Isola

Isola
Leader	Antonio Morobaldi
Founded	46 PC (original movement) 15-2 49 PC (party status formalized)
Membership	approx. 9,000
Ideology	Isolationism Denunzianism Wealth Redistribution Rossan nationalism Autarky
Party Color	Red
Advisory Council	2/5
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Isola is an isolationist political party in La Rossa. The party advocates for worker's rights, nationalizing key industries, distributing wealth, as well as isolationism on a world stage and autarkic self-sufficiency. It is the first political party to have formed in La Rossa, and it is currently one of only two parties on the island, alongside its main political opponents, the internationalist Mare party. Its name is in direct reference to the internationalist movement, originating from Antonio Morobaldi's response to the government's slogans, "A sea of opporunities, and an island of despair." (Un mare di opportunità e un'isola di disperazione.)

History

The Isola movement traces its lineage to La Denunzia, a popular revolt against the ruling government at the height of the Silver Crisis. Instituting a short-lived regime that sought to dismantle the power of the island's aristocracy, the period was characterized by ambitious programs that attempted to reduce suffering brought on by the economic depression that resulted from the island's depletion of silver, its main backing currency. Although economic stagnation continued, a great wealth redistribution was financed by repossessed assets from the Six Families, the merchant class which owned most of the island's wealth and political influence in the years beforehand. Wealth inequality sharply decreased, allowing for the unseen raising of living standards for many of the nation's poor and disaffected.

The post-Calming period saw a period of economic privatization and fiscal liberalization under the rule of Ducissa DeGaio, a fellow revolutionary leader. Done in efforts to restart growth, to ensure the nation would not return to the oligarchic, old state of the island, the establishment of a robust welfare state followed in turn with major reforms. While pieces of key industry were returned to the aristocrats, the worker-oriented movement continued to work towards keeping its broad base's financial status secured, even as the economy rocked at times.

The rise of the internationalist movement and the accession of Leo Minestrici to power served to slow the work of a number of welfare programs. Following the Rossan Opening, the government's focus shifted towards industrial investment and international trade, rather than living standards. Although the nation's GDP steadily increased over the following years due to an influx of trade opportunities, an increasingly disaffected class of workers, concentrated mostly on the west coast (which saw little trade due to its position) would come to resent the island's turn towards the archipelago, and would come to seek a return to the island's self-sufficiency and inner focus. Spearheaded by Advisor Antonio Morobaldi, the movement would eventually solidify into an officially recognized political organization.

Ideology and Policies

Isola is described as a worker-oriented party of isolationism. Favoring sharp progressive taxation, a welfare state, and among some of its members, a return to industrial deprivatization, all in favor of economic egalitarianism, the party has held the position that growth stimulated by cheap foreign goods and labor will not serve to benefit the wider population, and only the aristocrats that have once more started taking a hold on the economy. Furthermore, the party holds that even economic stagnation would be preferable if it meant that the wealth of the vast lower parts of the population rose to higher levels. The party has embraced nationalist imagery as symbols of the Rossan working population, rejecting their use by the hereditary and political elite, whom they often accuse of national betrayal, corruption and nepotism.

Isola supporters tend to be in favor of a complete or partial withdrawal of responsiblities to the House of Light, an economic and military alliance La Rossa is part of. Holding that Rossan companies exploit labor in nations that haven't been fully industrialized, the party's stance is that such relationships harm workers both in La Rossa, where they hold they have lost labor opportunities, and in the wider archipelago, where work in poor conditions is used to serve Rossan economic interests. The party is considered socially progressive, although critics have stated that the party's anti-internationalist elements and a focus on Rossan patriotism have led to ethnic hate towards inhabitants of the other islands. The leadership of Isola has rejected such claims, though its elected officials have occassionally pushed towards restricting welfare programs exclusively to Rossans, despite the nation recognizing no form of citizenship.