Bogumil,
I was thinking the same thing as well about how Kremlingames portrayed the legacies of the Strasser brothers, Otto Ernst Remer, and Ernst Niekisch in Collapse as well as another game of theirs, Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall. In the latter game, the developer was already arriving at the conclusion that the Conservative Revolution, Pan-Germanic Socialism, and National Bolshevism were more at home in East Germany and the Eastern Bloc countries than in West Germany and the Western Bloc. It made sense there in the context of an East German playthrough, but Collapse recontextualizes that same legacy within a post-Soviet Republic that may or may not be on the eastern fringes of the German-speaking world.
True, the Strasser brothers did have differing views on what Pan-Germanic Socialism should be, even though both were in contact with Rudolf Jung at one point. I felt the developer made those distinctions clearer by factoring how their opposing perspectives affect the HDI (Human Development Index) of a fictitious former Soviet Republic trying to apply their ideas through NPP. A pro-Gregor NPP entails improving the country’s HDI, which fell significantly after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Meanwhile, a pro-Otto NPP can afford to keep HDI low in order to focus on protecting State and national interests (like combating Separatism, confronting NATO expansion, mitigating corruption and crime). The player loses political power and party popularity if they let the country deviate from either brother’s vision.
That design choice does raise some important questions. Should the country’s living standards improve rapidly or gradually? Should Pan-Germanic Socialism contribute to ongoing pursuits of Post-Capitalism by realizing a “Socialism of the 21st century” or is its version of Statism more aligned with Fascist Corporatism? Does Pan-Germanic Socialism have a vested interest in promoting Socialistic causes in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia? Where does the ideology stand on the former Yugoslavia, North Korea, China, Venezuela, post-Soviet Russia, these United States and its Empire of Liberty?
These questions, even if they are situated in 1990s-2000s politics, are still relevant for anyone who thinks that Pan-Germanic Socialism still has a chance in this century, Bogumil. The fundamental one overall remains constant: if a country somewhere in Eastern Europe decides to readopt Pan-Germanic Socialism for whatever reason, how would it govern itself politically, economically, and socially and why?
Signed,
-DAH
Categories: Philosophy
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