1. The whole Country shall be declared a single and indivisible Republic.
2. All People, having reached the age of 21, shall have the right to vote and to be elected, provided they have not been convicted of a criminal offense.
3. Representatives of the people shall receive payment so that workers, too, shall be able to become members of the Republic parliament.
4. Universal arming of the people. In future the armies shall be simultaneously labor armies, so that the troops shall not, as formerly, merely consume, but shall produce more than is necessary for their upkeep.
5. Legal services shall be free of charge.
6. All feudal obligations, dues, corvées, tithes etc., which have hitherto weighed upon the rural population, shall be abolished without compensation.
7. Princely and other feudal estates, together with mines, pits, and so forth, shall become the property of the state. The estates shall be cultivated on a large scale and with the most up-to-date scientific devices in the interests of the whole of society.
8. Mortgages on peasant lands shall be declared the property of the state. Interest on such mortgages shall be paid by the peasants to the state.
9. In localities where the tenant system is developed, the land rent or the quit-rent shall be paid to the state as a tax.
10. A state bank, whose paper issues are legal tender, shall replace all private banks.
11. All the means of transport, railways, canals, steamships, roads, the posts etc. shall be taken over by the state. They shall become the property of the state and shall be placed free at the disposal of the impecunious classes.
12. All civil servants shall receive the same salary, the only exception being that civil servants who have a family to support and who therefore have greater requirements, shall receive a higher salary.
13. Complete separation of Church and State. The clergy of every denomination shall be paid only by the voluntary contributions of their congregations.
14. The right of inheritance to be curtailed.
15. The introduction of steeply graduated taxes, and the abolition of taxes on articles of consumption.
16. Inauguration of national workshops. The state guarantees a livelihood to all workers and provides for those who are incapacitated for work.
17. Universal and free education of the people.
/ —– END-OF-MANIFESTO —–/
Our Founders chose a Republic form of government because it was based on the Rule of Law which gave the people power and freedom and restricted the control of government. They knew that on the left (Monarchy, Dictatorship, Socialism, Communism,) there would be a majority of government control and on the right (Anarchy) there would be no government (with riots, looting, no personal safety). They also knew that Democracy was mob rule (with few laws). They knew all this because of actual results in history (Kings, Popes, Conquerors, Roman Empire, early stage French Revolution).
Our Founders understood there are actually only 2 forms of sustainable government: Oligarchy (visible leader with supporters/elitists) or Republic (Rule of Law). Eventually all non-Republic forms of government become an Oligarchy (e.g. Hitler or Lenin lead a revolution under anarchy and then take control of the government; democracy “mobs” cause havoc and erode quality of life and some element takes control… usually by force).