Ivan Serov (born 13 August 1905) is a member of the NKVD and Communist Party of Komi. He proposes a combination of ultranationalism and socialism with Russians at the top of the racial hierarchy. He calls himself the "New Marx."
Biography
Early-life
Serov was born on August 13, 1905, in Afimskoe, a village in the Vologda province of the Russian Empire. In 1923, he joined the Red Army at the age of 18, shortly after the end of the Russian Civil War; in 1926, he became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Political career
In the days of the Soviet Union's downfall, seeds of doubt planted themselves in Serov's mind. These feelings of doubt intensified during his days in Komi. To prevent another downfall, Serov came up with a new theory that could prevent Bukharin's failure. His new theories culminated into the Manifesto of Ordosocialism: socialism with an ultranationalistic fervor with Russians in particular at the top. These ideas have Mikhail Suslov worrying about Serov's heretical views.
In-game
In one of Komi's first events, Serov is purged from the Communist Party of Komi by Mikhail Suslov, leading him and his supporters to defect to the far-right Passionarity.
In order to play as him, the player can either choose to coup the ruling center-aligned democrats with the Passionarity and then afterwards, boost his influence to get him elected at the regional stage, or the player can wait longer for Serov himself to coup the government.
Afterwards at the regional stage, a new option in decisions is unlocked that can decide which direction the Ordosocialists shall go, either staying in the center, going left or going right. Depending on the choice, the wings of said party will grow more and more popular, for instance, taking the focus "Revolutionary Adventurism" in the economic part of the regional focus tree will boost the influence of the leftist faction, while taking the other focuses that emphasizes national sentiments will boost the rightist faction. While not classified as Communist in-game, Serov through his diplomatic focuses, has the ability to send divisions to communist nations that are in a conflict. Additionally, his ideology's similarities to Ba'athism and Nasserism means that he will be able to support aligned states in the Middle East in his diplomatic focuses.
Generally speaking, due to his ideology in-game, he cannot reunify with anyone, not even with regional stage warlords who have communism as their ideology, which makes him one of the harder warlords to play as. This is partially averted due to the massive buffs his regional and super regional focus trees gives him regarding industry and military.
Quote upon unification
"We are with you, but we are not yours. Do not think we have changed by acknowledging your red banner; we recognized it only because it blooms with national colors."
—Nikolay Ustralyov
Trivia
- Amusingly, early on, due to either a lack of localization or a bug, Serov's decision tab for controlling Ordosocialism would merely read "ooga booga nazbol gang unite."
- While all other Passionarity leaders share a common trait of anti-semitism (with Sergey Taboritsky being the most fanatical), Ivan Serov's anti-semitism is never reflected through any focus, event, or other means.
- Originally, Serov's unification event used the song "My Army". However, this was changed in the Cutting Room Floor Update to Alexander Mosolov's The Iron Foundry. One possible reason for this change is that My Army at least gives the appearance that he's restored the USSR (albeit with more nationalism and militarism), whereas The Iron Foundry is more reflective of how nightmarish the rest of the world views Serov's Russia.
- Originally, Serov had an event where he realizes that the Soviet Union should not have lost to the Nazis due to how much industrialization the country underwent, and came to the conclusion that the Koreans were to blame. The developers scrapped this event likely due to memes arising from it.