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Bill: Declaration of War on New Labor
Details
Submitted by[?]: Communist Party of Endralon
Status[?]: defeated
Votes: This bill is a resolution. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: February 2045
Description[?]:
| There is no use denying it any more: The Freedom Labor Party has been hijacked by a traitorous New Labor clique who seeks to overturn every piece of social legislation ever passed in this country. We would expect something like this from an openly bourgeois party, but seeing the supposedly "socialist" Freedom Labor Party side with the capitalist Natural Law Party and push neoliberal reforms was a great shock to us. The New Labor record speaks for itself. Since winning the elections, they have proposed legislation to: 1. Legalise gambling, including casinos, and therefore allow the rich to exploit the working class in one of the worst possible ways. 2. Privatize agriculture, thus leaving farmers - and our nation's food supply - at the mercy of global food corporations. 3. Privatize radio and television, thus giving a free hand to capitalist millionaires (who are the only ones rich enough to start their own TV channel) to broadcast right-wing propaganda with impunity. 4. Legalise prostitution, and therefore allow and encourage yet another form of exploitation and degradation of the human being. With all too eager help from the Natural Law Party, this legislation seems likely to pass. But the working class cannot be kept down forever. They will see through the blanket that the New Labor leadership is trying to throw over their eyes, and they will demand their rights. Many of these workers are members of the Freedom Labor Party itself, or of unions affilitated with the FLP. We express our support for them in these dark times. We vow to never let them down, even if their own party leadership has. We, the socialist parties of Endralon, call upon our comrades in the FLP to rise up, overthrow the New Labor class traitors, and reclaim the socialist heritage of their party! |
Proposals
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 20:59:08, April 29, 2005 CET | From |  Communist Party of Endralon | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | We hope the Democratic Socialists of Endralon and the Revolutionary Socialist Party will join us in signing this declaration. |
| Date | 21:14:15, April 29, 2005 CET | From | Democratic Socialists of Endralon | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | We strongly support the declaration and we hope that the true socialists within the FLP will remove the traitors and cowards who have stolen the leadership of their party. |
| Date | 21:15:48, April 29, 2005 CET | From | Unified Communist Labor Party | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | The leadership of the FLP is shocked at this petty display of political opportunism and partisanship. We will have a former response soon enough. |
| Date | 21:16:16, April 29, 2005 CET | From | Unified Communist Labor Party | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | er...formal response. |
| Date | 22:44:36, April 29, 2005 CET | From | Unified Communist Labor Party | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | Comrades, We, the leadership of the Freedom Labor Party, would like to offer, once again, our position on the issues that divide us. We are not neoliberals. We do not subscribe to a pro-capitalist reformist ideology. We are revolutionary pragmatists, cynical idealists, radical realists, dedicated to dreaming big and figuring out how best to accomplish the things we can accomplish. Like you, comrades of the CP, DSE and RSP, we know that capitalism is a doomed economic system. We know that it is the job of the working class to lead the world forward through some pretty tough transitions between the capitalism we have now and the communist utopia that remains the goal of all of us. Our party was formed as the political wing of the Militant Union, a radical and empowered organization of industrial workers, students, artists, intellectuals and activists, all dedicated to the same goal: to live deep and suck the marrow out of life while we work towards the day when we can sound our barbaric yawp and overthrow the unjust rule of capital from our nation. Inspired by such diverse voices as Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Gandhi, Emma Goldman, Che Guevara, Jean-Paul Sartre, Sigmund Freud, and Martin Luther King, we put together a platform based on radical socialist economics and an intense commitment to maximum personal liberty and the realization of full equality in civil rights. Our radical socialist economic views diverge from their Orthodox Marxist roots in that we reject central planning, preferring to work toward a system of independent, self-sufficient worker ownership of business, industry and agriculture--with the state there to protect and enforce rights, responsibilities and regulations. Independent worker ownership allows for the true goal of socialism to be realized--total control of the economy by the working class. State ownership risks turning into a stagnant bureaucracy where, instead of becoming the bosses, the working class simply trades one boss for a collective boss--the State. We are not, however, opposed to the nationalization of essential industry--electricity, etc. Such things are necessary for the functioning of a society and as such must be carefully controlled. When we argue in favor of legalizing gambling, we are arguing in favor of allowing people to let loose and have a little fun, as a way to relieve the stress of the day to day capitalist grind. Yes, gambling causes problems, and yes, it epitomizes everything that is wrong with capitalism. But it is also just a really good way for people to have a good time if they want to, and we don't feel that it is our right to impose moral strictures against people's right to have a good time. Yes, that's a broad generalization and of course as in everything there are limits. Believe me, our party leaders have been paying close attention to your arguments. And your strong opposition to certain of our bills has given us a lot to think about. If it were possible, we would like to hold a public debate about some of these issues so that perhaps we can come to some kind of a consensus. In any event, we do not appreciate this attack by a poltiical party that we would like to call our ally. Perhaps we do need to reconsider our positions on certain issues, but in no way is this kind of public rebuke justified. We have consistently stuck to our fundamental ideological principals--personal liberty and socialist equality. In light of this attack by the CP, however, we hereby announce the holding of an internal party referendum on policy priorities, and we will release the findings of this referendum in due time. |
| Date | 02:10:04, April 30, 2005 CET | From | Unified Communist Labor Party | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | We would also point out to our comrades the other side of the FLP's voting record. We supported the original bill to make union membership mandatory and we have opposed all bills that have attempted to undo that. We have voted for strong public education and the abolition of a privileged class of private schools. We have voted for equal rights for the GLBT community and for a woman's right to control her own reproductive system. We sponsored a bill to create a national park system. We lowered the retirement age to 55 so that people can enjoy more of their lives free from the constraints and worries of work. We sponsored education and jobs programs in prisons so that inmates could learn to become useful members of society once they finish their sentences. Given any economic issue or any similar issue that affects the working class, we will vote in the interest of the working class. Given any issue of civil liberties, we will vote for maximum personal freedom. That is who we are. |
| Date | 03:24:10, April 30, 2005 CET | From | Unified Communist Labor Party | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | We are now extending an olive branch to our comrades by voting against two of our own bills. We do this because it is clear that the majorit y of people we call allies disagree with us strongly about certain issues and we feel that we do not have enough of the answers to be able to defend these bills adequatley in the face of such strong opposition. We welcome an opportunity for discussion of agricultural policy and freedom of the press.1 |
| Date | 14:00:02, April 30, 2005 CET | From | Communist Party of Endralon | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | Comrades of the FLP, We have had many differences with you in the past, but, until recently, we had no reason to believe that you were any less committed to socialism than we are. Most of our disagreements were on issues unrelated to socialism or capitalism - such as, for example, abortion. Please notice that the present declaration condemns you for 4 very specific policy initiatives: the legalization of prostitution and gambling and the privatization of agriculture and the media. We believe your stance on these issues - particularly your privatization bills - to be in blatant contradiction with everything socialism stands for. We believe in nationalizing all major industries and we wish to establish a democratically planned economy. The democratic factor is the key element in ensuring that it is indeed the workers - and not government bureaucrats - who control the economy. Capitalism is characterized by the fact that your boss is your dictator: he can hire and fire you and he owns everything you produce. Socialism can only be achieved if this relationship is reversed - if the boss is elected by the workers (either directly or indirectly) and if he serves the workers rather than ruling over them. A democratic state is a nationwide "democratic boss". That is the core of our argument for nationalization. As for our arguments against gambling and prostitution, we have already explained them a number of times. People can have a good time without gambling away their lives' savings (which, by the way, does not relieve stress) and they can have sex with other consenting adults without prostituting themselves. Having said all that, however, we are pleasantly surprised by and very grateful for your decision to vote against your own privatization bills. We deeply appreciate this gesture of good will and would welcome multilateral talks with you and the other socialist parties. |
| Date | 18:03:28, April 30, 2005 CET | From | Unified Communist Labor Party | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | So how about voting against this attack resolution for a start? |
| Date | 23:44:41, April 30, 2005 CET | From | Communist Party of Endralon | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | Very well. |
| Date | 12:01:07, May 01, 2005 CET | From | Communist Party of Endralon | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | So... what next? |
| Date | 03:06:25, May 02, 2005 CET | From | Democratic Socialists of Endralon | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | We echo the statements made by the CPE and we too are pleased to see the FLP voting against two of their bills and we hope that in the future the party leadership will remain committed to the fight for a socialist society. We will not however be completely happy until the bills on prostitution, pornography and gambling have also been repealed but we support the CPE's suggestion of talks between our parties. |
| Date | 06:14:10, May 02, 2005 CET | From | Unified Communist Labor Party | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | Hey, DSE, seriously--do you want to live in a country that's so sexually repressed it doesn't allow pornography? I mean...come on... |
| Date | 18:09:40, May 02, 2005 CET | From | Democratic Socialists of Endralon | To | Debating the Declaration of War on New Labor |
| Message | I would seriously want to live in a society without pornography as the sexual exploitation of women is incompatible with my communist beliefs. I also don't agree that such a society would be sexually repressive and I actually feel that an end to pornography and prostitution is necessary for the sexual liberation of society. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||
| yes | Total Seats: 53 | ||
| no | Total Seats: 222 | ||
| abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
| Random fact: Periodically, it is a good idea to go through your nation's Treaties and arrange to withdraw from any that are unwanted. |
| Random quote: "Don't listen to what the Communists say, but look at what they do." - Nguyen Van Thieu |