Manchurian Soviet Socialist Republic (6.0)

## General

### Official Name

Manchurian Soviet Socialist RepublicМаньчжурская Советская Социалистическая Республика

### Anthem

"На сопках Маньчжурии""On the Hills of Manchuria"

## Government

### Head of State

Kirill Meretskov (1947-1969)Afanasy Beloborodov (1969-1976)

## History

### Succeeded by

Manchurian Cossack Horde

The Manchurian Soviet Socialist Republic was a historical state which controlled much of the Manchurian region between its establishment in 1949 and its collapse in 1976. While its founder, Kiril Meretskov, intended Soviet Manchuria to be a part of an 'Eastern USSR'. the region was never formally annexed by Moscow, nor was central government of the 'Eastern USSR' ever established.

## History

Russians have been a notable minority in Manchuria since the late 19th century when the Trans-Siberian railway was constructed through the region. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Manchuria was dominated by Russian interests, although these interests were replaced by the Japanese after the 1905 Russo-Japanese War.

The Japanese domination of Manchuria would culminate in 1932 with the establishment of Manchukuo as a Japanese puppet state. While Japan would officially be at peace with the Soviet Union for most of World War II, a Soviet invasion of Manchuria was always a possibility. While the Japanese Kwangtung Army was always intended to be a crucial part of the defense of Manchukuo, and while there were many Han and Manchu citizens of Manchukuo willing to collaborate with the Japanese, the Russian exile community would also be a key part of the Japanese war effort. Many of these exiles were remnants of the White Army of the Russian Civil War, and had fled to Manchuria after the establishment of the Soviet Union. Genrikh Lyushkov, a defector from the NKVD, would become a key asset to Japanese intelligence in the region. Grigory Semyonov, a leader of the White Army during Russian Civil War would be put in charge of leading an army of Russia exiles to oppose a Soviet invasion. Konstantin Rodzaevsky, leader of the Russian Fascist Party, would organize a Blackshirt militia amongst the Russia exiles. While Rodzaevsky would eventually have a falling-out with the Japanese, the Russian exile community as a whole would see the Japanese as allies.

It was only in August 1945, with the global climate catastrophe well underway, that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan and invade Manchuria. With the German surrender in Europe, Japan was well aware it could no longer maintain its empire against both the might of the USSR and the USA, and the Kwangtung Army was withdrawn to the Home Islands. While some Russian exiles would escape South to China, and those most useful to Japan would evacuate with the Kwangtung Army, most would be left with no choice but to surrender to the advancing Red Army.

### Establishment of Soviet Manchuria

As the Red Army secured Manchuria and pushed farther South into Korea, the administration of occupied Manchuria would be left to Kiril Meretskov, the ranking Soviet Grand Marshall in overall command of the Red Army in Manchuria. With the ongoing climate emergency soon becoming more of a threat than any military enemies, Meretskov would soon enact Operation Red Fields. While it was publicized simply as an effort to settle refugees from the Soviet Far East on land confiscated from Japanese collaborators, Operation Red Fields had every intention to replace the Japanese ruling class of Machukuo with a Soviet one. While Moscow was still undecided on whether or not Manchuria would be annexed or turned over to the Chinese Communist Party, Meretskov was adamant that the Soviet Union *needed* Manchuria, at least for the time being, to house and feed refugees from the Soviet Far East until the Trans-Siberian railroad was no longer under threat of flooding. Under Meretskov's rule, 3 million Soviet citizens would be settled in Manchuria, nearly half of whom were Red Army soldiers.

From the beginning, Operation Red Fields would be controversial. Refugees would come to Manchuria not only from the North and East, but also from the South and West as the North China plain was overtaken by the rising waters. To ensure that enough land would be left to settle the Soviet refugees, Meretskov would close the border with China and his men would gun down hundreds of thousands of starving people trying to sneak accross the border to a land of relative plenty. While many of Meretskov's more ideological subordinates would refuse to condone such blatant imperialism, Meretskov was adamant that his plans were no less justified than the 'War Communism' of his youth. 'For Communism to survive, Communists must survive,' Meretskov wrote in one letter to a colleague. 'These flood waters threaten to kill nine-tenths of the world population. Manchuria is one of the few pieces of fertile temperate land in the East that is not in the flood's path. We cannot cling to lofty principles and abandon the hope we have been handed; if we do so, those principles will die with us. For the sake of international Communism, we must use every ounce of our strength to cling to the lifering that is Manchuria.'

As the flood waters rose and then stabilized, and as contact was eventually cut off between Harbin and Moscow, Meretskov would find himself acting more and more indepdendently. On May 17, 1949, Meretskov would declare the Manchurian Soviet Socialist Republic comprising all of the land once part of Manchukuo. The intention was always for the Manchurian SSR to become the centrepiece of a new 'Eastern USSR' cut off from Moscow, however, parts of the Soviet Far East had already begun to go their own way. The Manchurian SSR would remain under military control, although largely impotent workers' and soldiers' soviets would be set up. The only civilian body holding any real political power would be the Manchurian Communist Party, which would remain under the control of the Russian-speaking ruling class.

The Manchurian Communist Party would soon be condemned as 'revisionist' by the Communist Parties of China, Korea, and Japan. It barred membership to the Chinese-speaking majority, and required literacy in Russian as a precondition to membership. Officially, the MCP argued that Marxist-Leninist doctrine *could not* be translated into Chinese without being misinterpreted, although this was clearly just a ploy to maintain minority rule. It began a campaign to 'Soviet-ify' the local populace, teaching a newly-conceived method of writing Chinese in Cyrillic rather than in traditional characters, and teaching Russian as a second language in schools. Soon, the Russian-speaking ruling class would have as many Han and Manchu members as ethnically Russian members, and many of its leading figures would be the children of Red Army soldiers who had taken Han and Manchu wives.

### Resistance and Revolt

While the Japanese had retreated to the Home Islands, many who had sided with the Japanese would go underground and fight as guerillas. They would soon be joined by Chinese nationalists who desired the return of Manchuria to China and Russian fascists who would oppose Communism anywhere. The Manchurian Resistance would be much aided by Genrikh Lyushkov, whose contacts with the NKVD and Japanese intelligence allowed the Manchurian Resistance to evade the Red Army.

The most successful action by the Manchurian Resistance took place in May 1946 in the city of Harbin. Resistance members smuggled weapons from abandoned Japanese caches into the city, and a mob of Chinese Nationalists Blueshirts and Russian Fascist Blackshirts stormed the Red Army headquarters in the city, and succeeded at ousting the Soviet authorities. The 'Harbin Riots' consumed the city for 4 days as armed mobs patrolled the streets. Konstantin Rodzaevsky was freed from prison , and gave an inspiring speech to his followers. Advocating for 'Manchuria for the Manchurians', Rodzaevsky outlined his vision for an independent Manchuria separate from both China and the Soviet Union where Han and Russian alike could be at home. While Rodzaevsky would be killed as the Red Army rebook the city, his speech would set the stage for a new nationalism that would rise to prominence in future generations.

As the Manchurian SSR cemented its control of the region, the threat of the Resistance faded. While guerillas would continue to make pinrpick strikes against the Red Army, the Manchurian Resistance would never again attempt an action as ambitious as the Harbin Riots. The capture and execution of Genrikh Lyushkov in July 1958 is usually marked as the end of the Manchurian Resistance, although many individual guerillas would escapr to China proper or live in anonymity until resurfacing during the Manchirian War.

### The Harbin Mechanized Armoury

Manchuria, as the most heavily industrialized part of mainland Northeast Asia, was the natural site for Soviet technological development in the East. As part of his plan to turn Manchuria into the centre of an Eastern USSR, Meretskov would assemble a team of scientists and engineers to begin development of novel weapons of war to ensure the eventual Communist domination of all of Asia. The Harbin Mechanized Armoury would be founded to facilitate this development. The most well-known of these developments were the first mechs desinged and manufactured in Northeast Asia. While the mech arms race would soon see similar mechs be developed in Chines and Japanese labs, Manchuria would be the regional leader in mech technology until the 1970s.

### The Manchurian War

No government that has pretended to represent all of China has ever given up its claim on Manchuria. However, with the Chinese Civil War raging throughout the late 40s and 50s, neither the CCP nor the KMT had the resources to spare to deal with Soviet Manchuria. By the time the KMT emerged the victor, it was too consumed by the mess of trying to choose a successor to Chiang Kai-Shek to immediately launch an invasion of Manchuria. It was only after the Xi'an conference ended in failure that talk of an invasion of Manchuria would begin.

The leader of the campaign to reconquer Manchuria was Zhang Xueliang, who had called Manchuria home for much of his youth. He was one of the few figures respected by Nationalists and Communists alike, as he had been personally responsible for the KMT/CCP united front against Japan. By openly calling for the reconquest of Manchuria he became the champion for a cause that few in China disagreed with.

Thus, while much of China was embroiled in petty infighting, Zhang's army on the border of Manchuria grew. The One China Party would grow up behind him as a political organ dedicated to the reintegration Manchuria into China, and millions would voluntarily throw their support behind his cause. While Zhang's cause was a popular one, Zhang had difficulty securing the support of any official government. His rhetoric insisted that the conquest of Manchuria would only be the first step in the unification of China by force, and those who held power were afraid they would lose it at Zhang's hands.

It was upon the death of Kiril Meretskov in early 1969 that Zhang would decided to finally launch his invasion. The new leader of Soviet Manchuria, Afanasy Belborodov, had not yet settled into his new role, and Zhang hoped to catch him off guard. The initial phases of the Manchuria War would certainly go in Zhang's favour. The cities of New Shenyang and Changchun would welcome Zhang's armies with open arms. While Soviet Manchuria could wield technology decades ahead of the old World War II tanks used by Zhang, Zhang had the advantage of a near infinite supply of manpower.

The manpower crisis in the Manchurian SSR had been brewing for quite some time. While millions of a Red Army soldiers had been settled in Manchuria, that has been a generation ago. Those enlisted men who had served in World War II had either retired or been promoted to the officer ranks. While junior officers could serve as mech operators, and while the mechs could be serviced by civilian repairmen, there was little to no infantry left in the Red Army. The Chinese-speaking majority was barred from serving in the army, and the Russian-speaking ruling class had generally not settle down and had children until the early 50s. The next generation of Russo-Manchurians were not yet old enough to serve.

To provide his mechs with desperately-needed infantry support, Belbordov gave in to those pressuring him to rescind the ban on non-Russian-speakers in the military. While advancing to the officer ranks would require a test o literacy in Ruasian, the majority could now serve as enlisted men and general conscription would be introduced. Ideological screening was put into place to ensure these new conscripts would not immediately defect to Zhang-s camp.

It was largely due to these new conscripts that the Manchurian SSR would be able to bring Zhang's advance to a halt first outside Jilin and then again a short distance from Harbin itself. These setbacks; and a steadily worsening financial situation for Zhang would lead to a cease fire dividing Manchuria in two. Zhang would be permitted to rule Southern Manchuria for the time being while the Manchurian SSR maintained control of the North. While Zhang intended to continue the war once he was able to set up new sources of revenue in Southern Manchuria, he would die before he could see this through. A heart attack brought on by the stress of campaigning had already incapacitated Zhang, and he would die only a few months after signing the cease fire. Zhang's death would end the Manchurian War as the cease fire became permanent.

### Collapse of Soviet Manchuria

With Zhang's death, Southern Manchuria would descend into the petty infighting that had plagued the rest of KMT China for over a decade at this point. With the end to the external threat, the Manchurian SSR was left to focus on its own internal problems. The faction of the Manchurian Communist Party (MCP) that had pushed for allowing the Chinese-speaking majority to serve in the army was now its own political party, called the Manchurian People's Party (MPP). The MPP called for an end to the minority-rule policies promoted by the MCP, in order to create a united Manchurian identity capable of resisting the One China Party.

In addition to the political apparatus of the MPP, new militias sprang up, made up of newly-discharged veterans of the Manchurian War. The largest of these was the Manchurian People's Guard, which remained under the control of the MPP. However, other groups oriented themselves to the political right of the MPP; the most notable of these was the 'New Blueshirts', who drew inspiration both from Rodzaevsky's Fascist Ideology as well as from the guerilla tactics used by the Manchurian Resistance.

Belborodov would acknowledge the role the MPP had played in the Manchurian War by granting them legitimacy as Soviet Manchuria's second political party *provided that they did not criticize Communism*. Similarly, the Manchurian People's Guard would be allowed to retain their weapons and organization, while the New Blueshirts would be strictly outlawed. While Belborodov had a large faction within the MCP that supported him in these decisions, much of the Red Army leadership criticized the decision to allow a second political party. With the new conscripts having returned to civilian life, the Red Army was now made up almost entirely of Russian-speakers, and feared the end to their privileged position if the MPP had their way.

The following years were rife with civil conflict. In 1972, the MPP began campaigning for an elected civilian government, and began staging largely peaceful protests. At the same time, the New Blueshirts began carrying out bombings and kidnappings in an attempt to destabilize the Communist regime. In 1974, Red Army mechs would open fire on alleged Blueshshirts identified within a peaceful protest. 215 civilians would be killed in the resulting bloodbath, and the New Blueshirts would set off a number of car bombs in response, destroying some mechs and other vehicles.

In an attempt to restore order a situation already spiraling out of his control, Belborodov would call for legislative elections. Elections would be held in October 1974, with only candidates vetted by the MCP and MPP allowed to run. The newly-elected Manchurian Legislative Assembly, would be scheduled to meet for the first time in February 1975, and, for a time, peace would be restored.

However, a week before the Legislative Assembly was set to meet, the Red Army would attempt a coup against Belborodov. The coup would only be stopped with the help of the Manchurian People's Guard. Furious at their disloyalty, Belborodov would begin a series of purges of the Red Army. This not only stripped the Red Army of much of its leadership, but brought morale to an all-time low and led to acts of sabotage against mechs and other equipment.

By the time the Cossacks arrived in Manchuria in 1976, the Red Army would barely be fit to fight. Embarrassed by the defeat of state-of-the-art mechs by a what was seen as a rag-tag group of horsemen in the Battle of Fuyu, Belborodov would resign and ask the newly-elected legislature to appoint a new leader. The Legislative Assembly, unprepared for this task, would spend months deadlocked in debate while Soviet Manchuria would collapse around them. Red Army factions and MPP militias would find themselves fighting in the streets as local governments attempted to re-establish order. Manchuria would dissolve into hundreds of statelets clustered around those local governments able to keep control. Some of these statelets would be controlled by the Red Army, others by the MPP, and others by more diverse interests.

In the capital city of Harbin, a coalition of MPP militias, New Blueshirts, and the recently-arrived Cossacks, would succeed at pushing the Red Army out of the city. The remaining Communist members of the Legislative Assembly would flee the city, and the MPP would find itself in control of the capital. It would soon elect the young Wang Zhongyu as President, who would declare the Manchurian Soviet Socialist Republic defunct and would proclaim the Manchurian National Republic in its place. While the Manchurian National Republic would claim to be the legitimate government of all the former Manchurian SSR, it would be over a decade before the government in Harbin would obtain recognition from the breakaway local governments.