Progressive Workers' Party (Essexia)

Progressive Workers' Party
Progressive Workers' Party
Leader	Lord Sam
Secretary	Earl Finn
Founded	26 July 2018 (As the Liberal Socialist & Coop. Party)
Headquarters	Danbury, Essexia
Membership (2019)	▲ 7
Ideology	Democratic socialism; Reformism; Factions:; Luxemburgism; Libertarian Socialism
Political position	Left-wing to Far-Left
Colours	Red White
Slogan	Offering a fair deal
Anthem	Part of the Union; -Strawbs
Members of Parliament	2 / 11
Cabinet Members	2 / 15

The Progressive Workers' Party, or simply PWP, is a centre-left to left wing political party in the Commonwealth of Essexia. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as a blend of socialist and capitalist ideals, while observers describe the Progressive Workers as social-democratic and pragmatic in practice. The Progressive Workers are the oldest political party in Essexia being founded originally on 26 July 2018, but was re-branded on the 19 May 2020.

The Progressive Workers' Party within the Rhino Alliance currently forms the Official Government in the Parliament of Essexia, having the largest number of seats in the Parliament as a party.

History

The party was founded as the Liberal Socialist and Cooperative Party by Earl Finn of Hawarden due to Finn's social democratic beliefs and support of the cooperative movement and his fear that without a credible left wing party Essexia would be taken over by the elites and ordinary citizens would be ignored. The party managed to rise to form a minority government as the Earl held influence from helping create the Royal Bank of Essexia, and was tasked by Emperor Terry to create the Parliament and, in return the Emperor granted the Liberal Socialists the second largest amount of seats after the Royalist Party and the opportunity to form a minority government with the support of the Royalists.

After the Treaty of Chelmsford on 19 September 2018, the party became the ruling party of the newly-established Commonwealth of Essexia, taking over from the National Conservative Party of Essexia's ruling of the Federation of Essexia.

On 31 December 2018, the party was shaken to its core as the Royalists, whom the LibSocs were in a coalition with, voted with the opposition and passed the Monarchical Reform Act, making Emperor Terry an absolute ruler. The Liberal Socialist Prime Minister Earl Finn resigned in protest, so former National ConservativeLord Chris joined the LibSocs to become the leader of the LibSocs in the Parliament, and was appointed to the newly renamed role of First Minister on New Year's Day 2019. However, the Monarchial Reform Act was later revoked.

Later, by demand of Emperor Terry, Earl Finn was appointed to the role of First Minister again due to the Emperor's disapproval of Chris' leadership and a period of soured relations with the leader of the NatCons.

On the 27 May, Crown Minister Elliot joined the party becoming the only Liberal Socialists cabinet minister after Earl Finn left the role of First Minister.

16 June 2019 saw the introduction of a new logo for the Liberal Socialists.

The 1 July 2019 election saw the Liberal Socialists win 2 seats, with the Commonwealth Party granting the sole seat they won to the Liberal Socialists, making the Liberal Socialists both the official opposition and only opposition to the Royalists in Parliament.

Following a mutual feeling among party members on International Workers' Day 2020 (May 1), the party officially re-branded itself to the Progressive Workers' Party.

Prior Logos

Liberal Socialist logo 26 July 2018 to 16 June 2019

Liberal Socialist logo 16 June 2019 to 19 May 2020

Hawarden Ministry

The Hawarden Ministry came about after the coup of 16 September 2018, as the libsocs was the primary party pushing for a return of Emperor Terry to power, although the libsocs demanded a significant reduction of royal power, which was achieved after the Emperor returned to power. After the Emperor's return to power and the creation of the National Parliament of Essexia, the Royalist party formed out of independent members, but the new rules lain down after the coup stated that no one who desired a return to an absolute monarchy could hold the office of Prime Minister, so the Royalists turned to the Liberal Socialists to be their PM as the Liberal Socialists supported the monarchy throughout the coup, even if they did have differing opinions on the level of power they should have, and the National Conservatives were the party that couped in the first place, causing much distrust of the NatCons.

The Hawarden Ministry was largely uneventful, except for the night of the 31 December 2018, when the royalists pushed through the Monarchical Powers Act 2018, which returned a great deal of power to the monarch and greatly undermined Essexian democracy. Due to the passing of this act Earl Finn resigned as Prime Minister in protest. This lead to the end of what the Liberal Socialists see as the most democratic time in Essexian history, but after the Danbury Conference Earl Finn stated to FAR Network that "a golden age of freedom and democracy could very well be right around the corner".

Essexian Political Commonwealth

Essexian Political Commonwealth I

The Essexian Political Commonwealth started when the Lord Chris came to power taking over from Earl Finn as Prime Minister, which was renamed to First Minister on 1 January 2019. Lord Chris had less of an issue with the increase of monarchical power, Lord Chris' tenure as First Minister for the Liberal Socialists is seen by historians as not a true LibSoc government but instead almost a NatCon government in the disguise of an Liberal Socialist-Royalist Coalition. This is as Lord Chris wasn't truly seen as a liberal socialist or a cooperatist but instead a tory socialist who would be more at home in the National Conservative or the Royalist parties, but was an Liberal Socialists member as he wanted to be First Minister of Essexia. Lord Chris' tenure saw the passing of the finalised version of the Essexian Constitution of 17 January 2019, but was cut short when he had a falling out with the then King Terry, who fired Chris from his role of First Minister on 12 February 2019.

Essexian Political Commonwealth II

After Lord Chris was removed, the then King Terry demanded the return of Earl Finn, who accepted after Lord Chris left the LibSocs and joined the NatCons. Earl Finn served more as a figure head FM during his second tenure with no real power being granted to him and all power being held by the Royalists, but it was though falsely by Earl Finn that he could change the government from the inside rather than in opposition. The rule stating that absolute monarchists couldn't be FM was soon revoked. Although, in Earl Finn's second tenure he did oversee Essexia FC's first participation in a competition and the May military parade in Sandon. With his second period in office being quickly coming to an end after the parade with relations between the Royalists and Liberal Socialists souring, so the Royalists placed their own in the First Minister seat Lord Jamie, marking the end of the Essexian political Commonwealth.

Opposition under Jamie Ministry

Since the end of the Essexian Political Commonwealth were relegated to the 2nd opposition party after the NatCons. The Liberal Socialists have seen their greatest growth during their time in opposition. With the entrance of Crown Minister Elliot into the party, the Liberal Socialists has pledged itself to expanding Essexian democracy, and not partaking in any backroom deals, and increasing transparency. Earl Finn has gone on record saying that "it was a mistake to work with the Royalists and let my guard down, and to think I trusted that they would honour our democracy". Earl Finn attended the Danbury Conference, with the second day taking place at the Liberal Socialists Party HQ, and Earl Finn remarked to FAR Network that "a golden age of freedom and democracy could very well be right around the corner and together we finally might be able to give Essexians the fair deal they deserve".

The 2019 Essexian general election, although the Liberal Socialists achieved their goal of winning a second seat in the Imperial Parliament, the result wasn't seen as good for Essexian democracy as the Royalists won a landslide victory, winning 8 of the 11 seats in parliament, meaning they would have no need to worry about losing a vote which would allow them to pass any law they desire. The outcome was respected by the Liberal Socialists even if it wasn't ideal as the Liberal Socialists had worked with the Royalists multiple times in the past and it is hoped that the Royalist Lords will make up their own minds when voting and not just vote yes or no as that is way the party leadership wants as had been the case when the Liberal Socialists worked with the Royalists, so Essexia could have a meaningful opposition.

However the 2019 Essexian general election saw the Liberal Socialists become the main opposition to Royalist Party in the Imperial Parliament, having 3 members of the 11 members of the parliament. Due to being the main opposition party the Liberal Socialists were thus the Official Opposition, with Earl Finn serving as Leader of the Opposition. The Liberal Socialists have 3 main members of the party, and they were the Liberal Socialist Lords in Parliament:

After the 2019 general election the Liberal Socialists won 2 seats, and the seat the Commonwealth Party won, was given to the Liberal Socialists by the newly inaugurated Commonwealth Party leader, then Lord Ben, giving the Liberal Socialists 3 out of 11 seats in the new parliament.

The Jamie Ministry came to a crashing end during the 'Black Weekend, where the Old Royalist element of the Royalist plotted to call a vote of no confidence in Lord Jamie's First Ministership, it should be noted that a no confidence vote in Lord Jamie as First Minister would not cause a general election but instead force the ruling party to change their first minister. Both the New Royalists and the Old Royalist factions approached the Liberal Socialists leader, Earl Finn of Hawarden, to get Liberal Socialists support. Earl Finn was initially hesitant to support either side, as he saw getting rid of Jamie would make someone less sympathetic to the Liberal Socialist's desires in power, but he also still remembered Lord Jamie's actions during the crisis of May 26. Earl Finn eventually told the Old Royalists he would vote for no confidence in the government, that would lead to a general election, but not no confidence in Lord Jamie's First Ministership. The Old Royalists rejected his proposal so in retaliation he told Lord Jamie who was plotting against him. When Lord Matthew found out about it he resigned from the Royalists and the parliament creating, this was followed by multiple Royalists resigning from the party with only the 4 New Royalist Lords remaining part of the party, for the Royalists to rule a majority government they would require the support of the Liberal Socialists, who were hesitant to form a coalition with Lord Jamie, as historically the Liberal Socialists had been bullied into submission by the Royalists in previous coalitions and a coalition did not have the clear support of the Liberal Socialist and Cooperative Party, leading to there being no clear first party in the parliament. So after much turmoil, Lord Jamie resigned from his position as First Minister just before Emperor Terry declared martial law making Crown Minister Jacob, Lord Commissar of Essexia.

Opposition to Martial Law

The Liberal Socialists were the main party opposed to martial law as Lord Jacob was a traditionalist and it was unclear whether or not Lord Jacob would simply scrap the parliament and restore the absolute monarchy that existed prior to the September Coup. The Liberal Socialists instead proposed that Lord Jack head the military government, however this was strongly against the wishes of the majority of the Old Guard.

The military regime was a significant part of the policy motivation during the writing of the Liberal Socialists party manifesto, and thus the Liberal Socialists manifesto focuses on significantly limiting the power of the military during peacetime and the monarchy, as well as making it harder to declare martial law.

Opposition under the Jacob Ministry

The parliament was restored by Emperor Terry after 8 days of martial law and the Liberal Socialists returned to parliament with one fewer seat than they left, with newly created Old Guard Party having a plurality of seats with 5 of the 11 seats. The Liberal Socialists were relegated to a secondary opposition after the Emperor's reinstatement of parliament, although they had less Lords than the Royalists, they were seen as a more credible opposition by the FM.

However, in the post martial law parliament, the idea of the more liberal post-martial Royalist Party and the Liberal Socialists to form a liberal government against the Old Guard's minority had been suggested, but the coalition would've require the support of the Weeaboo Rights Party, who historically have disagreed with the Liberal Socialists on most issues other than rights for weebs. The idea had also been floated around of a merger between the liberal post-martial Royalists and the Liberal Socialists , to form a united opposition and possibly the first truly left-wing, liberal government in Essexia, but this suggestion never developed due to the lack of dialogue between the two parties, and the complete lack of support from all other members of Parliament, and thus it never came to fruition.

Ideology

The Liberal Socialist and Cooperative Party is a moderate socialist party, that advocates for a blend of capitalist and socialist ideals, there is a more moderate faction within the party that could be described as social liberals, over the social democratic party establishment. The Liberal Socialists has recently renewed its promise to expand Essexian democracy and liberty, and freedom, to keep inline with party values as represented by the party slogan "Offering a fair deal"

Historically Essexia's Liberal Socialists had little problem with the monarchy's power in practice, but as the Royalist Party rose the Liberal Socialist's practical approach to monarchical power began to reflect their values of limiting monarchical power. With Crown Minister Elliot joining the party, he brought a determined sense of democratic desire to the party, and brought the idea of a fair democracy to the front and center of the Liberal Socialists.

After the 2019 election, Lord Sam joined the Liberal Socialists bringing a more radical Luxemburgist views to the party.