Republic of China game

Page 274

Facing this sudden economic crisis, the national government, the "weakest" link in the capitalist camp, was not worried.The central government of the Communist Party, which is a thriving socialist camp, naturally has no worries.Not only are they not worried that this capitalist economic crisis will impact the upsurge of socialist construction that is in full swing in the areas directly under the central government of the Communist Party, but they also have some vague expectations... looking forward to the fact that the capitalist world will survive this Great Depression. Complete collapse, and then red flags will be planted all over the world!Right now it looks like there's a lot of hope.

Inside the Xihua Hall in Zhongnanhai, members of the Politburo in Beijing gathered again.The meeting room was full of smoke, and everyone was a little excited.Zhou Enlai sat on the rattan chair, holding a teacup in his hand, with a faint smile on his face.Mao Zedong, as usual, smoked heavily, but his mood was also quite high.It can be seen that the leaders of the CCP are in a pretty good mood right now.

The socialist transformation in Zhili, Chahar, and Beijing went quite smoothly, and the landlord class in the countryside has been wiped out... In the cities, although most of the capitalists ran away in time, the monks escaped if they escaped. No temple.Their factories, shops, banks, banks, bungalows, and cars have all returned to the hands of the people.Of course, the CCP still has a policy towards national capitalists who have not run away. Basically, they have not harmed people, but they have been classified as capitalists, small business owners, etc. to distinguish them from the working class.It is much milder than the countryside.

After completing the socialist transformation, the economy in the CCP's jurisdiction gradually recovered.In particular, the CCP obtained a large amount of grain stored by landlords during the land reform struggle in Zhili, which greatly eased the food shortage caused by the drought in northern Shaanxi and Suiyuan.The economic depression in big cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding, and Zhangjiakou also began to slowly recover after completing socialist transformation.

In fact, the socialist planned economic system is not as useless as people imagined in later generations.This system may have its rigid and inefficient side, and it is not easy to motivate people to create wealth.Therefore, it has lost the wind in the long-term confrontation with the capitalist system.However, under short-term "wartime" conditions, the planned economy still has considerable advantages.This economic system can maximize the concentration of the resources, wealth, and labor of the entire society under a centralized government, and the government will make reasonable allocations according to the needs of the war, and in the shortest time, fully tap the war potential of the entire society come out!Right now, within the jurisdiction of the CCP, it is precisely this kind of system that is being implemented, and it is still just beginning. It is the time when the energy is the most vigorous and the efficiency is the highest.

"Comrades." Mif, the advisor to the Communist International, seemed to be the happiest one in the entire meeting. His whole face burst into laughter. He waved his arms vigorously and said loudly, "The enemy is dying day by day! And we are dying day by day!" Get well! The evil system of capitalism is now facing a crisis that they have no way to overcome! And the first to collapse in this crisis will be the weakest link in the entire capitalist camp— — the area ruled by the Kuomintang reactionaries. There is no doubt that Comrade Stalin has given instructions for this (instructions for the economic collapse of South China?).”

The committee members applauded with all their strength, and there was thunderous applause in the venue... Miff scanned the venue with his gaze, taking in all the committee members' expressions.Including Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong, all looked excited.Miff smiled slightly: "Comrade Stalin instructed the CCP to make preparations to take over the whole of China after the collapse of the southern capitalist system. Of course, the CCP must also try its best to strengthen the leadership of the southern working class. When the capitalist economy is in crisis, Push the labor movement in southern China to a new climax! At the same time, the CCP should also accelerate the pace of socialist economic construction in the north, especially in the areas under the CCP’s jurisdiction. It is necessary to formulate a five-year or three-year economic construction plan. Comrade Stalin’s suggestion is Prepare a three-year plan, because within five years the rule of the Southern Nationalist Government may collapse due to economic collapse, and the CCP will then formulate a plan for the economic construction of the entire country."

Zhou Enlai laughed when he heard the words, stood up, and took Comrade Miff's words: "What Comrade Advisor said is completely consistent with our party's views. Our party is also thinking about formulating an economic plan, but our party currently lacks this aspect. Experience, and financial resources are also slightly insufficient, it seems difficult to establish a complete industrial system within three years. I don’t know... can the Soviet Union provide us with help?”

Miff frowned slightly, he already understood Zhou Enlai's meaning.The CCP wants "aid" from the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union is also facing great difficulties right now!Not only is it facing a famine, but the five-year plan of the Soviet Union in this time and space is different from the history. They exchanged machines and warships with Germany and Japan for oil, so they invested too much in the oil industry in the first five-year plan !Now the international oil price has fallen rapidly after the financial collapse of the United States, and it is currently less than 80 cents a barrel!I heard that Comrade Stalin regretted this unceasingly. During this period of time, the political prisoners and farmers in the Soviet Union will start to suffer again...

Chapter 0474 Great Depression (five)

Soviet Union, Moscow.

This year's first snow fell a few days later than the normal solar terms, but it fell extraordinarily heavily.Just the first snow, the capital of the Soviet Union is a vast expanse of whiteness.The quietly flowing Moskva River has also been covered with a thin layer of ice floes.Occasionally, the sound of ice cracking at the bottom of the river can be heard, which means that the ice layer is constantly thickening.

The market in Moscow is extremely "prosperous". When it is daylight, there are long queues at the entrances of all the shops selling food.The old Soviet ladies in turbans and thick leather coats got up really early!No wonder each of them has been reduced a lot.Such a situation of strong demand cannot be seen in any capitalist country at present.But in Moscow and other large Soviet cities, it has been going on for two years.Since the end of [-], the Soviet Union abandoned the transitional New Economic Policy and began to implement the first five-year plan.In order to be able to buy the rationed food, you have to get up early in the morning and queue up. If you go late, you may not be able to buy it...

According to later historians, the USSR is now experiencing a famine!And it's not the worst yet.However, in the view of the hard-hearted master in the Kremlin, the current famine does not exist at all. It is just a deliberate creation of rich peasants hoarding grain and not selling it. This is a manifestation of class struggle!Article 107 of the Criminal Code of the Soviet Union is needed to solve the food shortage problem, which reads: "Whoever deliberately raises the price of commodities by means of purchasing, hiding commodities or not putting them on the market shall be punished with imprisonment for up to one year and confiscation of all or part of their property, or only imprisonment".

With Stalin's order, a "three-person special group for grain procurement" was established in various parts of the Soviet Union. The "three-person group" is a special organization that combines administrative and judicial powers derived from wartime. It has the power to arrest, sentence and execute prisoners without approval of trial. It still exists in the Soviet Union at all levels in the 30s.This "three-person team" with great power is now used to unify and lead their respective grain procurement work.Compared with the "surplus grain collection system" during the civil war, it was just that the means of coercion changed from force to punishment.However, unlike the great famine during the Civil War, now there is no kind-hearted American imperialism coming to distribute relief food... These Americans were really troubled back then.

Fortunately, Americans are too busy to take care of themselves, and the Soviet Union is also facing the world with a thriving face.Moreover, they are still selling grain to the international market generously in exchange for foreign exchange, so as to take advantage of the international economic depression and the favorable opportunity for capitalist countries to relax technology exports to develop their heavy industry!Speaking of which, the development of heavy industry in the Soviet Union was actually built on the bones of tens of millions of peasants who starved to death in the Great Famine.And in this time and space that is a little bit off the road, those poor peasants in the Soviet Union seem to have to starve to death a little more!Because in the first five-year plan, the Soviet Union spent too much money to build the oil industry, but the current international oil price is too low.Uh, this must have been deliberately created by the class enemy to assassinate the great socialist motherland!

……

"Snapped……"

Stalin angrily smashed his iconic carved pipe on the high forehead of Kuibyshev, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and chairman of the State Planning Commission, who was standing opposite the desk.A small bag immediately swelled up, but Kuibyshev was completely ignorant, bean-sized beads of sweat had covered his entire forehead.

"Comrade Kuibyshev! In your first five-year plan, why did you use so much money to build those damn oil fields! Those oil can't be sold now, and the socialist motherland doesn't need so much oil!" Oil. You scoundrel, you must be a spy of the imperialists, you must be the leader of the assassination, or perhaps a lurking Trotskyist! You want to ruin our economy and destroy the first five-year plan! You Say it?"

Stalin roared loudly in Russian with an incomprehensible Georgian accent, and Kuibyshev standing opposite him was just shivering.To be honest, at this moment, Stalin does not seem to want the chairman of the State Planning Commission to give priority to the development of the oil industry in the first five-year plan, and then use oil exports to exchange for foreign exchange, or to pay for machinery and military equipment. That's what he came up with!But who would have thought that the international oil price would drop from US$[-] to less than US$[-] per barrel in just one month?This price is about the same as the cost of developing oil in the Soviet Union. How can there be any profit?And what's worse, oil that costs [-] cents a barrel can't be sold at all now!If those Soviet oil fields that are about to start production start dumping oil on the international market... most likely they won't even be able to keep fifty cents.

Seeing Kuibyshev standing there tremblingly without saying a word, Stalin became even more furious and asked loudly, "Comrade Kuibyshev, do you have anything else to say?"

Uh, this probably means, is there anything else you can do?If there is a way, then it is a comrade, otherwise... In fact, Kuibyshev is a member of Stalin's line. Stalin still trusts him, and if he can still be used, he will use it.Although the brain is a bit "stupid", but it is safe to use.

Kuibyshev also looked heartbroken. He was loyal to Stalin and knew what Stalin was like.The key now is not whether Kuibyshev is an "assailant", but whether he can find a way to get some foreign exchange for the Soviet Union to buy imperialist machines.

"Comrade Stalin..." Kuibyshev rolled his eyes and immediately thought of a solution.He sighed softly: "I am responsible for the wrong decision this time. For this reason, I want to conduct the most profound inspection to you, and I am willing to bear all severe punishments." Having said that, Kuibyshev raised his head , looked at Stalin pitifully, and said: "But before that, I would like to give you one last idea to help the country recover a little loss."

"Well, that's about the same. Now that you take a closer look, you don't look like a spy anymore."

Stalin's anger seemed to have subsided a little bit, but his face was still ashen, and his sharp eyes were fixed on the shivering Kuibyshev in front of him.

"The main reason for the current plunge in oil prices in the international market is of course the imperialist conspiracy...but the secondary reason is insufficient demand. If we can find a way to create a little demand, maybe we can use our oil at a more suitable price. In this way, a certain amount of foreign exchange can be obtained. In addition... the navy's military expansion plan can also be slowed down? Especially those two "Karl Marx" class battleships... we have already obtained A full set of drawings and technical data, if we can save this money to buy machines, our own shipyard should be able to build them, right?"

Kuibyshev used his brain a little, and he came up with solutions one after another.Stalin's face also looked better, but he was still a little gloomy: "But how to create demand now? The imperialists are in economic crisis, who will buy our oil? It's useless for them to buy it? Let's talk about the two Who can take over such an expensive warship?"

Kuibyshev breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and said: "The Chinese should want it. They need warships and oil... Why don't we find a way to let them take over the order. According to the reference materials sent to the Planning Commission by the Communist International. South China The national government of China has about 20 billion US dollars in gold foreign exchange reserves! They have the ability to pay."

"Sold battleships to the Chinese Kuomintang..."

Stalin walked back and forth in front of Kuibyshev, his eyebrows gradually furrowed again: "They already have two 'Karl Marx' class battleships under construction, if... two more battleships are obtained, there will be four battleships. This It’s not a big threat to the national security of the Soviet Union, but will they buy it?”

"We can ask the Chinese Communist Party to think of a way. They now control the central government of China, and they should be able to find a way." Kuibyshev hesitated for a while, and then came up with an idea: "We can also let the Chinese Communist Party try to push the Kuomintang From us purchasing oil reserves, they have built a large petrochemical base and a large number of oil storage equipment in Guangdong Province in the past two years...that is used to process, refine and store shale oil, and of course they can also refine and store oil. "

"...Our two warships have paid 5000 million dollars now, and we will pay 2000 million dollars later. We can sell them to China at a discount, as long as they can give us 500 million dollars, so that we can get more money at once. Forty-five million U.S. dollars of foreign exchange has been paid. You can take advantage of the great depression of capitalism to buy cheap machinery and equipment from the world, and build your own warships in the future. As for... oil, if you can sell it for 500 cents a barrel, we will The capital is preserved, and there is still a slight profit. But our costs are paid in rubles, but we receive dollars. If the CCP can persuade the Kuomintang to buy 6000 million barrels of oil from us for storage in the next few years, we will We can receive [-] million U.S. dollars. The sum of the two will bring in [-] million U.S. dollars, and then export some grain, and the foreign exchange needed for our first five-year plan will come out. It’s just that this is likely to strengthen the The strength of the Kuomintang allows them to have enough fuel to maintain a large navy or mechanized army in the future."

Stalin smiled slightly, and waved his hand indifferently: "The Chinese have a powerful navy, which is not a big threat to us. On the contrary, it will deepen their distrust with Japan, Britain and the United States, which is beneficial to the Soviet Union. As for the mechanized army... we As long as 1000 million of the foreign exchange obtained is used to help the CCP build the most basic heavy industry and armament industry, and let them contain the Kuomintang. With these rewards, those Chinese Communists will work hard to help us become the Kuomintang Fortunately, they have not completely broken with the Kuomintang. Comrade Kuibyshev, it seems that I misunderstood you just now, and you still think about our Soviet motherland wholeheartedly."

……

After Beijing received Stalin's request, it felt a little embarrassed.After all, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are already in the middle of a cold war, and after the Kuomintang leftists split from the Kuomintang, the CCP’s influence on the Kuomintang’s decision-making has also greatly declined.More importantly, if the CCP now wants to facilitate a deal between China and the Soviet Union, it must show its favor to the rightists of the Kuomintang. At the very least, it can no longer deny that the Wuhan Kuomintang Central Committee is the legitimate center of the Kuomintang, right?So how should the status of the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee be handled?But if Stalin's request is rejected, the "Soviet aid" that had just been hopeful may be ruined. I am afraid that the CCP's heavy industry construction plan will face more twists and turns.

This time Zhou Enlai did not immediately convene members of the Politburo to discuss this issue, but first went to Jurentang to exchange views with Mao Zedong in private.

Mao Zedong took a puff of cigarette and lightly waved his big hand holding the cigarette: "Well, from the very beginning, we should not pin our hopes on the leftists of the Kuomintang! Our revolutionary cause still depends on the efforts of the Chinese Communists themselves Right now is a critical moment for our socialist construction, and the Soviet Union is also willing to help us. This should be a good opportunity, and we should seize it.”

"I think so too." Zhou Enlai nodded slightly: "But the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee...how should we deal with it? The Wuhan side has always insisted that we ban this committee. We can't do things that are sorry for our friends."

Mao Zedong smiled deeply: "Our friends are the leftist comrades of the Kuomintang, not this revolutionary committee! We can let them go underground, and don't make a public display of the banner. At the same time, arrange corresponding positions for them in the central government, such as the current deputy. The presidential candidate is still empty, I think Deng Yanda or Li Jishen can be appointed! In addition, we need to set up a Political Consultative Conference, we can let Soong Ching Ling be the chairman of the Political Consultative Conference, and we can also invite the Kuomintang to participate! "

"...Moreover, the Soviet Union sold oil and transferred two battleships under construction to the Kuomintang at a low price. It is also a good thing for the Kuomintang! Aren't they always expanding their navy and stockpiling oil? Our matchmaking is to help them, not Ask them to give alms. I think this matter can be raised through the North-South Exchange Association, and they are likely to be asking for it."

Zhou Enlai was taken aback when he heard the words. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that Mao Zedong's words had some truth: "Runzhi, if the Kuomintang agrees to buy battleships and oil very quickly, should we ask the Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee to go underground?"

Mao Zedong smiled lightly: "Yes. Now it seems that these people have a greater role underground than on the ground. Let them cancel the name of the Revolutionary Committee, and then participate in the central government and the Political Consultative Conference as a member of the Kuomintang."

Zhou Enlai frowned slightly, and nodded noncommittally.

……

The worldwide Great Depression finally began to gradually affect the economic prosperity of southern China.The first to be hit is the stock market and the real estate market.Almost at the same time as Wall Street collapsed, the Shanghai Stock Exchange also experienced a crash-like decline, losing billions of legal currency wealth overnight!What followed was a sharp drop in real estate prices in major cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan, and Guangzhou.Then, a large number of small and medium-sized banks and money houses closed down one after another. Most of these small and medium-sized financial institutions suffered heavy losses in the decline of the stock market and property market.However, these troubles are not the most fatal. After all, the top ten commercial banks in southern China are still in good operation.But at the end of November, the crisis not only did not "pass quickly" as everyone expected, but intensified.Finally...the cornerstone supporting the economic prosperity of southern China-foreign direct investment has also begun to show signs of fleeing.The Kuomintang leaders who were originally optimistic about the economy gradually began to feel bad.

East Lake, Wuhan, Central Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang.

Recently, more and more financial experts have been summoned by Hu Hanmin to the Central Party, and they have frequent meetings in his small office.This meeting usually lasts for several hours, from morning to night, but a perfect solution can never be discussed.

The Kuomintang bigwigs and the financial elites of southern China are now divided into two factions, the uncle and nephew of the Luo family and Kong Xiangxi.It advocates the implementation of a radical fiscal policy, temporarily ignoring the fiscal deficit, and relying on the central bank to release money to buy construction bonds to expand infrastructure investment.Construction of infrastructure including railways, highways, electricity, ports, and airports must be accelerated.At the same time, the national government should take over the important heavy industrial enterprises withdrawn by foreign capital with financial funds to ensure that industries such as iron and steel, chemical industry, shipbuilding, non-ferrous metals, military industry, aircraft manufacturing, and automobile manufacturing receive sufficient capital investment.Luo Yaoguo even proposed to imitate the Soviet Union to formulate a "Five-Year Investment Plan", and strive to complete the initial industrialization of South China in one fell swoop by taking advantage of the Great Depression in the international economy and the opportunity of low construction costs in five years.China's important industrialization indicators such as steel, electricity, coal, and railway operating mileage must all reach the top six levels in the world!That is, it ranks behind the United States, Germany, Britain, France, and Russia, and surpasses Italy and Japan.

The other faction is Chiang Kai-shek, Xu Chongzhi and Song Ziwen.They advocate trying to maintain fiscal balance and implement tight fiscal policy and monetary policy.This prescription is also commonly used in various capitalist countries in the world.Chiang Kai-shek and others believed that the economy of southern China was sufficiently competitive that it could recover from this blow without the government's aggressive intervention in the market.The responsibility of the government is to maintain fiscal stability and control the size of the deficit, rather than relying on the excessive issuance of banknotes to drink poison to quench thirst... Ugh!Is this still Chiang Kai-shek?It's ridiculous.

Chapter 0475 Five-Year Plan

At the end of [-] AD, Wuhan was shrouded in a biting winter.The weather here is the damp and cold unique to the south, and a little chill seems to penetrate into the bones.

In the rest house by the East Lake, the firewood is burning in the fireplace, and the room is as warm as summer.In the living room, there is a strong fragrance of tea.Chiang Kai-shek was wearing a long gown, bald and without a hat, sitting leisurely on the sofa in the living room.Holding a cup of tea in his hand, he sipped slowly, listening to Luo Yaoguo and Song Ziwen arguing endlessly in front of him with a smile.

"Mr. Ziwen, this round of economic depression will never end in a short time. This economic crisis is different from the past. The entire capitalist system is facing major challenges. In the past few years, the major capitalist powers in the world Production efficiency continues to grow at a high speed, but workers' wages are stagnant. The contradiction between insufficient aggregate demand caused by low wages and aggregate excess supply caused by high productivity is absolutely impossible to be resolved in the short term through the power of the market itself. And the government is now What to do is definitely not to maintain the so-called budget balance, but to create demand. Only when the demand is created can the economic depression pass. Otherwise, the economy will definitely fall into a vicious circle. A batch of closures, thousands of workers lose their jobs! And the workers who lose their jobs will cause insufficient demand, which in turn will make the economy go down further! This is a vicious circle, and the only way to solve the problem in the end is for the government to create demand Come on, either a lot of infrastructure construction, or military expansion and preparation for war!"

Luo Yaoguo is also articulate when talking about the economy at the moment, not at all like a chief of staff, but more like an economic expert of the Executive Yuan of the Nationalist Government.

But Song Ziwen shook his head while listening, and his eyebrows became tighter and tighter: "Brother Fuwen, your method is completely drinking poison to quench your thirst. If we abandon fiscal balance now and rely on the government's fiscal deficit to stimulate the economy and increase investment. In fact, We are relying on printing money to maintain the scale of investment and economic aggregate. If too much money is printed, it will become waste paper. The lessons of the Beiyang government and the Fengtian warlords are in front of us. Are you turning a blind eye? Besides... …Even if you can print legal currency irresponsibly, what about foreign exchange? Can you generate foreign exchange? Now that the whole world is shrinking, our exports will definitely shrink greatly. And if you want to build a large-scale heavy industry, then We also have to import a large amount of machinery and equipment and raw materials. At that time, foreign exchange will only go out but not come in, and it will bottom out in a few years. Then what will we use to repay foreign debts? You know, the scale of our foreign debts is very large now. And it is still mortgaged with tariffs, salt taxes, railways, and factories. At that time, you are not afraid that the big powers will come to our country to take over the customs and dismantle machinery and equipment?"

Luo Yaoguo smiled and shook his head. Before he could open his mouth to refute, Song Ziwen's words continued to bombard him like a cannonball: "Besides, if we use government-issued banknotes and foreign exchange in our hands to build a large number of heavy industrial enterprises and infrastructure, what will happen? Where does the demand come from? The wage level in their imperialist countries is so high that they will inevitably fall into depression in the end. And our workers’ income is only one-tenth of that of others. The Great Depression? Shall we follow the example of imperialism and launch aggressive wars to pass on the crisis?"

Chiang Kai-shek just sighed after hearing this: "How difficult! We are not united, how can we launch a war of aggression to shift the crisis? Is there such a country in this world? Besides... If we want to expand, the Soviet Union is to the north and west. , to the south is Anglo-American law. Even if we develop these powers, we will not be able to defeat them. Maybe they will be the same as Germany in the World War..."

Chiang Kai-shek and Song Ziwen glanced at each other, their eyes full of helplessness.