Congress of People's Councils convenes substantial Second Ordinary Session

The Mountain Standard, the new national flag adopted by the 2nd Ordinary Session of the Congress of People's Councils.

The Congress of People's Councils of the New Richmond Republic convened its second ordinary session from the 17th to the 21st of February 2022 (1 RY). The Congress enacted constitutional amendments, elected new ministers, and passed various Acts of Congress.

The Congress of People's Councils is the supreme organ of state power in the NRR. Congress derives its power and legitimacy from the eponymous local people's councils spread throughout the Republic's regions. The laws passed in Congress cannot be contradicted by any local law or any action or decree of the Central People's Government's other organs, ministries, and agencies. Congress also possesses the authority to recall any officer of the Central People's Government and to amend the Basic Law. 

The session was held in compliance with the Basic Law's requirement of an ordinary session every winter, marking the first time that Congress has convened in ordinary session since the 9th of August 2021 (1 RY), merely one week following the Republic's secession. The session saw a turnout of 80 percent, with one delegate - Comrade Savannah Wellman - not in attendance due to illness. Comrade Brooklyn Hewitt, Secretary-General of the Blair Mountain League, presided over the session in her capacity as Prime Minister.

Following the end of roll call, Comrade Brooklyn proposed a vast slate of changes to the Basic Law; all of which were unanimously approved by Congress. Referred to collectively as the First Amendment, the most important changes are:

• ​the Preamble: re-written to be less antagonistic towards the Commonwealth of New Virginia.
• Article III (People's Councils): removal of explicit mention of the office of people's council chair and replaced with the guarantee of the general authority of people's councils to elect their own officers and the officers of the city or commune they administer.
• Article IV, Section 1 (Congress of People's Councils): guaranteed representation to special administrative districts, abolished the two-year term of delegates in favor of serving at the pleasure of their respective people's council, gave every people's council the unilateral authority to call for an extraordinary session of Congress, and permitted First Justice of the People's Tribunal to preside in place of the People's Commissioner or Prime Minister.
• Article IV, Section 2 (Central Executive Committee): separated Ministry of Foreign and Military Affairs into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of State Security.
• Article V (Administration of Land): recognized the existence of special administrative districts and abolished military districts as a distinct form of administrative region.

Comrade Chris Faine, newly-elected Minister for State Security.

Following the enactment of the First Amendment, Comrade Brooklyn nominated the Commandant-General of the Corps of Revolutionary Guards, Comrade Chris Faine, to serve as the first Minister for State Security and to replace Comrade Larissa as Minister for Home Affairs. Comrade Chris was unanimously approved by Congress, and he took his place on the Central Executive Committee soon thereafter. The Prime Minister then rose to deliver her biannual report on the work of the Central Executive Committee and its ministries and agencies; detailing in full various advances in foreign affairs (such as accession to the Grand Unified Micronational as a full member), the continuous development of the state socialist economy under MEDFA, the first census, and the various decrees enacted by the Committee (which were unanimously upheld by Congress following the report).

​​Comrade Brooklyn took the floor in her capacity as Party Secretary-General to present the Blair Mountain League's prepared legislative program. The legislation was all enacted unanimously by Congress with little discussion. The four Acts of Congress passed were:

• ​the Flag Act of 2022, which replaced the former seal-on-red-banner national flag with the new Mountain Standard, designed by Comrade Brooklyn with technical help from Sir William Wilson of New Virginia (who was awarded the Order of Blair Mountain by the Act).
• the Counter-Revolutionary Crimes Act of 2022, which defines crimes directed towards the rule of the people's councils and/or Central People's Government, towards the party, and towards the enduring socialist revolution as counter-revolutionary and delineates the appropriate punishment for those convicted of such crimes (ranging from temporary banishment and removal of political rights to permanent exile).
• the District of Fayette Administration Act of 2022 and the Nubes Peaks Administration Act of 2022, which establish the local administrations of the respective eponymous special administrative districts.

Following the close of standard business, the floor of Congress was left open to delegates for the last day of the session to make private delegate's proposals, addresses, or any additional business. Comrade Brooklyn rose to nominate Brotherly Leader Leon Montan of Ponderosa Hills, King Abrams I of Ikonia, and Aulus Tarquitius Buteo for the Order of Blair Mountain (the Republic's second-highest honor). Congress unanimously voted to grant them all the Order. Comrade Chris rose to address Congress in light of his election as a minister, giving a brief speech on the necessity of unity in government and the potential of the Republic to provide assistance and relief to its citizens whom suffer under the bootheel of American capitalism.

Prior to the closing of the session, the People's Commissioner of the Republic, Comrade K. Riley Hewitt, rose to address Congress on behalf of his office with a brief speech:
Comrades, I want to take a moment before the end of this session to congratulate you all on the most substantial meeting of this honorable Congress since the Republic's establishment last August. It has been an honor to serve the Central People's Government as People's Commissioner, representing the New Richmonder people and revolution at home and abroad, and I can never thank you all enough for giving me this opportunity. As we continue to build up our state and carry out our people's revolution, I must take the time to thank the Central Executive Committee and the Prime Minister for all of the good work they have done in the past six months. I think it was absolutely the right thing for the Congress to uphold the decrees and actions of the Committee. I also want to congratulate my friend and Comrade, Chris Faine, for his election to the Committee as Minister for State Security and Minister for Home Affairs - making him the second person to run two ministries simultaneously, the first being Comrade Brooklyn. I am excited to see the work of the newly-constituted CEC in the months leading up to our next ordinary session in the summer. Comrades, thank you for another great session! Long live the New Richmond Republic and the New Richmonder Revolution!

The Prime Minister followed the People's Commissioner with a lengthy speech wherein she praised the session for all of the work it had done, congratulated Comrade Chris on his election, thanked Congress for its confidence in the Central Executive Committee under her leadership, and from there described recent events in the MicroWiki community and her own role therein. Much of the address's conclusions and perceptions have been made antiquated by recent events prior to the publication of this article; however, the Prime Minister's stated goals in foreign policy remain true: "as Foreign Minister, and ultimately as Prime Minister, I gladly proclaim before my comrades that the New Richmond Republic... will continue its productive dialogues with the members of the Social System, it will look towards joining the Borean Community, and it will continue its membership in the Grand Unified Micronational without seeking any sort of leadership position therein. The NRR does not consider itself a member of the MicroWiki Community at this point in time, and it should not be considered to be a MicroWiki nation. We will continue to forge our own path in the intermicronational community in the months and years to come." The Prime Minister also spoke regarding the Republic's renewed and strengthened commitment to the Augusta Accord - an intermicronational treaty dedicated to anti-transphobia, named for what is now Friedecksburg Borough in New Richmond City - and general opposition to bigotry: "comrades, I believe I speak for both government and party when I say that the New Richmond Republic is a nation which was founded by people who are militant in their progressive works and who are willing to die on the hill of defense for the marginalized. The foundational principles of the Republic, enshrined in our Basic Law, are based entirely in this fact of the nature of our existence."

The second ordinary session of the Congress of People's Councils concluded on the 21st of February 2022 (1 RY) with the performance of the national anthem, "Which Side Are You On?". Soon after, the newly-reshuffled Central Executive Committee held its first meeting of the year. Although no date has been announced yet, the next ordinary session of the Congress of People's Councils is expected to be held in August of this year. The full minutes of the second ordinary session can be found here.

---