Beth Gellert
| |
| Flag of Beth Gellert | |
| Motto: All Power to the Soviets! | |
| Region | A Modern World |
|---|---|
| Capital | Portmeirion |
| Official Language(s) | Geletian , Welsh , English |
| Leader | The Final Soviet |
| Population | Over 8.2 billion |
| Currency | Shilling |
| NS Sunset XML | |
‘The whole race... is madly fond of war, high-spirited and quick to battle... and on whatever pretext you stir them up, you will have them ready to face danger, even if they have nothing on their side but their own strength and courage’ -Strabo
Context
The Indian Soviet Commonwealth of Beth Gellert exists through role-play in two unrelated parts of the NS Multiverse. The first, which is the primary focus of this article, and a second more recent manifestation existing within the role-playing community A Modern World.
Some aspects of Beth Gellert's political development and some of its major characters are common to both instances.
In AMW the Commonwealth exists with a realistic population size (almost 500 million citizens) based upon real-world figures for the part of the real-world map (Sri Lanka and part of India) that the Commonwealth inhabits.
It is important to note that the nations of Beth Gellert and Beddgelert are essentially analogous, the one being an Anglophone spelling and the other Celtic (specifically Geletian, the largely undefined fictional tongue of the Commonwealth's Celtic population). Both names are pronounced in the same manner. Due to problems in accessing the Jolt forums Beddgelert speaks there for Beth Gellert.
Overview
[reworking to reflect divergence re. Multiverse]
History
[reworking]
Society
[reworking]
Industry, agriculture, and trade
The Indian Soviet Commonwealth claims one of the largest and fastest-growing anti-capitalist economies in the world, and clings dearly to principles of equality, sustainability, and democracy. In fact, democracy in the work-place is considered central to the liberty of the Soviet revolution and essential to mass-empowerment.
The rise of the Second Commonwealth, in which new elections to the Soviets broke the power of the Communist Party and removed the dictatorial Party Secretary and de-facto premier Sopworth Igo, saw the final abolition of capitalism and the removal from the workplace of all managers. Since 1989 all businesses in the Soviet Commonwealth have been run by their workers through membership in Soviets that meet regularly to discuss -and vote upon- workplace policy and business plans. A profit-sharing system -inclusive of democratic accountability- ensures to some degree the maximisation of effort on the part of those who are keen to profit.
Unemployment is virtually unheard of in the Commonwealth, but workloads vary greatly and largely by personnal choice. Within their communes -the Pantisocratic Phalansteries- citizens generally contribute part-time labour to the upkeep of facilities and to the tending of crops sewn in the surrounding fields. Workshops within each Phalanstery turn out some necessities, help to maintain agricultural and defence equipment, and produce local commodities for barter with communes across the vast and eclectic Commonwealth. Cotton from one region is traded for silk from another, and worker-managed state farms between the communes and the cities ensure the common availability of essential staples.
Some comrades survive merely on the product of their Phalanstery and their part-time work within it, but most engage also in job-sharing centred in the University Cities, where -as the name implied- great centres of learning and research pool the resources of comrades and communities across an expansive area for the betterment of all and the continued progress of the revolution. Here, former capitalist enterprises are taken-over by their workers and generally are improved by their self-management techniques, which, according to Soviet propaganda, have significantly improved moral, and as a consequence, also productivity. Since few Soviet citizens hold much respect for the efficiency of full-time managers or the equality of profit-distribution under capitalist systems they find that workers without these bosses can take a greater share of profit from fewer hours of work, and so job-sharing becomes practical and unemployment void.
Transport
Private transport no longer exists in the Indian Soviet Commonwealth, though comrades have no trouble in getting from place to place. A wide range of transport vehicles does exist, including cars and cycles, though in smaller numbers than was the case in the capitalist era. These are generally fitted with electronic beacons that allow communities to check on the number of vehicles available to them and their proximity or condition of use at any time.
Comrades are free to make use of communally-held vehicles in short trips, and abuse of agreed terms of use can be monitored via the mentioned electronic system. Powered vehicles are built to strict specifications on safety and fuel efficiency, and are regulated to confirm with national speed limits. Most cars in Beth Gellert can not pass eighty kilometres per hour. There do exist high performance cars, but these are designated for recreational use within specially demarcated areas, and still must meet fuel efficiency and emissions regulations but face no speed restrictions. Use of such vehicles beyond designated recreational zones is considered criminally dangerous.
That said, such personal forms of transport are not the most popular means of transit within Beth Gellert. That honour goes to the nation’s railways, considered some of the world’s finest. Using a wide gauge generations ago proven to be superior to more widely used narrow gauges, Beddgelen trains are fast and reliable, and provide exceptionally comfortable and safe rides. The rail network is extremely expansive, and its latest generation of engines increasingly fuel efficient and popular. If there is a problem, it lies in communication with the wider world. Portmeirion would like to encourage wider use of its wide-gauge, but the notion of over-hauling entire national rail grids is hard to stomach in most surrounding states.
Bus services, taxis, and trams are also widespread and run to some level around the clock. Recently becoming popular are electric, "share-cars" that are stored in so-called stacks at participating Phalansteries and in connected University Cities. The front car in any stack is always fully charged and may be driven along barricaded courseways between communes and cities and stacked at its destination.
