Earth’s Folly: The Socialist Republic of the Moon

Going into the new election, the Trotskyists rallied strongly around president Chukchov. He engaged with a number of debates against delegates of the other socialist parties, comparing his solid proposals for the future to their ill defined well wishes.

It worked well for them, landing them a slight majority in parliament. The voters responded well to their planned out ideas of how to improve everyone's quality of life.

Even the Americans, previously mostly stalinists, have responded well to the independence of the republic and switched their allegiance. The communists do recieve a substancial amount of votes, but not enough to get a delegate in most districts.

They had brief talks to continue the coalition from last term, but talks fall apart when the social democratic's insistence of eventually having some sort of market caused the socialists to propose to exile them.

The proposal is quickly shot down by everyone except the communists on grounds of exiling hundreds of people would be disasterous, but it spelled an end to the coalition. With the socialists insisting on a purge and the anarchists opposing central management, the Trotskyists decided they didn't need a coalition as they don't plan on making any constitutional amendments.

So the second election of the republic began with single party rule, augmented with a wide range of support for their policies from the other parties.


They began by forming the Agricultural Workers' Council composed of by delegates from each agricultural commune. This workers'
council would be subordinate to parliament, but have enough power to fulfil their role. Their first task was to find local plants for agricultural purposes.

Experiments took months, and involved both attempting to farm the plant to see if it could be done industrially, and testing cooking methods and nutrition. This eventually turned up a plant quickly named ragwheat.

Ragwheat is similar to grass, growing tall and thin. It's as thin as a grain of rice, yet can grow up to a couple meters. Seeds grow at the very top and fall off easily after being grown, requiring careful harvesting to replant. Cutting it into small pieces lets you make porridge and flatbread out of it.

But most importantly, unlike plants from Earth, it can hibernate at night. Typically grown over the course of around two lunar days, it stops growing at night, but only dies if harmed during this time.

They also managed to discover a tree, which although has less potential to be farmed due to long growth times, has a much tastier product.

The whistling sap tree is thin with weak wood, like all lunar trees. What they're most well known for is if you put a tap in them for sap they make a high pitched whistle sound. Analysis has determined that they have the most sugar and best tasting syrup of all the local trees.

They're still too thin to have more than one or two taps in at once, but the Agricultural Workers Council has already recommended that communes near forests exploit them for their potential as a low effort good.

Already by the end of the term moral increased, with the screaming syrup as the most popular condiment for the bland ragwheat porridge.


Parliament ordered the militia to go out in regular hunting parties. This ended up mostly self organized, with government permission to liberally use guns and ammo allowing them to do what they wanted anyway.

The extra meat these years was doubtlessly good for general nutrition, though with industry focused on other things, ammo stockpiles become low. Particularly as you lack any sort of chemical industry, you are running low on smokeless powder.


The demand for plumbing was a true showing of communist solidarity. The mining unions mined the iron, which was sent to the industrial unions to smelt into steel and form into pipes and plates. Then workers put these together into a small water tower, leading to the houses currently set up.

Without electricity this system requires a comparatively large amount of manpower to keep running, but has allowed for hundreds of people in the urban center of the republic to have running water.

The agricultural communes are too spread out to be able to reasonably supply them with our very small industry, but manuals have been compiled and sent to ensure they all know how to make wells and sanitize water.


Parliament also ordered an end to the medical and hygiene disaster. They converted a few buildings into a hospital, bathhouses, and outhouses. While a few houses were able to be set up with toiletries, there is not yet enough running water for showers, and many still are making due in tents.

The bathhouses are communal and run in the style of the traditional Russian banya, with wooden logs burned for steam. The one exception being that, having thrown off patriarchal power structures, it was declared that there is no longer a need to separate by sex.

While the communal bathhouses were set up in the urban area, more rural areas were offered help in building small outhouses to take baths in.

The LSSR did not respond well to attempts to trade industrial products for medicines. With a solid stream of incoming products from the Soviet Union, they had no need for inferior products from the republic.

Scrambling to find another trade partner, the republic found Verne a willing recipient. Well funded but with much fewer rocket landings than the American and Soviet colonies, they had an excess of medical supplies and few bulky industrial products.

Soon a second trade route from the republic sprung up, sparsely traveled but important all the same.

The hospital, staffed by the only doctor in the nation and several nurses, was set up to accept any patient who needed it. The new antibiotics and other medicines were stored here as well, parceled out to those that need it.

The hospital also hosted many births this year, bringing attention to the possible health defects low gravity may be having. Official statements are that there are none, but others have expressed concern.


Immigration greatly increases these years, with the chaotic and lean days of the early revolution over. The republic's primary source of immigration is from the LSSR, where people sent for trade simply stay.

Still, there is a substantial amount of people coming from the European and American colonies in search of a better life. The political freedom is a draw even for those who would consider themselves liberal or conservatives. A year into the term the socialists brought another bill to ban insufficiently revolutionary immigrants, but the trotskyist majority refused in favor of letting them be radicalized by their peers.


Events on the Moon in 1976-1977:

Space shuttles begin appearing as a regular occurrence in Horizon, with the first few emigrants of the moon returning to Earth.


Notable events on Earth in 1976-1977

Progressive democrat Jimmy Carter wins the US presidential election of 1976 on issues of reform, especially economic reform, to solve the current recession.

Mao Zedong dies, and his designated successor Hua Guofang takes his place as the leader of China.


Current Issues:

These are quotes from the populace that represent their biggest issues right now.

"I moved here recently for the political freedom, but where's my house? If all I get is a tent I may as well move back to LSSR."

"It's night two weeks long, yet we're still using torches. Where's our electricity?"

"My child is already five, but there's still no elementary school. I don't have time to homeschool her!"

"The agricultural communes have a workers' council now? Why do they get special privileges?"


These are the primaries, meaning you vote for a plan for a party. If a party has two roughly equal plans it will split, and if it has no votes it will collapse. After the primaries there will be another vote for the general election which determines how many delegates each party gets.

A plan vote should include the party name, plan name, up to 4 planks with a maximum of 150 words, and preferred coalition partners. You may also add an outreach action that'll happen if you're not in government, ex. anarchist's first plank last turn.

If you don't add an outreach action, you will instead be focusing on cooperating with the ruling coalition to get at least one of your policies passed/filibustering and stuff to prevent them from passing stuff you don't like.



[] Communist Party

Mostly composed of dissidents from the United States, the Communist Party is officially Stalinist and seeks to emulate the Soviet style of government. They favor a heavily planned economy and would like to subordinate unions and cooperatives to the state.


[] Trotskyist Workers Party

Trotskyists support Permanent Revolution, which in this case means spreading communism to the other major colonies on the moon. They reject working with the Soviet Union. They believe in centrally planned ownership of agriculture and industry. They oppose the bureaucratization of stalinists and are strong supporters of workers democracy.


[] Socialist Party

Marxists who see Marxism-Leninism as having betrayed the true meaning of Marx, they support a non-authoritarian centrally managed economy. They refuse to betray the principals of revolution and will stop at nothing to prevent others from doing the same.


[] Anarchist Party

Anarchists advocate for dissolving the state. They believe local unions and communes should share power and make collective decisions. Their main powerbase are the workers organizations, advocating for their own increase in power.


[] Social Democrat Party

Social Democrats are in favor of promoting social justice and a mixed economy with elements of both capitalism and socialism. They are the strongest supporters of the current system of representative democracy, and see little need to make further socialist changes. The right wing of this party includes liberals.

Socialist Republic of the Moon in Late 1977




Government Type: Parliamentary Republic
Governing Document: Constitution of 1974
Head of State: Dionisiy Chukchov
Head of Government: Dionisiy Chukchov
Legislative Majority: Trotskyist Workers Party

Demographics
Population: 6400 (5300 eligible voters)
Population Growth: 1.5%
Immigration Attraction: 25 (expect ~1200 immigrants/year)
Cultures: Russian, American, East European
Religions: Atheist, Eastern Orthodox

Foreign Affairs
Diplomatic Status: Recognized by the United States, most of Western Europe.
War and Peace: N/A
Alliances: N/A
Trade Agreements: Verne
Border Disputes: None

War
Army Type: Volunteer Militia
Army Quality: Low
Army Quantity: Tiny

Navy Type: River Guard
Navy Quality: Critical
Navy Quantity: Tiny
Seaport Quality: Low
Seaport Quantity: Critical

Airforce Type: Nonexistent

Interior
National Stability: Adequate
Police Quality: N/A
Police Quantity: None

Workers' Councils
Agricultural Workers' Council:
Composed From: Agricultural Communes
Powers: Research into better farming, suggestions to farmers.

Economy
Economic Output: Tiny
Economic Growth: Low
Economic Activity: Agriculture (High), Mining (Moderate) Industry (Low), Services (Low)
Trade Partners: Lunar Soviet Socialist Republic (Mixed), Verne (industrial for medicine)

Public Works
Road Quality: Critical
Road Presence: Critical
Rail Quality: N/A
Rail Presence: None
Utility Quality: Adequate
Utility Presence: Low
Electric Grid: None


Stats: [None/Critical/Tiny] / [Low/Small/High] / [Adequate/Medium] / [High/Large/Low] / [Ideal/Huge/Booming]
Stats in bold are improving, stats in italics are declining.

During their convention, the socialists enter in a deadlock. With no solid plan they put their names on for election anyway, but hopes for a win are slim. If they don't do well anyway, it is likely that the party will collapse, former delegate hopefuls defecting to other parties.


[] Communist Party

-[X] The Coordination of Society
--[X] Establish a central planning office and a labour office attached to it. The former will collect and share information from every community and every sector of the economy to aid in coordinating it. It does not have the power to set quotas or allocate resources, merely gather information and make recommendations. The latter will maintain a list of every labour body in the country, and organizers wishing to create new bodies are encouraged register with the office.
--[X] Expand worker councils to every sector of the economy, with appointed officials from the central planning office serving as liaisons to the largest councils.
--[X] Begin establishing a socialist education system. Focus on primary schools first and begin establishing secondary schools, trade schools and higher education once primary and secondary education have been successfully implemented. Only hire ideologically reliable teachers if possible at all.
--[X] Start a program to bring electricity to our polity. Begin constructing power plants and power lines in our major settlements, once they are electrified begin construction in rural areas.
--[X] Outreach: Send party delegates across the nation to invite people to our party. Blame lack of development on poorly organized, disjointed efforts.
--[X] Coalition with the Trotskyist Worker's Party, Socialist Party, and Anarchist Party

[] Trotskyist Workers Party

-[X] The Inevitable March of Progress
-[X] Use the successful example of the Agricultural Worker's Council to establish Worker's Councils for all branches of our economy and society. Worker self-organization and a devolution of planning is going to accelerate progress and instil class consciousness in our population.
-[X] Begin establishing a socialist education system. Focus on primary schools first and begin establishing secondary schools, trade schools and higher education once primary and secondary education have been successfully implemented. Only hire ideologically reliable teachers if possible at all.
-[X] Start a program to bring electricity to our polity. Begin constructing power plants and power lines in our major settlements, once they are electrified begin construction in rural areas.
-[X] Begin construction of simple communal housing and give priority access to the citizens forced to live in tents.
-[X] Outreach: Use party resources to provide aid to newly arrived immigrants. Help their transition into our society and try to convince them that the TWP is the party of prosperity and the best guarantee for continued political freedom.
-[X] Coalition with the Socialist Party, Anarchist Party and Communist Party

[] Socialist Party


[] Anarchist Party

-[X] Education, Electrification, and Cooperation
--[X] Directly support all efforts by workers to build their own councils.
--[X] Begin construction of simple communal housing and give priority access to the citizens forced to live in tents.
--[X] Begin building a public education system, with more self-directed learning as students get older.
--[X] Agitate for having communes build their own electrical grids, with the state's only role being linking them together.
--[X] Outreach: Support existing mutual aid groups, and help to found ones in areas of need.
--[X] Coalition: No SocDems

[] Social Democrat Party

[X] Social Democrat Party
-[X] Building foundations for the state.
-[X] Constitutional amendment guaranteeing universal human rights, and establishing a nonpolitical judiciary of the people.
-[X] Begin establishing an education system, in addition to general education opportunities to learn and improve languages and literacy skills should be open to all.
-[X] Start a program to bring electricity to our polity, with a focus on the development of options that do not require outside resources for power generation.
-[X] Begin construction of simple communal housing and give priority access to the citizens forced to live in tents.
-[X] No outreach.
-[X] Coalition with Trotskyist Workers Party