Cooperative Worker's Party
Cooperative Worker's Party Coöperatieve Arbeiderspartij | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | CAP |
| Representative Leader | Hessel Teuling |
| Representative Deputy | Eliesa Kiewiet |
| Lords Leader | Jurrijn Vellers |
| Lords Deputy | Andries Letink |
| Labour Ambassador | Karl Elschot |
| Founders | Hessel Teuling Karl Elschot Eliesa Kiewiet |
| Founded | Activist group: 6 December 2020 Registered party: 18 December 2020 |
| Merger of |
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| Preceded by |
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| Headquarters | Molebaai, Molensland |
| Ideology | Social democracy Employment rights Co-operatism Vistari unionism Factions: Social royalism Figurehead monarchism |
| Political position | Centre-left to left-wing |
| International affiliation | New Progressive Group |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan | "Werkende Democratie voor Werkende Mensen" (Working Democracy for Working People) |
| Oceanic Diet group | Democracy for the People |
| Chamber of Representatives | 96 / 1,020
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| Chamber of Lord-Advisors | 11 / 114
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| Lord Ministries | 0 / 6
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| Provincial Governorships | 5 / 42
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| Oceanic Diet | 4 / 90
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The Cooperative Worker's Party (Vistarian: Coöperatieve Arbeiderspartij, CAP) is a Vistari political party, and the largest social-democratic party in Vistaraland. Formerly, for a brief time in December 2020, known as the Alliance for Trade Unions and Cooperatives (Vistarian: Alliantie voor Vakbonden en Coöperaties, AVC), the party stands on a platform of fighting for the Vistari working class - advocating for the promotion of worker-owned cooperatives and the granting of government protections for legally-recognized trade unions.
Since its registration, the party has been led by a five-person executive, consisting of two Representatives, two Lord-Advisors and the party's Labour Ambassador - tasked with coordinating relations between the party and affiliated trade unions and other legal working-class organizations. Currently, the executive comprises Representatives Hessel Teuling and Eliesa Kiewiet, Lord-Advisors Jurrijn Vellers and Andries Letink as well as current Labour Ambassador and previous President of the Imperial Workingman's Delegation, Karl Elschot.
The Cooperative Worker's Party formed during the shift in political organization during the suspension of the Imperial Advisory Council in December 2020, in order to begin enactment of the Second Vistari Constitution. Beginning officially as an activist group, due to the previously existing ban on Marxist and socialist political organizations, the then-named AVP was formed as a platform to advocate both the annulment of the laws blocking working-class organizations from participating in politics and for greater rights to be given to workers to organize. Members of the AVP, while primarily consisting of those previously unable to be granted a voice in Vistari politics, included a number of Representatives and local politicians associated with the recently dissolved Liberal-Progressive Party - primarily its more left-leaning Radical faction. The group also negotiated an agreement with the Imperial Workingman's Association as well as a number of legal trade unions in order to better integrate the often side-lined political wing of organized labour in Vistaraland. In addition, the AVP saw membership which included a number of members previously associated with the Socialist Reform League, though a majority of the organization decided against embracing the more moderate organization - staying with the League when it was later disbarred and reorganized into the Socialist Cause party. Due to the same voiding of ideological restrictions on political organizations that allowed the formation of Socialist Cause, the Cooperative Worker's Party was later registered under its current name to participate in the 2020 election on the 18th of December.
In terms of political stances, the party is generally viewed as representing a broad range of socially democratic views, ranging from moderate centre-left to further fiscally left-wing policies. Despite this, the party maintains many of the more moderate policies on the foundational structure of the Confederation advocated by the Imperial Workingman's Delegation. Though considered controversial on the Vistari left, the Cooperative Worker's Party maintains an explicitly unionist stance within the constituent countries of Vistaraland, opposing the independence of the autonomous regions unless substantiated by total popular support. The party additionally retains a position in support of the continuation of the monarchy, however the extent to which such a stance is taken varies amongst internal factions. For a majority of the party, the question of the monarchy is split between support for the current range of monarchical powers limited by the Vistari Constitution - primarily advocated by those associated with the label of royalistic populism - and those who prefer further limiting the role of the monarch, advocating for a system in which the monarch serves only the role of a national figurehead.
Currently, as the largest opposition party in the Chamber of Representatives, with 96 seats, the Cooperative Worker's Party leads the Formal Opposition, with Representatives Leader Hessel Teuling leading the first recognized Shadow Cabinet. The party is a member of the New Progressive Group, having joined in early 2021.