KitFisto1997
Banned
Alrighty, here's the UEC write-up. I'll check for errors and all that later. I just want to get something out while I'm out of town.
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[EEUSG] Union of European Communes
Out of all the different variants of Paris that exist out in the multiverse, this version of the City of Light is the oddest of the bunch. The old statues and monuments of yesteryear have been torn down and replaced with all kinds of strange and gaudy post-modern artworks, some of which seem to have been created whilst under the influence of psychedelics, which are also in a never-ending supply. The Eiffel Tower and the old National Assembly (which is now a museum) are what remains of the ‘old Paris’ that was created by ‘The Man’, or so the strung-out occupants of the UEC’s capital tell me.
A short train ride through the sparsely populated suburbs of the once-great city brings me to the walled off commune of Noisy-le-Sec. The massive concrete walls that surround a good quarter of the Parisian commune contain a small number of well-maintained and well-staffed tenant blocks that are covered in the same colourful artistic pieces that were draped over the townhouses and monuments of the Parisian CBD. A large sign that’s bolted next to the commune’s entrance warns that anyone who dares to enter the ‘New Dresden Commune’ without proper authorisation will have their rights forfeit or alternatively, shot on sight. The latter seemed to be the most merciful of the two options, judging by the overly cautious looks that lined the faces of militiamen that stood before me.
The large reinforced, ramshackle gate to the Commune opens with a crash, suggesting that it’s certainly seen better days. Hermann Blumberg greets me with an ecstatic grin and an outstretched hand, to which I return the gesture, albeit reluctantly.
"Welcome to the Union of European Communes, Herr Chana" he says in a heavy German accent before leading me inside the main tenant block. The compound itself is well-maintained and is the main area of operations for Blumberg's mercenary outfit, which offers their security services to high-ranking international dignitaries and other people of particular importance throughout Paris. Despite the fact that they're still expected to operate under the watchful eye of a Party-provided Commissar, Blumberg mentions that the Communal Politburo has been surprisingly absent in watching over his pseudo-capitalistic endeavours these past few years, allowing him to pay operate semi-independently from the state.
I ask Blumberg about how the Communes operate so effectively, since the overbearing statism that's often seen in other hardline socialist regimes is noticeably absent here - nor is any from of anarchist or other forms of stateless communist government for that matter.
"It's a complicated mess, but I'm more than happy to tell you of the UECs history..."
The Union of European Communes is a Minarchist-Socialist federation of nations, city-states and hundreds of thousands of individual communes that span from the coast of Portugal to the Rhine river on the old Franco-West German border. The former nations that now make up the constituent states of the UEC were once apart the American-led NATO alliance, which originally spanned from France to the old Iron Curtain as a bulwark to Soviet expansion.
The French Fourth Republic was one of these NATO members and was integral to American efforts to contain socialism both in Europe and in their overseas colonies in Africa and the Orient. The French were suffering from no shortage of revolts in their colonies, the most troublesome of which were Algeria and French Indochina. The French were to later lose Indochina to UN interference, but fought valiantly to preserve their African colonies in the face of both Communist, Nationalist and Islamist militias that waged a covert campaign of guerrilla warfare from the rural regions. Another faction that took advantage of the later stages of the war and its eventual aftermath was the OAS (Organisation Armée Secrète), a coalition of hardline French nationalists and ex-Vichy collaborators. The OAS were unhappy with the French surrender and the establishment of a sovereign Algerian state and went on to commit numerous terrorist attacks in both Algeria and France, the most famous of which was the successful assassination of French President Charles de Gualle in 1962.
The OAS went on to lead a coup in France later that year, bringing the new Fifth Republic under military rule that lasted until 1965, when a coup by former pro-de Gaulle forces restored France to a democratic state. The OAS - still calling themselves by the 'Fourth Republic' moniker - later fled to Algeria, taking the bulk of the French Republican Navy with them and successfully taking over the nascent Algerian Republic in 1967. The Sixth French Republic would later limp on into the following decade as a broken nation, having been thoroughly humiliated in two major colonial wars and forced out of the NATO alliance by the previous military dictatorship.
The repressed unions and remnants of the French Communist Party came onto the streets in the late 60's and early 70's, having been emboldened by the end of the Fifth Republic and the rise of the 'New Left' in the United States, Germany and the rest of the Western Free World. The Soviet Union provided funding to those of a more radical Marxist bent, but eventually realised that this new generation of socialists were far from the Old Guard that had dominated the USSR since the end of the Russian Civil War. The so-called 'French School' of Marxism, or more commonly known as 'Minarchist Socialism' in-verse, applies the Marxist view on class struggle to social issues and has more of an 'independent streak' than the rigid system of the Soviets. The ideology has more in line with the more radical sections of the Social Democrat movement and other self-ascribed 'Left Libertarian' movements throughout the multiverse, combining minimal state interference with a Kibbutz-esque system of communal living that still expects the citizens of each commune, ethnic autonomous region and city-state to contribute to the UEC as a whole.
The Second French Revolution of 1971 managed to bring the socialists to power, permanently breaking the Western European side of the NATO alliance. Meanwhile, similar organisations rose up in other Western European states, from Francoist Spain to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and everhwere else in between. The so-called 'Pink Revolution' turned formally centralised European monarchies, dictatorships and republics into a 'federation of equals'. By 1973, West Germany fell apart into various UEC-aligned buffer states and the United Kingdom officially transitioned to 'Emergency Rule' a year later, having suffered an aborted MinSoc revolution at the hands of ex-Labour MP Tony Benn.
The UEC is a highly decentralised 'state' - if one could even call it that in the first place. The ruling Politburo is a mere paper tiger, unlike the radical Neo-Stalinists of the USSR or the Strasserist East Germans, the Politburo delegates the bulk of the responsibility of government to the communes in a theoretically equal system where everyone has a say. But it must be said that the larger communes and even what remains of the old constituent nations have more of the say than your average village or wall-off apartment block. Elections for the Politburo are held every five years, while the communes themselves vote as to how their founding contracts operate, some may be hereditary warlord states while others may be direct democracies in a similar method to the greater UEC itself. The Politburo still expects the various states and communes of the UEC to produce goods for the 'greater good of the European Communes' and sends the odd Commissar or two to see if the industrial regions are producing their allotted amount of products per month or per year.
But due to the fact that the UEC's politburo is effectively governed by the remnants of the old French worker's unions, the bulk of the Commune's production centres to keep more than their fair share for either the elected leaders or the commune as a whole. Despite these shortcomings and an insane amount of decentralisation that often borders on full-on Anarcho-Communism - no matter how many times the Politburo insists that they're not like the old CNT-FAI Party in old Francoist Spain - the UEC has stayed relatively stable as the communes work together in the vague hope that they can spread their revolution further throughout the world in a peaceful, non-aggressive manner.
Despite the quirks that set the UEC apart from other more heterodox versions of Marxist thought, the UEC has had some success in 'peacefully' spreading their ideology throughout the neutral and formerly American/Soviet-aligned spheres of influence. The nominal 'allies' of the UEC range from the United Communes of Central America to the Congolese Socialist Republic, who fight against the Catholic-Socialists in Poland, the aforementioned Soviets/East Germans and the Maoist People's Republic of China for dominance. All of these nations (and a few more) all believe that their strain of Marxist thought is the 'true' variant that will lead the world to victory or something similar.
"The UEC is a mess of a place, but if you have a group of like minded men and women that are willing to contribute to your dream of a collective, you can pretty much do whatever you want here... That is, just as long as you pay as much lip service to the Politburo as is required, because even the most relaxed Commissar has a mean streak..." Blumberg tells me between sips of some expensive French champagne.
I ask Blumberg about the social aspects of living in the UEC, specifically on the operation of the communes and how they function in an almost non-existent 'socialist state'.
"The communes can range from cultural autonomous regions to farms, industrial zones and city-states such as the Parisian Capital District. Almost every people group, occupation and cultural niche is represented here in the Communes. If one dislike their commune, they can easily move to a new one, providing that they meet the prerequisites to join their new home..."
Prerequisites?
"Some of the communes have a strict membership criteria. One commune may allow homosexuals, artists or Christians, while another may be only comprised of pure Frenchmen, Bretons or Sicilians. This is tolerated by the Politburo, as long as they contribute a portion of whatever they produce to the Commissars. In fact, most communes are disbanded and/or created on a whim as rulers and production needs change. There are very few communes that have managed to stick around for a decade, let alone for the entirety of the UEC's existence..."
After leaving Blumberg's Commune and taking the next available flight out of the UEC, I'm certainly left with more questions than answers. To that end, I decided to seek a second opinion. My destination is Noumea, the capital of the French Pacific Republic - one of the many successor states to the old mainland French Sixth Republic.
Captain Jean Francois is an ex-pilot for the French Pacific Republic's Navy and now operates his own minor airline, serving the various rogue states that the major national carriers in the Free World won't simply do due to blockades and sanctions.
"The Communes are a complete and utter mess, Mister Chana." he tells me with a cigarette clamped firmly between his teeth. "The cities are truly the worst places, having seen nothing but utter chaos and degradation at the hands of a bunch of so-called 'artists' who produce all sorts of vapid post-modern trash. Any and all traces of industry have been moved out to the countryside with results that make Chairman Mao's Great Lead Forward look like the Industrial Revolution in comparison."
"The only thing that keeps the place together is the people's uncompromising commitment to the Politburo. Any form of secession or free and fair elections have led to the entirety of the Communal system falling down upon any of these would-be reformists. The population is kept in line by the drugged water supplies and the never-ending propaganda broadcasts from the radio masts..." Francois takes another drag from his cigarette before continuing on. "The Communes rely on the people's mass-hatred of centralised authority to provoke violence against their supposed enemies - both real and imagined..."
"Any semblance of artistic or political freedom is only existent from within their leftist paradigm of anti-classist pseudo-anarchism, while they ironically cling to the remnants of what keeps the Free World standing, which is the very idea of governance itself. Had the Communes ever tried what they call 'true Minarchism' and had taken out the ever-present Commissars, anti-state propaganda and drugged water supplies, they'd have fallen to pieces within decades of their founding..."
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