Groupthink

Groupthink is a Lovian political strategy handled by the Communist Party of Lovia. The concept was created by Jon Johnson and out into practice together with Yuri Medvedev. The strategy is ought to unite all leftist ideas and politicians in a joint front against rightist populism. After a few failures and the startup of some new socialist parties like the New Lovian Socialists and the LLCP, the party top discussed a new plan to start conversations with the leaders of different political organizations. The new initiative was unanimously accepted at a party meeting and it's seen as one of the greatest goals of the party. The Lefties will make a more coherent and constituent policy than ever.

Groupthink Strategy and Pamphlet

Groupthink is a layered approach which works on three levels. First of all it assures that all members of the CPL.nm are on the same line and that the official party line is respected. The party can only act strong if every member defends its policy. Second, it holds a transparent communication and close cooperation with several other organizations such as the party-bound union Vox Populi. This to find more unity among younger members and employee; the only way to convince is to unite. In a final stage Groupthink expresses the equalization of the participating MOTC-members their minds. All leftist parties must contribute to a leftist front against rightist populism and neoliberal dogma.

It started as a project of the Communist Party but since the goal is to unite all leftists other socialist parties were asked to join. The New Socialist Party and the Labor and Liberal Centrist Party are expected to react positive on the pamphlet that was created by Yuri Medvedev to support the groupthink strategy.

Content

Socialism is an ideology of liberation; liberation of the dependency from one's surrounding, background and characteristics. Socialism starts from the equivalency of all people to assure the full development of each individual. The means through which we can achieve this are democracy, solidarity and equal access to the necessary services and resources by collective management. There are many different ways to reach a socialist society. The social party is however an agent and not the final goal; she should organize itself according to the democratic principle and should be transparent and open.

• Local government stands closest to the people and should thus be able to react best on local needs and differences. Local governments should be given a clear package of powers and the current mandatory mayors are to be democratically elected. Finally, we must work on a system of participatory democracy on those local levels.
• Our economy consists of nothing but private corporations. While we must make sure we don't suffocate the market, the motor of our welfare sate, we should take over key industries like energy, water and transportation. Public goods should be handled by public services. We also need a financial regulator like a central bank to keep an eye on the financial markets.
• The media play an important role in the democratic processes of our society. Therefore we must assure pluralism and give a counterweight to the market logic which is invading our media. A too dominant neoliberal view will after all reduce our cultural diversity to the principles of the market system and erode values such as justice and solidarity.
• We must fight the causes of poverty to eradicate it, currently we are only fighting its symptoms. As socialists we must come with a plan that deals with unemployment, under-education and alcohol abuse. In the first two cases we need to create possibilities, the latter is partially symptomatic but nonetheless deserves our attention too.
• Societies are held together because its people share the same values; if this social cohesion gets lost, the communality will disappear as well. The neoliberal dogma and the auction of conservative right are responsible for the hyper-individualism which erodes our ethics. Socialists have to put forth their own functional system of values as an alternative.

These should be the guidelines for three future plans of our leftist front:

1. An Economic Reform Act that foresees in a stronger state by introducing state owned companies and more regulation.
2. An Act on the Fight Against Poverty which expands our social safety net to education and fights alcohol abuse.
3. A dialogue with neoliberal and conservative parties, engaging them in an intellectual debate.

Results

Economic Involvement Act

1. The Lovian Government has the power to execute direct economic activities
   1. In the form of a State-owned Company (SOC) when having a majority of the shares
      1. A SOC is headed and run by a branch of the involved department(s)
      2. The goal of a SOC is to provide a certain public service
      3. Any company providing a public service can become a SOC
         1. When declared a public service, only a SOC can provide it
   2. In the form of a State-involved Company (SIC) when having a minority of the shares
      1. A SIC is run privately but with the involved department(s) as shareholder(s)
      2. A SIC is a means in the execution of the governmental policies
      3. Any company that is of importance to governmental policy can become a SIC
2. Only the Congress has the power to approve or alter the statute of a SOC or SIC
3. The executing powers are responsible for their own economic decisions
4. A complete list of all SOC/SIC and their specifications:
   1. Lovian Energy Company (60%) - Department of Energy and Environment
   2. Unified Railroad Company (60%) - Department of Transportation

Notes: (not to be added in the law)

• The Lovian Energy Company will be a merger of the energy-producing branch of Ecompany and Walkernet
• The Unified Railroad Company will be a merger of the Pacific Railroad Company and Newhaven Express/Connect
• The remaining shares will be divided between the current company owners

Act on the Fight Against Poverty

1. A Board on the Fight Against Poverty is to be constructed under the Department of Welfare
   1. This board will exist out of five members: the Secretary of Welfare, three people appointed by the Secretary and the Prime Minister
   2. This board is to occupy itself with the following tasks:
      1. The evaluation and financial support of voluntary organizations that aid the poor
      2. The creation and management of facilities to give shelter and food to the homeless
      3. The creation and management of a Center for Societal Welfare (CSW)
         1. The CSW can grant payments to the poor in exchange for assistance
         2. The CSW can appoint social residences with low rent to people in need
   3. This board is to work together closely with other initiatives that fight poverty
2. The Department of Culture, Heritage and Education has to foresee a Learning Point
   1. The Learning Point offers cheap basic education according to the low doorstep principle
   2. The Learning Point should focus on guiding poorly or low educated people
   3. The Learning Point can be an instrument for the CWS to aid its people

Participating Members

Communist Party

In general the CPL.nm is a modern communist party which is openly leftist and defends proposals that can be considered radical. The party tries to achieve a democratic socialism by distilling a coherent policy out if a consistent theory. It is clearly influenced by marxism and the New Left movement from the seventies. The scientific-theoretic approach that is handled by the CPL.nm is unique in Lovia. All members defend the same party program, but different accents are put forth by each member.

Yuri Medvedev is the founder and leader of the Communist Party. He also wrote most of the party program and thus his views are very closely related to the official ones. Medvedev is a genuine neo-marxist and draws inspiration from modern theories that criticize contemporary society. He is very keen on keeping the scientific image of the policy and the theoretic base supporting the party views. An illustrative quote: 'Society works according to certain mechanism, mechanisms that can be studied. If we understand those mechanisms we can use them to the benefit of all'. Medvedev doesn't avoid any dogma and dares to put forth controversial solutions from time to time making him less consensual than other figures.

Alyssa C. Red is a more traditional socialist who doesn't really care for the theory. 'As long as it works and the people are happy, I'm happy' she said. She defends a bottom-up approach and a close contact between the leaders and the party base. Back when she was still a member of the Progressive Democrats she always defended the left-wing of the party, advocating for a real socialism in stead of a progressive center course. Nowadays she feels she can leave the party top taking care over the 'big issues' why she tries to communicate with the people in the street. Keeping close contact is also one of the reasons why she took up leadership of the Young Socialists. Miss Red is sometimes given the stamp of 'beef socialism'.

Jon Johnson is a balanced socialist which cares for studying mechanisms but still prefers fast results. He is also more careful when it comes to proposals that affect established values like the market system. According to Johnson the key word of socialism is democracy; therefore he pleads for a strong Congress and more power for the lower levels of government. 'Government should be close to the people and where possible even by the people'. Johnson is also a strong part in the motor driving the current leftist front. Focussing on the common goal is to him more important than the differences. Because of his strong defense of low-level democracy and his stress on cooperation and reason, Johnson is sometimes described as a social realist.

Hengst Smid is a former member of the now dissolved Lovian Communist Party and defends a more classic socialism based upon principles as the welfare state and big government spending. Choosing for proven formulas rather than 'fancy experiments', he is the spokesman of the small right wing of the party. The media mainly focus on the other members of the party top but if the debate is about pensions, labor, wages or social payments he sometimes shows up to defend his views. Smid focuses mainly on the traditional socialist themes and defends more conservative values than the others. Nonetheless he works together very well with the rest of the party as long as they don't touch the achievements of the working class.

Labor and Liberal Centrist Party

The LLCP is a break-away party of the CPL.nm but nonetheless those two parties continue to work together quite well. The LLCP defends a more center-leftist course out of fear that the cooperation with other congressional parties might suffer by a radicalization of the left. Also, if there would be a gap on the center-left rightist parties could try to gain the favor of those formerly leftist voters, resulting in a downfall of the leftist forces. The LLCP is a social-democratic party, meaning that she stands closer to liberal demands and is more careful when it comes to government involvement on the market. The LLCP mainly focuses on employment and stimulating the economy since she believes that in a welfare state with a progressive taxation system the wealth is already distributed quite well.

New Socialist Party

The New Socialist Party is the most radical of all parties. It combines classic marxist solutions with an open and progressive moral. A few examples of this are the closing of the Lovian market for foreign companies, the nationalization of holdings and the proposal to only allow single-product producing companies. The New Socialist Party has updated marxism without amending it and seeks to contest the capitalist forces. It's radical approach and classic discourse make the New Socialist Party more oppositional than the others. Nonetheless it welcomes a cooperation with the other leftist parties as it is a way to breach its relatively isolated position. The New Socialist Party mostly consists out of people who are displeased with the current state of things or who think that a strong signal is needed to be able to make a change.

See also

• Communist Party of Lovia
• Leftism in Lovia