Yuri Gielbov
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| Yuri Gielbov | |
|---|---|
 Yuri Gielbov's most famous portrait. | |
| Born | May 17, 1993 St Pietersburg, Translithania |
| Died | March 14, 2053 Zofia, Grozda, Pravnicka |
| Occupation | {{{occupation}}} |
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| In office {{{start_date}}} - Present | |
| Preceded by | {{{preceded}}} |
| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
Yuri Gielbov (May 17, 1993 – March 14, 2053) was a Translithanian political philosopher and writer who advocated worldwide revolution among Aurora's oppressed working classes. Often called the father of Absolute Unionism (later termed Communalism), Gielbov was both a scholar and a political activist. He addressed a wide range of political, economic, and social issues.
Gielbov is especially known for his emphasis on the commonality of mankind, and what he called "Absolute Unionism." He believed that stockism, like previous economic systems, produces internal tensions which will lead to its own destruction. Just as stockism replaced the feudalism of monarchical times, stockism itself will be displaced by Absolute Unionism. Next, Gielbov believed, the people would organize themselves in such a way that a classless society emerges and the cessation of the state occurs; according to Gielbov, such a transition would occur only when the "autonomy of the masses" is realized. Gielbov's ideas were compiled into one of the most influential books in history, his Tenets of Communalism
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Biography
Yuri Gielbov was born into a wealthy, aristocratic Translithanian family in the capital city of St Pietersburg. His father was a minor officer in the Imperial Court of St Stanislaus, and often functioned as a personal secretary to lower-ranking members of the royal family. His mother was descended from one of Translithania's noble families. Gielbov had two older brothers, Andras and Janos, and a younger sister, Ilda.
Education
Like most privileged Translithanian youth living in St Pietersburg, Gielbov was educated in the home by private tutors until the age of sixteen. At that time, he entered the prestigious St Pietersburg Young Men's College.
After three years of study at the college, he graduated with mediocre grades. However, Gielbov's teachers did notice his exceptional understanding of the subjects of economics and philosophy. Shortly after graduation, Gielbov enrolled in the St Stanislaus Imperial University where he pursued his doctorate in philosophy. The University was attended by mostly noble families and lesser members of the Royal Family. It was here that Gielbov's distaste for the pretensions of the upper class were born. Halfway through his graduate work, Gielbov went on sabbatical from his studies and decided to tour the country.
Absolute Unionism
Everywhere Gielbov went he was witness to the plight of Translithania's working people. He was disgusted by the huge disparities in the standard of living of the poor and the rich. He was especially concerned by the victims of Translithania's rapid industrial revolution. "All around me I see the blossom of industry," Gielbov wrote, "yet, in far greater amounts, I see the human misery that is the price of such growth."
When Gielbov returned to St Pietersburg, he joined a number of student groups working for social change, but found that none of them truly sought to remedy the situation. After earning his doctorate, Gielbov wrote prolifically from his small apartment over a St Pietersburg factory, in the heart of the city's industrial district. As the industrialization of the country surged on, Gielbov's writings became far more radical. Most of his early work was published in the Translithanian Socialist Monthly, but even that—Translithania's most left wing political journal—stopped publishing his writings after he was arrested for lese-majeste and sentenced to a year of hard labor for inflammatory remarks he'd made about the monarch.
Failed Coup d'Etat
Upon his release from prison, Gielbov was all the more convinced the social order had to be broken down. His experience in prison led him to understand the concept that power corrupts, and he was appalled by how many in power seemed to be truly depraved people. Nonetheless, he was resolute about the goodness of man and determined to mount a revolution so the common man could enjoy the fruits of his labor. Only in this way, Gielbov was convinced, could society be saved from itself.
Gielbov spent the next 16 months organizing a following in his ancestral region of Austria-Hungary. He counted a number of aristocratic friends as supporters of the cause. By November, 2029, Gielbov felt he was ready. He was convinced the taking of Kaposvar, the regional capital, would be followed by the rapid crumbling of the region and surrounding states. This ripple effect, he felt, was overtake the Imperial dynasty and cause the nobility to abdicate when faced with the true power of the people.
Gielbov launched his coup d'etat on the 9th of November. Unfortunately for him, Gielbov did not believe violence was the answer to anything. As a result, he forbade his followers to arm themselves and, while they enjoyed early successes in capturing, for example, the library and city hall, the authorities responded with armed force. Within only a matter of hours, the fledgling revolution was crushed and order was restored. Hundreds were issued summons to appear in court and subsequently fined, while the most active, including Gielbov, were imprisoned pending trial for treason.
Exile
Only the intervention of Stanislas, Yuri Gielbov's father, kept the younger man's fate from being prison or death. The price, however, was Yuri Gielbov's exile from Translithania, forbidden to set foot ever again on his native soil. It is said his mother wept for 24 hours that day and was so heartbroken that she never spoke to another soul again.
Gielbov spent most of the next 10 years in seclusion under an assumed name in the Torentine Empire, primarily in the less visible Lusitierran territories. He believed he was being hunted by Translithanian assassins, although Imperial Crown officials deny such a scheme ever existed.
In early summer, a young idealist of mixed Pravnick-Translithanian blood, sought out and found Gielbov in his central Balmix retreat in Torentine. The ease with which young József Dardai found Gielbov tends to lend credence to Translithanian claims they were not seeking to kill Gielbov. At any rate, Dardai was as passionate as Gielbov and soon convinced the latter to move to Zofia, the capital of Pravnicka, arriving there on July 20, 1951.
While Gielbov surely appreciated the interest of his rapt pupil and Dardai's dedication to the concept Gielbov had devoted his life to, the father of Absolute Unionism never again took up the torch of political activism. Gielbov, by now karbovanetsk-less, enjoyed Dardai's hospitality and the two spent hours, often long into the night, discussing the finest points of the philosophy that came to be known as Communalism.
Gielbov passed away in his sleep on March 14, 2053. His remains are enshrined in Zofia's Gielbov Hall, named in his honor, and head offices of the Communalist League, Aurora-Wide. Sadly, Gielbov did not live long enough to see even the first country formed on the basis of his ideals.
Legacy
Gielbov's ideas have been the beacon for countless repressed and underprivileged peoples across Aurora. Although he never intended his ideas to be taken as radical, most established power structures fear the concept of classless, stateless equality which threatens to disassemble them.
Absolute Unionism has taken root in several Communalist countries. Otherwise the concept has been embraced by a few Communalist organizations active on the political front in their respective countries,
