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National Reconstruction Front (Daxia): Difference between revisions
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National Reconstruction Front (Daxia) (view source)
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The succession of Qua was a more ordered and smooth affair than his own climb to power, it was him that set down the exact process for his successors to follow. Beginning in 1971 he gave his cabinet ministers the operational freedom to start building networks and quietly canvassing internally; that this was all against the electoral laws of the time was immaterial. That the president already had a favorite was only rumored, all the prospects seemingly thought they had a chance to be the ones invested by the presidential finger. On March 1972 at a plenary meeting of the NRF, Bao Freng the president of the All-Daxian Workers Central Union announced to the plenum that all the sectors of the party had agreed that [[Min Bib Doda]], then Minister of Finance, would be the party's presidential candidate for the 1972 presidential election. Bao Freng's announcement of the candidate would be replicated verbatim in all presidential candidate announcements from then on, another ritual of the NRF wherein the so called sectors of the party had discussed and come to unanimous agreement; there was no such agreement only the president's word and the absolute obedience of the party to it. Doda was a dour economist who owed his career completely to Qua, a man of the system through and through who could be relied on to not rock the boat and carefully curate Chi Long Qua's legacy. | The succession of Qua was a more ordered and smooth affair than his own climb to power, it was him that set down the exact process for his successors to follow. Beginning in 1971 he gave his cabinet ministers the operational freedom to start building networks and quietly canvassing internally; that this was all against the electoral laws of the time was immaterial. That the president already had a favorite was only rumored, all the prospects seemingly thought they had a chance to be the ones invested by the presidential finger. On March 1972 at a plenary meeting of the NRF, Bao Freng the president of the All-Daxian Workers Central Union announced to the plenum that all the sectors of the party had agreed that [[Min Bib Doda]], then Minister of Finance, would be the party's presidential candidate for the 1972 presidential election. Bao Freng's announcement of the candidate would be replicated verbatim in all presidential candidate announcements from then on, another ritual of the NRF wherein the so called sectors of the party had discussed and come to unanimous agreement; there was no such agreement only the president's word and the absolute obedience of the party to it. Doda was a dour economist who owed his career completely to Qua, a man of the system through and through who could be relied on to not rock the boat and carefully curate Chi Long Qua's legacy. | ||
===Min Bib Doda era=== | ===Min Bib Doda era and civilianization of the system=== | ||
[[File:Doda.jpg|thumb|Grandfather Toad photographed during an NRF congress]] | [[File:Doda.jpg|thumb|Grandfather Toad photographed during an NRF congress]] | ||
[[Min Bib Doda]] was never a man of the people; variously described as a bespectacled bookworm, a cardboard cutout, a grandfather dazed by the sun and an unimaginative toadie. Over time he proved to be all these things but also demonstrated an almost machine like perseverance in achieving his goals, despite his obvious shortcomings as a candidate. The support of [[Chi Long Qua]] meant reaching the presidency was a foregone conclusion but the numbers and the margins of such a victory were almost as important, an important dip in the number of NRF voters would gravely undermine the party's monolithic and rock solid grip on power; such was the wisdom at the time. Doda began a vigorous ground campaign such as had not been seen since [[Qiu Heng]]'s original presidential campaign, and the derided bookkeeper proved oddly charismatic and charming, unafraid to press the flesh with peasants and factory workers and carrying his own luggage. People nicknamed him 'Grandfather Toad' due to his comically large black rimmed glasses and toothy crooked smile. In his ordinary plainness he became relatable to the common people, and also someone they could trust with running the country thanks to the constant trumpeting of his financial expertise by the propaganda machine. Grandfather Toad sailed to victory with a whooping 93% of the vote, only behind [[Chi Long Qua]]'s first term win by one percentual point. | [[Min Bib Doda]] was never a man of the people; variously described as a bespectacled bookworm, a cardboard cutout, a grandfather dazed by the sun and an unimaginative toadie. Over time he proved to be all these things but also demonstrated an almost machine like perseverance in achieving his goals, despite his obvious shortcomings as a candidate. The support of [[Chi Long Qua]] meant reaching the presidency was a foregone conclusion but the numbers and the margins of such a victory were almost as important, an important dip in the number of NRF voters would gravely undermine the party's monolithic and rock solid grip on power; such was the wisdom at the time. Doda began a vigorous ground campaign such as had not been seen since [[Qiu Heng]]'s original presidential campaign, and the derided bookkeeper proved oddly charismatic and charming, unafraid to press the flesh with peasants and factory workers and carrying his own luggage. People nicknamed him 'Grandfather Toad' due to his comically large black rimmed glasses and toothy crooked smile. In his ordinary plainness he became relatable to the common people, and also someone they could trust with running the country thanks to the constant trumpeting of his financial expertise by the propaganda machine. Grandfather Toad sailed to victory with a whooping 93% of the vote, only behind [[Chi Long Qua]]'s first term win by one percentual point. | ||
As the first truly civilian president from the NRF, Doda was dissatisfied with the state of affairs regarding the military's involvement in the economic realm. He began to empower the civilian run security agencies to the detriment of military intelligence and used a strategy of divide and conquer, pitting military commanders against each other. He also liberally reshuffled many high ranking officers from Qua's time into the retirement pool and began deconstructing the financial scaffolding the military owned conglomerates had created. As most officers were also party members by this time, the double pressure of military and party discipline kicked in and most in the army fell in line; those who did not were isolated and quietly shifted to irrelevant positions or were fired. Under Doda the business empire of the army was almost entirely liquidated and put in the hands of private investors, Doda was adamant the state should only have a stake in critical and highly strategic sectors of the economy such as energy production, which became a state monopoly. Doda wanted a much more narrow and focused approach to maximize the effectiveness of public funds in stumulating economic efficiency, leaving behind the waste of public monies on the production of shoes, butter, parasols and other consumer goods by the state was seen as the first step in reducing wastage. Doda's reign also saw the marginalization of the military men from political positions and their replacement with lawyers and technocrats. The rebellious general Pantu Gou bitterly complained about the perceived ingratitude of the system against generals like him thus: ''the present was bought with the blood of the army and its sons and now the future has been handed down to chiselers in suits and self interested frauds''. | As the first truly civilian president from the NRF, Doda was dissatisfied with the state of affairs regarding the military's involvement in the economic realm. He began to empower the civilian run security agencies to the detriment of military intelligence and used a strategy of divide and conquer, pitting military commanders against each other. He also liberally reshuffled many high ranking officers from Qua's time into the retirement pool and began deconstructing the financial scaffolding the military owned conglomerates had created. As most officers were also party members by this time, the double pressure of military and party discipline kicked in and most in the army fell in line; those who did not were isolated and quietly shifted to irrelevant positions or were fired. Under Doda the business empire of the army was almost entirely liquidated and put in the hands of private investors, Doda was adamant the state should only have a stake in critical and highly strategic sectors of the economy such as energy production, which became a state monopoly. Doda wanted a much more narrow and focused approach to maximize the effectiveness of public funds in stumulating economic efficiency, leaving behind the waste of public monies on the production of shoes, butter, parasols and other consumer goods by the state was seen as the first step in reducing wastage. | ||
Doda's reign also saw the marginalization of the military men from political positions and their replacement with lawyers and technocrats. The rebellious general Pantu Gou once bitterly complained about the perceived ingratitude of the system against generals like him thus: ''the present was bought with the blood of the army and its sons and now the future has been handed down to chiselers in suits and self interested frauds''. On August 1974 the commander of the sixth military zone comprising Peguo and Xing provinces mutinied. General Pantu Gou occupied the provincial capitals of [[Touxian]] and [[Xidian]], he communicated his demands by phone: an end to the marginalization of the army from decisionmaking, an end to the firing of officers critical of government policies, restoration of ranks and pensions of those fired. The government rejected any negotiation with 'mutinous vestiges of a privileged elite' and moved military elements to suppress him. Pantu Gou failed to convince other military leaders of importance to join the mutiny and his own troops began to desert in dismay. A mere four days after the start of the mutiny the general was arrested in [[Touxian]] and his forces sent back to their barracks. Pantu Gou's shortlived mutiny was the last and most public display of discontent from within the ranks of the army, after this event the generals seemed to resign themselves to a curtailed role as protectors of the system but not powerbrokers again. | |||
===Yang Qiu era and the Slow Death=== | ===Yang Qiu era and the Slow Death=== | ||
===Tao Zexian era and collapse=== | ===Tao Zexian era and collapse=== | ||