NationStates Jolt Archive

Aware that the struggle against capitalist -and even feudalist- exploitation continues yet into the twenty-first century and observing the treasons and failures of such movements as Democratic Socialism and Marxian Communism, the Beth Gellert-based League of Communists commissions comrade Graeme Igo to compose a cohesive call to revolutionary arms, one for global distribution and support of immediate action.

All Power to the Soviets!

Graeme Igo, a Geletian Celt of the Cornovii tribe, from the southern end of the Indian Soviet Commonwealth of Beth Gellert (known amongst his Celtic kin by the de-Anglicised form Beddgelert), is considered the chief architect of India's political and economic structure. Graeme, a well-traveled left-wing lecturer and author, is father to Sopworth Igo, former Chief Secretary of the now-defunct Communist Party of India (Amalgamated [Maoist, Marxist-Leninist]), which ruled India for seven years following 1982's stunning May Revolution.

Graeme was instrumental in negotiating the CPI's surrender of power during the bloodless 1989 February Revolution, when dissent by the Soviets undermined Leninist Democratic Centralism and broke Party control not long after the infamous Battle of Salvador between Soviet aircraft and the unfortunate navies of India's former Prince, Llewellyn, and of the now-defunct Shieldian Empire of Iansisle.

Grandfather of the Indian Revolution, Graeme begins to put the Igovian case by a quick criticism of the alternatives, the other attempts towards socialism and communism.

Igovian theory reminds us that Karl Marx is not the father of Communism. He did not invent it, it did not arise with the Manifesto of the Communist Party, and indeed the term was pre-existing, having arisen probably in France as a means of describing a radical left off-shoot of the Republican movement, long before Marx and Engels even began their collaboration. Igovians want revolutionaries to be capable of thinking beyond Marxian dogma.

Socialism is, according to Graeme Igo, an economic system, while Communism is a style of living, even a state of being, and one in which a socialist method of economic relation is natural and at home. The Marxist idea of transition from Socialism to Communism is burdensome and unnecessary, and the notion of transitional dictatorship -in any form-, another pre-Marxist notion picked-up when Marx and Engels were commissioned by their peers to draft a manifesto, is certainly quite fanciful and in truth unwise.

"If you want Socialism" says Igo, "live socialist. If you want Communism, raise a commune."

Igovian Communism

Communism is achieved by living in commune. It entails camaraderie, liberty, and equality. It is democracy incarnate.

All public offices must be staffed by and accountable to the public. There must be no prince and no legislator. Officers must be elected and must be subject to immediate recall by popular referenda enabled by public petition. Their legislation, too, must be exposed to alteration or veto by referenda.

Indians find it best to live in communes -Pantisocratic Phalansteries- in order to co-ordinate local democracy and sustain a strong communal spirit, and their communes average about fifteen hundred heads. It may be possible, Igo concedes, to have communistic democracy under different living conditions, but this is for different cultures to discover.

In Soviet India, communes hold Local Soviets (Soviets of the First Level) open to all residents. These elect officers to manage aspects of communal life, from the armoury to the workshop, and they also elect delegates to the Regional Soviet. Soviets of the First Level circulate petitions drawn-up by members and hold referenda based upon those that succeed in acquiring votes equivalent to a percentage threshold, which usually is around two percent of the population, or some thirty residents. These deal with local issues, such as comrade X's management of the work rosta in the potting shed, and with the legislations of the particular higher Soviets to which the commune elects delegates.

Graeme quotes Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in saying that, "to make a [political] party you split society" and also quotes Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli in order to frame in history the idea that party politics are more divisive than democratic, competitive rather than co-operative.

There are no legal political parties in Beth Gellert -the last, the Communist Party, being banned in 1989-, democracy being instituted through the Soviets, direct at local level and, at regional, state, and national level, by constantly-accountable representation with extensive popular over-sight through publicly-arranged referenda.

Igovian Socialism

Democracy must extend to the economic sphere or it can not rightly be said to exist at all.

It is impossible for a non-socialist society to be really democratic. All non-socialist institutions are, unavoidably, enemies of the people. Society creates economic capacities and needs on the most basic level: a person can not become rich, a capitalist, without exploiting these capacities and needs, thus stealing from society.

One of the better insights of Marx's work centres on the productive explosion of the historic period coinciding with the rise of the bourgeois. Marx was at least a pioneer in recognising that market forces are fundamental in continually creating new needs for an economy to satisfy, thus inducing its limitless expansion. He did, however, while giving cause to suppose that it ought to be replaced, fail to explain how the mechanism would be replaced in the Marxian conception of communism as following his vague socialism. His implication seems to have been, in essence, that it would be achieved by magic!

Igovian theories go a little further, Igovians being unafraid of commitment while Marxists are infamously unwilling to consecrate a specific, practical path. Marxist movements are, as history suggests, doomed by their failure to address complaints that Marx himself raises without ever resolving.

It is surely the task of the revolutionist, then, to harness the boundless vitality of market forces without abandoning the masses to the inhuman disinterest of same, without tasking naturally self-interested capitalists with the wardship of society and its prosperity.

Marxist-Leninists and others who take Marx's work as the origin and foundation of socialism have ignored the market as if it were an enemy defeated by blunt disengagement and have relied upon centrally-planned command economics just as they have to often embraced the farce of democratic-centralism in their Communist Parties. So-called Democratic Socialists have done little if anything to introduce democracy into economic relations, and continue to rule politically by the shoddy mandate of one party (or coalition) as elected at the expense of all others. Some self-professed socialists and communists continue to tolerate private enterprise: one must have the free choice to exploit others, after all!

But central-planning can not sustain growth in the long term. Telling people what to produce and in what quantity is not democratic and certainly not dynamic. Over time the rise of imbalances in supply and demand will always stagger even the most formidable of command economies. Continuing to allow private ownership or control of capital goods is not socialistic, not equal.

Enough complaints, we are not mere Marxists! It is time for solutions.

The Indian Soviet Commonwealth has a complicated but effective economic policy. All capital goods belong to the state. This means that they can not be removed from the economy as may happen in a capitalist regime when a business becomes insufficiently profitable for the tastes of its likely-absent investors and owners, and can not be out-sourced and stolen from the society that created them.

Capital belongs to the state, then, but a citizen's work is his or her own. Work places are managed democratically. Workers' Soviets involve all workers in a particular enterprise and exist to vote for managers where they are required, to review and vote on practice and strategy, to over-see all activity. Most decision are made by the Soviets -by the workers themselves- and some by the elected and accountable manages.

Competition between Soviets is free, and none may own stakes in another. Foreign concerns may access the Beddgelen market, needing only to have their products qualified by a specially elected Soviet body as legitimate Produce of Socialist Labour. Once this concern is satisfied there are few barriers to entry.

There exists in the Commonwealth an India-wide Intranet -Indonet- over which information is shared so as to enable co-operation and standardisation, and to give producers and consumers equal access to complete information.

With widespread standardisation, freely available consumer information, and low barriers to entry, the socialistic economy of communist Beth Gellert goes a long way towards achieving a state of perfect competition, especially as state-ownership of capital enables real commonality of produce.

In Soviet enterprises, profit-sharing is practiced. That all jobs are to be paid equally in a socialist economy is a myth, vile propaganda from the conservative -if not, perhaps reactionary- wing.

Each Soviet decides for itself what percentage of made profits should be assigned to each position in a particular enterprise. There is no secret ballot in this matter, so one wishing to vote oneself a pay-increase must openly state a case and convince one's peers of its justness. Due to profit-sharing, mistakes hurt all and are quickly addressed. If labourers give themselves more than their out-voted expert colleagues and said experts lose motivation or seek alternate employment then profits fall and labourers find their shares less valuable. In time, Soviets get it right.

Profit-sharing replaces some competition with co-operation: if you work harder, the company makes more money and your fixed share is worth more; if your colleague works harder, the company makes more money and your fixed share is worth more. Beddgelen workers share their know-how and help one another instead of back-stabbing and climbing.

Businesses compete, colleagues co-operate.

Ah! You say, so the Soviets are at the mercy of the market? No! Raipur's Soviet Commune does not tell its workers what to produce as in a system derived from Marxian theories, but its elected body of experts, supported by the Soviets, universities, and Indonet, does set prices. When supply of X is out-stripping demand for X the Commune lowers X's price. X is now more desirable to the consumer and less alluring to the producer. When supply of Y is insufficient to meet demand for Y the Commune raises Y's price, encouraging producers to invest in Y's output and lessening demand.

When a commodity becomes unprofitable some Soviets will vote to give-up and either disband to seek work elsewhere or to return their capital goods to the state and acquire new capital for production of a different commodity. Still, without unproductive managers, absent shareholders, and individual owners drawing inordinate portions of profit, and with the ability to vote on alternate reactions beyond lay-offs and out-sourcing, and the support of the League of Communists, Soviet enterprises have a failure rate far below those seen in most capitalist states.

The Indonet's free exchange of information on a socialist cyber-market and equal advertising access helps further in ensuring Soviet success and in the ideal of perfect competition.

The League of Communists is a collaboration between hundreds of thousands of Soviets, communes, and businesses. Members contribute currency to its central fund, which grants start-up capital, interest-free loans, advice, and aid to Soviet enterprises. There are no interest rates in Beth Gellert, but all businesses pay Value Tax on capital since all capital goods -though democratically controlled in operation through worker-self-management- belong to the state. This, it should be noted, is a fixed value tax and in being so it doesn't merely gather investment funds but also encourages efficiency by compelling Soviets to be economical in the employment of capital.

Spreading Liberation with the World Revolution

The Indian Soviet Commonwealth of Beth Gellert now considers it proper to offer support, via the League of Communists, to individuals, enterprises, and nations wishing to pursue Igovian practice or something compatible with its basic tenets.

Businesses, even within capitalist economies, practicing the sort of self-management described by Igo may appeal to have their wares qualified by the Soviet Commune as Produce of Socailist Labour thus enabling them to be marketed to more than nine billion wealthy Indians. Businesses wishing to join the League of Communists may petition Raipur and put forward a membership fee if it is within their means (credit may otherwise be granted): some may even receive capital goods provided that they pay the proscribed Value Tax to Raipur's central fund.

It is likely that Soviet India will go to considerable lengths to support such enterprises in their appeals to avoid domestic taxes leveled by their less-democratic governments.

Raipur will also be keen to open trade with nation states operating compatible economic systems, and offer help in their development and defence.

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The book sold several thousand copies in TWSP, but it wasnt very succesful, the only goverment official to adquire one was the President.

Alas, the Soviets dont like those who push their ideologies unto others.

If we were trying to push anything on them, they'd jolly well know about it the most common opinion on the streets of Beth Gellert in respect of TWSP's paranoid defensiveness. Graeme Igo himself suggests that the non-receptive nature of the nation in question is owing to the current order's desire to preserve itself against reform that would be for the benefit of the masses.

Indian Soviet universities remain stumped by TWSP's economic model, which reports a controlled free market -a seeming nonsense- and capitalism under a 100% tax rate. This confusion is an issue because the possibility of a genuine socialist sector in TWSP's economy represents a chance for trade that remains impossible at the present time.

A message from Comrade Cole of the USSZ is sent to the Beddgelen government from the World Socialist Alliance.

FROM GCOMM COLE

The USSZ applauds G. Igo's newest work. It is a breath of fresh air in a stale socialist environment. I personally am pushing for it to be in every library and taught in every school. The economic system that your Noble nation employs is notable for its strength, and for its empowerment of the Worker. The Zintharian Goverment has decided that in order to modernize our antiquated economic system, we shall be taking steps to imitate the Beddgelen economic system.

Once again, I must applaud the Beddgelen governments intelligence.

Sincerely,
Grand Commissar Cole
USSZ

The book is allowed only a limited sale in Rodenka, and is ripped apart by critics, most prominently by Albert Hup, who wrote in his nationally published column that "Igo's book is another attempt to make the defunct and destructive ideology of Lenin-Marxism seem like a viable govenmental and economic model in the modern world...Those who have seen Communism first hand know that the entirety of this book is a despicable falshood."

On Communism is a complete failure within British Londinium, with only seven copies purchased within the nation. The few retailers which chose to sell the book were frequently broken into and had their copies burnt to a crisp, the flames later put out by streams of human urine.

The book On Communism, made number one in the charts. That is for the rats who ate it. Only 2 copies were sold, the rest were thrown into the ocean or eaten by rats.

In With the Critics, Morning TV show,

"Hi I am Bob Wilson, and this is In With the Critics. Our first book I will talk about is, peice of shit book, by some fucked up company, in one of the most fucked up shitty places to live. This book is On Communism out of 6 stars this book got a negative 8. Ouch. Now the only thing I have to recomend about it is, that it is a wonderful decoration in your garbage. I wouldn't burn because the shit written in it might come out.Also because of this peice of shit book, we might invade these assholes. And I probably won't get fired for cursing so much, because even the government hates this fucking book. Good bye, and see you tomorrow!"

Sales in Kroando

Perhaps it was fate, perhaps it was sheer misfortune. The day that the book, On Communism was released in Kroando was the same day that the Human Order had declared victory of the United Popular Socialist Front, the Communist Organization of Northern Africa which had been in conclift with the Order since the end of the Heroma Dictatorship the two had overthrown a year before. The hatred the people held for the book was clear, as copies burned in the streets, or were stolen and smuggled into Chad, where they sold quite well.

My counter-work to On Communism: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=532969

While a few hard-core Igovians, mostly Geletian Celts from the Igovo region of course, are livid when hearing of foreign attacks on Igo's teachings, most Beddgelens are merely sad to see the depths to which majorities have sunk under the yoke of powerful thieves.

Some day, Graeme reminds his more hot-headed admirers, the children of those who burn literature today will break into government halls, raise the red flag, and will open civilised libraries of their own, even if they must borrow from ours!

Others point out that a certain Mr.Hup quite clearly hasn't even read On Communism -or else certainly never knew what Marxism-Leninism was- or he'd have realised something of the unreconcilable differences between Igovian and Marxian theory.

The Zintharians, meanwhile, receive an undertaking from the League of Communists (India) to deliver technical and capital support in their nation's economically democratic rebirth. Though apologetic in that it represents only $100 to each Zintharian, the League is able to to agree that working-hours and capital goods to the approximate value of US$4.5 billion will be offered to the United Socialist States over the course of the next year.

Experts from the Commonwealth will be offered in whatever construction -to physical items or to systems of relation- on proposed temporary visas, during which several hundred Beddgelens would spend up to twelve months living and working with Zintharians.

Beyond this no further out-right gifts are offered at this juncture, but Zintharian workers may be able to seek the same interest-free loans that Indian businesses regularly acquire when seeking start-up capital. At least until the USSZ's own economy is positively productive in its own right.

Raipur makes no requests or demands, expects to pursue no debts nor deploy any military force, but hopes that the Zintharian restructuring will see healthy two-way trade develop between the ISCBG and USSZ.

Independently of the national authorities, a number of Soviet universities have offered scholarships to Zintharian students who wish to try undertaking part of their studies abroad in order to bring home the means to sustain their revolutionary momentum.

All Power to the Soviets!

Dispatching ten thousand copies to the libraries of The Northern Baltic, Igovians are fired once again with enthusiasm as more people begin to take on board the principles of real democracy, and with it equality and liberty.

Dyelli Beybi had an unusual economy, it was almost impossible to classify. Companies opperated as they would in a free market economy, frequently with large shareholdings by the state, however, companies did not pay their employees, rather being levied a tax per employee. The State then paid employees according to the 'National Award Scheme'. It also had infamously powerful labour Unions...

As such all manner of Socialist literature went down well. The latest work went down well enough for the Council of Trade Unions to invite Graeme Igo to speak on his book at the Cyro town hall.

Happy to add another nation to the long list of those in which he has lectured, the silver-haired Igo is quick to book himself aboard a wing-in-groundeffect transport bound for Dyelli Beybi.

Graeme, it seems, will continue to speak for total and economic democracy until his last, and, having brought it to nine and a quarter billion Indians and now seen it adopted in Zintharia, the old man is full of his early enthusiasm as he flies to Dyelli Beybi, just a few metres off the surface of the ocean.

Not surprisingly, On Communism failed to sell even a single copy in Zhyolatska.

This is not surprising of course because several shipments of this book have been "recovered" and now nearly every home in the country has a copy of this book, and it can often be found resting with other books such as those Written by Kropotkin, Marx, Proudhon, Bakunin, Lenin, Orestes Brownson, and/or others.

It brings to mind people taking the title of "Steal this Book" too literally... at least the book is a success, if not an economic one.

Certainly Graeme can not be offended by the Zhyolatskan approach. In his youth he often advocated copywrite infringement, and has personnal funded many guerrilla publications that flout such practices.

Being as On Communism is a brief compendium, most editions are very cheaply made on rough recycled paper and appear blotchy, as if an issue of the USSR's Krokodil. A minor loss that Soviet state publishers are able to bear with aid from the League of Communists, dipping into its aid and education budgets!

FROM THE MARSHAL OF THE USSZ

Acting on behalf of the USSZ, I, Grand Commissar Cole, welcome any economic advice and aid from the Beddgelert government. It is with pleasure that I welcome any kind of trade and or trade agreements between our two nations, and am grateful that the Beddgelert nation would offer support to the USSZ.

Furthermore, in return for your kindness, the Worker's Parliament of the USSZ, the Worker's Party of the USSZ, and the Workers of the USSZ are ready and willing to aid the Beddgelert government and peoples in any manner possible.

Also, the Bureau of Education has informed me that some 50,000 students are interested in attending Soviet Universities in the hopes of broadening their understanding of their nation's Noble Allies.

Once again, the United Socialist States of Zintharia thanks the Pantisocratic Phalansteries of Beddgelert for their immensely kind aid.

Justin D. Cole
Grand Commissar of the USSZMF/Marshal of the USSZ
USSZ

In With the Critics, Morning TV show,

"Hi I am Bob Wilson, and this is In With the Critics. Our first book I will talk about is, peice of shit book, by some fucked up company, in one of the most fucked up shitty places to live. This book is On Communism out of 6 stars this book got a negative 8. Ouch. Now the only thing I have to recomend about it is, that it is a wonderful decoration in your garbage. I wouldn't burn because the shit written in it might come out.Also because of this peice of shit book, we might invade these assholes. And I probably won't get fired for cursing so much, because even the government hates this fucking book. Good bye, and see you tomorrow!"

Making full use of her superior grasp of the English language, Mira Khosla leads the Commonwealth's media backlash against the crude and evidently slow-witted Bob Wilson. Red Dawn, Soviet India's leading breakfast show (with a paltry 171 million viewers, such programmes lacking real popularity in Beth Gellert), answers Wilson's awkwardly delivered tirade with a challenge, asking Mr.Wilson to actually critique Igo's work, rather than just swearing.

A phone-in segment reveals a widespread interest in being invaded by the tiny and economically frail state of Greston. This is far more worrying than even such things as the prospect of the Kingdom of Bhutan suddenly and unexpectedly resolving to annex Soviet India in a hail of deadly chants and meditations.

(OOC: And that concludes our bump for the day!)

When a copy of On Communism arrived for review by the Internal Sector of the Intellegince-Commissarat, the analyst didnt even get past the third page before closing it and labelling it with the words: BANNED

The book would never see the light of day in Red Tide and the regular people would continue to remain ignorant of all forms of Socialism... except what the government told them(none of which was very good).

While the Commonwealth observes Red Tide with over-all disinterest, a few university students and workers do succumb to curiosity and find themselves asking, well, just how does this social backwater keep its economy from absolute ruin while failing to engage in regular relations with the world at large? How does the political elite prevent its censors from betrayal, either out of conscience or personal greed? How does it conduct even low-level trade without information reaching its population?

The current government is widely dismissed as not long for this earth.

On Communism was a major success in Vetalia, with tens of millions of copies sold and many later editions converted in to an annotated textbook for for use in fields as broad as economics, social sciences, and Celtic language courses. Igo's work is now required reading for many economists and business leaders seeking to understand communist markets and to examine the work for new insights in management and product allocation theory.

In particular, it has provoked debate in the business community regarding the applicability of various communal management and decision making concepts in a modern business environment. Several have been attempted since the release of the book, but all have failed and were quickly retracted. Nonetheless, the academic community and the business community have taken a wait-and-see approach to the theories to see if these initial failures are simply bad luck or an inherent flaw in the concepts expounded in Igo's communist theory.

The popularity of work is such that Graeme Igo has been invited to give a series of lectures regarding his theories at the Vetalian Economic Forum in Vetalia City as well as a speaking tour of Vetalian universities.

Graeme Igo's treatise, On Communism, placed 1,422nd out of 169,730 listed books this week in Steel and Fire, with an estimated ten million copies sold. A random survey of individuals who purchased On Communism reveals a cross-section of Steelian society, from intellectuals and academics to wealthy businessmen to the struggling middle class to the nation's estimated 23 million Worker's Party supporters, mainly based in the North Arcadia neighbourhood that has been dubbed 'Little CACE'. Critics of the book include a group of Dante University of Bridgetown students who attempted to construct their own commune; according to their reports, it lasted only three weeks. The Dante students have claimed that the creation of 'communes' as Mr. Igo describes may only be possible under the exact same conditions as Geletia's, making it impossible for a free-market society (such as Steel and Fire's) to readily transition into communism.

On Communism was temporarily thrust into the national spotlight when the notoriously outspoken anticommunist blogger known only as ObjectivitythruStrength79 posted a rather impolite parody of the work on his blog, rewording it in such a way as to appear obviously improbable and as though composed under severe duress from a totalitarian statist government (continual, Orwellian references to 'General Mandates' and 'Official Proclamations', for instance). This prompted a two-week discussion on Internet general forums in which various posters composed their own parodies of On Communism -- i.e. On Vegetarianism, On Pastafarianism, On Mod Bias, On the Diplomatic Use of the F-Word et cetera. (The latter is reportedly already en route to publication by Rousseau.)

Graeme Igo is actually quite excited to visit a large Capitalist state, especially one that -while it's current set up is fit to make Igovians recoil in horror- seems at least willing to accept that alternatives do exist around the world without feeling the need to launch a crusade against them.

Igo will be keen to note that various degrees of worker self-management, workplace democracy, profit sharing, and other features of Igovian Socialism have existed within capitalist market economies, often with success.

Yugoslavia, he will explain, once had the world's fastest-growing economy (not just the Communist bloc's, but the whole world's), stopped only, he claims, by Marshal Tito's reluctance to go far enough and the continued strength of traditional Marxist-derived central control in a partially democratic set-up. If Party delegates hadn't been allowed to meddle with the day to day pursuit of Edvard Kardelj's Theory of Associated Labour, things may have been different. Capitalist disasters in the wider world hurt a still-developing Yugoslav economy in the 1970s oil crisis, and it was only capitalistic reforms and submission to cynical Reaganite pressure that crippled the Yugoslav system. Listeners will not be able to deny Igo's obvious loathing when he speaks of the shock treatment imposed upon the Yugoslavian workers, which robbed them of economic liberty, security, and even to a large degree of their identity, and which, he feels, is responsible for the death of a nation and ruin of so many lives. Still, obviously, when left to its own devices, this workers' economy was the absolute ideal, democratic and incomprably productive.

Recognising that Yugoslavia is a word that tweaks Indian heartstrings more readily than those of most capitalists, Igo's speeches in Vetalia will more frequently touch upon the Japanese miracle, for which he attempts to give socialism a perhaps surprising degree of credit. First off, state spending before the Second World War created the economic conditions that first caused the use of the term Japanese miracle, but of more interest to Igovians concerned with bringing liberty into the economic as well as political sphere is the condition of workers in the keiretsu sector. Granted, this element of the modern Japanese economy is based upon vast corporations, but it is not surrendered entirely to the free market, having considerable state intervention, but also, -at least traditionally- there is worker involvement in much decision making, which, says Igo, along with lifetime assurances of employment, really gives workers a sense of belonging in their duties. With wages scaled based partly on seniority and bonuses given to workers based on a company's performance, the Japanese, he claims, have clearly been as close as capitalists can be to getting things right... and it has worked for them, turning Japan from a bomb crater into a technological wonderland.

Graeme, with implied approval from most of his peers, is not shy about inviting Vetalians to visit Soviet India. Tourism is slowly growing on the sub-continent since the raising of the Third Commonwealth, and people are invited to apply for working-holiday visas, on which they may tour India from Quetta to Dhaka, the peaks of the Himalayas to the jungles of Sri Lanka*, using Soviet public transport and lodging with the pantisocratic phalansteries where communal life may be observed first hand in return for helping out with the host commune's democratically-organised duty rosta. There, questions can be put directly to the workers and consumers in what Igo defiantly calls, "possibly the world's largest communist economy".


(OOC:*The Indian Soviet Commonwealth covers India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, all of which were united when, in 1947, the Indian National Army finally drove the British from all of their colonial holdings in the region, most Geletian Celts having refused to negotiate independence-for-soldiers when they felt that Japanese military aid could enable them to take independence-by-force... hence Igo's continued interest in Japanese economics.)

Perhaps it is too late, now, but student groups and others in Steel and Fire may well expect capital aid from the India-based League of Communists (Igovian) if they make fresh grass-roots attempts towards Communism.

That Beddgelens missed early interest in Steel and Fire for some crucial days and weeks has caused a move in the Soviets to establish a new body to keep tabs on Igovist activity around the world and more promptly respond to far-flung movements and expressions of popular interest.

Several 'Igovian missionary groups' have begun to plan expeditions to North Arcadia with hopes of delivering more propaganda and establishing diplomatic links with worker and student groups and other such entities. The Soviet state remains officially uninvolved in what some might call cultural imperialism, but the fact that such extra-governmental groups are often organised through the League of Communists, itself tied to the Soviet Commune that represents India's de facto government, implies national acceptance of the trend.

In the past civilian missions have lead to plenty of disasters, such as the disappearance of possibly-armed missionaries reputedly bound for New York and Jersey, the systematic arrest and execution of Indians in Sino, and other international spats. But, of course, we all once again hope that there won't be any such trouble this time around!..

Despite the government's strong pro-capitalism stance, to the point of signing a treaty against communists, the fact remains that, although Marxist and Stalinist theories have long been derided in the League, Igovian communism has found open arms in many of the smaller, poorer isles of the League, those which are not major oil or agricultural producers.

As the League's 'television' is simply an immense, high-speed internet network, which is participated in by most citizens, the preview page of the Igovian book received over half a million unique hits in a month, and thirty-two thousand copies were downloaded. The much smaller print industry reported eight thousand copies sold - by no means a success, however, the book is touted by the Paran Socialist Party (A small party hosted on the island of Paran, where about eighty thousand people live) as "a method of clearly workable and fair socialism, through which a truly equal state can be established."

Noting that anyone may form a political party in the League, and uses an advanced computerized system to track their number of votes (for foreigners, this means elections are not held from time to time - rather, elections are constantly in progress, and people gain and lose positions as they gain and lose popularity), the Paran Socialist Party gained two thousand votes over the weekend.

However, the Eternal Freedom Party, the League's current largest political party with a total of 32% of all people in the League voting for them, polled even higher over the weekend, gaining another eighty thousand votes.

The Prime Minister issued a statement as well, stating that "although this may seem to some to be a more palatable method of socialism, it is still advocated by its creators to come about through violent overthrow. This country has already suffered greatly when the elected government was destroyed by the Undershi invaders, and agitating for it to happen again is nothing less than pure vicious bile."

Some have accused the Prime Minister's of being reactionary, but polls on Monday show that his personal popularity has reached a new high, with 77% of the League believing in what they call his "steadfast morality."

However, the Paran Socialist Party has extended an invitation to Graeme Igo to speak at their televised meeting in two months, and has furthermore given the Prime Minister an equal invitation to come to that meeting, and formally address any problems he has with the system in that meeting. The responses of both men, as yet, are forthcoming.

- League News Network - First in the field, first in honesty.

When speaking to the Paran Socialist Party, which Igo manages to find time for despite some sources reputedly close to him claiming that the aged theorist is showing signs of tiredness since the publication of his latest work, Graeme will attempt to address in general terms the issue of just how one might enact Igovianism for the first time in the context of an existing state.

India, it is true, did undergo violent revolution, Igo can not deny this: his own son, Sopworth, then little more than an over-grown child, actually stormed the Parliament of the Indian Principality, and Igovian militias were amongst the conglomerated Red forces that Sopworth lead into battle at Madras, from where Llewellyn's court made its last-minute escape to Sri Lanka.

But, says Graeme, this was India, land of infamous famines, absolute destitution for hundreds of millions, racial and religious strife, and several centuries of almost uninterrupted revolt and repression. The May Revolution of 1982 was bloody, and it lead to seven more years of conflict between the First Commonwealth and the Principality's last foothold of Victoria Salvadoria (as Prince Llewellyn called Sri Lanka and the Andaman and Nicobars), but, in 1989, the February Revolution passed without violence.

The First Commonwealth was, largely, a conventional Marxist state, combining Leninist influence on the sub-continent's great cities with the tide of Mao Zedong Thought that ran down India's spine from the Himalayas. Sopworth Igo was de facto Premier, and he prosecuted war against his neighbours with a military service obligation, maintained infamous re-education camps for political rivals and Iansislian POWs, and enacted public works in which millions were forced to labour. The Communist Party of India (Amalgamated) maintained control through Leninist Democratic Centralism, and, as in the USSR, the Soviets themselves were slaved to the Party line, watched and cautioned at every step by Party adjuncts.

The February Revolution came about when the workers simply refused to co-operate any longer. Through their Soviets they co-ordinated mass action, halting the Second Five Year Plan when it was in full flow. Graeme spoke directly with his son and convinced him that revolution was approaching, and brokered a compromise in which Sopworth handed power from the Party to the Soviets and was accepted as a Hero of the Revolution for his role in destroying the old order and ushering in a workers' government. His crimes were left to be all but forgotten, written off as honoured casualties in the struggle for freedom.

Today, though, Graeme says that there will only be violence in a transition to Igovian Communism if existing authorities choose to oppose the will of the people. "Workers such as yourselves" he says, "may legitimately take control of your own work: sieze your factories, lock out your bosses, tell them to join you on the shop-floor and work like everybody else for a share you decide democratically, come together to build your own communes, raise there the Red Flag and live by laws that you decide!

"If the state reacts to this with legislation, ignore it; with violence, then let it be known who cast the first stone, and let him be buried under an avalanche of boulders quarried by the masses suddenly free!"

...Nobody ever said that Igo wasn't a rabble-rouser or a trouble-maker!

[General bump]

"Your break, Admiral."

"Indeed," said the aging John Northrupt. He bent low over his cue before shooting. The preparation was rewarded as one of his reds skittered into a corner pocket and the cue ball lined up just behind another for an easy shot. Northrupt was, despite his more than eighty years, an expert billiards player. He had gone so far as to install a billiards table on pivots on most of his commands, letting him play the game (to a degree) even while at sea.

In a quite unforeseen circumstance, however, Northrupt faulted his next shot, missing the red entirely and pocketing the cue ball instead. His partner raised an eyebrow at this entirely unprecedented turn of events. Northrupt's eyes, however, were on a younger Gallagan reading a rather ratty-looking book across the room.

"Boy!" he called. A hush fell over the entire club. The Gallagan did not respond. "You, there, boy, in the arm chair!" continued Northrupt, using his cue stick in lieu of a cane to walk over. "Pay attention when your betters are calling you! And just when did they start letting Gallers in here, anyway?"

By now the entire club was silent, watching the confrontation.

"May I help you, sahib?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Northrupt either missed or ignored it.

"What's that trash you're reading?" Northrupt poked the cover with his cue, revealing the title 'On Communism' and the line 'by G. Igo.' There were excited whispers: everyone knew famous John Northrupt, who had fought against an Igo (albeit not the Igo in question) at Salvador (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Battle_of_Salvador).

"I don't think your kind are welcome in here," said Northrupt at last.

"Then there is a difference between us," said the young Gallagan, who returned to reading. "I don't run away from my battles."

Northrupt simply turned on his heel and, cue in hand, strode out of the club.

---------

Several hundred miles away, Mr Igo's book (mostly in tattered and age-old editions) was forming the basis for little Wyclyfe's revolution. Sort of.

During the tumult of the early revolution, it had been easy for tiny Wyclyfe -- population just over one million -- to align ideologically with Beddgelert, just as it had been easy to ship Beddgelen weapons through the Straits to Wyclyfe. Now, surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by the Gull Flag Republic, Wyclyfe relies on a rapidly diminishing stock of Beddgelen weapons and the memories of Salvador to keep the Iansislean regiments all along her borders at bay.

Fear and hope often dominate the politics of Wyclyfe's miniature Soviets. The hope that some day a Beddgelen submarine will evade Iansisle's tight-fisted control of the Straits and pop up off their coast with reinforcements and ammunition, and the fear that President Ranalte knows that hope is as baseless as it is stating to appear. The fear has manifested itself in the Temporary Council to Steer the Revolution (TCSR), a seven-man oligarchy empowered by the Soviets, in a complete reversal of mainstream Igovian philosophy, to provide for the defense of Wyclyfe against incorporation into the Gull Flag Republic.

To date, the TCSR has been relatively mild and indulged in none of the excesses of the Sopworthian Commonwealth (although one dissenting Soviet near the Weshieldian border on the River Oes did find several of its members under arrest for sedition and "counter-revolutionary behavior"), but one must wonder how much longer it will be before the ideological drift between Wyclyfe and Beddgelert becomes irreparable.

Interestingly, despite a majority of Soviets voting by secret ballot in favor of inviting Igo to tour Wyclyfe, the TCSR never issues an invitation to its founding ideologue. The results of the election are never made public. As usual, however, more appeals are put in for weapons and material aid from the Soviet Commonwealth and, also as usual, access to Iansislean aerospace and territorial waters is politely declined.

"Quorum." Declared the day's elected speaker, effectively sealing India's decision to start more trouble.

As the sunken chamber of the Final Soviet emptied -in near record time, for turn-out was as low as interest in the issue- Indonet was already being used to deliver the command to scramble, and two NT-7 Kan-gel interceptors were firing up their powerful turbofans.

Some hours into -as Captain Heddwyn Mag Eothach deftly put it- an arsebreaker of a flight the less than experienced GSIC pilot, sweating like a ruddy hippo, eased his aircraft behind a loitering Marathon aerial refueling tanker and topped up for a second time. Asia was disappearing behind the Beddgelen planes, two of which, the jets, would soon be alone and making the final leg of their provocative flight.

The tanker peeled off with some few kilometres still dividing the Communists from Shieldian airspace, and both Kan-gels began to climb towards their ceiling, unofficially believed to be at least seventy thousand feet.

India's somewhat more advanced equivalent to the MiG-31 Foxhound, the Kan-gel was far from a stealthy fighter, the signature-reducing qualities of its composite airframe being largely off-set by gaping air intakes, but it had a fair ferry range, large payload capacity, high ceiling, and devilish sprint speed as well as supercruise function. It was judged the best candidate for a successful breaching of Iansislian airspace and so was nominated to carry out this attempt to run the blockade of Wyclyfe.

Each plane had its 30mm aviation cannon deleted to save weight and space, and each carried four large droptanks, odd given the aerial refueling and more odd when considering that they clearly hadn't been dropped even as the aircraft approached the final leg of their flightplans. With no missiles carried, the usually deadly interceptors were completely toothless, reliant upon their high ceiling and a supercruise passage through potentially hostile airspace.

Truthfully, the mission received funding appropriate to the public's widespread disinterest in the backwater North Pacific theatre, and even GSIC was totally out of date on Shieldian radar technology -telling the pilots that they'd probably just be able to go through gaps in the grid- and on the performance of the Republic's latest generation of interceptor aircraft. Are they supersonic? Do they have guided missiles? Can they reach a Kan-gel's ceiling?

The two roared into Republican airspace at Mach 1.3, and Heddwyn turned on his seat's massage function once again, despite several prior warnings against unnecessary power drainage.

NFC Mount Caduna
Sentry Island, the Shield

Group Captain Charlie Doemen looked up from his paperwork in some irritation at the knock on his office's door. He'd been pouring over Mount Caduna's fuel expenditures -- none of which were optimistic -- and was just in the process of composing a telegram to Ianapalis begging for increased shipments of jet fuel for his squadrons. The last reply to such a request from the Air Grand Marshal had been rather testy -- it assured Doemen that there were plenty of bases that needed extra fuel and that Mount Caduna would have to wait its turn -- but that didn't dampen Doemen's willingness to keep fighting the bureaucracy: without more fuel, the pilots of No.5 Squadron would not be able to fly their new Gelderlanders and, unfamiliar with the new aerocraft, he could not in good conscious send them on an interception.

"Well, Getext, what is it?" he snapped.

"Begging your pardon, sir, but one of Coastal Command's Spirits picked up two unknown aeroflyers. They're moving fast -- transonic -- and will penetrate our aerospace within an hour."

"Any contact with them?" asked Doemen, his paperwork temporarily forgotten.

"None, sir: the Spirit's continuing to ask identity and intentions."

"Could be Roanian," mumbled Doemen to himself. "Or, God help us all, Larkinian." The idea that it was a Beddgelen attempt to cross to Wyclyfe never even crossed his mind. He didn't like the possibility that it might be a stunt by either the Roanians or the Larks.

"We'll have to intercept," decided Doemen at last. "Whoever this is, they need to be gently steered away. What do we have ready?"

"Two Gelderlanders from No.5 and all of No.22 are ready to scramble, sir."

Doemen grimaced. he knew that the pilots simply did not have the requisite experience on their Gelderlanders, but the new aeroflyers were vastly superior to the old Norikers of No.22. If the approaching aeroflyers were transonic, the Norikers would never be able to catch up.

"Very well. Launch the Gelderlanders, keep the Norikers on standby. The Navy's got a MAFD in the Bay, doesn't it?"

"Yes sir -- the Augsburg, working up after refit. I'll advise the Admiralty of the situation."

Iansislean military aviation, long stagnant, had started advancing again after the Revolution. Whereas Graye of Lakeriverwood had dominated military aviation before, the Revolution had shattered its cartel and allowed the growth of Brown-Oldroyd, Glissat Aviation, and several smaller companies. Meanwhile, Bankfield -- long the leader in civilian aviation -- had been crippled by the implosion of the Iansislean domestic market and the destruction of its primary production facilities along the Jaizar. Desperate to stay afloat, Bankfield was forced to shed thousands of jobs, among them some of the top aeronautical minds on the Shield. They found their way to the newer companies and helped to build up the second Iansislean aviation boom.

The current topline interceptor on the Shield was the Brown-Oldroyd Gelderlander, which entered service late in 1958 and was even now only starting to become widespread. There were a bit more than thirty Gelderlanders organized into three squadrons spread around Iansisle. They were high-performance, short-ranged fighters, able to do a sight better than mach 2 with some altitude in a sprint, but their avionics package was doubtlessly far inferior to that of the Beddgelens. The two that took off from NFC Mount Caduna on an intercept for the Kan-gels were armed with their two 30mm cannons and two Brown-Oldroyd Spurs, Iansisle's second-ever production air-to-air missile and its first mildly effective one. Unlike the Harness missiles used by the Glissat's Sea Grevy (Iansisle's first carrier-borne jet interceptor), which used a radranger beam-riding guidance system, the Spur was an infrared-homing fire-and-forget weapon. It worked very well in tests, but -- of course -- had never been tested against a live enemy.

Ah, Hell... Mag Eothach really had been hoping that he'd get away with flying in a straight line and then landing safely, and felt that he'd already excelled himself in managing a couple of aerial refuels. Evading pursuers was something he'd never done in a live context, most of his, 'flight' time being in simulators as GSICHQ in [censored].

The Geletian was heading to Wyclyfe on a long-term assignment to begin a new level of relations and, hopefully, start some sort of rescue mission for the isolated state. In the Kan-gel off his port wing two Indo-Aryan fliers shared a tandem arrangement, the co-pilot -a woman- for this leg being prepared to fly the Captain's plane on the homeward stretch, leaving him behind. It would have made sense for one of the two Commonwealth Air Guard Expert Corps personnel to pilot Mag Eothach in, but the unusually tall -even for a Geletian- Gelert Sentinel simply didn't fit, in any manner suitable for a transcontinental flight, aboard a two-seater, and had absolutely hated his brief training programme when it came to flying one of those machines.

The Captain's radar was off as the Gelderlanders climbed towards him, but by sharing an uplink to his comrades' aircraft he too was made aware of their approach as it was detected. The Kan-gel's ridiculously powerful radar was another stealth-destroying feature for the big long-range interceptor, but it did the same for everyone within a couple of hundred kilometres, and the Soviets would at least get plenty of warning on the approach of retro-fifties steel.

"Now this is interesting." Said the electronically-conveyed voice of co-pilot Narinder Singh (interestingly-ish born not to Sikh but relatively observant Hindu parents), invoking in Heddwyn some more agitation than had the preceeding warning, "Bogies, eleven o'clock low". She then continued regardless, "They seem to be easily supersonic. Maybe even Mach 2 Class."

"I did Mach 3.3 in the simulator!" Protested the Captain. "Yes, but were you carring four over-sized tanks full of .303" and grenades?" Asked a rhetorical lead-pilot Baboor.

"Keep your radar off and watch your warning receivers" advised Singh, "we're going as high as we can, as fast as we can, and if we can get them behind us there's every chance their missiles won't have the range to chase us down at this speed."

One reassurance for the Igovians was that their planes, though unarmed, were still furnished with countermeasures. The usual radar-troubling chaff was abundant, but infrared flares had just recently been replaced by a sophisticated infrared spoofing device similar in principle to those previously adopted by ships of the Commonwealth Oceanic Guard.

Against the Soviets the massive heat plumes generated by their giant -now afterburning- turbofans, for them top-notch warning systems and partially automated countermeasures that even Heddwyn could reasonably expect to operate.

The Captain considered going against orders and contacting the interceptors to warn of his plane's vast arsenal and his preparedness to destroy them, but narrowly he decided against the highly provocative bluff. Controversially enough, so far as his comrades would later be concerned on realising it, he did turn on his Identification Friend-or-Foe transponder and begin broadcasting Indian Soviet codes normally not to be observed far beyond the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

"If this gets any more serious" he told his comrades, "I'm authorised to attempt contact with Wyclyfe and see if they can't make some kind of racket." ...The thought of aid from the target state didn't really assuage any fears.

It took quite a while for NFC Mount Caduna to scramble its two Gelderlanders. Taking off, they made their usual racket: Gelderlanders were particular favorites at air shows and military parades because of the tremendous volume of noise they produced. In the meantime, the Kan-gels blasted straight past Coastal Command’s Spirit -- the twin-piston-engined, straight-winged radranger-in-the-air had trouble maintaining three hundred knots, much less supersonic speeds -- and vanished for a time from Shieldian screens. Fortunately, after the Gelderlanders were already airborne, a station atop Cape MacMillan picked them up again. There didn’t seem to be much stealth or subtlety in the Soviet plan -- high and fast. One advantage for the Beth Gellerns was that the Gelderlander, although it could climb extremely quickly (topping 46,000 feet/minute in acceptance trials), topped out around 59,000 feet.

If there was little subtlety about the plan to run the blockade, there was even less subtlety about the Shieldian intercept plan. The Gelderlanders, once contact had been reestablished, pointed their noses at theoretical intercept coordinates, flipped on the afterburners and barreled on with radrangers active. There couldn’t be much mucking about where Gelderlanders were concerned: their range was just over eight hundred nautical miles, which left precious little fuel for ruses.

It wasn’t long after they settled on their new course that Flying Officer Pete Franken began to receive the Soviet IF/F codes.

“Well, at least we know it’s not the Larks now,” was all his wingman could say.

Both pilots were keenly familiar with the episode over Davao where a dozen pilots of No.12 squadron had been killed in a suicidal attempt to engage Valinon spacecraft. Doing recklessly stupid things were part and parcel of the Flying Corp’s duty.

“Don’t get separated,” started Franken, “Don’t engage unless we get the word, and don’t -- ah, hell!”

“Don’t ah hell? Wouldn’t think of it.”

“Just switched of my ranger by mistake -- what damn fool put it there! And now it’s taking forever to cycle back up.”

The Gelderlander cockpits did not leave much room for the pilot and, with nearly thirty critical buttons and switches spread around so that only an contortionist could reliably hit them properly, a few wrong flips were inevitable, especially with inexperienced pilots. Franken knew that the Gelderlander outperformed his old Noriker by a factor of two, but if they were to re-fight Salvador in the air he’d rather have a mount he was familiar with.

Shieldian messages continued to bombard the Beddgelern aerocraft, mostly pleas to turn back and reminders that they were in violation of Iansislean airspace.

In Stoklomolvi, over three hundred thousand copies were sold by local kindling stores when the book was released. The number of people under the poverty line is tremendous, and the new shipment of books, labelled On Communism, proved to be an amazing success. The paper which the book was written in is quite flammable, and an additional two million copies were sold the over the past month, and at least $2,500,000 has been wired to G. Igo for supplying Stoklomolvi's poor with such an inexhaustible kindling source.

Graeme Igo, for his part, has recently offered $2,500,000 in start-up aid to any Stoklomolvi citizens wishing or willing to undertake an Igovian Communist experiment and raise a worker-managed enterprise, or to any workers who take-over their place of labour and face legal costs related to the seizure.

North Pacific

The Captain, sweating and anxious despite, as a Sentinel, being anything but a coward -merely out of place in this damnable cockpit-, comes extremely close to giving a response to communication attempts, but as it becomes evident that there are still several thousand feet in altitude between Soviet and Republican aircraft and that the latter appear to be leveling off, the CAGEC fliers reassure Heddwyn. It seems unlikely -another less than perfect term- that the Iansislians' missiles will be unable to make up the difference, and the Indians elect to continue, finally attempting to address someone besides one another only when they are seeking contact with Wyclyfe and hoping that, somewhere, there is a suitably long stretch of flat, stable ground on which to land.

Now the three comrades gamble on Iansislian air-to-air missiles being unable to make an extra couple of kilometres climb while also chasing fast-moving targets.

Certainly, if the mission is a success, this is not going to be an efficient means of supplying the continent's Igovians in anything like a meaningful degree. No chance of Marathon transports beating these new Shieldian interceptors, nor of WIG vehicles evading interception by hopping over warships. The Captain was hoping to land with better news for Wyclyfe's Communists.

Perhaps surprisingly to the Beddgelerns, the Gelderlanders never opened fire. They tailed the Kan-gels for a time, keeping pace if not altitude. At last, however, their meager fuel supplies running low, the Gelderlanders turned back towards NFC Mount Caduna. The flight path of the Beddgelern fighters indicated Wyclyfe as a probable destination, and the blockade was an issue over which Iansisle was not overly-willing to start a shooting war with a modern power.

Still, precautions were taken: assuming that the revolutionary government might be a target, President Ranalte and the National Assembly were quickly ushered into a massive war room beneath the streets of Ianapalis. Built during a fit of military spending during the Effitian war, the Admiralty Caverns -- as they were known -- spread out for miles underneath Iansisle’s capital city. They were home not only to the facilities to run all the essentials of Iansisle’s naval, military, and civilian life but also to the shadowy Lenore Room and the Naval Intelligence Office. Hardened against aero-assualt, the Caverns were generally held to be impervious to anything short of a direct hit by an Antananarivo Device.

Three hundred miles east of Cape MacMillan, one last significant Iansislean military force lay between the Beddgelerns and their Wyclyfian objective: the Mobile Aero-Flyer Dock Augsburg and her escorting destroyer squadron, working up in Troobodia Bay after substantial refits. The second of Iansisle’s Salvador-class MAFDs to undergo this modernization, Augsburg was now one of the only two ships in the fleet that could operate jet aeroflyers.

As the Gelderlanders ran out of fuel and were forced to turn back, Augsburg scrambled a quartet of Sea Grevys. The Sea Grevy held two curious distinctions, being both Iansisle’s first carrier-borne jet-powered interceptor and Iansisle’s first front-line aerofighter named after an undomesticated equid.

Unfortunately, the Sea Grevy was not quite as distinguished an interceptor as the land-based Gelderlander, being only just able to break the sound barrier and featuring hardly a quarter the climbing rate of its cousin and a ceiling 10,000 feet lower. The Grevys soon lost contact with the Kan-gels and returned to fly an air cover over Augsburg. The path to Wyclyfe lay open.

Good job, too, for, after engaging afterburners to avoid being caught-up by the first intercept attempt, the two Soviet planes had not really enough fuel to be thinking about getting into a dogfight -in which they wouldn't even be able to return fire- or an evasive course correction of any significant degree.

Now came the attempt to contact Wyclyfe's Soviets and discover the best place to set down. The Captain wasn't looking forward to this, either, being unconvinced of the certainty of finding decent paved surfaces on which to land. Overly stressed in getting past the defences of a nation reputed to be two generations behind the times the GSIC officer hadn't even been thinking about the report he was supposed to write on said same defences as soon as he touched down. Carrier-launched jets, eh? Mach 2 class interceptors? It was hard to say whether he'd even remember this once on solid ground and scrambling for a drink.

Mag Eothac began broadcasting for local Igovian attention. Two large jet fighters bearing gifts and a diplomatic liason officer from Soviet India, requesting permission to land and further instruction the gist of it, Republican interceptors foiled and void he added, for good measure.

Luck was both for and against the Beddgelens. On the positive note, Wyclyfe was actually the site of an old aerodrome, dating back to the ancien regime, that had been used as a staging area for heavy long-range bombers against Roania. The runway, still in decent condition, had been intended to handle four-engined piston bombers loaded down with ten tons of explosives. Several of the enormous contraptions had been captured when the aerodrome was overrun by Igovian forces during the Wyclyfian Revolution but -- doubtlessly fortunate for world peace -- no Antananarivo Devices had been recovered.

Luck was against them in that Mag Eothac's message happened to be picked up by a rather innocuous-looking fishing trawler on the Wyclyfian coastline that was, in fact, a Naval Intelligence Office listening ship. Several hours later, the trawler had a rendezvous with a small pleasure yacht, selling the Iansislean crew some of their haul of salmon -- and slipping aboard a packet of information -- before making back to a tiny village in Wyclyfe. Within a day, the transcripts were in the hands of Lenore Room which -- having long since broken all the native Wyclyfian codes -- set to work on the new material with a passion.

Still, the Wyclyfers directed the Beddgelens to the aerodrome where, somewhat anxiously, representatives from both the local Soviet and the TCSR waited.

The Kan-gels' landings were fairly heavy, the Captain's especially, as the aircraft weighed a good deal more than twenty tonnes a piece despite being low on fuel and stripped of many non-essential features and armaments, and they each took some time in coming to a complete halt.

Once disembarked the two dark-skinned Indians stood quietly at ease behind Captain Heddwyn Mag Eothac of the Gelert Sentinels Intelligence Co-operative -as he introduced himself- as the giant (an inch and a half taller than Adiatorix, for example) swayed from side to side, shifting his significant weight and stretching his travel-weary legs.

"All Power to the Soviets." He added by way of a greeting that prompted his comrades to give left-fisted salutes to the sky.

"If it's not too much trouble my comrades here would like to take their meals" he said, gesturing to the two as they produced little silver bags containing rice and other goodies, "and get a couple of hours rest before they attempt to fly out of here.

"I, meanwhile, am appreciating solid ground too much to waste it on sleep, and would like to officially present the good people of Wyclyfe with a diplomatic gift from Soviet India. If you have any groundcrews about you might want to have them take down those red tanks -not the blue ones, mind, those are full of aviation fuel-" he waved at the so-coloured over-sized droptanks under the wings of both planes, "and open them up."

The four large red tanks contained between them a token supply of arms and munitions. After concluding that .303" ammunition might be already available in the region, or at least that -in any conflict- it might be captured from the Republic's forces, the Soviet arranging this mission had elected to supply several dozen Ishapore Enflield rifles, based upon the SMLE Mk III* but re-sighted for 800 metres and made slightly more robust, and four Vickers-Berthier light machineguns, plus fifty workshop-produced Sten submachineguns, four score Mills Bomb hand grenades and several thousand rounds of .303" and 9x19mm ammuntion.

Roseberg, generally speaking, was a thoroughly capitalist nation, with what is known as a Free Market Economy. The way most Rosebergers viewed socialism was best summed up by one Representative Angela Anderson of the National Congress.

"Socialism is not about equality, be it political, economic, or otherwise. What it is about is much less altruistic. It is about greed, it is about hatred, and, it is about control. That is all there is to it. Free Market is the path which Rosebergers have always walked, and most of us would like to keep going that way."

Over her popular internet blog, the otherwise unidentified Indian citizen Comrade Carla is first to challenge Representative Anderson to support her apparently baseless slander. Merely saying, "this is the case" claims Carla, does not make it so. If it is about greed, she adds, it must be about the greed of all, since ten billion Beddgelens are quite happy with the state of their booming personal as well as national economies.

Over her popular internet blog, the otherwise unidentified Indian citizen Comrade Carla is first to challenge Representative Anderson to support her apparently baseless slander. Merely saying, "this is the case" claims Carla, does not make it so. If it is about greed, she adds, it must be about the greed of all, since ten billion Beddgelens are quite happy with the state of their booming personal as well as national economies.

IC:

Representative Anderson has responded by promising this 'Comrade Carla' an in-depth explanation to the claims made previously, provided, of course, that it is possible for Comrade Carla to tell the Grand Duchy's State Department and Rep. Anderson her identity. Anderson does not fight shadows. Comrade Carla may rest assured her identity will be kept otherwise confidential if she does this.

For the time being, she simply points out the numerous times communism and its derivatives have failed, such as in the old, long-defunct USSR, and points out that capitalism and a free market economy, when properly handled, have proved a highly effective system of doing things. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

OOC:

Few facts about Anderson here. She is a member of the Conservative Union Party with leanings best descrbed as utilitarian-conservative. She is a veteran in the National Congress, and has served in several posts before she has been elected to this present one. Her views on socialism are sincere and honest, and not held simply because they match her party's basis.

Her mother's death was also caused by a communist advocate, which doesn't help you, I suppose.

I have some more information somewhere that I'll try to fish out, and then I'm probably going to bed for a bit.

((nice to see there's at least one other non-communist state in NS that doesn't automatically react to new ideas by burning them. IC post coming soon as I pull stuff out of my... erm, remember previously established facts about Wyclyfe.))

((nice to see there's at least one other non-communist state in NS that doesn't automatically react to new ideas by burning them. IC post coming soon as I pull stuff out of my... erm, remember previously established facts about Wyclyfe.))

OOC:

Ummm...thanks. If you're talking about me, that is.

"All Power to the Soviets." He added by way of a greeting that prompted his comrades to give left-fisted salutes to the sky.

It was hard to say if the Wyclyfers -- themselves, as Shieldians, a notoriously short and pale people -- were more surprised by the Kan-gels themselves, by the dark-skinned Indians, by Captain Heddwyn Mag Eothac of the Gelert Sentinels Intelligence Co-operative's great height, or by the rather sudden left-handed salutes. Revolutionary fervor does not translate too well in print, and they were sadly untrained in the formalities of Igovian revolution.

"Ah, yes, uh all power to the Soviets," replied the shortest, palest Wyclyfer present. One or two members of the delegation made crude imitations of the left-handed salute (one poor fool making a right-handed salute and being slapped on the back of the head by a nearby comrade)

"If it's not too much trouble my comrades here would like to take their meals" he said, gesturing to the two as they produced little silver bags containing rice and other goodies, "and get a couple of hours rest before they attempt to fly out of here.

"I, meanwhile, am appreciating solid ground too much to waste it on sleep, and would like to officially present the good people of Wyclyfe with a diplomatic gift from Soviet India. If you have any groundcrews about you might want to have them take down those red tanks -not the blue ones, mind, those are full of aviation fuel-" he waved at the so-coloured over-sized droptanks under the wings of both planes, "and open them up."

There had not been any formal introductions yet, but the tiny man decided to try anyway.

"I'm Matthew Pratt, from the Temporary Commission to Steer the Revolution. I've been authorized to extend the Commission's most, ah, most humble greetings and welcome you to Wyclyfe, erm, comrade." Pratt gingerly tried extending a hand to shake.

"Your, er, your men are quite welcome to make use of the lounges here on the base. The local Soviet has been kind enough to lend us one of their vehicles to take us there." Pratt indicated a rickety horse-drawn wagon. There were only two seats, one of which was occupied by a sunken-chested youth driving the team who was quite obviously fascinated by the Beddgelen delegation. Pratt and two or three other Wyclyfers climbed in the back, clearly offering the other seat to Eothac.

"My apologies for the conveyance. I'm afraid that the Republic has restricted all our petroleum imports, so we're forced to conserve more than might be convenient." Pratt looked genuinely abashed by the poor quality transport he had been able to produce on such short notice and the fact that Eothac's fellow pilots would have to ride in the back.

While Pratt and the others were making ready to head back to the base's luxurious officer's quarters, some of the Wyclyfer workers present had cracked into the red fuel tanks. There wasn't quite a general sigh of disappointment, but it was clear from their faces that they had been hoping for more -- shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, for instance, or ...something more impressive that would bring back memories of Salvador for any Republican forces making an incursion across the River Oes.

But Beddgelert was the only ally they had, and they were determined not to be ungracious hosts. Pratt spent a large time of the ride back talking about how gracious Wyclyfe was and about the solidarity of the Soviets (which made a comrades in the back roll his eyes rather obviously).

((but who else, Rosie dear? ;)))

((but who else, Rosie dear? ;)))

OOC:

I was just making sure...and don't call me Rosie. :p

Wyclyfe

After firmly shaking Pratt's hand the Captain does take the seat readily enough, and there are no complaints from the others, as Heddwyn is after all the elected liason officer. If the others wanted to ride up front they should have joined GSIC!

The hosts shouldn't worry too much about appearing deprived, for it isn't long before the Indians have muttered at least one curse against the Republic, which they clearly have decided to blame for Wyclyfe's major shortcomings, seeing somehow in the enclave another Caribbean island paradise ruined by capitalist embargo.

Besides, most were used to seeing rickshaws that, despite being electrically driven, didn't look a lot more impressive, and, being Geletian, Heddwyn was something of a horse lover in any case.

Once seated, in a fashion, Mag Eothac's comrades adjust their flight suits and remove bits and pieces of equipment, and in doing so Narinder removes complicated headgear, full of communications-this, monitoring-that, missile-guiding-the-other, and shakes out her hair, while Baboor seems content to loosen his chinstrap and fiddle with his Geletian-mimicking moustache.

The Captain, meanwhile, is explaining the supplies brought and the rational behind them. "We didn't think it'd be much use to bring Rk-100 rifles, like we use, or INSAS, like we sell and donate to other allies," he says of the Ishapor Enfields, "since it'd make you absolutely reliant on us for supplies of 6.5mm ammunition, I think. Of course, if we can figure out a way through this blockade, or a way of convincing the Republic to forget about it, things will be different. Easier said than done, I think: it's hard to convince several billion voters to go to war over an enclave of one million, no matter how strongly we may agree upon the Republic's guilt."

(OOC: Sorry, guys, have to dash. Thought I'd try a new internet cafe, closer to home, but it seems to be costing more. Unlike my old haunt it looks like they're actually going to make me pay!)

Representative Anderson has responded by promising this 'Comrade Carla' an in-depth explanation to the claims made previously, provided, of course, that it is possible for Comrade Carla to tell the Grand Duchy's State Department and Rep. Anderson her identity. Anderson does not fight shadows. Comrade Carla may rest assured her identity will be kept otherwise confidential if she does this.

For the time being, she simply points out the numerous times communism and its derivatives have failed, such as in the old, long-defunct USSR, and points out that capitalism and a free market economy, when properly handled, have proved a highly effective system of doing things. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.


Comrade Carla, perhaps unsurprisingly, laughs-off Anderson's calls for her to reveal her identity. Her next blog update, viewed by a record twenty-four million Soviet citizens, includes an assertion that the author's identity has no bearing on the facts of the conflict, on the rightness of communism. Still, of several tens of thousands of posts on forum space attached to Comrade Carla's blog, and similar numbers of other blogs being used to pontificate on Carla's clash with Anderson, a good few hundred come from Igovians arguing that Comrade Carla ought to reveal her identiy, having rightly nothing to fear. Carla remains defiant and widely supported by other bloggers.

She, of course, goes on in any case to attack both sides of Anderson's argument, that communism has failed and that capitalism is not in need of 'fixing'.

Soviet India's own violently anti-Bolshevist history is the first weapon weilded by Comrade Carla. The USSR, she claims, was not communist.

First, being raised on Marxist-Leninist principles the state was one that differentiates between Socialism and Communism in terms of evolutionary development, the one leading to the other. The USSR, as its title implies, was considered to be a pre-communist society.

On this she spends little time, however. Some other bloggers, mainly from Bengal and neighbouring regions in which Marxist orthodoxy once held sway, focus on that argument, but they are not really Igovians in the strictest sense, despite their acceptance by the Igovian democracy.

Carla instead argues more strongly that the USSR was a capitalist entity, though not one adrift on the free market. Wage labour in the USSR was organised through the state rather than the market, but Carla calls it 'capitalism on command' as opposed to capitalism in the market. This does not, she conceeds, mean that the USSR and Roseberg have the same systems in place, but she claims that it does liberate Communism from the slander of association with the Bolshevist USSR.

Being a difficult sod, Comrade Carla attaches to her latest blog a link to a prior update in which she discussed the massive anti-Soviet campaigns of the Bolshevik Party in the early days of Russian revolution. The violent crushing of Anarchists, the Cheka's targetting of left-Socialists, Lenin's own jaw-droppingly counter-revolutionary work Leftwing Communism: An Infantile Disorder, Trotsky's response to democratic petitions by workers and soldiers at Kronstadt (and the mutiny of the Red Army soldiers his cronies sent to slaughter the Soviets there) are all used as evidence to support her assertion that men like Lenin and Trotsky have been history's most effective anti-communists, especially when one considers that their legacies have at their best produced democratic centralism and state-controlled wage-labour in lieu of direct democracy and profit sharing as she identifies with genuine communism.

That free-market capitalism is not a wrong system, Carla concludes, is an insult to the millions who have suffered and died in desperate attempts to free themselves and their peers from its tyrannical plundering.

(OOC: As you may have gathered, Igovians and Marxists are quite different thinkers. The Communist Party of India has been outlawed for years, in fact, and the Commonwealth's most recent war was in a revolutionary state and fought against Marxist-Leninist opposition. In The February Revolution of 1989, Indian Soviets peacefully overthrew the Communist Party, in power since 1982, and disbanded the army, began to institute direct democracy through the Soviets, and put capital under worker management.)

The officer's lounge at the aerodrome had clearly been looted once or twice during the Revolution, but the Wycyfians had at least tried to tidy up. There were a few pale spots on the wall where a picture had hung in the old days -- to judge by the remaining decoration, probably a portrait of one of Iansisle's pioneering aero-knights -- and some of the nicer trim had been ripped out, but by and large the space was clean and functional. An oak bar hid a few bottles of local spirits which Pratt offered around.

"Quite good thinking, quite!" cried Pratt when Heddwyn mentioned the rationale behind the supplies. "I'm afraid our own ammunition facilities are in quite the state of disrepair -- the local Soviets are doing their best, of course, but with no coal, no oil, and no gas we've rather a difficult time. One enterprising Soviet near the Oes has set up an ingenious water-powered contraption, but I'm afraid our current supply of willing men far outstrips our ability to supply them.

"There's nothing I'd sooner see than the Republic come to its senses, but this Ranalte is not nearly as reasonable as Bradsworth was. He will keep trying to starve out the Revolution, but it will endure as long as Wyclyfe has her comrades around to defend it!"

A chorus of "hear, hear!" came from round the other Wyclyfers in the room, although some were far less enthusiastic than others. Heddwyn doubtless got the impression that Pratt did not speak for all present.

To be honest, Pratt did resent at least a little hearing his nation referred to as an 'enclave'. Nationalism was far more ingrained in Wyclyfe than perhaps was the Igovian ideal. Such a comment, however patronizing, was far too small to risk alienating the Soviet Commonwealth. Instead, he asked if there wasn't anything that could be done to help convince the masses of the righteousness of Wyclyfe's cause and the depth of its troubles -- pamphlets, perhaps?

"Ah." Said the Captain, "You've already hit upon one half of my mission. Perhaps communal living had made Beddgelens more sensitive to the moods and unspoken sentiments of others around them, for he did realise that he'd seemingly put a foot wrong somewhere, even if he hadn't quite decided which one. He was keen to get a few of the right things said, and powered on with his duties.

"I have been elected by my peers to stand as the official liason between our states. I suppose that I'm an ambassador without quite having secured all the funding, just yet, as would be necessary to establish an embassy. I like to think that I'm supposed to be a bit more pro-active than that stuffy title would suggest, in any case."

Heddwyn's comrades had slumped, satisfied at having stretched their legs, and were already dozing, but the Geletian was happy to sample the offered beverages. Mag Eothac would probably be desribed in most nations as a recovering alcoholic, but to a Beddgelen that meant that, in the past, he'd drunk as much as his peers but -unlike them- been unable to function properly in society as a result, and so now had to try really hard to stay off Geletian wine, and though he still drank, so long as he didn't touch anything quite that strong, he'd probably not become completely drunk.

"I'd like to gather information on your achievements here as well as on the nature of Republican obstructions and their impact here.

"On the other hand I'm supposed to offer any help that my grasp of Indian Soviet science can render in view of whatever resources I discover here. This waterised device sounds interesting, and just the sort of thing that I think Wyclyfe might benefit by exploring. Perhaps you can't match the Republic in many conventional ways, and perhaps we can't bring down their blockade over-night, but that only means that we've got to improvise until we really surprise somebody, eh?

"I hope that you aren't too discouraged by the slightness of the aid that has reached you from India, still, not to boast, but I am, as a Captain in the GSIC, experienced in making the best of any situation, and a student of many years in some of the world's best-funded educational facilities. One university at which I studied has had more investment than the value of all the tea in Gallaga, and I don't think that's a serious exaggeration.

"If we can find the barest materials and the greatest will power, I think that we can sustain electrification for all Wyclyfe without a drop of oil or a whiff of gas. I'm also quite able to offer advice on modern styles of fighting. We Geletians have a lot of experience at partisan warfare, house to house fighting, defending barricades, and improvising weapons, all of which we had to do in order to over-throw Llewellyn's government in India. Maybe I'll show you how to take a fellow's rifle if he comes at you with fixed bayonet." Heddwyn clapped Pratt's shoulder as he finished, and cast a hearty smile across the faces of the others on hand.

"The workers, the winds, and the waters, that's all we need in Wyclyfe, right comrades? I'll show you that it's so!"

The Captain produced a small personal computer from an over-sized pocket in his flight suit and invited everyone to gather around as he displayed first video clips of wind farms and hydro-electrical projects in India, then a little Indian woman using a technique derived from classical Geletian wrestling to sieze a pistol from a man's hand and lay him out on the ground, and so on, implying that he could provide all these skills on his own. He then tapped the side of his nose before showing what he said was, "live... er, current pictures from the heart of the Republic. We've eyes in the sky looking down on them all the time!" Tapping in to the sole People's Cosmonautical Co-operative satellite currently drifting over the Shield and zooming in to show people coming and going at a government building in the capital he added, "If they make a move against you, we'll see them preparing it, don't you worry about that!"

Fortunately for continued good Indo-Wyclyfe relations, the alcohol of the Southern Shield had never been particularly strong. The proletarian classes had always made up for that shortcoming by drinking copious amounts of rather cheap beer or weak grain alcohol whereas the ruling classes had been able to buy expensive wines and whiskeys from the Foothills that packed much more of a punch. Doubtlessly, Heddwyn found it much weaker than what he was accustomed to, and it would more likely not get him drunk without rather more generous portions than ration-crazy Wyclyfe was willing to give, even to entertain a foreign ambassador.

"I've had a brief dossier on the revolution compiled," said Pratt when Heddwyn mentioned the information-gathering portion of his message.

If perused, the several-hundred page dossier would provide detailed information on topics such as the functioning of individual Soviets, distribution of beasts of burden to critical farming districts, the formation of the Temporary Committee to Steer the Revolution (although this was perhaps a more white-washed version than what one was likely to hear from one of the outlying Soviets), the movement of labor from one area to another to help with concerns of food and ammunition production, a rather woeful accounting of the stockpiles of guns and other war materials, and the resources on which Wyclyfe could call without resort to importation.

This last list was rather pathetic. It included mostly crops, predominantly wheat and potatoes, some small-scale copper mining, some grazing, mostly of cattle and sheep, and the moderately-productive fisheries off the southern coast (although it was noted that this was utterly dependent on Republican tolerance, for Wyclyfe's navy consisted of a few sail yachts and a single A/S trawler captured during the revolution which had no fuel anyway)

Other natural resources included the many fast-running, narrow streams of Wyclyfe. The only river of any size, the Oes, formed the border between Wyclyfe itself and Republican-controlled Weshield. The Oes was navigable for about half its length and ended in a small lake near Tramd. The capital city, also called Wyclyfe, was a reasonably industrialized city of some three hundred thousand, although many comrades there were more involved in pulling up railroad tracks and looting unnecessary buildings to provide the scrap metal for ammunition production.

One thing that Wyclyfe did have was space, and a lot of it. Between the low population density and the ample space set aside for grazing and crops, Wyclyfe had none of the overcrowding problems of industrial Weshield, Shadoran, or Vesshampton. Heddwyn, if he had the expertise, could probably guess that Wyclyfe's arable land, properly managed, would produce eleven or twelve times the food needed for her population.

Heddwyn clapped Pratt's shoulder as he finished, and cast a hearty smile across the faces of the others on hand.

"The workers, the winds, and the waters, that's all we need in Wyclyfe, right comrades? I'll show you that it's so!"

Pratt wasn't expecting the friendly blow and it nearly buckled him. He wasn't much of a fighter -- or an athlete, or anything but a suit, really -- but he managed to stay on his feet with a smile.

"Three cheers for Beddgelert! Three cheers for Wyclyfe!" called the comrade who had been rolling his eyes whenever Pratt mentioned the solidarity of the Soviets or the TCSR. He was from a local Soviet and was extremely skeptical that the TCSR was, as it claimed, truly following Igovian sentiment and hoped that Heddwyn's appearance really would mean 'All Power to the Soviets'.

The other raised as hearty of a cheer as could be expected considering the meager attendance and swung their drinks about. They then clustered around Heddwyn as he demonstrated his pocket computer. The wind farms in particular raised great interest and two comrades began a debate about how much power could be expected, considering the winds in Wyclyfe (which were apparently not inconsiderable) and how large of a farm would be required to power such-and-such. Their numbers were almost all made up on the fly and neither apparently had any real knowledge of how a wind farm worked.

Pratt was more interested himself in the pictures looking down over (what those familiar with Ianapalis would recognize as) the Admiralty House and two buildings of Jameston Place on the other side of Gallaga Street.

"I must admit I'm worried that the Republic may start to be more aggressive now than it has been for the last six years," admitted Pratt. "Have you heard any news from Noropia?"

If Heddwyn had not, then Pratt would explain that (according to his latest information, most of which seemed to be gleaned from official reports on IanCorp Wireless National) there had been a supposed revolution in Noropia which had then called for Shieldian military aide. The Republic had moved troops in within twenty-four hours and helped to establish a Noropian Republic which, Pratt confided, he thought was nothing more than an Iansislean puppet state.

Assuming that the Beddgelens were in any ways interested in Iansislean troop deployments, they would find that strength had fallen by about half since the end of the Effitian war, to about 500,000 riflemen. About 150,000 -- closing in on half the adult male Wyclyfers -- were stationed along the borders, while just 90,000 were still stationed along the Effitian border. 100,000 spread throughout Gallaga. 70,000 had apparently completed the coup in Noropia that Pratt mentioned. The only other major deployment was 50,000 in Dianatran, with the remainder being spread though the colonies.

On Communism was treated the same way all such works were treated; a minor curiosity, no more. A relic of an alien mode of thought, a particular mode that had sprouted a myriad of differing shoots and tendrils even as the mainstream fell by the wayside decades earlier. It was neither suppressed, nor derided; just regarded with a benign bemusement, such as one might regard a child enthusiastically explaining how their superman costume enabled them to fly, honest it did, swear by all the Holy Saints.

The theories expounded within were dismissed as foreign nonsense, a reaction that had far less to do with any ideological leaning, and more to do with the Covenant's latent xenophobia.

Mag Eothac had to admit that he knew little about Noropia, and less about the revolution there. Better, he thought, to admit some limits to his knowledge than be caught lying to ther people he wanted trusting him. Besides, he'd say, he could quickly call up information over his computer. In this instance he didn't, being less than confident that the information available to GSIC would be anything like comprehensive or current.

Heddwyn was somewhat worried by Republican troop deployments, and began to talk in general terms about strategy before stopping and looking about the room at the various faces.

"Hm." He started. "Are we... all right discussing national planning and defence strategy now, or are there any preparations that might still be wanting?"

The Captain wasn't sure how to say what he was thinking. Should he be talking to the TCSR, expecting the Soviets to elect a committee to deal with him and his ideas, was this gathering indeed as agreeable as it was going to get? The Igovian didn't want to shut people out by waiting for the TCSR, but equally was warey of wasting his time by talking to people who couldn't get anything done while exposing his aid to possible spies for the Republic.

He knew so little of Wyclyfe that he wasn't sure if he could go barreling into an attack on the TCSR's authority, if it was even that bad, or how people felt about it and about the nature of their Soviet democracy. This wasn't just another country, after all, it was, perhaps, another time. At this stage in its economic and technological development, India's leftism was coloured by native religion and Celtic 'anti-Latin' tradition and over-seen by Leninist and Maoist figureheads.

Pratt quickly briefed Heddwyn on what little Wyclyfe had been able to glean from the Republic's news stories about Noropia, and the far larger amount of information inferred from the well-censored IanCorp Wireless National broadcast.

There was no disagreement with Heddwyn as he transitioned into defence strategy. Even the sullen-faced comrades disgruntled with the TCSR were not willing to voice their protests: while they detested the semi-autocratic establishment, none disputed that they were far more willing to live under TCSR rule than Republican.

He would notice, however, that Pratt at least seemed fairly well-connected with the TCSR and that his suggestions on deployments and workings were quickly wired back to military headquarters in Wyclyfe proper for the generals to digest. An analysis of Shieldian military tactics in the Effitian and Valerian wars were given to Heddwyn to peruse.

As the evening ground on, Pratt suggested sleep. The next morning, he inferred, transportation to the capital would have been arranged and Heddwyn could be presented to the full TCSR.

The Captain took the offered reports on Republican tactics, promising to look over them by morning, and offered no opposition to the suggestion of sleep being taken. He had just flown several thousand kilometres, after all.

The Geletian was by now resolved to spend part of his visit wandering amongst the population and chatting politics, wanting very much to learn more of the population's standard of political awareness and satisfaction. As a student of Igovian teachings he was very much concerned by the possibility of bad experiences in a revolutionary situation negatively colouring a population's perception of socialism for years to come, and a large part of his task here was to make certain that Wyclyfe was not lost to the cause before its fledgling communism had taken-off. The supposed that his efforts to mingle unescorted with the masses would also tell him something of the TCSR by the reactions, or lack of reaction, of the authorities.

For now he casually saluted all in attendance and offered a few words of encouragement and solidarity as he prepared to retire for the night.

((I'm going to sort of abstract the night and next day, just to keep this moving along. If there's a specific point you'd like to elaborate on, let me know.))

The night was passed safely, if not comfortably. The next morning, the Soviets had managed to produce an old-model Stockley -- a vehicle, if Heddwyn was familiar with such things, that was of Walmingtonian manufacture -- for the drive down to Wyclyfe proper. The road, like most intercity roads across Iansisle, was poorly maintained and the Stockley's suspension was put through quite a trial. Heddwyn might notice the railroad tracks which occasionally intersected or ran alongside the road. Pratt, who was driving, tore straight through the crossings without even looking; small wonder, for in several places the rails had been torn up for scrap.

Wyclyfe itself was not even an impressive city by Shieldian standards. Whereas Ianapalis displayed an amazingly modern appearance with its towering skyscrapers, Wyclyfe lay low to the ground with low brick buildings. A few smokestacks poked towards the clouds in the industrial district, but none were belching pollution. The only smoke was a smudge on the horizon out to sea. If Heddwyn did not notice it, Pratt was sure to point it out.

"A Republican cruiser, enforcing their blockade. Not that we have any shipping for them to corral, of course. Must be terribly boring work."

"The coal they're burning out there every day could feed our factories for a month," said a comrade who had managed to wheedle himself an invitation into the already cramped car.

Heddwyn would notice that his official greeting ceremony had the distinct feeling of being whitewashed. there were a lot of words said, but little real information on the exact workings of the TCSR, other than it was needed to help prevent Shieldian imperialist adventures (and had so far done a wonderful job of preserving the peace and preparing for trouble. In the opinion of the TCSR, of course).

There would be a few official protests to Heddwyn's desire to wander about alone, mostly (they claimed) due to his security. Republican spies were everywhere, and one couldn't be too careful. No doubt those despicable curs would delight at the chance to assassinate a high-ranking Geletian envoy.

Assuming that Heddwyn persisted, of course, they would not restrain him by force, but instead offer examples of the "safest districts" and bid him not wander where he might come to harm.

Assuming that Heddwyn promptly ignored these "safe districts", he would find himself in among the comrades of Wyclyfe. His appearance would doubtlessly gather some gawkers, with the average Shieldian being just about five and a half feet tall.

The overall impression he would gather, especially in the capital city, was that of the strong fear of the Republic that the TCSR had been carefully ingraining. If questioned closely about what they anticipated in the event of a Republican invasion, most Wyclyfers would stumble about the official line from the TCSR, which quoted a long list of Shieldian atrocities in the colonies, from the Fort Ash mutiny to the gassing at the Sieventach. The massacre at Shieldend in Mansford was likely to draw a reference or two as well, even though that had been a completely different government.

Exact opinion about the TCSR varies. Most felt that it was a necessary evil, but a small minority were ardently in favor of the centralization. The rest seemed to think that, once the Republican threat had died off, the TCSR would step out of the way for the Soviets. Heddwyn would note that most seemed to think that Heddwyn was just a harbinger of the Geletians, and that he would eventually bring the tidal wave of subcontinental support that would be their salvation.

Returning to TCSR headquarters, Pratt and his fellows would gush over Heddwyn, quoting their immense concern for his safety after he had wandered out of the 'safe part of town.' Heddwyn would remember, however, that he had never felt anything more malicious than curiosity or general adoration wherever he had gone.

With over seven million copies sold, and with the Czars personal seal of approval, On Communism was the number one best seller of the week. Critics hailed it as "phenomenal", "inspiring", and "simply superb". Sections from it are being added to text books across the country as we speak. In fact, the Czar has sent a personal invitation to G. Igo, beseeching him to inspect the country and see what could be improved.

(OOC: Sorry, this is likely to be a messy post. I'm just writing off the top of my head since I'm hiding at an internet cafe, from a thunderstorm, and don't really know where I'm going with half of it. It was thirty degrees and blue skies for miles, three hours ago! Bloody Australia!)

Theoroshia

Pleased to have struck a chord in another nation, Graeme Igo promises the Theorosians that he will visit their country as soon as possible. Knocking on in years, as he puts it, Igo has recently over extended himself with speaking tours and journalistic rants, but after a brief respite ought to make Theoroshia his first port of call.

In advance, Graeme requests a forwarding of some basic information on the condition of Theorosian government and economics so as to be able to offer his opinions and advice, and he thanks the people for their interest and the government for its civilised reception of the controversial Igovian doctrine.

Wyclyfe

Mag Eothac is actually glad to see that some railway track still exists. Either the nation isn't yet so depserate as to require all of it, or at least there's still the makings of some basic infrastructure to aid in any development scheme. At worst there's still some emergency scrap metal to work with.

The Geletian does initial look into some of the suggested areas, interested to know what the TCSR wants him to see, or indeed to find out whether they're even trying to mislead him at all.

When he finally wanders off the beaten path he is encouraged by the relatively orderly state of things. He's seen some supposedly revolutionary cities in anarchy. The bad, lower-case kind of anarchy, that is, where violence and substance abuse prevail. Come to think of it, he's seen that some evenings in Calcutta, Raipur, Mumbai, Karachi, Ancyra, Pessinus, and Galle. If there's order and civilised day to day relations, there's potentially solid foundations for building, he thinks.

To a large degree the Captain talks with the TCSR and other official-types the same way as he talks to people he meets on the street. For all he knows the establishment could be watching him with spies or having planted agents approach him, so he may as well just be up front where possible, and at least get wind of his boundaries before he blunders across them.

Spending a lot of his time going back and forth between streets and officialdom, Heddwyn notes frequently that, "I see a lot of potential! Really, you ought to have seen the Calcutta slums before we got ourselves free of the Principality and its allies. Dare say it was as bad as the worst you'll find in Gallaga. Mark my words, you'll show those Republicans up, yet."

He has to conceed that Soviet India's lack of intelligence on the Shield and the Republics armaments and allies means that war is a difficult prospect when it is for the benefit of so few in Wyclyfe compared to hundreds of millions in other states with Igovian ambition. But the fact that I'm here shows that we've not forgotten what a lot of rotters that lot can be!.

Back on the streets, the Captain frequently takes advantage of his ability to turn heads and stops to kick over a soap box and climb up for a typically Geletian oration. With all the animation and wild inflection of the bards of home, Heddwyn speaks at length of the benefits of communal living, of India's pantisocratic phalansteries, or democratic communes. He urges whole streets and neighbourhoods that may lack them to establish Popular Soviets and hold regular meetings at some common property. He talks with confidence about local direct democracy and higher accountable representation, and also talks about Worker Soviets in state-owned enterprises.

To critics he may justify himself by insisting that popular participation in politics and economics only strengthens a people's commitment to the freedoms they have gained and increases their desire to fight for their revolution should an invasion come.

Heddwyn takes advantage of fawning from officials to request mountains of information, often going to different sources and using his Celtic gift of the gab in efforts to acquire data on the spot. He wants to know about employment rates, militia organisation and enrolement, mining productivity and prospecting, crop yields, land use and division.

"We must organise the sreets to foster our sense of community. The community ought to become every revolutionary's natural conception of the base unit of society, even if it must supercede the family. Now, don't worry, the reactionaries may try to tell you that the Reds want to steal your children, but all that we advocate is mutual help.

"Communal education has proven very effective and popular in my homeland, and it did so in pioneering settlements across the New World under conditions of extreme hardship. We've even learned that small changes to diet and habits can have a profound impact."

The Captain then typically offers an information poster to be placed in a public setting with dietry suggestions and recent research showing that children of different ages should be allowed to sleep different hours and rise for communal education in a community setting at this hour or that based on their age group. For those who're interested, charts seem to show improvements in a range of tests administered to children before and after these changes in the Commonwealth.

The diet sheets lead Mag Eothac on to talk about agricultural public works that ought to be considered. Realising only now that perhaps some of his propaganda's suggestions may be beyond the means of many in Wyclyfe, he has to tackle the issue head on and call for mass mobilisations to irrigate and manage significant agricultural potential. "Communities must be balanced with the state." He says. "Communal needs and a national plan must be pursued in harmony, hence the need for many Popular Soviets to relate with the central authority..." ...which he does not yet directly challenge.

"...and, if we re-design communities around mass democracy, common education, and other considerations, we must also think to their defensibility. Long, straight, open streets are the imperialists invention, designed to allow cannons to fire directly at revolutionaries' barricades. We need public spaces and easy navigation, but we must be mindful of the enemy's strengths!"

Of course he has no end of specific suggestions that can be dragged out of him by an overly keen show of interest... such as an appreciative nod or a raised eyebrow.

(OOC: Heh, well, that killed half an hour of my wet afternoon, and probably as much of your day. Ho hum.)

Third Spanish States:

The book "On communism" was popular but wasn't exactly a sales success, because everybody downloaded it from the Internet as it's believed certain types of information must always be collective property. Mutualists and anarcho-individualists dismissed its content claiming that perfect and total equality can only be achieved through authoritarian structures which will quickly corrupt into State Capitalism or by a centuries-long change on the whole mankind's culture while most anarcho-communists put it in their collections. Someone from it sent an e@mail to the author, informing him about his nation:

"Hello, my name is Matt and I'm a great fan of your book 'On Communism' even though I don't agree completely with what you claim. I live in the Confederacy of Third Spanish States and I'm happy to check my nation's EDDNet everyday to directly help to decide the fate of my street, city, region and nation instead of voting on a fat cats to be corrupted by corporations. Also I'm glad to know I can always can choose between living in a truly free market of cooperatives which are about much more than wealth, artisans and individual businessmen which support each other without wage slavery , rent and interest rates which are my nation mutualist communes or living in a communist commune without any type of exchange. This basically explains that my nation economy is mixed, but not in the meaning of having a large government with high taxes, but in the meaning different regions and autonomous communes of it embrace different non-capitalist and non-exploitive economic systems, and the members of communist regions always give basic supplies to those who aren't clever enough to run business or which simply don't want to work to the point our people are so free even working for yourself rather than for a capitalist pig is only a choice rather than forced necessity. I would like to invite you to visit Third Spanish States. I'm sure it'll contribute to your studies. But we are not a so perfect and still far from Utopia, because those with the... 'capitalist spirit', took refuge in organized crime and no matter how many of them are killed by our armed citizens, more always come and they are a serious problem here."