I've put my cynical party politicker hat on because I must argue against Limited-Worker Input too.
I'm sure those in the Radical clique certainly do believe that union-party integration is a better method of government and worker representation. However, they are also entirely self serving, make no mistake about it. You think they got to be a major figure in the All-China Federation of Trade Unions by being some plucky underdog fighting the system? No, every single union leader is a cold blooded party apparatchik. The union is not independent of the party. It is an extension of the party. The integration of union members into economic planning is simply swapping out one set of party bureaucrats for another, under the rhetoric of worker empowerment.
The Radicals only want to empower the unions to strengthen their clique to undercut the power of the Presidium! The ACFTU and Radicals will be promoting their most loyal members to positions of power to chip away at the Bukharinist base of power in the party and ministries. This is not worker empowerment, but crony empowerment. If we want capable engineers and bureaucrats in the state planning committees than the only real option is continuing the Top-Down Approach. The increased funding will result in more trained personnel to fill the existing gaps and allow us to more firmly plant our feet.
Okay real talk, the fact that it's the Militarists pushing for such a system is further reason not to pursue it. It explicitly empowers them and they only want to apply it to military industries. The literal last thing we want is the military dictating economic policy to the party.
Yeah, I also don't like empowering the military, which is part of why I made my plan that way. The military already has too much power, as evidenced by the military candidate in the previous vote having the most weight.
Just wanna say cybernetics are cool and all but we aren't Zhadnov Ultravisionaries sadly. Lets maybe try to be realistic on what we can do on the first turn yes?
Okay real talk, the fact that it's the Militarists pushing for such a system is further reason not to pursue it. It explicitly empowers them and they only want to apply it to military industries. The literal last thing we want is the military dictating economic policy to the party. That's what Brezhnev did and it resulted in like civilian eye ware factories having to be made with the ability to switch over to producing military optic lenses at a moment's notice. The military got first dibs on all computer systems. They will fucking hog all the cybernetic experts for themselves and strangle our economy if we don't meet their demands if we go down the cybernetic path. Let's not let the militarists get buddy-buddy with a cadre of technocrats and bureaucrats that allow them to sideline existing party-state structures when making economic decisions.
the militarist clique, who wish to import and implement this theory for military purposes but are willing to acquiesce to civilian use as well so long as the importation of experts and know-how is greenlit.
The militarists' (a faction within the CPC, not the military itself) inital and primary interests in cybernetics were in how the principles can be applied to our military, and presumably, the industries which directly support them. They do not wish for it to only be applied there, as they recognize that the importation of the relevant experts will never happen if they cannot also be used for purely civilian industries. It empowers their faction because they are currently the main champions of cybernetics in Dongbei (so it's success will vindicate their position), and it requires working with the USSR and Balkan Federation (playing into their internationalist focus). It does not mean that the military now has more say in the economy, or that they dictate orders to the party. Remember that we elected a bukharinist, not a militarist, so the military will not have first dibs on the requisite tech and experts like they did in the USSR.
And to all those saying it's too early, IOTL cybernetics were being embraced by the USSR in the 60s if not the 50s. (Depending on whether you define that by political support vs actual implementation) Which is arguably before our time period ITTL, especially if Stalin not being at the helm means that it wasn't suppressed when it first arrived on the scene.
We're trying to improve the economy while also weakening the military's political influence. It'll also get easier to add cybernetic mechanisms later and the options text makes a good point that it was the unique situation post Russian civil war that allowed the private industry to receive foreign investment.
Sometimes you gotta do step 1 before you do step 2. Step 1 in this case is making sure our country is stable, productive, and not going to collapse via economic or political collapse. Once that's achieved and we see how Cyberneticism pans out, we can learn from our Soviet neighbors and get back on track. For now, we keep the ship steady and avoid shallow waters.
The Economy may be the structure on which all a nation ultimately rests, but the superstructure that stands above it is no less important. Any communist party worth its salt must take an active role in shaping the society it springs forth from just as much as that society ultimately shapes it.
(Reminder that only one non-Bukharinist option may be chosen in any voting plan)
Majorities and minorities: Though Han Chinese are a definite majority in the Chinese Soviet Republic, they are not the only inhabitants of the bastion of Asian socialism, even with the expulsion of the Japanese settlers the region of Dongbei remains home to a significant Korean, Russian, Mongolian and (ever increasingly irrelevant) Manchu minorities and while they have benefited from the rise of socialism and the CSR's economic policies some within and without the party point out that they are (except for the Russians) also falling behind when compared to their Han counterparts when it comes to various metrics such as literacy levels, income and more wether due to difficulties with learning Mandarin, simply starting off from worse off conditions or shamefully prevalent ethnic chauvinism among our ranks.
Currently, the CSR's minority policy is vague beyond the platitudes of socialist equality and opposition to discrimination, something that almost everyone agrees is not sustainable, and a coherent policy must be codified and implemented lest reactionaries take advantage of this oversight. As always the question is how to go about this.
Choose 1
[ ] Copy the Soviets (within reason): The answer for our faction is as always the most straightforward one, the USSR already has a perfectly adequate model for minority integration that may be usefully copied and appropriated for our purposes with proper alterations to take the CSR's different context into account.
A mixture of affirmative action programs, proper language education courses, and anti-discrimination campaigns should be more than enough to do the trick. It may rankle the noses of the nationally inclined members of the CPC but this won't be something they can openly mobilize against.
(This option will take 2 years to implement, has a chance of empowering the Bukharinist faction and causing ?? or ??)
[ ] Something new: the Radicals as always are unsatisfied; despite agreeing with most of our suggestions they don't believe they go far enough in addressing the minorities' concerns or the problem of chauvinism within our ranks.
Instead, they propose a more comprehensive and disruptive program of mandated multilingualism in schools, the creation of more stringent anti-discrimination and cultural rights laws, the creation of state-approved minority cultural institutions and a more comprehensive anti-discrimination campaign within the very ranks of the party. While in principle none of this is really too threatening to the status quo or Bukharinist orthodoxy but are problematic in the time and effort they will need to be implemented properly and their potential to potentially alienate certain segments of the party at a critical time; to say nothing of how they would empower the radicals themselves.
(This option will take 4 years to implement, and has a chance of empowering the radical faction and causing ?? or ??)
[ ] Let them earn it: The militarists are not opposed to increased multiculturalism in the CSR, in fact, they are fully supportive of it…with a catch. They are willing to support the implementation of multilingualism on the national level, comprehensive welfare, and affirmative action programs on the condition that conscription requirements be extended to national minorities as well and that such benefits be conditional on performing the national service.
Such a proposal is relatively similar to the Bukharinist program and would have the advantage of being relatively easy to implement while allowing us to have the militarist in our debt, but would also further entrench the red army's presence even further in national politics and perhaps empower them to the point where any favors they owe us are immaterial.
(This option will take 2 years to implement, has a chance of empowering the militarist faction and causing ?? or ??, Militarist faction now owes you one favor).
[ ] Write-in option
The new curriculum: Education is a powerful tool, something that has always been recognized by both socialists and capitalists alike. In the hands of capitalists, it can be a method of ensuring cultural hegemony that preserves the rule of the bourgeois far better than any number of guns or tanks could hope for, and in the hands of revolutionaries, it can be used to cultivate a new generation of dedicated socialist heroes who will carry the torch of enlightenment for beyond what their teachers could hope for.
To the CSR's credit, it has not been lax in giving its citizens the right to become educated and literate, with its illiteracy liquidation campaigns becoming a point of national pride and a source of international prestige even among nations not amenable to socialism.
However, it is now clear that, in the rush to meet quotas and in the general chaos of the republic's founding, several regional educational systems have deviated from or lagged behind the national standards whether by focusing on one aspect of the education campaign at the expense of the others (such as one district hyper-focusing on vocational industrial training at the expense of socialist education) or in some cases outright fabricating figures and educational needs to acquire more funding or gain prestige.
Therefore it is deemed by all that an educational standardization and consolidation campaign is necessary with the establishment of a singular state-mandated curriculum to be used by all schools under the preview of Harbin. As always with any grand reorganization effort, the party factions each seek to inject bits of their agenda into the process.
Choose 1
[ ] No need to do much here: Our Bukharinists, as usual, argue for an orthodox straightforward approach; the education system simply needs to be consolidated, standardized across the country, and brought up to a level comparable to at least that of the USSR if not Suomi; along with modest expansions of the number of schools and higher education institutions and the introduction of apprenticeship programs for those who wish to pursue more hands-on careers.
The Bukharinist approach will solve the issue adequately in the eyes of most and at great speed, even if some would have preferred to use this opportunity to do more.
(This option will take 3 years to implement, has a chance of empowering the Bukharinist faction and causing ?? or ??)
[ ] A more comprehensive approach: The radicals largely agree with most of the Bukharinist program but wish to expand upon them even more with the addition of children crèches, expansion of the number of kindergartens available along with a universal polytechnic program in all schools at all levels of education (mimicking reforms in Red Germany, Soumi and Denmark); and though some of them wished to establish experimental schools based on new radical Latin American pedagogies even this proved too much for most of the radicals to advocate for and was dropped.
The Radical program is far more expensive in time and resources to implement but one cannot deny its potential given the results similar programs have produced in Europe meaning even some Bukharinists are willing to humor it.
(This option will take 4 years to implement, has a chance of empowering the Radical faction and causing ?? or ??)
[ ] Children are our future: The militarists are largely on board with the Bukharinist and willing to support it fully thus ensuring it can be achieved at a sped-up timetable, but with the caveat that they wish to add planks to the plan that involves the creation of several children and youth organizations such as the boys and girls scouts for children and the Red Pioneers league for teens and youth.
This proposal on the surface is innocuous enough until one realizes that many of these organizations are planned to be gateways for funneling the best and brightest into the Red Army, as evidenced by the often militaristic lean of their proposed structure and the fact that the Militarists conveniently already have a list of candidates to fill the leadership positions in these organizations. Even so, some Bukharinists are willing to take the risk for a faster implementation of education reforms.
(This option will take 2 years to implement, has a chance of empowering the Militarist faction and causing ?? or ??)
[ ] Write-in option
Local law reform: Finally on the docket of social institutional reforms is the local law question, which despite its unassuming name may be one of the more vital issues for the Party to resolve.
Currently, the CSR's locales are organized in a quasi-militaristic fashion, with regions being divided into industrial and agricultural districts based on their economic activity and ability to contribute to the economy on a case-to-case basis rather than on any standardized system; something that has served the republic well in building up its economy but hinders its efforts at effective civilian governance.
With the Bukharinists now ascendant and the militarists' current loss of a majority in the Soviet, this is a chance to begin breaking away from the Red Army's hegemony and chart a course for its subordination to civilian authority; but for this to be effective then our faction may have to rally either the collaborators or reformists to our side to present a more united front against the militarist's influence, which will involve appeasement of some form or the other.
Choose 1
[ ] Keep it simple, Keep it efficient: the Bukharinists' proposal is as always comprehensive and practical if unimaginative as they propose that administrative reorganization of the state take place along Soviet lines with alterations made as needed to account for the local material conditions.
This plan would see the CSR adopt a Soviet-style model of elected local councils converging onto regional councils that in turn form and then answer to the supreme Soviet in Harbin with municipal autonomy being limited by the Central directives. This plan has the benefit of having been applied and tested in various other nations before hand thus being relatively quick and straightforward to implement once the kinks are sorted out.
(This option will take 5 years to implement, has a chance of empowering the Bukharinist faction and causing ?? or ??)
[ ] Some Power to the Soviets: the Radicals of course have their own more cumbersome program to propose in opposition to ours, a municipal reorganization plan that is modeled on the Finnish approach but watered down and with some modifications to account for the CSR's divergent conditions.
The radical plan leaves most of the power in the hands of Harbin but also grants local municipalities and Soviets a certain level of autonomy if their quotas are met and they comply with national laws along with granting some voting reforms such as ranked voting and recall ability for local councils only. Otherwise, the plan is mostly similar to the Bukharinist program.
The radical plan does have the potential to ameliorate a lot of discontent before it can reach a threatening level and would allow the party to have more resources to direct at other matters but the likelihood of it backfiring and the fear of potential counterrevolution if implemented recklessly keeps many skeptical about it.
(This option will take 6 years to implement, has a chance of empowering the Reformist faction and causing ?? or ??)
[ ] Concessions: the former collaborators who have supposedly seen the error of their ways and now turn their zeal to the cause of Marxism and worker liberation are normally silent in affairs of the state, content to keep to themselves and hope everyone forgets about their existence. But the new local law reforms have the potential of upending the comfortable niche they have carved out for themselves in the CSR's political ecosystem, a niche that's already being threatened by the CSR's successes in cultivating professionals who are set to replace the increasingly obsolete old guard.
And so the quasi-traitorous fossils now risk being exposed once more to propose a program that would guarantee that they retain some modicum of their power for the time being, a program that is largely similar to the Bukharinist plan but with a few caveats such as the retaining of some "especially economically sensitive" districts under the old system and the removal of some of the Soviets' nominal power in favor of more bureaucratic oversight. Now normally our faction wouldn't take two looks at this but with a potential confrontation with the military inevitable in the future, having the collaborators on the side may prove to be just the thing needed to tip the balance and they can always be dealt with later.
(This option will take 2 years to implement, has a chance of further entrenching the Collabrator faction and causing ?? or ??. Collaborators now owe you one favor).
[ ] Write-in option
A/N: you have 24 hours to discuss and 72 hours to vote. Write-in plans cannot exceed 200 words
[ ] Plan: For the Children are the Hope of the Future.
- [ ] Copy the Soviets (within reason):
- [ ] A more comprehensive approach:
- [ ] Keep it simple, Keep it efficient:
With the condition of only allowing one Non-Bukharinist option, it became a question of which Non-Militarist option to choose. Because last thing we need is the Military gaining even more power in the state.
In the end I decided to focus on Education. While I would like to do Culture stuff and make this a genuinely Multi-Ethnic state with a possibility of it forming the Nucleus of a Red East Asia, we still need to focus on the more fundamental things like Education.
One advantage we have over the Nanjing Government is generally Dongbei is better in a lot of quality-of-life metrics like education and other metrics like the fact that Dongbei generally produces it's own weapons while Nanjing could only produce obsolete stuff and is reliant on weapons imports. And I would like to keep that gap a thing for a variety of reasons, and the best way to do that is having a genuinely functional and comprehensive education system.
While I believe that the Radicals are correct in that the Culture issues is something that needs to be properly addressed, I personally put a functioning education system above that. Although I feel that we may need to do some reforms in the education in the future because of the Culture issues. And we are not empowering the Militarists.
Having some local autonomy would be nice but once again, I view Education as a higher priority. The Collaborator option is a genuinely Intriguing option, if one that feels a lot like a Faustian Bargain that is unneeded for the state to survive.
[X] Plan: To Reach Heaven Through Violence
- [X] Copy the Soviets (within reason)
- [X] Children are our future
- [X] Keep it simple, Keep it efficient
Let us not forget what our final goal must be. Let us not delude ourselves about the measures we will have to take to reach it. To ignore militarization now, when it is most important, is folly. We must begin the preparation for the reunification of China, and the advancement of the global Communist cause, now rather than delaying it.
"Communists should be the most farsighted, the most self-sacrificing, the most resolute and the least prejudiced in sizing up situations, and should rely on the majority of the masses and win their support." Mao Zedong, 1937
[ ] Plan: For the Children are the Hope of the Future.
- [ ] Copy the Soviets (within reason):
- [ ] A more comprehensive approach:
- [ ] Keep it simple, Keep it efficient:
Dongbei is Han majority, CCP already has mandates for minority rep, so staying the course and maintaining stuff like affirmative action is good stuff. There's no need to get freaky with it. We want a unitary state as the end goal after all. I do appreciate that the Bukharinist education option still involves increasing its funding. One of Bukharin's actual achievements in real life was organizing the Soviet education system and overseeing the elimination of illiteracy in the country. The Radicals agreeing, but wanting even more funding is great. We need more schools and need to make it easier for people to access schools. That's good.
Those Radicals in the Local Soviets however are regionalist revisionists looking to insert their cronies into power and entrench their own fucking fiefdoms into law. The Bukharinist method is best. We affirm our Marxist-Leninist party-state. In turn this will help solidify the party's control over the country and further centralize power in Harbin. We want that.
We must not give the Militarists in the party a single inch. They're cronies of the military. Every reform they propose is to further their own power at the expense of the party, and because we represent the workers and peasants of China, that means it's at the expense of the workers and peasants of China. While the youth organizations are on the surface perfectly fine, control over them will be handed over to the Militarist clique, which means that it will be controlled by the military.
Comrade Xi Jingping's Fourteen Commitments apply to this very situation:
Ensuring Communist Party of China leadership over all forms of work in China.
The Communist Party of China should take a people-centric approach for the public interest.
Governing China with the Rule of Law.
Strengthen the national security of China.
The Communist Party of China should have "absolute leadership over" China's People's Liberation Army.
Improve party discipline in the Communist Party of China
