RE: J____s' Plan

To: Citizen U_____y

From Citizen S_________v


Citizen,

Your apologizes are unnecessary, it is clear that your information is outdated by several weeks, and to be honest it would be a surprise if you did know who I am. Events have overtaken us, and by the time you receive this missive I may well have been placed against a wall and shot (like my two predecessors). If that unfortunate event happens to take place (and perhaps even if it doesn't) my advice to you is two simple words "save yourself."

Your brief history of the Empire's adopting the Five Year Plan, instituting it, and then replacing it with the J_____s' Plan was helpful, but only up to a certain point. I was not around for the "Bloody Congress" of which you speak (and gloss over how intense it really was, I do read my history). The intricate details of both plans have seemed to escaped your attention, or perhaps you were just being circumspect in your recounting of events. Caution is a virtue in these troubled times, and one should take a "keep your powder dry" viewpoint in all their dealings with others. Especially others that they do not know, and aren't certain where their loyalties lie.

I do not know if you are an Elephant or a Bucatini, or a radical member of some splinter group that has yet to give itself a catchy name, thus I do not pretend to know to whom or to what (if anything or anyone) you are loyal to. This makes communication difficult, and since you gave me very little in the way of hints in your letter it might be best for a face to face meeting to obviate the need for putting things in writing.  However, there are certain things that are so well known that writing them down will do no one any harm, or at least that is the great hope.

The Central Committee as you clearly have yet to realize, has become a ramshackled shell of its former self. The glory of the Five Year Plan, and the brilliance of the super seceding  J____s' Plan have been replaced by shambolic chaos the likes that the Empire hasn't seen since the Peterson insurgency (during the years you refer to quite rightly as the "Death Valley" Years).  Those were dark times in the Empire, and it almost didn't survive, and I fear that a return to those days may well neigh be upon us even as we speak. It is a sobering thought that the Empire, so recently a place of prosperity, and progress, could be plunged back into such a dark place, but I fear that threat is all too real.

There does exist hope for the Empire, but it will require men such as yourself to remain loyal, true, and steadfast. We must cling to the ideals that built the Empire as we know it today. Ideals that led to the adoption of the J____s' Plan to begin with. Sober ideals founded upon simple things like justice, beauty, and a strain of large R romanticism that led to the flowering of the Empire's arts, as well as a reorganization of its finances, and governing bodies.  I understand that out (there) on the perimeter (as you place yourself) it is hard for you to obtain clear, precise, and truthful information. Up is Down, Black is White, and the whole world has suddenly turned smart.

Know that plans are in place here in the Center (if it can hold) that will hopefully resolve the tensions in the Empire as soon as possible. If the chaos can be contained, the infection cut out of the heart of the Empire, then it will be able to recover its balance and move forward on the path laid out for it in either the J____s' Plan, or it will have to evolve and formulate a new plan to replace it.  There have been rumblings that the Five Year Plans adherents have recently experienced a upsurge in popularity, but those rumors are, as yet, unproven.  If you have any information regarding any of those rumors, please pass it along, the one thing the Center needs (other than a backbone, and common sense) is information.  Information has been devilishly hard to come by in recent times, and the lack of it may be responsible for the untimely demise of at least one of my predecessors.

The ES, as you so rightly observed have not been eradicated, and remain a real, if minor nuisance. We lack the resources (some say courage) to monitor them too closely, and must always be on the lookout for any of their agents placed among us. They are a virulent lot, and have no love of the Empire, and we can only hope that the Black Hats can keep them in some sort of check. The Pellrin province may be lost to us (it is too soon to tell), but rather lose a finger than the whole hand eh?

I close this missive with the repeated advice,the best I can give during these troubled times. Keep your powder dry.

Yours,

Citizen S_________v