Istvan Bezlins

**Istvan Bezlins** is a retired politician from New Jazberk (now the Republic of Jazberk) and a major leader of the New Jazberk People's Party who served as the third Prime Minister of Jazberk from 1937 to 1945, succeeding the extremely popular NJPP Prime Minister Arbus Evin after his resignation in December 1937.

Although his early tenure as Prime Minister went fairly well, with much of the popularity of his predecessor Arbus Evin carrying over to Bezlins, he began to lose popularity shortly after the vast expansion of New Jazberk following the 1942 Volaysian Collapse as a series of strikes in Szendrodvarke, backed by his party, caused a stagnation of the economy, with Bezlins receiving a lot of the blame. Eventually this culminated in the 1945 elections, when the former Federalist governor of Jazberk Sophia Varga led the newly formed Jazberki Democratic Front to a landslide victory against the NJPP, causing Bezlins to resign.

## History

### Early Life (1894-1906)

Istvan Bezlins was born in 1894 to a powerful family of retired Polmarian officials in the city of Szendrodvarke, the capital of Jazberk. Istvan's family was on good terms with the major Jazberki Liamist leader Gideon Arany, and despite formerly working for the Polmarians, the Bezlins family began to support Jazberki Independence.

In 1907, Carlov West overthrew the Polmarian King Lucas Calano and established the Polmarian Triumvirate, declaring war on the Lemetiate of Airolia nearly instantly after taking power, as the Triumvirate accused the Airolians for murdering the Polmarian General Hubert Amstern. This move was immensely unpopular in Jazberk, and the Bezlins family openly protested against it.

### The Cataclysm (1907)

In 1906, when Istvan was 12 years old, the Cataclysm struck Helinska, leaving millions dead and causing the collapse of the Polmarian Triumvirate. Following this, Gideon Arany- a close friend of the Bezlins family and a major Jazberki Liamist figure- declared the First Lemetiate of Jazberk with himself as its Lemet.

Soon after, as the Volaysian Unification War began, the Pelarosi Triumvirate invaded the young Jazberk. Despite Jabeyracki intervention in favour of the young Lemetiate, Jazberk was annexed into Pelaros by 1911. Soon afterwards, when Pelaros fell to the Republic of Volaysia, Jazberk became a part of Volaysia.

### Szendrodvarke Riots (1929)

After Jazberk became a province of Republic of Volaysia, Bezlins began to work as a librarian in Szendrodvarke, and grew to enjoy Elven and Airolian literature. Bezlins was not a very active figure in politics, though he did help campaign for Federalist party candidates in 1928. When Frevin Banyel started the Liamist People's Party and began to campaign for an independent Szendrodvarke, Istvan supported the cause, and even joined the party alongside Gonvia Vandi, Arbus Evin and Tamas Laszlofi.

In 1929, the LPP led by Frevin Banyel began a series of anti-Volaysian protests that came to be known as the Szendrodvarke Riots. Although it wasn't known to the public, Banyel was backed heavily by the Jabeyracki Government- more specifically the Jabeyracki Council Police- which was under the control of the radical Longerian Sect at the time. The riots ended up succesful, and despite the Unitarian Governor of Jazberk Bela Barta and the President Lozka Cehrayi disapproving, Szendrodvarke gained independence as New Jazberk.

### Political Career (1929-1937)

In 1929, after seeing the growing Longerian influence on the LPP despite Frevin Banyel's resistance, much of the socialist wing of the party- led by Gonvia Vandi- left to form the New Jazberk People's Party. Shortly after, the NJPP won 5 seats in the New Jazberk Parliament- with all party founders, including Bezlins, being among those elected. However, this tally would fall down to four shortly after Gonvia Vandi was assassinated- likely by Longerian thugs- and Olros Vandenya won the by elections to Vandi's Roviragust District. Soon after, with extremist Liamists having a majority in the Parliament, New Jazberk was declared a Lemetiate, with the reluctant Frevin Banyel as its first Lemet.

This move proved to be Banyel's downfall, as it earned the scorn of the newly formed Anti-Longerian Jabeyracki People's Party led by former Jabeyracki Council Members Lassov and Yaeliv. Bezlins and the new NJPP leader Arbus Evin gained the support of the JPP, and to assist their new allies, the JPP kidnapped and killed Banyel. Following this, the elections resulted in a victory for the NJPP, and despite the JCP officer Cendiv preventing Arbus Evin from becoming Prime Minister for some time, the NJPP formed the government eventually, with Arbus Evin as Prime Minister and Istvan Bezlins as Minister of Home Affairs.

As Home Affairs Minister, Bezlins cracked down on many Extremist Liamist groups and Longerian sympathisers, while giving a fairly free reign to trade unions and overlooking several instances of workers intimidating employers for better wages. However, many criticized Bezlins tolerance of strikes- which often involved some violence- as they ended up causing low economic growth.

Still, Istvan remained fairly popular with the general populace, as well as with the NJPP, including sitting Prime Minister Arbus Evin. Many considered Istvan the likely successor to Arbus, as the only other major leader in the NJPP- Tamas Laszlofi- was considered too young for the post by most party members, while the Liamist People's Party had lost nearly all its popularity after the radical Longerian Hend Viskov was chosen as its leader over the fairly popular moderate Jazberki Liamist Olros Vandenya.

In 1935, Istvan Bezlins gained significant popularity when he began to allow free immigration from residents of the parts of Jazberk that remained under Volaysian control. Many saw this as Bezlins endorsing the idea of a free Jazberk, instead of merely the city state of Szendrodvarke. Politicians like sitting Prime Minister Arbus Evin began to officially endorse Bezlins as the next NJPP Prime Minister candidate, and Istvan's popularity skyrocketed.

### Third Prime Minister of New Jazberk (1937-1945)

In December 1937, Arbus Evin stepped down as Prime Minister citing the need for newer leaders as his reason, having had an incredibly popular and succesful reign, and surpassing even Frevin Banyel in popularity. Unsurprisingly, Istvan Bezlins was easily chosen as Evin's successor bu the NJPP, and due to his personal popularity as well as positive associations with his predecessor, the NJPP continued to maintain a comfortable majority in the New Jazberk Parliament.

As Prime Minister, Bezlins was extremely friendly with the unions of Szendrodvarke, and was even good friends with union leaders like Boros Dominik and Zsofiya Novak, who headed the steel and textile workers respectively. This association did make him extremely popular among factory workers, and also allowed unions to lobby for better working conditions. This led to Bezlins expanding on Arbus Evin's Work Reform Laws, imposing a four day work week, a high minimum wage and large subsidies for essential goods like food, clothing and shelter.