Revolutionary Workers' Union

The Revolutionary Workers' Union is a syndicalist labor union and network of worker-owned cooperatives with hundreds of billions of members across the Duchy. Because of its far-left economic ideology and radical democratic principles, its membership in the direct holdings of the Great Houses is mostly clandestine. But in vassal republics (notably Aventius), it operates as a fully legal trade union, workers' association, and political party.

As widely spread as the RWU is, its membership is overwhelmingly concentrated in the Antoviya System, where the Union operates as a de facto nation-state with its own administration and a powerful military. It is associated with the Antoviyan Revolution Wars, during which the xeno-vassal Kingdom of Antoviya and the human Barony of Skopjus were overthrown by syndicalist rebels and fully merged into the RWU.

The RWU's legal status in the Duchy is ambiguous. It is not recognized by Ducal law, but the Regent has made no attempt to overtly repress it in the Antoviya System (though police repression in Great House holdings continues). Likewise, the RWU central institutions have released no statements affirming or denying fealty to the Ducal Throne. The Union has not yet sent any taxes to the Duchy, but its members generally pay appropriate fees and duties on trade, as well as individual taxes for those recognized under the law of vassal republics.

Demographics
Because of the Union's decentralized and semi-clandestine nature, the exact makeup of RWU membership is difficult to determine. Furthermore, to the extent that this membership has been estimated, overall figures can be misleading because of the organization's starkly different situation in different locations. The best and most informative measures regard the RWU's makeup as a "state" in the Antoviya System.

Governance
The RWU is an ambiguous structure that constitutes both a sovereign state and a labor union. in its many levels of governance, the RWU combines elements of direct democracy and representative democracy, and its primary institutions are as follows:


 * The Takudar System – A synthesis of traditional Ayar village democracy that rallied prior rebellions and pre-reform RWU industrial workers' councils, Takudars are both the primary basis of RWU government and the extension of its base economic actors, the cooperatives. They are based on the principles of direct democracy and authority from the bottom up. Outside of RWU sovereign territory, Takudars may simply refer to themselves as “councils,” but the Ayar terminology is popular even far outside of former Antoviyan territory. A member of any Takudar is referred to either as a takudari or a workers' delegate. A noteworthy characteristic of the office is that it is revokable by the lower levels, making Takudaris very committed to representing their constituents. They operate on five consecutive levels, from smaller and more organic to larger and more removed: (1) Workplace, (2) Local, (3) Provincial/Municipal, (4) Regional, (5) Planetary.


 * Special classes of Takudars – Two types of Takudar in the RWU are distinct from the above system.  First, the Union Communist Party's famous Commune Takudars are huge Municipal, Provincial, or even Regional Takudars each of which governs an amalgation of communities that have consolidated into a single, massive, highly-diversified cooperative (known as Communes). Lower-level Takudars do not exist in this system. Second, Municipal/Provincial Takudars for Revolutionary Workers in the sovereign territory of other nations have special status. They are the highest Takudars outside of sovereign RWU territory. They respond directly to the Union Council and Revolutionary Workers' Congress, and each Takudar's territory is almost always referred to by the simple pre-reform name of “The (Region/City Name) Local” to designate its special status.


 * The Revolutionary Workers' Congress – Every Regional, Planetary, and International “Local” Takudar sends delegate with a single vote to the RWC. Here broad policy goals and timetables are set, the Union Constitution is modified, treaties are ratified, and revenue mechanisms are determined. Because every Municipal/Provincial-level “Local” has given voice equal to a region or planet, delegates from outside of RWU sovereign territory have disproportionate power in the Congress relative to the number of workers they represent. Nonetheless, in total, the clear majority of seats are held by representatives hailing from former Antoviyan lands.


 * The Union Council – This is arguably the most powerful single institution of the RWU, and it has broad authority to set and execute policy according to frameworks and goals set by the Revolutionary Workers' Congress. Notably, it has spending authority over the large RWU non-discretionary central budget and is the official commanding body of the Revolutionary Guard. It also has the authority to submit legislation to Congress to request large-scale structural/policy changes. The Union Council is comprised of five members, nominated by the Revolutionary Workers' Congress and confirmed or denied in an RWU-wide general election every five years. Every member is revocable by a 2/3 majority in the Revolutionary Workers' Congress or a simple majority in an RWU-wide referendum.

Currently, the primary dividing lines in the Union are partisan, as follows:
 * Anarcho-Syndicalist Front (ASF) – This is a party with a very long history, in some ways representing of the “Old Guard” of the pre-reform RWU. Only the most extreme elements of the party are truly “anarchist” in the support of categorically opposing the state. Rather, their main rallying point is the empowerment and autonomy of the lower Takudars and cooperatives on the one hand, and limiting central institutions to well-defined narrow roles on the other. For example, the Anarcho-Syndicalists are generally wary of the Revolutionary Guard and support the distribution of military professionals, technicians, and heavy weapons (such as mechs) to the People's Militias. They are also strong proponents of direct democracy, exerting a constant pressure to reform some higher-level institutions to better incorporate it. Perhaps quite appropriately, the ASF is the smallest of the “Big Four” RWU parties, but it is extremely popular among the RWU's international branches, radicalized former pirates, and the population of Fral.
 * Social Reformist Federation (SRF) – The RWU's newest major political faction, the SRF is characterized by two major political goals. First, they seek to expose persistent reactionary culture at home and combat it through education, state support for mutual aid and activist organizations of traditionally marginalized groups (non-Ayar, women, etc), and educational campaigns. Secondly, they emphasize the power of diplomacy and “soft power” in international relations, and they advocate a strong respect for cultural differences that might make Syndicalism look different for every society and even be inappropriate in some. The party is the second-smallest of the “Big Four.” The SRF is popular among non-Ayar, women, and academics/intellectuals, but it lacks support from the international branches.
 * Union Communist Party (UCP) – The second-largest RWU party and arguably the best-organized and best-drilled, the Union Communist Party is the Union's strongest voice for centralization. It has made a name for itself with the two famous institutions: The Union Planning Commission, which instituted the highly-successful First Five Year Plan, and the Communes (discussed earlier). More so than other parties the UCP tends to evoke strong feelings: People are often either greatly inspired or deeply troubled by its hard-line politics. It is especially popular among the Revolutionary Guard and certain segments on the Navy, heavy industry workers, and many academics/intellectuals. Like the SRF, it generally lacks support from the international branches.
 * Union Leneruist Party (ULP) – Since the beginning of the Revolution Wars, this party has been the majority party of the RWU. It is associated with the political philosophy of Jawalir Leneru and the pre-Revolution RWU reforms. It is a relatively centrist party that seeks to maintain a pragmatic balance, while leaning in favor of central institutions in the name of the democratic mandate. Historically, it has been associated with several implicit “pacts:” raising union dues during wartime and lowering them afterwards, expanding central institutions but respecting the autonomy of Takudars, and making deals with foreign powers with the understanding that certain lines cannot be crossed. It is also associated with the famous book (jointly-authored by Jawalir Leneru and Quintus Kazamar) Cultural Self-Determination and Syncretism, a call for non-Ayar to reclaim their ancestral cultures at the same time as they came together in solidarity along with Ayar in the name of Syndicalism. The ULP is popular among all segments of RWU society, generally well-respected even by its enemies, and the only party besides the ASF with significant sway in the international branches. However, with its internal diversity on the rise and its primary spokesperson, Leneru, reaching the end of his years, it could very well fracture or lose prominence in the forseeable future.
 * Minor parties: Various small parties are known in the RWU political scene, but none come anywhere close to the influence of the Big Four. One well-known minority party is Ayar Syndicalists Unite, an Ayar-nationalist party with a growing following among some more traditionalist and xenophobic Ayar. Though it follows the Leneruist platform on most issues, its often blatant racism and language of cultural superiority has made it suspect in the eyes of the Big Four. Another well-known minor party is the Democratic Socialist Progressive Party, a pro direct democracy splinter group formerly tied to the UCP.

Economy
An international labor union-turned Revolutionary Republic, RWU principles enforces the worker-owned, worker-managed cooperative as the base political and economic actor of a just society. Managers and politicians must always be elected from among the workers and revocable by vote. Corporations, individual proprietorships, directly state-owned enterprises, feudal manors, and all other such reactionary forms of organizing economic relationships are, naturally, illegal. Though such restrictions may seem stifling to those raised in the bourgeois or monarchial tradition, they allow for quite some flexibility and diversity in practice.

For example, cooperatives are free to associate themselves in cooperative federations, often grouped by industry or relevant infrastructure connections. A special type of cooperative federation is a Union Federation, tied to the Union Council, very often the Planning Commission in particular, and serving the RWU as a whole. For example, the Union Federation of Pharmacological Cooperatives brings together various research, production, and distribution cooperatives to ensure a steady and affordable supply of crucial medication to all RWU citizen-members. Like any cooperative federation, Union Federations are freely associated, though there are often financial incentives to join and costs a cooperative would incur naturally by leaving. Another creative transformation, the Commune, is a model associated with the Union Communist Party and more popular in heavy industry than in other sectors. It amalgates the various and diverse industries of entire villages, districts, cities, provinces, and occasionally even a region into a single highly-diversified cooperative.

However, law and philosophy alone never fully shape a system: The realities of history and present-day resources are equally, if not more, important. As a territorial and highly populous empire built on slavery, Antoviya had perfected the art of the plantation and its derivative industries, leaving the RWU with an extremely productive agricultural infrastructure that mostly survived the destruction of the Revolution Wars. Granted, much of it still requires reorientation so the workers can feed their own mouths instead of the delicate tastes of aristocrats and wealthy foreigners. Mining and heavy industry were hit harder, but also quite developed and widespread beforehand, making them another characteristic asset recoverable post-revolution. However, Antoviya's high technology sector and developed consumer goods industries were concentrated in the bourgeois-aristocratic centers most devastated and destroyed by the Revolution, leaving the RWU very limited in these regards. Furthermore, until the destruction of its fleet, Antoviya systematically demolished the infrastructure and communities of every spaceport that turned its flag to the Red Star, and the RWU has struggled to replace the crucial logistical and commercial connections lost.

This makes the RWU overall quite powerful at its base in terms of raw agricultural and industrial potential, but lacking in the more refined sectors and connecting infrastructure to fully realize it. This is compounded moderately by the limits current RWU-style Syndicalism place on centralization and government intervention, though that tendency also provides the advantage of encouraging greater self-sufficiency at local levels.