title: Communist state

text: Additional people's republics emerged following the Allied victory in World War II, mainly within the Soviet Union's Eastern Bloc. In Asia, China became a people's republic following the Chinese Communist Revolution and North Korea also became a people's republic.


title: Communist state

text: During the 1960s, Romania and Yugoslavia ceased to use the term "people's republic" in their official name, replacing it with the term "socialist republic" as a mark of their ongoing political development. Czechoslovakia also added the term "socialist republic" into its name during this period. It had become a people's republic in 1948, but the country had not used that term in its official name. Albania used both terms in its official name from 1976 to 1991.


title: Communist state

text: The concept of the national-democratic state tried to theorize how a state could develop socialism by bypassing the capitalist mode of production. While the theory of non-capitalist development was first articulated by Vladimir Lenin, the novelty of this concept was applying it to the progressive elements of the national liberation movements in the Third World. The term "national-democratic state" was introduced shortly after the death of Stalin, who believed colonies to be mere lackeys of Western imperialism and that the socialist movement had few prospects there.


title: Communist state

text: The countries in which the national liberations movements took power and which instituted an anti-imperialist foreign policy and sought to construct a form of socialism were considered as national-democratic states by Marxist–Leninists. An example of a national-democratic state is Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser which was committed to constructing Arab socialism. With the exception of Cuba, none of these states managed to develop socialism. According to scholar Sylvia Woodby Edington, this might explain why the concept of the national-democratic state "never received full theoretical elaboration as a political system." However, one feature was clearly defined, namely that these states did not need to be led by a Marxist–Leninist party.


title: Communist state

text: A socialist-oriented state seeks to reach socialism by non-capitalist development. As a term, it is substantially different from the concept of the national-democratic state. The singular difference is that the socialist-oriented state was divided into two stages, firstly into a national-democratic socialist-oriented state and secondly into a people's democratic socialist-oriented state. Countries belonging to the national-democratic socialist-oriented state category were also categorised as national-democratic states. Examples of national-democratic socialist-oriented states are Algeria ruled by the National Liberation Front, Ba'athist Iraq and Socialist Burma. In contrast, people's democratic socialist-oriented states had to be guided by Marxism–Leninism and accept the universal truths of Marxism–Leninism and reject other notions of socialism such as African socialism.


title: Communist state

text: The socialist-oriented states had seven defining features, namely they were revolutionary democracies, had a revolutionary-democratic party, class dictatorship, defense of the socialist-oriented states, had organs of socialisation, initiated socialist construction and the type of socialist-oriented state (either national-democratic or people's democratic). The political goal of revolutionary democracy is to create the conditions for socialism in countries were the social, political and economic conditions for socialism do not exist. The second feature to be met is the establishment of a revolutionary-democratic party which has to establish itself as the leading force and guide the state by using Marxist–Leninist ideology. While introduced in these states, democratic centralism is rarely upheld.


title: Communist state

text: Unlike capitalism which is ruled by the bourgeoisie class and socialism were the proletariat leads, the socialist-oriented state represents a broad and heterogeneous group of classes that seek to consolidate national independence. Since the peasantry were usually the largest class in socialist-oriented states, their role were emphasised—similar to the working class in other socialist states. However, Marxist–Leninist admitted that these states often fell under the control of certain cliques such as the military in Ethiopia. The establishing of a legal system and coercive institutions are also noted to safeguard the socialist-oriented nature of the state. The fifth feature is that the media and educational system has to be taken over by the socialist-oriented state while establishing mass organisations to mobilize the populace. Unlike the Soviet economic model, the economy of the socialist-oriented states are mixed economies that seek to attract foreign capital and which seeks to maintain and develop the private sector. In the words of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, these states were in the process of taking over the commanding heights of the economy and instituting a state planned economy. According to Soviet sources, only Laos was the one socialist-oriented state that has managed to develop into a socialist state.


title: Communist state

text: A socialist state is more than a form of government and can only exist in countries with a socialist economy. There are examples of several states that have instituted a socialist form of government before achieving socialism. The former socialist states of Eastern Europe were established as people's democracies (a developmental stage between capitalism and socialism). On the question of the Marxist–Leninist ruled countries of Africa and the Middle East, the Soviet Union deemed none of them to be socialist states—referring to them as socialist-oriented states. While many countries with constitutional references to socialism and countries ruled by long-standing socialist movements exist, within Marxist–Leninist theory a socialist state is led by a communist party that has instituted a socialist economy in a given country. It deals with states that define themselves either as a socialist state or as a state led by a governing Marxist–Leninist party in their constitutions. For this reason alone, these states are often called communist states.


title: Communist state

text: The highest administrative agency of state power is the government. It functions as the executive organ of the legislature. The Supreme Soviet has been introduced with variations in all communist states. For most of its existence, the Soviet government was known as the Council of Ministers and identical names were used for the governments of Albania, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania. It was independent of the other central agencies such as the legislature and its standing committee, but the Supreme Soviet was empowered to decide on all questions it wished. The Soviet government was responsible to the legislature and in between sessions of the legislature it reported to the legislature's standing committee. The standing committee could reorganise and hold the Soviet government accountable, but it could not instruct the government.


title: Communist state

text: In communist states, the government was responsible for the overall economic system, public order, foreign relations and defense. The Soviet model was more or less identically implemented in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania, with few exceptions. One exception was Czechoslovakia, where it had a president and not a collective head of state. Another exception was in Bulgaria, where the State Council was empowered to instruct the Council of Ministers.


title: Communist state

text: All state power is unified in the legislature in communist states. This is a firm rejection of the separation of powers found in constitutional democracies. The constitution is passed by the legislature and can only be amended by the legislature. Judicial review and extra-parliamentary review were denounced by Soviet legal theorists as bourgeoisie institutions. They also perceived it as a limitation of the people's supreme power. The legislature together with its suborgans was responsible for overseeing the constitutional order. Since the legislature is the supreme judge of constitutionality, the legislature's own acts cannot, therefore, be unconstitutional.


title: Communist state

text: The Supreme Soviet was the first socialist legislature and the Soviet legislative system has been introduced in all communist states. The Supreme Soviet convened twice a year, usually for two or three days each, making it one of the world's first frequently convened legislatures during its existence. The same meeting frequency was the norm in the Eastern Bloc countries as well as modern-day China. China's legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) is modeled on the Soviet one. As with the Soviet one, the NPC is the highest organ of the state and elects a Standing Committee (the Soviets had a Presidium), the government and the State Council (the Soviet counterpart being the Council of Ministers). In addition, all communist states the ruling party has either had a clear majority such as China, or held every seat as they did in the Soviet Union in their Supreme Soviet.


title: Communist state

text: Western researchers have devoted little attention to legislatures in communist states. The reason being that there are not significant bodies of political socialisation when compared to legislatures in constitutional democracies. While political leaders in communist states are often elected as members of legislatures, these posts are not relevant to political advancement. The role of legislatures is different from country to country. In the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet did "little more than listen to statements from Soviet political leaders and to legitimate decisions already made elsewhere" while in the legislatures of Poland, Vietnam and Yugoslavia it has been more active and had an impact on rule-making.


title: Communist state

text: Both Marx and Lenin abhorred the parliamentary systems of bourgeois democracy, but neither of them sought to abolish it. Lenin wrote that it would be impossible to develop proletarian democracy "without representative institutions." Both of them considered the governing model of the Paris Commune of 1871 in which executive and legislative were combined in one body to be ideal. More importantly, Marx applauded the election process by "universal suffrage in the various wards and town." While the institution of the such a legislature might not be important in itself, they "have a place in the literature and rhetoric of the ruling parties which cannot be ignored—in the language of the party's intimacy with working masses, of its alleged knowledge about interests of working people, of social justice and socialist democracy, of the mass line and learning from the people."


title: Communist state

text: By having legislatures, the Marxist–Leninist parties try to keep ideological consistency between supporting representative institutions and safeguarding the leading role of the party. The seek to use the legislatures as a linkage between the rulers and the ruled. These institutions are representative and usually mirror the population in areas such as ethnicity and language, "yet with occupations distributed in a manner skewed towards government officials." Unlike in constitutional democracies, legislatures of communist states are not to act as a forum for conveying demands or interest articulation—they meet too infrequently for this to be the case. This might explain why communist states have not developed terms such as delegates and trustees to give a legislature representatives to vote according to their best judgement or in the interest of their constituency. Scholar Daniel Nelson has noted: "As with the British parliament before the seventeenth-century turmoil secured its supremacy, legislative bodies in communist states physically portray the 'realm' ruled by (to stretch an analogy) 'kings'. Members of the assemblies 'represent' the population to whom the rulers speak and over whom they govern, convening a broader 'segment of society' [...] than the court itself." Despite this, it does not mean that the communist states use legislatures to strengthen their communication with the populace—the party, rather than the legislature, could take that function.


title: Communist state

text: Ideologically, it has another function, namely to prove that communist states do not only represent the interests of the working class, but all social strata. Communist states are committed to establish a classless society and use legislatures to show that all social strata, whether bureaucrat, worker or intellectual, are committed and have interests in building such a society. As is the case in China, national institutions such as the legislature "must exist which brings together representatives of all nationalities and geographic areas." It does not matter if the legislatures only rubber stamp decisions because by having them it shows that communist states are committed to incorporate minorities and areas of the country by including them in the composition of the legislature. In communist states, there is usually a high proportion of members who are government officials. In this instance, it might mean that it's less important what legislatures do and more important who its representatives are. The members of such legislatures at central and local level are usually either government or party officials, leading figures in their community, or national figures outside the communist party. This goes to show that legislatures are tools to garner popular support for the government in which leading figures campaign and spread information about the party's policies and ideological development.


title: Communist state

text: Communist states have established two types of civil-military systems. The armed forces of most socialist states have historically been state institutions based on the Soviet model, but in China, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam the armed forces are party-state institutions. However, there are several differences between the statist (Soviet) model and the party-state model (China). In the Soviet model, the Soviet armed forces was led by the Council of Defense (an organ formed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union) while the Council of Ministers was responsible for formulating defense policies. The party leader was "ex officio" the Chairman of the Council of Defense. Below the Council of Defense, there was the Main Military Council which was responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the Soviet armed forces. The working organ of the Council of Defense was the General Staff which was tasked with analysing military and political situations as they developed. The party controlled the armed forces through the Main Political Directorate (MPD) of the Ministry of Defense, a state organ that functioned "with the authority of a department of the CPSU Central Committee." The MPD organised political indoctrination and created political control mechanism at the center to the company level in the field. Formally, the MPD was responsible for organising party and Komsomol organs as well as subordinate organs within the armed forces; ensuring that the party and state retains control over the armed forces; evaluates the political performance of officers; supervising the ideological content of the military press; and supervising the political-military training institutes and their ideological content. The head of the MPD was ranked fourth in military protocol, but it was not a member of the Council of Defense. The Administrative Organs Department of the CPSU Central Committee was responsible for implementing the party personnel policies and supervised the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.


title: Communist state

text: In the Chinese party-state model, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is a party institution. In the preamble of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party, it is stated: "The Communist Party of China (CPC) shall uphold its absolute leadership over the People's Liberation Army and other people's armed forces." The PLA carries out its work in accordance with the instructions of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao Zedong described the PLA's institutional situation as follows: "Every communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' Our principle is that the party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party." The Central Military Commission (CMC) is both an organ of the state and the party—it is an organ of the CCP Central Committee and an organ of the national legislature, the National People's Congress. The CCP General Secretary is "ex officio" party CMC Chairman and the President of the People's Republic of China is by right state CMC Chairman. The composition of the party CMC and the state CMC are identical. The CMC is responsible for the command of the PLA and determines national defense policies. There are fifteen departments that report directly to the CMC and that are responsible for everything from political work to administration of the PLA. Of significance is that the CMC eclipses by far the prerogatives of the CPSU Administrative Organs Department while the Chinese counterpart to the Main Political Directorate supervises not only the military, but also intelligence, the security services and counterespionage work.


title: Communist state

text: Unlike in constitutional democracies, active military personnel are members and partake in civilian institutions of governance. This is the case in all communist states. The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has elected at least one active military figure to its CPV Politburo since 1986. In the 1986–2006 period, active military figures sitting in the CPV Central Committee stood at an average of 9,2 percent. Military figures are also represented in the national legislature (the National Assembly) and other representative institutions. In China, the two CMC vice chairmen have had by right office seats in the CCP Politburo since 1987.


title: Communist state

text: Every communist state has been led by a Marxist–Leninist party. This party seeks to represent and articulate the interests of the classes exploited by capitalism. It seeks to lead the exploited classes to achieve communism. However, the party cannot be identified with the exploited class in general. Its membership is composed of members with advanced consciousness who are above sectional interests. Therefore, the party represents the advanced section of the exploited classes and through them leads the exploited classes by interpreting the universal laws governing human history towards communism.


title: Communist state

text: In "Foundations of Leninism" (1924), Joseph Stalin wrote that "the proletariat [working class] needs the Party first of all as its General Staff, which it must have for the successful seizure of power. [...] But the proletariat needs the Party not only to achieve the [class] dictatorship; it needs it still more to maintain the [class] dictatorship." The current Constitution of Vietnam states in Article 4 that "[t]he Communist Party of Vietnam, the vanguard of the Vietnamese working class, simultaneously the vanguard of the toiling people and of the Vietnamese nation, the faithful representative of the interests of the working class, the toiling people, and the whole nation, acting upon the Marxist–Leninist doctrine and Ho Chi Minh's thought, is the leading force of the state and society." In a similar form, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) describes itself as "the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation." As noted by both communist parties, the ruling parties of communist states are vanguard parties. Vladimir Lenin theorised that vanguard parties were "capable of assuming power and leading the whole people to socialism, of directing and organising the new system, of being the teacher, the guide, the leader of all the working and exploited people in organising their social life without the bourgeoisie." This idea eventually evolved into the concept of the party's leading role in leading the state as seen in the CCP's self-description and Vietnam's constitution.


title: Communist state

text: The Marxist–Leninist governing party organises itself around the principle of democratic centralism and through it the state too. It means that all directing bodies of the party, from top to bottom, shall be elected; that party bodies shall give periodical accounts of their activities to their respective party organisations; that there shall be strict party discipline and the subordination of the minority to the majority; and that all decisions of higher bodies shall be absolutely binding on lower bodies and on all party members.


title: Communist state

text: The highest organ of a Marxist–Leninist governing party is the party congress. The congress elects the central committee and either an auditing commission and a control commission, or both, although not always. The central committee is the party's highest decision-making organ in between party congresses and elects a politburo and a secretariat amongst its members as well as the party's leader. When the central committee is not in session, the politburo is the highest decision-making organ of the party and the secretariat is the highest administrative organ. In certain parties, either the central committee or the politburo elects amongst its members a standing committee of the politburo which acts as the highest decision-making organ in between sessions of the politburo, central committee and the congress. This leadership structure is identical all the way down to the primary party organisation of the ruling party.


title: Communist state

text: From reading their works, many followers of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels drew the idea that the socialist economy would be based on planning and not market mechanism. These ideas later developed into the belief that planning was superior to market mechanism. Upon seizing power, the Bolsheviks began advocating a national state planning system. The 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) resolved to institute "the maximum centralisation of production [...] simultaneously striving to establish a unified economic plan." The Gosplan, the State Planning Commission, the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy and other central planning organs were established during the 1920s in the era of the New Economic Policy. On introducing the planning system, it became common belief in the international communist movement that the Soviet planning system was a more advanced form of economic organisation than capitalism. This led to the system being introduced voluntarily in countries such as China, Cuba and Vietnam and in some cases imposed by the Soviet Union.


title: Communist state

text: In communist states, the state planning system had five main characteristics. Firstly, with the exception of the field consumption and employment, practically all decisions were centralized at the top. Secondly, the system was hierarchical—the center formulated a plan that was sent down to the level below which would imitate the process and send the plan further down the pyramid. Thirdly, the plans were binding in nature, i.e. everyone had to follow and meet the goals set forth in it. Fourthly, the predominance of calculating in physical terms to ensure planned allocation of commodities were not incompatible with planned production. Finally, money played a passive role within the state sector since the planners focused on physical allocation.


title: Communist state

text: According to Michael Ellman, in a centrally planned economy "the state owns the land and all other natural resources and all characteristics of the traditional model the enterprises and their productive assets. Collective ownership (e.g. the property of collective farms) also exists, but plays a subsidiary role, and is expected to be temporary." The private ownership of the means of production still exist, although it plays a fairly smaller role. Since the class struggle in capitalism is caused by the division between owners of the means of production and the workers who sell their labour, state ownership (defined as the property of the people in these systems) is considered as a tool to end the class struggle and empower the working class.


title: Communist state

text: Marxist–Leninists view the constitution as a fundamental law and as an instrument of force. The constitution is the source of law and legality. Unlike in constitutional democracies, the Marxist–Leninist constitution is not a framework to limit the power of the state. To the contrary, a Marxist–Leninist constitution seeks to empower the state—believing the state to be an organ of class domination and law to be the expression of the interests of the dominant class. It is the belief of Marxist–Leninists that all national constitutions do this to ensure that countries can strengthen and enforce their own class system. In this instance, it means that Marxist–Leninists conceive of constitutions as a tool to defend the socialist nature of the state and attack its enemies. This contrasts with the liberal conception of constitutionalism that "law, rather than men, is supreme."


title: Communist state

text: Unlike the relatively constant (and, in some instances, permanently fixed) nature of democratic constitutions, a Marxist–Leninist constitution is ever-changing. Andrey Vyshinsky, a Procurator General of the Soviet Union during the 1930s, notes that the "Soviet constitutions represent the sum total of the historic path along which the Soviet state has traveled. At the same time, they are the legislative basis of subsequent development of state life." That is, the constitution sums up what already has been achieved. This belief is also shared by the Chinese Communist Party which argued that "the Chinese Constitution blazes a path for China, recording what has been won in China and what is yet to be conquered." A constitution in a communist state has an end. The preamble of the 1954 Chinese constitution outlines the historical tasks of the Chinese communists, "step by step, to bring about the socialist industrialisation of the country and, step by step, to accomplish the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicraft and capitalist industry and commerce."


title: Communist state

text: In communist states, the constitution was a tool to analyse the development of society. The Marxist–Leninist party in question would have to study the correlation of forces, literally society's class structure, before enacting changes. Several terms were coined for different developmental states by Marxist–Leninists legal theorists, including "new democracy", "people's democracy" and the "primary stage of socialism". This is also why amendments to constitutions are not enough and major societal changes need a novel constitution which corresponds with the reality of the new class structure.


title: Communist state

text: With Nikita Khrushchev's repudiation of Stalin's practices in the "Secret Speech" and the Chinese Communist Party's repudiation of certain Maoist policies, Marxist–Leninist legal theories began to emphasise "the formal, formerly neglected constitutional order." Deng Xiaoping, not long after Chairman Mao Zedong 's death, noted that "[d]emocracy has to be institutionalised and written into law, so as to make sure that institutions and laws do not change whenever the leadership changes or whenever the leaders change their views. [...] The trouble now is that our legal system is incomplete. [...] Very often what leaders say is taken as law and anyone who disagrees is called a lawbreaker." In 1986, Li Buyan wrote that "the policies of the Party usually are regulations and calls which to a certain extent are only principles. The law is different; it is rigorously standardised. It explicitly and concretely stipulates what the people should, can or cannot do." These legal developments have been echoed in later years in Cuba, Laos and Vietnam. This has led to the development of the communist concept of socialist rule of law which runs parallel to and is distinct to the liberal term of the same name. In the last years, this emphasis on the constitution as both a legal document and a paper which documents society's development has been noted by Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, who stated in 2013 that "[n]o organisation or individual has the privilege to overstep the Constitution and law."


title: Communist state

text: After Soviet Union general secretary Joseph Stalin's death, several communist states have experimented with some sort of constitutional supervision. These organs were designed to safeguard the supreme power of the legislature from circumvention by political leaders. Romania was the first to experiment with constitutional supervision when it established a Constitutional Committee in 1965. It was elected by the legislature and leading jurists sat in the committee, but it was only empowered to advice the legislature. Keith Hand has commented that "[i]t was not an effective institution in practice," being unable to prevent Nicolae Ceausescu's emasculation of Romania's Great National Assembly after the inauguration of the July Theses.


title: Communist state

text: Hungary and Poland experimented with constitutional supervision in the early 1980s. Hungary established the Council of Constitutional Law which was elected by the legislature and consisted of several leading jurists. It was empowered to review the constitutionality and legality of statutes, administrative regulations and other normative documents; however, if the agency in question failed to heed its advice, it needed to petition the legislature. In 1989, the Soviets established the Constitutional Supervision Committee which "was subordinate only to the USSR constitution." It was empowered "to review the constitutionality and legality of a range of state acts of the USSR and its republics. Its jurisdiction included laws [passed by the legislature], decrees of the Supreme Soviet's Presidium, union republic constitutions and laws, some central administrative decrees, Supreme Court explanations, and other central normative documents." If the committee deemed the legislature to have breached legality, the legislature was obliged to discuss the issue, but it could reject it if more than two-thirds voted against the findings of the Constitutional Supervision Committee. While it was constitutionally powerful, it lacked enforcement powers, it was often ignored and it failed to defend the constitution during the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev.


title: Communist state

text: The Chinese leadership has argued against establishing any corresponding constitutional supervisory committee due to their association with failed communist states of Europe. None of the surviving communist states (China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam) have experimented with constitutional supervision committees or constitutional supervision of anykind outside the existing framework.


title: Communist state

text: All communist states have been established in countries with a civil law system. The countries of Eastern Europe had formally been governed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, German Empire and Russian Empire—all of whom had civil law legal system. Cuba had a civil law system imposed on them by Spain while China introduced civil law to overlay with Confucian elements and Vietnam used French law. Since the establishment of the Soviet Union, there has been a scholarly debate on whether socialist law is a separate legal system or is a part of the civil law tradition. Legal scholar Renè David wrote that the socialist legal system "possesses, in relation to our French law, particular features that give it a complete originality, to the extent that it is no longer possible to connect it, like the former Russian law, to the system of Roman law." Similarly, Christoper Osakwe concludes that socialist law is "an autonomous legal system to be essentially distinguished from the other contemporary families of law." Proponents of socialist law as a separate legal system, have identified the following features:


title: Communist state

text: Legal officials argue differently for their case than Westerners. For instance, "[t]he predominant view among Soviet jurists in the 1920s was that Soviet law of that period was Western-style law appropriate for a Soviet economy that remained capitalist to a significant degree." This changed with the introduction of the command economy and the term socialist law was conceived to reflect this in the 1930s. Hungarian legal theorist Imre Szabó acknowledged similarities between socialist law and civil law, but he noted that "four basic types of law may be distinguished: the laws of the slave, feudal, capitalist and socialist societies." Using the Marxist theory of historical materialism, Szabó argues that socialist law cannot belong to the same law family since the material structure is different from the capitalist countries as their superstructure (state) has to reflect these differences. In other words, law is a tool by the ruling class to govern. As Renè David notes, socialist jurists "isolate their law, to put into another category, a reprobate category, the Romanist laws and the common law, is the fact that they reason less as jurists and more as philosophers and Marxists; it is in taking a not strictly legal viewpoint that they affirm the originality of their socialist law." However, some socialist legal theorists such as Romanian jurist Victor Zlatescu differentiated between type of law and family of law. According to Zlatescu, "[t]he distinction between the law of the socialist countries and the law of the capitalist countries is not of the same nature as the difference between Roman-German law and the common law, for example. Socialist law is not a third family among the others, as appears in certain writings of Western comparatists." In other words, socialist law is civil law, but it is a different type of law for a different type of society.


title: Communist state

text: Yugoslav jurist Borislav Blagojevic noted that a "great number of legal institutions and legal relations remain the same in socialist law", further stating that it is "necessary and justified" to put them to use if they are "in conformity with the corresponding interests of the ruling class in the state in question." Importantly, socialist law has retained civil law institutions, methodology and organisation. This can be discerned by the fact that East Germany retained the 1896 German civil code until 1976 while Poland used existing Austrian, French, German and Russian civil codes until its adoption of its own civil code in 1964. Scholar John Quigley wrote that "[s]ocialist law retains the inquisitorial style of trial, law-creation predominantly by legislatures rather than courts, and a significant role for legal scholarship in construing codes."


title: Communist state

text: The following countries are one-party states in which the institutions of the ruling communist party and the state have become intertwined. They are adherents of Marxism–Leninism or its derivatives, such as Juche. They are listed here together with the year of their founding and their respective ruling parties.


title: Communist state

text: There are multi-party states with communist parties leading the government. Such states are not considered to be communist states because the countries themselves allow for multiple parties and do not provide a constitutional role for their communist parties. Nepal was previously ruled by the Nepal Communist Party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) between 1994 and 1998 and then again between 2008 and 2018 while states formerly ruled by one or more communist parties include San Marino (1945–1957), Nicaragua (1984–1990), Moldova (2001–2009), Cyprus (2008–2013) and Guyana (1992–2015).


title: Communist state

text: Venezuela is currently ruled by Nicolás Maduro, who has been President since 2013 (disputed since 2019). Maduro is the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which is considered far-left and Marxist.


title: Communist state

text: During the socialist Free Peru party's rule over Peru, many international observers described the party as being somewhat Marxist or even Marxist-Leninist.


title: Communist state

text: The following communist states were socialist states committed to communism. Some were short-lived and preceded the widespread adoption of Marxism–Leninism by most communist states.


title: Communist state

text: Countries such as the Soviet Union and China were criticised by Western authors and organisations on the basis of a lack the representative nature of multi-party constitutional democracy, in addition to several other areas where socialist society and Western societies differed. Socialist societies were commonly characterised by state ownership or social ownership of the means of production either through administration through communist party organisations, democratically elected councils and communes and co-operative structures—in opposition to the liberal democratic capitalist free-market paradigm of management, ownership and control by corporations and private individuals. Communist states have also been criticised for the influence and outreach of their respective ruling parties on society, in addition to lack of recognition for some Western legal rights and liberties such as the right to own property and the restriction of the right to free speech. The early economic development policies of communist states have been criticised for focusing primarily on the development of heavy industry.


title: Communist state

text: Soviet advocates and socialists responded to criticism by highlighting the ideological differences in the concept of freedom. McFarland and Ageyev noted that "Marxist–Leninist norms disparaged "laissez-faire" individualism (as when housing is determined by one's ability to pay), also [condemning] wide variations in personal wealth as the West has not. Instead, Soviet ideals emphasized equality—free education and medical care, little disparity in housing or salaries, and so forth." When asked to comment on the claim that former citizens of communist states enjoy increased freedoms, Heinz Kessler, former East German Minister of National Defence, replied: "Millions of people in Eastern Europe are now free from employment, free from safe streets, free from health care, free from social security."


title: Communist state

text: In his analysis of states run under Marxist–Leninist ideology, economist Michael Ellman of the University of Amsterdam notes that such states compared favorably with Western states in some health indicators such as infant mortality and life expectancy. posits that there was an increase in the standard of living throughout Eastern Bloc countries as the result of modernisation programs under communist governments. Similarly, Amartya Sen's own analysis of international comparisons of life expectancy found that several Marxist–Leninist states made significant gains and commented "one thought that is bound to occur is that communism is good for poverty removal." The dissolution of the Soviet Union was followed by a rapid increase in poverty, crime, corruption, unemployment, homelessness, rates of disease, infant mortality, domestic violence and income inequality, along with decreases in calorie intake, life expectancy, adult literacy and income.


title: Communist state

text: Monuments to "the victims of communist states" exist in almost all the capitals of Eastern Europe and there are several museums documenting communist rule such as the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights in Lithuania, the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia in Riga and the House of Terror in Budapest, all three of which also document Nazi rule. In Washington D.C., a bronze statue based upon the 1989 Tiananmen Square "Goddess of Democracy" sculpture was dedicated as the Victims of Communism Memorial in 2007, having been authorized by the United States Congress in 1993. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation plans to build an International Museum on Communism in Washington. As of 2008, Russia contained 627 memorials and memorial plaques dedicated to victims of the communist states, most of which were created by private citizens and did not have a national monument or a national museum. The Wall of Grief in Moscow, inaugurated in October 2017, is Russia's first monument for victims of political persecution by Stalin during the country's Soviet era. In 2017, Canada's National Capital Commission approved the design for a memorial to the victims of communism to be built at the Garden of the Provinces and Territories in Ottawa. On 23 August 2018, Estonia's Victims of Communism 1940–1991 Memorial was inaugurated in Tallinn by President Kersti Kaljulaid. The memorial construction was financed by the state and is managed by the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory. The opening ceremony was chosen to coincide with the official European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism.


title: Communist state

text: According to anthropologist Kristen Ghodsee, efforts to institutionalize the victims of communism narrative, or the moral equivalence between the Nazi Holocaust (race murder) and the victims of communism (class murder), and in particular the recent push at the beginning of the global financial crisis for commemoration of the latter in Europe, can be seen as the response by economic and political elites to fears of a leftist resurgence in the face of devastated economies and extreme inequalities in both the East and West as the result of the excesses of neoliberal capitalism. Ghodsee argues that any discussion of the achievements under communist states, including literacy, education, women's rights, and social security is usually silenced, and any discourse on the subject of communism is focused almost exclusively on Stalin's crimes and the double genocide theory. According to Laure Neumayer, this is used as an anti-communist narrative "based on a series of categories and figures" to "denounce Communist state violence (qualified as 'Communist crimes', 'red genocide' or 'classicide') and to honour persecuted individuals (presented alternatively as 'victims of Communism' and 'heroes of anti totalitarian resistance')."


title: Communist state

text: References for when the individuals were elected to the office of CCP leader, the name of the offices and when they established and were abolished are found below.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Bret Michael Sychak (born March 15, 1963), professionally known as Bret Michaels, is an American singer and musician. He gained fame as the frontman of rock band Poison who has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted 10 singles to the Top 40 of the "Billboard" Hot 100, including six Top 10 singles and a number-one single, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn".


title: Bret Michaels

text: Besides his career as frontman, he has several solo albums to his credit, including the soundtrack album to the 1998 film "A Letter from Death Row" in which Michaels starred, wrote and directed, and a rock album, "Songs of Life", in 2003. Michaels has appeared in several films and TV shows, including as a judge on the talent show "Nashville Star" which led to his country influenced rock album "Freedom of Sound" in 2005. He starred in the hit VH1 reality show "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels" and its sequels, which inspired his successful solo album "Rock My World". He was also the winning contestant on NBC's reality show "Celebrity Apprentice 3" and also featured in his own reality docu-series "", which inspired his highest-charting album as a solo artist, "Custom Built", reaching No. 1 on "Billboard"s Hard Rock chart. He is also known for hosting on the Travel Channel. In 2006, "Hit Parader" ranked Michaels at No. 40 on their list of greatest heavy metal singers of all-time.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels was born Bret Michael Sychak on March 15, 1963, to Wally and Marjorie Sychak, north of Pittsburgh in the city of Butler, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He attended Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School. He has two sisters, Michelle and Nicole. He claims that his parents had originally intended for him to have the middle name "Maverick", after the title character in the popular James Garner TV Western series "Maverick". He is of Carpatho-Rusyn (from his paternal grandfather), Irish, English, German, and Swiss descent. Bret's great-uncle Nick Sychak fought at Omaha Beach in the Invasion of Normandy and was killed in action in France in 1944.


title: Bret Michaels

text: At the age of 6, Michaels fell ill, and during a three-week stay in the hospital, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels began playing the guitar as a teenager, forming a band with drummer Rikki Rockett, bass player Bobby Dall and guitarist David Besselman. Shortly thereafter, Besselman left the band due to creative differences and in 1983 the band hired Matt Smith to form a new band named Paris in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. In early 1984 the band tired of playing the Pennsylvania bar circuit, changed their name to Poison and moved west to Los Angeles to seek fame on the Sunset Boulevard scene. That same year, Michaels met 16-year-old Tracy Lewis, who would become both his girlfriend and the muse for one of his most memorable songs. Eventually, Matt Smith tired of the band's struggle to find fame and returned home. He was replaced by C.C. DeVille, who would become both Michaels' friend and a source of conflict.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Local publicity about the band eventually led to a record deal with Enigma Records, and their first album, "Look What the Cat Dragged In". The album was not a great success until 1987, when Michaels convinced the band to film a video for their song, "Talk Dirty to Me". The album went platinum, and the band became famous. In March of that year, Poison headlined a show at Madison Square Garden. Michaels took his insulin injection before the show but was so nervous about performing that he neglected to eat. Several songs into Poison's set, Michaels went into insulin shock and collapsed onstage. When subsequent media reports alleged that Michaels collapsed due to a drug overdose, Michaels publicly announced that he was a diabetic.


title: Bret Michaels

text: 1987 also saw the dissolution of his relationship with Lewis, who felt that fame had changed him. Though Michaels contends that Lewis was unfaithful to him, Lewis (now Lewis Crosby) insists that it was Michaels who was unfaithful. Michaels was inspired by the breakup to write "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", explaining that the rose represented his fame and success, whereas the loss of his relationship represented the thorn. The song was released as a power ballad single in December 1988, and is regarded as "the ultimate '80s anthem about heartbreak".


title: Bret Michaels

text: Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Poison became one of the biggest glam metal bands in the world, recording their second album, the multi-platinum selling "Open Up and Say... Ahh!", and their third album, the multi-platinum selling "Flesh & Blood". However, their lives were characterized by the escalating tension between Michaels and DeVille that derived from their mutual drug use, which came to a head during their 1990/91 "Flesh and Blood" world tour. Also cited is the spectacle of DeVille's behavior during the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. After getting into a fistfight with Michaels, DeVille left the band, and descended further into addiction. Poison went on with new guitarist Richie Kotzen recording the Gold album "Native Tongue" and then with guitarist Blues Saraceno recording the album "Crack a Smile... and More!". In the mid-1990s, after a night of partying, Michaels came close to dying when he crashed his Ferrari into a telephone pole. He incurred serious injury, including broken ribs, a disfigured nose, and lost teeth.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In 1999, The band reunited with original guitarist, C.C. Deville. Poison went on a successful greatest hits reunion tour. In the next decade, Bret Michaels would split his time between Poison and a successful solo career.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels recorded his soundtrack album in 1998 titled "A Letter from Death Row" which was the soundtrack to the same-titled movie he directed, wrote, and starred in. In 2000 Michaels released a country demos ep and also released the album "Show Me Your Hits" which featured re-recorded Poison classics.The album featured Michaels performing Poison hits in a new way and also featured other artists with Michaels on selected tracks. In 2001 Michaels released a unique storytellers CD titled "Ballads, Blues & Stories" which featured Poison and Michaels solo tracks along with recorded stories about each song.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In 2003, Michaels released a brand new studio album "Songs of Life" which featured the singles "Raine" (dedicated to his daughter) and "Bittersweet". Michaels also released his first solo music video for the single "Raine" which was directed by award-winning director Shane Stanley.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels served as a judge on the 2005 season of the reality television singing competition "Nashville Star" and released a country rock album in the same year called "Freedom of Sound". The album features the singles "Right Now, Right Here", "Open Road" which Michaels performed live on the show and the hit single "All I Ever Needed" (featuring Jessica Andrews) which appeared on Billboard's "Hot Country Songs" chart, with its best position being number 45. The song also featured a music video which appeared on Billboard's "Hot Videoclip Tracks" chart in 2008.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels released a best of album called "Rock My World" in June 2008 which featured music from his reality television series "Rock of Love" including the new singles "Go That Far" (Rock of Love theme), "Fallen" and "Start Again", the first two singles also featuring music videos with clips from the series. The album charted at No. 40 on the "Billboard" 200, No. 4 on the Top Independent Albums, No. 4 on the Top Hard Rock Albums and No. 16 on the Top Rock Albums chart. In December 2008, Michaels released a single version of "Driven" (rock mix) which also featured a music video with preview clips for the third season of Rock of Love, titled "Rock of Love Bus". Michaels also re released the "Fallen" single with acoustic, piano and demo versions included.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels released a 30-minute DVD from Time Life in 2008 called "Hard & Heavy Confidential featuring Bret Michaels" which included acoustic versions of "All I Ever Needed", "Driven", "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Something to Believe In", it also included in depth interviews. The DVD was included in the Hard & Heavy CD/DVD collection from (Time Life) advertised on TV by Bret Michaels. The same four acoustic performances were also released on CD titled "Bret Michaels Acoustic Sessions".


title: Bret Michaels

text: In 2010, Michaels released a new single called "Nothing to Lose" from his upcoming new studio album, "Custom Built". The song featured the guest vocals of Miley Cyrus and was the most added song to radio the week of its release, topping both Bon Jovi and Nickelback. In April 2010, he released the second single "Lie to Me" and in May 2010 released the third single, "Wasted Time".


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels performed on the "American Idol" season 9 finale on May 26 against his doctor's recommendation.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels also performed a duet of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" with Miley Cyrus on the June 18, 2010 episode "Good Morning America".


title: Bret Michaels

text: On July 6, 2010, Michaels released his new album "Custom Built". The album became Michaels' highest charting solo album to date peaking at No. 1 on both the Top Independent Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums chart and also charting at No. 4 on the Top Rock Albums and No. 14 on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Bret Michaels

text: On August 4, 2010, Michaels appeared in the fifth season of "America's Got Talent" and performed "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", accompanying himself on acoustic folk guitar.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Despite not being released as a single, a music video was produced for "Riding Against the Wind" a song from Michaels' latest album "Custom Built" that also doubles as the theme song for his new VH1 reality show "". The music video was released on October 7, 2010, exclusively at Billboard's and contains footage from the series, which officially premieres on VH1 on October 18, 2010.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels also released a music video for the cover of Sublime's song "What I Got", which is the fourth single from "Custom Built". The music video is a special tribute to his fans and was released on Thanksgiving.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In early 2011 Michaels recorded a new song "Hit and Roll" for "Top Gear (U.S. TV series)" which also included a music video featured on the series and the promo commercials.


title: Bret Michaels

text: On December 31, 2011, Michaels celebrated the new year with a New Year’s Eve concert from the "Get Your Rock On" solo tour. The concert took place in Springfield, IL at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. To make the night complete, this New Year's Eve bash will be featured and well documented in the music video for the new single "Get Your Rock On" from Bret's upcoming new album. The single "Get Your Rock On (featuring Phil Collen & Sal Costa)" was released January 9, 2012.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In conjunction with his new single Michaels also released an alternate version titled "Get Your Ride On (featuring Phil Collen)" on January 10, 2012. The song will also serve as Monster Energy AMA Supercross Opener all season on Speed with an exclusive video that premiered on SPEED TV January 7, 2012. The video will be customized for each race throughout the season.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels toured with Def Leppard and Lita Ford in 2012. In August 2012 Michaels released a new single "They Don't Make An App For That (The App Song)" through Michaels' official Bret Michaels App. The song is a fun, tongue-in-cheek country crossover tune that takes on today’s social media culture. "The App Song" features a teaser video.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In January 2013, Michaels released a new single "You Know You Want It (Featuring Peter Keys)" from his upcoming new album titled "Jammin' With Friends". The new album features collaborations with some of the top artists and players in music from a variety of genres and generations. The album was released June 25, 2013 and charted at No. 13 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, #23 on the Top Independent Albums chart, #29 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #80 on The Billboard 200.


title: Bret Michaels

text: On April 1, 2014, Michaels released his new solo single, "A Beautiful Soul", with a music video being released on April 2. Michaels announced that he will perform the track live on the April 2 edition of "Oprah's Lifeclass" which will be taped live on Oprah's website.


title: Bret Michaels

text: On April 7, 2015, Michaels released a new song titled "Girls on Bars", making it the second year in a row he released a new song during the month of April.


title: Bret Michaels

text: The song was co-written with Grammy award-winning songwriter of the year, Luke Laird. "Girls on Bars” boasted the highest number of views of any debut single ever on CMT.


title: Bret Michaels

text: On April 9, 2015, Michaels announced his new solo album titled "True Grit". The album will feature 21 new and classic hits. The compilation was released digitally May 5, 2015 and Michaels released the video for the new single "Girls On Bars" on May 12. The album is on physical release as a cd exclusively via his website.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In May 2017, Bret Michaels released a brand-new single which is a heartfelt tribute to his youngest daughter, Jorja Bleu, in honor of her 12th birthday.


title: Bret Michaels

text: The song titled "Jorja Bleu" features a music video which was posted at Michaels’ official YouTube channel and is a sequel to his 2003 single "Raine" which is titled after his oldest daughter.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In 2019, Michaels released an official music video for his new single "Unbroken", which was co written with his 13-year-old daughter, Jorja Bleu. The song is about mental and physical strength over adversity.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In May 2020, he released his autobiography, "Bret Michaels: Auto-Scrap-ography Volume 1: My Life in Pictures & Stories" which is the first in a series of trilogies.


title: Bret Michaels

text: The book was initially set to be released in 2010 and titled "Roses & Thorns", but kept being pushed back to include more content. In 2019 Michaels announced its release in 2020 and it would be titled "Unbroken: My life in Pictures & Stories" to coincide with his single release "Unbroken". "


title: Bret Michaels

text: In December, 2022, Michaels announced the 2023 Parti-Gras Tour which will perform between July 13 and August 6, 2023. Along with Michaels, the tour will include Jefferson Starship and Night Ranger with appearances by Steve Augeri and Mark McGrath.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels starred in the reality television dating competition series "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels", the first season of which premiered in July 2007. Jes Rickleff was the winner of Season One. However, she announced during the October 2007 reunion show that she and Michaels were not right for each other and told runner-up Heather he was all hers and that he should have chosen Heather. The first season was released on DVD in early 2008.


title: Bret Michaels

text: The show's second season premiered on January 13, 2008. On April 13, 2008, Michaels selected Ambre Lake as his "Rock of Love". After the show the two maintained a relationship, but parted ways after just a few months due to personal commitments, but they remain good friends.


title: Bret Michaels

text: A third season, "Rock of Love Bus", premiered on January 4, 2009, to ratings which represented a series high for VH1. Michaels chose Penthouse Pet Taya Parker as the winner.


title: Bret Michaels

text: When asked about a fourth season of "Rock of Love", Michaels said "Now they want me to come back for a fourth 'Rock of Love.' I feel that it should be something that changes up, but I still want that fun element. What you see is what you get with me."


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels and actor Charlie Sheen established a film production company, Sheen/Michaels Entertainment, which produced the movie "A Letter from Death Row" (1998), in which Michaels wrote, directed and starred, and for which he released a soundtrack album. They also produced "No Code of Conduct" that same year, which Michaels also directed and acted in. Their company also produced the feature film "Free Money", starring Marlon Brando and Mira Sorvino, and the surfer movie "In God's Hands" in which Michaels also had a small acting role.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels appeared in the CBS sitcom "Yes, Dear", Season 1, Episode 6, titled "Greg's Big Day", first aired November 6, 2000. He also appeared as himself in three episodes of "The Chris Isaak Show" from 2001 to 2004.


title: Bret Michaels

text: On May 1, 2008, Michaels appeared on a special celebrity edition of "Don't Forget the Lyrics!", on which he raised $200,000 to donate to charity.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In 2010, Michaels was the winning contestant on the NBC reality television series "Celebrity Apprentice 3" on NBC.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels stars in a series named "", which depicts his life at home with his daughters and their mother.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Filming of the series began before Michaels' health troubles, and filming was suspended after his hospitalization. VH1 aired a preview of the series on May 31, 2010, and the series aired in fall 2010.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In 2020, Michaels competed on the third season of "The Masked Singer" as "Banana". He ended up in seventh place on April 22, 2020.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels was portrayed as a guest singer in the video game "", which features him singing "Go That Far" from his solo career, and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me".


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels and his band visited troops at Al Asad Air Base on October 6, 2007, while on a tour of U.S. bases in Iraq in support of Armed Forces Entertainment.


title: Bret Michaels

text: Bret Michaels has done extensive work for Operation Homefront- a charity that provides emergency financial and other assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors.


title: Bret Michaels

text: He earned $640,000 for the American Diabetes Association for competing in and ultimately winning Celebrity Apprentice 3.


title: Bret Michaels

text: In June, 2014, while on a national tour date in Omaha, Nebraska, Michaels became aware of a series of tornadoes that hit the Nebraska town of Pilger. He, his band, and crew, went to Pilger to see the damage and assist with clean-up. When his tour came near the area again in August, 2014, he hosted a fundraising performance in Norfolk, Nebraska, to help tornado victims in the area.


title: Bret Michaels

text: While filming the finale of his reality show, "", Michaels proposed to Kristi Lynn Gibson, his on-again, off-again companion of 16 years. In July 2012, he announced that he and Gibson had separated. The pair have two daughters together, Raine Elizabeth (b. May 20, 2000) and Jorja Bleu (b. May 5, 2005).


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels was involved with Pamela Anderson. After Poison's and Michaels's longtime attorney, Ed McPherson, obtained a federal injunction prohibiting the distribution of an explicit sex tape that the couple had made, an abridged version of the sex tape appeared on the Internet in 1998 and was released on DVD on September 7, 2005, by Metro Studios.


title: Bret Michaels

text: On May 20, 2010, it was reported on his official website that Michaels had been "readmitted to the hospital the week after suffering numbness on the left side of his body". While conducting diagnostic tests it was found that Michaels has a "patent foramen ovale (PFO), a hole in the heart". It was further reported that his condition is "operable and treatable" and his doctors believe they "have diagnosed the problem that caused the transient ischemic attack (TIA) or warning stroke", but that they "feel it is highly unlikely this is connected to the brain hemorrhage he suffered just a few weeks earlier". On October 11, 2011, Michaels commented on his 2010 health scare with the following: "2010 was, without question, a roller coaster year for me. But when you have an amazing family, and you still have a lot of music left to make, and you have such incredible and supportive fans behind you, you’re going to fight until the very last breath before you throw in that towel."


title: Bret Michaels

text: Michaels was injured during his opening performance at the 63rd Tony Awards on June 7, 2009. As he was ending his performance with Poison and exiting to the stage rear, a large portion of the descending set struck him on the head and knocked him down. The initial injuries reported was a broken nose. However, the hemorrhage incident in 2010 prompted Michaels to file a lawsuit for unspecified damages against the Tony Awards and CBS claiming the incident caused the hemorrhage. On May 14, 2012, the parties announced that they had agreed to settle the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. Michaels thanked the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix for saving his life and career.


title: Your Lie in April

text: The manga series originated from a one-shot comic that Arakawa entered in a competition; he based the series on it and drew inspiration from the existence of musical manga, such as "Beck" and "Nodame Cantabile". A-1 Pictures adapted "Your Lie in April" into an anime television series that was aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina block from October 2014 to March 2015, and an original video animation (OVA) episode was released in May 2015. A live-action film adaptation of the same name was released in September 2016.


title: Your Lie in April

text: "Your Lie in April" received mixed reviews; several critics praised its plot and characters but criticized the artwork. Critics largely acclaimed the anime adaptation for its plot, animation, and soundtrack.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Fourteen-year-old piano prodigy Kōsei Arima becomes famous after winning several music competitions. When his mother Saki dies, Kōsei has a mental breakdown while performing at a piano recital; this results in him becoming unable to hear the sound of his piano, even though his hearing is otherwise unaffected.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Two years later, Kōsei has not touched the piano and views the world in monochrome. He does not focus on excelling in any activities and often spends time with his friends Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryōta Watari. Kōsei meets Kaori Miyazono, an audacious, free-spirited, fourteen-year-old violinist whose playing style reflects her manic personality. Kaori helps Kōsei return to playing the piano and shows him his playing style can be free and groundbreaking. As Kaori continues to uplift Kōsei's spirits, he quickly realizes he loves her, although she seems to only be interested in Ryōta.


title: Your Lie in April

text: During a performance, Kaori, who later explains that she is anemic and needs routine testing, collapses and is hospitalized. She invites Kōsei to play with her at a gala but she does not arrive. Her health deteriorates and she becomes dejected. Kōsei plays a duet with a friend, which motivates Kaori to attempt a risky and potentially deadly surgery so she may possibly play with Kosei once more. While playing in the finals of the Eastern Japan Piano Competition, Kōsei sees Kaori's spirit accompanying him and realizes she has died during the surgery.


title: Your Lie in April

text: At her funeral, Kaori's parents give Kōsei a letter from Kaori that reveals she was aware of her impending death and became more free-spirited, both as a person and in her music, so she would not take her regrets to Heaven. She confesses she had been in love with Kōsei's piano playing since watching him perform at a concert when she was five. This inspired her to play the violin so she could play with him one day. Kaori fabricated her feelings towards Ryōta so she could get closer to Kōsei without hurting Tsubaki, who harbored affection for Kōsei. She then confesses her love for him. Tsubaki comforts Kōsei and tells him she will be by his side. Kaori also leaves behind a picture of herself as a child, coming back from the concert that inspired her, with Kōsei in the background. Kōsei later frames this picture.


title: Your Lie in April

text: When Naoshi Arakawa first wanted to be a manga artist, he entered a one-shot comic, which featured a male and female violinist performing together, into the Monthly Shōnen Magazine Grand Challenge. Arakawa later serialized "Sayonara, Football", a manga focusing on association football. After completing the series, he got tired of sports manga and wanted to try something new. For ideas, Arakawa returned to the one-shot. Despite the rejection of his previous music-manga pitch, he settled on creating a music manga. Concerned about competing with the popular manga series "Beck", which focuses on rock music, Arakawa decided his new manga would focus on classical music. To differentiate it from "Nodame Cantabile", another classical-music-themed manga, Arakawa focused on a single instrument. Arakawa interviewed composer Akinori Osawa and pianist Masanori Sugano, and photographed pianist Kaori Yamazaki and violinist Rieko Ikeda to aid him in his descriptions of classical music. He also used his experience with Kendo to inspire his depiction of the tension at competitions. Arakawa also read books about music and asked his editor, who had violin experience, for help.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Arakawa decided to focus on the violin after seeing a female violinist perform on television. Arakawa originally wanted to include a male and female violinist but found scenes with two violinists difficult to draw, so he chose a violinist and pianist. After the manga's third volume was published in Japan, he received an offer to develop it into an anime. Arakawa was unsure about the ending of his story but the anime's director Kyōhei Ishiguro liked the ending so Arakawa did not change it.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Around the time of the release of the manga's third volume, Aniplex producer Shunsuke Saitō offered Kensuke Tateishi at Kodansha an opportunity to produce an anime adaptation of the series for television. The original offer was for an eleven-episode series but Tateishi rejected the offer because it would not have been a complete adaptation. Saitō changed his offer to 22 episodes, which Tateishi accepted. Saitō offered the role of director to Kyōhei Ishiguro because he had worked with Ishiguro on the seventh episode of "Wandering Son" and left a strong impression on him.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Because Ishiguro wanted the anime series to appeal to people who did not normally watch anime, he chose the bands Goose House and Wacci to perform the opening and ending themes respectively. Ishiguro wanted to use a song that had a "colorful melody" to match the animation's theme and chose the band Coalamode to perform the theme.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Ishiguro used real locations to represent some of the series' settings. Arakawa had visited several locations along the Seibu Line, such as Ōizumi-gakuen Station, so he showed scenes of the manga to operators of the Seibu Railway Company and officials at the Nerima Ward Office, who helped Isiguro choose appropriate locations.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Naoshi Arakawa wrote and illustrated the manga series "Your Lie in April", which was first serialized in the May issue of Kodansha's "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" on April 6, 2011. It ended serialization in the March 2015 issue, which released on February 6, 2015.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Kodansha published the first "tankōbon" (bound volume) of "Your Lie in April" on September 16, 2011; the final volume was released in a regular edition and a limited edition on May 15, 2015. Kodansha USA translated the series was translated into English for a North American release and published the first volume on April 21, 2015. A spin-off manga titled "Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso: Coda", was bundled with the Blu-ray release of the anime series and was published in "tankōbon" format on August 17, 2016. It retold the events of Kōsei's past from the perspective of his friends.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Yui Tokiumi wrote a light-novel spinoff titled "Your Lie in April: A Six Person Etude", which was released in Japan on November 17, 2014. Vertical published it in English. The light novel retold the events of the main series from Kōsei's friends' and rivals' perspectives.


title: Your Lie in April

text: The anime television series of "Your Lie in April" that A-1 Pictures produced was aired from October 10, 2014, to March 20, 2015, on Fuji TV's Noitamina block. The first opening theme song is by Goose House and the first ending theme is by Wacci, both played on episodes 1 through 11. The second opening song is by Coalamode and the second ending theme is by 7!!, both played on episodes 12 through 22. Kyōhei Ishiguro directed the series, Takao Yoshioka wrote the scripts, Yukiko Aikei designed the characters, and Masaru Yokoyama composed the soundtrack. An original video animation (OVA), titled "Moments", was bundled with the limited-edition release of the manga's eleventh volume. Most of the staff and cast from the television series reprised their roles in the OVA, which retells Takeshi's and Emi's childhoods and their rivalry with Kōsei.


title: Your Lie in April

text: In North America, Aniplex of America licensed the series and streamed it on various platforms. The series in licensed in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Anime Limited, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, who streamed it on AnimeLab.


title: Your Lie in April

text: On August 24, 2015, the website 'kimiuso-movie.jp' was registered by Toho, a Japanese film production and distribution company, leading to speculation a film adaptation of "Your Lie in April" was in development. Speculations were confirmed in September 2015 when the live-action film's main cast was announced, with Kento Yamazaki as Kōsei Arima, Suzu Hirose as Kaori Miyazono, E-girls member Anna Ishii as Tsubaki Sawabe, and Taishi Nakagawa as Ryōta Watari. Takehiko Shinjō directed the film, which was written by Yukari Tatsui and was released in Japan in September 2016. While the original manga depicts the characters in junior high school, the film was set in their second year of high school.


title: Your Lie in April

text: In May 2017, a stage adaptation of "Your Lie in April" was announced to be in production, with its release set for August of the same year. The play was staged at AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo from August 24, 2017, to September 3, 2017; and at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka from September 7, 2017, to September 10, 2017. Naohiro Ise directed the play and Kaori Miura wrote it. The play included live musical performances from Yuta Matsumura on piano and Shuko Kobayashi on violin. The main cast was Shintarō Anzai as Kōsei Arima, Arisa Matsunaga as Kaori Miyazono, Misato Kawauchi as Tsubaki Sawabe, and Masanari Wada as Ryōta Watari.


title: Your Lie in April

text: On October 10, 2019, Toho and Fuji TV announced a musical adaptation of "Your Lie in April" would be staged at Tokyo Tatemono Brillia Hall from July 5, 2020, to July 29, 2020. Frank Wildhorn composed the music, Tracy Miller Schell and Carly Robyn Green co-wrote the lyrics, Jason Howland arranged the musical, and Ikko Ueda directed it. The adaptation starred Yuta Koseki and Tatsunari Kimura as Kosei Arima, Erika Ikuta as Kaori Miyazono, Fuka Yuduki as Tsubaki Suwabe, and Koki Mizuta and Takuto Teranishi as Ryōta Watari. It was planned to tour the musical nationally following the Tokyo premiere but all performances were indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A concept album was released on December 25, 2020, in place of the performances. In July 2021, it was announced the musical would be staged in May 2022.


title: Your Lie in April

text: The "Your Lie in April" manga received mixed reviews. Some critics praised the plot for its realistic portrayal of relationships between the characters. Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network (ANN) was more critical and said the plot is not as emotional as Arakawa intended it to be. The characters were also given mixed responses. Some critics praised Kōsei's relationships and the adult characters for being more developed than adult characters in similar works. Others called Kaori mean and said her actions toward Kōsei are difficult to interpret. A few critics gave the artwork praise for representing the music well, while others said Arakawa had difficulty drawing characters' faces.


title: Your Lie in April

text: "Your Lie in April" won the award for the best "shōnen" manga at the thirty-seventh Kodansha Manga Awards. It was also nominated for the fifth Manga Taishō. The series was chosen as one of the best manga at the Comic-Con International Best & Worst Manga of 2016. The first volume was ranked in the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2016 list of the top 112 graphic novels for teenagers.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Unlike the manga, critics largely praised the anime adaptation. Many critics praised the plot; Chris Beveridge from The Fandom Post stated; "plainly said, [the series] moved me" and others called the series a masterpiece of storytelling. Theron Martin from ANN noted the plot may not be emotional to every viewer. The anime's characters also received praise, with several critics calling them enjoyable and realistic.


title: Your Lie in April

text: Many critics called the animation beautiful and full of emotion, and Richard Eisenbeis from "Kotaku" called it "utterly superb". Critics also praised the soundtrack; Allen Moody from "THEM Anime Reviews" gave the series a higher score for the soundtrack. Critics also praised the voice acting of both the original Japanese version and the English dub. The series received the "Yomiuri Shimbun" newspaper's 2016 Sugoi Japan Award in the anime category.


title: Ryan's World

text: Ryan's World (formerly Ryan ToysReview) is a children's YouTube channel for children aged 2–6 featuring Ryan Kaji along with his mother (Loann Kaji), father (Shion Kaji), and twin sisters (Emma and Kate).


title: Ryan's World

text: The channel usually releases a new video every day. One of the channel's videos, titled as "Huge Eggs Surprise Toys Challenge" has over 2.0 billion views as of November 2020, making it one of the 60 most-viewed videos on YouTube. As of November 2020, the channel has over 33 million subscribers, and its videos have garnered over 45 billion views. The channel is one of the Top 10 most-subscribed YouTube channels in the United States.


title: Ryan's World

text: "The Verge" has described the channel as "a mash-up of personal vlog and 'unboxing' video, a blend of innocent childhood antics and relentless, often overwhelming consumerism." According to "Forbes", Kaji earned $11 million between 2016 and 2017 as the eighth highest-paid YouTuber, and in 2018 and 2019, was listed as the highest-paid YouTuber, earning $22 million and $26 million respectively from his videos and product line.


title: Ryan's World

text: Ryan Kaji's parents Shion and Loann met as undergraduate students at Texas Tech University. Shion moved to the United States from Japan in high school and is the son of a microchip executive. Loann's family fled from Vietnam as refugees, and she grew up in Houston hoping to become a teacher, which she later did. Shion left Texas to get a master's in engineering at Cornell University, but returned soon after Ryan's birth, completing the degree online.


title: Ryan's World

text: Kaji began making YouTube videos in March 2015 after watching other toy review channels and asking his mother, "How come I'm not on YouTube when all the other kids are?" Kaji's mother decided to quit her job as a high school chemistry teacher to work on the YouTube channel full-time.


title: Ryan's World

text: Before going live on YouTube, the family replaced their real-life surname with the on-screen surname Kaji.


title: Ryan's World

text: In 2017, Kaji's parents signed a deal with PocketWatch, a startup children's media company that was founded in 2016 by Chris Williams and Albie Hecht. PocketWatch does the marketing and merchandise for Ryan's YouTube channels. In 2018, Ryan ToysReview, in cooperation with PocketWatch and WildWorks, created an app called "Tag with Ryan", an endless runner game targeted towards children, for iOS and Android. In 2019, Ryan ToysReview and PocketWatch produced a 20-episode television series for preschoolers titled "Ryan's Mystery Playdate". On November 1, 2019, Outright Games released a video game titled "Race with Ryan", a racing game featuring Kaji and characters from the "Ryan's World" brand, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.


title: Ryan's World

text: The channel announced that they will premiere a hybrid live-action and animated series titled "Super Spy Ryan" on November 27, 2020, at Amazon Kids+. On December 4, 2020, it was announced that Ryan's World would be launching an official game on the gaming platform "Roblox". On 4 March 2022, Outright Games released a second "Ryan's World" licensed video game titled "Ryan’s Rescue Squad", an action-adventure game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, and Stadia.


title: Ryan's World

text: Kaji has impacted the toy industry through the high view counts of his toy reviews, which will sometimes affect toy sales. Chris Williams of PocketWatch compared Kaji to Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants.


title: Ryan's World

text: At the Toy Fair 2018 in New York City, Kaji announced a line of toys, branded as "Ryan's World", in cooperation with PocketWatch and Bonkers Toys.


title: Ryan's World

text: The Ryan's World channel has been listed in 2018 and 2019 as the highest-earning YouTube channel by "Forbes". "The New York Times" reported that the Kaji family earn at least $25 million from their "Ryan's World" merchandise sales, which totaled over $250 million in 2021.


title: Ryan's World

text: The channel's description mentions that most of the toys reviewed are later donated to charity. His mother told "Tubefilter" that "Ryan doesn't keep all the toys he gets — we give a lot of them away to friends and family, and also a lot of them away to charity."


title: Ryan's World

text: On August 28, 2019, a complaint was filed by Truth in Advertising and the Federal Trade Commission due to its sponsored videos not being properly disclosed. Truth in Advertising has claimed that "Nearly 90 percent of the Ryan ToysReview videos have included at least one paid product recommendation aimed at preschoolers, a group too young to distinguish between a commercial and a review." These advertisements often depict unhealthy foods. The latter complaint resulted in the FTC suing YouTube and Google for $170 million; this resulted in YouTube adopting new rules on children's content to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.


title: Flags of the Confederate States of America

text: The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and the "Blood-Stained Banner", used in 1865 shortly before the Confederacy's dissolution. A rejected national flag design was also used as a battle flag by the Confederate Army and featured in the "Stainless Banner" and "Blood-Stained Banner" designs. Although this design was never a national flag, it is the most commonly recognized symbol of the Confederacy.


text: Since the end of the Civil War, private and official use of the Confederate flags, particularly the battle flag, has continued amid philosophical, political, cultural, and racial controversy in the United States. These include flags displayed in states; cities, towns and counties; schools, colleges and universities; private organizations and associations; and individuals. The battle flag was also featured in the state flags of Georgia and Mississippi, although it was removed by the former in 2003 and the latter in 2020. After the former was changed in 2001, the city of Trenton, Georgia has used a flag design nearly identical to the previous version with the battle flag.


text: The Confederacy's first official national flag, often called the "Stars and Bars", flew from March 4, 1861, to May 1, 1863. It was designed by Prussian-American artist Nicola Marschall in Marion, Alabama, and is said to resemble the Flag of Austria, with which Marschall would have been familiar. The original version of the flag featured a circle of seven white stars in the navy-blue canton, representing the seven states of the South that originally composed the Confederacy: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The "Stars and Bars" flag was adopted on March 4, 1861, in the first temporary national capital of Montgomery, Alabama, and raised over the dome of that first Confederate capitol. Marschall also designed the Confederate army uniform.


text: A monument in Louisburg, North Carolina, claims the "Stars and Bars" "was designed by a son of North Carolina / Orren Randolph Smith / and made under his direction by / Catherine Rebecca (Murphy) Winborne. / Forwarded to Montgomery, Ala. Feb 12, 1861, / Adopted by the Provisional Congress March 4, 1861".


text: One of the first acts of the Provisional Confederate Congress was to create the "Committee on the Flag and Seal", chaired by William Porcher Miles, a Democratic congressman, and Fire-Eater from South Carolina. The committee asked the public to submit thoughts and ideas on the topic and was, as historian John M. Coski puts it, "overwhelmed by requests not to abandon the 'old flag' of the United States." Miles had already designed a flag that later became known as the Confederate "Battle Flag", and he favored his flag over the "Stars and Bars" proposal. But given the popular support for a flag similar to the U.S. flag ("the Stars and Stripes" – originally established and designed in June 1777 during the Revolutionary War), the "Stars and Bars" design was approved by the committee.


text: As the Confederacy grew, so did the numbers of stars: two were added for Virginia and Arkansas in May 1861, followed by two more representing Tennessee and North Carolina in July, and finally two more for Missouri and Kentucky (neither of these two states seceded, but partisan factional "governments" declared secession without achieving control of substantial territory or population in either case).


text: When the American Civil War broke out, the "Stars and Bars" confused the battlefield at the First Battle of Bull Run because of its similarity to the U.S. (or Union) flag, especially when it was hanging limp on its flagstaff. The "Stars and Bars" was also criticized on ideological grounds for its resemblance to the U.S. flag. Many Confederates disliked the Stars and Bars, seeing it as symbolic of a centralized federal power against which the Confederate states claimed to be seceding. As early as April 1861, a month after the flag's adoption, some were already criticizing the flag, calling it a "servile imitation" and a "detested parody" of the U.S. flag. In January 1862, George William Bagby, writing for the "Southern Literary Messenger", wrote that many Confederates disliked the flag. "Everybody wants a new Confederate flag," Bagby wrote. "The present one is universally hated. It resembles the Yankee flag, and that is enough to make it unutterably detestable." The editor of the "Charleston Mercury" expressed a similar view: "It seems to be generally agreed that the 'Stars and Bars' will never do for us. They resemble too closely the dishonored 'Flag of Yankee Doodle' … we imagine that the 'Battle Flag' will become the Southern Flag by popular acclaim." William T. Thompson, the editor of the Savannah-based "Daily Morning News" also objected to the flag, due to its aesthetic similarity to the U.S. flag, which for some Confederates had negative associations with emancipation and abolitionism. Thompson stated in April 1863 that he disliked the adopted flag "on account of its resemblance to that of the abolition despotism against which we are fighting."


text: Over the course of the flag's use by the CSA, additional stars were added to the canton, eventually bringing the total number to thirteen-a reflection of the Confederacy's claims of having admitted the border states of Kentucky and Missouri, where slavery was still widely practiced. The first showing of the 13-star flag was outside the Ben Johnson House in Bardstown, Kentucky; the 13-star design was also in use as the Confederate navy's battle ensign.


text: Many different designs were proposed during the solicitation for a second Confederate national flag, nearly all based on the Battle Flag. By 1863, it had become well-known and popular among those living in the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress specified that the new design be a white field "...with the union (now used as the battle flag) to be a square of two-thirds the width of the flag, having the ground red; thereupon a broad saltire of blue, bordered with white, and emblazoned with mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number to that of the Confederate States."


text: The flag is also known as "the Stainless Banner", and the matter of the person behind its design remains a point of contention. On April 23, 1863, the "Savannah Morning News" editor William Tappan Thompson, with assistance from William Ross Postell, a Confederate blockade runner, published an editorial championing a design featuring the battle flag on a white background he referred to later as "The White Man's Flag." In explaining the white background, Thompson wrote, "As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause." In a letter to Confederate Congressman C. J. Villeré, dated April 24, 1863, a design similar to Thompson's was proposed by General P. G. T. Beauregard, "whose earlier penchant for practicality had established the precedent for visual distinctiveness on the battlefield, proposed that 'a good design for the national flag would be the present battle-flag as Union Jack, and the rest all white or all blue'... The final version of the second national flag, adopted May 1, 1863, did just this: it set the St. Andrew's Cross of stars in the Union Jack with the rest of the civilian banner entirely white."


text: The Confederate Congress debated whether the white field should have a blue stripe and whether it should be bordered in red. William Miles delivered a speech supporting the simple white design that was eventually approved. He argued that the battle flag must be used, but it was necessary to emblazon it for a national flag, but as simply as possible, with a plain white field. When Thompson received word the Congress had adopted the design with a blue stripe, he published an editorial on April 28 in opposition, writing that "the blue bar running up the center of the white field and joining with the right lower arm of the blue cross, is in bad taste, and utterly destructive of the symmetry and harmony of the design." Confederate Congressman Peter W. Gray proposed the amendment that gave the flag its white field. Gray stated that the white field represented "purity, truth, and freedom."


text: Regardless of who truly originated the Stainless Banner's design, whether by heeding Thompson's editorials or Beauregard's letter, the Confederate Congress officially adopted the Stainless Banner on May 1, 1863. The flags that were actually produced by the Richmond Clothing Depot used the 1.5:1 ratio adopted for the Confederate navy's battle ensign, rather than the official 2:1 ratio.


text: Initial reaction to the second national flag was favorable, but over time it became criticized for being "too white." Military officers also voiced complaints about the flag being too white, for various reasons, such as the danger of being mistaken for a flag of truce, especially on naval ships where it was too easily soiled. The Columbia-based "Daily South Carolinian" observed that it was essentially a battle flag upon a flag of truce and might send a mixed message. Due to the flag's resemblance to one of truce, some Confederate soldiers cut off the flag's white portion, leaving only the canton.


text: The first official use of the "Stainless Banner" was to drape the coffin of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson as it lay in state in the Virginia capitol, May 12, 1863. As a result of this first usage, the flag received the alternate nickname of the "Jackson Flag".


text: Rogers lobbied successfully to have this alteration introduced in the Confederate Senate. Rogers defended his redesign as symbolizing the primary origins of the people of the Confederacy, with the saltire of the Scottish flag and the red bar from the flag of France, and having "as little as possible of the Yankee blue" — the Union Army wore blue, the Confederates gray.


text: The Flag Act of 1865, passed by the Confederate congress near the very end of the War, describes the flag in the following language:


text: Due to the timing, very few of these third national flags were actually manufactured and put into use in the field, with many Confederates never seeing the flag. Moreover, the ones made by the Richmond Clothing Depot used the square canton of the second national flag rather than the slightly rectangular one that was specified by the law.


text: At the First Battle of Manassas, near Manassas, Virginia, the similarity between the "Stars and Bars" and the "Stars and Stripes" caused confusion and military problems. Regiments carried flags to help commanders observe and assess battles in the warfare of the era. At a distance, the two national flags were hard to tell apart. Also, Confederate regiments carried many other flags, which added to the possibility of confusion.


text: After the battle, General P. G. T. Beauregard wrote that he was "resolved then to have [our flag] changed if possible, or to adopt for my command a 'Battle flag', which would be Entirely different from any State or Federal flag". He turned to his aide, who happened to be William Porcher Miles, the former chairman of the Confederate Congress's "Committee on the Flag and Seal". Miles described his rejected national flag design to Beauregard. Miles also told the Committee on the Flag and Seal about the general's complaints and request that the national flag be changed. The committee rejected the idea by a four-to-one vote, after which Beauregard proposed the idea of having two flags. He described the idea in a letter to his commanding General Joseph E. Johnston:


text: The flag that Miles had favored when he was chairman of the "Committee on the Flag and Seal" eventually became the battle flag and, ultimately, the Confederacy's most popular flag. According to Museum of the Confederacy Director John Coski, Miles' design was inspired by one of the many "secessionist flags" flown at the South Carolina secession convention in Charleston of December 1860. That flag was a blue St George's Cross (an upright or Latin cross) on a red field, with 15 white stars on the cross, representing the slave-holding states, and, on the red field, palmetto and crescent symbols. Miles received various feedback on this design, including a critique from Charles Moise, a self-described "Southerner of Jewish persuasion." Moise liked the design but asked that "... the symbol of a particular religion not be made the symbol of the nation." Taking this into account, Miles changed his flag, removing the palmetto and crescent, and substituting a heraldic saltire ("X") for the upright cross. The number of stars was changed several times as well. He described these changes and his reasons for making them in early 1861. The diagonal cross was preferable, he wrote, because "it avoided the religious objection about the cross (from the Jews and many Protestant sects), because it did not stand out so conspicuously as if the cross had been placed upright thus." He also argued that the diagonal cross was "more Heraldric than Ecclesiastical, it being the 'saltire' of Heraldry, and significant of strength and progress."


text: According to Coski, the Saint Andrew's Cross (also used on the flag of Scotland as a white saltire on a blue field) had no special place in Southern iconography at the time. If Miles had not been eager to conciliate the Southern Jews, his flag would have used the traditional upright "Saint George's Cross" (as used on the flag of England, a red cross on a white field). James B. Walton submitted a battle flag design essentially identical to Miles' except with an upright Saint George's cross, but Beauregard chose the diagonal cross design.


text: Miles' flag and all the flag designs up to that point were rectangular ("oblong") in shape. General Johnston suggested making it square to conserve material. Johnston also specified the various sizes to be used by different types of military units. Generals Beauregard and Johnston and Quartermaster General Cabell approved the 12-star Confederate Battle Flag's design at the Ratcliffe home, which served briefly as Beauregard's headquarters, near Fairfax Court House in September 1861. The 12th star represented Missouri. President Jefferson Davis arrived by train at Fairfax Station soon after and was shown the design for the new battle flag at the Ratcliffe House. Hetty Cary and her sister and cousin made prototypes. One such 12-star flag resides in the collection of Richmond's Museum of the Confederacy and the other is in the Confederate Memorial Hall Museum in New Orleans.


text: On November 28, 1861, Confederate soldiers in General Robert E. Lee's newly reorganized Army of Northern Virginia received the new battle flags in ceremonies at Centreville and Manassas, Virginia, and carried them throughout the Civil War. Beauregard gave a speech encouraging the soldiers to treat the new flag with honor and that it must never be surrendered. Many soldiers wrote home about the ceremony and the impression the flag had upon them, the "fighting colors" boosting morale after the confusion at the Battle of First Manassas. From then on, the battle flag grew in its identification with the Confederacy and the South in general. The flag's stars represented the number of states in the Confederacy. The distance between the stars decreased as the number of states increased, reaching thirteen when the secessionist factions of Kentucky and Missouri joined in late 1861.


text: The Army of Northern Virginia battle flag assumed a prominent place post-war when it was adopted as the copyrighted emblem of the United Confederate Veterans. Its continued use by the Southern Army's post-war veteran's groups, the United Confederate Veterans (U.C.V.) and the later Sons of Confederate Veterans, (S.C.V.), and elements of the design by related similar female descendants organizations of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, (U.D.C.), led to the assumption that it was, as it has been termed, "the soldier's flag" or "the Confederate battle flag."


text: The square "battle flag" is also properly known as "the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia". It was sometimes called "Beauregard's flag" or "the Virginia battle flag". A Virginia Department of Historic Resources marker declaring Fairfax, Virginia, as the birthplace of the Confederate battle flag was dedicated on April 12, 2008, near the intersection of Main and Oak Streets, in Fairfax, Virginia.