And the poll
ONE said:In order to help the Balkans transition to democracy and capitalism, the then European Community develops the BALKAN UNION as a State Union with a Common Presidency and Foreign Affairs/Military (basically a larger State Union of Serbia and Montenegro) with it's excutive and legislative in Sarajevo and judical in Belgrade
Union Members are:
Albania (joined in 2000)
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Kosovo (joined in 1999)
Croatia
Macedonia
Montenegro
Serbia
Slovenia
Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are associate states
TWO said:This flag is for a UNION OF CATHOLIC STATES. In this timeline the Church does not fracture to the degree it does in OTL. The east-west schism is resolved and Protestantism, while forming sizable populations in Northern Europe, never replaces Catholicism as the state religion in any state.
In this timeline, almost all European states are (nominally) monarchies with monarchs sanctioned/approved by the church in Rome. The degree of democracy and constitutionalism varies pretty greatly: England's Catholic King is a figurehead while in Spain the King's power is comparable to the Hashemites or Saudis in OTL.
The Union encompasses almost all European states, but the major players are Venice, Spain, England, France, Poland-Lithuania. The union in this timeline functions more like the OTL Arab League than the OTL European Union. Nominally, states are united under the banner of the Roman Catholic church but in practice there are large rivalries and conflicts.
The placement of the crosses (supposed to be reminiscent of the Jerusalem/Crusader cross) are placed according to the relative locations of three (theologically) key cities: Rome, Constantinople and Jerusalem. The Latin phrases are "Thy Kingdom Come" and "Direct us our God", respectively.
THREE said:THE EUROPEAN CONFEDERATION OF SOCIALIST STATES
The European Confederation of Socialist States (ECSS), is an economic union and close military alliance of the socialist states of Europe. In this universe, the growing socialist intellectual strain of the early 19th century was codified by a different philosopher, a Russian exile living in England named Bogdan Shevchenko. Shevchenko advocated an emphasis on the agrarian peasantry rather than the urban proletariat.
Specifically, his vision of socialism aimed to improve the lives of the peasantry through state subsidy of agriculture and programs for the improvement of conditions in agricultural communities, while fixing food prices so that all could afford to eat. Compensation for labor would be set by the food output of the peasants' individual plots. The urban proletariat would operate industry through collective enterprise organized via trade unions and worker councils. Production in the cities would work to improve infrastructure and housing therein, as well as to supply agricultural equipment to the countryside and arms for a defensive military force. Raising the livings standards of the peasantry was to increase agricultural production to create a massive surplus which could be sold to build more infrastructure in both the countryside (further increasing peasant living standards) and the cities.
This idea caught on quickly in Russia, whose peasants had always lived in deplorable conditions, after the economic downturn of the late 19th century, especially after the disastrous Sino-Russian War of 1903-1905 in which the empire was forced by the newly industrialized Cai Dynasty to cede the Primorye and Sakhalin to China. Russia used ruthless force to crush rebellion during the First Russian Civil War of 1905-1906, whose impetus was a demonstration in St. Petersburg by angry factory workers, joined by peasant revolts in the countryside. It was in this war that the Socialist Party of Russia, founded on the ideas of Shevchenko, first came into the political battleground. The Russian Empire limped along for a few more years until it declared war on the Ottoman Empire, Italy, and the North German Confederation (Prussia lost the Franco-Prussian War) at the start of the First World War in 1913, joining on the side of France, Austro-Hungary, the UK, and Greece. The country's outdated (and starving) army and navy were soundly defeated by the Berlin Pact on both the Austrian, Polish and Caucasian fronts and suffered millions of casualties, and by 1915 was on the verge of revolution.
Peasant revolts, inspired by the ideas of Shevchenko, sprang up around the country, which were joined by revolts in the cities and in the army.
The establishment of the Russian Republic in March quieted things down somewhat, but the reactionary leadership of the Republic (handpicked by the authoritarian Grand Duke Alexander) as well as the continuation of the war and agitation from the left led to a second uprising in September. The abdicated Czar Nicholas III was captured in the Winter Palace when it was stormed and executed soon after. The Romanov family was sent into exile.
This revolt, led by the Socialist Party of Russia, led to the establishment of the Union of Russian Socialist Republics, which fought a civil war against Czarist elements of the army. It enjoyed extensive peasant support, and the war was soon won despite western intervention, though the Central Asian regions of the empire broke away during the Great War as the new states of Tuva, Buryatia, Qazaqstan, Qaraqalpaqstan, Bukhara, Khiva, Turcomania, Samarqand, and Fergana. Waves upon waves of peasant soldiers, with liberating passion, carrying scavenged rifles and waving green banners overwhelmed the demoralized armies of the west. The URSR implemented Shevchenkoist programs of empowerment of the peasantry and the improvement of the lives of the peasants through programs of infrastructural building, school and hospital construction, and education and electrification campaigns. Factories were rebuilt in the cities.
The Agrarian Socialist movement spread to nearby European nations like Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria, all of which were ravaged by the war and threatened by the formation of the Empire of Germany after its bloody Pyrrhic victory against the French invasion. The revolutions which broke up the Austro-Hungarian Empire were also inspired in large by Shevchenkoism.
Agricultural output in the URSR after the Second Civil War skyrocketed. This allowed for the surplus which Shevchenko predicted would be used to finance industrialization of the cities and further the prosperity of all. The rebuilding of the cities emphasized the new character of Russia as an egalitarian state on the crest of a new era in human history. Architectural wonders came out of this period, like Tatlin's Tower, a massive avante-garde structure designed to be the beating heart of the revolution, and the Moscow Metro, a massive luxury subway system with stations covered in expressionist, avante-garde mosaics, murals, and bas reliefs. Smaller structures, such as the schools, hospitals, and peasant housing constructed in the countryside were designed along similar lines.
During the Second World War (1933-1939), Nationalist Germany invaded the URSR and its allies. The invasion was turned back at the gates of Moscow and pushed by the Zelenyy Armiya all the way back to Berlin. After the victory in the war and the beginning of the Cold War between the Socialist East and the Capitalist West, the ECSS was formed as a counter to the Atlantic Alliance and the emerging European Community. In the aftermath of the Third World War (1959-1964) between the Socialist Bloc and the West, which ended in status quo antebellum after a limited nuclear exchange in Europe, the ECSS has done much towards the rebuilding of the world and has recovered most quickly of all the major powers. In the aftermath of decolonization, Socialism has taken hold in Africa as well.
The structure of the ECSS government is essentially a confederative syndicalist republic. The main governing body is the European Council of State, which is a bicameral legislature divided into two houses, a Chamber of Republics, whose representatives are elected by popular vote from the republics and have a set number of 12 delegates per Republic, and the Chamber of Nationalities, whose representatives are elected by popular vote from the recognized ethno-cultural groups of the union based on population. The second governing body, and the main economic authority in the ECSS, is the European Council of Syndicates, which operates on a similar structure to the Council, except that representatives are elected from amongst the leadership of the Agricultural and Industrial Syndicates. These captains of industry work to coordinate economic projects and manage at the broadest level the economic affairs of the Republics and the Union. The Republics, Nationalities, Municipalities, and even individual factories are part of a multi-tiered system of labor unions that manage the affairs of the economy from the bottom up. All economic planning is done with the input of local worker councils and both the republics and nationalities can override decisions of the supreme Councils with a large majority. The executive and head of state is the head of the Supreme Presidium, which is a body of 12 appointed by both councils from among themselves that serves to organize and preside over the meetings of the councils. The head of this council, however, is elected only by popular vote. The head of state can also be removed by a massive majority in a vote of no confidence from among any level of state organization, from the supreme councils (with a majority of 85%) all the way down to a popular referendum (with a majority of 65%).
Description of Flag:
The green field represents Socialism (green became the color of socialism in this universe).
The gold disc represents the sun, another symbol of agrarian socialism.
The plough represents the Agricultural worker, the foundation of socialist society.
The hammer represents the urban proletariat and the industrial worker.
The sword represents the people's willingness to defend their labor from exploitation.
The green star in the sun represents the guiding principle of Shevchenkoism, as well as the union of the Republics.
The twelve gold stars surrounding the sun represent the constituents of the union: The Russian Federative Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Socialist Republic, the Livonian Socialist Republic, the Lithuanian Socialist Republic, the Suomi Socialist Republic, the Polish Socialist Republic, the Romanian Socialist Union, the Magyarian Socialist Union, the Czechoslovakian Socialist Union, Transcaucasian Federative Socialist Republic, the German Socialist Republic, and the Bulgarian Socialist Republic.
The motto, written in green on a gold banner, reads "Tero kaj Libereco en Fratecon", or "Land and Freedom in Brotherhood" in Esperanto, which was adopted as the language of state by the URSR along with the Latin alphabet at its formation (Esperantism was popularized in Russia around the turn of the century with its use by prominent Russian intellectuals and became associated as a language of rebellion). It has slowly taken root among the people and rather successfully was implemented as an auxiliary language for the ECSS. The generation of Eastern European schoolchildren of the 50s remember being taught Esperanto very early in their childhoods and expected to use it, though this policy was relaxed later on.
FOUR said:FEDERATION OF INTERDEPENDENT NATIONS OF EUROPE
Following the acrimonious creation of a 3 tier European Union, Malta and Cyprus (placed in the third tier) left the EU and with Liechtenstein and Montenegro formed the Federation of Interdependent Nations of Europe (FINE). They were subsequently joined by Andorra, Monaco and San Marino.
Although declining to join, the Vatican City’s Peripatetic Pope Francis III gave the former Papal Quarters (vacated under Francis II) for use as the Assembly Hall of the FINE Grand Council and other FINE departments.
The current flag reflects the seven members by a semi-circle of 6-pointed stars which arch around a sunflower, long a symbol of the ‘small is beautiful’ movement.
