10 Months That Shook Two Worlds

>>29970381
>In considering the rise of the Socialist Party of Equestria it is necessary to consider my own, small role. I had arrived in Equestria four years ago, and had brought with me a vast collection of human political and economic literature. Biographies of figures like Eugene V. Debs and Buenaventura Durruti, the works of Marx, Smith, Locke, Hobbes, Blanc, Weber, Bakunin, Kropotkin, etcetera. Even a copy of John Reed’s classic account of the Russian Revolution, 10 Days that Shook the World, made its way with me. I had thought nothing of sharing these works with then-Princess Twilight Sparkle, an inquisitive member of the Equestrian Royalty. She was fascinated by the books and treatises, and set about raising class consciousness in both the town of Ponyville and all over Equestria. She would become a pivotal figure in the revolution, and was, by publishing revisions of Marx and Engels’ works edited for a contemporary Equestrian audience, no less important to its origins than Marx or Lenin was to the origins of the Russian Revolution here on Earth.
>It is also necessary to understand that Equestrian economic life and the Equestrian army were not disorganised by the revolution, but many months before, as the logical result of a process which began as far back as a year before these events. The corrupt reactionaries in control of Celestia’s Court deliberately undertook to wreck Equestria in order to prevent the success of the socialists in the Mayoral Assembly. The lack of food in the army and in the great cities, the breakdown of manufactures and transportation in—all these we know now were part of a gigantic campaign of sabotage. This was all done by the bourgeoisie to fuel the rise of Starlight Glimmer’s National Socialist Equestrian Workers Party as a last resort to maintain their grip on economic and political power.

>>29970389
>For the first few months of the new régime, in spite of the confusion incident upon a great Revolution, and the struggle against the fascist rebels, both the internal situation and the combative power of the army actually improved. Production soared as the Equestrian working class took charge, and the army’s strength, even sapped by defectors to the fascist cause, was greatly bolstered by thousands of volunteers.
>The Equestrian workpony is revolutionary, but they are neither violent, dogmatic, nor unintelligent. They are ready for barricades, but they have studied them, and have learned about them from actual experience. They are ready and willing to fight their oppressor, the capitalist class, to a finish. But they do not ignore the existence of other classes. They merely ask that the other classes take one side or the other in the bitter conflict that draws near.
>As to why the Mayoral Assembly was not resurrected in the aftermath of the Civil War, they (the workers) were all agreed that our (American) democratic institutions were preferable to their own, but they were not very anxious to exchange one despot for another (i.e., the capitalist class)
>The workingponies of Equestria did not struggle against the NSEWP menace, toiling long into the night and giving their lives in droves, in exchange for the doubtful privileges of the workingmen of Detroit and Chicago.
>And so developed in Equestria, in the midst of a civil war, the Social Revolution on top of the Political Revolution, culminating in the triumph of libertarian socialism.

>>29970401
>Foreigners, and Americans especially, frequently emphasise the “innocence” of the Equestrian workers. It is true they lacked the political experience of the peoples of Earth, but they were very well trained in voluntary organisation. Every year each town, in the absence of a natural mechanism to spur the changing of the seasons, organized the transition from Winter to Spring; and the formation and rise of the SPE is itself a testament to their self-organizing genius. Moreover, the efforts of Twilight Sparkle and other educators ensured that there is probably not a people in the world so well educated in Socialist theory and its practical application as the ponies of Equestria.
>The Equestrian working ponies are for the most part able to read and write. For a few years the country has been in such a decentralized condition that they have had the advantage of leadership not only of intelligent individuals in their midst, but of a large part of the equally revolutionary educated class, who have turned to the working people with their ideas for the political and social regeneration of Equestria.
>Many writers explain their hostility to the Socialist Party of Equestria by arguing that the opening phase of the Equestrian Civil War was simply a struggle of the “respectable” elements against the radicalism of the SPE, and that it was this radical nature that caused the NSEWP to swing so violently towards tyranny. However, it was the propertied classes, who, when they realised the growth in power of the popular revolutionary organisations, undertook to destroy them and to halt the Revolution. To this end they resorted to desperate measures. In order to wreck the Mayoral Assembly, transportation was disorganised and internal troubles provoked; plants were shut down, and fuel and raw materials diverted; to gain military participation in the coup, the rank and file soldiers were enticed to mutiny by NSEWP agitators.

>>29970421
>Instead of being a destructive force, it seems to me that the SPE were the only party in Equestria with a constructive program and the power to impose it on the country. If they had not succeeded to the Government when they did, there is little doubt in my mind that the government in place when the NSEWP plot was put into action would have been folded, and the fascist would have been in Ponyville and Cloudsdale within a month, and Equestria would again be ridden by a Princess.
>It is still fashionable, after a whole year of the SPE Government, to speak of the socialist struggle as an “adventure.” Adventure it was, and one of the most marvellous ponykind ever embarked upon, sweeping into history at the head of the toiling masses, and staking everything on their vast and simple desires. Already the machinery had been set up by which the land of the great estates could be distributed among the peasants. The Factory-Shop Committees and the Trade Unions were there to put into operation workers’ control of industry. In every village, town, city, district and province there were masses of workers, prepared to assume the task of local administration.
>No matter what one thinks of socialism, it is undeniable that the Equestrian Revolution is one of the great events of human history, and the rise of the SPE a phenomenon of universal importance. Just as historians search the records for the minutest details of the story of the Spanish Revolution, so they will want to know what happened in Ponyville in the spring of two years ago, the spirit which animated the people, and how the leaders looked, talked and acted. It is with this in view that I have recorded these events.
>In the struggle my sympathies were not neutral. But in telling the story of those great days I have tried to see events with the eye of a conscientious reporter, interested in setting down the truth. -Anon, 1 May 2017

Thoughts? Is it interesting or should I stop?

You suck.

>>29970524
Ouch, not even a (you). Ah well. Might as well finish up the intro, since I stopped after that before embarking on making a ponified version f the other 12 chapters of 10 Days That Shook the World. Tbqh I still might do it, even if nobody else enjoys it I found it very fun.

>>29970676
I like it

>>29970438
Notes and Explanations

>To the average reader the multiplicity of Equestrian organisations will prove extremely confusing. For this reason I am giving here a few brief definitions and explanations.

Political Parties
>In the elections to the Mayoral Assembly, there were seventeen tickets in Petrograd, and in some of the provincial towns as many as forty; but the following summary of the aims and composition of political parties is limited to the groups and factions mentioned in these writings. Only the essence of their programmes and the general character of their constituencies can be noticed.
>1. Monarchists, of various shades. These once-powerful factions no longer existed openly; they either worked underground, or their members joined the NSEWP, as it came by degrees to stand for their political programme. Representatives in these writings, Prince Blueblood, Gladmane, Spoiled Rich.
>2. Socialist Party of Equestria. (SPE) This was a democratic socialist political organization founded in Ponyville. It aimed to dramatically reform Equestrian society, transferring political and economic power from the bourgeoisie to the working class. Its constituents were mainly the working ponies across Equestria, who believed wholeheartedly in its message. There were also many supporters amongst the middle classes, as those classes were sharply divided between the SPE and the NSEWP. Representatives in these writings, Twilight Sparkle, Mi Amore Cadenza (Cadance), Rarity, Applejack, Shining Armor, Cheerilee, Mayor Mare, Spitfire, Soarin.

>>29971429
>3. Anarchists of all types. While not on the ballot for the elections of the Mayoral Assembly, and suspicious of elections in general, they were convinced to vote for the SPE, and did so in great numbers. They began arming themselves and organizing into militias well before the election, and were pivotal during the subsequent Civil War. Representatives in these writings, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Discord, Maud Pie, Big Macintosh.
>4. Equestrians Liberal Party, (ELP) a mainly bourgeoisie and petite-bourgeoisie party that opposed continued monarchy but advocated for capitalism rather than socialism. Its members became sharply divided by the rise of the NSEWP, and split between those who were swayed to the side of the SPE by their sympathy towards the working class and those who were co-opted by the fascists. Representatives in these writings, Fancy Pants, Filthy Rich, Coco Pommel.
>5. National Socialist Equestrian Workers Party. (NSEWP) I must confess that among the political works I brought were copies of The Doctrine of Fascism and Mein Kampf. I convinced Twilight Sparkle not to distribute them, but she did give copies to a recently graduated student to read, with dire and unintended consequences. This party was predicated on support not just of monarchy, but of the hierarchical reorganization of society. It advocated Unicorn Supremacy, though with enough of a meritocratic bent that it could be pitched unashamedly to Pegasi and Earth Ponies. Its supporters were mainly upper class unicorns, though it was also able to find support amongst unicorn members of the working class as well. Representatives in these writings, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie Lulamoon, Jet Set, Upper Crust.

>>29971437
Other Organisations
>1. Royal Guard. Composed primarily of Unicorns and Earth Ponies, this group was the core of the Equestrian military. It was divided by the NSEWP coup into two factions, the Loyalists, who stayed by the side of the SPE government, and the Glimmerists, who revolted and attempted to seize key locations all over Equestria
>2. Wonderbolts. The air forces of the Equestrian military, small in numbers but with many of the country’s best fliers. It remained wholly loyal, save for a couple disgraced former members, to the elected SPE government, and while not well trained in military tactics, it would play a key role in the subsequent conflict.
>3. Rainbow Column. A large collection of anarchist militias organized by former Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash. While the column had no official commander or name, Rainbow Dash was the charismatic de facto commander.
>4. Protection Squadrons. (PS) Paramilitary NSEWP units composed entirely of Unicorns, tasked with enforcing the NSEWP program in occupied territories and, in the closing phases of the war, with the defense of Canterlot.

That concludes the intro, now I have to go write Chapter 1.

Reading-right-now bump

bumping while I keep writing

>>29971453
Chapter I
Background

>Toward the end of Summer, just a month before the election of the first Mayoral Assembly, a human Professor of Sociology visiting Equestria came to see me in Ponyville. He had been informed by business ponies and the Canterlot aristocrats that the spread of socialism was slowing down. The Professor wrote an article about it, and then travelled around the country, visiting factory towns and peasant communities-where, to his astonishment, socialism seemed to be spreading faster than ever before. Among the wage-earners and the land-working pponies it was common to hear talk of "all land to the farmers, all factories to the workers." If the Professor had visited the barracks, he would have heard the whole Army talking about the end of war itself.
>The Professor was puzzled, but he need not have been; both observations were correct. The property-owning classes were becoming more conservative, the masses of the ponies more radical.
>There was a feeling among business ponies and the aristocracy generally that the Revolution had gone quite far enough, and lasted too long; that things should settle down. This sentiment was shared by the seemingly dominant "moderate" political group, the Equestrian Liberal Party. Who, laboring under the delusion that their party was about to win a clear majority supported the provisional government of the soon to be formed Mayoral Assembly.

>>29974401
>The day before the elections were to take place the official organ of the ELP said: The drama of Revolution has two acts; the destruction of the old régime and the creation of the new one. The first act has lasted long enough. Now it is time to go on to the second, and to play it as rapidly as possible. As a great revolutionist put it, "Let us hasten, friends, to terminate the Revolution. He who makes it last too long will not gather the fruits"
>Among the worker, royal guard and farmer masses, however, there was a stubborn feeling that the "first act" was not yet played out. In the barracks the guardponies were always running foul of officers who could not get used to treating their troops like human beings; in the heart of Equestria the Land Committees elected by the farmers were being jailed for trying to carry out Government regulations concerning the land; and the workponies in the factories were fighting black-lists and lockouts.
>To the multiform discontent of the ponies the "moderate" ELP had one answer: Wait for the Mayoral Assembly, and trust in the ELP program. But the masses were not satisfied with that. The Mayoral Assembly was all well and good; but there were certain definite things for which the Equestrian Revolution had been made, and for which the working class had risked everything, that seemed contrary to the ELP platform: Land, and Workers' Control of Industry. The Mayoral Assembly election had been postponed and postponed-would probably be postponed again, until the ponies were calm enough-perhaps to modify their demands! At any rate, here were eight months of the Revolution gone, and little enough to show for it.

>>29974415
>But this election would not be postponed, for the propertied classes had so many times brushed aside the complaints of the working class that the ponies had stopped complaining. The polls all showed a massive ELP lead, and so the propertied classes quietly rejoiced and waited for the fateful day with baited breath.
>The policy of the Provisional Government alternated between ineffective reforms and stern repressive measures. An edict from the Socialist Minister of Labour ordered all the Workers' Committees henceforth to meet only after working hours. Attempts were made to disarm the anarchists. Royal Guard units were sent to keep order in the cities and towns.
>The once all-powerful Princesses, Celestia and Luna, were gone from the political scene, having sympathized with the political aspirations of their subjects and stepped down without a fight. They still performed the task of moving the sun and moon, but now from a quiet Canterlot Apartment rather than the Royal Castle.
>These measures were supported by the "moderate" ELP and their leaders in the Ministry, who considered it necessary to assuage the fears of the propertied classes. The people rapidly deserted them, and quietly went over to the SPE, who stood for Peace, Land, and Workers' Control of Industry, and a Government of the working-class. In as the Mayoral Assembly elections came, matters reached a crisis. In a result that shocked none amongst the workers but many of the aristocrats and robber barons, the SPE succeeded in establishing a government on its own, without the propertied classes; and as a result, the SPE Revolutionaries gained the confidence of the ponies forever.

TL;DR

This is faggotry in its most concentrated form

This might be the single most autistic thing I've ever read on this board.

>>29974421
>An article in the Canterlot Gazette a week later, entitled "The Socialist Menace," expressed the feeling of the bourgeoisie against the SPE:
>”We demand the immediate removal from the ranks of the Mayoral Assembly the Socialist Party of Equestria, and especially the political adventurer-Sparkle, as one who is scandalising and ruining the great Revolution, and with it the revolutionary masses, by her shameless political blackmail on behalf of the working class.”
>Since spring of the previous year, when the roaring torrents of workponies beating upon the Royal Castle compelled the royalty to step aside, it was the masses of the ponies, workers, soldiers and farmers. But now a very different force set to work. Outraged over their astonishing electoral defeat, many amongst the bourgeoisie sam themselves turning to a small, fringe party for their salvation. Proclaiming that anything was better than red rule, they endorsed Starlight Glimmer’s National Socialist Equestrian Workers Party. Glimmer’s program was one that, even if they found its racial messaging (Unicorn Supremacy) distasteful, at least offered policies that would protect their property and thus, their power.
>Thus the NSEWP, then a small political sect, found themselves at the head of the bourgeoisie reaction. As they considered their options in the coming few months before the Mayoral Assembly would begin session, it became apparent that nothing less than a rising would be required to stop the socialist cause. They began to recruit masses of thugs, knaves, and miscreants of all kinds to their cause, building a group that they claimed publicly was for the same kind of direct action that the ponies had used to overthrow the monarchy, but that in retrospect was designed to allow them control of the streets when the fateful day of their treachery came. Their provocateurs and reactionaries raised the cry that the SPE were Griffon agents, until ponies in several parts of Equestria believed it.

>>29976247
>But the NSEWP agitators were unable to substantiate their accusations; the documents proving pro-Griffon conspiracy were discovered to be forgeries; [*] and one by one the SPE were [*Part of the famous "Gums Expose"] exonerated of the spurious accusations. The SPE raised again the slogan so dear to the masses, "All Power to the Working Class!"-and the bourgeoisie despaired, as their only path to keep their power was backing Glimmer’s plans for the conquest of Equestria.
>Deeply concerning were the signs everywhere that the forces of reaction were gaining confidence. At the theatre in Ponyville, for example, a burlesque called Sins of Celestia was interrupted by a group of Monarchists, who threatened to lynch the actors for "insulting the sun" Certain newspapers began to sigh for a "Equestrian Napoleon." It was the usual thing among bourgeois intelligentsia to refer to the Council of Ponyville Workers as “The Council of Ponyville Whiners.”
>As fall dragged on I had a conversation with a great Equestrian royal, Prince Blueblood, known as the "Equestrian Reebus"-a Monarchist by political faith. "Revolution," he said, "is a sickness. Sooner or later somepony must intervene here-as one would intervene to cure a sick child, and teach it how to walk. Of course it would be more or less improper, but the ponies must realise the danger of socialism, especially concepts like 'universal social revolution'. There is a chance that this intervention may not be necessary. Transportation is demoralised and the factories are closing down. Starvation may bring the Equestrian ponies to their senses.”
>Blueblood was emphatic in his opinion that whatever happened, it would be impossible for merchants and manufacturers to allow the workers any share in the management of industry.

>>29976259
>He was also dismissive of the socialists: "As for the SPE, they will be done away with by one of two methods. the Government can evacuate Ponyville, then a state of siege declared, and the military commander of the district can deal with these radicals without legal formalities. Or if, for example, the Mayoral Assembly manifests any Utopian tendencies, it can be dispersed by force of arms."
>To Americans it is incredible that the class war should develop to such a pitch. But I have personally met factory owners in Fillydelphia who frankly preferred economic disaster to cooperation with the working class. The secretary of the Ponyville branch of the Liberal party told me that the break-down of the country's economic life was part of a campaign to discredit the Revolution. A Griffon Kingdom diplomat, whose name I promised not to mention, confirmed this from her own knowledge. I know of certain gold-mines near Las Pegasus which were fired and flooded by their owners, of textile factories at Manehattan whose engineers put the machinery out of order when they left, and of railroad officials caught by the workers in the act of crippling locomotives.
>A large section of the propertied classes preferred the NSEWP to the Revolution-even to the liberal Provisional Government-and didn't hesitate to say so. One evening I spent at the house of a Canterlot aristocrat; during tea we asked the eleven ponies at the table whether they preferred "Glimmer or the Reds." The vote was ten to one for Glimmer.

>>29976285
>The speculators took advantage of the universal disorganisation to pile up fortunes, and to spend them in fantastic revelry. Foodstuffs and fuel were hoarded, or secretly sent out of the country to Yakyakistan. In the first four months of the Revolution, for example, the reserve food-supplies were almost openly looted from the great Municipal storehouses of Ponyville, until the two-years' provision of hay had fallen to less than enough to feed the town for one month.... According to the official report of the last Minister of Supplies in the Provisional Government, coffee was bought wholesale in Baltimare for two bits a pound, and the consumer in Ponyville paid thirteen. In all the stores of the large cities were tons of food and clothing; but only the rich could buy them.
>In a provincial town I knew a merchant family turned speculator-bandit. The three sons had bribed their way out of royal guard service. One gambled in foodstuffs. Another sold illegal gold from the Unicorn Range mines to mysterious parties in Griffonstone. The third owned a controlling interest in a chocolate factory, which supplied the local Cooperative societies-on condition that the Cooperatives furnished him everything he needed. And so, while the masses of the people got a quarter pound of black bread on their bread cards, he had an abundance of white bread, sugar, tea, candy, cake and butter. Yet when the workers could no longer continue from cold, hunger and exhaustion, how indignantly did this family scream "Lazy bums!"-how "ashamed" they were "to be Equestrians"... When finally the SPE found and requisitioned vast hoarded stores of provisions, what "Robbers" they were.
>Beneath all this external rottenness the Dark Forces of the NSEWP continued their work, very active. The agents of the now-notorious Secret State Police had their beginnings, working to recruit soldiers to their cause. In the darkness, the NSEWP made final preparations to restore reaction.

>>29976751
>In this atmosphere of corruption, of monstrous half-truths, one clear note sounded day after day, the deepening chorus of the SPE, "All Power to the Working Class! All power to the direct representatives of hundreds of thousands of common workers, soldiers, farmers. Land, hay, an end to speculation, treachery. The Revolution is in danger, and with it the cause of sentient beings all over the universe!"
>The struggle between the proletariat and the upper class, between the workers and the reactionaries, which had begun in the first spring days, was about to culminate. Having at one bound leaped from the Industrial revolution into the twenty-first century, Equestria showed our startled worlds two systems of Revolution-the political and the social-in mortal combat.
>What a revelation of the vitality of the Equestrian Revolution, after all these months of starvation and disillusionment! The bourgeoisie should have better known its Equestria. Not for a long time in Equestria will the "sickness" of Revolution have run its course.
>Looking back, Equestria before the winter insurrection seems of another age, almost incredibly conservative. So quickly did we adapt ourselves to the newer, swifter life; just as Equestrian politics swung bodily to the Left-the "middle" ELP leaders, Fancy Pants and Filthy Rich, were too reactionary for their following.

>>29976247
>>29976259
>>29976285
>>29976751
>>29977133
Please stop posting, you fucking retard. It's obvious nobody wants to read it.