Workers' Revolutionary Army

The Workers' Revolutionary Army (WRA), sometimes shortened to just the Revolutionary Army are the armed forces of the Council Republic of Veikaia and the Veikan Communist Party. The Revolutionary Army was established by the People's Red Front during the Veikan Civil War in 1972 with the objective of opposing the Veikan Kingdom and declaring a Socialist State. The WRA is divided in three primary branches (Ground Forces, Air Forces and Naval Forces) and a smaller Special Forces arm.

In its infancy the WRA was composed primarily of decentralized brigades answering to independent commanders with varying ideologies. In 1979 after the declaration of the Council Republic it was quickly reformed and centralized under the command of the Congress of Councils and the Veikan Commissariat of Defense. Ideological homogeneity was later enforced by the Communist Party through the introduction of Party Commissars and new requirements for Officers to maintain their position. In its infancy the WRA was primarily a conscript-based force, with a shift towards a professional standing army happening after the year 2000 thanks to a large scale recruitment and modernization campaign spearheaded by the Commissariat of Defense. Conscription is still legal and a large portion of the armed forces is composed of conscript who support the primary professional soldier force.

International stance
The primary goal of the WRA according to its doctrine is the defense of Veikan sovereignty, territorial integrity, internal security and national development. The Armed Forces are also tasked with the defense of national interests abroad, this generally manifests in military aid to its allies and communist movements abroad. It also seeks deeper military integration with its allies in Artemia and the International Movement for Socialism at large on all military matters. Veikaia has voiced its support for nuclear, chemical and biological non-proliferation but it has been noted that the WRA may secretly be stockpiling a number of chemical weapons and that the nation possesses the expertise and knowledge to be considered nuclear-latent, although its government does not show interest in developing these capabilities further.

Organization
Contrary to its origin as a decentralized insurgent force during the Veikan Civil War, the modern Revolutionary Army functions in ways not dissimilar from a typical Artemian traditional military force. It's daily administration and organization duties are managed by the Commissariat of Defense of Veikaia and Commissar of Defense, which act under orders of the Congress of Councils and Chairman Commissar. The Veikan Communist Party also holds power over the Armed Forces through the use of a number of indirect and direct mechanisms: Only members of the Communist Party may reach high levels within the armed forces general staff, ideological education of varying levels is enforced on all members of the armed forces based on their rank within them, and a number of "Party Commissars" are integrated within the armed forces hierarchy in a way similar to traditional military police with the objective of exercising party discipline on dissenting officers and enlisted personnel among other tasks.

Early experiments in the decentralization and "democratization" of the armed forces in the 1980s have been notable for their complete breakdown and failure. Soon after its victory in the Veikan Civil War, the central Congress of Councils attempted to pass a number of reforms that would in theory apply the concepts of council democracy and worker self-management to the armed forces. These reforms included the complete removal of "bourgeois" and "authoritarian" elements from armed forces command, such as the idea of a professional officer corps, condemning the use of the term "officer" and replacing it with the term "commander". Epaulettes and other decorations seen as opulent were removed entirely from any uniforms leftover from the monarchist period and ranks were replaced with the functionally identical "categories". Army Councils were also created in an attempt to allow some level of control by the armed forces over their own organization, but this led to a number of mutinies and revolts. By the 1990s most of these reforms were abandoned in favor of more traditional military organization