Gramontism

René Gramont, as depicted in the frontispiece to a 1941 edition of his collected speeches

Gramontism (French: Gramontisme) is a Laeralian political ideology which was the official ideology of the Social Democratic Party, and by extension the state ideology of Laeral during the Republican Era. Gramontism, as first laid down by President René Gramont during his 1922-1932 tenure as President of Laeral, was defined by sweeping social, cultural, and legal change meant to modernize the country and promote the unity of Laeral's Arrivée and Rén populations. Many of these changes were implemented in Laeral during the Rose Revolution, the term for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) regime's reformist program.

Gramontism was first set down in the writings and speeches of Réne Gramont, in particular his books Five Pillars for National Progress and Civic Knowledge and the Challenges of Today as well as his "Address to the Laeralian People" on Republic Day, 1923. Later thinkers affiliated with the SDP's founders, the Gang of Five, and with the SDP regime would later elaborate on these ideas, most notably Gramont's successor Jean-Philippe Salaun. Notable Gramontist texts include Hong Kuo-shu's Scientific Programme for Virtue and National Self-Strengthening, and Sun Jia-wei's Aphorisms of the Rose Revolution. Following the abolition of the Republic of Laeral in 1954, Gramontism continued to be advocated for by the Social Democratic Party and its successors; the modern-day Progressive Party of Laeral identifies as a Gramontist party, despite great ideological evolution from the ideals of the Republican Era.

Gramontism has further found adherents abroad, most prominently during the pre-war period. Modern institutions dedicated to Gramontism include the Five Pillars Institute, a think tank which emerged from the Republican-era Five Pillars Policy Office; its subsidiary, Five Pillars Press, and the International Republican Institute, a Laeralsford-based institution which provides technical support to socialist parties and governments abroad.

The core principles of Gramontism are the Five Pillars, spelled out as follows:

• Republicanism, the goal of creating a truly representative national government. Under the Constitution of the Republic, all men and women, regardless of race or income, were eligible to vote, expanding the franchise massively. The first-past-the-post system was replaced, as was the indirectly-elected upper house of the previous government. A Gramontist government, in its ideal form, is a semi-presidential, unicameral republic, although Gramontist theorists have differed on the proper role of local or provincial authorities in a Gramontist government.
• Reformism, the modernizing tendency at the heart of the Rose Revolution. Gramont frequently decried the "outdated superstitions" which "cluttered and befouled" Laeralian government and society, and Gramont promoted scientific and technical education and development projects, while prohibiting traditional practices such as foot-binding, arranged marriage, and the topknot. The principle of reformism thus possesses economic, social, and cultural components meant to advance reason, education, scientific progress, and self-actualization.
• Socialism, the empowerment of the working class through the growth of labor unions and the public ownership of key industries such as the railroads, the steel industry, and heavy manufacturing (ie, the AMCA Automotive Corporation), as well as limited land redistribution. Gramontism acknowledges the importance of class identity while promoting inter-class solidarity, although some of Gramont's followers—notably Hong Kuo-shu and Ren Jian-kuan—embraced the notion of class struggle.
• Secularism, a commitment to decreasing the power of religion in Laeralian society, including a ban on the political involvement of clergy, the taxing of religious institutions, and the ban on religious education, which was ultimately reversed before being passed into law in 1979.
• Anti-Imperialism, the reversal of the legacies of French colonial rule through the full legalization of interracial marriage, a crackdown on Arrivée-supremacist militias, and the establishment of racial quotas in the education system and the civil service. In foreign policy, this pillar resulted in staunch support for liberation movements abroad. Following the Great War, Gramontists grew to embrace multilateralism and opposition to a unipolar world order.