Socialist leader Amalia Rollins

Monday, 3 June marked the official beginning of the general election campaign in Valkyria. And so, the editorial boards of other newspapers began endorsing their candidates, parties, and coalitions. Today, the editorial board of The Stockholm Post will now give their view of the 2019 election. With Stella Kaufman and Nicole Chancellor campaigning hand in hand, it has become clear that the national conservative party, The New Right, has managed to shift the narrative away from their extreme views. Three years ago, all of the major politicians and political parties held a consensus viewpoint that Nicole Chancellor and The New Right were on the far-right of the political spectrum and should never be a part of the government. Because of her nationalist views, Chancellor was defeated in a landslide by the Labor Party's Margaret Harrison in the 2016 Qvaitican presidential election.

The far-right of Valkyrian politics may present themselves as populists, but not for the right reasons. Nicole Chancellor and The New Right rally behind a culture of fear, seek to eliminate immigration and move toward nativism, pass authoritarian legislation that limits freedoms, and present the view that Valkyria stands above all nations. This brand of populism represents everything that the Socialist Party and the Alliance of Social Democrats stand against. Instead, the Socialist Party offers an alternative and viable form of populism that advocates for a democratic transition from capitalism to socialism, social equality and justice for all people, and the protection of human rights in Valkyria. While The New Right seeks to divide the Valkyrian people through fear, the Socialist Party seeks to unite the country through a message of hope.

With the Conservative Party and The New Right having formed the New Conservative Coalition and the prospect of the Centrist Democratic Party joining their ranks (which former CDP leader Victor Cutter staunchly opposed), the Alliance of Social Democrats must remain, but under the leadership of Amalia Rollins, the Leader of the Socialist Party. As argued by The Sydney Times, Margaret Harrison has accomplished much and the editorial board of The Stockholm Post believes that Socialists should be proud about what she has accomplished throughout her political career, but Valkyria should take its efforts a step further than what the social democrats have done. Capitalism cannot be fixed by incremental reform because the economic system is fundamentally flawed. The social democrats' efforts to ameliorate the externalities of capitalism are ultimately done so in vain.

It is important to stress that the Socialist Party should continue to work with the Labor Party and the Populists of the Left. The multi-party system of Valkyria depends on inter-party cooperation in order to form new governments, which for better or for worse, the Conservative Party and The New Right learned this past year. While The Greens and the Liberal Party abandoned the Alliance of Social Democrats in this upcoming election, Socialist Party leader Amalia Rollins stated that the party "is stronger with the support of the Alliance". The Socialist Party should agree to negotiate Green reentry into the Alliance of Social Democrats, but the Liberal Party should only be included in the Alliance if it is the only way to secure a majority in the National Assembly. The latter supports the capitalist system and presents unnecessary obstacles when it comes to democratisation of the workplace.

Socialist deputy leader Steve Bennett

The trade unions of Valkyria and the preceding countries of Qvait and Winston Island have historically been positioned on the left wing of the political spectrum. These unions have long represented the political base of the Labor Party and now also the Populist Left. However, this electorate is malleable to supporting the Socialist Party because of the policies that they promote. The Labor Party made collective bargaining a constitutionally-protected right in Valkyria, but this is only one right and there is so much more that the Socialists would do that the social democrats have not done. Some policy examples include workplace democracy, common ownership, and the development of communes.

In their election platform, the Socialist Party promised to develop workplace democracy in Valkyria. Social mobility in a capitalist economic system does not always award workers based on their experience. In capitalism, promotion and upward mobility is usually reliant on cronyism and nepotism, limiting other Valkyrians' ability to rise based on their own merits. After the Labor Party came to power in 2016, upward mobility in Valkyrian government bureaucracy was redesigned to be meritocratic and technocratic. In spite of these reforms, however, the private sector of Valkyria continues to remain an oligarchical system. Steve Bennett, the Deputy Leader of the Socialist Party, said that his party intends to propose legislation that would require private companies to promote workers based only on their merits.

Another aspect of workplace democratisation that the Socialist Party promotes is the establishment of cooperatives in Valkyria. The first enterprise that the Socialist Party could convert into a cooperative is ValkBank, the state-owned enterprise that most Valkyrians rely on for financial services. By turning ValkBank into a credit union, it will be easier for the bank to survive financial crises and, with members having control over ValkBank, the credit union would place the people's interests before profits. There are other areas of the Valkyrian economy that could be reformed under the cooperative model, which includes industry and retail. Quarterly business reports mandated by the national government show that the commercial retail business, Valkmart, only meets the minimum regulations and guidelines set forth by the government when it comes to workers' rights and freedoms, but it could do much more than it does right now.

The Socialist Party believes that by fostering the development of communes across Valkyria, economic and cultural division within communities could be gradually erased and communities as a whole could be improved with shared resources. Because of the Socialist Party's strong presence in Stockholm, efforts have been made by Socialist mayor Ksenia Cameron-Swayze (known by locals by her initials "KCS") to convince residents and businesses to form actual communes. A successful example of one of these communes exists in the Raikoff district of Stockholm, where 6,383 residents and 612 businesses signed a commune agreement in 2017. Economic data compiled by the National Statistics Agency in 2018 shows that the Raikoff district has a local gross domestic product that rivals that of Stockholm's central business district.

Stockholm skyline with Executive Valkyria centre-right

When it comes to foreign policy, the Socialist Party wants to develop a peaceful and reconciliatory relationship with the Voodoo People's Republic of Bruuma and the People’s Republic of Kai Fa and foster closer ties with the Republic of Ubesii. This is a major differentiation from the Harrison foreign policy, which has been aggressive against Bruuma for its involvement in Sereva and Reizen. On the issue of the civil war in Reizen, the Socialist Party shares the view of the rest of the Alliance of Social Democrats in that they want to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict and for the people of the country to have the right to peacefully self-determine. The Socialist deputy leader, who serves in a reserve capacity as a captain in the Valkyrian Special Services and participated in the Great War of 2014 against the Socialist Democracy of Sporaltryus, warned that ideological conflict "does not serve to the benefit of anyone".

"The people I fought alongside and against, myself included, were victims of ideological aggression in 2014," said Socialist deputy leader Steve Bennett, "I don't want any of my brothers- and sisters-in-arms to fight in a war of that kind ever again." At a 2017 campaign rally, Bennett promised that he would appeal the government to build a cooperative and peaceful relationship with both socialist and capitalist countries, but promote closer ties with the former to give more power to the workers than corporate leaders. While Socialist leader Amalia Rollins has been attentive to domestic policy, the deputy leader has been more active on the internationalist and foreign policy front of the Socialist Party due to his military service abroad. As a Member of Parliament, Bennett has made more international visits than his leader, meeting with socialist politicians and voters to discuss ways for socialist policies to become enacted.

The Socialist deputy leader has proposed reviving the Southern Socialist Union as a way to bring socialist parties across the South Pacific close together, "The previous SSU was an organisation that linked socialists countries, but I am interested in linking socialist parties together because we need cooperation of socialists in countries that are capitalist." Bennett argues that socialist parties who cooperate with other will fare better in national elections and formulate consensus-based public policies that benefit everyone in the South Pacific. However, the Socialist deputy leader announced that he will oppose membership for political parties that advocate and promote violence, which would negatively affect the Workers' Mojo Party of Bruuma and the Worker's Party of Reizen.

In the 7 July general election, the Socialist Party will be the best party and the Alliance of Social Democrats will be the best alliance for Valkyria. Socialist leader Amalia Rollins is the person who should become the Chancellor of the Valkyrian Republic. History has shown over and over that capitalism is a poisonous elixir that has harmed Valkyrian workers and workers of the preceding countries for decades. The country is in need of change—change for the better—and the Socialist Party is the one that can deliver that.