Daniil Kharms (born 30th December 1905) is an absurdist poet who leads the Bastillards, one of Tomsk's four political salons.
Biography[]
Early-life[]
Daniil was born in St. Petersburg in 1905 to a Yuvachov family, whose father Ivan Yuvachov, was a member of a radical group that wanted to assassinate Tsar Nicholas II and was the same group that infamous Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin belonged to. Daniil's birth name was Daniil Ivanovich Yuvachov, with "Kharms" being later on adopted by him while he was in high school, specifically Saint Peter's School. In 1924, he entered the Leningrad Electrotechnicum, from which he was expelled for "lack of participation in socially conscious activities."
Literary career and World War II[]
After his expulsion, he gave himself over entirely to literature. He joined the circle of Aleksandr Tufanov, a sound-poet, and follower of Velimir Khlebnikov's ideas of zaum (or trans-sense) poetry. He met the young poet Alexander Vvedensky at this time, and the two became close friends and collaborators.
In 1928, Daniil Kharms founded the avant-garde collective Oberiu, or Union of Real Art. He embraced the new movements of Russian Futurism laid out by his idols, Khlebnikov, Kazimir Malevich, and Igor Terentiev, among others. Their ideas served as a springboard. His aesthetic centered around a belief in the autonomy of art from real world rules and logic, and that intrinsic meaning is to be found in objects and words outside of their practical function.
During the 1930s though, at the time when he was making stories for children, he was arrested by Soviet authorities and sent to Kursk for spreading of such literature on the basis that they are not compatible values of socialist realism. He was subsequently released, however as soon as the Third Reich invaded the Russian soil, he was arrested in 1941 and sentenced to execution for his "defeatist" attitudes. Luckily, he managed to escape and was nowhere to be found, many years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Political career and Siberian War[]
He was not seen at all for many years until he appeared on political scene of Central Siberian Republic as a leader of Bastillard saloon and Trinity group, whose goals, despite being anti-worker and anti-union, was to industrialize the CSR ruthlessly in hopes of seeing reunified Russia. This was temporarily halted during the Siberian War, when Genrikh Yagoda launched an operation against the country. While war ended with failure for the former Soviet Union government remnants, forcing them to retreat as far as back to Irkutsk Oblast, the war did not bring good things to the Siberian Republic either, especially when many states seceded from it. With all this that had happened, Kharms and his beliefs that Russia must be industrialized ruthlessly in order to survive were further validated.
Present-day[]
In 1962, the area of the former Central Siberian Republic now only encompasses the area of Tomsk and it's northern isolated areas. With many warlords near, and Boris Pasternak's health deteriorating, it is now Kharms' chance to put his vision of a free and strong Russia into practice. It is all dependent on the outcome of elections after Pasternak's inevitable death.
In-game[]
Like the rest of the four candidates, he must be re-elected during the second election, if the player wants to continue playing as him. Once Pasternak passes away and the elections have concluded, Kharms will become president of the Central Siberian Republic. Initially, his first focus tree during the warlord stage offers him with two solutions on how to deal with the issue regarding the economy. One of them is to invest independently without any help, with the help of some unions who are not strictly socialist in any sense. The other option is to work with the Trinity group corporation. While this has great benefits, it increases the discontent among workers. Depending on said option that the player picked, Kharms can either enact a four year or three year plan.
The design of the Duma with the Bastillards in control is the same as the one from Decembrists, however, with one exception being that roles of upper and lower house are reversed, with laws being drafted in the upper house, and passed in the lower house. Kharms does this because he does not like populism of any kind, and his ideology of how democracy and the republic should operate is basically for workers to be productive, hard-working and free of ideological dogma.
At the regional stage, he continues with his policies as usual, and just like Andrey Sakharov, he can only reduce the number of political outsiders during the cynicism crisis, but not cynicism, unlike Dmitry Likhachyov or Dmitri Shostakovich, who can decrease cynicism, but not outsiders. His economic principles, whilst being inherited on some parts from socialism due to them being situated in a region of the former Siberian Plan, it is mostly a private market-oriented economy with state interventionism if necessary. Upon passing his reforms, Kharms remodels the Central Siberian economy to adhere towards Bastillard principles, which gives huge bonuses in-game. Kharms can also reform the military into his Bastillard vision. While not being "shiny" as described in-game, his vision is strong and efficient, capable of dealing with many militaries, including the Wehrmacht.
Kharms, unlike most democratic unifiers, will not push towards the option of aligning the republic towards the Organization of Free Nations, with reason being that it would do Russia much greater harm, so instead he chooses to carefully co-operate with both Japan and the United States. At the super-regional stage, Kharms starts with an economic megaproject, with the goal being to build a massive industrial port in Magadan and connect it to railway, which he can realize with help of Japan and the US. Generally speaking, as a democratic unifier, he is easy to play as he can unify with most democratic warlords of each region.
Quote upon unification[]
"I am only interested in "nonsense"; only in that which makes no practical sense. I am interested in life only in it's absurd manifestations."
—Daniil Kharms