History of The Leftist Assembly

The history of The Leftist Assembly began with the founding of its first predecessor region, The Communist Region, in November 2012.

There have been two notable history projects written by citizens of the region, including the Regional History Project (Episodes 1, 2, and 3) by Cedoria, which is a series of perspectives on the origins of the region, and A Comprehensive History of The Leftist Assembly by Llorens, which is a short book detailing the main events from the founding of The Communist Region to The Leftist Assembly's fourth anniversary.

The Communist Region
The Communist Region was founded by CSSR on 3 November 2012. This first iteration of the region expanded to over 300 nations by January 2013, before collapsing in May and entering a period of stagnation. The region was refounded on 13 November of that same year under the founder’s fresh alias called New CSSR; while it peaked at above 200 nations in February 2014, it would actively continue until January 2016. Socathei was elected in April 2014, serving the longest uninterrupted term of any leader in the active era of the region.

The September Crisis


After public pressure on the Delegate and founder, a new election for the Delegacy was called in September. Atealia ran against the incumbent with a reformist platform and, with the tally effectively neck-and-neck on the final day of voting, Socathei convinced New CSSR to banject Atealia on the false grounds of being a spy and having destroyed the founder’s former region.

With the election suspended, a number of Atealia’s supporters followed him to The Communist Bloc, later founding the Democratic Socialist Union with Cedoria on 20 September. Another major breakaway occurred when Lipno, the leader of The Communist Region's military, entered into a feud with the founder over elections, leading the majority of his forces to form The Leftist Union, which rapidly emerged as a major leftist military, but quickly collapsed in January 2015 after Lipno's deletion for violating game rules.

The Final Horseman's coup
Following a period of renewal under Delegate USSRs, Socathei returned to power in April 2015, but they ceased-to-exist after a brief period on 31 May, creating a power vacuum. A rushed election saw The Final Horseman ascend to the Delegacy on 8 June, with a Democratic Socialist Union military alliance being the highlight of their term.

However, in what at the time appeared to be a power grab, the new Delegate suddenly suspended the Constitution and banjected a number of their opponents from the region; led by Cedoria, the military of the Democratic Socialist Union supported Kitchenia to take back the Delegacy from The Final Horseman on 10 July. The Final Horseman later claimed that his motives were more complicated, seeking to protect the progress he made in bringing both regions together by making himself out as a common enemy.

Founding
The Final Horseman's auto-coup was the trigger for improving relations between both regions, leading to talks of a merger under a series of different leaders on both sides. The Leftist Assembly was officially founded on 14 January 2016 by Leftist Assembly Founder, an account held jointly by four nations - British Accia and LAN from The Communist Region, and Atealia and Cedoria from the Democratic Socialist Union. The Constitution, primarily authored by New Prague Workers Republic, was ratified on 19 February, instituting a party-based political system, a popularly-elected Secretary, and various appointed and elected Ministers.

Leadership and legislation


In the first ever regional election, Atealia from the Solidarity Party defeated British Accia from the Worker's Army Party by one vote to become the first Secretary of the region. During the 1st General Assembly, the Code of Laws was ratified as a counterpart to the Constitution, and the region became a member of both Antifa and the NSLeft.

Despite a decently high level of activity, the planned June 2016 election failed to occur due to a lack of candidates, with the incumbent Secretary announcing a new provisional government to govern as the 2nd General Assembly for the next term from 17 July. The party system collapsed after it was revealed on 21 August that two separate mergers would soon reduce the total number of parties from four to two. A poll ending on 31 August decided to move to an independent General Assembly model consisting of the Secretary, Prime Minister, and all the Ministers and Justices.

This was first used in the September 2016 general election, which saw Cedoria elected as the new Secretary. In government, the 3rd General Assembly passed critical legislation instituting the legislative process and referendums, while the Diplomatic Corps was formed and the embassy with USSD was discontinued following their invasion of the Social Liberal Union. Cedoria was re-elected as Secretary in the December 2016 general election, with the 4th General Assembly passing laws on term limits and emergency banjections.

Community developments
The region's population grew to over 150 nations by the end of May and a tradition of lengthy RMB discussions began, with the debate over gun ownership becoming notorious. The Red Star, the regional newspaper, was also founded, going on to publish 38 issues until it closed in September 2018. The 2016 Olympic Games roleplay was also held across October and November.

Election of Losinia
Llorens, Losinia, and Auven all nominated for Secretary in the March 2017 general election, with the first two reigniting a rivalry that began with Llorens being elected as Chief Justice by one vote six months earlier. Following significant debate over policy divisions such as the regional military and the Diplomatic Corps, Losinia beat Llorens by a single vote after the distribution of preferences.

A month of turmoil and political tension ensued, beginning on 7 April with the announcement of the new Leftist Defence Force to replace the United Armed Forces as the regional military. This was criticised as a non-solution to the military's problems of inactivity and led to Minister of Defence New Tuva SSR revealing that they weren’t aware of the plans in advance, unsuccessfully attempting to overturn the move.

Dismissal of Celera


The administration was again thrown into drama when it was announced that the General Assembly had voted to remove First Justice Celera due to inactivity, just one day before the passage of new legislation to enshrine public votes for removing members of the General Assembly. Following widespread criticism, Losinia unexpectedly dismissed New Tuva SSR on 18 April as part of a broader push to improve discipline and efficiency amongst their Ministers. It was during this period on 22 April that the regional Discord server was born as a collaborative effort of Llorens and The Final Horseman, since becoming the major communication platform of the region.

Departure of Losinia
The crisis eventually boiled over when Cedoria, who had endorsed Losinia in the previous election, motioned the only vote of no confidence against a sitting Secretary in history for Losinia's “plain simple incompetence,” prompting the Secretary to label his critics, particularly Atealia and Llorens, as “shadow plotters turned public firebrands” that had planned to remove him from power ever since he was elected. Losinia's decision to commence a three-day referendum on renaming the military to apparently delay the vote of no confidence worsened the situation, followed by the declaration of an illegal ten-day state of emergency on 28 April saw the founder temporarily strip the Secretary of his Regional Officer abilities.

They went radio silent until 31 April, where they departed the region without announcement, using their remaining influence to eject British Accia and New Tuva SSR. Consequently, Atealia assumed the position of interim Secretary until the official vote of no confidence passed unanimously on 3 May, seeing the Prime Minister formally take on the top job for a second time.

Leadership and legislation
The remainder of the 5th General Assembly saw significant progress as a result of the resignations of several inactive Ministers and the spearheading of a raft of new legislation by Second Justice Llorens, with a focus on amending the issues exposed during the April Crisis. He was the only candidate to nominate for Secretary in the June 2017 general election, being overwhelmingly confirmed in a confidence vote to become the first ‘Assemblian native’ elected to the position.

The 6th General Assembly saw Llorens once again lead an overhaul of legislation, removing the Secretary’s voting advantage, expanding the banjection code, and amending the Constitution to apply a new numbered format. The following term, after another strong show of support in the September 2017 general election, he passed bills abolishing the Leftist Defence Force, as well as separating the legislative and judicial branches. The Secretary also organised the first quarterly census in October, as well as the 1st Culture Competitions, which became a biannual event to design and vote on new features of the region, such as its flag and animal.



In foreign affairs, the region became tied up in a dispute over the proposed NSLeft membership of the Social Liberal Union. While most NSLeft regions had voted in favour of their membership by 23 November, scepticism led by some vocal figures concerning the acceptance of a ‘liberal’ region into the alliance and perceived antagonism from members of the Social Liberal Union towards authoritarian leftists prompted regions to reconsider their stance. The Leftist Assembly reaffirmed its vote in favour but would be the only region to do so as all others abstained or voted against, seeing the bid fail on 30 November.

The rival tickets of South Miruva/Atealia and VegemiteIsGross/Libertasnia emerged in the December 2017 general election, with each campaign emphasising different foreign policy visions. The former was narrowly elected on a campaign seeking to continue "unity-oriented foreign policy," as opposed to their opponents' plan to ban embassies with regions tagged as Liberal and move the region closer to The Internationale.

Under the new Secretary, the 8th General Assembly featured two particularly contentious bills, with Cedoria narrowly passing a bill prohibiting Justices from dually serving as Ministers, promoting Senators as Ministers "where possible," and allowing all Ministers to view internal General Assembly communications, while a subsequent bill by Llorens to repeal most of the new provisions failed by one vote in a referendum. The first population boom of the region also occurred during this time under Minister of Recruitment Kavagrad, with the regional population more than doubling to over 250 nations by the term's conclusion.

Community developments
A failed invasion by the nation of Mycra on 29 August became known as the 'August Farce' for its farcically poor planning. The nation illegally spammed the region with World Assembly puppets to endorse themselves in a comically slow bid to take the Delegacy, but their efforts were stifled after all their nations were ejected and site moderators banned them from the World Assembly.

Another notable nation that emerged in this period was AnPrimus, which was founded on 25 November. They became notable for coining such names as ‘Red and Gold the Tricksy’ for Llorens, ‘Cedoria the Strong’ and ‘Horse the Hugger’ for The Final Horseman, as well as the tendency to throw virtual poo across the RMB. It was widely believed that the account belonged to Morvan, though others were also suspected, before it was revealed to be VegemiteIsGross in January 2021. The nation became a regional folk legend, inspiring several short-lived spinoffs.

Leadership and legislation


South Miruva was the first incumbent Secretary not to opt for a second term in the March 2018 general election. The Cedoria/Kavagrad ticket emerged as the favourite to replace them, with a short-lived bid from the Talao/Talaoia ticket falling apart after a ‘joke’ about Nazism on 5 March attracted strong criticism. Secretary Cedoria was easily returned to office with their new deputy in their confidence vote, though this was instantly overshadowed on 14 March by the announcement that long-time member Atealia was departing from the region due to increasing dissatisfaction with the direction of the community.

In their place, Llorens was selected as the new co-founder of the region, being joined by The Final Horseman just under one month after on 15 April following British Accia's disappearance. Tensions again flared with the NSLeft after Cedoria's decision to close embassies with The Federation of Anarchist Communes and North Korea for failing to satisfy embassy requirements; though the matter was quickly resolved by new legislation to keep the embassies, the incident exposed widespread concerns about the controlling nature of some vocal members in the alliance.

In the June 2018 general election, Kavagrad ran unopposed for Secretary with Halfblakistan as their running mate, being strongly confirmed in their confidence vote. The term was marked by the introduction of various new Minister positions, while the 10th General Assembly passed various amendments, including court trial reforms that were quickly put to the test in the first-ever Supreme Court case, Tobostan v. Llorens (2018).

In the September 2018 general election, Kavagrad ran again with New Arkados as their new running mate, while Morvan launched a counter-ticket with Hecknamistan. While there were no strong policy divisions, the challengers argued that there was lacking community involvement that needed to be remedied, though the debate period came to be dominated by a comment made by Hecknamistan equating hostility to religion with homophobia, which sparked some criticism. On 8 September, their ticket withdrew from the race due to real-life difficulties for Hecknamistan, allowing the Kavagrad to unanimously secure a second term in office. The new term was marked by a reduction in the number of Ministers and a simplified rewriting of the Constitution and Code of Laws by Llorens.

New Arkados was the sole nominee for Secretary in the December 2018 general election, being sweepingly confirmed in a confidence vote with Nottinhaps as their running mate. The 12th General Assembly passed important legislation on citizen-initiated votes of no confidence and Military Voting citizens, but the term's most notable legacy would come from the second, more sustained population boom under Minister of Recruitment The Final Horseman, more than doubling the regional population once again by the end of 2019.

Separately, a heated feud that arguably dipped into personal attacks saw the collapse of The Red Star as the regional newspaper after months of stagnation, while the Comrade Index, a ranking of all nations in the region based on 'left-wing' statistics, and later a Young Comrade Index for nations under 200 million, was begun by Llorens on 9 February, being eventually taken over and automated by Nottinhaps.

Community developments
Minister of Foreign Affairs Llorens established the ambassador program on 26 June and the region joined the Interregional Legislative Coalition on 5 September. The 2018 IAFF World Cup, an interregional sports roleplay, was also held, with the Secretary organising a regional qualification stage that saw four nations enter the main draw; Woflines and Kavagrad eventually made it to the semifinals, while Llorens finished as runner-up.

Executive leadership


New Arkados decided not to run for a second term, leaving the door open to a ticket bid from The Final Horseman and two-term Senator Argentigrad, who were the only pair to nominate for the leadership posts in the March 2019 general election. They were convincingly confirmed, with the new Secretary delivering the first State of the Assembly address in response to an idea by Senator Greylyn during the previous election, commencing a tradition that continues to date.

The leadership pair was reconfirmed in the June 2019 general election with an agenda emphasising a continuation of their first term. However, the term began with a major disruption, with the decision of Minister of Foreign Affairs Hecknamistan to close embassies with The Versutian Federation resulting in a demand by Senator Kavagrad on 18 June that the Minister immediately reverse the move given a previously-vocalised lack of support from the General Assembly, which culminated in Hecknamistan's unexpected resignation.

Argentigrad and Dawtania faced off in the September 2019 general election to succeed The Final Horseman as Secretary. The election centred on experience and personalities, with Argentigrad going on to defeat his opponent by a small margin and, in doing so, became the first Secretary to lead an independent Cabinet. Despite this momentous occasion, their term in office was seen as relatively uneventful.

Argentigrad did not run for a second term, leaving open the December 2019 general election to two new candidates - former Secretary Llorens and incumbent Vice Secretary Greylyn. Both candidates promised to expand the Cabinet, but were strongly divided over the idea of introducing a civil service, as Greylyn had failed to be passed in the previous General Assembly term.

Llorens ultimately won the election in a landslide, returning to the office of Secretary for the first time in two years. The 1st Llorens Cabinet was marked by the introduction of a flurry of new Ministers, a new regional roleplay, and the introduction of the Revolutionary Support Exchange (RoSE) program, which encouraged nations to join the World Assembly and exchange endorsements.

Legislative reforms


Dawtania emerged as an increasingly vocal member of the 13th General Assembly, with their proposal to separate the elections of the Secretary and Prime Minister sparking criticisms from various members on its threat to a unified executive branch, resulting in it narrowly failing in a referendum.

Two major bills defined the 14th General Assembly, with Greylyn, Llorens, and Uan aa Boa's 'Separate Cabinet' legislative package being broadly supported, instituting an independent Cabinet and a Speaker to lead the General Assembly, while a controversial proposal by Dawtania to separate civil and criminal court cases, which was criticised by some for a lack of clarity, narrowly passed the required supermajority in a referendum.

The 15th General Assembly, being led by Kavagrad as the first-ever Speaker, legislated on the removal of nation category restrictions, an endorsement cap, and a legally-mandated Minister of Information. The idea of an executive civil service from MGA Greylyn was the only rejected legislation in this term, failing narrowly in the General Assembly.

The 16th General Assembly, led by Nottinhaps as Speaker until they were replaced by Kavagrad, passed laws on dual citizenship and public feedback on embassy changes.

Community developments
Within the Discord community, Nottinhaps introduced a long-awaited custom bot for the server named Unity Machine on 8 August, which could perform commands like collecting nation and region data, playing music, and giving predictions through the 8-ball, having since become an integral part of entertaining and informing citizens.

The region joined the Canopy faction for N-Day, finishing in a record second place on 27 September, which was followed by another record as the region finished in 17th place for most survivors with no infected remaining on 1 November for Z-Day. The founding of Unity Statistics on 28 October, a polling organisation by Llorens and Nottinhaps, also initiated a string of competitor pollsters, such as Feral Rat Stats by Kavagrad and YouLeft by Wascoitan.

Executive leadership
Greylyn sought to challenge Llorens, the incumbent Secretary, for a second time in the March 2020 general election, again staking their campaign on the proposal to introduce the civil service, but ultimately fell short by just one vote as their opponent secured an unprecedented fourth term as Secretary. The 2nd Llorens Cabinet was largely a continuation of the Secretary's first term in office, though co-Ministers were appointed to a portfolio for the first time and a new regional roleplay called 'Assembly of Nations' commenced in its own special Discord server.



On his third attempt in running for Secretary, Greylyn was finally elected unopposed in the June 2020 general election, being overwhelmingly confirmed to the post with a campaign staked primarily on his Civil Service Initiative once again. Controversy arose during the term when the Secretary and Podria, their Vice Secretary, presented legislation to increase government control of the social Discord server, including making the Secretary a permanent administrator. This resulted in heated debate across the Regional Message Board and Discord server, which culminated in Erna Vindtopia filing a vote of no confidence against Vice Secretary Podria on 25 July with the signatures of MGAs Dyl and Kavagrad, among others. The vote of no confidence was suspended after less than five hours - at which point it was almost unanimously in favour of removing Podria - as the Vice Secretary voluntarily resigned from their post.

In the September 2020 general election, Greylyn opted not to run for a second term. This left the door open for former Secretary Kavagrad, who was returned to the post for a third term unopposed. Their term was marked by largely overturning the civil service - which they had long opposed - while keeping the new Ministry of Community Affairs with an emphasis on Discord-based game nights. Relations with the Democratic Socialist Assembly finally collapsed after months of tension following revelations that the Democratic Socialist Assembly had spied on the Social Liberal Union and banned a number of players who were citizens in both regions for apparently sectarian reasons, which also saw the region removed from the NSLeft alliance. Later in the term, Llorens criticised Kavagrad for failing to live up to expectations, including not voting in the World Assembly and not pursuing a stamp donation program, claims which the Secretary argued against.

A three-way race for Secretary emerged in the December 2020 general election for the first time in almost four years, with Dyl and New Samon as serious candidates, and Talao launching a joke bid for the leadership. The election saw few differences emerge between the candidates, who were both incumbent Members of the General Assembly, but Dyl would win in a landslide, while Talao finished in second. Their current term has been most notably marked by the introduction of several newer members of the region into various branches of government.

Legislative reforms
In the 17th General Assembly under Speaker Podria, legislation extending dual citizenship and abolishing the nomination poll in general elections in favour of RMB nominations have been passed. On 25 April, a drama in relation to Llorens contacting the final MGA yet to vote on the nomination poll legislation was revealed by the Secretary himself in response to a private conversation with Speaker Podria, which divided some commentators over whether it was questionable conduct. The Final Horseman decided to step down as a founder after more than two years in the role, with Kavagrad being nominated and unanimously approved by citizens as their replacement on 31 May.

Speaker Kavagrad led an active 18th General Assembly, which legislated a vast slate of mostly small clarifying changes. Notable amendments included making the Speaker the interim Secretary when the office is immediately vacated, limiting states of emergency to a maximum of two weeks, and making it a criminal offence to withhold knowledge of a crime.

The 19th General Assembly under Speaker Antinios followed a similar pattern of mostly unanimous votes on a significant sum of legislation, with two exceptions. A proposal by Antinios and Dyl to implement three-day votes on any embassy changes, overriding final ministerial authority, narrowly failed to pass, while Llorens' proposal to separate the elections of the Secretary and General Assembly even split the General Assembly, thereby also failing.

Podria returned as Speaker in the 20th General Assembly, which has been notably less active with legislation. One contentious piece of legislation by then-Deputy Speaker Vandensia passed in a referendum, prohibiting the Secretary from dually serving as an MGA and limiting them to two Cabinet portfolios.

Community developments
[N-Day and Z-Day.]

The Great Departure
Nottinhaps, a long-term member of the region, departed the region on 15 January months after originally warning of the move, attributing it primarily to a lack of time in real-life and to a smaller degree the culture of the region. Prompted in part by this and their personal experiences, Llorens - the head admin of the social Discord server since April 2017 - unexpectedly resigned from their post with a strongly-worded dispatch statement criticising a minority of Marxist-Leninists for promoting a culture of sectarianism, handing control to admin Kavagrad. This dispatch received a mixed response, with some applauding it for its honesty, while others criticised it for being sectarian in itself. This event and those that followed as a direct result have since been coined The Great Departure.

Kavagrad dismissed Hecknamistan as an admin of the social Discord server, while VegemiteIsGross voluntarily stepped down due to a lack of time, leaving three admin vacancies that would later be filled by Antinios, Dyl, and Nangka. Libertasnia, a former Minister of Community and Foreign Affairs, departed the region due to feelings of stress evoked by the incident, which was the first in a slate of departures that were more protest-focused - former Minister of Foreign Affairs Hecknamistan, incumbent Deputy Speaker and Minister of Information Vandensia, and incumbent Minister of Community Affairs Wascoitan. Former Chief Justice Illyrian States, citing both "general disinterest in NS" as well as recent events, announced their intention to cease to exist in the region, which occurred about a month after the incident. These events resulted in a slew of by-elections and confirmation votes, with Argentigrad and Podria being confirmed as Ministers of Information and Community Affairs respectively, while Soviet Catgirls and Talao were elected to the General Assembly.