Radomir Shishko
Radomir Shishko Радомир Шишко | |
|---|---|
| File:Radomirshishko.jpg | |
| President of Venadia | |
| In office 14th of May, 1935 – 18th of May, 1950 | |
| Preceded by | Yan Balakin |
| Succeeded by | Boris Vasiliev |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Radomir Anatolievich Shishko 16th of July, 1882 Viniyagorod, Viniya, Venadia |
| Died | 5th of December, 1958 Viniya, Venadia |
| Nationality | Venadian |
| Political party | Independent |
| Alma mater | Viniyagorod State University |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Venadia |
| Branch/service | Venadian Army |
| Years of service | 1900–1902 1915-1921 |
| Rank | Major |
| Commands | Armed Forces of Venadia |
| Battles/wars | Second Ardanian Great War |
Radomir Shishko (Радомир Шишко, 16th of July 1882 - 5th of December 1958) was a Venadian statesman and political leader who served as the President of Venadia from 1935 to 1950. A non-partisan politician, Shishko is one of only three independent Presidents since the formation of the office in 1847, and one of only four to have served three terms (the constitutional maximum). Shishko is considered to have been by far the most active and powerful Venadian President, having been accused of overstepping the authority of his office in posterity. He remains however one of Venadia's most popular historic leaders, and is broadly credited in Venadian society to have won the war.
Shishko's politics have been hard to define, as his presidency was so interlinked with the Second Great War. His platform in the 1935 election largely revolved around the need to prepare for war, land reform, moderate support of trade unions and labour as well as anti-communism and support of democracy. Shishko was by far Venadia's most active and powerful president, and in practice became head of government during the war through the Government of National Unity. In the post-war era, Shishko opposed the take-over of land by the victors or excessively harsh measures against the former communist states, instead arguing for the implementation of free democracy and the right of self-determination by the peoples of the losing countries. He was one of the leading figures behind the formation of the Ardanian Union of States whose aim is to preserve peace and fraternal relations between the countries of Ardania.
Shishko led Venadia through the tumultuous Second Ardanian Great War, which began only one year after he assumed office. Shishko formed the Government of National Unity in 1938, convincing the pro-war faction of the Socialist Party, the Republican Party and others to set aside their differences with the aim of pursuing the war against the Comintern. Shishko would receive the greatest majority any Venadian President has had in the 1940 Presidential Election, as both the LRP and SP endorsed his candidacy.
Despite popular calls for the amendment of the constitution to allow Shishko to serve a fourth term in office in 1950, Shishko stepped down from the Presidency and from politics. He spent the rest of his life in a small farm in Viniya, where he wrote his memoirs in 1953. Shishko died in his sleep in 1958, and was granted a full state-funeral and a national week of mourning.
Personal Life
The Shishko family is an established one in Viniya, described as just shy of nobility, with a long history of service in Venadia's government and military, and active in both local and regional politics. Radomir was born into this family in 1882, as the second son to lawyer and politician Anatoly Shishko who raised his children to be austere, compassionate and pragmatic. Radomir received some personal tutoring in his first years, before being transferred to a public school when his family's finances started struggling during the Long Recession of the 1890s.
Shishko served in the Venadian Army between 1900 to 1902 as a common infantryman, but saw no actual combat. After finishing his military service, he went on to the Viniyagorod State University and gained a degree in history and geography. In 1904 he got a job as a journalist for the Viniya Herald, a regional newspaper and one of the most prominent in Southern Venadia. As a foreign correspondent, Radomir travelled to the Vesan Union's colonies, primarily Hiluxia, and became an ardent opponent of colonialism.
First Ardanian Great War
With the outbreak of the First Ardanian Great War, Radomir like many others volunteered for the armed forces, and served in Venadia's southern front. There he saw and experienced the use of chemical weapons firsthand, which in his memoirs he described as giving him lasting wounds, both of body and soul. He reportedly served with valour and for the entire duration of the war, and managed to rise to the rank of Major (from the rank of Corporal) during the course of the war.
Interwar Period
Shishko became a prominent figure among Venadian veterans of the Great War, especially as post-war politics became a quagmire of partisan infighting. Little was done to alleviate the living conditions of Venadian veterans, particularly those of working class or poor backgrounds. Shishko became one of the founding members of the Veteran Aid Committee, whose goal was the funding of veterans' medical bills and living expenses if they could not provide for this themselves.
With the rise of the Ardanian Communist Internationale throughout the world, and the heightened tension of international relations, Shishko became concerned about the prospects of another Great War already in 1928. In private letters to friends and family, he expresses his disappointment with the government's policy of disarmament even as other nations hostile to Venadian democracy were preparing for war. He started speaking seriously regarding the prospects of running for president in 1930, but refused to become a member of any political party (seeing partisanship as one of the biggest threats to Venadian democracy).
Shishko tried to run for president in 1931, however he was barred by the Venadian Electoral Commission due to failure to procure the necessary funds to run as an independent candidate. With the international situation growing even more tense in the early 30s, and the rise of the militant portion of the Comintern in Venadia through the formation of the Communist Party, Shishko became even more determined to run for President. He took a personal loan in order to pay the deposit for running as an independent candidate in 1934. Lacking a party apparatus behind him, he confided to friends and allies he had "no illusions of victory" but merely wanted to bring re-armament back on the agenda of the politicians.
Shishko managed to win a surprising victory in the 1935 election, aided by the support of the Veteran's Organization who publically stated their support for Shishko. Shishko's campaign involved travelling the country and meeting people in person, unique among Venadian Presidential candidates. He became the first President of Venadia who was not a member of any political party, and the political parties of Venadia were shocked at his election.
Presidency
Shishko assumed his duties as President with vigor, managing to goad the Great Veche into approving limited re-armament of Venadia's military in 1935. He actively sought out defensive agreements with democratic Ardanian states, such as the Vesan Union. While the President of Venadia enjoys little control of domestic matters, Shishko proved himself a shrewd politician in terms of playing the parties against each other, as well as managing to negotiate consensuses between the factions in the Great Veche.
However, Shishko only gained limited time to prepare the nation for war, which broke out just one year into his presidency. Despite the limited re-armament, the Venadian Army was overrun in the initial years of the war by communist forces, who managed to occupy was swathes of land in southern and eastern Venadia. The militant People's Brigades managed to gain control of pockets of land in the Venadian interior, and thrice tried to assassinate Shishko during the course of the war.
Shishko proved himself a capable leader during the war, and managed to cajole the major factions of the Great Veche to form a Government of National Unity. The GNU was unique in Venadian modern history for also including the President in the cabinet, and Shishko managed to assume powers and responsibilities way beyond the ones constitutionally granted to a President. Shishko authorized the expansion of conscription and the implementation of a war-economy, with the government assuming direct control of the majority of Venadian industry and banned labour action for the duration of the war. The Department of Public Safety were granted extraordinary war-time powers with which to combat treason and communists.
Shishko served as commander-in-chief during the war, with the Great Veche's role as collective commander-in-chief largely become symbolic. Shishko participated closely with the Venadian General Staff for the defence of the country, but largely left the military matters to the generals, Shishko himself not being a military genius by any means. Shishko's main achievement in the general staff was to veto any consideration for usage of chemical weapons.
The president became a rallying figure in the war, and Shishko as a political independent with a wide range of experience in life managed to become a symbol. He spoke regularly to the citizens of Venadia by the radio, and to a more limited extent television, and his calm and austere demeanor became a rallying point. Most famously is his speech during the fall of Viniyagorod, his home city, where he urged Venadians to take heart and resist the foreign invasion.
As the war drew to a close and the post-war map of Ardania was to be drawn, Shishko participated in the highest level negotiations between the allied powers. He was a staunch opponent of punitive measures on the peoples of the communist states, and of the annexation of land by the victors. He was one of the leading figures behind the establishment of the Ardanian Union of States in other to preserve peace, as well as in decolonization of post-war Ardania. His efforts to decolonize Venadia itself was not successful however, despite his push to grant the minority peoples of Venadia national sovereignity.
Personality
Shishko was known for his calm and stoic personality, rarely given to bursts of anger or emotion during the course of the war. Some rare exceptions, according to his memoirs and accounts by those close to him during the war-time years, being the loss of Viniyagorod and of his own son in the fighting on the south-east front. During the latter, Shishko refused to see anyone but his wife for a full day and was openly grieving, but returned to his duties the very next day.
Criticism
While Shishko remains one of the most popular leaders in Venadian history, he is not without his critics or detractors, especially in the past decades. His expansion of the powers of the presidency in particular have been criticized, as this was never done by law but behind closed doors. His authoritarian tendencies in the war has also been criticized, both by detractors on the left and right. His relatively softness against the communists, such as through his support of the legalization of the Communist Party in 1947, was and is sharply criticized by the right-wing.