Civic volition

In 1935, six University of Loiraine women students were applauded in the newspaper "Republique" for their initiative in caring for invalid veterans, in an example of everyday civic volition.

Civic volition (Fr: volonté civique) is a Gramontist concept of spontaneous, self-directed communal efforts which result from political and social education among the public. In Gramontist thought, emancipatory policies which permit all of society to work to their fullest potential, coupled with political education to shape a unified political vision, lead communities or work groups to achieve spontaneous feats of communal self-betterment through civic volition. Civic volition was in frequent use in state and private discourse during the Republican Era.

The term "civic volition" was first used by René Gramont in a 1932 speech at an agricultural cooperative in Meilinis. It was adopted into state propaganda throughout the 1930s, with the state newspaper Republique frequently featuring stories on villages or factory work shifts producing spontaneous community projects, such as digging irrigation canals, erecting billboards, or engaging in spontaneous land redistribution. These acts of civic volition were valorized as demonstrating exemplary socialist civic spirit. In Gramontist thought, revolution itself is a form of civic volition, and thus civic volition is the practice of carrying out the revolution on a day-to-day basis.

In contrast with communist propaganda in other nations which typically valorized individual workers, Gramontist discourse, with its focus on collective effort, almost entirely valorized the collective efforts of small groups, work shifts, or entire towns or collectives. Decorations for exemplary achievements in civic volition included the Order of Heroic Labor, typically awarded to collectives or work groups, and the Hero of Civic Production medal.

The cult of personality surrounding René Gramont and other leaders of the Laeralian Republic was often attributed in regime discourse to spontaneous acts of civic volition, rather than as state-directed activities.

Some post-republican Gramontist thinkers have sought to reimagine civic volition as civic or public-spiritedness. The term "civic volition" remains in public discourse decades following the end of the Laeralian Republic; for instance, civic efforts to clean up pollution and plant trees as part of the Laeralian environmental movement of the 1980s and 90s were described as acts of civic volition.