Five Days that Shook the World

Five Days the Shook the World is an essay on the August Revolution that was published by Vladimir on the 26th of January 2008.

Five Days that Shook the World

The Pacifican Nation

The history of Pacifica is sometimes misrepresented as a history of events and great individuals, but these are only symptoms of a greater historical journey – the journey of the Pacifican Nation. The Pacifican Nation is not a place, a time, an event or a person: it is a people. But what makes this people a nation rather than a collection of individuals or an opportune alliance? Facts without context are empty; it is therefore only possible to truly understand the Nation through its an examination of its historical development in the context of the material conditions around it. Only once this is done can we begin to understand what the Pacifican Nation is: how it came to be, what it stands for, why it developed as it did, and where it is going.

Of all the moments in this history one above all continues to impact on the daily lives of Pacificans, in many ways defining their very being.

Birth Pangs of History

The August Revolution is known by every man, woman and child throughout Pacifica. It showed in full glory the birth pangs of history, as an old regime was swept aside and a new society brought into being. But what was this old regime that was replaced, and why did its inherent contradictions necessarily mean the birth of the new society? These are questions rarely asked, and in many ways this is a testament to the total ideological victory that was achieved over them. Yet they remain of the utmost importance to the creation and development of the Pacifican Nation. Indeed, they are the very reason that Comrades Francos Spain and Poskrebyshev found themselves at the head of a Revolution. Thus to understand the Revolution itself it is first necessary to understand the reasons for it.

The old regime was one based on many mechanisms that are surprisingly familiar to us even today, as they survive scattered amongst our various enemies. Of course then, as now, these mechanisms were hidden under layers of flowery ideology, perpetuated by, and designed to protect, a small controlling oligarchy at the top. While hopelessly undermined at the time, these deceptions would nevertheless go on to become important justifications for the invasions of the Pacifican homeland that were conducted in the post-revolutionary period.

In reality the old regime was, above all, based on cronyism and subservience to foreign powers. Inside The Pacific their state apparatus stood as a separate entity to the people – endeavoring always to exist above and out of reach. Leading officials would pass power around amongst themselves, occasionally throwing up illusions of Pacifican participation, but invariably serving only their own narrow interests and those of their masters. This is of no surprise when we consider their defining feature – that they weren't Pacificans themselves! Though resident inside Pacifican territory, and though they made all the sounds they felt necessary for their regime to survive, their actions shone a light on their motive: they were an occupying force. Their small circle of friends and advisers came from groups outside of and unaffiliated to the population they ruled over, and held in such contempt, and so it was that their actions reflected interests entirely contradictory to those of the Pacifican people.

The most notable example of this contradiction was the creation of an army in the old regime's last and most decadent days. So detached from the every day life of the Pacifican people was this army that it was specifically stationed outside of The Pacific so as to detach any loyalty or class interest that the drafted troops may otherwise have held with the civilian population. Their sole purpose was to secure the interests of a foreign elite, and so it was no surprise when this army later became one of the primary instruments against its own people. Once proud Pacificans had been reduced to nothing more than cannon fodder for faceless entities in distant lands. As this single example amply demonstrates, the old regime was antithetical to Pacifican interests and as such embodied the internal contradictions of The Pacific. It was not separate from The Pacific as it so long endeavoured to be, but merely an instrument of class oppression. As the old regime continued to try and expand its influence and power, these realities became ever clearer, raising the consciousness of hundreds of Pacificans from all corners.

Sitting among these Pacificans, unknown and unassuming, was Comrade Franco and his fellow revolutionaries. Like those around him he saw in colourful detail the irresolvable contradictions present in The Pacific, and like those around him he began to realize that something must be done to remove the corrupt charlatans who had hitherto held power, believing instead that power should be returned to the hands of the people themselves. It was in the minds and discussion of these class conscious Pacificans that the Revolution was born. Consciousness of societal contradictions rose throughout The Pacific, but never evenly. There naturally developed a vanguard whose consciousness was at the forefront of the Pacifican class, and it was this vanguard, while having no institutional power, that attention began to be focused on it, as their heroic words and actions led a great Nation to carve itself out from a downtrodden people.

To outsiders who had not experienced the contradictions of The Pacific – oppression, greed, manipulation, betrayal – and the resultant revolutionary spirit, the Revolution seemed to come out of nowhere. As Comrade Franco and the other vanguards personally led charges into the guns of the old regime, ever more Pacificans realised their dire fate under the oligarchy and saw their opportunity for freedom in the Revolution, choosing to join the great movement in droves.

The masses moved faster and smarter than any reactionary institution could have hoped to counter, constantly finding new avenues of attack. In its death agony the old regime used every means at its disposal, throwing away its own self-proclaimed laws and ideals without a second thought; stripping away the façade it had so carefully cultivated for itself and revealing its reality, as it desperately attempted to destroy the Revolution. In the dying moments they dealt what seemed like a fatal blow, casting the Revolutionary vanguard from The Pacific into exile; but such was the overwhelming support, power and organic maneuverability of the Revolution that its rise to power was inevitable. The Pacific seized power into its own hands and Comrade Franco banished the pretenders from the land. The first stage of the Revolution was complete. The Pacifican Nation was, at long last, a sovereign power.

Enshrined in Order

The following four days were tumultuous times, as the old regime and its allies struggled to regain composure in the disarray of defeat. They attacked the Revolution from all sides attempting unsuccessfully to create a home-grown counter-revolution. But The Pacific had already experienced life under them, and now knew far too much to ever be fooled into returning. The weak and uncoordinated thrashing about of the oligarchs crashed weakly against walls of resistance. But it became ever clearer that it would not stay this way for long.

On the fifth day of the Revolution – September 1st 2003 – Comrade Franco founded the New Pacific Order as the bulwark through which Pacificans would defend themselves, ruling their own destiny as a sovereign and strong nation. It was on this day that the Pacifican Nation saw its ideals and practices set in stone by the institutions that were developed inside the Order, thus completing the first phase of the Revolution. This is to be noted in marked contrast to previous governments in The Pacific: the Order was born not as a separate entity to the Pacifican Nation, nor even as an extension of it, but as its central organ through which it would breath, hear and speak. The Order thus embodied the ideals and practices of the August Revolution and by extension the Pacifican Nation. As the Nation developed so did the organization of the Order to meet its needs, and as such the development of the Nation and the Order were one in the same.

Central to the Nation was the practice of permanent revolution. So often in history have so-called revolutions become stagnant, decaying back into that which they overthrew. But a genuine revolution born through changing material conditions never ends. In order to survive and hold onto its victory it must constantly develop and reinvent itself so as to adapt to the changing conditions around it. This is what the Revolution achieved, and the subsequent changes in the Order reflected this. But while the Order changed and adjusted itself to meet the Revolutionary needs of the day, it always remained as a single entity with the Nation, maintaining the central practices that molded it.

The most basic of the practices developed through the Revolution was that of [i]autocratic democracy[/i]. At its simplest, autocratic democracy took the democratic spirit and will of the Pacifican people and channelled it through an autocratic institution, allowing it to be concentrated into a single, powerful action. During the August Revolution this institution was Comrade Franco, with the anger and hope of Pacifica funnelled through him. In the Order the creation of the Senate expanded on this practice, acting as a meritocratic group of revolutionary leaders appointed to support the Emperor and carry out the tasks dictated by the people. Autocratic democracy was thus developed as a consequence of the material conditions of Revolution, and as such it was a uniquely Pacifican practice, bringing together a wide combination of traits.

Alongside this, the creation of the Order institutionalized many other practices of the Revolution, each feeding into and reinforcing one another in a historically unique cocktail. The most important of these, playing a central role in autocratic democracy, was [i]collective interest[/i]. The Pacifican Nation was developed out of class antagonisms, and as such their interests were one in the same: the emancipation of Pacificans through self-rule. This harmony of interests allowed for a single voice to carry out its will. This was again related with numerous other key principles that were both prerequisites for it and consequences of it: unity, utilitarianism, meritocracy and sovereignty.

The practice of unity may seem obvious, but it took on a new meaning within the Pacifican Nation. Over the course of the Revolution it was the motive operandi of the Nation's enemies to try and divide it; to try and split it up so that it could be more manageably conquered. Indeed, their crusade has at times went as far as to create fake ‘Pacifican’ organizations and even to claim to carry the Revolutionary banner themselves, testing Pacificans of mind and of heart. Tempted, tricked and manipulated, the Nation always remained unwaveringly unified. It was not a collection of component parts, but a single entity, always moving in one unified direction. So unity was not simply a word for Pacificans, but a way of life. It was a unity of spirit, of intellect, of interest and of desire that meant that the petty distractions of enemies and charlatans had no effect, and the operation of the Pacifican movement was without division.

Utilitarianism was second nature to Pacificans in this time. During the Revolution they knew that at any moment they could be thrown from their homeland by enemy forces never to return. It was the greatest sacrifice to be cut off from everything they knew, but every single one of them risked it every day they supported the Revolution, knowing that what they did they did for not only their own good, but for the good of the Pacifican Nation. This self-sacrificing utilitarianism is perhaps the Pacifican characteristic that has most confused the enemies of the Nation, given their hostility to anything but self-serving material lust. This was the practice of "no man is bigger than the Revolution;" something that seemed to obvious to The Pacific, but was so alien to the invaders.

The development of meritocracy was immediately obvious during the onset of Revolution, with the most class conscious and capable Pacificans rising to the top, giving the Revolution and (subsequently) the Order an unmatched leadership. With this developed an unrivaled ability of Pacificans to pursue and achieve based on merits, advancing to new things as their skill in the area developed. Above all it was this that facilitated the emancipation of Pacificans in the new society.

But on top of all of this the idea of sovereignty was the constant. And this is no surprise given that the basis of the Revolution itself as to overthrow the foreign oppressors and return The Pacific to Pacifican rule. The slavery of the old regime and the freedom of the new society all stemmed from this new found sovereignty, and so it was on this thread that ran through the Order's foundation in all matters – for without the ability to maintain sovereignty against the invading hordes there was nothing.

It was in codifying these practices through the New Pacific Order that the Nation was able to solidify its strength, prevent counter-revolution, cast aside subversion, and smash the invaders. It had the entire world thrown at it more than once in the years proceeding the Revolution, as as foreign powers invariably received it with fear – fear that others may follow the Pacifican example and cast off the chains of these charlatans – but through the strength provided by the Order, it always prevailed.

A New World

Ideas do not come out of no where. Their conception is in oppression, their development in conflict, and their validation in victory. They arise out of the concrete material conditions around them, and so it is with the ideas of Pacifica. Born through Revolution, the founding principles of this great Nation are mutually reinforcing and coherent precisely because they have arisen in this natural fashion out of the material experiences, rather then being brought in from the outside – existing in practice long before they are ever recognised in theory.

It is no surprise then that these principles continued to survive the onslaught, the changing of material conditions, and then the further onslaught. At every turn the Pacifican Nation has been opposed, slandered and attacked by unprecedented odds, and at every turn it has triumphed as its enemies fade into historical obscurity – a footnote in the Pacifican epic. Some put this down to luck, others to outstanding individuals, and still others to primitive superstition. But above all it has been the same principles, forged four and a half years ago in struggle, that have dictated the unrivaled strength, peace and prosperity of the New Pacific Order throughout its history.