NationStates Jolt Archive

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Mr. Lauru believes Ariddia is almost ready for communism.

Second Secretary Turei Lauru (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Turei_Lauru), recently elected leader of the PDSRA, appears keen to make his mark on the country's history books. During a press conference today, Mr. Lauru boldly stated his government's aim to lead Ariddia forward towards communism - by contrast with his predecessors Nuriyah Khadhim (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Nuriyah_bint_Rashad_Khadhim) and Aj Ud (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Aj_Ud), who had mainly favoured the status quo. Khadhim did however oversee the implementation of decentralisation, defined as a large step forward towards communism.

"Ariddia has a well-established socialist society," Mr. Lauru said. "Now it is time to start thinking ahead. Our ultimate aim is communism, and always has been. I sincerely believe that aim is now in sight."

He said his government would not rush the Ariddian people, and that every step forward would be made by the citizens themselves, through consensus.

"We're going to look carefully at how decentralisation unfolds," Secretary Lauru said. Decentralisation vested legislative authority in local communities, by empowering community discussion centres, and was intended both to strengthen democracy and lay the groundwork of autonomous communes. "We'll take the time to iron out any difficulties, working with the citizens and the communes themselves. If all goes well, within a few decades, we'll be looking at increasing the autonomy of the communes, and allowing the national State to gradually wither away. That will take us out of State socialism and into true communism."

He explained that his government was now considering a tentative framework to assist that gradual transition.

"Communism isn't something we can hurry into unprepared," he said. "But with our socialist system as it is now, I think we're almost ready. I think... Children who are born today, they will almost certainly know communism within their lifetime. Perhaps even I will. I truly believe it's just a matter of decades now."

Secretary Lauru said one of the major problems the country would have to face was how to have a communist society within a non-communist world.

"There will be difficulties, but we're working on ideas to overcome them. One thing I'd like to do is talk to our friends in other countries, our international partners, to see how we can continue to work in close friendship and cooperation with them. We also need to make sure our friends abroad understand what communism is all about. They'll need to understand what we're doing. And perhaps, if we show them how we're preparing for communism here in Ariddia, they may even be inspired by our ideas too."

UNITED COMMUNIST PARTY OF KELSSEK
Party Headquarters
19 Saint-Exupéry Avenue
Neorvins, NFT Z4A 6H7
Kelssek

The honourable Turei Lauru
Second Secretary of the People's Democratic Socialist Republic of Ariddia.

Dear Mr. Lauru,

It gave me great pleasure to hear your recent remarks regarding the achievability of communism in Ariddia within this generation.

The United Communist Party is the fourth-largest party in Kelssek's Parliament and we share greatly your goal of achieving communism for our nation. Unfortunately, throughout Kelssek's history, progress has rarely gone beyond social democracy. No national leader has ever even expressed the desire to push beyond socialism.

Our party hopes to change that. It is for this reason that I write to you today to invite you to deliver the keynote address at our party convention, which will be held at the Bayshore Expo Centre. Anticipation of a coming federal election is high and has prompted us to move forward the date, in order to elect a new leader to lead us to what I hope will be a large gain in the House of Commons.

I hope that your vision and ideas will inspire our delegates and party members to know that "One day the world together shall dream / cast off the chains of slavery. / One day the people will rise and beam / With joy: Today the world is free!" I hope you can help us to achieve that day.

Sincerely,

Michael Fletcher
Interim party leader
Member of Parliament for Latrobe - South Yarra.

Dear Mr. Fletcher,

I would be delighted to speak at your party conference, and I'd like to thank you for the invitation. It is my country's hope that increased communication and the exchange of ideas between communist parties in friendly nations may be beneficial to all societies concerned. Ariddia wishes you the very best in your endeavours.

Turei Lauru,
Second Secretary,
PDSRA

State government's powers to be gradually reduced

Secretary Lauru has suggested practical measures as an initial framework towards the further decentralisation of power and reduction in the State government's jurisdiction.

Mr. Lauru said that, following the next elections, each government department's scope of activity will be restricted, enabling community discussion centres to exercise ever greater autonomy. At a later and as yet unspecified date, most government departments will be abolished as redundant.

"Within maybe ten years or so, we can consider shutting down a number of departments, and shifting their responsibilities to the communes, under the guidance, when necessary, of the Parliament, the Constitutional Council and the Wehela Iolih. I think we'll still need a department of Trade, a department of Defence, and the Intelligence services (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Ariddian_Intelligence_Service_%28SERA%29), but in the reasonably short term all other departments can be delegated down to the communal level."

Mr. Lauru also suggested that, as from the next election, the number of members in the People's Prime Parliament could be reduced from ninety-nine to forty-nine.

All proposed measures will be submitted to Parliament for approval, then forwarded to the people for a referendum.

North-West Ariddia: "We're centuries away from communism"

Second Secretary Jeremy Cohen, leader of the North-West Ariddian State, has said he "respects and admires" the PDSRA's push towards communism, but that the same would not be feasible in NWA within the foreseable future.

"The PDSRA has community cohesion on this issue," he said. "We, by contrast, have a lot of people who prefer capitalism, or simply a form of socialism. I'm not saying we'll never be ready for communism in North-West Ariddia, but... not now. We're centuries away still."

Mr. Cohen added that the two componant States of the Ariddian Isles' Federation have chosen very different approaches towards socialism.

"In the PDSRA, their aim is to advance towards communism within a foreseable timeframe. Here in in North-West Ariddia, we've decided to respect private enterprise, and to build a form of socialism that's seen as fair and effective by most of our citizens."

The Second Secretary's comments have sparked controversy in his State. Some are now asking why his party calls itself the Democratic Communist Party if -in the words of one citizen- "it's just trying to maintain socialised capitalism".

Others have defended Mr. Cohen's views.

"Communism would be wonderful," one man said, "but this is about being practical. Communism can only come about through evolution, when everyone's ready for it. Here in North-West Ariddia, we're not ready."

Self-government extended to overseas territories

Consistent with its policy of decentralisation, the government in Rêvane has drawn up proposals to confer increased levels of self-government to Ariddia's overseas territories. The inhabitants of each territory will have the opportunity to vote on the proposal by referendum.

1) Gnatanamo (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Gnatanamo). This territory is on Uhuh-Topian sovereign ground, but is administered by Ariddia. It is currently ruled directly by Rêvane, with no devolved authorities except at the municipal level. The new proposal would divide Gnatanamo into autonomous communes, overseen by a Territorial Assembly elected by the territory's inhabitants. Once elected, the Assembly would draw up its own proposal on the division of powers between itself and Gnatanamo's communes, and submit it to the people of Gnatanamo by referendum.
The territory would become completely self-governing, and would have the right to pass laws unilaterally contradicting the Ariddian Constitution. As a failsafe, the Ariddian People's Prime Parliament would retain the right to revoke Gnatanamo's self-government by an 85% majority vote.
Ariddia would remain responsible only for the territory's foreign policies and defence.

2) Eshyosha (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Eshyosha) already has a limited form of autonomy, within the strict bounds of Ariddian law. The province's status is currently considered "transitional", as it may choose to re-integrate Limea if West Ariddia accepts re-unification with Ariddia. In the meantime, the Ariddian authorities propose to grant Eshyosha the status of "commune", with all the rights of autonomy pertaining to that status.

3) The Ariddian Arctic Islands (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Ariddian_Arctic_Islands) are already self-governing. The proposal from Rêvane would remove one of Ariddia's last forms of control over the Islands: the AAIs' choice of head of State would no longer be subject to Ariddia's approval. The AAIs' Council of Chiefs would be empowered to amend the function of Second Secretary, or abolish it altogether, and either dispense with a head of State or choose a new way of selecting one.
Ariddia would remain responsible for the Islands' defence. Negotiations would be opened to consider granting the Islands the right to an independent foreign policy, if ever they request it.

4) Ariddian Antarctica (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Ariddian_Antarctica) will not be granted self-government, and will continue to be administered from Rêvane, with no form of local autonomy.

Overseas territories accept independence

In Gnatanamo, 84.4% of voters have approved self-government in a referendum, and an electoral campaign is just beginnning, to constitute the first ever Territorial Assembly. Local political parties include the Gnatanamo Green Party (GPG), the Party for Industrial Prosperity (PIW), the Moderate Sensible Party (GZP), the Loyalist Imperial Party (LK) and the Uhuh-Topians’ Anti-Communist Party (UTACP). They will compete alongside the two Ariddian parties: the Democratic Communist Party and the Ariddian Isles Blank Party.

Under the terms of the referendum, the Assembly’s first task will be to divide the territory into autonomous communes, in a way deemed acceptable by the territory’s citizens.

The people of Gnatanamo retain the right to Ariddian Isles’ citizenship, including the right to vote in federal elections.

The province of Eshyosha has accepted the status of commune, with an 81.7% rate of approval in the referendum.

In the Ariddian Arctic Islands, citizens have approved a slight change in the Islands’ status by 67.9% in a referendum. The Council of Chiefs may now decide whether to modify the function of head of State in any way.

Meanwhile, in the PDSRA, the government has begun nationwide consultations to enable Ariddians to express their views on the transition towards communism.

“Communism can only be achieved by consensus,” Second Secretary Turei Lauru said. “It is the right and responsibility of every citizen to say what communism means to you, and what you would like the future of this country to be.”

First ever Gnatanamo Territorial Assembly elected

Voters in Gnatanamo, most of whom are citizens of both Uhuh-Topia and the Ariddian Isles, have cast their ballots for their first devolved Territorial Assembly. The Assembly contains thirty-seven seats.

Here are the results of the first election:
Gnatanamo Green Party (GPG): 23.7%
Democratic Communist Party (DCP): 19.5%
Moderate Sensible Party (GZP): 17.9%
Loyalist Imperial Party (LK): 17.0%
Party for Industrial Prosperity (PIW): 14.0%
Uhuh-Topians’ Anti-Communist Party (UTACP): 4.2%
Ariddian Isles Blank Party (BP): 3.7%

Consequently, this is the composition of the first Territorial Assembly:
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The Assembly’s inaugural task is to establish communal autonomy throughout the territory. It is then expected to discuss what form of territorial government to adopt, and name a Cabinet. Before it may do so, MTAs (Members of the Territorial Assembly) will probably seek to form a ruling coalition. Such a coalition would need to control 19 seats. There are, therefore, a number of possibilities.

The Green Party might ally with the Communists and seek the support of the Moderates. Or the Greens and the Moderates may ally with the Loyalists, who support closer connections with Uhuh-Topia than with Ariddia. An alliance between the Greens and the Party for Industrial Prosperity seems unlikely, but one possible combination might bring together the Moderates, the Loyalists, the Party for Industrial Prosperity and the Anti-Communists, who oppose the Ariddian presence in Gnatanamo. Given the strong xenophobic element in the Anti-Communist Party, however, it would seem unlikely that they could combine with the Moderates.

Only the Moderate Sensible Party, with its 7 seats, is almost certain to be a part of any ruling coalition. The Moderates are, in fact, in a position to decide on the composition of the government.

PDSRA: Politicians suggest change in electoral system

In a context of debate over the moves towards communism, new ideas appear to be flourishing within the Democratic Communist Party. A Party think tank has floated the controversial suggestion of radically altering the electoral system, by dividing the State into electoral districts rather than submitting national lists of candidates to voters.

Party doctrine had traditionally been to encourage national unity and political centralisation, hence an electoral system in which each party prepared a single, national list of candidates for parliamentary elections. Now that decentralisation has become the practice, however, some are arguing that the electoral system needs to be adjusted.

“Our aim is to give voters more of a choice, and to make the system even more democratic,” says Lucy James, a member of the informal think tank and a senior civil servant in the Secretariat for the Environment. “In each electoral district, you could have any number of candidates, all of whom would have to be registered as voters within that district. You could have several Communist candidates competing within a same district, even, to give people a real choice. Then you’d have a two round election in each district, and each district would elect an MP. Or maybe even two. There are details we still need to work out. MPs would still have a commitment to the national interest, but they’d also be representing a constituency that they know particularly well. We could apply the same principle to the Wehela Iolih, if Indigenous voters are willing.”

The suggestion has met with some criticism, however. The Ariddian Isles Blank Party has pointed out that it would almost undoubtedly be excluded from Parliament under such a system.

“If MPs are elected from constituencies instead of from national lists, then we’ll lose proportional representation,” Blank Party leader Richard Wright argued. “We’ll have a Parliament where 100% of MPs are from the DCP. That’s not necessarily healthy for democracy.”

Some DCP members have also expressed caution. “The government right now wants to reduce the size of Parliament by half, remember?” one MP said. “If we bring in this new system, the number of MPs will have to be hugely increased. We could be looking at a Parliament with hundreds of MPs instead of four dozen or so. I’m really not convinced we’d need that many.”

Gnatanamo government formed

Political parties in Gnatanamo’s Territorial Assembly have reached an agreement to form a government. The Moderate Sensible Party, in a position to determine the composition of any coalition, has thrown its weight in with the Greens and the Democratic Communist Party.

“Quite frankly,” said MSP representative Cort Laurens, “many of us would have preferred to ally with the Loyalists [Loyalist Imperial Party] and the PIP [Party for Industrial Prosperity]. But that would have left us one seat short of a majority, so in the end there was little alternative.” He added: “We will be putting strong pressure on the Communists and the Greens to make sure that their policies are, well, sensible, moderate, and in the common good. We reserve the right to withdraw from the coalition at any time. Having said that, of course we intend to work hard and make constructive efforts in the hope that this government can function.”

There is some concern about the viability of an apparently unstable coalition. The Greens, however, have said that the Moderates cannot afford to bring the government down.

“If they do, they’ll have no-one else to turn to,” said Green representative Marjolijn Pienaar. “We could always find new coalition partners.”

It is upon this shaky ground that the Territory’s first autonomous government has been announced. The Greens will hold the functions of Prime Minister, Minister of the Environment and Minister for Education, among others. The Communists will hold the Ministry for Culture and a Ministry for Social Affairs, while the Moderates will hold the Ministry of Finance.

Radical change adopted in Ariddian electoral system

The citizens of the PDSRA have approved a number of changes through referenda, prior to the upcoming State election. The State will be divided into 469 constituencies (electoral districts), each of which will elect two representatives to Parliament. The old system of national party lists will be done away with. The State Parliament will be composed of 960 members, including four members representing Gnatanamo, four representing the Ariddian Arctic Islands, one representing Eshyosha, seven representing PDSRA State citizens resident in Limea, one representing Ariddian Antarctica, and five representing PDSRA State citizens resident overseas, who will thus obtain the right to vote in Ariddian elections for the first time. In addition, any party which has taken part in the election, failed to obtain a seat but has obtained at least 1% of the vote State-wide will be granted one seat in Parliament. The latter measure is intended to give political representation to the Blank Party, which is expected to lose out from the abolition of national list representation.

The resulting electoral system is complex, but designed to be “fair and democratic”, in the words of the government. Initial projects to “downsize” Parliament to just 49 members have, therefore, been shelved. Instead, its size will increase by at least 861, being multiplied almost tenfold. Critics of the change have pointed out that the Parliament’s role has already been weakened by decentralisation and communalism, making this a strange time to increase its size.

“What’s the point of having a huge Parliament now that almost all decisions are going to be taken at the communal level?” one voter asked. The government has replied that constituency representation on the national level is a further step towards communism.

A current proposal may see the Wehela Iolih (Indigenous Parliament) be elected in a similar manner, with an even larger number of Indigenous constituencies each electing two representatives. The proposal is unlikely to be implemented prior to next year's election (if indeed ever), due to the issue of North-West Ariddia's representation in the Wehela Iolih.

“We’d need a much, much bigger assembly room,” one current member commented.

Lauru announces Cabinet

Following his re-election, Ariddian Second Secretary Turei Lauru has begun implenting promises to reduce the scope of government departments' activities, increasing the transfer of decision-making authorities down to the communes.

The Secretariat for Trade and the Secretariat for Defence are maintained unchanged. Other departments (Housing and the Environment, Health, Culture, Education) still exist, but will merely suggest occasional policy guidelines to the communes, and will exist as expert boards for communes to consult.

"These departments will also advise communes as to whether their actions are in conformity with the Constitution," Mr. Lauru said.

The positions of Assistant Secretary for Reunification and Adviser on Governmental Decentralisation are abolished, as is that of Assistant Secretary for Sport, considered to be redundent. The position of Assistant Secretary for Immigration is likewise abolished, its duties merged into those of the Second Secretary.

In all, the Council of Secretaries is reduced from thirteen members to nine, most of them with diminished authority.

Turei LAURU, Second Secretary
Marc DRU, Secretary for Housing and the Environment
Amanda HIGGINS, Secretary for Health
Robert McINTOSH, Secretary for Culture
Samantha WESH, Secretary for Education
Richard MARTIN, Secretary for Trade and the Treasury
Frank DESRUELLES, Secretary for Defence
Bernard MURÊT, Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology
Lucy MICHAELSON, Head of the Ariddian Intelligence Service (SERA)

"Part of our work over the next five years will be to study the feasibility of devolving authority more fully to the communes, and abolishing all government departments which don't deal exclusively with foreign relations," Mr. Lauru said. "We are moving forward at a steady pace towards phasing out the authority of the State."

The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Syndicalist Union of Okanaman Unity (SUOU)
10 Rue de Martin Bourgeois
District of Downtown Okanama City, OC-1-01
Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune of Okanama City

Dear Mr. Lauru,

The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Syndicalist Union of Okanaman Unity (SUOU), the interregional representatives of the 30,000,000 people that compose the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune of Okanama City, wishes to express its support of your country to transform itself into a society in which the entire population is in total and absolute control of both property and the means of production.

Despite the fact that the roads that both the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune of Okanama City and the People's Democratic Socialist Republic of Ariddia have taken, in order to achieve real Communism, are different in both form and shape, the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune of Okanama City is willing to recognize any kind of road to Communism that can be taken by your country, as long as the road that is taken actually puts power in the hands of the Ariddian working class and does not put power in the hands of a State Bureaucratic Monopolistic Capitalist ("Marxist"-Leninist) régime that would sell out the Ariddian working classs by becoming totally Capitalistic.

We are also willing to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Democratic Socialist Republic of Ariddia, if it wishes to do so in reciprocation.

Sincerely,
The Delegates of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Syndicalist Union of Okanaman Unity (SUOU)

Comrade delegates,

We are continuing on the path towards transfering power to the people. Our economy is already an almost fully communist one, devoid of capitalist elements.

We would be pleased to establish diplomatic relations with the people of the Syndicalist Union.

Sincerely,
Turei Lauru,
Second Secretary,
PDSRA

The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Syndicalist Union of Okanaman Unity (SUOU)
10 Rue de Martin Bourgeois
District of Downtown Okanama City, OC-1-01
Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune of Okanama City

Dear Mr. Lauru,

The fact that your nation is willing to establish a relationship with the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune of Okanama City is not anything other than good news. In light of this, we shall send Aiko Aihara-DeVries, and the necessary amount of security and diplomatic officials from the Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune of Okanama City to the People's Democratic Socialist Republic of Ariddia, as so to make such a diplomatic relationship immediately viable.

Sincerely,
The Delegates of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Syndicalist Union of Okanaman Unity (SUOU)