Thomas Mallard Saigon
Thomas Mallard Saigon, The Old
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Thomas Mallard Saigon was born in 1896, as the first and only child of Rodrick Mallard and Catherine of Saigon.
He had a good relationship with his parents, altough he didn't see them too often as they were constantly working hard to maintain their business empire in the years following the economic crash of 1903.
When thing were going better economically Thomas spent more time with his parents.
In 1914 his father and mother went on a business trip to Calypso, where they Catherine was diagnosed with cancer and they returned to Ilandia.
But right at the moment they returned home the Third Ilandian War broke out and Thomas' father was drafted into the military, leaving his mother, suffering from cancer, behind. Thomas and his mother didn't spend a lot of time those days as his mom was constantly in hospital, sometimes in a coma, sometimes not.
Thomas started feeling alone and miserable and started reading books of famous communists.
He eventually started meeting communists and after a while he became a communist himself.
And then, on the 7th of May 1917, his mother died when East Ilandian Artillery bombed the hospital.
Only 11 days later his father died in combat in the Battle of South Putland.
In 11 days Thomas Saigon lost both his parents and briefly became an orphan until reaching the age of 21 at 6 June.
The West Ilandian government (illegally) confiscated most of his parents' fortune of £121 billion, leaving him behind with only £23 billion. He spent a lot of his money to create the West Ilandian Communist Party, which supported the war in Lebatuck.
The government then accused him of treason and almost executed him, but they were hindered by the fall of the cabinet in 1919.
Thomas Mallard Saigon went free, but lost yet another 5 billion.
During these times Thomas radicalised and became one of the most radical communists in West Ilandia.
He founded a new variant of communism, which we now call Early Right Wing Mallardism.
This variant focuses on uniting Ilandia under a Catholic rule while systematically suppressing every non-Ilandian or non-Portuzian but maintaining democracy for Ilandians and Portuzians with a few parties but with the communists as the major one.
This variant didn't exactly strike a chord with the general opinion and over time Thomas began libertarianising.
In the late 1920s fascist groups began becoming more aggressive towards the democracy and started rioting and commiting attacks on politicians. The army somewhat sympathised with the fascists and let them be.
The only powerful response came in the form of armed communist gangs, led by William Korfoe.
They systematically, with approval of the government, cracked down on any sign of fascism in Ilandia and effectively beat up their unarmed riot groups.
Thomas Mallard didn't specifically support the armed communists.
A turning pont was the so-called Layecake-coup.
This was a completely failed coup of prominent communist figures, led by William Korfoe.
As the coup failed all communist leaders were sent to jail, including the innocent Thomas Mallard.
William Korfoe committed suicide in prison.
Altough the government didn't give the press any information about what happened the public opinion turned its back on the communists.
During the Great War Thomas Mallard Saigon was released from prison and enlisted.
He fought against the Gallopavians and Maxtopians in Southern Asturgazia and the Bigtopians in Bigtopia and wrote each day about it to his newspaper, "To Arms!". He gained a lot of popularity with this, especially with his detailed description of the horrors of war in Bigtopia, where millions of people died.
He also worked during this time, and after the war, on his indictment of the anti-Communist government of West Ilandia and his glorification of Communist intervention when the Fascists were stirring up the country, actively concealing the Layecake Coup from the general public.
During the 1950s he became the major figure of West Ilandian Communism and developed a new variant of communism:
Classical Mallardism was a rather neutral variant of communism which preached the peaceful capitulation of state authority to the communists, so they could reform the state into a democratic communist state.
It states capitalism should coexist with communism, with all big companies being communist and the small ones and individuals being capitalist.
In 1956 the West Ilandian Communist Party, led by Thomas Mallard Saigon and his comrade Jacob Fellor, won 33% of the votes in the federal elections but the old prime minister, Philips Deframton, refused to let the Communists form a government and instead proposed a coalition on his own, thus violating the law that stipulated that the largest party could form its own government after the elections or at least be in the coalition.
The communists were outraged and striked all over the country.
But not just communists striked, socialists and democrats, too, striked against what they saw as a violation of the laws.
Philips Deframton then proposed a government with almost all parties of the entire country, but led by him, thus de-facto abolishing democracy as it existed until then.
The communists (33%) and socialists (26%), of course, agreed, as they served the same purpose, liberation of the masses.
A few days later the new government appointed its ministers, and the socialists and communists discovered they only had the minister of welfare.
The communists and socialists then proceeded to block every law in the parliament and organised strikes all over the country again. Philips Deframton, the infamous prime minister, then discovered a communist plan to take over the country and dissolved the parliament.
Then he became paranoid, largely because his closest advisor, Michael Mass, a secret Communist informant, whispered all sorts of false stories to him about an imminent coup and drove him completely crazy.
On command of Michael Mass he sent the army to crack down on the communists, which led to growing distrust in the government. Most of the military however refused to shoot on the protesters and instead joined them.
On the 23th of April the army and protesters stormed the parliament and declared West Ilandia a communist republic.
Thomas Mallard Saigon led the sudden uprising and organised democratic elections not long after.
His Communist Party got 48% of the votes and he won the elections.
Finally Thomas Mallard Saigon had his Communist Party in power.
He immediately began reforming the country, and the standard of living rose for the first time in 15 years.
However, he became isolated from his extremist fellow communists who did not think his actions were extreme enough.
The ordinary people, however, supported him fully, and opposition was limited to a few high-ranking communists.
From the economic recession in the summer of 1957, the attitude of public opinion changed, Thomas' leadership was no longer unquestionable and the great challenger to his leadership of the party was his old friend Jacob Fellor.
The people demanded new elections, and as a supporter of democracy, Thomas organised a referendum on new elections.
The referendum was an unexpected success for Thomas, with 63% of the population voting against.
Thomas then proceeded to reform the economy.
By 1958 the West Ilandian economy grew with 4% again.
Thomas Mallard Saigon had survived the crisis and his statemanship was no longer questioned by anyone.
But in February 1958 Thomas became very ill and was diagnosed with cancer.
He resigned as chairman of the Presidium and Prime Minister on 24 February.
He promised to return to politics soon. He didn't.
Thomas' last year was a year full of suffering, his cancer proved unwinnable and his lifework, the democratic communist state, degenerated into a notorious dictatorship of few priviliged people.
He died on 30 February 1958. The current president of the Presidium, Jacob Fellor, organised a grand state funeral in his honour, but was shot himself during the festivities.
And so the funeral of Thomas Mallard Saigon became the funeral of his old friend and greatest political enemy too.
Social
Social Aptitude
Thomas, like all other people of the House of Saigon, was very charismatic and extroverted.
People were surprised when seeing his energy, even when he was 50.
But he also was a son of the Mallard Family, a family renowed for its rater egotistical way of speaking and their big ego and confidence.
Altough he was egotistical no one ever truly blamed him for it, considering everything he achieved in his life.
Mannerisms
Thomas Mallard Saigon was known as a very kind and mannered person, always humble and caring.
Even his speeches were mannered, but never failed to bring his message.
While many communist leaders were sons of the proletariat and hated Thomas' polite way of speaking, they had no choice but to admit he was among the best public speakers of his time.
The bourgeoisie was rather indifferent towards his manner of speaking, but still quite hated him and viewed him as a traitor of his class.
Wealth & Financial state
When 21 years old, in 1917, Thomas Mallard Saigon inherited the family fortune as his father died in the Third Ilandian War.
At the time he was one of the wealthiest persons in Ilandia, as he owned
- £123 billion
- 96 factories
- 13450 sq. miles of land
- 43,000 de facto slaves
- 5 palaces
- 167,000 employees
- a private militia
Current Status
Deceased
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Date of Birth
6th of June
Date of Death
8th of June
Life
1896 AD
1959 AD
63 years old
Circumstances of Death
Killed
Birthplace
Framton
Place of Death
Framton
Children
Current Residence
St. Joseph Cemetery
Eyes
Blue
Hair
Short, blonde hair
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Rather pale
Height
1,84 meter
Weight
83 kg
Belief/Deity
Christianity
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
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