stage, but a few years later Antelope intervened to slow the Fever by declaring the Second Stage "the longest of all stages," thereby suggesting that the Party shouldn't rush to remove all reactionaries.
During the 15th Congress of the Liberationist Party of Namor held in NMR 2320, Antelope Gelai announced that "present conditions indicate the end of the Second Stage of the Revolution. The Namorese people are ready to enter the Third Stage and complete the Revolution." This announcement paved the way for Minjuha political reforms that led to the end of the Namorese single-party state.
In the 22nd Party Congress, there were calls for the party to declare Namor's entry into the Fourth Stage, but these calls were rejected as the party worried that declaring the revolution over would harm its chances of winning the NMR 2353 election. Nevertheless, the Liberationists would lose the election to the Democratic Socialists, becoming the opposition party for the first time in PRN history.
The party finally declared that the Fourth Stage of the Revolution had begun in the 23rd Congress, held in NMR 2358.
This country has come a long way since it entered the Third Stage of the Revolution. The vanguard force - the single-party state - has all but dissolved, and its end has become very apparent. After nearly 70 years of struggle, the Namorese Revolution finally produced what it had initially wanted to produce - a People's Republic with a multiparty system and a people with a strong understanding of liberal revolutionary ideals. The Party thus finds it appropriate that it declare the Revolution complete.
The government has never officially declared the Namorese Revolution complete due to the fact that it has never been controlled by the Liberationists since NMR 2353.
In Katranjiev
Huankun Chen of the Liberationists endorsed the theory, stating that "this is the path that society should go." However, unlike in Namor, Katranjiev was a constitutional monarchy, and had a tradition of democracy. However, Chen stated in documents that were declassified in 1975, dating from mid-1937 that "our insurrection, our first stage must be to destroy the imperialist system from within, and use its tools to completely dismantle the old system and create a new Liberationist order."
Following the event known as the December Revolution, when he sent troops to the Royal Palace and forced the monarch, Apostol XIV to abdicate on December 11, 1937, in the Eighth Party Congress (which was organized in 1952 instead of 1954), Chen declared that "the first stage of the revolution is completed: we have smashed the East Luziycan-dominated order, and we shall build a system that shall benefit the people, and not the counter-revolutionaries!" The second stage was officially declared to begin, and its principles were implemented.
In 1945, Huankun Chen declared the intent of the Little Green Fever was to "push Katranjiev into the third stage," but it was widely considered to be hollow rhetoric. While Katranjian Liberationists were officially still committed, in practice, Chen wrote in a letter to Nuoju Zeng in 1944 that:
"So long as there are Slavs, especially Luziycans, Katranjiev shall never be able to exit the second stage of the revolution. Only when Katranjiev becomes indistinguishable from Namor can we enter the third stage of the revolution."
In 1949, Huankun Chen pledged that by 2000, Katranjiev would enter the third stage of the revolution, although it was widely mocked, who were skeptical of those claims. Despite reiterating those promises in 1953 and in 1957, little effort was made to actually achieve it, primarily due to the "higher numbers" of reactionaries than in neighboring Namor. At the same time, tensions with Namor over ideological matters caused the Namo-Katranjian split.
After the death of Huankun Chen and the emergence of a power struggle between President Baikun Qing and Premier Nuoju Zeng, Qing stated in 1971 during a fiery debate to the Shuvet that "we can never get rid of all the reactionaries: the best course of action is to proceed post-haste towards the third stage, so to appease the reactionaries before it is too late." Zeng however responded by explaining that "the biggest problem is the Luziycans residing here: only if we send them west [to Luziyca] and free our Katranjian citizens of their imperialist influence can we enter the third stage!"
Following Qing succeeding in the power struggle, when he began "rekonstruktsiya," the Katranjian equivalent to Minjuha in late 1973, and in the 23rd Congress in 1974, Baikun Qing declared the official start of the third stage. However, following the referendum in 1976 that saw the end of Liberationist rule, Qing declared in the 1980 congress that "this revolution has failed," but failed to elaborate, presumably out of fear that he would lose the leadership.
In a 1986 interview on KTV after Qing stepped down from the position of General-Secretary of the Liberationist Party of Katranjiev, Qing stated to the interviewer that:
"The reason why I said that the [Katranjian] revolution failed in the 1980 party congress, it was because from the start, this so-called 'revolution' did not follow the proper principles set out by Antelope Yunglang. Chen just used the names [of the Four Stages], but he did not care about the people, or how it was meant to function [as it was within Namor]. He only cared about taking power, and then maintaining it. Everything else was secondary to this."
Four Stages
First Stage: Insurrection
In the First Stage of the Revolution, revolutionaries wage an insurrection to remove the ruling counter-revolutionaries from power.
During an insurrection, the Liberationists may cooperate with groups that share the same enemy with the Liberationists but hold non-revolutionary views. Although this means the Liberationists may make political concessions, such concessions are temporary as the priority of the insurrection is the overthrow of the counter-revolutionaries rather than the verification of Liberationism itself.
Second Stage: Maintenance
In the Second Stage, Namor is ruled by a vanguard force with dictatorial powers led by the Liberationist Party.
Antelope justified the vanguard force by asserting that the continued presence of reactionaries and the Namorese people's unfamiliarity with liberal democratic ideals (a consequence of thousands of years of feudal rule) rendered it impossible for Namor to abandon dictatorship and maintain revolutionary values at the same time. Therefore, the revolution can only succeed with a vanguard force that uses its dictatorial powers to secure the achievements of the insurrection.
The revolutionary dictatorship uses everything at its disposal to remove the country of residual reactionary elements, either through persuasion, force or a combination of the two. The masses are educated about Liberationism and various policies are introduced to establish Liberationism as the only ideology that is capable of turning the vision of the Namorese revolution into reality.
Third Stage: Development
The Third Stage, or the "Development Period," begins once all reactionary forces are eliminated so that they may no longer be in a position to challenge the revolution.
The vanguard force prepares the country for the Fourth Stage. Power is devolved as the force declines in favor of a less forceful government. More emphasis is placed on economic growth and education about revolutionary values so that the people will ultimately be able to take the place of the vanguard force and govern without it.
Fourth Stage: Final period
As the standard of living and people's understanding of revolutionary values improve, the vanguard force becomes obsolete. In the Fourth Stage, or the "Final Period," the vanguard force withers away, a genuine People's Republic takes hold and the Revolution is considered successfully complete.