The Transition - 1989 PCE Congress

[Lumine]

March 1989 - PCE delegates have the future of Spain on their hands

Prelude: Pressured domestically and abroad by economic and foreign policy blunders but having a strong base of support due to domestic success, the Partido Comunista de España is set to choose a new leader for the party and the government after Pere Ardiaca's stroke. With Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union already in turnmoil as Communist regimes begin to show signs of weakness, what will be the direction chosen by PCE?

The Candidates

Ignacio Gallego: Already 75 years old and a historic member of the party, Gallego is the main ideologist for the hardline pro-Soviet faction and one of the most powerful men of the Ardiaca government as Deputy PM and Foreign Minister. Standing up for those who believe any concessions to the opposition would compromise the revolution and lead to its collapse, Gallego stands for continued association with Moscow, redoubling the campaign against the democratic opposition and the Catholic Church, opposing any attempts at political liberalization and cementing the Revolution's dream of a "socialist paradise" in a secular, marxist Spain. Gallego has also been highly critical of Carrillo and his followers, dismissing them as "counterrevolutionary".

Santiago Carrillo: Dethroned by Ardiaca and a very controversial figure, former leader Santiago Carrillo is back (at the age of 74) to fight to regain the leadership along his old Carrillistas, a faction which continues to stand for Eurocommunism and for charting a socialist future away from the Soviet Union and willing to accept political pluralism. Standing on a very controversial platform Carrillo argues the regime will collapse if no liberalization is attempted, arguing to retain the communist economic model while holding up democratic elections in which other parties (it is unclear whether those will be to the right of PSOE or not) can take place to legitimize the regime. Carrillo has led an active campaign blasting Gallego for attempting to drive the party into the ground through hardline policies and Iglesias for being unprepared to govern.

Gerardo Iglesias: The youngest of the candidates (44 years old), Iglesias is a former miner whose main concern has always been keeping a strong link between the party and social movements rather than ideology, and as a result he's been highly critical of Carrillo and Gallego for an excessive focus on ideological dogma rather than maintaining the social spirit of the Revolution. As a result Iglesias's exact ideological foundation is somewhat unclear - and he's come under fire for his considerable lack of experience -, but he has expressed his opposition to political liberalization and his desire to connect the party with its social base to cement the regime.

Two days. Victory belongs to the candidate with the most votes, no second round.

[DavidB.]

Gallego, for that messy and exciting collapse when the USSR finally falls

[Intell]

Carrillo.

[Former President tack50]

Carrillo seems the only one in favour of democracy so him

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

Carrillo. More democracy!

[ABTars2000]

Carrillo

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Carrillo!

[Dereich]

Gallego. I like the idea of the Spanish extremes adopting bad systems a bit too late: the Francoists creating a nationalist military junta as dictatorship was dying in Europe and then the Communists going for a pro-Soviet hard-line communist dictatorship as the Warsaw Pact fell apart. Looking forward to a future Spanish government adopting the Washington Consensus in 2008 and beginning hardcore austerity in 2014.

P.S. Remember the beginning of the game when everyone was arguing about whether the right should get an automatic election bonus? How things have changed.

[DC Al Fine]

Carrillo because I want to see how Atlas responds to managed democracy.

[MAINEiac4434]

Carrillo

[America Needs R'hllor]

Gallego, for that messy and exciting collapse when the USSR finally falls

[Dereich]

Carrillo because I want to see how Atlas responds to managed democracy.

I assume Atlas will respond by quickly aiming to make it unmanaged democracy so the game can be redirected towards the comfortable social democratic dominance that every game inevitably falls into.

[Former President tack50]

Carrillo because I want to see how Atlas responds to managed democracy.

I assume Atlas will respond by quickly aiming to make it unmanaged democracy so the game can be redirected towards the comfortable social democratic dominance that every game inevitably falls into.

Well, the only free elections thus far were UCD landslides so assuming Suárez runs again (¿CDS?) I could see more centrist governments XD Alternatively, González won 4 elections in a row and narrowly won the 5th OTL so it wouldn't be that unrealistic?

Then again iirc OP does have some protections against too much dominance from one party, they just haven't been necessary yet.

[DC Al Fine]

Carrillo because I want to see how Atlas responds to managed democracy.

I assume Atlas will respond by quickly aiming to make it unmanaged democracy so the game can be redirected towards the comfortable social democratic dominance that every game inevitably falls into.

Well, the only free elections thus far were UCD landslides so assuming Suárez runs again (¿CDS?) I could see more centrist governments XD Alternatively, González won 4 elections in a row and narrowly won the 5th OTL so it wouldn't be that unrealistic?

Then again iirc OP does have some protections against too much dominance from one party, they just haven't been necessary yet.

Agreed. The weighting system, particularly the government fatigue rule ought to ensure the centre right has a decent showing.

[Lumine]

Some 12 hours left and it's a Gallego / Carrillo race with an edge for the Carrilistas.

[Kingpoleon]

Carrillo! Free Suárez, Hero of Spain! Arrest the murderers of the king! Bring democracy to socialism, or face your people.

[Kingpoleon]

Carrillo! Free Suárez, Hero of Spain! Arrest the murderers of the king! Bring democracy to socialism, or face your people.

this should count as negative votes for Carrillo

Your support for counter-revolutionary slaughter-men will be remembered, camarada.

((OOC: Will we join Comecon and support Yugoslavia? Perhaps Živorad Kovačević or Milka Planinc will be our great ally, keeping ahold of Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Spain as the Soviet Bloc falls apart.))