Erusia

From MicroWiki

The Democratic People's Republic of Erusia (DPRE) (Erusian: Verzu Ehazova Qaevaxu Zaaxhia), commonly known plainly as Erusia (Verzu eg Zaiv) is a micronational state that was originally founded on October 27 2008 as a Constitutional Monarchy and reformed to a Democratic Republic on November 8th of that year. Since the July 2009 Erusian Political Crisis, Erusia has been a Single-party Socialist Republic under the absolute leadership of the Erusian National Communist Party, who first came to power in November 2008. Since November the Communist Party has systematically eliminated all political opposition to it's rule, gradually transforming the nation from a free multi-party democracy to a single-party Communist State.

Under Communist rule, the Democratic People's Republic has been seen to prosper both politically and socially. It has become one of the most influential members of it's main community and is renowned for it's committment to progressive socio-economic development. In particular, Erusia stands out for the high number of women and minorities in it's government, it's tolerance and acceptance of such minorities, an unusually active government and a strict internal bureacratic structure rivalled by few other micronations. Critics of the Erusian government have attacked the DPRE for what they percieve to be repeated Human Rights violations, a record of political repression, opposition to true democracy and a hardline Socialist foreign policy.

The Democratic People's Republic is unique among both micro- and macronational Socialist Republics in that it adheres to it's own unique ideology of Rennie-Gaffneyism, named for the founders of the Democratic People's Republic of Bzan. It was the leading member state of the Union of Socialist Micronational Republics throught that micronation's history, and today Bzan - it's spiritual ancestor - is one of the four semi-autonomous regions of Erusia. According to the Central People's Government of Erusia, the inevitable goal of Erusia is to "achieve a classless, Stateless and truly Communistic society in which all are free and equal" and to "demonstrate the micronational movement can become a powerful weapon in the global revolutionary struggle against Capitalism and Imperialist oppression".

Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Monarchy and First Red Reformation 2.2 Communist Rule November - December 2008 2.3 Second Red Reformation 2.4 Erusia in the USMR 2.5 Third Red Reformation 3 Government and Politics 3.1 Intermicronational relations 4 Subdivisions 5 Economy 6 Contact

Etymology

The name of the Democratic People's Republic is derived from the Latin Erus, meaning lord or master. Within the context of the Erusian language, the term Erusia (Verzu eg Zaiv) means Land of Masters. The name was originally chosen by the short-lived Erusian Monarchy to reflect the aristocratic nature of their planned society, but under the Communist Party it has been taken to refer to a country in which the People are the masters of the nation. It is worth noting that in Erusian, the official name of the nation is the Erusian People's Democratic Republic, but the Central People's Government of Erusia has rejected proposals to change the official English name.

History

Monarchy and First Red Reformation

Erusia was originally created as the successor to the United Royal Kingdom of Licentia and Bzan, making it the eight micronational state of the Licentian civilisation, on October 27th 2008. Erusia was - in theory - a compromise between Licentian Royalists and Bzanite Communists, with a new Monarchy and a democratically-elected government. All though the International Community of Bzanites had initially accepted the agreement and elected retired military officer Robert Lethler to lead them into this uneasy alliance, within days the agreement between the two was in tatters. The Bzanite Communists calls for the creation of a Socialist Republic and an end to Licentian monarchy once and for all and, on November 8th 2008, the Communists took power and declared the beginning of the Red Reformation. Lethler declared himself to be Premier of Erusia and later that same day implemented the National Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia.

Communist Rule November - December 2008

A day after the foundation of the Democratic People's Republic, the new Socialist government expelled all those who were unwilling to become part of the new revolutionary regime. On that same day the former Bzanite Communists came together for what is now considered to be the 1st National Congress of the ENCP and declared the official foundation of the Erusian National Communist Party, marking the beginning of de facto Communist rule in Erusia. The young Socialist government immediately set about reforming the State to the best of it's ability, seeking to purge all aspects of the short-lived Monarchy and instead establish a solid framework for what was then a free, multi-party Democratic Republic (albeit one based on the principles of Socialist Fundamentalism). The Party also set about it's early legislative work, creating laws to protect the rights of workers, women, homosexuals and other minority groups the Party seeks to equalise the social station of. On November 10th Robert Lethler had been elected to serve as the first Supreme People's Commissioner of Erusia.

One of the major obstacles facing the Erusian government was the low levels of citizenship. In late November three people had joined Erusia to from the People's Democratic Front, a social liberal opposition party, and the Communist Party had found itself forced to declare an executive election for December. When all ballots had been cast in the December 2008 Executive Election, the Erusian government arranged for an independant ballot checker in the People's Republic of Yongheng to verify the results of the election. According to Maria Carlisle, leader of the opposition during the election, the Communist Party was guilty of electoral fraud and had instructed Yonghengese officials to alter the ballot to ensure their power. The Front also asserted that the Communist Party prevented key individuals from voting for fear that the election would result in their defeat. On December 21st Maria Carlisle declared that she had the support of the Republic of Petorio and that she demanded an immediate recount or second election. The Erusian National Communist Party continued to assert that it won a descive victory and that it will not authorise any recount. Upon hearing that Petorio had withdrawn it's support for Maria Carlisle, Kai Roosevelt issued a public statement declaring that the matter would be submitted to the courts for verification.

Second Red Reformation

With criticism from Bzan and Erusia's ideological father, P J Gaffney, the Communist government drastically shifted it's policy away from being in favour of multi-party democracy to being in favour of a single-party state. In January 2009 a Second Red Reformation was launched resulting in constitutional reform that established the Communist Party as the supreme political authority in the nation and the only political party permitted to govern the nation at an executive, national level. This stabilised the political situation in Erusia and quieted criticism from within and without the nation, allowing the Communist Party to continue it's reforms. The Second Red Reformation inevitably saw the Party take on a more hardline, anti-democracy approach and began to systematically repress the democracy movement (which had now been forced to join together to form a token opposition party).

Erusia in the USMR

When the Union of Socialist Micronational Republics was founded, the Democratic People's Republic immediately became it's leading member state. The power and influence of Erusia expanded exponentially at this point, with the nation holding great influence on the internal political affairs of both Licentia and Bzan. Erusia became almost synomynous with the Union itself. Throughout the three month's it was a member of the USMR, the Erusian National Communist Party continued it's internal political and socio-economic reforms and development with very little interruption or interference from the All-Union government, whilst Licentia often found itself being forced to take on new policies and pass new laws due to pressure from the Union to reform towards Rennie-Gaffenyism. When the USMR eventually collapsed following the Licentian counter-revolution, Bzan and Erusia unified at last, and give birth to an even more powerful Erusia.

Third Red Reformation

In June 2009 the ruling Communist Party announced it was launching a Third Red Reformation. The Party introduced a new National Constitution to give itself more power but at the same time loosen restrictions on other parties, restoring proper multi-party democracy and elections for the office of Supreme People's Commissioner. In July however, the Communist Party completely backtracked on all it's promises and annonced it was outlawing all other political parties. The constitution was amended officially on July 4th 2009 and the remaining Democracy activists decided the time had come to leave Erusia once and for all, with their Independent Communist supporters - who had arrived in late June - joining with the ruling ENCP.

Government and Politics

Main Articles: Politics of the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia, Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia

The Democratic People's Republic of Erusia is a Single-party state and Socialist Republic. The third historical but only remaining Rennie-Gaffneyist State in the world, Erusia is nominally a Communist Democracy and free Democratic Republic. The National Constitution defines the DPRE as being "an independent, atheistic Socialist Republic that is the physical embodiment of the People's Revolution and thus is a State established by the People, for the People" and also as "a Single-Party Communist Democracy in which all political power belongs to the People". Theoretically the government of Erusia is democratically elected in free, fair and open elections and all political decisions are subject to the scrutiny of the general citizenry.

In practice, the role of the State in Erusian politics is exceptionally minor. The Erusian National Communist Party is the only legal political party in all Erusia and all political power is concentrated in it. The Communist Party thus serves as the real governing force in the nation, making all decisions and pre-approving all candidates in any election. Trade Unions and independent political organisations are permitted on the condition they agree to follow the Communist Party and adhere to the Party Line, and even then any candidates they forward for elections must be approved by the Communist Party before they are allowed to stand. For much of the year the power of the ruling Party is exercised by it's elected Central Committee, with the collective membership of the ENCP determining the framework of future government policy at each National Congress.

Unlike many micronational states, where political power is often concentrated in one or two leaders, power and responsibility is divided between the leading members of the Communist Party who generally work together to provide collective rather than individual leadership. Legislative and Executive power is firmly seperated to ensure the two branches of the national government do not become blurred, though both are subordinate to the supreme authority of the ENCP. The Head of State is known as the Supreme People's Commissioner of the National People's Executive Committee, with the incumbent office holder being Robert Lethler, whilst the Head of Government is Kai Roosevelt in her capacity as Premier of the National people's Assembly.

Intermicronational relations

Main Article: Foreign affairs of Erusia

Erusia is one of the most prominent members of the MicroWiki Community and a founding, as well as a leading, member state of the Grand Unified Micronational. Erusian foreign policy has had a monumental impact on it's community, with Robert Lethler serving as the 2nd Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational and more recently the 2nd Chairman of the Preisidum of it's Supreme Tribune. Erusia has srong bilateral ties with a number of micronations and is widely respected as the leading Socialist Republic in the community, as well as one of the leading Communist States in the MicroWorld. Unlike many micronational single-party Communist States that collapse due to inactivity, Erusia has prospered.

Subdivisions

Main Article: Political divisions of Erusia

Erusia is a semi-Federative Republic, with it's territory being divided up into four semi-autonomous Administrative Districts. These Districts are headed by an Administrative Authority with their own regional Head of State (an Administrator), whilst they also have their own legislative bodies known a Congress of People's Deputies. All four regions have their own semi-autonomous branch of the ruling Communist Party headed by a Party Secretary. The four districts are:

• Erus Special Municipal Administrative District
• Bzan Special Administrative District
• Sacria Administrative District
• Sanctia Administrative District

Economy

Main Article: Economy of Erusia

The economy of the Democratic People's Republic is a Socialist command economy based on the principles of common ownership of the means of production (collectivisation) and the centralised planning of all economic development, with the specific objective of all economic development being an increase in the standard of living for the lowest classes and an end to exploitation of workers and minorities. Unlike some Socialist economies, the Erusian economic model is not opposed to private ownership of local business and has laws to protect the interests of what it considers to be "small, local community enterprises that serve chiefly to benefit the local People rather than entrepeneurs". It considers small enterprises such as corner shops, small specialist stores (hardware, gardening etc.) and similar businesses to be compatible with the Socialist ideology. The larger a business becomes however the tighter the regulations placed on it become - if any enterprise has multiple venues or any individual multiple business, they suddenly falls under much tighter regulatory measures.

Central planning in Erusia is based on the Rennie-Gaffneyist doctrine of a People's Economy and calls for progressive centralisation rather than instanenous and forceful centralisation. The Erusian economy is based on the assumption that land is not a commodity but owned by the People as a collective political unit, who in turn entrust it's management to the State. As such, it is not possible to buy or sell land in Erusia because land is the property of the State - instead, individuals must apply to the government if they require land for any specific purpose. In this way the government believes it can better control agriculture and industry from the get go without having to nationalise or collectivise every farm and factory in a short period of time. All large businesses are required to operate as workers' cooperatives based on the ideas of democratic centralism - large enterprises, both state owned and private, must have a committee to lead them who are elected by regional committees from each branch, who are in turn elected by the workers at that regional branch.

The Communist Party has been exceptionally careful to ensure Erusia's economic autonomy and to minimise it's involvement with the global Capitalist system. It maintains the view that it is possible to develop a sustainable, effective Socialist economy with minimal involvement from foreign Capitalist powers and cites Cuba and the Soviet Union as examples of "Socialist financial and economic orthodoxy", blaming the historical economic problems in both nations on the capitalist world.

Contact

erusia@live.co.uk - official e-mail of the Central People's Government