What is There to be Done?
(Что Есть Дѣлать?)

Note: This document was originally written in Valorossiyan using some now-outdated characters and spelling. Some words and terms are given both in Equestrian and Valorossiyan at the discretion of the translator. Valorossiyan, which is placed in parentheses (…), is arranged in the period style, which Valorossiyan placed in brackets […] is arranged in the modern style.

Professor Anastasia Adrelana, lecturer of history at Volgorsk Academy.
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In the interest of outlining how to best further our noble goal of uniting Valorossiya [Валороссия] under the red banner, it must be first understood how we got here and what is to be done. I shall do that, my comrades and countrymen, by refuting the damnable propaganda of the Whites (Бѣліе) and Blues [Синие].

Lie: We Valorossiyans are not the same.

Truth: We Valorossiyans are not one, admittedly, but we share a language, history, and culture. While all citizens in our lands are called Valorossiyantsev [Валороссиянцев *Singular: Valorossiyanets [Валороссиянец]], a Valorossiyantsev can be a valor or a khan or a human or a zebra. Off those, only the ethnic Valorossiyans, the Valory [Валоры], can be called Valoruschyn [Валорущын], and of the Valoruschyn, only a Valor (Валор) from families from the old Valo (Вало) homeland can be labeled Val {Вал). This writing will address all Valorossiyans, whether Val, Valoruschyn, or Valorossiyanyev, although as things stand, we, including myself, are at least seventy-five percent Valoruschyn and a full half of our entire population, is doubtlessly Val. Believe not the Blue and Republican bleating for a republic, allegedly to protect those not of the valor, for they offer only old oppression under a new cloak. This is because a republic works by proportional representation, with one representative for so many people. Because the Val outnumber all others, this so-called free republic of the people by the people will in truth be a stealth tyranny where the old Val aristocracy will enslave us all. Only we Communists have a way to true equality -- abolition of all ethnic and class distinctions to ensure that the greater good always comes first.

Lie: The Valor are violent and impulsive.

Truth: Those of us who are valor are not elevated feral beasts. We are an ancient, proud people with great accomplishments stretching from the dawn of history. Fifteen hundred years ago, before the humans had not yet even arrived from their homeland, while the khans still lived in caves and ramshackle dens, while the Zebricans all wandered about tied to their herds, we had a culture and history already. We remember Vladimir Valorov [Владимир Валоров], the first prince of unified Valo, Yaval Mudri [Явал Мудри], who founded the great trade city of Mudrost (Мудрость), Alek Dushbanski [Алек Душбанский], the raiser of great temples and cathedrals, who also founded the spiritual capital, Zuslad [Зусьлад]. While the first stones for the first royal palace were still being quarried in Equestria, we already long had metropolises. And in an age when war tore all the lands, our princes all shared bonds of friendship and came to each other’s’ aid. And in fact, Mudrost even had the first ancestors to our modern Sovet [Совет] councils. We have a famous cadre of writers, poets, painters, and composers admired and emulated around the world, but never surpassed. Aye, we are good at war. We have passionate, strong hearts, and we suffer not injustice lightly. Believe not the lies of the Whites and their Tsarist sympathizers who tell you that the only way to protect yourself from abuse is to give yourself wholly to the restoration of a hereditary autocracy with no accountability or limits. Only we Reds offer true equality, not by selling the citizen to a tyrant or forcing him to pick which overlord he finds the least distasteful, but by returning to our forefathers’ wise traditions of councils, which, remember, were held back when pretty lords in Equestria settled disputes by paying their favored hired killers with plots farmland small enough to stroll through in mere minutes.

Lie: Valorossiya cannot be reunited.

Truth: The thousand years since the murder of the last Tsar by ambition nobles has been a trying time, but there is no cause for despair. Our cause is fated for success, for, after all, we are the Bolsheviks, The Majority. Old Val was made unified not by bickering politicians or by great kings, but by innumerable common folk with a righteous cause in their hearts and a worthy leader at the helm. The glories of old Val were made possible by sacrifice, the likes of which we must not shirk from, or else your children shall have to know what it means to pay the price of war like you do. We must not yield, either, or we condemn them to the yoke of the last thousand years.

Lie: The Tsars presided over an era of prosperity.

Truth: The Tsars presided over an era of decline where the common people found themselves endlessly more and more burdened while the nobles and bourgeois only grew fatter and fatter from their suffering. While Valorossiya did reach its territorial peak, it did not hold the new lands for long. Mismanagement and decadence, as well as the transformation of the military from a mighty force into a stepping stone for ambitious nobles to grow their own influence, enabled the catastrophic defeat in the last war against the first great Khanate, and the failure to find a fit successor for the Tsar led to these last thousand years of disgrace and bloodshed.

Lie: We are tribal

Truth: While tribes are a key step in the growth from primitivism to civilization, civilization is as inestimably more advanced than tribalism as Communism is more advanced than Capitalism. While many Valoruschyny today may seem oriented around tribal lines, that is nothing more than a dishonest oversimplification. We Valorossiyanye (Валороссияные) have always valued family and kinship with the end result being that historically associated groups often align politically with each other on almost everything. And when politics change, they change on the familial level, starting with the father, who traditionally impresses values upon his wife, who then teaches them to their children. We Communists, however, know that we are a people advanced beyond such rigid authoritarianism. This old patriarchy is the cornerstone upon which tsars justified their claims over kings, who thusly justified their claims over princes, who thusly justified their claims over lords, who thusly justified their claims over bourgeois, who thusly justified their claims over yeomen, who thusly justified their claims over peasants, who thusly justified their claims over serfs, and priests justified their claims of superiority over all to convince the low of the righteousness in servitude and to convince the high of their rightful place and right to abuse power. None of this describes a tribe. Therefore, we are not tribal, and there is no duty to any lord, God, or ancestor to champion any oppressive cause.

Lie: We need to return to the past.

Truth: Our past, although full of glories, offers us nothing but continued grief. The Tsarists and the Republicans have each been pressing for many years to return to a past which offers no solutions for our modern world and may have never existed to begin with. If insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, than it can clearly be seen that attempting to return to the past to secure peace and prosperity is indeed psychotic madness. Therefore, the only way forward is into the future.

Lie: A Communist society has never risen, so it is impossible to achieve.

Truth: There has never been a Communist society, because there simply has never been one. Therefore, we shall be the first. We Valorossiyans were already a venerable empire before the Equestrian Diarchs were even born. If we were the first great civilization, then it demonstrates that it is not impossible to lead into the future. We have a storied heritage of great thinkers, inventers, and revolutionaries. Our people have changed the world, and shall do so.

Lie: Communism will arrive in chaos and plundering.

Truth: The transition to Communism shall be smoothly overseen by fairly elected leadership from the proletariat, and they shall guide the pioneers of future society, the vanguard party, who shall set the example for the rest. Communism shall not be established by the sacking of cities and widespread looting. Officials shall take stock of private property and redistribute it fairly so that all get their share. Lands shall be collectivized under the state into efficient plantations as opposed to the wasteful farms of today. Each shall receive according to his need and give according to his ability.

Lie: Communists hate freedom.

Truth: Nothing could be further from the truth! Think of your lives right now. Are you truly free right now? Are you free to pursue education to your heart’s content? No, says the White; you must go into the army! No, says the Blue; you must pay hefty sums! We say yes to education. Are you free from worry about your very security and safety? Not with the Tsarists, who punish dissent with death. Not with the Republicans, who only fight amongst themselves more than they fight external enemies. We guarantee stability and security against all enemies. Can you trust that your needs for housing, food, and medicine will be met? Not with the Royalists, who will demand you pay money just to be able to live. Not with the Unionists, who may not even have facilities available. Are you free from the abuses of your countrymen? Not with the Whites, who decide everything based on who your father was. Not with the Blues, whose councils are little more than warlords propped up by gangs. Neither the Tsarists nor the Republicans offer you true freedom, only concessions to make you not realize how you are abused, bullied, and oppressed every single day.

Lie: Communist rule will make no difference in the violence.

Truth: Our first order of business is to restore law and order, and hold criminals accountable for their actions during the war. As a show of good faith, upon finalization of ceasefire terms, both sides will mutually disarm so as to start over fresh, with only specially sanctioned parts of security forces being allowed the use of firearms.

Lie: Communists suppress information.

Truth: Some things, such as military and state secrets, must be classified. However, other than that, we Reds are transparent and accountable to every single comrade citizen. You should worry about how the Tsarists and Republicans fail to inform the public. White and Blue newspapers are all run by private companies, so naturally their funding and capabilities are limited. Every article must be revised and approved by an editor, who of course will be enforcing the biases of his bourgeois or aristocratic backers, if he himself is not one such person, or it must be both written and approved by a council, ensuring that anything of note or contention is cut from the final product so as not to hurt their stupid little subjects. And then they make you pay for every newspaper. They make you pay for vital information which is written firstly as propaganda and secondly as news. We Reds believe that our people are better and can handle the truth, which is why we are starting our own newspaper with the full backing of all out might, to provide you information which is not only important, but also certifiably true. And even better, this will all be provided to you for free, because being informed is not a privilege, but a right.

Lie: Communism will stifle growth.

Truth: Communism will bolster growth. Firstly, with the war over, we can devote all our resources to building up Valorossiya. Our great nation sadly lacks industrial capacity and consumer goods, most of which are provided by various companies abroad. Industry shall be nationalized to unify all our resources under one banner. Industry shall be freed to do what it does best, liberated from the burdens of competition and obligation to turn profits. The profit motive may have brought us much advancement in our great metropolises, but what about the towns and cities where the most of us live? Practically nothing? Why? Because money matters more to the bourgeois than building roads, railways, bridges, schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. We shall bring the modern age to all Valorossiyans, not just the urban rich. A great period of growth and expansion will be heralded, bring with it great prosperity to be shared by all, especially the ones who built it.

Lie: Communism will hurt labor.

Truth: Communism is all about labor. We Communists understand that the real backbone of a nation is not its fat cats, gentry, dukes, and executives. Every one of them has thousands of people in the proletariat to support them. They claim to protect you from exploitation and enslavement? Workers of Valorossiya, do you not work twelve hours a day six days a week in long shifts in grueling conditions for hardly any pay and zero benefits or gratitude from your boss? Do you mean to tell me that you honestly are content with slaving away for a minimum of seventy-two hours through heat and cold non stop for just enough money to barely feed your family on a few scraps of bread and vodka? And what happens to you if something makes you late? What happens if you get sick? What happens if you get hurt? What happens if you ask to be paid and treated decently? What happens if your boss just decides he doesn’t like you anymore? You get thrown out with nothing but still plenty of bills to pay and mouths to feed. How is that fair? How is that right? How is that any better than slavery? We Communists are different. We believe in paying a man a fair wage. We believe in taking care of people who get hurt or otherwise can’t work. We believe in making setting fair and humane working hours and conditions. We believe that workers should be able to meet with their bosses on even ground and have nothing to fear from the other. We believe in giving everyone opportunities to utilize their talents and skills to the fullest. Conditions under your current masters are already so bad, what could you have to fear from us?

So who are we? We are the Valorossiyans, a proud country with an illustrious history stretching back into antiquity. Today, we are fragmented and mere shells of what we once were. We shall turn war, destruction, and privation into peace, land, and bread.

So what is to be done? First, you, dear reader, if you and your associates are not Communists already, educate yourselves with the works of Egalitarian Theorist [Уравнительный Теорист]and Economic Change [Экономическое Изменение]. If you have not hope of converting your people to Communism, then come and join the nearest Red Revolutionary Army. You must spread the word far and wide, and bring as many to our just cause as you can. Then, with your courageous gallantry on the battlefield, we can reclaim our land, and mile by mile unify it. Only with your help can we rescue Valorossiya from the abusive Whites and the impotent Blues. The vanguard party shall provide the example to all for how society shall be remade. Peace shall be made and crimes committed during the war shall be dealt with. The needs of all Valorossiyans for food, shelter, security, welfare, education, employment, and information shall be met. Property and lands shall be redistributed fairly from those with too much to those with not enough. Workers shall be given the treatment they deserve and under nationalization, the quality of our domestic industry shall improve and prices shall go down and our capacity shall increase. The past is done. The way forward is in the future. Take up the Red cause and help us advance to the glorious Communist future!

This was written by Kalash93.
He is awesome, and you should check his stuff out. If you like Legionnaire, you'll love his stuff, all the gunplay and action and far less of the long waits between chapters.