History of Sakhaliya
From Ipon
1945-1948 - Emergance of the Republic
The Peoples Republic of Sakhaliya was formed in 1948 to end a dispute between Russia and China over who claimed ownership of the area formerly occupied by the Japanese. The US put forward that it should become an Independent Nation, free from either's control (although it is widely believed that the US wanted an Ally in the Area incase it needed to take action against the USSR or the increasingly Communist China).
Although the USSR had forced the Japanese out of Sakhalin, they let Sakhalin self Govern, yet the Island itself was only populated by a few thousand Japanese farmers so the Soviets under US guidance also set up a what was supposed to be a temporary Government in the city of Khabarovsk. In 1947 The US argued that the new State would never be able to survive with the resources on Sakhalin Island and held talks with the USSR about a possible hand over of Khabarovsk and its surrounding Krai to the new nation. The USSR refused to the deal, they were only willing to do so on a single condition; Sakhalin was to to be Governed by whom ever the USSR saw fit. The US disagreed, they wanted to see full democratic elections take place to decide who Governed. In the end, they came to a compromise and held democratic elections with a choice of two candidates chosen by the Soviets.
Andrei Gorchenko [b.1904] was to be one of the candidates, he was one of Stalin's Top advisors and a devout Socialist. After the choice was announced, the US insisted that they chose a Candidate that was more democraticly minded or they would be forced to withdraw all previous offers and continue occupation of the area untill either China or the USSR backed down from claiming the area. Josef Stalin was furious at the US, he felt that since it was Soviet land it should be under some kind of loose Soviet Juristiction. He ordered a large company of Red Army soldiers to be sent to Sakhalin and Khabarovsk to occupy the Territory and keep the US from gaining a majority occupation foothold in the area and a stalemate ensued.
The Stalemate lasted a full 8 months from 24th April 1947 to 10th January 1948, there was no official fighting between the US and the USSR during the Statemate, it has thought to have been a major catalyst for the Cold War. In the end the there were a total of 250,000 Red Army soldiers stationed in Sakhalin and Khabarovsk and just a mere 30,000 US soldiers. The US was under too much pressure to ensure that Communism didn't spread to Japan after they had left it in ruins. The US disbanded from Sakhalin on the 1st of January 1948 under a wave of celebration and parading of the Soviet Victory in Khabarovsk. The US had given up on Sakhalin and set their sights soley on the re-construction of Japan.
1948-1976
As promised, Stalin appointed Gorchenko as the first Sakhalin Chairman during the Khabarovsk May Day Celebrations on the 1st of May 1948. During an Address to the Khabarovsk people, Gorchenko announced the new collective name of the Khabarovsk Krai and Sakhaliskaya; The Peoples Republic of Sakhaliya. There was mass applause at the announcement, Stalin was even noted to muse "These people are very joyful. We should trade occupations".
He worked closely with the Soviet Union for the next 5 years, industrial goods moved freely between the USSR and Sakhaliya, the country was borderless with the USSR, prompting the US to reject its existence. Sakhaliya got to work on its first Port Town in 1949 to begin exporting and importing goods, and later in 1952 it started construction on its first Airport. For the time being, most Sakhaliyan good were shipped from Vladivostok in the newly formed Primorsky State to the South of Sakahaliya.
From 1960-1970 Gorchenko struggled to stablize the country, every coming year looked up economically with the production of goods getting stronger, but come the winter the production would drop to depressing levels as snow storms could leave many place in Sakhaliya isolated and entire Industial districts without power. Food was scarce and those who were'nt starving to death were freezing to death. In 1962 Gorchenko managed to appeal to the US for funds to construct new Power stations, they loaned him $400 million but it wasn't near enough to repair the economic damage Khrushchev had caused. Sakhaliya was now in debt to the US and this made Communists all over the world view Khrushchev with a degree of malice, although no-one more than Mao Zedong who vowed to help Sakhaliya by whatever means possible, he told Gorchenko "Socialists are to each other what the heart is to the brain. Without partnership the body [Communism] cannot function."
In 1965, China and Sakhaliya signed the "Bejing Treaty" wich is an Economic and Human Development colaboration between the two ountries. The treaty had a profound impact on Sakhaliya and is still in effect to this day. Goods were able to move freely from Sakhaliya to China, the fence and border guard between the two countries was removed and the USSR stopped getting the Taxes from Sakhaliya's Imports. This made the new General Secretary of the Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev who had been elected the year before look very foolish for not adressing Khrushchev's mistake sooner rather than later, his impotence had cost them a valuable comrade and a loss of income, but all was not lost. Brezhnev spent a good while trying to get Sakhaliya back on favourable terms, and it worked to an extent, but Sakhaliya found greater friendship in Mao's China than the Soviets who had shunned them before already; Gorchenko, even though being from the Soviet Union himself, could never see himself trusting a future Soviet leader for as long as he lived and for as long as they kept denouncing his good friend, Stalin.
On the 22nd January 1970 he announced his resignation would officially take place on his 70th Birthday [20th August 1976], until then however, he handed the majority of Governing over to his Commissar Prime [2nd in Command], "Uri Petrolanskya Buriya" [b.1931]. Uri quickly and secretly ordered the construction of Military bases in various locations around Sakhaliya, so when he took full control of the Politburo in 1976 he could begin a swift Militarization programme and use it, in his own words, as a "Self-propelled propaganda machine", this, Uri predicted, would lead to widespread Sakhaliyan Nationalism and Pride for ones country, raising the moral of the masses so they could soon forget about the tough economic hardships they had endured under Gorchenko.
The end of the Gorchenko era was a solemn occasion, on the day of his official Resignation the Politburo held a massive Farewell parade at the 'Twin Squares Palace' [now the IPON Congress] in Khabarovsk, but there was questions raised over the future of Sakhaliya's Political front; it was the first time in over two decades that the Politburo had another person other than Gorchenko at the helm, they didn't feel Uri was up to the task of keeping Sakhaliya afloat in its time of Economic need, his Revisonist attitude spread a quiet panic through the more Senior Communist officials, some even resigned along with Gorchenko. Uri started office the next day however, as Chairman on the CHP, later to become Premier.
1977-1990
Sakhaliya became progressively stronger during the last part of the Seventies, thanks to increased relations with the USSR and China respectively. Chairman Buriya started a large industrialisation programme, dispite calls from the Politburo that spending too much of Sakhaliya's funds on Infrastrcture would cause an Economic collapse as no money would be left for trade. Buriya ignored this however, he was adamant that the goods produced by the new Factories would pay off its debt ten fold within a few months. He was particularly interested in competing with EDC's than anything else, Sakhaliya offered cheap labour and therefor, cheap goods. Sakhaliya was awash with Coal seams and Oil reserves, he harnessed this whereas Gorchenko had seen it as a waste of time when people should have been producing for their Comrades and not their over-sea's competitors, not many people in Sakhaliya needed Oil at the time [Car ownership was 1 to every 10,000], and Coal was so plentiful you could go digging in your local park to find some.
By 1980, 70% of Sakhaliyan export was Coal and more mines were popping every week. In 1982 Coal demand dropped slightly and Sakhaliya was swamped in Surplus Coal stocks, this prompted Buriya to construct a large coal Power station in the Amur Hills wich was finished and opened in 1985; Coal demand continued to slip but Sakhaliya made up for it by selling power to China and Russia made from the new Power Station. Unfortunately, the Politburo had to close many mines since the demand was much lower than it had been 5 years previously, Coal exports dropped from 70% to just 28% and much more demand had shifted towards Secondary industries such as Metal fabrication and Smelting. Sakhaliya enjoyed one of the lowest rates of Unemployment in the World by 1986, dispite the Coal mines closing; only 0.02% people were out of work, this was including the disabled but not the elderly. This was mainly because new Factories were being built every few months all over Sakhaliya, it was never hard to find work in a new Factory that had just opened a few hundred yards from your Apartment. It was the model of a perfect working Socialist Society.
The Country was deeply in debt however, borrowing from China and the USSR had brought state deficit up to $13 Billion. On announcement that Buriya had maybe been too optimistic in his plans, there was cries for him to be replaced with a more compitent leader, he had brought the country so far towards the oblivion of Economic collapse, the only option if the Economy did collapse was the formation of a free Market plan, and in essence, end of Socialist rule and the end of the Peoples Republic. This was not to be however, in a brief spate of fortune, Sakhaliya was able to up the price of Goods exported to other Countries under a false promise of using the money to improve working conditions, and there were no complaints. This meant Sakhaliya was Economically safe, but still in the Red finacially for the time being.
