Veteran Works Commission

The Veteran Works Commission (復功吏) was a government department in Themiclesia from 1945 through 1977, created to provide a source of work for military veterans for the public good.

History

In 1936, the Parliament of Themiclesia passed the Conscription Act, which eventually was responsible for putting over 900,000 individuals, mostly young males, into military service during the Pan-Septentrion War. As the front shifted away from Themiclesia and because the Act only provided the power to conscript for the defence of home territories, a transition towards a volunteer force occurred. Thus the issue of the employment of those who did not volunteer to continue serving emerged at the same time. As the war was fought over Themiclesian land, many industries and businesses were commandeered by the government or destroyed, and there was therefore a shortage of employment for discharged conscripts.

Moreover, the general destruction of infrastructure gave many veterans the unpleasant surprise of becoming homeless; many migrated to the capital city for work and became a source of dissatisfaction for the city's natives. Temporary camps were erected for them in the city's public spaces, and before long these were also sources of disease and squalor. The Kien-k'ang Restoration Committee called these camps "an ulcer upon the city", which drew the ire of the veterans still then living in them complaining that they had nowhere else to go. Private construction permits were rarely issued, and materials were scarce, so even if they had money they weren't able to rebuild their homes.

In 1945, a remediation was attempted by the commencement of a public works campaign aimed at applying the surplus labour to badly-needed reconstruction work. A shortage of funding was responsible for the policy's delayed implementation, but by early 1945 Themiclesia had secured loans from Hallia such that there was funding leftover from the continuing war.

Originally, the Veteran Works Commission was restricted only to consripts under the 1936 Act, as Parliament considered there was a moral imperative to provide for conscripts' livelihoods after they were forced into service. This meant volunteers who fought the war outside of Themiclesia were initially ineligible for work offered by VWC.