Union of German States

The official flag of the German Union

Formally the **Union of German States**, or more commonly known as **Germany** is a nation in North Western Europe, and is the leading socialist nation of the world. It is borders in the West by the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. To its south it borders Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic, and to the east it is bordered by Poland and to the north by Denmark.

Coming to power after a tumultuous decade full of war, economic and political instability, coupled with famine and a significant blockade of imports by the British for over 4 years, rising discontent left over from the Great War and punishments by Entente powers eventually pushed the German nation into civil war, leading to the establishment of the first socialist state.

For the last 15 years the German Union has been seen by many as the ultimate anti-status quo power in Europe, fueling not only their revival on the world stage but also socialist movements all over the globe, sending aid to French revolutionaries, food to the American Union and material to the Chinese Mountain Rebels. With the world order permanently shattered over the last 20 years, many predict it is the German Union that will rise to lead the European continent in the coming years.

## History

### Before the revolution

The German Empire’s loss in the Great War permanently affected the politics of the German government and the people. Their devastating surrender and decimation caused by the Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to handover various places like Alsace Lorraine, parts of eastern Germany including East Prussia and border territories to Luxembourg and Belgium as with the partition of the German overseas possessions. This left the German people bitter and angry with the Entente, but also with the Kaiser and his government due to the surrender.

This anti-democratic and anti-monarchist sentiment in Germany was the first crack in democracies in place for a radical leftist government instead. The syndicalist movement in Germany grew substantially as Germany was loosing the war and thousands joined in opposition in the last months of the war. Once the war was over though, France was victorious. France had remained the biggest hotbed for syndicalism in the entire world, but for the syndicalists in France it was horrifying due to the fact that syndicalism began to loose support in France thanks to the win. However, the Syndicalists in France saw an opportunity in a ruined Germany. Syndicalism was still the biggest Leftist ideology in the country, and as a result many French Leftists began operations into the Weimar Republic, sending any aid they could.

German syndicalists began to radicalize the German population with the hatred most of the German population had for the German Republic.. This began to be highly effective as the Weimar Republican government began to worry. Mass arrests occurred in 1918 but these arrests only reaffirmed pro-leftist sympathies. The breaking point was the 1919 Bavarian elections.

### Post-war developments

By the time the Republicans had surrendered and fled abroad, Germany was torn apart, destroyed and ravaged by almost 6 consecutive years of war. The German populace were exhausted and tired of nonstop violence, and the German government knew of the precarious situation they were in. Infrastructure was almost nonexistent, waste was piling up and even small worker strikes were increasing by the day.

On September 5th, just weeks after victory was declared, the 3rd Trade Unions Congress was declared in Berlin to discuss how the victorious German Union should move forward. This congress lasted for 2 weeks and would be crucial to the Union’s subsequent development on the world stage. During the congress, the first cracks in the Union's political foundation were shown through quarrels between the TUC and Karl Liebknecht over the status of the president within the constitution. Liebknecht, representing the communist bloc of the congress was ultimately outnumbered, and forced to accept the constitution as written by the TUC.

He, nevertheless would force the TUC into several compromises, successfully stopping the constitution from creating a purely syndicalist society. Over the 2 week period, the government apparatus, economic development and constitution were signed and ratified, molding the decentralized German Union into an explicitly revolutionary syndicalist state, with the economy in the full hands of trade unions, recallable representatives and the TUC, Council of Rights and Chamber of Labor became the main governing bodies of the German country. Despite all the hopes that emerged from the 3rd TUC Meeting, Germany was still rapidly declining on the world stage and the government knew they’d need to take a stand quickly or face their revolution melting away.

#### Societal transformations

Created in December by a network of skilled economists, the Two Year Plan was devised as a way to pull Germany out of suffering further violence and possible counter-revolutionary activity and to bring the poverty and hunger rate down for the people. A major factor for this 2 year plan was to create self sufficiency within the state, arguing that if Germany can bypass the free market in favor of being isolated while also not hurting its population, then syndicalism will have truly triumphed in the Union. The 2 year plan was geared at German agriculture, not industry, as agriculture was instead seen as vital towards the country’s health and well-being. Starting in January of 1921, the 2 year plan was swiftly put into motion, collectivizing farms, improving rural infrastructure and rebuilding rail, ship and supply lines across the country.

Collectivization for its part was widely successful because many farmers were landless due to the civil war, and instead the state allotted each farmer a set amount of arable land. Each rural community was determined by the amount of workers within a specific area, while “rural economic departments” were created according to each unionized workplace. In various ways, despite its ability to grant the majority of farmers needed lands, it wasn’t as successful as the German state hoped it would be, as many resisted the idea of collectivization. As a result, hundreds became homeless due to various farmers being forcibly stripped of private lands, who were nationalized and given to those without any.

The government originally created a monthly quota for the farmers to meet and struck the first trade deals around the world. Denmark, the Nordic states, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Czechia and Ireland became some of the first countries to trade with Germany, primarily the importation of cattle and seeds as there was a constant shortage of agricultural supplies and food. More importantly however, was the first trade agreements with the Peoples’ Union of America. The PUA proved to be a valuable trading asset and was a major reason for steadfast German reconstruction. The New York government provided needed materials and aid while the Germans exported much of their food supply that would grow out of the late 20s.

For the first 6 months of 1921 society grew ever more untenable but with the introduction of the Social Protection Act, any outright anti-governmental organizations and individuals were caught and harassed, with the vast majority of them voluntarily left Germany, leading to a further exodus of 50-100,000 individuals. But over the course of the rest of 1921 and 1922, German life slowly entered a period of calm, but society was still suffering. But there were things to be hopeful for however, as with the added boost of the German economy reaching out across the world and opening its borders, German farmers were able to supply the state with an adequate amount of food, but monthly quotas were eventually disbanded by the TUC over constant complaints by union representatives that expectations were too high. Food was still heavily rationed with the average German went from consuming 1600 calories immediately in the post-war period in 1920 to 1900 calories in 1922, with that number slowly increasing as time went on. Through heavy policing, bread riots and civil unrest was quickly put down, albeit with some extreme measures. In 1923 as the reports were finalized about the 2 year plan, on the outside it was praised as an overwhelming success, but privately officials knew that it faltered to expectations, but that it achieved what it set out to do, and prevented a total collapse of the new regime.

By 1923, almost 2 years since the end of the war, German urban towns had been partially rebuilt, but with little efficiency as most of the post-war effort was geared towards rural agrarian communities. In February, the Five Year Plan was made as a way to rebuild German industry, and finally stabilize the German economy.

### National reconstruction

   With the mild success of the two year plan, ambitious plans were put to action, meant to cement syndicalism within the people and government, especially in wake of a dwindling revolutionary atmosphere, one that, years prior seemed to intoxicate and engulf the entire country, and when the Two Year Plan ended it was replaced by the Five Year Plan.

With a steady and slowly increasing amount of imported and local supplies of fruits, vegetables and meats, food consumption was actively improving and civil unrest was at an all time low, the government began making plans to mold Germany, economically, culturally and politically into a great syndicalist utopia. Known as the Great Cultural Revolution, the GCR arguably continues to this day and truly turned Germany into a syndicalist country free of its capitalist past. Announced via radio by president Liebknecht at the helm of the TUC, many Germans were originally unaware at what exactly would happen or unfold or even what to expect.

In the years since its announcement, artwork pertaining to old “bourgeiousie” values were either hidden or mostly destroyed, public schooling was completely reworked in favor of a less rigid (like in the Peoples' Union) more fluid system designed around preparing young students for work. Within the curriculum, it became mandatory for all students to read and study revolutionary works pertaining to such individuals like Marx and Bakunin. As students got older, they are given the opportunity to choose where they’d like to work around the age of 14, entering different schools for different jobs. For women however, most if not all are forced under working as housewives.

Culturally, for the first time Germany rigidly kept church and state separate and prosecuted any church organizations that remained in the mid-20s. Islamic and Jewish places of worship were not targeted but kept under surveillance as Berlin was quite skeptical of any sort of religious institution being within the state. By the 30s, most Germans were privately practicing christians, while Athiesm grew in popularity. Many state-sponsored organizations were created as a way to rally support for the regime, because the population at the time was seemingly more apathetic towards syndicalism. Through cheap radios, newspapers, books, theater shows/plays, the idea of anti-capitalism was filtered all throughout Germany as a way to keep public spirits high.

Many German cities were ruined in the fighting, and so many city planners created schemes to mold cities into a bastion of industrial syndicalism. Cities such as Hamburg, Frankfurt and Hanover were redesigned in accordance to a greater emphasis on high density, low cost housing that, in major cities were automatically given to the people by the government and local syndicates. As cities were being rebuilt, “Green Syndicalism” emerged, where local governments encouraged citizens to build their own gardens, either indoor or outdoor in order to provide food for themselves, which turned out to be a huge success. First implemented in 1925, it quickly became common place for thousands of people to create many fruits and vegetables in their own homes, while in same said places, “garden cities” emerged, especially in East Germany were some heavy fighting took place. New cities and even towns/villages that grew post-war were mostly made up of the garden city variety as well. Public transportation became quite prominent throughout the country, making the development of cars less of a hassle than they were especially because the car industry was obsolete in Germany for many years, so the state preferred to use public transit instead. At the end of 1928, when the Five Year Plan ended, it was declared a success in German newspapers and media, but the rest of the world became quite suspicious of it. Nevertheless, in the 5 years the German economy recovered greatly, food rationing was greatly reduced, birthrates continued to go up as well as the standard of living.

### Growing Internationalism

For what remained, the Union began to push out of its somewhat isolationist state after the late 1920s and began directly pushing for a worldwide socialist movement, exporting its ideology to dozens of countries around the world. Germany due to its success is seen as a bastion of Orthodox Syndicalism and a workers paradise to left-wing movements, but it is more grey than that. Freedom of the press and freedom of religion is heavily restricted, and while secret police haven’t been as bad as they were in the early 20s, they still roam the streets of Berlin, Munich and Hamburg.

# Culture

### Cultural Debates

Along with the cultural awakening of the German Union has come various debates among the people for ideas and movements growing popular among the general public.

#### Feminism

Since the end of the German Revolution there had been a labor shortage, as many people simply couldn’t work in the dire conditions the Union was in, and as a result, temporarily the TUC heavily pressured many single women to take up jobs to plug the shortage, and by the mid-1920s the shortage was fully over, but the problems of men vs. women in the workplace only just began. Many women were unwilling to settle down and have children even with great societal pressure which only gave birth to the modern German Feminist movement.

#### Queer Movement

Like the German Feminist movement blossoming in the 1930s, the so-called Queer Movement began to form around the time of the Cultural Awakening. Historically, queer people have had a rich history in Germany, though they have been persecuted for centuries, and this time it is no different. With ideas in the TUC such as putting class solidarity before race, sex, ethnicity etc. many queer people found comfort in the new regime. Berlin especially was and still is the hub of the movement, with various developments like the construction of the controversial *Institut für Sexualwissenschaft,* which paved the way for the Institute of Sexology Riots in the early 20s.

Despite these societal transformations, Berlin still keeps a watchful eye on citizens suspected of being homosexual, mostly men as women are not as persecuted.

# Economy

The economy of the Union is one of the most studied and analyzed aspects of modern German society, closely following the principles of Revolutionary and Orthodox Syndicalism. In accordance to their ideas, trade unions function as the base of the German government and run the entire economy, which is run under the tenants of a planned economy. While at first under syndicalist rule the economy and situation for the working class wasn't improving, it wasn't until the mid-1920s when the situation became easier to handle. The Chamber of Labor is responsible for all economic activity, and can be divided into a regional governmental power, so they control all aspects of the economy, from local to national. Due to this, trade union representatives make up the CoL, which votes on wages, what unions can be admitted and government recognized etc. The Union is primarily a civilian based economy, though the threat of war is expected to undermine these efforts which would change the economy from a civilian one to a military one, but it is not certain yet.