Chapter 527 Silesia (3)
What happened on the North American continent could not be spread to Europe for the time being, and the continent was also not peaceful. The civil strife in Spain not only caused turmoil within its ally France.
The crisis in the Near East is also continuing to ferment. The Russians have a huge appetite. In addition to the Ottoman heritage, they also want Persia, then the entire Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
The dark clouds of civil war in central Europe made the people of the "peaceful country" breathless. Although the two sides temporarily suspended hostilities under the pressure of France and Austria, they never stopped preparing for war.
The Italian countries in the Apennines made serious protests to Austria because of the continuous flow of population to the northern Italy region ruled by the Habsburg family.
Austria is also making intensive preparations for the upcoming Vienna Conference.
But what is unexpected is that it was the Prussian region that took the lead in the unrest.
In Silesia, weavers' wages fell by two-thirds over the years, to only about four groschen per day, or about 50 florins per year.
(The Austrian monetary unit in the book is used here because it may be used frequently and the names are similar, so I am afraid that everyone can’t tell them apart.)
But this is not the most outrageous thing. What is even more outrageous is that the Zvan brothers in Peterswaldau reduced the wages of the weavers to three Groschen. (Use the cloth price to convert directly into wages, otherwise it will be very confusing.)
When some weavers protested, they retorted, "If you don't do it, others will do it!" and then claimed that there were many people who were willing to take only two groschen's wages.
Although the weavers were angry, they had to bow their heads again in order to survive.
As a result, the Zwang brothers really hired a large number of workers with only three Groschen's wages. This allowed the two to quickly accumulate a large amount of wealth and receive the Medal of Outstanding Citizenship issued by the Prussian government.
However, successive years of famine have further increased the price of potatoes in Silesia, leaving weavers unable to eat at all, because their wages cannot afford even one meal a day.
The helpless weavers could only find the Tswang brothers again, hoping that the master would show mercy and let them tide over the difficulties.
But the answer was.
"If there are no potatoes to eat, you can just eat grass and stones. If you die, it proves that you are not God's chosen people and are not suitable to live in this world."
Later, the weavers approached the local Prussian government, but the problem was that the authorities were playing ball with each other and the problem was never resolved.
At this time, the Tswan brothers built a mansion in the local area. The cost was equivalent to the income of a local weaver for 200 years without food or drink.
The brothers then braged to their business partners in a tavern in the town about thirty times the amount.
This kind of behavior is actually untraditional in Prussia, because businessmen are not qualified to be as wealthy as noble lords. They do not have this social status.
The rude attitude of the local Prussian government once again chilled the hearts of the weavers. The general idea was that merchants paid taxes and were protected by the government, but building houses was a citizen's freedom.
This behavior greatly angered the local weavers, so one weaver insulted Sieg, the eldest brother of the Tswan brothers, as a man-eating demon.
The decent gentleman naturally could not accept this slander, so he beat the thug and handed him over to the police for custody.
Normally, things should end at this point. The master has established his power and the "thug" has been punished.
But this time they greatly underestimated the tragic situation of the Silesian weavers at that time. This group of poor people who could not survive and no one cared about them had nothing to fear.
(The Prussian government's attitude towards them has always been lukewarm, and even the Polish Restoration Army, which is not taboo about meat and vegetables, despises their weakness.
Franz tried to promote immigration policies locally, but this aroused the alarm of the Prussian government, which arrested a large number of Austrians and Prussians hired by Franz.
However, it was impossible for Franz to leave so many German refugees alone. Although these people were poor and their physical and cultural conditions were worrying, it did not matter to Austria at this time.
Later, because Franz was busy with other things, he handed over the matter to the church. The latter spared no effort, but he liked to bring in private goods.
As a result, he was reported by the local church and had no choice but to return home in vain. )
At this time, a weaver named Karl Muller stood up and called on the weavers to unite and ask the local Prussian government to release him.
However, local residents in other industries actually look down on the weavers' profession. Coupled with some inappropriate publicity, people think that this group is actually a group of lazy people, so they criticize their behavior.
As a result, the weavers' dissatisfaction quickly turned into anger, and they began to indulge their anger, threatening and even violently opposing those who opposed them.
At the same time, they used demonstrations to try to gain more supporters to confront their powerful enemies (the Prussian government and weavers and merchants).
After Austria joined the German Zollverein, the Prussian government attached great importance to the construction of railways.
Especially during the Luxembourg crisis, the latter transported tens of thousands of troops to the front line within a week, defeating Belgium, known as the seventh power, and left a deep impression on the Prussians.
So at this time, as an important frontier area bordering Austria, important railway lines in Silesia had already been built. This greatly facilitated communication between weavers.
As a result, in the city of Katowice, Mr. Philpot's house was also besieged.
In fact, not only Master Philpott and the Zwang brothers, but almost all the wrapping merchants were besieged.
The railway system greatly enhanced the mobilization ability of the weavers, so what was supposed to be a small riot with only 3,000 people in history turned into a large-scale riot with more than 30,000 people participating.
As the governments of every Silesian region unanimously rejected the weavers' petitions, the desperate people rushed into the merchants' houses.
In particular, the mansion of the Zwan brothers was given special attention. Not only did it receive a free decoration package, it was eventually burned to the ground. The two brothers escaped sanctions with the help of the Prussian police.
Mr. Philpot's white house was turned into a black and white "zebra house", and the house was filled with filth.
Due to the large number of people, there was nothing the local gendarmes and police could do.
In fact, the weavers didn't want to make the matter a big deal at first. Although they originally wanted to rely on their connections in the government as usual, they gave up after the weavers made a big fuss.
After all, they are businessmen, and they can still make a profit by spending money to eliminate disasters, but if one person is lost, the gain will not be worth the loss.
So the businessmen took the initiative to propose reconciliation. However, while the railway facilitated the weavers' organizational contacts, it also facilitated the Prussian government's local suppression.