[submitted] Beat Red

[The Free Joy State]

Inspired by this article on the abuse of illegal market traders in North Korea. [possible trigger warning; discretion advised]

Toned down to make it more gameside-friendly.

Title isn't there yet.

Submitted: 29th Nov 2019 as "Not a Red Cent"

Draft Two

[Title] Beat Red

[validity] Socialist Policy. Low income equality. Women's rights not good.

[description] Despite the command economy, for those in the know @@NAME@@ has a secretive black market. An increasing number of female traders are attempting to earn a living in this shadowy world, frequently experiencing blackmail, harassment and abuse by government officials. The crimes go unreported, due to the illegal nature of their employment.

[option one] "The official came to the market," says the blushing Comrade Sue D. Nym, in an official video report by the @@REGION@@ Humanitarian Society. "And he ordered me to give him one hundred percent of my takings for the day. The next time, he said he would want more. State-owned workplaces do not pay enough for my partner and I to feed our little @@BOY@@s. Many of our neighbours' children are starving. All we ask is a substantial increase in wages at state-provided employment, so we don't have to break the law just to eat."
[effect] avoiding starvation is considered the height of luxury

[option two] "This just shows how badly @@DEMONYM@@ society devalues female comrades," notes Comrade @@RANDOMNAMEFEMALE@@, chair of the @@DEMONYM@@ Society of Comrades of the Feminine Persuasion. "Some communities -- especially rural ones -- see females as inferiors, not fellow socialists and equals. The maltreatment of women is rarely treated as a serious crime, even when not perpetrated by officials. @@LEADER@@, you must promote the full equality of male and female comrades, and teach all @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@, official and farmer alike, that women and girls have rights to be respected."
[effect] officials always touch their cap as they confiscate earnings

[option three] "The real issue is that these officials knew no action would be taken," insists @@RANDOMNAME@@, passing you the Humanitarian Society's thick paper dossier. "No matter the excesses of the officials involved -- interrogations that lasted until the subject was exhausted, extortion, battery, abuse -- the victims were too scared to report it. Some may be satisfied to accuse your government of corruption, but I have an uglier word: 'malfeasance'! We need to properly investigate and prosecute all crimes committed by government officials. Nobody should be above the law."
[effect] the officials' Maxxmas Party seems surprisingly quiet this year

[option four] "Hang on? You like legal jargon? Try this for size, 'clean hands'," smirks market official Comrade @@RANDOMNAMEMALE@@, drawing naughty images all over the dossier. "Only the wholly innocent can ever accuse people of crimes, right? Well, these slatterns broke the law. Stole their labour from our glorious Motherland, and for what? Selfish convenience. Do you want capitalism back, @@LEADER@@? To keep it at bay, just give all officials unlimited powers to detain suspects indefinitely and confiscate any suspected unlawful goods -- for Mother @@NAME@@, of course. We'll crush these money-grubbing traders in no time."
[effect] gold-watch-wearing officials' homes commonly feature big screen TVs/she who cannot work does not eat

[Title] Beat Red

[validity] Socialist Policy. Low income equality. Women's rights not good.

[description] Despite the command economy, for those in the know @@NAME@@ has a secretive black market. Making a living in this shadowy world are female traders who illegally buy and sell goods to earn small amounts of money for their loved ones. These women frequently experience blackmail, harassment and abuse by government officials. The crimes go unreported, due to the illegal nature of the women's employment.

[option one] "The official came to the market," says the blushing Comrade Sue D. Nym, in an official video report by the @@REGION@@ Humanitarian Society. "And he ordered me to give him one hundred percent of my takings for the day. The next time, he said he would want more. I only became a market trader to feed my little @@BOY@@s. If I did not sell blankets, we would starve. All I ask is that government-provided employment pays higher wages, so we can legally make enough money to survive. Then we would be safe from the caprices of cruel officials."
[effect] avoiding starvation is considered the height of luxury

[option two] "The issue is that the officials feel at liberty to behave like this," notes Comrade @@RANDOMNAMEFEMALE@@, chair of the @@DEMONYM@@ Society of Comrades of the Feminine Persuasion. "@@DEMONYM@@ society often devalues female comrades. Some communities -- especially rural ones -- see females as inferiors, not comrades. Respect for fellow socialists and human beings must be woven through society, so it will be inconceivable to behave so brutally. Issue a clear statement that male and female comrades are equals."
[effect] officials always touch their cap as they confiscate earnings

[option three] "The real issue is that these officials knew no action would be taken," insists @@RANDOMNAME@@, passing you the Humanitarian Society's thick paper dossier. "No matter the excesses of the officials involved -- interrogations that lasted until the subject was exhausted, extortion, battery, abuse -- the victims are all too scared to report it. Some may be satisfied to accuse your government of corruption, but I have an uglier word: 'malfeasance'! We need to properly investigate and prosecute all crimes committed by government officials. Nobody should be above the law."
[effect] the officials' Maxxmas Party seems surprisingly quiet this year

[option four] "Hang on? You like legal jargon? Try this for size, 'clean hands'," smirks market official Comrade @@RANDOMNAMEMALE@@, drawing naughty images all over the dossier. "Only the wholly innocent can ever accuse people of crimes, right? Well, these slatterns broke the law. Stole their labour from our glorious Motherland, and for what? Selfish convenience. Do you want capitalism back, @@LEADER@@? To keep it at bay, just give all officials unlimited powers to detain suspects indefinitely and confiscate any suspected unlawful goods -- for Mother @@NAME@@, of course. We'll crush these money-grubbing traders in no time."
[effect] gold-watch-wearing officials' homes commonly feature big screen TVs/she who cannot work does not eat

Open for comment.

[USS Monitor]

Wouldn't it make sense to use the black market stat in the validity, since that's a tracked stat?

[Bears Armed]

Wouldn't it make sense to use the black market stat in the validity, since that's a tracked stat?

It's a tracked stat that even some members of the game's staff have admitted doesn't work very well: Increasing a nation's level of Economic Freedom can increase Black Market as a side-effect, so that legalising trade in something can actually give the Black Market the sort of boost that you'd expect if you'd just banned that legal trade instead... Isn't there a fix still stuck in Beta?

[Australian rePublic]

Why are women in the brunt of this? Men would be caught up in it too

[Trotterdam]

[description] Despite the command economy, for those in the know @@NAME@@ has a secretive black market. Making a living in this shadowy world are female traders who illegally buy and sell goods to earn small amounts of money for their loved ones. These women frequently experience blackmail, harassment and abuse by government officials. The crimes go unreported, due to the illegal nature of the women's employment.

Is it only women doing this?

I mean, there are reasons to want money other than needing to support your family, and there are men who care about their families. Even if the people doing this aren't in a perfect 50%-50% gender split for whatever reason, it seems improbable that it would be a female-only problem, and is seems disingenuous to present it as one just to rile up the feminists.

Or maybe both men and women are committing this crime, but due to sexism common in the police force, women get treated more harshly for doing the exact same thing men are also doing. If that's the real problem, then the issue needs to be clearer about it up front, and stress that's the subject, not the existence of the black market itself somehow being inherently sexist. Though even then, police brutality against men is hardly unheard of. It might be less often sexual in nature, but there are plenty of other unpleasant things that can be done to you. And anyway, police brutality, including sexist police brutality, is something that can happen in any country, including capitalist countries, so it seems arbitrary to make the issue specifically about the black market just because that's what this one particular real-life example was about. North Korea is a rather horrible nation in many respects, but correlation does not imply causation, so you should still take a look at what the actual problem is rather than making the issue "for North-Korea-like nations".

[The Discipled]

The issue seems interesting, except from the text within the first option:

""The official came to the market," says the blushing Comrade Sue D. Nym, in an official video report by the @@REGION@@ Humanitarian Society. "And he ordered me to give him one hundred percent of my takings for the day. The next time, he said he would want more. I only became a market trader to feed my little @@BOY@@s. If I did not sell blankets, we would starve. All I ask is that government-provided employment pays higher wages, so we can legally make enough money to survive. Then we would be safe from the caprices of cruel officials.""

This seems counterproductive (perhaps intentional) - having a government official take 100% of someone's earnings and then having an increase of wages would simply satisfy the second condition (depending on how you quantify extra as a % of income or as a higher lump sum), and seems somewhat meaningless. I would suggest adjusting the percentage to 80-90% of total earnings, as it leaves the idea of "starvation wages" in effect however doesn't make it seem too harsh enough as to not make enough simply to eat.

[The Free Joy State]

Wouldn't it make sense to use the black market stat in the validity, since that's a tracked stat?

Considered it. Decided to leave it off for now.

*snip*

The issue is based on a real life issue, that only sexist nations will get. It is not to "rile feminists", but based on the proposed causes in the linked article. Though I can work on the sexism option.

Anyone wanting to write a different issue about men in the marketplace are free to do so. This issue is mine, and I'm happy to stick to basing it on the reality in North Korea. I think writing about a socialist society that's not fair or equal (whether by design or accident) is interesting.

As for the "black market", well it is for non-capitalist countries because non-capitalist issues are something we need right now [hint-hint, issues writers].

The issue seems interesting, except from the text within the first option:

""The official came to the market," says the blushing Comrade Sue D. Nym, in an official video report by the @@REGION@@ Humanitarian Society. "And he ordered me to give him one hundred percent of my takings for the day. The next time, he said he would want more. I only became a market trader to feed my little @@BOY@@s. If I did not sell blankets, we would starve. All I ask is that government-provided employment pays higher wages, so we can legally make enough money to survive. Then we would be safe from the caprices of cruel officials.""

This seems counterproductive (perhaps intentional) - having a government official take 100% of someone's earnings and then having an increase of wages would simply satisfy the second condition (depending on how you quantify extra as a % of income or as a higher lump sum), and seems somewhat meaningless. I would suggest adjusting the percentage to 80-90% of total earnings, as it leaves the idea of "starvation wages" in effect however doesn't make it seem too harsh enough as to not make enough simply to eat.

Not quite. The official is taking 100% of the illegal earnings. The trader is petitioning for a raise in the amount she can earn legally, so she doesn't have to sell goods illegally (putting her at risk of the confiscation of her earnings). Will clarify.

[Bears Armed]

As for the "black market", well it is for non-capitalist countries because non-capitalist issues are something we need right now [hint-hint, issues writers].

I submitted one, earlier this year... No good?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

We normally don't comment on the acceptance or rejection of individual submissions, sorry.

[Bears Armed]

We normally don't comment on the acceptance or rejection of individual submissions, sorry.

Nothing to be "sorry" about, I already knew about that policy and wasn't actually asking for an update: My post in response to FJS was just intended as a reminder that, if it hasn't already been rejected, there's at least that potential "non-capitalist" submission out there...

[The Free Joy State]

Draft two is up... and I still don't like my title for this one.