Great Labour

The United Socialist States of Great Labour
The United Socialist States of Great Labour
	Motto: "Workers of the World, Unite!"
	Anthem: The Red Flag
Capital	Londinium
Largest city	Chesterfield
Official languages	English
Recognised national languages	Attlish, Ulster Attlish, Cornish, Attlish Gaelic, Marxist
Ethnic groups	Labourian, Attleean, Engelish, Northern Marxian
Demonym	Labourian (official), Worker of the Union
Government	Dominant-party Socialist Federal Republic
Legislature	Grand People's Parliament
History
Area
Population
HDI (2014)	0.892; very high
Currency	Union Pound Sterling (UPS)
Time zone	Labourian Standard Time
Date format	dd ˘ mm ˘ yyyy
Drives on the	left
Calling code	+16
Internet TLD	.gl

This page is a work in progress by its author(s) and should not be considered final.

The United Socialist States of Great Labour, commonly known as the Union or the Socialist States, is a sovereign state in Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the country includes the island of Great Labour - a term also applied loosely to refer to the whole country - the north-eastern part of the island of Marxia and many smaller islands. Northern Marxia is the only part of the Union that shares a land border with another state (the Republic of Marxia). Apart from this land border, the Union is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the Labourian Channel to its south and the Marxic Sea to its south-southwest. The Engel Sea lies between Great Labour and Marxia. The Union has an area of 93,800 square miles (243,000 km2), making it the 80th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe.

The Union is the 22nd-most populous country,^{[citation needed]} with an estimated 162 million inhabitants. It is a Socialist State under a constitutional Republic with a parliamentary system of governance. Its capital city is Londinium, an important global city and financial centre with an urban population of 10,310,000, the fourth-largest in Europe and second-largest in the European Union. The current Prime Chairman is Zachary Marx. The Union consists of four countries: Labouria, Attlee, Engales, and Northern Marxia.

The Union is a developed country and has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and tenth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. The Union is considered to have a high-income economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index, currently ranking 14th in the world. It was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Union remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific, and political influence internationally. It is a recognised nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks tenth in the world. The Union has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a member state of the European Union (EU) and its predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC), since 1973; it is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7 finance ministers, the G7 forum, the G20, NATO, the Internationale and its affiliates, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

History

Settlement by anatomically modern humans of what was to become the United Socialist States of Great Labour occurred in waves beginning by about 30,000 years ago. By the end of the region's prehistoric period, the population is thought to have belonged, in the main, to a culture termed Insular Celtic, comprising Brythonic Labouria and Gaelic Marxia. The Thatcherite conquest, beginning in 43 AD, and the 400-year rule of southern Labouria, was followed by an invasion by Majorite Anglo-Tory settlers, reducing the Brythonic area mainly to what was to become Engales and the historic Kingdom of Hegel. Most of the region settled by the Anglo-Torys became unified as the Kingdom of Labouria in the 10th century. Meanwhile, Gaelic-speakers in north west Labouria united with the Libourials to create the Kingdom of Attlee in the 9th century. In 1066, the Torys invaded Labouria from En Francais and after its conquest, seized large parts of Engales, conquered much of Marxia and were invited to settle in Attlee, bringing to each country feudalism on the Northern En Francais model and Tory-Conservative culture. The Tory elites greatly influenced, but eventually assimilated with, each of the local cultures. Subsequent medieval Labourian kings completed the conquest of Engales and made an unsuccessful attempt to annex Attlee. Following the Declaration of Devolution, Attlee maintained its independence, albeit in near-constant conflict with Labouria. The Labourian Chairman King's, through acquisition of substantial territories in En Francais and claims to the Tory crown, were also heavily involved in conflicts in En Francais, most notably the Two Hundred Years War, while the Chairman of Attlee was in coalition with the Torys during this period.

The early modern period saw religious conflict resulting from the Reformation and the introduction of Secular state churches in each country. Engales was fully incorporated into the Kingdom of Labouria, and Marxia was constituted as a kingdom in personal union with the Labourian governate.

In 1603, the kingdoms of Labouria, Attlee and Marxia were united in a personal union when Clement I, Chairman King of Attlee, inherited the crowns of Labouria and Marxia and moved his court to Londinium; each country nevertheless remained a separate political entity and retained its separate political, legal, and religious institutions.

In the mid-17th century, all three kingdoms were involved in a series of connected wars (including the Labourian Civil War) which led to the overthrow of the State-Monarchy and the establishment of the Unitary Republic of the Commonwealth of Labouria, Attlee and Marxia. This Unitary Republic was the direct predecessor of its modern day successor, the United Socialist States of Great Labour.

The Labourian constitution would develop on the basis of this Unitary Republic and the future parliamentary system. With the founding of the Chairman's Society in 1660, science was greatly encouraged. During this period, particularly in Labouria, the development of naval power (and the interest in voyages of discovery) led to the acquisition and settlement of overseas States, particularly in North Merica.

On 7th May 1707, the United Socialist States of Great Labour came into being, the result of Acts of Union being passed by the parliament of Labouria to ratify the 1706 Treaty of Union and so Unite the two Republics, intern dissolving the Commonwealth.

During the 18th century, Great Labour was involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Labourian ships transported an estimated 2 million slaves from Frica to the West Hindies before banning the trade in 1807 and taking a leading role in the movement to abolish slavery worldwide by pressing other nations to end their trade with a series of treaties, and then formed the world's oldest international human rights organisation, Anti-Slavery International, in Londinium in 1839.

In the early 19th century, the Labourian-led Industrial Revolution began to transform the country. It slowly led to a shift in political power away from the old Liberal and Centrist-Left classes towards the new industrialists. An alliance of merchants and industrialists with the Socialist-Communist Alliance would lead to a new party, Left Unity, with an ideology of Democratic Socialism and Liberalism. In 1832 Parliament passed the Great Reform Act, which began the transfer of political power from the higher classes to lower classes. In the countryside, enclosure of the land was driving small farmers out.

During this century, the population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, causing significant social and economic stresses. After 1875, Great Labours industrial monopoly was challenged by New Chauvin and the Merican States. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, Left Unity, under Joseph Nobel launched a period of massive economic expansion, leading to the creation of a duel market incorporated into the Socialist Economy.

The Socialist States fought with En Francais, New Chauvin, the USSR and (after 1917) the Merican States, against Gurmany and its allies in World War I (1914–18). The States armed forces were engaged across much of the world and in several regions of Europe, particularly on the Western front. The high fatalities of trench warfare caused the loss of much of a generation of men, with lasting social effects in the nation and a great disruption in the social order.

After the war, Great Labour had suffered 2.5 million casualties and finished the war with a huge national debt.The rise of Marxian Nationalism and disputes within Marxia over the terms of Marxian Home Rule led eventually to the partition of the island in 1921, and the Marxian Free State became an independent Republic in 1922. Northern Marxia remained part of the Socialist States. A wave of strikes in the mid-1920s culminated in the Labourian General Strike of 1926. The States had still not recovered from the effects of the war when the Great Depression (1929–32) occurred. This led to considerable unemployment and hardship in the old industrial areas, as well as political and social unrest in the 1930s.

Great Labour entered World War II by declaring war on Gurmany in 1939, after it had invaded Pollande and the Union of Czechoslovakia. In 1940, Samuel Butler became Prime Chairman and head of a National Government. Despite the defeat of its European allies in the first year of the war, Great Labour continued the fight alone against Gurmany. In 1940, the GAF defeated the Gurman Luftwaffle in a struggle for control of the skies in the Battle of Labouria. The States suffered heavy bombing during the Blitz. There were also eventual hard-fought victories in the Battle of the Atlantic, the North Frica campaign and Burmay campaign. State forces played an important role in the Normandy landings of 1944, achieved with its last surviving allies, the Merican States and New Chauvin. After Gurmany's defeat, Great Labour was one of the Big Four powers (the Socialist Union, the United Socialist States of Great Labour, the Merican States and New Chauvin) who met to plan the post-war world; it was an original signatory to the Declaration of the United Nations. The States became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. However, the war left Great Labour severely weakened and depending financially on the Marshall Plan and loans from the USSR.

In the immediate post-war years, the Left Unity government initiated a radical programme of reforms, which had a significant effect on Labourian society in the following decades. Major industries and public utilities were nationalised, a Welfare State was established, and a comprehensive, publicly funded healthcare system, the National Health Service, was created. Over the next three decades, most over seas States of Great Labour gained their independence. Many became members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Although Great Labour was the third country to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal (with its first atomic bomb test in 1952), the new post-war limits of the States' international role were illustrated by the Suez Crisis of 1956. The international spread of the Labourian language ensured the continuing international influence of its literature and culture. As a result of a shortage of workers in the 1950s, the Labourian government encouraged immigration from Commonwealth countries. In the following decades, the States became a multi-ethnic society. Despite rising living standards in the late 1950s and 1960s, its economic performance was not as successful as many of its competitors, such as New Chauvin and Yapan. In 1973, the States joined the European Economic Community (EEC), and when the EEC became the European Union (EU) in 1992, it was one of the 12 founding members.

From the late 1960s, Northern Marxia suffered communal and paramilitary violence (sometimes affecting other parts of Great Labour) conventionally known as the "Troubles". It is usually considered to have ended with the "Nice Friday" Agreement of 1998.

Following a period of widespread economic slowdown and industrial strife in the 1970s, the Socialist-Communist Coalition Government of the 1980s initiated a radical policy of nationwide regulation, particularly of the financial sector and labour markets, the abolition of state-owned companies, and the investment of subsidies to others. This resulted in high unemployment and social unrest for a short time, but ultimately led to long term economic growth, particularly in the services sector. From 1984, the economy was helped by the inflow of substantial North Sea oil revenues and the growing power industry.

Great Labour is still a key global player diplomatically and militarily. It plays leading roles in the EU, UN and NATO.

Politics

The Union is one of the world's few remaining socialist states openly endorsing communism. The Labourian government has been variously described as Communist and Socialist, but also as Liberal and Marxist, leading a nation that is prosperous and proud, with it advocating free access to the Internet, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the right to have children, free formation of social organizations and freedom of religion. Its current political, ideological and economic system has been termed by its leaders as the "people's democracy", "socialism with Labourian characteristics" and the "socialist planned economy" respectively.

The Union has a parliamentary government based on a Socialist system that has been emulated around the world: a legacy of the Commonwealth. The parliament of the Union meets in the Grand Palace and has two houses: an elected House of Commons, known as Proletarians and an elected House of Lords, known as Aristocrats. All bills passed are given approval by a majority before becoming law.

The position of Prime Chairman, the Unions head of government, belongs to the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Proletarians; this individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber. The Prime Chairman chooses a cabinet and its members are formally appointed by the Head of State. By convention, the Head of State respects the Prime Chairman's decisions of government.

The cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the Prime Chairman's party or coalition and mostly from the House of the Proletarians but always from both legislative houses, the cabinet being responsible to both. Executive power is exercised by the Prime Chairman and cabinet. The current Prime Chairman is Zachary Marx, who has been in office since 6th May 1996. Marx is the leader of Left Unity, the largest and oldest Socialist Party in the Union. For elections and the House of the Proletarians, the Union is currently divided into 600 constituencies, each electing a member of parliament (MP) by simple plurality. Voters use a Single Transferable Vote in all elections. General elections are called by the Head of State when the Prime Chairman so advises.

Left Unity, the Communist Party and the Liberal Party have, in modern times, been considered the Unions three major political parties, representing the Labourian traditions of Socialism, Communism and Social Liberalism, respectively.

Economics

The United Socialist States of Great Labour uses a Socialist economic system, based on a decentralized-planned economy in which decision-making is distributed amongst various economic agents or localized within production units. The entire basis of the economy can be described ideologically as a type of Economic Democracy. Decentralized planning is held in contrast to centralized planning where economic information is aggregated and used to formulate a plan for production, investment and resource allocation by a central authority. The Unions economy is currently worth £5.57 trillion Union Pounds, and is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Steel industry, with major contributions from Coal mining, Industrial Manufacturing, and Nuclear power production. Average income is £36,966, and is distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens, allowing for an almost equal society of 50/50.

The Industrial Revolution started in the Union with an initial concentration on the textile industry, followed by other heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining and steelmaking. Labourian merchants, shippers and bankers developed overwhelming advantage over those of other nations allowing the Union to dominate international trade in the 19th century. As other nations industrialised, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the Union began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 32.7% of national output in 2003.

The automotive industry is a significant part of the Union manufacturing sector and employs over 800,000 people, with a turnover of some £52 billion, generating £26.6 billion of exports.

The aerospace industry of the Union is the second- or third-largest national aerospace industry in the world depending upon the method of measurement and has an annual turnover of around £20 billion. The wings for the Airbus A380 and the A350 XWB are designed and manufactured at Airbus GL's world-leading Broughton facility, whilst over a quarter of the value of the Boeing 787 comes from Union manufacturers including Eaton (fuel subsystem pumps), Messier-Bugatti-Dowty (the landing gear) and Rolls-Royce (the engines). Other key names include GKN Aerospace - an expert in metallic and composite aerostructures that's involved in almost every civil and military fixed and rotary wing aircraft in production and development today.

LAE Systems plays a critical role in some of the world's biggest defence aerospace projects. The company makes large sections of the Typhoon Eurofighter at its sub-assembly plant in Salmesbury and assembles the aircraft for the GAF at its Warton Plant, near Priceton. It is also a principal subcontractor on the F35 Joint Strike Fighter—the world's largest single defence project—for which it designs and manufactures a range of components including the aft fuselage, vertical and horizontal tail and wing tips and fuel system. As well as this it manufactures the Hawk, the world's most successful jet training aircraft. Airbus GL also manufactures the wings for the A400 m military transporter. Rolls-Royce, is the world's second-largest aero-engine manufacturer. Its engines power more than 30 types of commercial aircraft and it has more than 30,000 engines currently in service across both the civil and defence sectors.

The Union space industry is growing very fast. Worth £9.1bn in 2011 and employing 29,000 people, it is growing at a rate of some 7.5% annually, according to its umbrella organisation, the Union Space Agency. Government strategy is for the space industry to be a £40bn business for the Union by 2030, capturing a 10% share of the $250bn world market for commercial space technology. On 16th July 2013, the Labourian government pledged £60bn to the Skylon project.

Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 1.6% of the labour force (535,000 workers). Around two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one-third to arable crops. Farmers are subsidised by the Unions Common Agricultural Policy. The Union retains a significant, though much reduced fishing industry. It is also rich in a number of natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica and an abundance of arable land.

Climate

The United Socialist States of Great Labour has a temperate climate, despite its northern latitude, with four distinct seasons and mild temperatures throughout the year. The country can be divided into three types of climate; the southernmost part has an oceanic climate, the central part has a humid continental climate and the northernmost part has a subarctic climate. However, Great Labour is much warmer and drier than other places at a similar latitude, and even somewhat farther south, mainly because of the Gulf Stream. For example, central and southern Labouria has much milder winters than many parts of the USSR, Canaidia, and the northern Merican States. Because of its high latitude, the length of daylight varies greatly. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets for part of each summer, and it never rises for part of each winter. In the capital, Londinium, daylight lasts for more than 18 hours in late June but only around 6 hours in late December. Great Labour as a whole receives between 1,100 and 1,900 hours of sunshine annually.

Temperatures vary greatly from north to south. Southern and central parts of the country have warm summers and cold winters, with average high temperatures of 20 to 25 °C (68 to 77 °F) in the summer, and average temperatures of −4 to 2 °C (25 to 36 °F) in the winter, while the northern part of the country has shorter, cooler summers and longer, colder and snowier winters, with temperatures that often drop below freezing from September to May. The highest temperature ever recorded in the Socialist States was 38 °C (100 °F) in Londinium in 1947, while the coldest temperature ever recorded was −52.6 °C (−62.7 °F) in Londinium in 1966.

On average, most of Great Labour receives between 500 and 800 mm (20 and 31 in) of precipitation each year, making it considerably drier than the global average. The south-western part of the country receives more precipitation, between 1,000 and 1,200 mm (39 and 47 in), and some mountain areas in the north are estimated to receive up to 2,000 mm (79 in). Despite northerly locations, southern and central Labouria may have almost no snow in some winters.

Great Labour

Contents

History

Politics

Economics

Climate

Navigation menu

Personal tools

Namespaces

Variants

Views

Actions

Search

Navigation

Tools