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In the Socialist Freedom Party Vincent Nolan made a thread about his particular theory of militias using the commune model and I just though it was great so I wanted to shine the light on it. Enjoy

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A Democratic Form of Nodal Ramonist Commune Governance



One thing that has yet to be seen in eRepublik is a democratic form of commune governance where decisions are made by the workers in the true spirit of socialism. This would require a certain level of involvement by the worker/players much like the involvement of a nation’s citizens in its politics. After discussing this issue with Ramonist Minimum Wage Commune founder SFP PP Osmany Ramon, I have come to believe that this form of democratic nodal commune system could actually revolutionalize the concept of centralized governance. First of all, the only reason a nation needs to be liberated from capitalism in eRepublik is because only nations are able to conduct business with each other. By this I mean business such as declaring war or signing MPP’s, or in other words, interact on a world scale as a world power. If this were not the case, a system of Ramonist Communes would not need a whole nation to interact and make an impact on a world scale because they are completely self sufficient with only a few game mechanical caused restrictions and here is why.

Ramonist Communes can support their own militia. The SFP Commune’s Bear Cavalry and other similar militias are working evidence of this. So the Ramonist Commune node connected with other nodes in a large number, even if they are not centralized in a single nation, will have at their disposal a self sufficient army. But this system should be completely united under a single forum to ensure communication, perhaps the Internationale site. Now if this node system can grow to a sufficient number, and therefore have a fairly large army, it would be able to act as its own unique form of a decentralized nation without the need for actually liberating a whole nation in eRepublik. In this sense, the socialist communes can interact on a world scale and be able to apply pressure and therefore become an actor on the world stage through these three unique features

1. The militias will be completely mobile and will be able to fight in any war they wish with out having to sign a MPP. All the militias will have to do is move to the nation they desire to fight in. United as a whole army, the militias can make a significant difference in any battle around the New World at minimal cost. This can be used to our advantage by forcing the New World to interact with us since we will then have the ability to make an impact on an international scale.

2. We will be invulnerable. Nations would not be able to declare war on us or initiate hostilities in anyway. We could be a constant thorn in whoever’s side by constantly fighting against them, possibly forcing negotiations to make us stop.

3. We could then dictate policy to make the New World more socialist friendly.

Basically that would be the Federation's way of declaring war. It could be made publicly known that we will be hostile toward a certain nation’s operations and since we would be big enough, this will be a declaration of war. In this abstract way, the Ramonist Nodal Commune System can become the first decentralized socialist nation in eRepublik.


The disadvantages for this avenue are obvious. They are the fact that we will not be a legitimate nation as far as the game mechanics are concerned and we cannot own land or resources. Let’s not forget the fact that we will not be able to formally declare war on a nation, but this will be offset by the fact that they cannot attack us at all period. This will be the greatest perk for this approach. In order for this to happen all of the leftists around the world must put aside their differences and unite. Only through solidarity can we gain recognition on a world scale as more than just a harmless delusion. There will be a democratic form of governance for this Federation of Communes. But the government will be entirely out of the game on what ever forum is chosen to be the Federation’s forum. A representative will be elected from the labor pool of each node. These representatives will comprise of a worker delegation. This delegation will be responsible for dictating and running the federation based on the will of the workers. Each member of the delegation will report back to their node and will dictate policy as voted on by their node. In this way the workers will be in complete control of every aspect of the Federation. Impeachment power will lie with each individual node and each individual node will only be able to impeach their own representative. A majority vote amongst all the nodes can dissolve the whole delegation and new members can be voted in. The delegation will have all the decision making powers of a government through a democratic system of majority vote. A Chief Delegate must be elected from the members of a delegation. This Chief Delegate will not have a greater vote than the rest of the Delegation. He will be a moderator. If there is a tie, he is the tie breaker. He is the care taker of the delegation. He may initiate the impeachment process of a delegate member. In this case the Chief Delegate contacts the delegate in question’s node and requests a vote for impeachment. Likewise the node can choose to impeach at will. Likewise the delegation can initiate the impeachment process of a Chief Delegate. This process is entirely the delegations alone and the nodes have no say since the Chief Delegate comes from the delegation. If the nodes wish the chief to be impeached they can enforce this through their delegate. If the delegate refuses he can be impeached by the workers. This set up will safeguard from corruption and impeachment of delegates operating on selfish grounds and are not in favor or by the will of the workers. This will also make it harder for the Federation to be PTO’d.
-Vincent Nolan

Party President Osmany Ramon responded by saying:

Just a few bits of feedback

1) As far as military goes, we have demonstrated that a militia can exist and be fully supported by a nodal commune but a big hole in our practice is tanking. Tanking can be problematic for our system because it creates a class of soldiers who get the benefit of gold boxes and often Q5 weapons (although this is not necessary, per se) that are not directly produced by themselves.

We could have a tank node where they are producing all of their own iron and weapons but we still run into the gold problem. I do believe that the nodal commune system is perfect for a citizen defense system because nodes could be required to save some weapons for homeland defense, in which case, the most efficient method of defense, from a cost perspective, is having everyone armed and defending vs. having specialists tank. Something we need to look at, at least.

2) We need to look at whether all nodes are created equally. I like the idea of each node being semi-autonomous because then we might get some experimentation and such, variation in culture and style. But, for example, there is another Commune forming in the eUS based on comrade Engels works. I have reached out to them and offered support but clearly at this stage in the game, our level of existence is higher than theirs since we make Q2 food and they only make Q1. We also make weapons, tickets and soon gifts. So we enjoy a decent life while they are back living like we did in May. This is not problematic to me because as long as the commune is being undertaken in good faith, then it will be only a matter of time before they build up towards our level. It is also important to note that the focus of the communes is not to make sure that everyone in society gets the same stuff but to eliminate exploitation by getting rid of the capitalist, avoiding paying taxes to the bureaucrat class and military, and pooling surplus labor value (that which goes above what is needed to survive, in this case) for the purpose of effecting change across the globe.

This may be done through expanding the commune to allow more workers into the commune system. It may be done through using tickets to stop PTO's or elect Socialist members of congress; or a militia to liberate regions. These are things that the SFP Commune has done but not all nodes would have to follow suit.

There might be pacifist nodes who refuse to fight or produce weapons. That's ok. Some nodes may decide that Q1 food is good enough for them. Also fine. Maybe one node wants Q5 weapons for their militia. That can be done as well. It will be up to the citizens of that node to determine their direction, expansion and level of subsistance. Again, we are not concerned with making sure everyone has the same level of subsistence. Just that production is done in an exploitation free, unalienating environment.

Trade between nodes may therefore be possible just as it is with international commune just because there are fluctuations in the populations of nodes. One minute you are producing a surplus and then 3 people quit the game and you need to supplement your iron supply from outside the commune. This will happen in all nodes, which means there should always be an outlet for excess goods. With the command economy as well, you are also able to shift production as needed. Stop making as many weapons so you need less iron and make more food because you have more grain.

3) The political system you outlined might be premature. We have a little cousin in the other commune. I don't know what their beliefs are, so in a practical sense, we would need to work with them to determine the powers of a governing body. Something that would be agreeable for both communes. What i would like to see happen first is just some cooperation between international communes which I am beginning to push in the Internationale. So let's see where that goes and perhaps you can help me get that going and in doing so refine these ideas.
-Osmany Ramon