Xeroism

Xeroism, or Xeroist Socialism, is a philosophy and political ideology centered around the teachings, political legacy, and historical analyses of Xeroise Ronango'O during her tenure as a government official for the United Socialist States of Eldham.

It is considered to be the primary movement for communism throughout much of Eldham being the ideology of various communist organizations and socialist nation-states. It is often compared to that of Unitist Socialism and Anarcho-communism which are the other two communist movements on Eldham.

While relatively broad in its interpretations by followers, the ideology and corresponding movement generally advocate for the radical and revolutionary abolition of the economic status quo in favor of establishing a socialist state led by the working class (as opposed to a state led by a ruling/upper class). These socialist states are intended to provide democracy and egalitarian welfare to its citizens and establish the foundations for a later transition into communism upon the availability of the material conditions to do so. Xeroist states additionally tend to promote collectivism, unity on the basis of common need of humanity for survival, destruction of anti-revolutionary forces, radical anti-imperialism, formation of a vanguard entity, and the creative adaptation of the communist movement to best fit he needs of the worker.

Presidency & Political Career of Xeroise Ronango'O
Xeroise Ronango'O, the namesake of the ideology and the movement, sought out her political career with the establishment of the United Socialist States of Eldham where she had served in various government roles from the beginning of the fledgling nation. She began her tenure as a leading politician in the nation's political bureau by becoming the Chairwoman of the National Assembly where she had become notorious for utilizing her veto abilities against then-General Secretary Aboniert Ormnidus to advocate for policies that favored the radical establishment of socialism within in the USSE and to prevent war with foreign nations by all means necessary as to preserve this cause.

After the death of General Secretary Ormnidus, he would be replaced by General Secretary Leo Belgicus whom tended to advocate for more liberalistic and decentralized approaches to a socialist state. Xeroise had been the obvious candidate to be Belgicus' Deputy Secretary as a result of her extensive political expertise and diplomatic advisory and as a result ascended to the position. While Belgicus had largely tended to power domestically in the nation, Ronango'O had tended to the vast majority of the nation's international relations, treaties, and wars. She had served in the Second Coalition-Ellysian War where she had extensively planned the battles and overthrow of the Ellysian Empire; following this she became the respective USSE Governor of the Third Occupation Zone in addition to her position as Deputy Secretary of the USSE. She aggressively struck down on counter-revolutionaries in the Zone, often regarded to be the most brutally controlled of the five. She ultimately would establish the nations of Garxijos Yawos, the Coalition of Anarchist Communes, and the Federal Republic of Cognia. While she originally desired to establish all three ideally as socialist states this was met with protest by other members of the then-created Anti-Radical Syndicate.

Upon her return home to the USSE after the war, the nation had been forced into the Kunir War which they had promptly lost after handing over control of the war effort from Ronango'O and Belgicus to the Anti-Radical Syndicate. After the war and subsequent occupation by the nations of Newkunir and Anglunia, the political term of Belgicus as General Secretary would end. At this point, over forty people had been displaced from the cities of Garkogorod, Crosotex, Laria, Vostroya, and Fort Morskoy. The nation had been reduced to around a quarter of its size with the remaining land being solely in what is now Ljordmir; which at the time was an incredibly rural area with but one mere small village called Nizkaya which had promptly become the capital as a consequence of now being the only city in the nation's entire territory. People were forced to flee to Nizkaya or leave the nation entirely. Xeroise Ronango'O was ultimately the only individual to be willing to run for the position of General Secretary as the nation as a whole was on the verge of collapse and so she ascended to the highest office in the country.

This point in the USSE's history was known as the Great Humiliation and Xeroise would immediately begin her tenure with sweeping reforms of the government to make it more straightforward and democratic with less complication; including tactics of building upon a 'mass line', or being reliant on the will and power of the workers and seeking advise from them on all policy matters. Additionally, she and various members of underground resistance movements would begin scrambling to assemble funds as to liberate cities like Laria and Garkogorod from Anglunian capture. Ultimately she had managed to take back nearly all land, returning the USSE to its previous geographic size though the population had still seen heavy stunting. As a result, she sponsored the construction of new cities such as Kazkaya which would later become the nation's capital under future General Secretaries. It was also at this point she began developing her thoughts and philosophy into an organized ideology which would later be called 'Xeroism ' by journalist Rogale. Her resuscitation of the USSE back onto a position on the world stage brought about a period of time known as the 'Golden Era' in the USSE as the population would see massive explosion in size, tripling over the time period. Additionally, she would abolish the multiple party system in the favor of establishing the vanguard party.

Carrying the Torch
With the nation fully recovered after the leadership of Xeroise Ronango'O as General Secretary, Quintus Solokov would be the next individual to ascend to leadership. He intended to carry the torch and ideological foundations set down by Ronango'O. He implemented sweeping reforms to the government to further centralize the state and ensure more productivity. While this was sometimes criticized as anti-democratic, this ended up being a more or less temporary measure to continue efficiency within the economy and prevent developmental delays. Solokov heavily leaned into the ideas of creative adaptations of the socialist state in order to ensure both its survival and the growth of the communist movement. Under his leadership, the population of the nation had doubled and the USSE undersaw unprecedented domestic development with the creation of a trans-national road system and many cities, this was done all with an incredibly high percentage of popular support from the people. His adaptation of Xeroise's beliefs towards creating a unified solid state controlled by and for the workers which completely eliminated the culture of capitalist/feudal/mercantile production would result in what would later come to be known as Solokov-Chelovekian Thought.

Another focal point of Xeroism's growth as previously iterated would be the ideological influences of Chelovek Serebra. Though he had immense respect for General Secretary Quintus Solokov during his own leadership and enjoyed working a prestigious position in his cabinet, Chelovek immediately planned to run for Secretary after the end of Solokov's term to pick up the slack left by his leadership particularly in realms of the military and economy. Chelovek believed the time had come for the government to return to Xeroise's original ideas of establishing the mass line and intended to make sweeping pro-democratic reforms. There was already massive growth and foundations set; Ronango'O had pulled the nation from war and ruin and Solokov had built the infrastructure for a true nation on the world stage, yet things had yet to been put into full motion. Chelovek sought to implement industrialization of the USSE and create a much more transparent government. He would be elected with a mere 62.7% of the popular vote, touting the success of Xeroism and re-establishing the National Assembly which had not existed since the leadership of Leo Belgicus. This intended to increase the representation of the people in government and with this he would publish a Constitution based upon the ideological beliefs of Xeroism, and he offered the people the ability to recall their government at any time and impeach the sitting leaders who dissapoint the people they are intended to represent. Chelovek touted the reformed government as a true 'dictatorship of the proletariat' (as opposed to a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie) as had been originally envisioned by past leaders. The economy had begun to triple in size under his two terms as General Secretary and set in stone the foundations of Xeroism as a project led by ideology and science as opposed to utopian beliefs.

'Right Opposition' within Xeroism
While the USSE had at this point officially developed the Solokov-Chelovekian school of thought within Xeroism - and it had proved to be the most popular on the world stage with revolutions happening in Prubensia, Pergamos, and several other nations, it was not the only school of thought to emerge at this point.

Within the USSE there had emerged an oppositional ideological movement opposed to the Solokov-Chelovekians called the Urabonic school of thought. While the former had largely called for policies of improving socialism domestically as to make the socialist project defensible from imperialism, it was often argued by the latter that it is the duty of the USSE first and foremost to expand socialism abroad by all means necessary. The Urabonics called for the dismantlement of the mass centralization seen under Solokov and instead called for extreme localization of government that the Solokov-Chelovekians argued weakened the government past the point of no return and made them susceptible to counter-revolutionaries. While the Solokov-Chelovekians maintained around 60-70% popular support in this period of time, the Urabonics maintained a smaller 20-40%. Some consider Kroosechism to be an extreme form of either the Urabonic or Solokov-Chelovekian school of thought.

It was additionally around this point that the Sand War would occur which saw the creation of a third school of thought in Merconis called the Fjellianic school of thought. This argued for mass militarization of the socialist nation and the aggressive invasion of imperialist nations by all means necessary as to quicken the socialist project. Fjellianics argued that many nations did not have the luxury of sitting alone to develop socialism and that heightened aggression was neccessary to dismantle imperialism. While the Fjellianiac school of thought failed to catch on in the USSE, it would remain popular in Merconis for the continued future.

Xeroist Literature

 * Economies, Xeroise Ronango'O
 * Scientific Socialism of Eldham, P.N. Pengy
 * Commentary on the Neoites, Xeroise Ronango'O
 * The Perennial Monopoly: Organized Sadism, Xeroise Ronango'O
 * Analysis of the Early Industrial Working Class in Hansa, Worker's Socialist Party of Hansa
 * Constitution of the United Socialist States of Eldham, National Assembly of the Communist Party of the USSE

Many other texts are known to exist but have yet to be transcribed in accessible digital formats, only being accessible in in-game libraries and bookstores.

Xeroist Theory of Hierarchy & Private Ownership
Xeroists recognize the dominance of several means of state hierarchy. This includes things such as kingdoms, dictatorships, oligarchies, and military states. Xeroise believed that hierarchy is characterized by a singular trait and that is some people having a higher inherent value in comparison to others who are otherwise same in their faculties and capabilities.

She states that hierarchies such as these have no reason to fundamentally exist and are rooted in sheer exploitation, whether by intention or not. She recognized that while statesmen or businessmen at the heads of state or economic hierarchies often act in ways they think are beneficial to everyone, the final product of their actions is outright exploitation.

She believed at length that corporations and private ownership, that is the ability to produce capital profit through ownership of the means of production, root their exploitation in the "theft" of surplus wealth created by workers underneath their belt and just as a dictator is obviously exploitative of his peasants, a capitalist is also exploitative of his workers and that this carries into every other mode of production outside of the communist one. The kingdom, military state, or dictatorship is the predominant form of governance across all worlds. This is characterized by a firm hierarchy; one in which some people have a more massive inherent value in comparison to their fellow countrymen. Also present is the liberal or social democracy which claims to fix the ailments of unjust hierarchy with public representation and minor welfare policies. All of these systems remain flawed however, their foundations lie in the inequalities of private ownership and capitalist, feudalist, or bandit-oriented production.

With the prevalence of private accumulation of capital, kings or statesmen collect an unproportionable amount of wealth not earned by merit or work but instead ripped directly from their citizenry. The truth is that these systems are not natural but are instead the result of exploitation, whether by intention of the reigning ruling class or not. Do people not deserve the fruits of their own labor and do they not deserve the ability to be earnestly represented in the actions of the state by themselves or in some other meaningful manner? -Xeroise Ronango'O, The Red Epiphany The aspects of the aforementioned ‘social ladder’ in their entirety are what one would call a caste system. These systems comprise of two poles; one which is benefactory and one which is exploited or considered less ‘worthy’. There may or may not be additional positions between these polar opposites. These can be on a multitude of bases, ranging from ethnic background, economic class, religious affiliation, and more.

Simply put, a caste system rigidly is held together by the wants and needs of those at the top. Those who are best benefited by their caste—say the rich for instance—do not have it in their personal benefit to elevate the livelihoods of those beneath them—the poor in this case—at least not without the fear of losing the margin of power they hold and being closer to those they may or may not intend to harm yet otherwise will by either being actionless or actively upholding the caste system

. ..

It is to be understood that inaction is a rigid caste system such as those based on wealth, is not simply apoliticism or centrism, but in fact an active stance that is opposed to revolutionary deconstruction of that caste system. There are only two meaningful divisions when it comes to caste; those who are for it and those who are against it. There is no middle ground in the case of oppression; only those who are so benefitted by the system before them that they can afford to not care at all.

The will of the rich—who as previously mentioned tends to lead nations as a consequence of the benefits accosted to them by their caste—is used to uphold many oppressive structures whether in relation to production, political policy and governance, town ownership, access to materials and weapons, and many other things that most people will never stop to consider. This is at best, a confusing system however. The population in question is permanent and unequivocally split into opposing parties; those who have power and those who don’t. Those who don’t tend to either wish to achieve power or dismantle the system as a whole. Those with power wish to maintain that power if not elevate it further, and prevent those beneath them from getting ahead. After all, in a system structured in a caste such as those based on wealth, not everyone gets to be high caste and the system will fall apart if there are not those upper caste folks. -Economies, Xeroise Ronango'O

Collectivism
Xeroists, being generally opposed to organized class hierarchy, endorse the principles of collectivism. In Xeroise's own words "No human is worth any more than their fellow peers", understanding that no one has more inherent importance to their life than others and for that reason people must cooperate and act for the good of the collective.

As a part of her belief in collectivism, she was strongly against the presence of so-called bandit or pirate states such as Barbossa or Vanakunir. She believed they distorted the need for human survival by exploitering their fellow people in mankind by stealing from their own work and merit to bring themselves personal profit, seeing it as simply a bastardized form of the more intricate exploitation carried out by kings or businessmen.

Vanguardism
Xeroise Ronango'O endorsed the principles of vanguardism, that is the formation of an entity, typically a "political party", to represent the needs of the workers in mass and that this should be at the cornerstone of the government. As a part of this is the mass line, a guiding principle that the vanguard party's priorities should be with consultation of the workers and their proactive involvement in government instead of discouraging involvement as to prevent changes.

Revolutionism
It is often fundamental to Xeroism that revolutionism is used. Xeroise and her ideological peers recognized that those at the top of a hierarchy will often refuse to step away from power through greed and that a socialist state or communist society cannot be established without revolutionary action. While Xeroise argued that war is undesirable and causes needless pain, it is a necessity in most situations in order to bring a change in ideology to the general public and state apparatus.