Red Dawn (ATTN: KAD, SER, BPR, POL)

[Ostmark]

PALAST DER VOLKSREPUBLIK.
WIEN, OSTMARK.

When the functionaries of the Ministry of Foreign affairs ultimated the preparation for the upcoming historic meeting, Horst Grasser could feel the tension creeping up his spine. He ordered his aides to leave no detail unchecked and create a spectacular welcome event, as is typical for the propaganda department of the National-Syndicalist People's Party.

The road from the airport where the delegations from Kadikistan, Serenierre, Polesia, and the BPR would come from, were decorated with hundreds of red flags. Such flags had no symbols, and not one national flag could seen anywhere. Even the flags of the People's Republic of Ostmark and the NSVP, the ones that are usually placed on light poles, were replaced with all-red banners.

On both sides of the large road connecting Wien International Airport to Volksrepublikplatz in the center of the ostmarkian capital, huge crowds waving rigorously red flags had gathered to welcome and cheer the foreign delegations. Surprisingly, People's Chancellor Horst Grasser did not meet his guests at the airport terminal. Instead, he wanted them to reach the Palace of the People's Republic to see the crowd gathered there. Almost 50.000 people were packed infront of the seat of the People's Assembly and the Central Committee of the National-Syndicalist People's Party.

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Upon the arrival of all the delegations, a huge red banner was deployed from the roof of the building. Written in white capital letters, the banner said "Workers of the world, unite!". More banners were deployed unveiling the same motto but in different languages, to reaffirm the common revolutionary grounds of socialist nations across Gallia and Germania. As the delegation walked on the red carpet across the square, the crowd spountaneously started to sing

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.

It was in that moment that Horst Grasser took the chance and walked down the stairs to finally meet his guests, in what western medias would then describe as yet another Hearts and Minds operation birthed by the propaganda experts of the National-Syndicalist People's Party.

 

[Kadikistani Union]

Representing the Kadikistani Union was the newly elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Workers' Party, Ivan Mladzic. While the latter was a well-known face in the All-Union due to him being part of the late Sergej Moravscik's inner circle and more visibly in his previous function as Chairperson of the All-Union People's Assembly, the tall, strongly build 57-year-old man was largely unknown internationally with the exception of the devout Marxist-Leninovists and Kadikophiles. Today was not only a historic day for European socialism, but also for Mladzic as this was his first major opportunity to make himself known to the world which in turn would offer him prestige back home. In doing so he was flanked by People's Commissar for External Affairs Annaguly Oghankanev on his left and Chairperson of the General Secretariat of the Political Consultative Bureau of the Treaty for Mutual Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance, Stojimir Ratkovec on his right. The latter treaty was more commonly and notoriously known as the '

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', which in recent history was experiencing increasingly hostile sentiment from what Kadikistani State Media most often described as 'the West'.

While supported by an entourage of about a dozen various functionaries two of the three leaders of the All-Union delegation were only recently assigned to their position during the

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. The exception being Ratkovec whom had been appointed two years earlier, following in the footsteps of the Calidian Rurikgrad Pact Chairperson Artur Käbinn. Mladzic and Oghankanev would definitely try to profiteer personally from this back home as Kadikistani and more importantly Party culture granted trust and obedience for strong and decisive leaders. Despite their ambitions the task ahead was unprecedented and thus unpredictable. For the first time in history all leading Gallo-Germanian socialist branches would be united under one roof and with the purpose of solidarity and protecting the shared interests, often of the geopolitical kind. The Kadikistani customs did not allow signs of weakness to be displayed, but beyond the veil of emotionlessness there was a certain nervosity alongside the determination.

As the Kadikistani delegation was the first to walk up the stairs Ivan Mladzic greeted Horst Grasser warmly as an old friend despite only shortly meeting him one time during the formalities surrounding the

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between the All-Union and the host nation. Oghankanev and several staff members were impressed by the Ostamarkian mobilization force and the organisation of it all, while Mladzic had that typical Kadik arrogance that instantly figures "we could have done better". After the formalities on the stairs, in front of the cameras the Kadikistani delegation headed by Mladzic climbed further up the stairs and prepared themselves for a historic meeting inside.

 

[Kazansk]

Representing the Burgundian People's Republic Chairman Bertrand Murat, flanked by his staunch allies Foreign Minister Aerlene Bouchard and Police Minister Edouard DeSalle and entourage of officials and security personnel. This would be Murat's first time out of the country since the cancelling of the election and mass arrests of the opposition, now with his leadership secure he could begin looking outwards and have Bourgogne take its place on the world stage once more.

This meeting would mark a important turning point for Bourgogne and indeed all of Gallia-Germania. So far while the BPR had been quick to align itself with Kadikistan and other left-wing nations it had not yet made any definitive moves towards joining any political organisation, but now with the twin threats of the ODS and DDI looming Bourgogne could not stand alone.

Murat reverently shook Herr Grasser's hand and embraced him, the Ostmarkien leader was a role-model of his, what he had managed to create in Ostmark was miraculous and Murat could only hope that he would be as successful.

 

[Polesia]

Premier Yaakov Zilberfarb wasn't alone in his visit to Wien. The once dominant figurehead of the Polesian People's Republic, installed by his Kadikistani puppet masters for his ideological zealotry and unending loyalty to Ivar, had been increasingly sidelined by the pompously titled National Defence and World Peace Minister Leon Lissitsky, who sat next to him in a rather tight fitting Folxmashin sedan. Normally the Polesian elite would drive in Kadikistani made cars as a sign of their status at home and display of fealty to Ivar abroad. Yet with the whole socialist world assembling in Ostmark, they couldn't miss an opportunity to show off Polesia's most famous export. This not so subtle advert had of course been signed off by the Kadikistani government beforehand.

Leon Lissitsky, who was almost twice the size of Zilberfarb, had previously just been national defence minister - a superficially unimportant position in a country in that was constitutionally pacifist and technically demilitarised. However he soon assumed responsibility for foreign policy too, pushed on by the shadowy Kadikistani attachés who seemed ever-present in Amstov. It quickly became clear to Zilberfarb he was now head of government in name only, possibly being prepared as a potential replacement for the ailing President Meier Lauterpacht, who was rumoured to be on death's door and confined to his palace on the outskirts of the capital.

While Zilberfarb had extensive links to the Kadikistani Communist Worker's Party he could at times call on, Lissitsky had them where it really mattered: the Kadikistani military. With tensions ratcheting up in Gallo-Germania, driven by the creation of the Organisation of Democratic States, Ivar had decided it needed someone more battle hardened at the top, even if Polesia was entirely dependent on its neighbour for security.

Even if Zilberfarb resented being shunted aside by Lissitsky, the two ultimately shared the same goals: an enlarged Polesian People's Peace Force, which currently was little more than a glorified gendarmerie and an enhanced Kadikistani presence in Polesia to ward off any invasion from Elben, Gunnland or even the ever unpredictable Crotobaltislavonia. Financial assistance, either as grant funding or generously termed loans, to help spur development, was also high on the agenda.

As the car pulled up to the Palace of the People's Republic, Zilberfarb took a final gulp of his bottled water and tried to prepare himself for several days of cigarette smoke, hard liquor and theatrical negotiations.

 

[Ostmark]

PALAST DER VOLKSREPUBLIK,
MEETING HALL.

After the formal pleasantries, handshakes and pats on the back, all the delegations took seats around a table in one of the halls of the Palace of the People's Republic. The building appeared to be somewhat spoil and minimalistic, a peculiar aspect of Ostmark's government buildings. Even the meeting hall itself was adorned with a couple plants and flower pots. The chairs themselves did not seem to be of very high quality, and differed in model and brand. Ostmark's high expenditure for welfare and social policies was not a mistery after all, and it looked clear that such expenditures left almost no resources for fancy furniture and embellishment.

Contrary to popular belief, Horst Grasser enforced a strict austerity policy when it comes to unessential services and expenditure, with the only difference such budget cuts hit government officials and offices to redirect even more resources for the ambitious housing projects that have been recently completed in the outskirts of Wien. Regardless, the meeting hall seemed to be fit to serve its purpose, and once the guests took a seat around the table, Grasser stood up. He briefly fixed his jacket and cleared his throat. He had no papers or notes to read, suggesting he might have been preparing his speech for a very long time.

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"Dear Comrades,
Friends,

I should like in the first place to thank you for your presence here to day, which has given me this opportunity of briefly setting forth the ideas and anxieties aroused in me by the grave problems with which we are at present confronted. It has been a great satisfaction to me to note that the ideas of which we in this room are the champions have recently been making considerable progress towards practical fulfilment. Despite the innumerable difficulties encountered, socialism, in all its forms, has thrived in Gallia and Germania, and all the states represented here have, I think, now accepted the principle that some form of socialist unity must be achieved. Opinions differ only on the question of how this is to be done.

I believe I am correct in thinking that what you wish me to do is not to make a statement in general terms of my own opinion – which in any case is fairly well-known – but to give exact expression to my views regarding the concrete problem resulting from the urgent need for a common development and cooperation policy, which also include defense policies. The need for security in Ostmark has given rise to the Belgarsk Pact, the defense treaty between the Kadikistani Union and the country i proudly represent here. It has also given rise, prior to the Belgarsk Pact, to the Rurikgrad Pact – an organisation which has restored the balance of power in Germania. These are the first lines of defence against the danger threatening us from without: they are based on the merging of national effort with collective effort.

But the essential condition of effective resistance against aggression from without is that the international socialist community shall defend itself within, against a fateful heritage of distrust, ideological differences, which have has been handed down to us by our common history, so glorious in other respects. It is, therefore, against these factors of potential ideological hostilities and mutual suspicion, that we have to fight with all our strength, to bring together the ideals of all the nations represented here, that they may gleam in the light of a common revolutionary flame.

History, with its similarities and coincidences, its links which when broken are instantly forged anew, shows us that the uniting of our forces is likely to dispel the rancour in our hearts, and can give us a secured peace within Gallia and Germania, even before a wider international socialist alliance is concluded as a guarantee of that peace. The pooling of our social, cultural, and administrative experience doubles the strength of our national potentialities, and preserves them from all danger of decline, by giving them fresh impetus towards the creation of a stronger socialist internationale.

What is the choice before us in this present-day world? We all agree that our homes, our institutions, our revolutionary exploits must be defended in the hour of danger, but now is the time for this aim to be made clear, to be defined and underwritten, even if it cannot be reached at a single stride, nor attained all at once in its manifold aspects. Only by offering now that constructive and enlightened vision can we attract the great mass of the people and infuse them with the ardent idealism that will be required; and, above all, it is thus alone that we can capture the imagination of the youth of Gallia and Germania. It will no doubt be necessary to perfect instruments and technical expedients, to work out solutions of an administrative character; and our gratitude is due to those who undertake this task. These provide the framework; they will be what the skeleton is to the human body.

If we do no more than set up trade and cooperation treaties, without any higher political will, drawing life from a central organisation, in which the wills of the various socialist nations and political movements can come together, to gain fresh decision and warmth in a higher alliance, there will be a danger that this socialist unity may prove, in comparison with the dynamic force of the individual nations, to lack warmth and spiritual vitality; it might even seem, at time, to be mere superfluous and burdensome trappings, comparable to what over-burdened the late Tiburan Empire at certain periods of its decline.

That is why, despite our clear awareness of the need to build this construction by gradual stages, we consider that while we are building it our action must always be such that the goal remains clear, definite, and generally agreed. That is all the more necessary when we come to pooling that essential and traditional instrument of national sovereignty, the people's army.

Our revolutionary armed forces are among our highest moral institutions; they are the school of the noblest military and civic virtues. Their banners are the reminder of the sacrifices of the working classes to free themselves from the yoke of capitalist exploitation, and the pledge of future sacrifices to defend what we have so hardly achieved. If we are to require the armed forces of the different countries to fight shoulder to shoulder to defend our socialist ideal, that ideal must be visible, solid, and alive; even if its construction is not entire and perfect, the principal walls, at least, must be raised to view without more delay, and a common political will must be always on guard, in order to bring together our efforts, that they may gleam in the light of a common socialist flame.

The course which would be most logical, most practical, and most consonant with historical precedent would certainly be that of a military alliance, and we, for our part, have suggested to widen the spectrum of the Rurikgrad Pact. If we will stand united, shoulder to shoulder, we will secure our children, and our children's children, a future of progress and prosperity under the eternal red banners of socialism. The time for action is now, and it is for this reason that i want to publicly announce that in the upcoming days the People's Republic of Ostmark will formally apply to become a fully fledged member of the Rurikgrad Pact.

Dear Comrades,

It is true that each of us has, in his own country, problems by which he is on every side beset; it is true, too, that some of us might prefer to carry on this work in other and easier spheres; but every one of us feels that this is an opportunity which will never return. It must be seized and given its logical place in history. That is why I say that it is now time for us all to resolve to complete it. It is essential that we should not fail in our task. We must enlist in our respective countries the co-operation of all socialist forces, and awaken in the hearts of our people, renewed faith in the unity of the working class."

 

[Kadikistani Union]

The Kadikistani delegation listened carefully to the opening speech by the rhetorical talent Horst Grasser. Perhaps the most revered foreign head of state by the All-Union leadership, Grasser was a man that was always carefully listened to. Like always he managed to deliver his ideas in a manner that was build on solid theoretical and practical foundations. Despite the cultural arrogance of the Kadiks even Ivan Mladzic doubted that he could have delivered the speech any better himself. That would be put to the test almost immediately as he had several prepared responses put together with his staff, sanctioned by the Central Committee back home. Almost every scenario had been contemplated with the one currently seeming to unfold being one of the best possible ones. The willingness of the Burgundian People's Republic and the People's Republic of Ostmark to join the Rurikgrad Pact would offer both strategic opportunities and vulnerabilities. Not in the least it would also involve some ideological questions, these two nations upholding their own interpretations of socialism which meant a break with the Marxist-Leninovist sectarianism that was upheld thus far. There was one precedent when the Revolutionary Guards of Serenierre gained a 'Special Membership' status back in the late 1950s, but the comparison with fully-fledged nations and the fact that it didn't have the most positive outcome was deemed problematic to say the least. Extinguishing his cigarette in the ashtray and interlocking his hands Mladzic picked up where Grasser had ended.

"Esteemed Comrades, we too have heard the call of history. We live in a world where the self-proclaimed 'liberal-democracies' seem hell-bent on repeating the mistakes of the past. Mistakes that caused war and countless crisis situations. Like Comrade Grasser has already stated there is a need for us as true defenders of the international working class to form a united front of the righteous in this increasingly belligerent world. In order to do so we must look beyond the issues and concerns that divide us and instead look at those that unite us. Meanwhile that same history also prevents us from forgetting some extremely tragic events. Such a thing would greatly dishonour those fallen in the struggle.", Ivan Mladzic gazed at the Serenierrese delegation for a few seconds as his last two sentences were an obvious reference to the Saulot massacre. The latter taking place during the Borovanger Civil War when the orthodox Marxist-Leninovist leading cadres of the Red League were liquidated almost over night by Serazinists keen on hijacking the movement.

"Together with my good friend Stojimir from the Political Consultative Bureau of the Rurikgrad Pact and the delegations of the other member states we have agreed that in order to evolve and adapt to the changing geopolitical realities we must broaden the socialist spectrum. Meaning that the charter of the Rurikgrad Pact will be modified by amending Article one, 'The Treaty for Mutual Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance is an international Marxist-Leninovist organisation' into 'The Treaty for Mutual Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance is an international socialist organisation with its roots in Marxist-Leninovism'. No doubt there are several more charter articles that will require some amendments, but I presume that the point is clear." Mladzic looked patiently at the other delegates as be grabbed another cigarette.

 

[Kazansk]

" I concur with Monsieur Mladzic's statement regarding the amendment to the pact's charter now more then ever we, freedom loving peoples must band together against the predatory menaces of Post-Delegationism and Reactionism without quibbling over minor ideological disagreements or past injuries. That being said caution must be exercised when admitting member states lest the pact's revolutionary potential be diluted by infiltration of opportunist elements or god forbid even social democrats".

Bertrand Murat was aware that he and the BPR did not have the strongest socialist creditals among those assembled in the room. The Republic's leadership were all broadly socialists or rather were all broadly socialist with the recent purges a more focused view of Burgundian Socialism had emerged. And while Murat was happy to align himself with Serenierre and Kadikistan he was adamant Bourgogne remain its own master.

 

[Polesia]

Premier Yaakov Zilberfarb had spent the whole time sitting nervously. Of all the men in the room he had the least power.

The Kadikistani delegation had the weight of the Kadikistani military, whose power had been demonstrated during the Seven Day War, behind them as well as the pedigree of representing the world's first communist state.

The Ostmarker Chancellor, who commanded respect as the host of this summit, had risen to the top using his own guile, successfully exploiting a domestic economic crisis to slowly build a one-party state. At the other end of the table were the Burgundians and Sereniens, who were too far removed geographically and ideologically to be fully controlled by Ivar and had introduced socialism to their homelands through their own blood and sweat.

Polesia's revolution on the other hand had been top down, delivered and enforced by Kadikistani bullets and bayonets.

Even Leon Lissitsky, supposedly Zilberfarb's subordinate, wielded more influence in this room thanks to his extensive ties to Kadikistan's military intelligence and years of service in theatres as diverse as Crotobaltislavonia and Jurzan.

Nonetheless, it was important Zilberfarb contributed. He was after all the head of state and if the Rurikgrad Pact was to succeed it needed to be an alliance of equals (sort of).

"I agree with my esteemed comrades on the need to avoid ideological sectarianism and prioritise socialist solidarity and the defence of the revolution above else," Zilberfarb began, clearing his throat of the cigarette smoke that filled the air, "the gains of the Trivodnian and Burgundian wars of liberation risk being undone as the international forces of reaction and capital begin to assemble and mobilise against us.

"I therefore welcome the People's Republic of Ostmark's desire to join the Rurikgrad Pact and support it wholeheartedly. The Polesian People's Republic votes aye.

Before continuing, Zilberfarb looked to National Defence and World Peace minister Lissitsky, who nodded, and Zilberfarb carried on.

"I - we - also share Comrade Chancellor Grasser's assessment that greater coordination and cooperation in the military sphere is necessary. Polesia does not want the burden to be shared unevenly however and wants to ensure we contribute our fair share to the defence of international socialism. From the increasingly unstable Crotobaltislavonia to the emerging Northern Tiburan Empire we face threats abroad and also at home in the form of Zionist terrorism. While we understand our neighbours especially may have misgivings and reservations about the expansion of the Polesian Peace Force given the criminal actions of the Kahnemann regime, whose belligerence ultimately led to the Seven Day War, I can assure you the Polesian people value peace above all else while also recognising the need for a strong self and mutual defence. To that end I ask all assembled that we work together to enhance Polesia's armed capabilities."

As Zilberfarb finished, his eyes fixed firmly on the Kadikistani delegates. It was after all the 2018 Amstov Treaty with Ivar that committed Polesia to constitutional pacifism, prohibiting the creation of an armed forces and limiting the Polesian Peace Force - a gendarmerie-cum-border force - to 100,000 men with no naval or aerial capabilities.

The request for more investment into Polesia's military capabilities wouldn't be a surprise to the Kadikistanis - backroom discussions had been going on for weeks now - but as the dirty looks to the Serenien delegation revealed, the Kadikistanis had long memories and held grudges. Even if Polesia was now a socialist state and formal member of the Rurikgrad Pact, could they ever really be trusted?

 

[Serenierre]

Premier Martinique and Commissar Lavosnier continued to listen in silence. Carefully observing all the other Marxist nations' representatives. They would wait for their turn before engaging more directly. Till then, they listened and made notes.