…All executive powers established by this Constitution shall be invested in the Central Committee, which shall consist of the Premier, the Deputy Premier, and the Commissars…
…The Premier and the Deputy Premier shall both be elected separately every five years for a single five-year term…
…The Premier may not seek election for two successive terms, but may seek election again after one full term has elapsed…
…Any citizen who has reached the age of twenty-five years and has been resident in the American Socialist Union for at least ten years may seek the office of the Premier or Deputy Premier…
…All Commissars shall be elected separately by a majority vote of the House of People’s Representatives following nomination by the Central Committee or the Chamber of Labor Delegates, and subject to recall by the same body. Commissariats may only be established or dissolved by an Act of the Workers’ Congress…
…The Central Committee shall exercise the power of veto over legislation passed by the Workers’ Congress and the nomination of ambassadors and justices of the Supreme Court…
…The Workers’ Congress may by law vest the appointment of other officers of the American Socialist Union, in the Central Committee, in the courts of law, or in the Commissars…
…The Premier shall be the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the American Socialist Union, shall have the power to negotiate with foreign governments, and with the advice and consent of the Central Committee and the Chamber of Labor Delegates, shall make treaties with such…
- From Article II of the ASU Constitution
…The wrangling over the executive branch was even fiercer than over the legislative branch. Given the actions of President Wilson, there was a strong push for a weaker executive. The Reformists fought back, wielding their experience in the government to argue that a weak executive branch would result in inaction…
…A compromise emerged, proposed by Fred Hardy. Instead of taking powers away from the executive branch as a whole, those powers would be shared among the Commissars. Instead of a Cabinet that served at the pleasure of the President, the Central Committee would collectively execute government policy…
…Even the names of positions were a subject of some dispute. The Constitutionalists wanted to continue calling the head of state the President, citing several labor organizations that used such a title. However, the term “President” was now irrevocably stained by the legacy of Woodrow Wilson. Sam Rayburn, recognizing the mood, endorsed the idea of renaming it, only holding firm that the head of state should have a simple and strong title. After a few hours, “Premier” won out…
…The debate over the creation of the Deputy Premier was quite memorable. Many were of the opinion that the old position of Vice President was utterly pointless and somewhat undemocratic, given that nine times out of ten, people voted based on the President’s name alone. The role of successor-in-waiting could be filled by the General Secretary of the Chamber or one of the Commissars…
…Into the debate came none other than Thomas Marshall. The former Vice President (and, very briefly, acting President) had been the sole Constitutionalist delegate from Ohio. He had won his position on the promise that he would offer up his own experience to guide the creation of a new and better government, then give his support to the decision of the majority, after which he would retire from politics. Now the time had come for him to keep that promise…
…He spoke for nearly half an hour about his experience as Vice President. While he had had relatively few duties, this fact enabled him to focus on keeping track of what the President was doing, thus enabling him to swiftly take office. He also discussed how he had served as Wilson’s deputy (in doing so coining the term “Deputy Premier” in American political lexicon). He did, however, endorse the idea that the Deputy Premier should be elected separately (as many Lieutenant Governors already were), ensuring that the Deputy Premier would be elected on his (or her) own merits…
…The election of Commissars would prove to be one of the few areas where the Constitutionalists won. Many of the Revolutionaries wanted to give as much power to the Chamber of Labor Delegates, seeing it as the more representative body. Bronstein openly stated that he viewed the House of People’s Representatives as a relic to eventually be abolished. However, it was pointed out by Victor Berger that with the Commissariats and Industrial Unions being defined by similar terms, it was inevitable that close relationships would form between, for example, the Commissariat for Agriculture and the Agricultural Workers’ Union. The House, with its geographic organization, would be better suited to provide oversight. As a concession, the Chamber would be able to nominate Commissars, on the basis that those same ties would give them a natural familiarity with who might be a good candidate…
…The initiative to prohibit Premiers from serving multiple consecutive terms came, surprisingly, from the man who was all but certain to become the first Premier: Eugene Debs. Debs was somewhat concerned for his health[1] and feared that he might not make it through two terms. This would in turn set an unofficial precedent of Premiers serving for life. He believed that having a higher rate of turnover would be healthy for the nation…
…One area where the Constitutionalists proved surprisingly reasonable was on the timing of elections. The lame duck period between election and inauguration was almost universally recognized as an artifact of the nation’s founding before the advent of railroads and the telegraph. It was blatantly obvious that April 23rd, the anniversary of the Battle of Manhattan, would become a national holiday, as would May 1st. Thus, April 23rd would become Election Day, ensuring that everyone was free from work to come and vote. May 1st would become Inauguration Day. When some of the Constitutionalists questioned if a government could be assembled that quickly, it was pointed out that an immediate transition was routine in many countries…
…By contrast, arguments over the judiciary were very brief. Partly out of a desire to appease the Constitutionalists, the only changes made were the implementation of term limits. Each of the nine Supreme Court Justice would serve for ten years, with one elected by the House every year save for years when both the Premiership and the House were up for reelection…
- From A New Union: A Political History of the American Socialist Union by Hillary Rodham
[1] IOTL, Debs died in 1926, just seven years after this point. ITTL, he never went to prison, so his health is better, but the stress of leading the Revolution hasn’t done him any favors.
