Courage to live (April-June, 1923).

The legacy of Kolchak]

The Russian Civil War had a notable cultural impact on the Russian Empire for a variety of reasons, including the nature of the conflict itself, the effects of the nationalization of private assets, the effects of the first Stalinist purges, propaganda, the period of post-war reconstruction and various other issues.

This was a major turning point for the Russian Empire, both intentional and unintentional.

As for example within intentional or not-totally intentional effects, the post-war period would see the emergence of the Eastern genre (a film genre that would be very popular during post-civil war tsarist Russia, which shared characteristics with the American Western), generally based on the times of the so-mentioned civil conflict.

But also the post-war period would see intentional changes, such as major legislative reforms of all kinds.

On April 16, 1923, despite the plight of the Russian Imperial Family, the government had to kept moving.

So this day an important reform was carried out, which launched surveillance on the state and various cultural policies of the post-war period.

1-Surveillance on the members of the state.

Definition of supervision: "Surveillance or direction of the performance of a certain activity by a person with the authority or capacity to do so."

A state as a tool, which is partly used to monitor citizens, guaranteeing the application and continuity of law and order (be it 'good' or 'bad').

But who watches the state and/or the members of the state? This is an important question when it comes to relations between citizens, and the politics of a country (regardless of which one).

The reform of April 16, 1923 established how in theory, this aforementioned supervision process should be carried out towards the members of the government in the Russian Empire.

Members of the government, not only at the local level but also members of the State Duma and the Senate, had to be under strict surveillance during their term in office.

In case of violation of the laws, the same law of the Russian Empire would establish the rights and procedures for the removal of law-breaking elected politicians.

It is not as closely associated with the Stalinist purges as it may seem, although at times the ground between the two can be blurred to some extent.

This was legitimately a considerable improvement over the idea of a People's Democracy in the Russian Empire, the doctrine established by the RSDLP and its allies indicated something: The population could not only participate in democracy at the time of elections and politicians could not go to the people simply when they needed votes.

Russian democracy was needed to have several levels (due to the size and nature of the Russian Empire), but at the same time the Russian Democracy had to continue to represent the population, the objectives of political campaigns had to be met and some control or citizen participation AFTER a politician's election had to exist.

In essence what this reform did was that there were institutionalized systems so that voters or other bodies could remove law-makers during their terms of office, provided that certain conditions were met (after all, you had to investigate or prove that the accusations were certain or reliable).

A reform that gave some power to the civilian population between non-electoral periods.

In turn, the state admitted reforms to further control the workers within it during the aforementioned election periods.

The state maintained its strong anti-lobbying laws by most positions in government, but now the treasury of the Russian Empire appropriated the expenses of candidates to deputies of the Duma and premieres of the Duma.

This meant that while public spending during election time could increase, the truth is that all candidates had similar time and money, established by law.

* The National Congress of the Russian Citizens played an important role in this reform, since its function to report violations of the law and take the opinions of the Russian population would be an important part of the national supervision towards members of the state.

2-Post-war cultural policy.

The cultural policy of the postwar period is another important issue that was decided in the reform of April 1923.

But what exactly do we mean by cultural policy?

It is much simpler than it seems in reality, culture can go from the bottom up and from the top down. In this case the government of the Russian Empire had the objective of influencing Russian culture from above, in the post-war period.

For a fairly simple reason actually.

The Russian government did not want to have to deal with Kolchak's reactionary legacy in the short-medium term, this implied the establishment of policies against historical revisionism and other tendencies that could support the legacy of the Directorate of National Salvation of Admiral Alexander V. Kolchak. And also propaganda developed by the state to support even more its victory over its enemies.

The ideas and concepts of the extreme right of the Russian Empire were truly harmful to the state, especially to which people like Tsar Nicholas II aspired.

So the government had to attack the legacy of the most problematic political-social and military cliques that had existed in previous years, and the ideas that they had had.

The main theme was around Russian nationalism, and the Russian monarchy.

There was no doubt that the Russian Empire had a tendency to support the Russian monarchy, but the war had created problems between the aristocracy against the common people and the popular-bureaucratic government.

Kolchak had fought for the idea of maintaining an anti-leftist monarchy, but without regard to the Tsar himself or the imperial family, in the process damaging it in the short to medium term (the death of Tsesarevich Nicholas as an example).

The ordinary people of the Russian Empire would not forget that the aristocracy attempted to reverse many of the important reforms of the Russian state. Ordinary Russians could defend the monarchy (indeed, they usually would, since being anti-monarchy was a major 'deviation'), but it did not mean defending all extensions of the Russian aristocracy-autocracy (and also people is not always a monolith).

And at the level of nationalism, the Directorate was a somewhat Slavic/Orthodox nationalist group (generally Russian, although there were a lot of Ukrainians and Cossacks), of ethno-religious or ethno-cultural motives.

Something that was against the reality of a multi-ethnic and multicultural Russian Empire, which supported the idea of a civic nationalism (several groups united through a common citizenship and space).

The Russian Empire began to attack the possible remnants of Kolchak's legacy.

'Sanitized' versions of history or that supported ideals aligned with the Directorate were widely censored or destroyed, with repression of persons-groups that aligned or potentially aligned with similar thinking to the Directorate.

In essence, for much of the post-war period, Russian politics was characterized by DISTANCING, from all that Kolchak's Directorate and their allies was.

The left had it relatively easy, while the right and far right had to resort to other strategies (which in essence caused the domination of this part of the Russian political spectrum by people like Boris Savinkov, populist right-wing politician - Or, in the really extreme cases, the application of particular laws against problematic people, such as anti-Semitic extremes).

Similar to what happened in the United States or in the cultural revolutions of socialist countries. The state, politcal groups and other situations began to strangle in the cradle the possibility that groups or ideologies tried to resume the work of reactionary groups (the end of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, attacks against 'anti-proletarian ideologies' in the European Socialist Union and now the application of an Anti-Directorate policy in the Russian empire).

In the short-medium term it was a remarkable success, practically almost no one in their right mind would attempt actions against the monarchy following the Kolchak line (similar to the Japanese dictatorship of the IJN, maintaining the monarchy without taking into account the monarchy) and civic nationalism and/or anti-racist measures were (to some extent) successful.

Unfortunately there are always some groups more deranged and troublesome than others.

We could explore the extreme anti-Semitism of the Russian ultra-right/far-right (with root in the 30s) on another occasion, or how in modern times several of the followers of this spectrum celebrate the day of the Circassian genocide as a kind of national date (when it is not ... for obvious reasons, nobody celebrates a genocide anniversary in a positive light).

Some compare Kolchak to Cromwell, but modern British and Russian historians dismiss these considerations.

Kolchak was not trying to create something new or semi-new like Cromwell's Commonwealth, instead he wanted to maintain a 'pure' idea of Russia, free from leftism and other particular tendencies that went against an idea of a Holy Russia with a particular monarchy.

In essence, Kolchak was the result of an old guard, a reaction to major changes in the Russian Empire, whose leadership had other plans for the functioning of the Russian Empire in the future (Tsar Nicholas II's New Russia).

Also their cultural legacies are different, impacting on different socio-political areas far beyond their deaths.

Kolchak did affect the Russian right during the early XX century to modern day, while Cromwell affected British politics for centuries (specially anti-monarchist or Republican ideas).

*[Corruption]

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Anti-Corruption imaginery from the Russian Empire.​

Corruption is not a phenomenon alien to Russia, but there were particular developments of this phenomenon IN the Russian state, as a result of the conditions of the Russian government in previous times.

Governing the vast territory of Russia posed several difficulties for the first Russian rulers to pay salaries to their administration, which led to the development of 'Kormleniya' ("Feeding"), which today would be considered a system of bribes to the authorities.

State officials had to be financed by the localities, rather than by a central government. So state officials gave their service in exchange for local money or goods.

This Kormleniya system was a Russian tradition that existed quite strongly or widely between the 14th and 15th centuries.

Within this system, different types of exchange were carried out, which included:

* Pochest - Bribes before a deal.

* Pominki - Bribes after a deal.

* Posul - The promise of a bribe for a court's decision in one's favor.

After these developments, various czars would carry out campaigns to try to eliminate or reduce the corruption of the Russian state, in particular Ivan IV, Peter I and Catherine II.

Most of these tsars attempted repressive measures that included the death penalty for bribe-takers, sending people to Siberia and purges, among other methods.

Tsar Alexander III had not developed very high anti-corruption methods, but the modernization of Russia helped, at least initially, to solve several of the problems of the Russian Empire and its bureaucratic apparatus.

Yet obviously the low corruption of this era of modernization cannot last forever (it resurfaced especially after the death of Tsar Alexander III and the period before the Russian civil war as a result of the end of the first modernization period of the Russian Empire).

During the last years of Tsar Alexander III and the first years of the State Duma and Tsar Nicholas II, the Russian state set about attacking the possibility of lobbying in Russian democracy (pressure groups using various measures to support candidates or agendas that meet your interests).

However lobbying was not the only threat to Russian democracy, or the only form of corruption that could exist in the Russian Empire.

Under this situation, the government of the Fourth (IV) Duma under Premier Stalin and Tsar Nicholas II, would focus on starting a new period in the Russian campaigns against corruption.

The curious thing is that the Russian government of this time (from 1920 to 1953 or from 1920 to 1962 according to some), never took a virtue or proclaimed itself directly 'against corruption'.

The RSDLP and its allies saw that they were attacking the causes of corruption (which was actually a symptom of various socio-economic problems that could exist in the Russian Empire), and for Tsar Nicholas II, fighting corruption directly was a matter insignificant that could only be solved by improving the quality of life of Russian citizens.

"Fighting corruption like a single phenomenon, is not only petty, but is pointless.

As long as there are problems such as property inequality and socio-economic relationships that favor this phenomenon, a man will not only strive to live better, but he will want more and more benefits, and power.

And in some cases, he will realize his goals through the phenomenon we call corruption "

-Tsar Nicholas II on corruption.

"Corruption can and must be defeated, but the fight against corruption cannot be the main goal of a political movement or government by itself.

Talk about corruption doesn't help the people, it actually distract them from really important ideas and phenomena, it distract them from choosing a model for further economic development of the country or from discussing the structure of political governance, and other ideas."

-Premier Stalin on corruption.

In a sense this decision was made out of fear that if there was too much talk about corruption would actually discredit the Russian Empire as an institution.

If various officials or bureaucrats were blamed for corruption, seeds of mistrust in state power would begin to emerge within Russian society.

Something that a government fresh out of the Russian Civil War wanted to avoid.

So the Russian government dealt with this in various ways, through the creation of legal methods such as those already mentioned (which involved a method of getting rid of public officials) or in essence, measures of a much more repressive nature (continuation of the purges which started during the Russian civil war).

Some corrupt members of the government would be categorized under the 'status' of political criminals or foreign spies (solidifying causes against criminals), both threats to the foundations of the tsarist state.

Furthermore, the laws against these criminals, and the public's opinion of them, was much stricter than that of a "smaller" or "common" criminal (a bribe of a certain amount of cash).

Although the method had its flaws (because obviously the Russian government was not able to control every arrest, read every complaint and penetrate into it), the truth is that it was relatively rational and successful.

Of course, corruption cannot be completely eliminated and some responsible people escape, but the model of First Stalinism under Tsar Nicholas II worked adequately to clean up the state apparatus, the national economy, the armed forces and power structures from real or potential enemies. .

Taking advantage of the immediate post-war period and the momentum of the first great purges that occurred during the Russian civil war.

Of course, this anti-corruption model was not the central focus of the Russian government, which focused much more on the development of the quality of life of its citizens.

In addition, later the constant automation of services with computer advances helped, as in other countries of the world, to deal with the problems of corruption and bureaucracy (to a certain extent).

* At least in certain positions of the Russian state an anti-corruption 'rotation' experiment was carried out, where every so many years (generally 4 years) the officials or members of the administration were changed, to avoid the development or promotion of corruption within the establishment.

It was believed that this model would bring not only fresh blood to the bureaucracy-establishment, but also prevent the constant advancement of corrupt officials or corrupt relationships between government officials and other entities.

It had mixed results for various reasons.

*******

[Succession in the Russian Empire]

On June 19 of 1923, after Tsar Nicholas II had finally come out of his self-seclusion, he undoubtedly surprised the scene of imperial politics with an interesting reform about the laws of succession of the House of Romanov in the Russian Empire (a matter practically only under his hands).

Normally in a common succession (or at least that pre-established by Tsar Alexander III), the post of Tsesarevich of the Russian Empire would have passed to Grand Duke Cyril, third son of Tsar Nicholas II after the late Nicholas and Mikhail.

However, Tsar Nicholas II (or another imperial institution that legitimized the succession, like the Ministry of the Imperial Court under ) never formally granted the position of Tsesarevich to his son Cyril (neither to Grand Duchess Maria or Grand Duke Sergei).

The reasons for the change made by Tsar Nicholas II are a bit confusing and mysterious even to this day.

Some suggest that it may be that with the swift death of Nicholas II's first two heirs, the tsar would have become preoccupied with the issue of succession if he (or Cyril) died suddenly, leaving an unfit heir on the throne.

Tsar Nicholas II's reform of the laws of succession brought back some old House of Romanov laws from the grave, as well as building on the laws of succession created by his father (Tsar Alexander III).

* The Tsar / Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia would designate his/her own heir to the throne, regardless of gender or relationship to the previous monarch, provided the heir was a member of the House of Romanov (and met other conditions).

**Unlike the law of Tsar Alexander III, this one did not provide an 'official' line of the House of Romanov, but the law of Nicholas II of course excluded out-of-wedlock descendants of former emperors / empresses and had a predilection for children or grandchildrens of previous emperors (especially of the line of Tsar Nicholas I to Alexander III).

* If someone underage rose to the throne there would be regency until he/she reach maturity.

* An emperor of Russia had to be a believer of the Russian Orthodox faith.

* Morganatic marriage would be regulated by the reigning emperor as follows:

1-Princes (knyaz) and princesses of royal blood (that is, more remote members of the Romanov family, great-grandchildren of emperors that are no longer part of the main branch, etc.) could marry morganatic individuals, that is, of a different social status (not-royal houses, or even not noble class people).

1.b- Provided that said marriage did not violate any law of the Orthodox Church or the Russian state.

1.c- As long as the emperor or the Holy Synod did not declare that it would be too scandalous (if the emperor or the authorities vetoed it).

2-Grand Dukes, Grand Duchesses and the Tsesarevich (sons and grandsons of an emperor, former or reigning) needed the approval of the reigning tsar to perform a morganatic marriage (as long as it occurred during the reigning tsar's government) and maintain positions within the succession of the imperial house.

2.b-In case the succession passed to the female line, due to the absence of legitimate male heirs, the husband (and childs) of said woman of royal blood had to adopt the dynasty of the imperial house as their dynastic name. For the continuation of the Romanovs (as a clan-family) on the throne.

This law was quite remarkable throughout the Russian Empire, which had recently mourned previous Tsesarevichs and was now reporting a new form of succession.

A form of succession that had been more similar to that of Peter I (although he maintained the reforms of Alexander III), than to the Pauline laws developed by Tsar Paul I.

This law allowed Tsar Nicholas II and even the Russian state to have greater control over WHO would inherit the Russian Empire after the death of the Tsar (a decision placed in a highly secret will, protected by imperial institutions, this will could only be accessed by the Tsar itself, the Premier of the State Duma and the Russian ministers).

On a big social level it was a curious event, but strongly out of the control of ordinary citizens (who, at best, could speculate about who the next Tsar might be based on their opinions and information accessible at that time).

Yet within the House of Romanov itself it was a ... important situation and discussion. The Tsar Nicholas II did not speak about who would be his heir, and as a consequence, factionalism among the House of Romanov exploded after the law.

Especially among the children of the tsar himself and those who supported them as the most suitable heir in the empire. The tsar was 55 years old, but his descendants were ambitious.

* There was speculation that some other cousins (minor branches) or even families closely related to the Romanovs (distant branches) would also try to win the favor of the Emperor, such as the House of Oldenburg (von Oldenburg / Ольденбу́ргские/Oldenburgsky, a branch of the Holstein-Gottorp closely linked to the Romanov) or even the royal house of Bulgaria (Romanovsky of Bulgaria).

But even in 'elective' or pseudo-elective monarchies, a descendant of the previous monarch was often preferred over a more distant relative.

So these cadet branches or minor branches never had much of a chance.

This set the stage for an era of 'Grand Dukes in politics' or factions in favor to some of the Grand Dukes within the imperial court, with the childs of Nicholas II seeking more active participation in Russian society with the idea of gaining favor with the population, and through this, the position of heir of their father.

* Grand Duchess Maria (aged 21-22 at the time of the reform) would generally be associated more with the New Right of the Russian Empire in the post-civil war period, supporting the idea of a conservative but still active and independent Russian woman in many facets of life (an idyllic image for the political maneuvers that Maria wanted to carry out).

* Grand Duke Cyril (19-20 years old at the time of the reform) for his part aligned himself with the Liberals and 'centrist' groups, of a progressive but still capitalist-industrial character, presenting himself rather as someone who was innovative and straight-forward in the advance of the Russian Empire (especially attractive to the great and petty bourgeoisie and parts of the middle class).

* Grand Duke Sergei (17 years old at the time of the reform), would be late to the political game, but it was clear that he always aligned himself more with the Russian left than his siblings.

The reform of the succession of Tsar Nicholas II had a strong effect, if before Maria and Cyril were allies in political strategies, the new law basically broke that alliance, with both pursuing their interests separately from 1923 onwards.

Also later we could explore the socio-political campaigns that the Grand Dukes or even their descendants launched throughout the long reign of Tsar Nicholas II.

*******

[Perspective]

For much of April and May, Tsar Nicholas II spent a long time confined in his personal office, more than usual and with other greater connotations.

Previously the tsar spent his time in his office for his work, which was one of his great passions. However now it was mainly for mourning, mourning for Empress Elena and their children (Nicholas and Mikhail), a series of important losses too successive for the emperor ...

Everyone deals with the loss of their own way within the Russian Empire, officially there were periods of mourning for Russian society, but what the members of the imperial family did was another matter (since they were always closer to the deceased).

Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov had chosen a form of self-seclusion or isolation, where he basically remained in his office attending or approving only vital matters, lamenting and finally falling asleep (exhausted).

The end of May was initially a continuation of said isolation, the most important thing had simply been the April reforms and the continuation of the reconstruction-infrastructure projects begun in the post-civil war era.

"Hello Dad". Grand Duke Sergei saluted, knocking lightly on the office door to see if his father was present.

"Hello?". Tsar Nicholas II greets his youngest son on the other side of the door. Nicholas had actually lost a certain notion of time while he was locked up.

"Yes, hi dad, I just wanted to talk to you a bit." Grand Duke Sergei calmly indicates.

"I'm all ears." Nicholas responds to his son's request, but the door barely moves.

"I miss them too dad, but we need you ... I'm starting to miss you too, and you're not even gone ..." Sergei exclaims with concern, his voice breaking for a moment until his father speaks again.

"... I once heard a man say that many people love in hindsight, instead of loving the moment. They love and think about what they love, only after losing it." Tsar Nicholas II exclaims. "... I made mistakes, I didn't think and my pride has cost me dearly."

"... And what are you going to do after this?" Sergei questions, and it was an important question.

"It is difficult to know if I can take the first step to forgive myself, but we all have to regain the courage to continue life despite having lost." Nicholas Alexandrovich insists, beginning to finally open the door. "Sergei"

"Dad" The Grand Duke exclaims in greeting, giving his father a hug when he leaves.

"I'm sorry to have affected you because of my mistakes Sergei." Tsar Nicholas II indicates. The Grand Duke was silent for a few moments.

*

The Tsar Nicholas II would never truly recover in his long life, but one had to carry on somehow. Between the end of May and the beginning of June, Tsar Nicholas would return to a kind of normalcy.

Which was comforting for Russian society, since the Tsar again made appearances and public announcements, as well as increasing his involvement in the Russian government once again.

The reforms and reconstruction were still going strong ...

Then came the reform of the laws of succession, which were an important and curious point for the rest of the descendants of Tsar Nicholas II from 1923 onwards.

"Maybe if I stay still long enough, they'll ignore me." Grand Duke Sergei thought aloud, as he picked up some materials to reflect on his more artistic concerns.

Then his brother Cyril would knock on the door.

"Sergei!" Cyril calls.

Sergei sighed, opening the door only slightly before Cyril fully entered. "What do you need?". Sergei asks politely.

"Did I ever tell you that-" Cyril exclaims, but is interrupted.

"Have I ever told you that I would greatly appreciate your help?" Maria interrupts, speaking from behind the two brothers.

Sergei sweats for a moment, feeling the tension between his two older siblings.

*******

[International]

April 1, the Red Guards force in France begins to capture and / or execute various officers belonging to the faltering government of Paul Faure.

Many of the revolutionary courts that existed in the early days of the Socialist Revolution in France are resurrected during this Troubled Times of Socialist Europe.

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Revolutionary court against members of the government of Paul Faure around this time.​

April 2, in the territories near Paris, the government of Paul Faure adds a force of 50,000 militiamen against the foreign interventionist forces and the Red Guards.

Rather than actually helping, this would end up being a detriment to Faure, since the Red Guards and interventionist forces would then found the Alliance des gardes rouges de toute la France (Alliance of Red Guards of All France) or Devant Rouge (Red Front).

This with the aim of ending the little civil support that Faure had left. The success of the French Red Front was the result of Faure's attack on the old bureaucracy, hard-line communists, pro-minority politics, foreign communist groups and syndicates (among others) and successful political maneuvers by the interventionists.

April 4, Paul Faure's forces in central France begin to suffer major defeats against the Devant Rouge, initiating what some call the 'Siege of Paris', which will end in May 1923.

The Warner Bros studio is founded in the United States of America.

April 5, a trial against the American communist William Z. Foster (trial due to the 'anti-American' activities of syndicates and communists) ends in a stalemate (hung jury), when it ends in a 6-6 vote ( after 31 hours of deliberation).

For the communists this was a victory or a good result, but obviously the anti-communists are concerned.

Some historians later indicate the trial as a sham or a demonstration of the polarization between the American Left and Right until 1932-1933.

April 6, continuing his spiritist tendencies, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave a lecture at Carnegie Hall in New York City in which he has displayed a series of "spirit photographs."

Photos included:

1-Photos of soldiers' spirits in a the two-minute silence to England's war dead in London.

2- A faint luminous patch which Doyle described as "ectoplasm".

3- A ghostly faces floating above a crowd.

April 12, Lee de Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm system (an optical sound-on-film system that was developed around the early 1920s by Lee de Forest himself with Theodore Case) to the New York Electrical Society.

April 13, several floods occur in France during the Troubled Times period due to neglect or destruction of portions of French infrastructure.

April 15, great expansion of insulin distribution throughout North America.

April 21, great expansion of agricultural projects in the Imperial Federation, especially related to the reconstruction period after the civil conflicts in the Home Islands.

This day becomes a holiday in honor of the Gracchi brothers (Tiberius and Gaius) in the socialist Italy (while the date is not exactly related to the Gracchi brothers, it is related to the mythical founding of Rome).

This results in a historiographical trend in socialist Italy about the study of the Roman peasants and popular classes from a socialist point of view (the class struggle in Ancient Rome, according to the Italian communists).

A study that in theory looks at Roman history from the common population and attempts to criticize the views of the Roman aristocracy or upper classes (the struggle of the Roman commoners, religious augury as an instrument of social control, the patriarchal oppression of women and later the political use of homophobic attacks are issues that this trend deals with).

* A curious case of this re-study of Roman history is the assassination of Julius Caesar, with the debate as to whether the Roman general and politician had true populist tendencies or purely personal ambitions.

April 23, Cannabis begins to be banned in the Imperial Federation.

April 29, several groups of the government of Paul Faure are separated from it due to the imminent fall of said government in front of the rebel forces.

Only the reformist-libertarian faction led by Faure and Leon Blum remains, who had tried to abandon many of Jules Guesde's socialist policies in favor of policies similar to those of Jean Jaures and Amadeo Bordiga.

The failure of the Faure and Blum government is very important in later French and European history.

March 1, the French troops of the Devant Rouge are the first to enter the city of Paris, leading to the violent fall of the government of Paul Faure.

This causes the suicide or execution of the majority of those involved, including Leon Blum (suicide) and Paul Faure (execution), among ministers and others.

With this, the urban resistance and its allies reorganize a new French parliament that leads a provisional government, which officially ends the government of Paul Faure, Leon Blum and his various allies.

Civil violence still rages on for a while, but indeed the main phase of the Troubled Times finds its end ... Other types of problems occur successively however.

May 4, in several states of the United States (such as New York), the prohibition of alcohol becomes stricter than federal law and greater powers are given to the police to enforce prohibition.

May 5, the Imperial Federation establishes Radio Singapura, initiating radio broadcasting in Singapore (which is a vital point for the Imperial Federation against Russian Indonesia and Thailand).

May 6, the new French parliament elects Maurice Thorez, a member of the syndicates and French resistance against Paul Faure, as the main speaker of the new parliament.

Thorez together with the new parliament announce the re-organization of the People's Republic of France in the République Populaire Démocratique de France (Democratic People's Republic of France).

Delegates from the rest of the European Socialist Union, saved by these latest events, enter Paris. And interventionist soldiers are beginning to return home quickly as they are replaced by new French officers.

*[The Troubled Times continue]

Many would normally see the fall of Faure as the end of Troubled Times in the European Socialist Union, but the truth is that they were only the beginning of bigger problems on various levels.

Both for the new Democratic People's Republic of France and for the European Socialist Union, which although it could have come out stronger in the long run, in the short-medium term it was strongly weakened.

To prevent a communist 'deviation' like that of Faure from occurring again, the post of President of the Republic was abolished, replaced by a 'collective government' made up of the new French parliament.

The main powers were shared by this parliament (including its new speaker) and a Chairman, the General Secretary of the communist party and the Head of the New Military Commission (reorganization of the armed forces).

In addition to this, many policies of the Jules Guesde government were strengthened, or even taken a step further. The power of the Planned Economy was reinstituted by the state, the participation of the syndicates in the French economy increased and the federalization of France increased considerably (reconstruction of the French minorities).

In essence, the central government of France was severely weakened during the post-Faure period (a measure that sought to avoid the possibility of strongly one-man governments and major civil problems in France).

And it makes sense for a number of reasons, not just because of civil strife and foreign intervention, but because of French decline (whose attempts to stop it had failed considerably because of Troubled Times and the end of some measures from the Guesde government).

The French economy and demographics were in decline, overtaken by a growing Free Republic of Germany.

The economy of socialist France could no longer support much of its industry or agriculture due to the elimination of the French Colonial Empire, and the civil troubles that plagued the country since the Second French Empire.

Most of the heavy industry began to be concentrated in the center and north of the country, but progressively began to be replaced by light industry or services.

The planned economy was able to save this to some extent, but the decline in population posed problems in the workforce and proper resource management.

The European Socialist Union was to be dominated by other emerging, anti-deviant socialist powers and planned economies.

Or at least that had proved the end of the first phase of Troubled Times.

Because indeed the problems of the European Socialist Union had not completely ended ...

Faure and Bordiga (among others) were seen by many not only as traitors to socialism, but a result of a larger problem within European Communism.

So in the minds of many, it was necessary to start looking for how to eliminate these root problems before they flourished again.

The second phase of the Troubled Times (1923/1925 to 1937) was marked by the fact that the socialist leadership focused more on ideological issues.

Causing a certain detriment that would affect the defenses of the socialists from the Third World War (which started the third and last phase of the Troubled Times).

The second phase was also marked by the rise of other figures, such as Ernst Thälmann, Maurice Thorez, Jose Diaz Ramos, Dolores Ibárruri and the new Italian order.

Whose ideological brands sought to solve the problems of European socialism and the European Socialist Union, after the old leaders have left.

* Thorez would replace Guesde and Faure, eventually solidifying his power in World War III.

* Thälmann and Goebbels would replace Liebknecht, marking one of the most important eras for the Free Republic of Germany.

* The new Italian-Iberian generations replaced the old leadership (which included personalities such as Largo Caballero and Lazzari).

The European Socialist Union saw several problems within European socialism:

* The Communist Parties had become central bureaucratic bodies with little regard for the Marxist upbringing of their members.

Educational reforms helped, but by 1910s-1920s, the new young communists were perhaps too young to stay the course of European socialism.

* 'Anti-proletarian' ideologies still existed within member states.

* The ever-emerging 'petty bourgeoisie' that could continue to exist in socialist projects and other situations within European socialism (such as the worst forms of cult of personality or "Bonapartism") continued to harm socialism from within.

* In the conflicts present within Socialist Europe many faithful believers in socialism had died, damaging the interpretation of the socialist doctrine in various terms.

* The successor governments of the first socialist leaders tried to change the socialist economic courses without correcting the ideological problems of their predecessors or change the ideological course without correcting the economic doctrines.

Bordiga and Faure both tried in different order.

Faure mainly tried to attack the ideology of Guesde and other opponents and later the planned economy, while Bordiga attacked the Italian socialist economy and planned later to attack the communist ideology.

The leaders of the second phase of Troubled Times would attempt to uphold the legacy of the founding fathers of European socialism and eradicate revisionism, sadly damaging some economic doctrines in the process (which would not be fixed until advances in automation decades later).

This second phase saw the official organization of the Pillars of European Socialist doctrine (developed by Thälmann and Gramsci among some others), the reorganization of the bureaucracy and internal intelligence (mainly under the direction of the Stasi), attacks against anti-proletarian elements ( further deepening of the European cultural revolutions) and the reorganization of the European Socialist Union.

The European Socialist Union began an important supra-national transformation under the later Thälmann doctrine, with 4 important levels in the new Red Europe:

1-Labor democracy and voting organizations.

* In labor democracy or worplace democracy, workers would meet regularly to discuss issues related to the workplace, policy and elect managers.

* In voting organizations (worplace democracy, cooperatives, feminist groups, syndicates, military units, schools, etc) and electoral districts would meet in government offices to discuss important matters.

Matters that included local politics, regional politics, and national politics.

In such discussions a candidate would be nominated and chosen based on his qualifications and contributions to the community (no electoral pledges are made in Red Europe).

If the candidate did not meet what was expected, it was recalled to an election.

With the exception of military units, each mentioned organization would have a local, regional or national newspaper to present such events or discussions that took place in the democracy of Red Europe.

2-From these voting organizations emanated the rest of the organization of the European Socialist Union.

* The voting organizations of each country elected their regional governments (members of the ESU), with their respective bodies and representation within the supranational body in the ESU Parliament of Nations.

* The voting organizations of each country would elect the People's Deputies, a municipal government that gave rise to an Executive Committee (in charge of administrative decisions, laws and legislation that passed through other organizations).

These People's Deputies and the Executive Committee were expected to assist their community in various important and everyday matters of life.

* For each number of inhabitants, the voting organizations would elect a deputy for the Council of the European Socialist Union.

3- The Parliament of Nations (in charge of matters of regional importance and ethno-cultural minorities) and the Council of the European Socialist Union or simply Council of the Union (in charge of matters relating to the entire supranational union) would elect a Supreme Executive Commission for joint meetings.

4-In this Supreme Executive Commission where delegates met for matters of immediate importance to the state, which had not only the aforementioned elected delegates, but also members of the Executive Commissions of the Union (ministries in charge of different branches of government) and the collective heads of the European Socialist Union (heads of different countries or politicians of importance).

This reform would be of vital importance to the European Socialist Union, taking it to even greater heights than before (inspired to some extent by the successes of the Covenant of Nations and ideological internationalism).

*******

May 8, the new Democratic People's Republic of France begins its reconstruction programs after the government of Paul Faure.

The planned economy is reinstituted and several leaders of the old Guesde government come out of mental institutions.

The syndicates regain power and the forced labor camps reopen, with a new influx of prisoners who will serve up to 15 years.

May 10, the Russian Empire recognizes the new governments of France and restarts its joint programs with Red Europe, although westerners would unfortunately lose some of the focus of joint planning during this time.

The Imperial Federation would take advantage of all of this sooner or later, once it was ready once more.

May 14, Benito Mussolini triumphantly returns to Togliatti's socialist Italy.

During this period, important reforms took place, such as the prohibition and attack against 'anti-proletarian' movements or groups, and the reorganization of communist groups aligned with the new government.

In particular military-partisan units, women's groups, students and others are Togliatti's spear against the ideological remnants of the Bordiga government and other Italian problems.

May 24, the Socialist Republic of Ireland sends its congratulations to the new socialist governments in continental Europe.

May 25, 5.7 earthquake struck Torbat-e Heydarieh in Persia, resulting in the deaths of just over 2000 people.

May 26, at a time of historic importance, William Randolph Hearst Sr. says that he would support Henry Ford for a third consecutive presidential term in 1924.

Something that had never happened or been seen before by the tradition (not official by law) of a maximum of two terms per President.

Ford is tempted by the idea, but it is obviously a difficult issue in American politics at the time (among both Democrats and Communists, although the National Republicans are more in favor).

May 30, the Franco-German communist forces in the Ruhr Valley re-organize after the fall of Paul Faure.

Socialist France begins to reorganize itself to fully support the European Socialist Union once again, and with this the joint forces of the union are greatly increased.

A force is created in the Ruhr of 500,000 men (mostly militiamen turned into soldiers), which includes mainly French and Germans, although it begins to have some Italian and Iberian quangers of various origins.

May 31, in the Russian Empire the Petrograd Opera House was badly damaged by a fire, as result many died trying to escape.

June 1, within the Democratic People's Republic of France various policies that arose during Jules Guesde's Cultural Revolution are carried out again.

Among them, support for the reconstruction of minority identities at the national level, and attacks against 'bourgeois characteristics' of French culture.

Cultural issues such as sexism or anti-Semitism are also attacked in France at the time.

June 3, a New York commission 'reveals' its findings about alleged anti-American propaganda in at least 8 history books, which are labeled by the commission as 'pro-British'.

"Any history which, after 150 years, attempts to teach our children that the War of Independence was an unnecessary war and that it is still a problem as to who was right and who was wrong, should be fed to the furnace and those responsible for those books branded as un-American ".

-Commissioner David Hirschfeld.

Curiously, the burning of books and other cultural materials seen as anti-American would occur on various occasions after 1941 as a result of cultural reforms in America at the time (after 1933).

June 5, socialist Italy under Togliatti introduces a policy of strong secularization and greater state intervention-observation in religious affairs.

It is not as far as State Atheism, an idea that proliferated in other regions, but they were important restrictive policies. Many church properties had been nationalized years ago, but it did not remove the influence of Catholicism in Italy ...

The situation was somewhat tense at first, with the Vatican seeking a peaceful resolution to this conflict of interest.

June 7, creation of the Federation of Imperial Industries, a huge industrial conglomerate of private-public initiative developed in the Imperial Federation to deal with the problems and economic mega-projects of the British Empire.

June 9, in the north of Greece the Greek communists begin to advocate for the union of the Balkan communist groups to overthrow the enemies of the proletariat (seen as Russian Imperialism and the British Social Aristocracy).

June 14, a tug towed the remains of a Floridian "sea monster" to Key West (island in the Straits of Florida, United States).

It was later identified as a whale shark.

June 17, eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy.

The next day several small settlements are destroyed by lava.

June 18, finally Henry Ford announces that he intends to run for a third presidential term.

Prescott Sheldon Bush (who has one of the highest points of him within the Party thanks to this) and many other members of the National Republican Party back him.

Ford's statement however is not without controversy in the United States.

Afro-Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey is found guilty of mail fraud.

Garvey used the U.S. mail to sell stock in the bankrupt Black Star Line.

On June 21, Garvey is sentenced to 5 years in prison.

June 22, various reforms for the reconstruction or improvement of education in the Imperial Federation and its research projects.

Initially this simply leads to annual budgets for the most prestigious universities of the Imperial Federation such as Oxford or Cambridge, but later it leads to the British atomic program.

June 24, the mariner's cap (also known as skipper cap, Greek fisherman's cap, fiddler cap, Breton cap or even Lenin cap) becomes extremely popular in the European Socialist Union.

Especially in the France and West Germany of the 20s-30s.

Top hats and other more 'traditional' or popular hats during the 19th century are no longer very popular in these socialist countries.

In several regions, national or regional hats associated with ethno-cultural minorities also make an important return (as long as they do not have many bad connotations for socialist governments).