The Iron ConfederacyBoard

The Iron Confederacy’s new recruitment campaign has brought many new members into our region, including new arrival Temple state, a Swedish Catholic clerical-fascist with experience fighting against communist insurgents in both Sweden and in Ukraine. This is why the most recent debate regarding whether or not fascism is reactionary was an important topic to be discussed in our regional message board (RMB).

The debate started with Temple state defending a position of Christian technocratic feudalism with a perceived similarity to some of the views of Julius Evola, the Italian self-described “superfascist” and ideological progenitor of neo-fascist ideologies. Regarding policy, Temple state advocated rewarding soldiers with property to ensure that titles are not inherited, but only earned by each and every individual of his generation on basis of merit. Temple State also asserted that the philosophy of Fascism was a reactionary movement that predated Mussolini, and was essentially symmetrical to the proto-feudal system of landowning magistrates dating as far back as the Roman Empire itself.

Tupolite, His Excellency’s Prime Secretary, pointed out that proto-fascism had a combination of rightist as well as leftist properties, giving the example of the French and Italian national-syndicalists who, in the vein of French syndicalist philosopher Georges Sorel, practiced far-left economics, while ultimately substituting Marxism for the integral nationalism espoused by French national-conservative and monarchist reactionary Charles Maurras in his magazine publication Action Francaise, and could therefore not be simply described as reactionary. Furthermore, Tupolite expressed that Temple State's definition of fascism was incorrect, quoting from Mussolini's Doctrine of Fascism, which states "[d]ead and done for are feudal privileges and the division of society into closed, uncommunicating castes." What this quote references is fascism's true economic policy as a corporatist state which uses welfare, negotiations, and government projects to improve the lives of all citizens without abolishing the middle class, as well as denouncing the reactionary concept of feudalism as excluding popular integration of the masses.

This discussion came to a head when Temple State accused Tupolite’s interpretation of fascism as being “too left-wing” and bordering on Strasserism, and denounced his support for decreased social and economic divides within the major ethnic constituency of the nation as a form of egalitarianism. Tupolite was quick to use his prerogative as Prime Secretary to enforce the respect that his station demands in response to these wholly inaccurate claims. Subsequently, Tupolite delivered a public speech to clear up any and all misunderstandings that the debate may have caused. After the conclusion of the speech, Vlandia, alias Rhomain, respected Father of the Fascist Revolution, reaffirmed his confidence in the Prime Secretary, declaring that he would “follow (Tupolite) to the gates of hell and back.”

What can be learned from this discussion is that there are ideologies similar to fascism with an entirely different economic system in base. Of course economy system is vital to our prosperity, but this does not mean that we cannot recruit socially like minded people who share many of the same goals as us. We need idealists, truth seekers, and those who are opposed to degeneracy. These ones may initially have different goals from ours, but they can still be educated and can still assist us in accomplishing our mission.

One of the recent initiatives discussed among His Excellency’s State Defense Commission is the issue of declining activity among some incumbent ministers of the government. Sijiao, longtime Director of Civil Cohesion and permanent member of the Commission, has recently allowed his nation to cease to exist (CTE), demonstrating that even the Social Integralist State’s most historically adept operatives have grown accustomed to slacking off. To combat this malaise, Emperador Hispanyo and Prime Secretary Tupolite have been hard at work assessing new candidates for certain positions occupied by the habitually inactive and reliable. Temple State, whose enthusiasm for government and activity levels have been relatively high as of late, has been considered to replace Sijiao as Director of Civil Cohesion on the precondition of future service in a TIC military operation. In addition, the office of the Director of Immigration, occupied for months by frequently inactive citizen The oneundreth reich, has been recently occupied by permanent State Defense Commission member and Integral Social Vanguard (ISV) Secretary New french etat, whose record of superb administration not only includes previous service as Prime Secretary for the Iron Confederacy but also contributions to close ideological affiliate regions International Fascist Federation and Fifth Empire as IFF Bouncer and Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs, respectively, with his puppet-nations Kizerns Borond and Neo-Cuba. Replacement of Archbishop CrimsonScribbles as Director of Religious Affairs with either Temple State or Rhomain has been considered due to CrimsonScribbles’s seeming lack of particular dedication to the Iron Confederacy over other pro-Catholic regions, lack of in-region presence, and the government’s preference that a majority of available positions should be occupied by natives, but this idea was scrapped on the basis that acting in this manner would result in cessation of relations with the Shrine of St. Margaret Mary and by extension with the Virtual Roman Catholic Church (VRCC). Further changes to government have been planned by Hispanyo and Tupolite, but information about these plans is not forthcoming at this time.

When New french etat spoke in the RBM about clerical-fascism, the topic sparked a debate regarding Church and State. Once more there a divergence of opinion between Prime Secretary Tupolite and new arrival Temple State on the topic, with Temple State expressing his support for a complete theocracy. Tupolite instead took the position that the state and the church must demarcate respective fields of activity beforehand by treaty to avoid conflict, while affirming an understanding of the ritual significance of Christianity to virtually all European nations. Though enthused with Tupolite’s pro-Catholic policy, Temple State could not help but object to Tupolite’s view on the matter due to Tupolite’s rationale of “psychologizing the faith.” New french etat, though a clerical-fascist like Temple State, took a stance more in agreement with Tupolite’s, though from a different philosophical perspective, stating that all governments except for the Vatican are essentially governments of man and therefore that a confessional state, as opposed to outright theocracy, would have to be enough.

The doctrine of Church and State did not exist before the Enlightenment. However, ever since churches and kings have ruled nations coherently, there has existed a disparity between which party should have more power, with such historical examples as the Investiture Controversy in the England of King Henry II and the Holy Roman Empire of Kaiser Heinrich IV and the internecine Guelph-Ghibelline warfare in medieval Italy. Most current governments are not only secular, but some, especially contemporary left-wing governments in Europe and Latin America and the oligarchic tyrannies of China and North Korea, are anti-religious and/or anti-clerical and seek to undermine the morals and values of the nations over which they preside. However, giving power to uncompromising zealots always results in inhuman persecution and public resentment for whichever faith the leader claims to have adopted. This is one of the reasons for the decreasing respect for Christian values in the Western world. Yet still Christian values are integral to the Fascist state, whether those nations are Christian or not. This is because rather than demanding what non-believers must practice, Christian leaders instead tell non-believers what they must not practice for the benefit of themselves and their communities. An example of this can be seen from the former Empire of Japan which banned pornography and sexually explicit material despite the fact that their native religions did not forbid these things. This was because the Japanese Constitution took elements from the Bible and the American Declaration of Independence without sacrificing its unique national traditions and culture or its distinctly illiberal prewar line of political development.

Alternatively, it is possible for a government to have a state religion without persecuting citizens who are not members of that faith. This of course would require certain immutable legislation to ensure that no religion is oppressed. The Father of Fascism, Benito Mussolini, re-instated the Catholic religious teaching in Italy’s schools, made Roman Catholicism the state religion, and established Vatican City by ratifying the Lateran Treaty with the Holy See, yet during this time the religious rights of all faiths, including Judaism, were protected by the state. However, as Mussolini came under pressure from the Third Reich, religions in Italy started to face persecution, even resulting in the loss of Catholic privileges. However, in countries like Spain and Portugal during the fascist era, such atrocities never occurred.

In recognition of the lack of a public forum where curious fascists, Third Positionists, and miscellaneous sympathizers to the cause could field their queries for the TIC government, and in hopes that regions with whom TIC refuses embassies yet has an interest in nonetheless could use this forum discuss foreign policy matters and resolve differences, the State Defense Commission recently approved the establishment of an official, government-authorized embassy thread within the NationStates Gameplay community. Initial reception has been mostly hostile due to the unfortunate predominance of anti-fascists in these forums; nevertheless, this move represents a meaningful step in improving the Iron Confederacy’s presence on the world stage. Notable mention should be given to Xoriet and Jar Wattinree, two Pacifican raiders and enemies of the state who have been known to take delight in taunting His Excellency the Emperador on occasion, as well as Federation of Conservative Nations (FCN) native and known anarcho-capitalist LiberNovusAmericae, who alone out of all the non-fascists to post in the thread had the courtesy to clarify that he had no intentions of opposing us militarily. In this reporter’s opinion, more non-fascists should adopt this man’s commendable stance when dealing with those they disagree with.

Prime Secretary Tupolite has recently begun a new initiative inspired by the historical fascist doctrine of the corporate state to consummate the ISV’s long-standing promise to create a revolutionary new order within The Iron Confederacy. Tupolite implored the region’s population to come forth with independent ideas for boosting social and recreational activities so that these various categories of activity could be regulated by the state through the system of centrally controlled syndicates. Already the Iron Confederacy Media Distribution Syndicate (ICMDS) has been established to publish this very paper, and an interview series “Great Leaders” is purported to also be in the works. A second syndicate, the Iron Confederacy Leisure Time Organization (ICLTO) has been established to supervise future recreational activities in the region. A regional roleplay server has been suggested to fall under this realm of activity, but has thus far not been opened to public participation.

Reports from the Iron Confederacy’s allied government in the Imperial Catholic Alliance (ICA) indicate that there was a concerted effort by the liberal-democratic government of the Federation of Conservative Nations (FCN) to infiltrate the Discord servers of fascist and fascist-sympathetic regions for intelligence-collection and espionage purposes. Krich aerd, the Princeps/head of government of the ICA and a friend of several members of the State Defense Commission, recounted exposing one of Jakobly’s past infiltration attempts to the Decreeist regime in Farkasfalka and a subsequent attempt by Jakobly to uncover confidential details about ICA operations by feigning interest in that region, shortly after the ICA’s initial secession from the FCN. Possibly due to resentment of his superiors for their mockery of his repeated failures, Jakobly seemingly turned on the FCN’s political elites and tried unsuccessfully to hack into the account of FCN founder Gagium. This resulted in the deletion of Jakobly’s nation and the temporary flight of Gagium and other influential FCN mainstays from the Conservative Party, though most have since rejoined as the party has come under slightly less incompetent leadership. TIC and the other fascist states, which are constantly under external threat by a constellation of retrograde and antisocial sorts, should only hope that our enemies’ efforts to infiltrate us in the future should be so inept and miscalculated as Jakobly’s.

Drama is underway in TIC’s closest and most loyal allied region, the Holy Reich of Bunicken (HRB), as the Reich’s Empress and ambassador to TIC and the ICA, Kaiserin Lady Morrighan, has been attacked in a civil suit by her associate Dark/Jackson Frazier, who is another high-ranking Bunicken official. The nature of the suit was apparently motivated by Jackson’s personal distaste for Morrighan’s fascist ideology and desire to promote libertarian, democratic, and capitalistic forms of thought in and outside of their region. Kaiser Wilhelm of Bunicken’s banishment of Jackson’s friend Confederacy Jim for presenting a security threat to the Reich may also have exacerbated the situation. While many details surrounding the fiasco are still nebulous as of the writing of this article, it appears that the case has ended with Lady Morrighan’s departure from Bunicken under a tense atmosphere of insuperable internal pressures. What is certain is that Jackson’s actions are motivated by a palpable desire to purge all traces of fascism from the Reich’s government and a secondary desire to influence Confederacy Jim’s return to Bunicken, possibly in a position of renewed status. In this reporter’s opinion, the events evidence that Jackson, Jim, and other libertarian elements in Bunicken have constituted themselves with malicious intent as a fifth column in HRB politics with the ultimate goal of dismantling Bunciken’s healthy and prosperous alliances with fascist governments and decentralizing power on the side of domestic politics to leave the Reich’s once-powerful state in shambles. Lady Morrighan has since resigned from Bunicken after many malicious lies were spread about her, sacrificing her position in order to ensure that Kaiser remains free from blackmail. Now, one can only hope that someone restores order and punishes these contemptible traitors before it is too late.