People's Brigades (Venadia)

The People's Brigades (Venadian: Бригады Народный, transcript: Brigady Narodnyy) were a militant organization founded in 1935 by the Communist Party of Venadia. Initially, their main role was to protect radical trade union leaders and prominent communists, but later their duties also involved directly combating the burgeoning fascist movement. With the outbreak of the Second Ardanian Great War the People's Brigades took on a more militant form after the initial chaos of the outbreak of war between the Comintern and the Venadian Republic. At first, the People's Brigades served mainly as the main force in the Venadian anti-war movement, even as Comintern forces advanced from the south. With the Communist Party growing uncertain of their Comintern support in 1938, the People's Brigades took a much more independent stance and supported the Comintern wholeheartedly. By 1939, the People's Brigades and the Communist Party had only symbolic ties with each other.

The People's Brigades organized groups of resistance against the Venadian Republic in three ways. The least active involved the organization of industrial action against industries necessary for the war effort, despite the threats against strikers. The second was the smuggling of armaments and militants to Comintern forces in Ardania. The third and most remembered is the organization of active armed resistance in parts of Venadia, particularly in southern Venadia and in the Tarmanovyy region. These militants rose up in armed rebellion, and managed to establish pockets of Comintern control in central and southern Venadia. While most of their controlled territory quickly dissipated with the advance of the Venadian Army, their control of certain isolated areas and one city persevered throughout 1939 to 1941.

The People's Brigades organized volunteer brigades to aid foreign Comintern forces, particularly the Revolutionary People's Republic of Arlelli and (insert commies here). The Venadian People's Brigades acted initially as its own independent military group, but as it lost held territory in Venadia remnants of the People's Brigades joined the Arlellia and (commie) occupants and was subdued into the respective countries' military hierarchies. After the end of the war, most of the surviving leaders and soldiers of the People's Brigades were charged with treason, with punishments ranking from execution for high-ranking leaders and imprisonment for the bulk of the soldiery.