Kyotakavian United Syndicalist and Socialist Coalition (Kyotakavia)

Kyotakavian United Syndicalist and Socialist Coalition Kyjorja Univaysa Syndika-Socikanor Coalatzia
Abbreviation	KUSSC
General Secretary	Johaan Calstaunas
Chair	Zofi Slatznayan
Founded	April 16, 1883 (1883-04-16)
Paramilitary wing	Union Guard
Youth wing	Young Workers
Membership (1924)	835,000
Ideology	State Syndicalism Democratic Socialism Kyotakavian Nationalism
Political position	Left-wing
Legislative Assembly	128 / 535
State Ministerial Council	9 / 30
State Presidency	2 / 5

The Kyotakavian United Syndicalist and Socialist Coalition is a political party in Kyotakavia that operates as a political alliance of various trade unions and Socialist Groups that exist in the nation. The party is described as left-wing, with it being the largest party in the Legislative Assembly since the last election in 1925 when current party leader, Johaan Calstaunas successfully led the party to large gains in the election.

History

Brazdiv Recovery (1910-1916)

On the 18th January, 1905, the General Secretary of KUSSC Mikaic Sloban resigned his position in the wake of the disastrous 1910 Kyotakavian general election which had seen the party, for a second successive election, fail to regain seats which it had lost during the post-Coalition decline. Going with him was also the Chair, Azlan Kabowkic who resigned two days later on the 20th, leaving the party leaderless as the Assembly leader had already resigned on the 15th. An immediate emergency congress was called with the subsequent 1910 KUSSC leadership Election contested between five candidates, eventually was won by List Seat Representative Elannia Brazdiv. The position of Chair was also elected, with Ursula Tekov narrowly defeating Markov Ebrand on the third ballot.

Both Elannia and Ursula represented the moderate faction of the party and threatened the fragile alliance with breakup in the wake of successive defeats, however Elannia maintained her promise from the campaign to only serve out one term, herself being aged 67 at the time, and a series of internal reforms were implemented, including the reorganisation of the party's campaigning headquarters. The 1910 Congress also voted through a package of reforms (though only narrowly) which mandated that KUSSC Representatives perform at least 20 hours of constituency work per week on top of their legislative duties, as well as a party platform which backed Trade Union strike action against the Worker's Party, Tamzic cabinet.

Calstaunas Leadership (1916- )

Elannia Brazdiv announced her resignation as party leader two days after the 1915 Kyotakavian general election alongside Ursula Tekov as party Chair, keeping the promise made following the 1910 Leadership election with the resignation coming into effect on the 1st of January, 1916, giving the Party time to elect new Leadership. The 1915 KUSSC leadership election was contested by seven candidates, frontrunners Markov Ebrand and Isabella Nowokaz, aging veteran of the Party Ibrim Jekic, two list representatives standing for no faction Yusof Llanev and Hadron Tusolan, and two candidates from the new formed New Syndicalism movement, Johaan Calstaunas and Natalyie Kyuzmanic. Both Calstaunas and Kyuzmanic had been newly-elected representatives at the election and as a result they were considered unlikely challengers and the faction stood both in order to enable both to accumulate support for future bids, despite this however, Calstaunas emerged as a dark horse candidate with strong backing from the Union Guard and several trade unions, the transfer of support from Kyuzmanic, who was eliminated on the first ballot, placed him fourth on the second. During the period between ballots, Calstaunas and other activists campaigned vigorously, arguing that Jekic, aged 73 at the time of the ballot and having been one of the party's first representatives, was too old and was tied to the coalition government that had sank the party in polls. It was also argued that Ebrand was too radical for most voters and that his main challenger, Isabella, was on track to overtake him and would easily defeat him. On the third ballot, Calstaunas moved to third place, capturing the majority of Tusalon's support, before then sweeping up most of Llanev's on the fourth ballot. By the fifth ballot, Calstaunas had overtaken Ebrand with a huge majority of Jekic's voters and affiliates backing Calstaunas. On the sixth and final ballot, Calstaunas was able to capture enough of Ebrand's vote (having swept the majority of his affiliate support) to narrowly defeat Isabella.

Calstaunas's shock victory as a dark horse candidate shook the party membership to the core. Self-identifying as a "new Radical," Calstaunas emphasised the nationalist elements of the party's manifesto as well as its commitment to working with and supporting the Union Guard in its campaign against the Svozgardans as well as pushing affiliated Unions into calling general strikes against the government which was buoyed primarily by the abstention of the SLA. The new policy platform was proposed, and passed at the party's conference by a large majority, though several delegates in favour of Ebrand walked out in protest of the new party positioning and leadership, citing the failure of the party to radicalise along economic lines.

The election of Calstaunas caused a political storm amongst Svozgardan loyalists with Elius Stanton, leader of the SLA, referring to Calstaunas as a "kid paramilitary in a suit" whilst the pro-Svozgardan Daily Herald led an article headlined with "Union Guard puppet to lead KUSSC." Reformist parties also launched political attacks against Calstaunas, calling him a 'dangerous radical' and 'terrorist in a suit,' however Calstaunas was noted for his strong speaking ability and straightforward communication skills which lended well to the position. In his maiden speech, delivered after the leadership election (but before he had taken the position), Calstaunas said of attacks:

"To those who would call me a kid, a paramilitary kid, in nought but a suit; I ask you then, why would I be elected but because the people of Kyotakavia, the working-class, are sick to their skin of pretentious, collaborating governments whose one and only aim is not the securing of a better deal for Kyotakavia, but nice and heavy pockets for themselves. Ask yourselves what you have done for the Kyotak people, what you have done for the Kyotkavian nation, and what you have shown your character to be. I have no surprise for the comments of the blustering tyrant [Stanton] for he has made his bed upon the hard work of another nation, and leisurely sits atop his pile with at least the decency to show himself as an odious nerk, but for the collaborationists opposite, to sit there, without an ounce of reflection, is perhaps the most insulting show of grandiose pomp this Assembly has ever seen."

Despite the political response, by the time of the 1 January when his leadership officially began, Calstaunas polled regularly as one of the most liked figures in Kyotakavia with a peak net rating in 1925 of +15, behind only Regan Klaidev on +43. The party additionally benefitted from an increase of young politicians in into the Assembly Party with KUSSC's popularity increasing substantially during the first year following Calstaunas' election and by the time he had become leader, the party's fortunes electorally had significantly improved despite regularly attracting attacks, especially for Calstaunas' alleged involvement in the Union Guard Army Council which supposedly he was still a senior figure on.

Affiliation

Being a Syndicalist party, KUSSC has multiple trade unions, community led associations and party organisations affiliated to itself with each paying annual affiliation fees and receiving special voting privileges at the party congress. All trade unions affiliated to the Union and Workers Council are automatically affiliated to KUSSC as the Council is itself the central trade union affiliate to the party.

Trade Unions

Union and Workers Council-affiliated

• United Union of Steelworkers and Mechanics (UUSM)
• Mineworker's Union of Kyotakavia (MUK)
• Kyotakavian Education Union (KEU)
• Teachers Organised Front (TOF)
• Solidarity Union (Solidarity)
• Rally the Workers (Rally)
• General Workers Union (GWU)
• National Transport Workers Union (NTWU)
• Union of Railway Drivers (URD)
• Construction and Allied Trades Union (CATU)
• Hospitality and Allied Retail Workers Union (HARWU)
• United Federation of Fire Workers (UFFW)

Independent Unions

• National Miner's Union (NMU)
• Fish-Worker Industrial Labour Union (FILU)
• Union of Shipping, Commerce and Trade Workers (USCTW)

Organisations

Co-operative Organisations

• National Arms Co-operative (NAC)
• Kyoti Co-operative Group (KCG)

Military Organisations

• Young Kyotakavia

Associations

Party Wings

• Young Workers (Youth Branch)
• The Union Guard (Paramilitary Wing)

Electoral performance

Kyotakavian-wide elections

Kyotakavian Legislative Assembly elections

Election	Leader	Seats	+/–	Votes	Vote	+/-	Result
1925	Johaan Calstaunas	128 / 535	69	5,542,172	24.97%	13.54	Leader of a majority coalition with Alliance and the NLP
1920		59 / 535	21	2,002,635	11.43%	3.97	Opposition
1915	Elannia Brazdiv	38 / 535	23	1,148,385	7.46%	3.92	Opposition
1910	Kezlon Majak	15 / 535	0	569,502	3.54%	0.14	Opposition
1905		15 / 535	3	569,510	3.68%	???	Opposition
1900	TBD	12 / 535	19	???	???	???	Opposition
1898		26 / 350	6	???	???	???	Opposition
1896		32 / 535	9	???	???	???	Junior partner in a minority coalition with Alliance and the Workers'
1893		41 / 350	9	???	???	???	Junior partner in a minority coalition with Alliance and the Workers'
1890		18 / 350	15	???	???	???	Opposition
1885		3 / 350	3	New Party	???	???	Opposition