Difference between revisions of "Marxism"

Revision as of 16:33, 19 May 2005

This article deals with Marxism as it relates to NationStates. For more general information, see the Wikipedia article on this subject.

Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of the RL figure Karl Marx. Within NationStates there is a large and powerful Marxist community, more commonly referred to as socialists or (incorrectly) liberals. In the article below, socialism is often used instead of the term Marxism. While it is recognised that there are other types of socialism (e.g. Christian or Fabian socialism), the major type was and continues to be the schools of thought based around Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky. Many also include the works of Stalin and Mao Zedong. This explains in brief the high degree of interchanging terminology.

Marxism in regional gameplaying

What follows is a history of the application of Marxism and related ideologies to intra- and inter-regional relations.

The application of Marxism to NationStates became a feature early on in regional government structure. The Proletariat Coalition (TPC) under its founder Haderan and his successors was a Socialist region which sought to engender equality between the members. The region maintained a fairly basic form of rule by referendum until Southern Tasmania created the TPC Constitution, which was democratically ratified by the region and instituted formal ministerships and written constraints on the powers of the executive officers, with a seperate judiciary branch for members to keep their elected officials in line.

The USSR claimed to be Marxist upon its inception, but outside of roleplaying, the government structure and indeed the members of USSR had no real conception of Marxist theory until other Marxist governments were already well established.

The Anticapitalist Alliance (ACA) was another left wing region, with the roleplay-oriented Coalition of Anti-Capitalist Economies (CACE). This group organised aid to struggling nations which had voted themselves an anti-capitalist, anti-statist system of economy, including Anarchists and Marxists. It continues to be a major success in NationStates, attracting many nations to the anti-capitalist banner.

Later than both of these, by April 2003, came another major socialist region, Allied States of EuroIslanders. The ASE was unique; unlike the reliance on national governments of the AntiCapitalist Alliance and the strong executive-based representative democracy of The Proletariat Coalition, the Allied States of EuroIslanders was the first NationStates direct democracy, based on the sovereignty of a common Assembly of Allied States in which all members held votes. At its height, the ASE reached 352 members, something still unequalled by any socialist region.

Other smaller Marxist regions existed during this time, including Coalition of Socialist States, World Socialist Alliance, The USSR, The Lefts Nirvana, Socialist Alliance, New Socialist Alliance and others, each of whom made contributions to the inter-regional scene by their relations with one or more of the three major socialist regions in NationStates. These relations were consistently of a friendly nature, involving mutual defence pacts and agreements on common policy. Out of bi-regional relationships grew the first Marxist interregional organisations.

The first interregional organisation of Marxists, which included other left wing ideologies was the MASS Alliance, an alliance which found its common expression in a policy of mutual defence of the left wing of NationStates, of open membership to any region which wished to join and of co-operation with other groups insofar as was possible. The MASS Alliance was not particularly well organised, relying rather upon comradeship until the time of the war with the Atlantic Alliance.

Following victory in the war against the Atlantic Alliance, the leading members of the MASS Alliance realised the time had come for the next step to be taken in Socialist inter-regional relations and thus EuroSoviets, Blackbird, Xha'dam and Danitoria amongst others set up the Red Liberty Alliance. The RLA was much more centralised than the MASS Alliance and with definite command structures and obligations, it functioned much more efficiently. The RLA grew to ten member regions and underwent great changes, pioneered by EuroSoviets, Dobbyniania and Equality-Liberty, to bring democratic centralism more to the fore, allowing members greater control over the executive positions and increasing the openness of the forums.

Whilst the RLA was going from strength to strength another organisation was finding its feet. The RKKA - an organization of Socialist regions under the leadership of ComradeGeneral. The RKKA consistently portrays itself as the great defender against fascist invaders, willing to go on the offensive where needed. The RKKA's strength is found in its more practical approach to defense and invasion, and it grows at a very rapid rate, and has opened dialogues with the RLA and other large Socialist organizations frequently to discuss alliance and cooperation, despite often receiving a hostile response.

The degree to which various region and allaince accurately resemble a true Marxist government is highly contraversial. While the RKKA has come under criticism, certain members would argue that its directly democratic government is far closer to a true Marxist government than the Democratic Centralism of the RLA. Nevertheless, certain RKKA member regions operate by Democratic centralism, like the RLA, or are not democratic at all.

Noted Marxist Nations in NationStates

• Blackbird (Bolshevik Leninist)
• Cavalieriana (Stalinist)
• Constantinopolis (Semi-Leninist Marxist)
• Danitoria (Bolshevik Leninist)
• Dobbyniania (Non-Leninist Marxist)
• The New Soviet State (Comrade Shane) (Revolutionary Marxist)
• Dublin Commune (Non-Leninist Marxist)
• EuroSoviets (Bolshevik Leninist)
• Karpathos (Bolshevik Leninist)
• Marturia Central (Comrade Martin) (Marxist-Leninist)
• Masterayabaya (Non-Leninist Marxist)
• RedCommunist (Marxist)
• The Red Factions (Non-Leninist Marxist)
• Xha'dam (Bolshevik Leninist)