Imperial Socialist Manifesto
Imperial Socialism
This manifesto defines its primary objective being to increase material living standards for all citizens across every echelon of society through sound governance, societal harmony, and progress.
Political System
Imperial Technocracy
The Imperial Technocracy is a meritocratic structure focused on stability, efficiency, and rational governance, led by experts for collective welfare. At its heart is the Imperial Council, which forms an executive which will govern the Res Publica, akin to a cabinet in modern countries but meritocratic instead of demagogic. Together they represent the Meritocracy, the institutional alliance between the Imperial Civil Service (ICS), the Imperial Peacebringers, the Imperial Tribunal, and the Science Directorate.
The Imperial Council consists of seven members, each representing a branch of the Meritocracy:
Great Vizier/Vizieress, Mandate of the Imperial Treasury
Magister/Magistra Militum, Imperial Peacebringers
Mandarin/Mandreen Paramount, Mandate of the Exterior
Mandarin/Mandreen Paramount, Mandate of the Interior
Supreme Adjudicator/Adjudicatrix, Imperial Tribunal
Director/Directrix, Science Directorate
Director/Directrix, Praetorian Watch
Each Council Member is selected by their Mandates. Each Mandate will have five candidates with the most proven empirical track records (as measured by performance metrics and material, observable effectiveness, fairness of performance metrics is enforced by the Praetorian Guard) and Mandate members will vote to choose one of them to take a seat at the Council.
Performance metrics are commonly used in various sectors in the current system. Universities, Civil Service, corporate structures, military, research centres, et alia. Such measures are not perfect and refining them is a perpetual mission, however they do exist and will be implemented without the need for revolutionising them.
In a form, this can be seen as a workers’ democracy. All members of these Mandates, from a clerk in the Treasury, a soldier in the army, to a newly graduated scientist, have an equal vote and can use it in their respective Mandate’s elections after a short probation period. The ICS Mandates, diplomats, military officers, scientists, judicial experts et alia, are all specialists in their field and thus empowered to decide who among their best can lead them.
To be precise: only workers within the Meritocracy vote in Mandate elections and only in their respective branches to ensure that voters have the knowledge to truly judge the value of the manifestos they would be given. The citizens working outside the Meritocracy do not vote in these elections but only in the general elections of the Imperial Senate and local elections of the Provincial Senates, which does have campaigning and all the other spectacle of elections.
Similar systems follow for positions at in sub-Mandate level, departments, offices, committees, et alia.
Council positions last for ten years after which the Council Member must retire. Though this can be extended for another five year term through a unanimous vote of the Council, followed by a departmental election where they need to win an 80% majority.
Each Council Member gets an extra vote on issues of their department. What parts of the agenda falls under whose domain is strictly defined prior to the meeting through a Council vote. It is taken in turns to determine if the issue falls under the domain of each Council Member with a requirement of gaining a 4/7.
Imperial Senate:
There would also be a democratically elected Imperial Senate. Consisting of 1000 elected Senators representing constituencies of equal populations.
The Imperial Senate has the power to vote on policies of their own and send them to the Council for consideration. The Council is obligated to evaluate and vote on them. If rejected, the Meritocracy has to explain why to the Senate and public.
They review and authorise Meritocracy policies, offer advice, and if they are not satisfied, send the policy back for redrafting to the council two times before they must approve the policy.
Its primary function then is to convey public opinion to the Council in order to prevent them from becoming too detached from the populace they govern.
The Party that wins the most seats is invited by the Imperial Council to nominate a Consul/Consuless. The second largest party nominates the second Consul, unless the winning party wins an outright majority.
This also provides the spectacle of the election process, yet the Senate is not without its set of powers that are crucial for the responsible functioning of the state, accountability of the Council and raising ground level issues.
Public engagement with policy is encouraged as well as joining the Meritocracy to climb the ranks or vote in Mandate elections to change it if they want to.
Checks and balances:
The respective Mandate of a Council Member can initiate a vote of no confidence at any time to depose the member, which now requires at least a 50%. A vote of confidence is held each year in their Mandate where they must win a 40% or higher to remain in power.
If a Council Member is considered to be insufficiently competent, honourable, or having integrity, or does not peruse the common interest, they can also be voted out of office by the other Council Members with a vote of 5/7. Doing so triggers a Mandate defence election where the accused must win an 80% majority or retire.
Furthermore, incompetence or corruption of a Council Member can jeopardise the performance metrics and/or budgets of the others, thus resulting in incentive for all to harshly punish corruption. This also prevents the formation of personal loyalty between Council Members.
- The Imperial Senate can also demand that a Council Member’s performance is put under review, failure to meet pre-set standards (standards reviewed every five years) results in the Council Member losing their seat and entering retirement.
- A performance review is conducted by randomly chosen officials of the Meritocracy from the middle ranks, not too high to be loyal to the Council Members and not too low to be unaware of the larger scheme of events, who form a Review Panel and are elevated to the title of Praetorian-Adjudacator / Praetoria-Adjudacatrix during this time, wielding far more power than either of those branches and their members would otherwise do. This office is active only ever for a Review Panel and among the most powerful in the Meritocracy.
- Failing a performance review forces a Council Member to go into retirement if it is believed that it was due to incompetence. However, even a suspicion of corruption results in the Council Member retiring in disgrace, barred from working in the Meritocracy again and stripped of all prior honours, assets, and accumulated wealth, and (depending on the scale of corruption) potentially sentenced to the Voluntary Labour Corps (VLC, more on this later).
Imperial Socialism acknowledges that no system is incorruptible. However, corruption can be managed and suppressed through rigorous processes, checks and balances, and oversight.
Praetorian Watch:
The Praetorians have the mandate of eternal vigilance, not on the citizenry but on the Politea’s elite. They maintain oversight on the appointed governors, on wealthy magnates, on leaders of nationalised industries and SOEs, on military generals, and diplomatic emissaries on mission. They ensure that the ‘great and the good’, often the most susceptible to corruption, stay in line and work for the common good.
They operate strictly within the confines of the law but within it, they are sanctioned to ensure that no loophole, no exploitation, no manipulation of the system or abuse of power is permitted.
No organisation is incorruptible so the Praetorians operate in small, decentralised cells that keep watch on each other, and all report to and receive orders from the Imperial Council, which have their own rigorous checks and balances as discussed previously.
Noteworthy that it is not the Praetorians’ responsibility to oversee the Council, indeed, it is the Council that oversees the Praetorians. The Council’s accountability measures are different as discussed previously.
Crisis Policy:
In times of crisis, they may appoint one of them to be the Vasilefs/Vasilissa. This should represent an existential or catastrophic crisis, though it need not be of a martial nature. For example, in times of a severe pandemic, the Director of Research would be named Vasilefs, in times of significant agitation for reform, the Mandarin Paramount of the Interior would be named Vasilefs and so forth.
The position of Vasilefs needs a 5/7 vote to be appointed and a 3/7 vote to be revoked as a check against the Vasilefs overstaying his welcome.
Every year the Council will vote again to determine if the crisis is over and this also only needs a 3/7 vote.
Imperial Charter:
Core tenets: Collectivism, materialism, anthropocentrism, universalism, and utilitarianism. Citizens may believe what they wish (to a degree) but joining the Meritocracy or the Senate requires swearing an oath to uphold the Imperial Charter.
Economic System
Market Socialism
The system follows market socialism inspired by the People’s Republic of China, a system which lifted a billion people out of abject poverty.
It features non-profit, tax funded state control over essential sectors (energy, water, transport) as well as public-private for-profit State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
The shares of these public-private SOEs can be bought and sold but are ultimately controlled by the autonomous management teams from the ICS, competing with private corporations in non-essential areas.
For public-private SOEs, the state acts like venture capital, setting them up with funding and direction. However, in the medium term, following an Initial Public Offering (IPO), these SOEs are expected to produce returns without government funding and compete efficiently against private organisations.
An SOE that fails in the long term will not be backed by the state and have to file bankruptcy proceedings.
Since an SOE remains under the control of an autonomous ICS team, they are also subject to the routine performance reviews and metric analysis that most of the ICS is. In addition, they must abide by principles of ethical corporate governance and work where possible for the common good while driving for profit. Failure to either deliver results or operate ethically will result in the ICS appointing a new team.
Investment Policy:
It is the sacred duty and solemn obligation of the state to develop the living standards of its people. The Meritocracy is committed to that goal. There will be vast state investment programmes funded by taxation every year on infrastructure, education, and entrepreneurial activity.
This is in line with both Market Socialism and Keynsian Economics as state investment is essential to boosting spending, creating jobs and spurring growth.
One area of particular focus would be in research where the Meritocracy commits to unprecedented state investment in the fields of artificial intelligence, genetic augmentation, nuclear fusion, and space exploration. The state commits to ensuring that all shall benefit from technological advancements, not just a select few, through universalist services.
Taxation Policy:
Sector-specific taxes are levied on non-essential sectors (sport and entertainment sectors for example), with lower taxes and tax breaks for education, research, and finance. Extra taxes are imposed on harmful vices such as fast food, carbonated beverages, smoking, alcohol, social media, nightclubs and so on, to fund social programs. Inheritance tax exempted for up to the upper-middle class (income of up to 500k or net worth under 100M), supporting wealth transfer as a right. Heavy inheritance tax maintained on the upper class. 1% annual wealth tax for individuals with a net worth over one billion GBP.
Additionally, a US style system ties taxation to both citizenship and residency. Therefore, even if a citizen leaves the country or has off shore assets, they still pay taxes on relevant assets and incomes.
Income tax (in GBP) aims to reduce burden on the middle class and ensuring that everyone contributes their fair share:
0-20k: 1% tax (new bracket, up from 0%)
20k-50k: 20% tax (same as UK 2024)
50k-90k: 30% tax (lowered from 40%)
90k-150k: 40% tax (lowered from 45% for 125k-150k)
150k-500k: 45% tax (same as UK 2024)
500k-1M: 50% tax (new bracket)
1M+: 60% tax (new bracket)
Capital Flight Policy:
Attempted capital flight will result in total asset confiscation in the country. It is to be understood by the billionaire class that their enterprises in the country are possible due to the infrastructure of the state, and failure to contribute would result in consequences. They are free to leave and pay no taxes if they wish, but all assets (portfolios, companies, vehicles, stocks, real estate, personal items, equipment, etc) would be confiscated by the state, they are then free to rebuild from scratch elsewhere through their allegedly inherent talent. Process overseen by the Praetorian Guard.
Public Housing Policy:
Modelled after Singapore’s Housing Development Board (HDB), including Singapore’s ethnic quotas ethnic quotas. Funding is sourced from all the new taxes introduced.
Immigration Restructuring:
Significantly reduces bloat in the sector, cuts red tape, and streamlines processes.
Work visas are issued and coordinated by the ICS instead of companies, with permanent residency (PR) granted after four years and citizenship after five. International students with a first class degree automatically offered PR.
Critical sector workers, such as in health or care sectors, benefit from tax cuts and higher wages to prevent brain drain, and asylum applications are processed through embassies and designated centres. The Meritocracy will not shirk its human rights obligations.
Immigration structures to be defined by economic and anthropocentrist considerations, not nationalism.
Aims for open borders long-term.
Intellectual Property Restructuring:
Patents and copyrights are abolished. Trademarks are kept in a limited capacity only. Instead IP is replaced by the Intellectual Achievement Prize, where the an individual who accomplishes a task of the intellectual nature, whether that be in the sciences or literature, is given a yearly state stipend which scales proportional to the assessed benefit to society (sciences) as determined by the Science Directorate or creative potential (literature) as determined by the Department of Culture.
The idea is then made open source public property. This approach pushes for innovation through more open technological access and creative expressions of existing ideas. The creator of the idea is free to attempt to pursue profits in the market through it, creators still would have First Mover Advantage, but they don’t have exclusive access and everyone can use it.
However, if an idea turns out to be significantly more groundbreaking than the Science Directorate or the Department of Culture had expected, the creator is entitled to proportionally higher stipend and compensation.
This restructuring aims to combine the monetary incentives of Intellectual Property with the cumulative benefits of open source. The Soviet Union demonstrated in the past that it is possible to push the boundaries of science and technology without IP laws. This system optimises and builds upon that idea while incorporating monetary incentives.
Energy Policy:
The state will primarily rely on nuclear fission to generate its energy. Renewable sources could also be used for the sake of diversification.
Fossil fuel based energy generation will be phased out rapidly through regulation, taxation and large scale nuclear and renewable construction programmes through state initiatives and public-private SOEs.
Countries like France have proven this can work. This is until nuclear fusion has matured into a technology that would fuel the human race with the power of a star.
Union Policy:
Imperial Socialism recognises Trade Unions as an important tool to defend workers’ rights. The right to industrial action against private exploitation is recognised. Unions are to be coordinate with the ICS Mandate their profession falls under and be advised by officials appointed by the Mandate. The right of private employees to industrial action is viewed by the state as an additional check against corporate power.
Unions in government institutions have the right to industrial action so far as it does not result in harm to the citizenry. Where it does, such as in medicine or public transport, limitations are placed on industrial action. Whether industrial action could potentially cause harm is assessed by a workforce-interdepartmental interface committee.
Since public sector workers are part of the department itself, they are instead encouraged to make use of departmental mechanisms previously outlined to put pressure on their Council Member over industrial action. Their votes wield significant power and it is preferred that they use them over industrial action. Ultimately, workers in these departments are considered part of the Meritocracy and will always be compensated accordingly when the system works as intended.
Societal System
Social Policy:
Imperial Socialism knows that “women hold up half the sky” and thus will ensure that Gender equality is prioritised, ensuring equity for women and rejecting any form of misogyny, nationalism, or religiosity. Every measure will be taken to bring about absolute equality for women, including a 50-50 balance in the Meritocracy. Commissions, potentially including female only committees, will be set up to investigate if quotas are necessary.
Imperial Socialism opposes identity politics and inter-sectionalism, viewing them as an expression of regressive hyper-individualism and consumerism that detracts from the universalist and collectivist ideals that shall guide our human race.
Instead, Imperial Socialism promotes universalism, and takes active steps toward it.
Age gaps over 5 years are taxed, with the tax proportional to the gap to promote equality and raise revenue. Both the man and woman involved are taxed regardless of who is older. Infidelity is a crime that results in a fine to promote fidelity and raise revenue. Fines proportional to wealth.
The state promotes an egalitarian nucelar family model akin to those of Soviet and Chinese societies, based on the concept of Societal Harmony to encourage equality, loyalty, monogamy, and stable partnerships without regressive connotations.
Deviancy and bourgeois degeneracy is taxed.
Social Media and Nightclubs are pressured into passing the cost onto customers through heavy taxes. Tax funded projects initiate large scale construction of public amenities and socialising programs to encourage interaction in person. This would include things like festivals, social centres, state owned cafes which facilitate meeting new people, social amenities, et alia. Event organisers will make it easy to meet new people.
This measure aims to repair the fragmentation of society and over-reliance on corporate social media which was built off of algorithmic practices that encouraged addiction.
Justice Restructuring:
The issues of prison overcrowding, spiralling spending, and recidivism are tackled.
Jail is reserved for heinous crimes like murder, rape, paedophillia, sex trafficking, treason, et alia, as the existing system is costly, traumatising, dehumanising, and promotes recidivism rather than rehabilitation.
Minor offences are addressed through wealth-proportional fines.
White-collar crime incurs catastrophic penalties, including, at the most severe level, complete asset confiscation and ruinous fines. Such severity is necessitated by this type of crime damaging trust in systems that allow for stability and prosperity, as well as reducing market efficiency.
The hyper-rich are prevented from hiding their wealth by having them register all assets at all times (common practice currently) and additionally, the onus is on them to pay the fine, which at the highest level could equal most of their net worth, by whatever means necessary. Failing to do so by hiding wealth results in being sentenced to the VLC.
An individual can also join the Voluntary Labour Corps (VLC) instead of paying the fine or if an individual cannot pay the fine, where offenders pay off their debt to society by contributing their manual labour. It allows rehabilitation through state infrastructure work while allowing individuals to return home daily and maintain their dignity. A key factor is to avoid isolating and alienating the minor offender from society.
The VLC offers pay, a stable job, discipline and a commendation that can be put on the former minor offender’s CV. Having served there is not stigmatised but a mark of having done public service and demonstrated discipline, teamwork, organisation and hard work.
Simultaneously, this system greatly reduces the load on state finances for holding these minor offenders in jail, provides a cost efficient labour force and reforms more individuals than a prison would have.
This need not be an excessively long sentence, even just a few days to a few weeks at the lowest levels, to years, scaling with crime.
Major offenders guilty of heinous crimes such as rape, murder, paedophilia, treason to the species, et alia, serve in the VLC permanently, and are considered to be the Damned. They work in harsher conditions without pay, living in prison camps and contributing to demanding projects without parole, acting as a punishment, deterrent and utility. They are overseen by armed commissars to ensure compliance.
Wrongful convictions result in massive compensation, incentivising judicial accuracy.
Oldest Vices Policy:
Imperial Socialism acknowledges that the three vices of drugs, gambling and prostitution are as old as human history and cannot easily be wiped out. However, they can be brought to heel and managed for the common good.
Private establishments have to undergo constant and rigorous tests. Any evidence of abuse, whether of workers or otherwise, results in harsh crackdowns.
Prostitution is heavily taxed to generate revenue. It is expected that infidelity fines will also generate strong revenue from this sector, unfortunately but not without its utility.
Gambling is also legalised but heavily taxed to generate revenue.
Exploitative or addictive practices result in closure of the gambling site, seizure of all assets and heavy fines for all involved. Science Directorate mathematicians will be routinely inspect the probabilities involved behind each gambling mechanism to check for fairness, among other security checks.
Both prostitution and gambling will be heavily regulated by the state and under constant oversight by the Mandate of the Interior (Mandate of the ICS) as well as the Imperial Tribunal.
The Science Directorate will assess each drug and determine whether or not it constitutes a significant health risk, in both the long and short terms.
The drugs determined to be within manageable parameters are legalised and strictly controlled through a regulated system managed by the ICS where access is limited in accordance with health risks and prices are fair while allowing profit to the state to fund other activities.
This policy ensures that those that seek drugs will only receive them under controlled, medically approved conditions as well as safe substances.
Harsh and overwhelming crackdown against illegal substances and all who distribute and consume them. Participating in the illegal drug trade results in an automatic sentencing to the VLC for a significant period.
Media Policy:
Freedom of speech is a fundamental right that will be defended by the Meritocracy, in so far as it does not damage the public good.
Harming the public good is defined as inciting violence or promoting extremist ideologies (hyper-nationalism, religious zealotry, sexism are template examples). The exact definitions will be laid out by the Imperial Tribunal. Such a caveat is common practice in mature systems such as Canada and Germany.
Principled opposition, whether public or personal, to and criticism of Meritocracy policy is protected by the state.
Private media can operate freely, however adherence to factual information is legally binding, failure to do so results in severe fines. Outright lies and misinformation will be harshly penalised. Fines proportional to company size.
Private ownership over media is regulated for the common good. No one person is to dominate entire outlets with the goal of manipulating public sentiment as we have observed with the Murdoch Empire. The amount of stake an individual can hold in a new corporation after it passes a certain size is limited, encouraged a wide range of investors to be shareholders. This combats monopolisation and domination of corporate structures that could hinder the free market.
The state will run two media outlets, one that is favourable to the Meritocracy’s policies and one that is critical. Both will always receive equal funding and regularly host debates between senators, civil officials, activists, independent experts et alia.
Experts of course, even in The Meritocracy, would rarely have consensus on policy. The Meritocracy would generally follow the directive of the Imperial Council, but there will be swathes of experts who disagree. They will be given a voice through this critical media outlet.
Free access to the internet is enshrined in the law. Only websites that are judged to be breaking the law by the Imperial Tribunal can be blocked.
Floor Provision Policy:
Basic necessities, including education, internet, housing, utilities, and healthcare, are to be provided universally in the medium-term, funded by taxes to encourage spending on more sophisticated activities that better drive the economy economy better such as hobbies, fine dining, technology, et alia.
Nomenclature:
Imperial Socialism has a broad scope, redefining society and ideology itself, therefore its nomenclature must reflect that. A key goal is to redirect the loyalty of the populace from current tribalistic fault lines, ie religion, nationalism, populism, et alia, towards the system built here and allow them to place their trust in it for their well being. This requires a certain level of grandiosity to inspire faith and a sense of awe. An idea that the system will work and it will work for them. Hence why the names chosen must be as they are. A secretary is someone who the population identifies as one that fetches their coffee and writes the minutes. But a mandarin is a scholar-bureaucrat who can truly govern.
Similarly, a committee conjures images of red tape and bureaucratic clog, while the Meritocracy, or the Imperial Council, or the Mandates of the Civil Service, are monolithic institutions of unassailable authority. However, this grandiosity has to be, and is, tempered with the knowledge that each of these systems operates according to stringent checks and balances, and that anyone with the merit can and will rise in them.
Iconography:
The Meritocracy Iconography features a black background with a double headed golden eagle, holding a red hammer and sickle, with glowing red eyes, and a red UN symbol surrounded by red laurel wreathes, embodying the Meritocracy’s ideals.
Objective:
At the core of Imperial Socialism is the acknowledgement of a fundamental truth that is as incontrovertible as it is immutable: the Oneness of the Human Race. Humankind is one species by any valid definition, may that be scientific, historical, material, anthropological, or philosophical. Yet, for aeons we have been divided by creeds that benefit from ceaseless strife, bound by the chains of borders, superstitions, and demagogues.
Our species faces a choice. We can continue to fester in the bile of tribalism, fight, kill, main, murder, persecute, and slaughter our own kind until we face our inevitable extinction. A blip in the history of the cosmos. Glorified apes that wasted our potential.
Or we can transcend these divisions, and work towards unification. To reach for the stars, to fulfil what we as a species excel at. Expand, learn, adapt. To leave the confines of our Motherland and seize our destiny.
Imperial Socialism will eradicate all divisive identities—national, racial, or religious—to achieve a cohesive, universal human identity: Terran. The erasure of old identities is a policy to be pursued subtly and slowly but inexorably, to dismantle them over time through housing ethnic quotas, tax policy, school quotas, interracial marriages, state atheism, cultural directives, education campaigns, et alia.
Imperial Socialism will shatter the shackles that have bound our kind, our bodies and our minds. It will take time, and it will not be easy, nor would it be immediately utopian. But it will also be necessary if our species is to have a future worthy of the term.
The time has come to end this bloody game.
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