Lendosan Confederation
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SOCIALIST PARTY
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The Socialist Party is a centre-left party. It is considerably more moderate than the Communist Party, being roughly equivalent to "social democrats" in other countries. The Socialist Party believes in "reducing social inequalities and giving help to those who need it." It does not wish to dismantle the capitalist system, but seeks to "ensure that everyone enjoys its benefits equally, and that it is not used to exploit the poor". The Socialist Party pursues liberal policies when it comes to social issues.

The Socialist Party presently holds twenty-three Senate seats. It is led by Amelia Ferano, and the deputy leader is Sara Jonosa. Other prominent party members are Zorando Rivaste, Leomaro Dantaro, and Diro Tanomo. The position of Party Secretary is currently held by Meria Meldura.


Colour and Emblem

The Socialist Party uses crimson as its official colour. Its official emblem is a stylized image of an flower. While many socialist or social democratic movements use a rose as their symbol, the Lendosan Socialist Party does not - the type of flower is not officially specified, and supporters of the party will generally use any red flower they can find.

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The Lendian language name of the party is simply "lo Partido Socialisto" (or "lo Partido Sozialisto" in some dialects).


Quote

"It is the first responsibility of the state to provide for its citizens, and this is best accomplished by means of direct governmental guidance and assistance. The government must never overstep its bounds, however - heavy-handed interference or insenstive meddling can be almost as bad as abandonment and apathy."


Key Policies

Health
The Socialist Party believes that one of the foremost duties of the state is to care for the physical and mental well-being of its citizens.

  • Increase the funding given to all health services, and stop further attempts to cut costs.
  • Resist attempts to make the health service function along commercial lines, and keep its focus on patients rather than money and budgets.
  • Resist attempts to cut back services in rural areas, and develop programs to help keep skilled doctors working there.
  • Significantly increase funding given to mental healthcare, developing it as something separate from regular healthcare.
Education
The Socialist Party considers education to be crucial to the country in many ways, and thus something that must be guided and controlled by the state.
  • Increase the funding given to primary and secondary education, and ensure that funding is spread evenly through the regions.
  • Improve the teacher-student ratio by hiring more teachers, and by offering incentives for other teachers to stay in their chosen career.
  • Change the national Curriculum to give parents and students more choice in what subjects are studied.
  • Expand the use of computers and technology in education.
Society
According to the Socialist Party, it is the duty of the state to assist those who need it, and help them get to a point where they can contribute to society. This is seen as crucial to developing a good environment for Lendosa's citizens.
  • Increase the amount of welfare available to those who need it, and resist attempts to cut benefits to those who would suffer without them.
  • Establish programs to assist people in finding work, including giving people job training and teaching them useful skills.
  • Increase the services given to help families, particularly single-parent ones, and establish free or cheap daycare services nationwide.
  • Encourage greater cooperation between the government and the many volunteer groups already in existence, as well as encouraging citizens to participate in (or establish) such groups.

Issues Facing the Party

The Socialist Party is relatively stable, without any serious internal problems. Of the minor matters affecting the party, the most significant would be the fact that there has always been some degree of tension over the exact position of the party on the political spectrum, with some complaining that the party has moved too far towards the centre. For the most part, however, party members are content to focus on issues such as health and education, and not be too concerned about the party's economic policy positions.


Subparties

The Socialist Party does not have any official subparties, although factions exist in practice.


History of the Party

The Socialist Party was founded in 239 AP by the leader of the Miners' Guild, Mercutio Caldo. The Socialist Party was originally intended to be a more moderate version of the Communist Party - advocating the same goal, but pursuing it though less revolutionary methods. Many historians believe that most early members, including Caldo himself, actually held the same beliefs as the Communist Party at the time, but kept their official line moderate in order to avoid the same ban that was imposed on the Communists.

The Socialist Party won nine seats in the 240 AP elections, a good start for such a new party. This prompted fear among some of the more right-wing politicians of a "communist takeover" by stealth, and there were suggestions that the Socialist Party should be banned. In the end, however, the party was allowed to continue, although it is believed to have been monitored by state security agencies for "revolutionary tendencies".

The following election, the Socialists won thirteen seats, and began to have more of an effect on Senate business, but internal problems quickly appeared. In particular, there was growing hostility to Mercutio Caldo, who was accused of being "dictatorial" in his leadership style. His deputy leader, Pedro Valentino, was also disliked as unintelligent and ineffectual. Caldo resisted pressure to step down for some time, but in 250 AP, just three weeks before the election, he suddenly resigned, giving Valentino the leadership. The party was sent into confusion, and its subsequent performance in the election suffered - while it did increase its number of seatss, the gain was less than half of what opinion polls had predicted. Caldo was widely condemned for having "sabotaged" the party out of bitterness, and Valentino was condemned for his poor handling of the election. A month later, Valentino was replaced by Gilberto Sabroso, who had been one of Caldo's strongest critics.

Sabroso came from one of the more strongly left-wing factions of the party, and began to steer the party closer to the now-legal Communist Party. This prompted significant tensions to arise in the party, with moderates condemning Sabroso's new direction. Faced with a sharp decline in the polls, other party members were able to pressure Sabroso into relaxing some of his policies, although his basic outlook did not change.

After the 255 AP election, in which the Socialists had performed quite well, Sabroso attempted to reinstate some of his more strongly left-wing ideas. Other members of the party, who credited the Socialists' electoral success to the fact that Sabroso had been "toned down", objected strongly. Finally, Sabroso resigned, citing "fundamental differences of opinion" with other key Socialist senators. His replacement was Tania Telmarina, a leading moderate.

Telmarina quickly began to undo many of the decisions made by Sabroso, sending the party rapidly away from anything resembling communism. The Socialists soon began to resemble "social democratic" centre-left parties in other countries, the model that Telmarina was trying to follow. This began to anger many party members, who complained that Telmarina was going too far in her dismantling of Sabroso's policies. A core of strong left-wingers, led by Sabroso, began agitating for her dismissal, saying that she was "betraying the ideals that the party was founded on.". Despite her electoral success in the 260 AP elections, Telmarina was removed from the leadership in 262 AP, and Sabroso made a triumphant return.

Sabroso reinstated a number of his old policies, and halted many of Telmarina's changes, but did not initially pursue such a radical path as before. Remembering his previous dismissal, he tried to keep a fairly moderate course. In the next two elections, the Socialist Party performed well. In 269 AP, however, tensions once again arose about the party's position. The Communist Party, which had just gained full electoral rights (it had been legalised in 253 AP, but had still been barred from contesting elections), demanded that the Socialists cooperate with it, saying that the two parties were essentially dedicated to the same thing. Sabroso agreed with the Communists, and wanted the Socialist Party to ally with them, but many other senators opposed the idea. Led by one of Tania Telmarina's allies, Meria Alvensa, these senators claimed that the Socialists represented a distinct policy platform, and should compete against the Communists. They declared that the Socialist Party was "not just a watered-down version of the Communists", and that the Socialists had their own principles and values that they should defend. Sabroso was eventually forced to refuse the Communist Party's demand.

The subsequent election saw a considerable quantity of the Socialist Party's support captured by the Communists, with many of Sabroso's backers abandoning the Socialists as "too weak". The moderates in the Socialist Party said that this was inevitable, and that the party was "better off" with the more radical members gone to "a party more suited to them", as it could now "pursue its own policies without being hijacked by the far left". Shortly after the election, Sabroso resigned (allegedly under pressure from the moderates, and now without the backing of the hardliners who were no longer in the party). He was replaced by Meria Alvensa, the leading moderate and a friend of Telmarina.

Under Alvensa, the Socialist Party slowly regained its numbers, fighting both the Communists and centrist parties. Eventually, in 284 AP, the Socialists and the Communists (who together formed the largest opposition group by far), agreed on a truce when it came to many Senate matters, although they still competed against each other in elections. In 293 AP, Meria Alvensa retired, and the leadership of the party was given to Amelia Ferano. Shortly after this, the party played a role in helping the Democracy Party topple the Empire, and assisted in the construction of the new government. It has since played a significant role in the administration of the Lendosan Confederation.


List of Past Leaders

  • Mercutio Caldo (239 - 250)
  • Pedro Valentino (250)
  • Gilberto Sabroso (250 - 257)
  • Tania Telmarina (257 - 262)
  • Gilbero Sabroso (262 - 271)
  • Meria Alvensa (271 - 293)
  • Amelia Ferano (293 - )