Chapter 987 Economic Crisis and the First Five-Year Plan
For ordinary people in East Africa, there will not be too many obstacles to urban development as long as they can secure a stable job. Especially with the cooperation of East African compulsory education, even the new generation of East Africans in remote areas have relatively broad horizons. open.
This is also the fundamental guarantee for population mobility in East Africa in recent years. Population mobility in East Africa is mainly achieved through administrative means, and educated people, under the guidance of the government, will not cause too much conflict and unrest.
This is not alarmist. In many European and American countries in the 19th century, a large number of agricultural people moved into cities, which would inevitably cause serious social problems. Countries like Germany, where compulsory education is generally accepted, were better off.
But imagine that if some poor rural farmers from Poland, who are illiterate and have no urban life skills, enter German cities, their development is bound to suffer certain setbacks, especially in the stage of frequent economic crises.
This example is not just made up, but at the beginning of the 20th century, a new round of capitalist economic crisis had arrived, and the first unlucky victim was Tsarist Russia. While the East African government was busy formulating the First Five-Year Plan, the economic crisis in Tsarist Russia had already broken out. , this economic crisis was also the root cause of the Russo-Japanese War in the previous life.
Japan and Russia are both victims of this round of economic crisis, and both have prominent conflicts in the Far Eastern Empire. Therefore, there is a high probability that Japan and Russia will still be at war with each other in this century.
Of course, the economic crisis is an opportunity for East Africa. As early as the 1990s, the East African government had already adjusted its national economy, which meant that the East African economy further transformed its planned economic system. The First Five-Year Plan was Ernst's imitation of the former Soviet Union. , taking advantage of this crisis to further transform and upgrade East African industry.
However, judging from Ernst’s previous experience, this round of economic crisis will not have a big impact on European and American countries. This is one of the reasons why the formulation of East Africa’s First Five-Year Plan is conservative.
After all, only in a major crisis like the one in 1929 that had a strong impact on the economies of European and American countries would companies from various countries not hesitate to sell various core technologies and machines, thus giving the Soviet Union unprecedented historical development opportunities.
The economic crisis of 1900 obviously failed to achieve this effect. This crisis lasted only a short time, and its impact was spread in various countries one after another. As East Africa has completely shifted to a planned economic system, it will naturally not be affected. After all, under the national planned production, even East Africa Faced with overproduction, it will not be as serious as in European and American countries.
The key to this lies in the integration of industries. Private enterprises in European and American countries will swarm in whichever industry makes money. Then after the economic crisis comes, everyone will die together. Today's capitalist economic development is relatively rough and there is no unity. Global organization and improvement of treaty coordination.
Moreover, there are many big countries, including Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Tsarist Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Africa, Spain, the Far Eastern Empire, etc. Competition and conflict are greater than cooperation, and the ability to deal with crises when each fights independently is naturally weaker.
As a world hegemon, Britain's control over the world is far inferior to that of the United States in its previous life. Especially in the 20th century, its title of world hegemon has become somewhat undeserved.
Take Germany for example. At that time, Britain could easily handle the ununified Germany. Now Germany has become one of the main challengers to British hegemony.
East Africa is also included in this list. After the South African War, East Africa became the dominant country in the vast areas of eastern and southern Africa, occupying nearly 43% of the entire African continent. Most of the land in East Africa was a colony of the British in the previous life.
It can be said that the South African War did less damage to British prestige than the Boer War in its previous life, but the damage to British actual interests far exceeded the Boer War. The Boer War caused Britain to lose face, while the South African War was just the opposite. Britain lost its dignity.
After all, the British colonization of Africa lasted until the 1960s. It is conceivable that the British African colonies, which occupied half of Africa in the previous life, continued the hegemony of the British Empire for a long time.
Of course, Ernst cared nothing about killing and burying him. Even if Britain suddenly died suddenly, Ernst would only applaud him. Under the current world situation, even if Britain suddenly died suddenly, East Africa would still be able to take a certain initiative. To put it simply, The East African wings are already hardened.
Ernst: "Today in Tsarist Russia, the serious economic crisis will definitely have an impact on Tsarist Russia. And according to the size of Tsarist Russia's economy, this crisis will inevitably be transmitted to Europe and other parts of the world, so we in East Africa must be prepared and build Build a good economic moat and further adjust the industrial structure, especially to make up for the shortcomings of economic development.”
“So during the First Five-Year Plan, our government faces severe challenges. It must be more proactive and active in developing international markets, especially the development of emerging markets in South American countries and Far Eastern countries, so as to promote the country’s industrial exports and for European and American countries. and other traditional markets, we must further increase the export of agricultural products.”
"Of course, under the economic crisis situation, the purchasing power of various countries has declined, which is bound to be detrimental to international trade. Therefore, building a large domestic market is the foundation for maintaining our East African economy, including increasing residents' income, stimulating people's consumption, and promoting small household appliances and other industrial consumer goods to the countryside. Entering thousands of households, qualified production units purchase large consumer goods such as cars, tractors, and trucks to increase production, which requires us to further improve and expand power facilities, gas stations, roads, railways, etc. in East Africa.”
"The economic crisis is also an opportunity for us. Now the economic crisis of Tsarist Russia is serious, so we can follow the general trend of the economic crisis and introduce a batch of Tsarist Russia's superior industrial production materials and talents."
Although Tsarist Russia is a relatively backward country among the great powers, it is undeniable that Tsarist Russia still has many superior talents for East Africa, especially talents in chemistry, physics, mathematics and other fields, which are the current shortcomings of East Africa.
During the first industrial revolution, Tsarist Russia learned advanced technologies such as shipbuilding, navigation, and steam engines from Britain. During the second industrial revolution, Alexander II of Tsarist Russia implemented serfdom reform, which greatly promoted the development of Tsarist Russia's industry. Take the economic crisis in 1900 as an example. Its source was Tsarist Russia, which fully shows that Tsarist Russia's industrialization has been improved.
It is undeniable that Tsarist Russia is not even comparable to East Africa in the field of emerging industries, but there are many aspects of Tsarist Russia's traditional industries that are worth learning from East Africa.
Although Russia has never been a leader in the industrial revolution, it has never been a laggard. Especially in technological innovation, it has always been in the second echelon.
For the East African government, the demand for Russian talents is higher than the demand for Russian technology. There is no doubt that since the time of Peter the Great, Russian society has developed a style of learning from Europe, which has enabled Russia to produce a group of world-class scientists in any era thereafter.
Especially in basic disciplines and theoretical research, Russia has always been in the first echelon of the world, so if a group of talents can be introduced from Russia through the economic crisis in 1900, it will play a very good supplementary role for East Africa, a country with a very short history.
Usually, East Africa prefers to poach talents, but the focus is generally on Germany and Austria-Hungary, two countries with similar cultures, and talents in the German region have indeed made great contributions to East African industry and technology.
Russia is no weaker than European countries in the field of science, so the East African government has a plan to take advantage of the Russian economic crisis to poach high-quality talents from Russia to fill the gap in high-end talents in East Africa's education, scientific research and industry. Although the effect may not be very good, East Africa will make a profit if it can get one or two genuine top talents.