Okay here is some more Loomies stuffs, inspired by Mao's Cultural Revolution and Soviet purges. Enjoy!
The Looming Enlightenment
The Illuminist Cultural Revolution
IPRR poster calling for total enlightenment of Russia, circa 1933
The Illuminists were a radical revolutionary group. In fact, so radical that it might be off-putting to the tradition-abiding Russians and potentially causing much unrest among the unconverted and religious masses. This was why Protector Volkov and the Illuminati Council, during the First, Second and Third Three-Year, did not do much to sway the traditional institutions of Russia. It was not until the Fourth Three-Year Plan that the Illuminist government started to uproot the old orders, in the name of leading Russia towards Second Enlightenment and Glorious Future. What followed next was a gradual cultural genocide of Old Russia, and paved much ways into creating a completely new image of Russia as a logic-abiding, ruthlessly efficient and forward-looking nation, one that would stop at nothing to bring the beautiful faraway into reality. And the end result would be … weird and devastating to the old cultures.
In 1933, Protector Volkov approved a plan, named The Enlightened Cultural Revolution, proposed and finished by Alexander Bogdanov, as a part of the Fourth Three-Year Plan and future reforms, which was mainly aimed at massively upgrading the Russian education. In the plan, Bogdanov suggested that it was time to wither away religious institutions, Tsarist non-STEM intellectuals and let the newly educated, Illuminist-indoctrinated scholar classes rise to prominence. It would call for much of the priests and professed Orthdoxs or other religious people to renounce their religion and embrace Illuminism as the only State doctrine. Anyone who tries to resist would be forced into re-education camps to accept Illuminism. And that was step one. The next phase would call for eradicating much of the traditional thinkings and pre-Illuminist era cultures, and was meant to be carried out on a longer time frame. Bogdanov estimated that within twenty years, much of pre-Illuminist Russian Empire would be eradicated, and then, the march towards the Glorious Future would be unobstructed.
The first phase was performed throughout 1934 to 1940. Priests, shamans, muslims, and Confucians found themselves at increasing dangers. The People’s Guard and People’s Army came in and forcefully closed down churches and mosques, and then to be replaced with public libraries or public gathering centers. Even more extreme were that they could raze down such religious institutions if resistances were too strong, and all such religious members were put on trains to be transferred into Katorgas or, on rarer instances, be executed. The Illuminists were careful though, and in most cases they did this indirectly, through clandestine arsons or using ultra flammable chemicals. The result was that nearly 90% of churches or religious buildings in IPRR were destroyed by 1945 . In other cases, the Illuminists utilized the radicalized crowds to make them turn against their neighbors or suspected religious people that needed brainwashing. And in such cases, usually one could see that the youngsters could try to snitch on their relatives and acquaintances to the People’s Guard, and then such “convicted” victims soon parted away from their dear houses.
Anti-religion poster by IPRR, circa 1934
In camps, the convicts were then forced to perform many hard labors, in extreme conditions and sometimes even without adequate food. The Illuminists did not care about what kind of crimes or backgrounds they came from, and punished anyone into the same level of labors with varying sentencing times. In days that they did not have to do labors, the Illuminists conducted brainwashing sessions, using newly developed psychological theories of positive reinforcements and behavior-programming. While not as gruesome as many would expect, the psychological tortures nonetheless drove many into insanity or created a whole new group of fanatics who were so thoroughly brainwashed that they would then best be drafted into the People’s Guard afterwards, deemed too unstable for society. The Illuminist had to make sure that the convicts would learn their lessons and remembered that well into the future. ….
Phase Two was actually implemented in parallel with Phase One, but lasted longer and far more brutal and methodical. The Illuminists up their games with total cultural restructuring. From architectures, to books, to newspapers, music, everything had to be made to fit in the Illuminist ideals. First, the Illuminist began catering towards architectures that emphasized Avant-Garde, Constructivist or Modernist styles. No more buildings with designs based on the pre-Illuminist era could be approved for constructions. So, much of Russia's urban areas saw increasing numbers of new architectures being constructed, with designs created within Russia or imported from Prussia or Poland. The old imperial-era buildings were left alone, however. But within a few decades, much of the Illuminist Bloc’s cities would be unrecognizable, with avant-garde and geometric architectures dominating much of the neighborhood. These were what many historians called
“visual propaganda”. The new buildings were grand as well, to make sure that the Illuminist themselves seemed much more
“advanced and progressive” than the Tsarists came before them.
Monument of Progress, an example of Avant-Garde Illuminist style, circa 1937
The Illuminist’s control on other art forms was staggering as well. Using the People’s Guard, the Illuminist went on the quest to stamp out leftover pro-Tsar materials. Books that somewhat romanticized the Tsarist age were confiscated and labelled
“obsolete and reactionary”. While they would end up in some archives and left to be rotten, many were burned on site to make an example, which was what happened to most of the bibles and religious texts. In fact, so many texts were burned that they sometimes were used as fuel to warm up houses or to power factories. People who tried to avoid the book purges were then loaded on trains to go to Katorgas. Music was also targeted. The Illuminist considered much of pre-Illuminist music to be
“reactionary reminders'' and worked to remove all of them from public life. The criteria to select such music would be based on the lyrics of concerned music, or timbre of the music. Let’s say if a song or piece of music sounds
“depressing” (like most of Russian music), that one was targeted. Otherwise, music that was more upbeat and could give out grand, majestic feelings were kept, of course after being heavily edited. So, countless collections of classical music and folk music, many of which were invaluable to the Russian identities, were taken away to be archived or destroyed, or modified beyond recognition. To replace some of the music loss, the Illuminist commissioned musicians that agreed to help the government to compose a totally Illuminist-approved music. Songs that invoked heroic, revolutionary, forward-looking feelings were approved, and they quickly supplanted the old music among the newly educated and indoctrinated populace.
By 1940, Russian arts were radically changed. Instead of classic books of the Tsarist era, newer books, such as
How the Enlightened Man was Tempered,
The Fight against Backwardness or
Hundred Years into the Future [1] were put into standard education. Books that reflected the daily struggles were slowly supplanted by science fiction books and Illuminist-Romantic books to instill and procure Illuminism and the Glorious Future. New poems, written by Illuminist-educated poets, were introduced and replaced much of the former poems. In music education, students would sing
Smelo Tovarishchi v Nogu [2a], Prekrasnoe Dalyoko [2b] and the Illuminist anthem instead of Christian hymns or folk songs in schools and summer activities sessions. Much of visual art forms and expressions had become purely avant-garde, constructivist, or futurist, since artists were forbidden from making traditional arts to prevent
“reactionary and conservative resurgence”. It was a trend for Illuminist Party members and newly rich class to collect the strangest, most abstract arts produced, and even middle class families would try to purchase those arts to show that they strived to become part of Russo-Illuminist culture.
Paintings that typical Russian family would collect
Another part of the Cultural Revolution was a total social reform of Russia to become a highly efficient society. It was a difficult task, for Russians were famously emotional. The Illuminist decided that instead of persecuting some of the older generations to remove their emotional Russian souls, they would go with disciplining the populace. Borrowing from Prussian culture and, ironically, the harsh disciplines of the Tsarist Army that came before them, the Illuminist seeked to enforce these standards on their people. Fines and punishments for deviation from
“expected standards and procedures” were increased, to the point that even going to work late by a few minutes, or accidentally threw trashes on street, or failure to meet qualitative quotas would mean doing push-ups, running several kilometers and receiving monetary fines at the same time. Speaking of qualitative quotas, the Illuminist government created a Bureau of Quality to check on manufacturers’ and producers’ final products. Using many complicated testing schemes, the Bureau of Quality wanted to make sure end products were made with the highest (and sometimes ridiculous) standards. It was a huge hassle, since sometimes the standards could be wacky like reaching
a degree of shininess, or
matching the same color. Manufacturers were much more likely to be targeted for apparent “
standard deviation” by the Bureau, and then be fined with smaller loan packages or increased interest rates, but farmers were mostly left alone. Well, left alone until the Illuminist realized that they could figure out ways to test nutritional values on foods, and then the Bureau made farmers adopt the newest farming techniques to improve both quantitative and qualitative agricultural output.
The Illuminist were also avid believers in the concept of
Ubermensch, or how men and women should be. To that end, physical fitness, new diets, behavior standards, and intellect standards were created. For physical fitness, everyone must be able to maintain their strength and stamina, and the government required them to do physical exercise daily, in their workplace break time. Students would need to run mini-marathon every week, and be able to complete basically a junior-adjusted military training every month. Diets that cut down the consumption of alcohols and tobacco were enforced and heavily promoted. Men and women would need to behave according to new norms, based on both gender and Illuminist expectations. So, less goofing around for partying and more learning/reading. Men had to be strong, resourceful, progressive and intellectual, women must be beautiful, sophisticated, tough and heroic. The government wanted nearly everyone to be like that, and those who tried to rebel against new standards were then, well, shipped to Katorgas or get fined. On a positive note, the Illuminist increased gender equality, and secured universal suffrages and 18-year-old suffrage rights for their citizens.
The societal effects of the Cultural Revolution were thorough. Over time, younger Russian generations became increasingly strict and disciplined. So strict and punctual, in fact, visitors thought that they were automatons rather than living humans. And they were famously workaholic, working long hours in tough conditions, even if they were sick. And so obsessed with high standards that Russians became notorious for being extremely picky with goods. Russian daily habits were heavily transformed, and it became the new norm to attend community gatherings for Illuminist propaganda sessions and reportings, a more evolved and sinister form of Obschina gatherings that had existed before. And every week, at 5PM on Friday, citizens had to stop whatever they were doing to sing the IPRR anthem. Do not try to break that, for the fines and punishment were heavy. Well, the consequences of such strict and rigid controls on Russian people were astounding. Behind the image of seemingly rigid, patriotic and perfect Russians, the society became far more stressful. Despite much greater comforts and living standards, the long working hours, tight militaristic lifestyle and perfectionistic outlooks had made Russians incredibly prone to suicides, alcohol abuses or even stimulant abuses. Russia had a really high suicide or drug overdose rate in the years following the final phase of Cultural Revolution, and they were the leading cause of death in IPRR, if one does not count hidden fatalities in Katorgas.
The resistances against the Cultural Revolution were rather common and strong. In Inner Manchuria, for instance, where many Chinese tried to resist the abrupt changes enforced on them, the Illuminist dealt with them extremely harsh. In the end, millions of Chinese would be exiled into Siberia, where about a quarter of them gave up their lives under strenuous labor. Those that were “lucky” were shot on site, especially elders who tried to maintain their ways of life. It was also part of the plan to de-Sinicize Manchuria for future Russifications. By 1950, Manchuria would become Russified-majority, thanks to the brutal People’s Guard who were put in charge to monitor the progress of the Cultural Revolution. The same thing happened in Central Asia, where the already smaller muslim population compared to OTL suffered severe demographic losses from the Revolution. Traditional cultures of Manchuria and Central Asia - and to a lesser extent, Russia - were forever lost to time, to the point that it was impossible to recover any pre-Illuminist writings. The survivors and new generation were then so integrated into Russo-Illuminist culture that they genuinely believed in whatever lies and exaggerations that the government told them.
An enlightened Russian woman, circa 1940
A Russian classroom, circa 1942. Russian students enjoyed one of the best, if not the harshest and toughest education known to man
A very rare image of a massacred Chinese village by the People's Guard, circa 1938. Most victims were people of pre-Illuminist era, or people above 25 years old.
[1] - Allohistorical allusions to two famous Soviet books:
How the Steel was Tempered and
100 years into Future
[2a] and [2b] - Translated as
Let's Bravely March Comrades and
Beautiful Faraway. Now I know that some of these songs were several decades ahead of OTL, but Soviet movie musics barely changed in timbre, themes and lyrics. And they have the right vibes for Illuminism.
until later).
