Red Guards of the Revolution
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| Red Guards of the Revolution Gardes roges de la revoluçon | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of the Red Guards | |
| Secretary | Ariane de Lostrade (2017 – Present) |
| Founded | September 13, 1938 |
| Headquarters | 18 Plaça de la revoluçon, Brigançon |
| Membership | 1.9 million (2021) |
| Ideology | Champanois socialism Champanois nationalism Equalism (historically) |
| Mother party | Champanois Section of the Workers' International (historical) |
| Newspaper | Juvença communista |
| Website | www.rgc.org.ch |
The Red Guards of the Revolution (Liguersien: Los gardes roges de la revoluçon; Gaullican: Les gardes rouges de la révolution) is a mass youth organization in the Socialist Republic of Champania. The Red Guards is for adolescents and young adults between the ages of 14 and 24. Historically, the organization was operated by the Champanois Section of the Workers' International, however, since the dissolution of the CSWI in 1981, the organization has since been run by the Communist Youth League, a department of the Office of Art, Sports, and Culture. The organization is set up similarly to the CSWI and in the contemporary, largely reflects a modern party organization. In the modern day, membership is estimated to be roughly 93% of eligible members. The Red Guards is also responsible for guiding the activities and doctrine of its sister organization, the Septemberist Pioneer Brigade, which is for children below the age of 14. The current Responsible Secretary is Ariane de Lostrade.
The Red Guards is intended to be the "reliable assistant and fighting reserve of Socialism." The political and ideological goal of the organization is to influence every aspect of life of young people within Champania through the distribution of Champanois socialism and nationalism ideology and theory, and the promotion of communist behavior through the dissemination of the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism. Historically, membership was mandatory, however, in the modern day it is optional but heavily encouraged. Those who do not join often find it difficult to get accepted into universities and pursue chosen career paths. Current membership is estimated to be 1.9 million or 88% of the eligible youth within the nation.
History
The Red Guards were founded in the mid-1930s in the closing years of the Great War, although it would be officially founded in 1938 following the establishment of the Champanois Council Republic. Following the socialist victory in the Champanois Civil War, membership in the organization became mandatory as socialist power was consolidated throughout the country. By making membership mandatory, the hope was Champanois youth would be able to disseminate socialist ideals to their parents, who could be of more dubious ideological loyalty, and to instill political preparedness as Red Guards were considered future CSWI members.
During the 1940s, the Red Guards' main objective was to win the "hearts and minds" of the Champanois youth and to show the benefits of the socialist systems. An emphasis was placed on providing a "happy life" in order to make the organization more appealing to young Champanians. To pursue this so-called "happy life," the Red Guards organized a series of activities including sports and dance events, social events like dances, outdoor activities, and concerts, to provide leisurely activities to young Champanians. These activities had the secondary effect of instilling a unified, socialist identity, and helped foster the new socialist man and new socialist woman. The late-1940s saw the organization of these activities being handled by local level Red Guards cadres, usually specific to a single town or village.
The Equalist coup in 1959, membership of the Red Guards was greatly affected in the ensuing purges. Starting in 1961, the organization began to target university and high-school students , who had begun to be eyed with suspicion for ideological reasonings. Anti-equalist protests in 1962 served as the catalyst for the complete purging and overhaul of the Red Guards under Premier Bastitou Courderç. Young Red Guards were mobilized to prevent, discourage, denounce, unmask and fight against the "enemy protests" and were mobilised, alongside party activists and workers, to spy on student gatherings, crush demonstrations and waste students' free time. Starting later that year, tens of local Red Guards chapters were liquidated, resulting in the arrests of several thousand university and high-school students, of whom hundreds were imprisoned for "antirevolutionary behavior." University and high-school student membership, which had encompassed roughly 30% of total Red Guards membership in 1962, had dropped to under 10% by 1965.
Over the course of the 1960s, an average of 1,700 members were removed monthly, and beginning in 1969, membership in the organization as a whole was operating on a net loss. To counteract this, the Education Reform Directive was passed in 1971, which altered university and military admission standards to include ideological criteria rather than solely meritocratic and (in the case of the military) physical criteria. This saw membership surge as social origin and political allegiance became a necessity for furthering education and career prospects.
The election of Jeremeis Dior as Premier in 1980 saw general reforms to Champanois society generally known internationally as the Champanois Thaw. Despite the generally positive connotations the Thaw has in the East, the Thaw was, at the time, a contentious issue within the country. Following the dissolution the CSWI in 1981, another purge was undertaken against senior members and leadership in the Red Guards who were deemed to be "hazardous" to the Reformistas and later Champanois Socialist Workers' Party (PSOC) reforms. Acting Responsible Secretary Alphonse Fénelon was forced to resign for "right-wing deviations," and other "enemy elements," largely those who continued support for the old Equalist government and Couderç thought, were also purged. To alleviate the purge, Dior made membership in the Red Guards automatic. This resulted in nearly 97% of youth being members in the organization by 1986.
During the PSOC's reforms on youth policy, which began in 1988, the Red Guards were once again attacked by Dior and the PSOC for its "unimaginative" approach to youth. The focus on providing leisure activity to adolescents and young adult, which had effectively disappeared during Equalism, returned and the organization of major cultural and outdoor activities shortly began thereafter. Likewise, the Red Guards began to promote sport as a popular mass activity. The organization encouraged not only physical relaxation but also the spirit of competition. Red Guards-sponsored competitions were organized and held annually at a regional and national level in order to stimulate high-level of performance, but also so that sport scouts can identify talented youths who could benefit from further development in Champanois sport academies who might not otherwise get the opportunity to either from lack of capital or other factors.
Structure
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Secretariat
The Secretariat is the collective leadership of the Red Guards and consists of a Responsible Secretary and Central Committee. The organization is purposely reflective of the Champanois Section of the Workers' International and current political parties' leadership structures, as the original purpose of the Red Guards was to create cadres for party membership. The Central Committee is composed of 19 members and are elected yearly by the annual meeting of the Youth National Congress. The committee functions identically to a politburo and is intended to act as the "day-to-day" leadership of the Red Guards when the Youth National Congress isn't in session. It meets weekly and oversees the organization's finances, issues resolutions on all aspects of the Red Guards' work, responsible for cadre selection within the organization, and instructs regional leaderships.
The Responsible Secretary is elected by the central committee and serves as the main functionary of the central committee. The responsible secretary directly reports to the Secretary of Art, Sports, and Culture and also commonly sits in on the politburo meetings of the various political parties within Champania. The role of the responsible secretary is largely administrative, although through networking, typically are able to wield a great amount of political capital in their own right.
The current Reponsible Secretary is Ariane de Lostrade, who has held the position since 2017.
Hierarchy
The hierarchy of the Red Guards directly mimics that of the Champanois Section of the Workers' International. The highest level is the Secretariat consisting of the Responsible Secretary and Central Committee and is the nearest equivalent the Red Guards has to that of a politburo. Directly below the Secretariat is the Youth National Congress. The Youth National Congress (Congres naçonal juvençe, CNJ) convenes once every year and makes major alterations to Red Guards' doctrine and statutes. The Youth National Congress is also responsible for electing the Secretariat and the Responsible Secretary. Three main bodies dominate the lower echelons of the Red Guards below the Youth National Congress. These are, from highest to lowest, regions, districts, and battalions. Regional and district leadership organizations essentially replicate those in place in the Secretariat. The Youth Conference (Conferénça juvença CJ) is a sublevel equivalent of the Youth National Congress and meets every six months at the regional level and every four months at district level. Youth Conferences elect delegates to represent the region at the Youth National Congress. Regional and district Secretariats constitute the main decision-making bodies at the region and district level of the Red Guards and handle budgetary matters as well as expelling and promoting subordinates.
Battalions represent the "nerve centers" of the Red Guards and are the smallest organizational unit within the organization. They can vary in size from being the entire student body of a school district to the members of a religious youth group or similar body. In the case of larger basic units, intermediary bodies – "branch organizations" – are placed into the hierarchy to serve as intermediates between the various bodies of the basic unit. Battalions are subject to a hierarchal structure themselves. Battalions are composed of companies, which may be made up of a particular graduating class or other, which themselves are made up of squads or teams. Squads are led by a leader and an assistant leader and are companies led by a committee of five-to-seven members. Battalion leadership is largely reflective of those above it and consists of a secretary and a committee of seven-to-fifteen members depending on the battalion size. All staffing at the battalion level is done by volunteers selected from the membership of the basic unit, although some staffing at larger battalions could be full-time employees. The leadership of the battalion organize biweekly membership meetings for local members where organizational and, when warranted, political issues are discussed. As of 2021, there are over 635,000 battalions within the Red Guards.
Membership
Citizens enter the Red Guards at the age of 14 when they are typically in Grade 9 in the Champanois school system. Since the early 2000s, membership is not compulsory but nonetheless is heavily encouraged and non-members face discrimination for not joining. Those who do not join often find it difficult to get accepted into universities and pursue chosen career paths.
Membership of the Red Guards is largely composed of former Septemberist Pioneer Brigade who "graduated" to the Red Guards following their 14th birthday. Transfers between the Septemberist Pioneers and the Red Guards are conducted in yearly mass initiation ceremonies held in Brigançon and the cost of travel and board are covered jointly by both organizations. At the initiation ceremony, the new members swear an oath of loyalty to the Champanois government and exchange their blue neckerchiefs for red ones. Because of the importance of the ceremony, the Generalitat and senior leadership of the various political parties within Champania are typically in attendance, and there is typically a military honor guard.
From the age of 18 and onwards, members of the Red Guards may submit applications to concurrently join a political party, but this process can be much more selective depending on the political party in question.
Individual files are kept by battalion leaders on members for as long as the individual is a member of the Red Guards. The personal file contains information on the individual as well as reviews on their loyalty and behavior while they were a member. Periodically, these files are audited by district level personnel. Large instances of personal files having questionable behavior or loyalty typically results in the battalion leadership being replaced and, in more extreme cases, the battalion itself being forcibly disbanded. When Red Guards apply for work, it is not uncommon for the potential employer to request their personal file or to request an interview with the battalion leader. This creates an incentive for members to maintain a constant appearance of loyalty and diligence.
Duties
With Champanois politics, the Red Guards serves as an important site for ideological indoctrination of Champanois socialism and mass mobilization. Weekly meetings are held by battalions (or companies if it's a particularly large battalion) where members are introduced to the tenets of socialism and their correct interpretations. Supplemental history lessons are also given at these meetings which present ideologically embellished versions of selected events in Champanois history. Political indoctrination remains an important facet of the Red Guards well into the modern day, especially with battalions at the university level where members are more susceptible to foreign influence.
In addition of political inculcation, Red Guards are given moral instruction and are taught to "live correctly." Historically, this meant living according to Equalist doctrine, but in the contemporary has meant broadly aligned with socialism and, more loosely, councilism. Smoking, drinking, participating in religion, and other "threatening" activities are discouraged as hooliganism, and one of the main goals of the Red Guards is to provide alternative leisure activities to those. While moral instruction has been less stringent since the Champanian Thaw, the country still maintains one of the continent's lowest rates of juvenile delinquency, and violent crime and drug abuse among adults aged 18-30.
Cultural outings
Weekly meetings are supplemented by large-scale "outings" typically organized at the district level. Cultural outings act as another facet for Left-wing nationalism and important museums, monuments, and government buildings are often the target of such outings. Common destinations are the National Museum of History in Brigançon, Monument to the Heroes of the Revolution, and memorial sites dedicated to the victims of Functionalist Gaullica. It is not uncommon for pre-revolution buildings and monuments to be visited as part of a cultural outings, as they're primary focus is to instill patriotism first and foremost rather than a socialist identity.
Also grouped under cultural outings are holiday trips, summer camps, recreational outings such fishing trips and other outdoor activities, music festivals, and sports competitions. These outings are typically called "mass activities" by the upper echelons of leadership within the Red Guards and are meant to foster unit cohesiveness and sense of community within the battalion. Regions will commonly organize demonstrations and parades for important public holidays, while at a national level, sport competitions are organized annually by the Secretariat. These sports competitions are meant to not only provide physical relaxation, but also to instill a competitive spirit and so sport scouts can identify talented youths who could benefit from further development in Champanois sport academies who might not otherwise get the opportunity to either from lack of capital or other factors. This has translated to Champania possessing a vibrant sports culture.
Military preparedness
Special "military preparedness" weekends are held every six months and are a special type of cultural outing organized by districts, and typically go from a Friday to the following Monday. Members will travel to a military base where they will listen to lectures given by officers or the base commander and take part in "training exercises," which typically include familiarization with equipment used by the Champanois People's Army, fitness tests, and target practice on a firing range. Outside of these special weekends, recreational outings such as hiking and camping also facilitate military preparedness and will usually carry a military undertone.
Military preparedness weekends acts as an important primer within Champania's National Service Program and they assist the military identify strong candidates for recruitment. They also ensure that all members of the Red Guards have a basic understanding of military procedure and military training. While unnecessary in the modern era, they are considered important for building discipline and patriotism.
Norm enforcement
Through the weekly meetings and cultural outings, Red Guardsmen are expected to not only live up to their moral lessons, but to propagate these lessons through the general population. Historically, this commonly meant public demonstrations against the "three evils:" the All-Soravian Union of Republics, Euclean Community, and at times Kirenia. The Champanian Thaw largely normalized relations between Champania and Kirenia and the Euclean Community, causing organized demonstrations to instead target Equalism and other "ideological enemies." Additionally during this time, demonstrations against smoking and drinking also began to be organized. Since the 2010s, public demonstrations against the "encroachment of Western culture" have started to become more common, reaching their peak in 2019 when a demonstration was held in Brigançon that was attended by over 120,000 Red Guardsmen.
Alongside demonstrations, the organization encourages hard work and discipline in all tasks they're performing and promoting socialist values. The Moral Code of the Builder of Communism remains an important piece of Red Guards teaching, and all members are expected to uphold them in everyday life. Additionally, members are expected propagate the moral code and to call out fellow citizens on behavior that they deem contradicts the code. The charter of the Red Guards also encourages its members to "present oneself as a shiny example to society."
Symbols and traditions
Like other youth communist organizations, the Red Guards utilize the color red in all of their symbolism and it serves as its official color. Prior to the Champanian Thaw, the Red Guards used the national colors of Champania: purple, gold, and maroon, as its official colors. The adoption of red came in 1984 and served as a symbolic show of solidarity of the Red Guards to the communist youth organizations abroad.
Alongside the red banner, which serves as the de facto official flag of the organization, the Red Guards also utilize an emblem consisting of flag waving over a sun, meant to symbolize the dawn of the new world order under a global communist system. The initials of the Red Guards are emblazoned in the top left corner of the flag, while the initials of the "Socialist Republic of Champania" (RSC) is in a trapezoid directly below the sun. Like the official colors, this emblem was introduced in 1990, replacing the previous emblem which showcased a stylized flag of Champania with two Red Guards in front. A plaque with the motto of the organization, Vers un manha soçialista (Towards a Socialist Tomorrow), was placed below the flag and Red Guardsmen, along with the founding year of the socialist government. The emblem was changed as part of wide spread de-Equalization measures during the Champanian Thaw.
Like Scouting organizations in non-communist countries, the Red Guards commonly use bugles and snare drums as attributes during demonstrations, marches, and rallies.
Uniforms
The uniform of the Red Guards acts as an important identifier for both members and non-members alike. The Red Guards uniform is an extension of the existing school uniform, with the addition of a red neckerchief. The shirt worn was a plain white button-down shirt with a stylized emblem patch on the left shoulder, battalion emblem on the right shoulder, and rank insignias on both shoulders. Members are given both a long-sleeved and short-sleeved shirt, with long-sleeve to be worn during winter and in formal functions, and short-sleeve for summer usage. Males are given blue slacks and shorts and females are given blue long and short skirts. Headdresses are optional but when required to wear, males are given a red field service cap and females are given a red beret. For outdoor duties, both men and women are given khaki brown polo shirts and long pants or skirt, with an optional red field service cap. Instructors and mature members wear the same uniforms as rank-and-file members, with the exception of the headress being mandatory rather than optional. This is done to make them standout in crowds so that younger members may be able to locate them situations when needed.
Several other uniforms are utilized by the organization. Full dress uniforms are worn for induction ceremonies, by members of the Youth National Congress, and at formal functions of honor. It consists of a button-down long-sleeve shirt in white or light blue with a red field service cap and black long pants or shirt depending on the gender. The red neckerchief is replaced instead with a crimson sash. The local battalion insignia is not present on the dress shirt, replaced instead with a stylized version of the Champanois coat of arms. Police uniforms are worn almost exclusively by mature members when on security duty (such as at an induction ceremony or rally). It consists of a light blue long-sleeve jacket with rank insignias, a long-sleeve button-down white shirt with a black tie, and light blue or black long pants or skirt depending on the gender. A light blue field service cap is worn. Members participating in sailing activities wear sailor caps with a blue-and-white short sleeve shirt, red neckerchief, and black long pants or skirt depending on the gender. Another commonly used uniform is one for welcoming state workers, commonly infrastructure construction workers, and consists of olive coveralls with insignias, white button-down short-sleeve shirt with red neckerchief, and black short pants or skirt. This uniform is meant to show solidarity.
Pledge
The pledge is recited upon the induction of new member to the Red Guards. Prior to the start of mass induction ceremonies, the pledge was recited in front of the battalion that the person was joining. After reciting, an older member ties the Red Guards' neckerchief on the new member, thus making the inductee a fully-fledged member.
The current iteration of the pledge (formulated in 1982) is as follows:
I, (First name, Last name), joining the ranks of the Red Guards of the Revolution in the presence of brothers-and-sisters-in-arms solemnly promise: to love and cherish the Socialist Republic, to live as the martyrs of 1935 bade us to, as the Socialist Republic teaches us to, as required by the laws of the Red Guards of the Revolution."
Rules
In addition to the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism, which is a generalized set of moral rules adopted in 1946 that every Champanian citizen is expected to follow, a more specific set of rules exist within the Red Guards. The rules, in their generalized form presented below, is printed on the back of Red Guards' membership book.
- A Red Guard is a builder of communism, labors for the welfare of the Socialist Republic, prepares to become its defender.
- A Red Guard is an active fighter for peace, a friend to Young Pioneers and workers' children of all countries.
- A Red Guard follows the state's example, prepares to become a party member, leads the Septemberist Pioneer Brigade.
- A Red Guard upholds the organization's honor, and strengthens its authority by deeds and actions.
- A Red Guard is a reliable citizen, always acts according to conscience.
- A Red Guard has a right to elect and be elected to Red Guard self-government institutions, to discuss the functioning of the Red Guards organization on Red Guards gatherings, meetings, gatherings of councils of Red Guards detachments and groups, in the press; to criticize shortcomings; to submit a proposal to any council of the Red Guards Organization, including the Youth National Congress; to ask for a recommendation when applying for work or enlisting.
Awards and honors
Individual Red Guards who excel at academic study, work, or sports competitions are given special recognition for their hard work and dedication. These recognitions come in the form of awards. Red Guards who meet the requirements for such awards, such as maintaining a grade point average above a certain threshold, are eligible to be recommended for a certain award. Awards recommendations are viewed yearly at the district level, where they are either approved or denied. Those that have the recommendations approved then attend an award ceremony held in the district home city, where they are given their awards. The awards take the form of a badge or medal depending on its type, and members are allowed to display them on their dress uniform if they so choose. Members who achieve notable feats are recorded in the organizations Book of Honor.
The organization itself has received several medals and accolades. Since its creation, the Red Guards have received two Orders of Vielescòt, two Orders of the Revolutionary Red Banner for the organization's service during the Miersan War and Lemovician War, one Order of the Banner of Labor, and one Order of Red September. Nearly 45,000 individuals within the organization have obtained personal medals and decorations from the Champanois government, including six Orders of Vielescòt, four Orders of the Revolutionary Red Banner, twenty-seven Orders of the Banner of Labor, and three Orders of Red September.