The Republic: Interlude 1
The Republic
K. J. Pedersen
Interlude
The Niew Lifrapol Evening Post
Serving North Lancascir for over two hundred years
Est. A. D. 1861
Saturday ❖ October 13, 2074 A.D.
Militia Breaks Strike
Liberian Republican
Guard clashes with
anarchist union
NIEW LIFRAPOL — Quick thinking and decisive action on the part of Capt. Arthur J. W. Sigewulfson may have saved lives in Niew Lifrapol. When the state militia moved on Proconsul Grimdwoldson’s order to break the week old strike Friday night, Capt. Sigewulfson’s light mobile infantry unit, the Liberian 57th, used stunners and new ‘electro-magnetic stun ’ grenades to quickly subdue recalcitrant workers.
No lives were lost in the confrontation between the state militia and labor unions in Niew Lifrapol, though injuries, many serious, are believed to have numbered close to one hundred.
Though no lives were lost in Niew Lifrapol, four were reported killed in the mining town of Tiberias, and fifteen in the port city of Sæham æt Eoforwic. Across Liberia, reports of deaths were few, though injuries were widespread, numbering in the thousands.
Liberian Proconsul Æthelwulf Grimwoldson ordered the leaders and members of the striking unions to end their ‘strike action’ no latter than seven o'clock Friday evening. Members of the liberal democratic Anglian National Congress of Labor, and the Communitarian Party’s labor affiliate, the Christian Workers’ Community, heeded Grimwoldson’s order, and abandoned the strike at seven o’clock. However, anarchists of the World Confederation of Libertarian Workers and various socialist unions defied the government in every city where those unions were active.
When seven o’clock came to the Polynesian time zone, the proconsul ordered the militia to break the strikes, allowing the use of “appropriate force.” At one minute after nine o’clock in Niew Lifrapol, the order was received by unit commanders, and action against the striking workers was taken.
The skirmish which ensued was quickly ended.
Grundtvig Vilhjalmarsson, a delegate of the WCLW, was arrested immediately thereafter. He was later released on 1,000RS bail, and has been ordered to appear in court in November. Abshalom ben Tsidkiyyahu, Vitali K. Bogdanov, and Úna Ricsdohtor, representatives of the Federation of Socialist Workers, were also arrested, and later released on bail. All four unionists were charged with trespassing, inciting public disorder, and interfering with local, national, and international commerce. If found guilty, each could face up to 10,000RS in fines and/or five years in prison.
Grundtvig Vilhjalmarsson, an anarchist, also faces charges of “conspiracy to overthrow the government, sedition — two separate charges — and endangering national security.”
“These are very serious accusations,” said Josef Maria von Kempen, Attorney General of the Republic of Liberia. “I must emphasize the fact that Herra Vilhjalmarsson has not been so charged. A thorough investigation, however, is pending.”
If charges of conspiracy, sedition, and endangering national security are filed, and Vilhjalmarsson is convicted, he could face up to thirty-five years in prison on each count.
Several other delegates and members of the WCLW were also arrested, including an individual, unidentified as of yet to the public, who fired a high powered rifle from a rooftop at Dock 17.
Eyewitness reports state the sniper’s target was a microwave weapon and not the soldier so armed. The weapon was destroyed and the soldier was unharmed.
When asked about the incident, Attorney General Von Kempen said this individual would be “[C]harged with disorderly conduct, recklessness, and discharging a firearm within city limits.”
In all, there were three-hundred-fourteen arrests, including that of seventy-two youths under the age of twenty.
The state militia was aided in its efforts by the private security firm Oxnaford Services, Inc. in Niew Lifrapol and Sæham æt Eoforwic. Heremund Scarthaburh, president of Oxnaford, reports no employees of his firm were killed. Reports of injuries are “yet to be reviewed and confirmed.”
The coordination of efforts by the Liberian government and others within the Anglian Federative Republic was facilitated by First Consul Ceolwulfson, who made federal troops available to the proconsuls of each constituent republic upon request.
Martial law was lifted in Corpus Christi promptly at nine o’clock this morning.
By noon Saturday, the strikes elsewhere — which have hampered economic activity from Terra Nova to Europa and from Asia to Africa — were quelled. (See related story ‘Strikes end across world’ on A2.)
Mass termination of strikers mean an entirely new workforce shall resume work Monday morning. In Niew Lifrapol, the new workforce shall be represented by the business-friendly Christian Brotherhood of Labor.
Arabian oil tanker catches fire in Sinonesia
ALEXANDRIA — The oil supertanker Al-Jizah erupted in flames early this morning a mile and a half off the coast of Panæ, one of the many islands in the Sinonesian archipelago.
The Republic of Sinonesia has called for an investigation, but acknowledges the condition and age of the vessel were likely the cause of the accident. Construction of the Al-Jizah was commissioned in 1972 by the Ægyptian government.
Concern about environmental damage has prompted teams from the Terran Republic to join the Sinonesians and Arabians in the investigation. (Story continued on page A17.)
Strikes end across world
CORPUS CHRISTI — Labor disputes the world over came to an end by midday Saturday with the capitulation of the All-Iberian Workers’ Confederation to police in the city of Portus Cale, Lusitania, Republic of Iberia.
“Credit is due Proconsul Grimwoldson,” said Lusitanian businessman Augustus Vilfredi. “The Liberian government acted appropriately and served to prompt other governments throughout the world to stand up to these anarchists and red republicans, like those of the All-Iberian Workers’ Confederation.”
This year has seen a marked increase in tensions between labor and capital. Economists disagree about the causes, but most believe the deepening recession has hurt relations between workers and their employers. And recent months have seen a rash of strikes erupt across the world.
“We feared the unions might call for a general strike,” said Ivo Stepan Ilic, president of the Serbian National Bank. “The anti-business sentiments of these individuals cannot be overstated.”
“A general strike? That is overstating matters,” said Senator Baldur Kófód of Varmland, Scandia. (Kófód is the only socialist in the Senate of the Terran Republic.) “True, there were strikes on every continent, in every nation, but in all, only seventy cities worldwide were involved in this strike action. And far less than a million workers took part.”
“This strike has cost millions, tens of millions,” Ilic said. “Senator Kófód can turn a blind eye to the damage his comrades have wrought. I cannot!”
“Who suffers most from the strikes?” Senator Kófód asked. “The workers do, not the bankers. But what choice do working men and women have when they have been robbed of every political means to secure a decent standard of living? Anti-business? How dare men like Ivo Ilic accuse the producers themselves of being ‘anti-business’! As for the government ... their actions will be remembered as a massacre!”
“Left-wing lies,” said Ilic. “Nothing more than lies.”
For the most part, it must be said, the strikes were ended with a minimal use of force. Private security firms, police, state militias and regular army soldiers succeeded in their objectives with little loss of life. The exception being in the Ukrainian Province of the Republic of the Rus.
Striking workers in Kiev, mostly left-wing Red Republicans, of the anarchistic Social Democratic Workers of the World union, fought back. They came armed. Twenty-nine soldiers were killed, along with eighty-seven workers. Other violent incidents occurred elsewhere in the vast Ruthenian republic, and martial law is still in effect in the capital and throughout the District of Muscovia. Provinces still under martial law include Ukrainia, Carelia, Livonia, Volhynia, Polonia, Wallachia, Serbia, and Iakutia.
Strikes in the Anglian Federative Republic were concentrated in the Liberian cities of Corpus Christi (the strike was ended there by implementation of martial law), Niew Lifrapol, Tiberias, and Sæham æt Eoforwic; in Nyhavn, Nova Scandia; Clodowigshafen, Gallia Nova; Neu Frankenstadt, Francia Nova; Niew Dunham and Heortforda, Nova Anglia; Lundenwic, Mamescæster, Norwic, and Eoforwic in Anglia; Cardiff, Cambria; Aberdeen and Angus in Caledonia; and throughout Hibernia, particularly in Meath, Louth, and Armagh. Strikes in Antilia Major and Antilia Minor, Nova Caledonia, Nova Cambria, and Nova Hibernia were less common.
“We acted in the public’s best interest,” General Philipson said last night from his headquarters in Corpus Christi. “The unions in Liberia are broken. It will be a long time before they sabotage the economy of the AFR again.”
Rus and Sinæ acknowledge ‘incident’
DAMASCUS — Pressed by Akinori Fujii, First Consul of the Terran Republic, and the Senate, the governments of the Republic of the Rus and the Sinæ Republic and Federated Asian States officially acknowledged an ‘orbital incident’ occurred last week.
Though military evidence surrounding the ‘incident’ is still lacking, it is known the Ruthenians used a tactical atomic weapon in violation of federal treaties. Atomic weapons, of any size or type, are not permitted within a radius of fifteen thousand miles of the earth.
“According to the treaties which accompanied the foundation of the Terran Republic, atomic weapons are to be strictly regulated by the federal government,” said Grand Air Marshal Thomas Meier, commander of the Alemannian Aerospace Defense Forces. “A moratorium on strategic and fusions weapons has been in effect since 2045. And tactical fission weapons may only be built and deployed off-world. The Rus are clearly in violation of treaty.”
The Sinitic frigate Hainan was destroyed by a fission weapon during the incident.
Senator Titus Vinicius Ovinus (Conservative, Catalonia Nova) has drawn up an official sanction against the Rus and Sinæ. He will present it to the Senate during Monday’s session. It is expected to pass as both Conservatives and Liberals have condemned the governments of Ruthenia and Sinæ.
The incident is likely an extension of the ongoing controversy over the precise border between Ruthenia and Sinæ in eastern Siberia, in the Iakutian Province. But neither Ruthenian nor Sinitic officials would comment.
Official diplomatic relations remain stable between the two nations, though many respected political and military analysts speculate the Terran Republic will have to act in the near future to avert further ‘incidents.’
End of Part I
To be continued with Part II — Rumors of War, Chapter 1....