Saldanhism

The Principles of the Corsenian People, colloquially referred to as Saldanhism, is a politically left-wing, internationalist, civically variable, modernist, secular, socialist, and culturally very progressive ideology that is common among the politicians of the Greater Commonwealth of Corsenia, a fictional futuristic nation that is part of the Iberian Peninsula. It is named after Santiago Saldanha, the leader of the Corsenian Revolution and the nation's founding father.

In the midst of the Damnation (2035-2119), Saldanha envisioned the overthrow of the increasingly corrupt liberal government of Rohenia. After being exposed to the socialist literature of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin, he realized that capitalism was in decay and had to be quickly replaced with a socialist economic system before a FDR-type figure could pop up and attempt to save capitalism. During his time with the Council for Public Rehabilitation, a nonprofit that he would later turn into a political vanguard, Saldanha formulated the Principles of the Corsenian People, which was the ideology he envisioned for the nation of Corsenia post-revolution.

Every Corsenian head of state has labeled themself a "Saldanhist", although each one has differed in policies. Besides Santiago Saldanha, the most notable Corsenian leaders have been Raymundo Mascarenhas, Imaculada Carvalho, Dimas Pimentel, Jaqueline Nascimento, and Yasmin Santos.

= On Corsenia =



Corsenia is a fictional country off of the Iberian Peninsula. Prior to the Revolution in 2119, it was named the Kingdom of Rohenia. Following a revolution in 1848, it became a constitutional liberal republic, and not a monarchy, although keeping the title of “Kingdom”. Due to the fact that it was part of the Kingdom of Portugal many years before it became an independent state (this happened in 1848), the Corsenian people speak a regional dialect of Portuguese and have traditional Portuguese names. = History = In the year 2035, a great crisis will occur in capitalism: the Damnation, which was caused by the coinciding of several natural disasters, pandemics, wars, and economic busts. It’s basically if the Great Depression, the Black Plague, and World War 1 all happened at the same time - 95% of the global population will be living in abject poverty, with over one billion dead as a result of it. It is possibly the greatest catastrophe in human history, and it is referred to as the Damnation because it was believed by many religious people that it was a punishment from God and possibly even the end of the Earth. This, of course, marks the beginning of the end for capitalism, as literally every working person has gotten sick of it. A series of socialist uprisings will occur primarily throughout 2038-2044, but every single one of them will fail due to the miserably low productive capacity that is left in the world’s economies due to the Damnation. There will be a few other attempts at revolution that will be sprinkled throughout the rest of the Damnation, but neither of them will accomplish anything significant. In 2051, after 16 years of economic hardship, world governments will meet and announce an international plan to rebuild civilization which they referred to as the Rehabilitation - it lasted for 79 years. The end of the Rehabilitation is commonly marked in 2119, the year of the Corsenian Revolution.

The Greater Commonwealth of Corsenia was established in 2119 in a political revolution led by Santiago Saldanha. Likely due to the high religious population, Rohenia was the country that had the strongest and most efficient rehabilitation force during the Rehabilitation and it was primarily led by the Council for Public Rehabilitation (CPR in English, CRP in Portuguese) which was a nonprofit organization formed by disgruntled Rohenian workers early on in the Rehabilitation because they had grown to be sick of the immense poverty that was brought to them by the Damnation. Saldanha, born in 2083, would quickly rise the ranks of the organization as a popular, youthful, and charismatic figure who led by example, showing full devotion for the common people. He was initially viewed as a threat by the Rohenian government, but Saldanha made alliances with them so as to not arouse suspicion that he was mounting a political revolution. After 68 years of the Rehabilitation, Rohenia (now Corsenia) had become the first country on Earth to fully rebuild its productive forces. It had mainly done so due to luck (because of geographical convenience, Corsenia wasn’t struck as hard by the Damnation as other countries had been) and due to a strong work ethic (instilled by the religious population). Spain and Portugal followed suit as the second and third rehabilitated countries, respectively, but they were never able to reach the status of Corsenia. This, technically, made Corsenia the world’s most powerful state. Although it was very powerful, it did not utilize economic or military imperialism due to being committed to ideological socialism, enabling other countries to act on their own behalf. It did, however, have a strong military, but the function of the military was purely for the purpose of self-defense from invasion rather than invading themselves. The military was used a few times, most notably during the Corsenian Civil Wars and the Vortiskellt Uprising.

= Main ideological tenets = Every time a new head of state had been elected, the Corsenian national government, as part of a precedent that had been established with Saldanha, would publish a long doctrine titled “The Platform of the Current Corsenian Governance”, which specifically outlined the views of the new administration as well as its goals and plans for the country. Although not entirely ideologically rigid, many of the Corsenian head of states remained fundamentally similar in terms of policy due to the enormous success it had. Whenever enormous material changes in the world occurred, such as natural disasters or attempts at foreign invasion, the government would typically have to revise a few of the tenets of Saldanhism to account for present material reality. Although there were many different forms of Saldanhists, a several core tenets were present:

- Socialist economy where workers controlled the means of production

- Produced and distributed goods according to human necessity (planned economy)

- Usage of computer technology to assist with economic planning

- Complete abolition of bourgeois property in favor of socially-owned property

- Rapid advancements in technology; the creation of a technologically advanced society

- Socialist proletarian democracy

- Promotion of women’s rights in the public sphere

- Promotion of LGBTQ rights in the public sphere

- Promotion of racial equality and indigenous rights in the public sphere

- Less dependence on fossil fuel and more on renewable energy

- Literacy programs and strong promotion of academic success

- Lots of government spending on scientific research

- Directly appointing reputable economists, scientists, and political theorists as advisors

- Complete opposition to military intervention

- Paying workers according to labor time rather than extracting surplus value

- Use of non-circulating labor money to replace circulating currency and pricing goods according to labor inputs

- Promotion of healthy lifestyle, exercise, and nutritious diet

- Investment in military for self-defense purposes (in case of invasion)

- "From each according to their ability, to each according to their labor"