[TC][#18] A Maxwellian Interpretation of the SFP Constitution Vol. 2

Day 4,444, 11:07 • Published in USA USA • by Max Tse Tung



MUSIC


A Maxwellian Interpretation of the SFP Constitution Vol. 2



In Volume 1 I explained how it would be a folly to adhere rigorously to constitutions, in particular, the SFP constitution and made the case that we don’t even do so in practice. Elaborating a little further I’d say that it can be seen both as practical and impractical to do so but the constitution itself explains that it is meant to be a guide, not a sacred text requiring strict adherence.

Moving past this, In this article, I will be outlining the sections of the constitution that I will be referring to as ‘Irregular Sections’ This will be defined as: those sections of the constitution that are used irregularly and for special occasions and the section on the philosophy of the party. This includes: “Part IV: Amendment and Interpretation”, “Hostile Takeovers, Resignations, and Specials Elections”, and “Part I: Socialist Freedom Party”.





I will begin from the top with Part I: Socialist Freedom Party,



“1. The name of the Socialist Freedom Party celebrates what the Party aspires to. The Party seeks to challenge the standard capitalistic and nationalistic game model by playing with an alternative social ecology.”



This is quite easy to understand, we are a party that believes both in Communism-Socialism-Anarchism and (most) of their variants, and freedom. Members of the party are encouraged to come up with ways to combat capitalism and nationalism in the game in whatever ways they can. The result of this should be an alternative social system within the party that actively keeps the political meta-game together as well as provides for the membership. This system should discourage profit for profit's sake and promote horizontal power structures in which everyone can play an equal role.



“2. The SFP is happy to be both socialist and anarchist, to celebrate both social solidarity and individual freedom. It is a leftist e-party that welcomes a wide spectrum of left-wing perspectives on revolutionizing eRepublik.”



The party is comfortable in its role as the main leftist party in eUSA and does so in a manner that respects both Communal and Individualistic modes of thought. Lastly, the SFP is a Revolutionary party and thus Revolutionary acts are necessary.



“3. The SFP is committed to encouraging the representation of the voices of working-class players, national minorities, women and revolutionary thinkers of all kinds within the game world.”



The SFP exists to represent the class interests of the eProletariat (I view the eProletariat as those players who produce what they need without the extraction of work clicks from others - with the express exception of commune owners if that’s even a thing still, and those who use those work clicks to benefit a community such as a political party or military unit-) Obviously we can disagree on this and I’d like to hear more from my readers on that. It goes on to explain that the party also exists to promote the interests of minorities, the politically disaffected, and women.





Now we switch from philosophy and imperatives to procedure. We will now examine Hostile Takeovers, Resignations, and Specials Elections.



In eRepublik, it is common for parties to be taken over by nefarious actors, and reactionary threats. Therefore it is important for a party to have a procedure in the event that it is subverted by its enemies. This has happened more than once to the SFP and as such it has much experience with dealing with these situations and has prepared itself by enshrining a basic guideline for how to proceed when such an event has occurred.



“8. Should a hostile group succeed in taking the in-game Party Presidency, the Party's General Membership shall continue to be guided in revolutionary activity by the previous Revolutionary Committee, which shall be referred to during the time of Occupation as the Provisional Revolutionary Committee (PRC), until such time as the hostiles are either driven out or voted out.”



When a hostile group takes over the party, either through elections or through resignation (resignation is rare) the membership of the party is to be lead by the Revolutionary Committee from the previous term. They will take on the acronym PRC in place of RC. This will occur until the threat is deemed secure by this body or the general membership.



“A. Should the duly elected PP/Chair of the RC resign early, then the most senior member of the RC (longest in the Party) shall become the Chair of RC, regardless of who is the in-game PP. The Chair should seek to work closely with the interim PP, if at all possible, but it is the Chair of the RC, not the interim PP, who shall be recognized as the leader of the revolutionary forces.”



If the elected chairman of the Revolutionary Committee (Party President) resigns the most senior member of the Revolutionary Committee shall chair the Committee regardless of who the Party President is. If possible this member should work with the interim Party President and will be recognized by the membership as the leader of the party. This is important because if the Party President resigns the person who receives the Party Presidency will be unelected and therefore it is damaging to the democratic process the party needs to function properly as a leftist element of eUSA and the Worldwide eRevolution.



“B. If a voting member of the RC leaves the Party permanently, or announces that they have left the game and has done so, or announces that they have resigned from the Revolutionary Committee, then the General Membership shall conduct an in-party poll, within 5 days of confirmation that the comrade is lost, to replace them until the next regular round of RC elections.”



This part explains that a special election must be held when members of the Revolutionary Committee resign and must be done within 5 days.



“C. If a majority of voting members of the RC determine that a member of the RC is inactive or has failed to uphold the principles of the SFP or to act in a manner suitable to a revolutionary leader, they may be removed from the RC by a majority vote of the Revolutionary Committee. Such vacancies shall be filled by a vote of the General Membership, as noted above.”



And lastly, on occasion, subversive actors become members of the Revolutionary Committee and actively work to take the party down from within. It is especially difficult to deal with these people and as such the Revolutionary Committee reserves the right to remove a member or members who fail to meet expectations, and maintain good character. If you want to represent the revolution you must be respectful of party norms and procedure and must work to seek consensus with your comrades, not iron-fisted action.





I will be ending with, Part IV: Amendment and Interpretation. Sometimes it’s clear that the Constitution is out of date, needs a minor rewording, doesn’t accurately represent the way the party functions, or needs some additional procedure. That's why this section exists, to dispel the idea that this isn’t a fluid document and that it is not infallible. Those who cannot respect change or have concerns about the party's ability to regulate its own founding document often find this to be one of the more riskier aspects of this writing. I reject that and believe that it has adequate protections such that this is a non-issue such as the fact that the constitution is not changed until the official HTML file stored on the SFP Forum is altered, and that it requires a vote of the active membership to actually change. Both of these factors combined with the fact that a vanguard of admins runs the forum and it is nearly impossible for the party's core philosophy and founding principles to be changed by subversive actors. We can, in fact, disagree on this though but you won’t see me supporting that and that’s why this treatise is called a “Maxwellian” Interpretation of the SFP Constitution and not, an “Anti-Maxwellian” Interpretation of the SFP Constitution.



“The Constitution of the SFP is a guide to activity and an insurance policy against waggishness and foul play. It is not intended to be a detailed guide to every aspect of play and it should not be modified willy-nilly.”

The constitution does not describe and prescribe a “Right” way to play in the SFP social system, neither is it to be modified without sound reasons such as the ones I laid out above.



“Significant changes to this Constitution require ratification by 2/3 majority in a fair referendum vote of the General Membership, which is defined as follows:
I. Referendum is conducted openly, such as on a forum or in-game message board (or both) where "Ayes" and "Nays" are recorded and reported for each voter.
II. Only those who are Party members when the referendum is formally announced may vote. No parachuting into the SFP just to vote on the Constitution.
III. Referendum is announced and text of proposed changes is circulated at least one week prior to commencement of referendum.
IV. Polling is open for a minimum of 3 days and is announced and promoted in-game.
V. Total number of members voting on a Constitutional amendment must be at least number of voting membership of the RC, plus one. Otherwise referendum results are voided.
VI. Of those voting, 2/3rds or more must vote "Aye" for the significant Constitutional Amendment to pass.”



In this section, it is clear that for the democratic process to work in the party and for the principles espoused in this document to truly be representative of the way the membership thinks, changes to the constitution must be made via a vote conducted in an official place where it can be recorded like the forum. It is important that those who vote for the change be of the party and must not be parachute voters from other parties or members of subversive groups/individuals. The proposed change must be circulated through the party so that as many members as possible are aware of the pending change and when the change is being voted on the poll must be open for at least three days and must be promoted via articles and social outreach. The quorum required to enact a change to the constitution for a vote by the membership is the number of revolutionaries on the Revolutionary Committee plus one vote, and of those voting 2/3rds must vote in favor to enact.



“B. Amendments aimed at simple, minor re-wording of any part of the Constitution may be proposed by voting RC members and must be approved by a majority of the voting members of the Revolutionary Committee in an open poll, with results recorded and reported. Any such changes to the Constitution must be recorded in the official version of the Constitution and announced to the entire Party membership.”



Most of the time, reinventing the wheel is not necessary and so one may elect to propose a minor rewording, either for correction or for the addition of a new minor procedure. When that happens the change must be approved by 2/3rds majority vote by the Revolutionary Committee and should be recorded by the party and announced to it.



“C. The official version of the Constitution is stored as an HTML file on the SFP forum. No change is recognized until it is published in this file.”



This is one of the strongest protective strategies in this constitution and little is needed to be said about why it exists. This works to secure the constitution from rogue changes.



"An unweeded garden goes to seed." -- Bill S.
There is a place for interpretations of the Constitution, for legal opinions, for silly opinions, for scholarly exegeses, deconstructions, elaborations, and arguments. Even better are good jokes, stand-up routines, awesome memes, and clever and creative readings dealing with how to put it into practice. Epic song cycles, inspirational street murals, and creative flash-mob dance routines depicting the spirit of the Constitution as applied to the concrete conditions of eRepublik at a particularly instructive historical juncture are also rather delightful.
None of that requires modifying the Constitution. Creating a rich tradition in e-literature of such schools of interpretations is, on the other hand, a consummation devoutly to be wished.


This section is the inspiration of the treatise you are reading and at risk of repeating myself, I will just devote this section less so on why it needs to be apart of this document and more on the need of critical and radical new interpretations of this document. We can create a lively meta game by writing new philosophical and legal understandings of the party's internal workings. We need schools of interpretation to help give us an orderly understanding of the way different members think about and play eRepublik. Doing so, and contributing to making your own school of interpretation should be considered a revolutionary act and they should be preserved so that those who join the game later can read them and form their own schools.



End of Volume 2




~This is an ongoing eRepublik political and legal treatise and as such can be amended and suggestions may be offered~

list of edits

'Special Sections' have been renamed to 'Irregular Sections'


~SFP Councilor Max Planck