Neytopia › Part 2: Noon › Chapter 6

With us or against us

He made lots of promises during his speeches before he got to power, always followed by stormy applause. One such example was:

… and workers won’t have to spend another second under the oppression of the capital!

And it was true. Now the workers were under his oppression. But there were other political parties: the Socialist Revolutionaries, the North Liberation Party, the National Democrats and more. Most of them denounced his bloody coup and demanded elections during the first post-revolution plenum.

After the plenum, during a private meeting with the executive committee of the Northern Revolutionary Party, he said,

Elections? Are they fucking kidding me? What do these bloodsuckers think we’re running here? We had the balls to secure power, and now these dogs want to brainwash workers and steal power from us with their petty burgeoisie democracy? Fuck. That!

The party members glanced at each other nervously, fearing they had made the worst mistake of their lives, dreading that soon they would be tried for their crime. His brother said to him, but also to reassure the other members,

You’re right, and we won’t let them. We must show unity. We must prove that we are the only party fit to rule. We got to power, but that was just the start. Now we have to keep it.

Yes brother, no matter what cost, the revolution must succeed.

During the next plenum, he announced there would be democratic elections in a month, which everyone had been waiting for. Meanwhile, his Party alone would have power, even if they had to listen to the others complain and criticize him.

There were enemies within the city who tried to contact the capital. During one particular incident, a group of national democrats almost managed to escape through the road with the assistance of a few guards. Hunger fed discontent, the seed of revolt. With citizens demanding food, he began to fear his precious revolution would crumble down. Inside his Party appeared a new faction which wanted him to hold elections immediately and let the people vote.

But he withstood the pressure and chose instead to make an example of the traitors. The national democrats that had tried to flee and the guards that had helped them were publicly executed. To save face and not look so much like a tyrant, he advanced the elections one week.

Then began the arrests.

In less than a week all the national democrats were arrested for counter-revolutionary crimes. The North Liberation Party was dismantled after its members vanished behind the iron curtains of the city’s new security organ, the neca. The Northern Extraordinary Commission for Agitation, or neca, really had extraordinary powers. It could arrest you, no warrant, put you in jail, no trial, and execute you, no appeal.

By the time elections came, people were angry because there was even less grain than before the revolution. They voted for the parties that promised to strike a deal with the Tyrant, leaving him in the minority. He was insulted by the results and said,

Do they really believe the Tyrant will just kneel down and compromise? If we don’t stick together, if we bend even one inch, he’ll burn this city to the ground.

He convened the revolutionary parliament and declared the election void, claiming,

The enemies of the Party have tampered with the results and sabotaged true democracy.

Over the following weeks he continued to turn his political enemies into exiles and forced-labor workers that were literally building the socialist future. The prisoners digged the frozen land up north one ration of bread a day. He only felt in control when there was no opposition left to arrest. But it was a bittersweet victory, as he realized the situation was unsustainable. Yes, nobody opposed him publicly, but they would run out of food soon. Weak party members asked him to surrender to the capital and beg for food. He reproached them at the Party plenums:

How do you call yourselves revolutionaries? The revolution is bigger than you, bigger than all of us. If you have to give everything to the revolution, you give it. If you have to starve for the revolution, you starve. Our historical mission is to export the Glorious Revolution, no matter the cost, no matter the casualties.

New Year’s Eve was just two weeks away, and that presented him with the perfect opportunity. Every year that day, two neighbor cities gathered to celebrate together near a cliff overlooking the northernmost sea. But because of the famine, only one of the neighbor cities could attend the festival. The mayor of his city was traditionally in charge of organizing the event. But since he had murdered the mayor, he gladly picked up that task.

The day of the celebration started out like every other year, with imperial officials thanking the Tyrant for his protection. At noon, while everyone was watching the fireworks, his guards, disguised as civilians, slowly encircled the citizens of the neighboring city. Party members separated from the crowd and also pulled out their weapons. He climbed a small rock on a cliff over the sea so everyone could see and hear him. As soon as he had the citizens completely surrounded, he spoke to them:

I am sorry to interrupt the festivities, but Revolution cannot wait. Let me introduce myself: I am the leader of the Northern Revolutionary Party. The Tyrant has led us into this abominable state of affairs. Children starve in the streets. The fields waste away. The whole empire is weighed down by inequality and inefficiency. The NRP is here today to give you a choice: you can either join us and live free, or keep supporting the evil empire and die as slaves.

From the crowd escaped anonymous shouts,

Stop this madness!

Let us go!

He pointed his finger at the mayor of the neighboring city, who stood out in the crowd. His guards brought the mayor to him. He said,

Just look at him. This… imperial lapdog watches you, not over you. You should hate him, you should throw stones at him! This grotesque landwhale and his cronies have been eating what belongs to you. But now the tables have turned. You will rule over yourselves, as it used to be before the empire. You have the chance to get rid of the bloodsucking capital. The first thing I will do when you join us is I will give hard-working farmers and factory workers the deeds to their lands and homes.

His words brought hope to low-skilled workers, peasants, pariahs, the sick and specially the children. They walked away from the crowd to show him they were on his side. But many still defied him so he pushed the mayor off the cliff into the crashing waves below. People hated the mayor for stuffing himself and chasing after whores, so they didn’t mourn his loss. Still, it shocked people and proved he meant every word. He went on:

If you are not with us, you are against us. Don’t you want everyone to be free? Didn’t you see what will happen to you if you choose to stick with the empire?

Some people joined him out of fear, but still a group remained who refused to take his word. A defiant man among them spoke up,

To those of you who believe he will set you free, I tell you this: FOOLS! He will treat you like slaves, carve you up and spit you out. He is FAR worse than the Tyrant, and all he has is empty promises, fancy words and the charisma of a snake-oil salesman.

Those who refused to join laughed out loud. They knew the Party leader couldn’t kill them all in cold blood or the citizens would revolt. The defiant man continued:

And even if he really intended to build a democracy and yadda yadda… Do you honestly believe you’ll survive his revolution? The capital will crush his “army”. Whatever you do to us, the rest of you will suffer worse at the hand of both him and the Tyrant. Remember these words when you are face down in the mud, gasping for your last breath.

Bagh!

He argued.

Don’t listen to this capitalist pig’s lies. I will keep my promise of freedom because I am change.

He turned around to face the crowd, and in a sad tone said,

I tried to avoid this, but they leave me no choice. I want all of you to see that war is paid through blood. Some stubborn men are stuck in their old ways and refuse to change. Division would destroy everything we are working for. So we cannot let that happen, you cannot let that happen. Remember what the empire has put us through when you think back on this moment.

He climbed down the rock and approached the people who defied him. He stood on one knee, looking down to the ground and muttering the words from the ancient prayers with his hands together. Then he opened his eyes once again, looked to the crowd and said:

By the power vested in me by the Party, I sentence you to die.

Nooo!

Monster!

The crowd burst in shouts as the guards pushed the group of defiers to the edge of the cliff with their weapons. Some tried to escape and were put to the sword. Their mothers, wives and children fell to their knees and cried as they were fed to the waves. He felt bad for what he had done, but he knew it was for the greater good.