Chapter 1422 Soviet Union

As to whether these industrial equipment will help the industrial development of other countries, that is not within the consideration of the East African government. After all, there are more than one seller in the international market.

In recent years, the industries of many non-great powers have made progress, and the sources of their industrial equipment are diverse, including Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Austria, etc. With enough money, they have channels to obtain even the most advanced machinery and equipment.

For those non-industrial countries, it is not that they cannot obtain the technology and equipment needed for industrial development, but that they lack independent research and development capabilities, industrial systems and independent development capabilities.

Due to the lack of independent research and development capabilities, their industries are always one step behind others in technology. The lack of an industrial system makes it impossible to reduce the cost of industrial production and make it difficult to form competitiveness.

Finally, there is a lack of independent development capabilities. That is, although some countries have the ability to develop industries, their development is hindered by external forces and their development momentum is easily interrupted.

Therefore, it is extremely difficult for a country to transform from an agricultural country into an industrial country. If it takes a wrong step, it may be shattered.

As a small country in Latin America, it is very difficult for Paraguay to achieve success in industry, but it has to do it.

Not to mention the historical grievances between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, Bolivia’s provocation against Paraguay today alone requires Paraguay to rearm itself in order to gain an advantage in the territorial dispute.

Therefore, after the population has recovered slightly in recent years, the Paraguayan government has restarted some of its industrial development plans.

On this point, the Paraguayan government is much more prepared for danger than the Argentines. Because of the failure in the last war, the Paraguayan government understands the importance of independent development. After all, Paraguay's geographical location makes it too easy to be blocked.

The only channel for external communication is the Paraguay River, but the outlet to the sea is not in Paraguay's hands. Not to mention the outlet to the sea, even the right to pass through the rivers within the country is not independent.

In the past, the Paraguayan government did not have such ambitions mainly because the population recovery was too slow. Without even people, economic and industrial development was naturally out of the question.

Robert said: "In recent years, the Paraguayan government has introduced a series of favorable policies for economic development, especially tax incentives in some industrial sectors, which has promoted the development of Paraguayan industry."

"Paraguay is a poor country, so we have to be more careful with industrial investment, and this is especially true for me personally. So when I came to East Africa this time, my budget was not very large. In this regard, Mr. Masoud, you need to help me pay more attention as much as possible."

Massoud naturally agreed. It was nothing more than making a few more trips to obtain more business intelligence. Robert was his important partner in Paraguay, so Massoud didn't mind making friends with Robert.

…

Time flies and it is 1925.

1925 was the final year of East Africa's Five-Year Plan. Economic construction in various parts of East Africa was in full swing. Driven by the government, the national market of East Africa ushered in a large-scale industrial renewal and iteration.

The effects of this industrial upgrade had already shown some effect in early 1925, with important industrial sectors such as steel, energy, automobiles, electricity, chemicals, and machinery manufacturing continuing to advance by leaps and bounds.

However, the intervention of the East African government in the market also led to the relatively slow development of light industry in East Africa. In contrast, in the United States, due to its loose economic policies, a large amount of European and American capital poured into the US market, and the US economy entered a post-war prosperity era.

The two countries had slightly different economic policies, but both maintained high economic growth rates, and the European and world economies also flourished during this period.

At the end of 1924, a major event occurred in the international community. With the intervention of the League of Nations, the war in Eastern Europe was declared over.

Under the mediation of Britain and other countries, Germany and Russia redivided their respective spheres of influence, and Europe officially entered a period of peace.

In 1924, Joseph completely defeated his opponents in the political struggle in Russia and took control of power in Russia.

Moreover, under his promotion, the Russian government decided to formally establish a new national union, namely the Soviet Union, based on the newly expanded or recovered Tsarist Russian territory.

This means that after 1925, the name of Russia will completely bid farewell to the stage of history, and the Soviet Union will replace it as the new player on the Eurasian continent.

"It's finally here!" Ernst exclaimed at the Rhine Palace, holding Pravda in his hand.

The so-called "Pravda" is the former newspaper of the Russian Labor Party. Of course, it is now also one of the most important official newspapers in the Soviet Union. Through this newspaper, we can understand the Soviet Union's final domestic policy guidelines.

The newspaper in Ernst's hand came with a German translation for easy browsing.

Friedrich asked Ernst, "Father, what's coming?"

Ernst said simply: "The Soviet Union."

Friedrich had no feelings about the Soviet Union at all. He said: "The so-called Soviet Union is just a weakened version of the Tsarist Russia with a new name by the Russian government."

It is said to be a weakened version of Tsarist Russia, which is not a big problem from a territorial perspective. After all, even through the war, the Russian Labor Party still failed to recover all the territories of the imperial era. Poland and Ukraine still exist, but the areas of these two countries have shrunk significantly.

From this perspective, the Soviet Union is not as good as Tsarist Russia, and from an economic and industrial perspective, the Soviet Union does not have much advantage over the Russian Empire at present.

The reason for this result is that Russia has been involved in a series of wars over the years, from World War I to the Russian Civil War. After the war finally calmed down a bit, the Eastern European War broke out.

This resulted in Russia not being able to rest and recuperate during the period from the founding of Russia to the establishment of the Soviet Union. Russia's economic growth rate was even lower than that of the Imperial Russia era, and there were not many changes at the industrial level.

Therefore, Friedrich has a certain contempt for the current Soviet Union.

Ernst explained: "Russia is a world power, and the establishment of the Soviet Union basically means that the Russian Labor Party has officially acquired all the industrial areas of the former Tsarist Russia, as well as all the seaports and most of the mineral resources."

"In the next stage, the Soviet Union's development will most likely turn to economic recovery, which will inevitably bring new changes to the former Russian industry."

"And the new leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph, is a politician with strong tactics. After consolidating the Soviet power, he will certainly fully integrate all the resources of the former Russia to promote the development of Soviet industry."

"Of course, more importantly, the Soviet Union's foundation is now solid, and with the rise of Soviet workers, most of the Soviet Union's social problems have been solved."

“And this means that Joseph and other Soviet workers can completely transform the country according to their own will and ideals.”

"So don't underestimate the Soviet Union. Maybe in a few years you will find that its economy has undergone a transformation like a phoenix rising from the ashes."

For the previous Russia, the most important task was to digest the political and economic assets of Tsarist Russia, including the former territory of Tsarist Russia.

However, judging from the current situation, the desire to completely recover all of Tsarist Russia's territories in Eastern Europe has basically become a pipe dream.

Next, the newly established Soviet Union will inevitably shift the focus of development to the economic level.

Based on his experience in his previous life, Ernst is still very optimistic about the economic development of the Soviet Union in the next period of time.

Therefore, Ernst said: "Now that the Soviet political arena has completely stabilized, and the Soviet Union wants to develop its economy, this is bound to form an important window period. We may be able to use this window period to gain some benefits from the Soviet Union."

Friedrich asked, "Father, this may be difficult. After all, the credibility of the Soviet Labor Party is a big problem. If we don't handle it well, we may suffer a big setback in the Soviet Union."

In fact, this is not a credibility issue of the Soviet Labor Party, but a credibility issue of the Eastern Slavs. After all, Russia's credibility was very low during the imperial era, and this has almost become an international consensus.

Ernst said: "Don't worry about this. We never intended to have in-depth cooperation with the Soviet Union, but to make use of the relationship with each other."

"Today, the Soviet Union's overall economic environment is still good, and it continues to implement the New Economic Policy. Many European and American countries secretly have trade relations with the Soviet Union."

"If we join in at this time, it won't attract any attention. Besides, the Soviet government will have to worry about funding issues when it wants to develop industry."

"This is our opportunity. Russia has a lot of accumulated wealth from the Tsarist era. This time we can take advantage of the Soviet Union's urgency to raise funds and tap into the many potential legacy values ​​from the Tsarist era."

"Moreover, during our industrial restructuring this time, there just happened to be a large amount of machinery and equipment in the country that needed to be processed. The Soviet Union was a good choice. This meant that we didn't even have to pay much real money to get a piece of the pie from the Soviet Union."

"Moreover, the Soviet Union is an important market that cannot be ignored. We can also pave the way in advance and lay the foundation for our future cooperation with the Soviet Union."

After the implementation of the New Economic Policy, Russia resumed its foreign trade. However, at that time, Russia's foreign trade was completely monopolized by the former Russian Labor Party government, which is now the Soviet government.

While countries around the world said they wanted to ban the Soviet Union, they were all trying to re-establish trade relations with the Soviet Union and trying to regain control of the former Russian market.

But in Ernst's view, this was pure wishful thinking. In a few years, after Joseph adjusted his economic policies, the Soviet Union would inevitably start a new round of nationalization, and by then foreign investors in the Soviet Union would obviously suffer another setback.

Therefore, in recent years, the trade between East Africa and Russia and the investment in Russia have basically been short-term, and there are no plans to set up too many industries in Russia, especially mines, factories, etc.

Of course, trade with the Soviet Union is still profitable, such as the export of machinery and equipment and food.

There is no need to say much about the former, but as for the latter, the Soviet Union has always been a country with a relatively scarce food supply. Due to the Soviet economic policies, Soviet farmers were not very motivated to produce. After all, food could not be sold at a high price, and they were unwilling to invest too much energy and labor in large-scale agricultural production.

In order to survive, farmers in the imperial Russian era would inevitably find ways to increase grain production. After all, the higher the grain production, the higher their income.

Soviet farmers thought that since they couldn't sell the grain at a good price, they might as well plant less. As long as the grain was enough for the family to be self-sufficient, it would be enough. The natural result was that the Soviet Union's grain supply was relatively tight.

Of course, the Soviet Union is still a major exporter of agricultural products in the world. After all, agricultural products cover a wide range, and food is only one aspect of it.

In addition to grain, agricultural crops that the Soviet Union could not grow, such as cotton and rubber, were also essential materials that the Soviet Union needed to import in large quantities. In these areas, the trade volume between East Africa and the Soviet Union was not small.

In the field of agricultural products, the trade between East Africa and the Soviet Union can be considered a long-term business. After all, the two countries each get what they need, and the climates of the Soviet Union and East Africa are complementary.

Moreover, trade between the two countries is also relatively convenient with the support of the Suez Canal. At least compared with other tropical countries, except India, East Africa's advantages are more obvious.

India is closer to the Soviet Union on land, and its sea transportation is only comparable to that of East Africa. Moreover, the agricultural products that India can provide to the Soviet Union are fewer in variety and scale.

East Africa was not afraid that the Soviet Union would default on its debts. After all, if the Soviet Union did not solve its own problems, its only channel was importing from outside.

For example, in the past, in order to meet its own cotton planting needs, the Soviet Union built a large number of cotton fields in Central Asia. However, it would take decades for the Soviet Union to achieve this. This means that the cotton trade between East Africa and the Soviet Union can at least last for a few decades.

Of course, this kind of long-term and stable trade was not within Ernst's consideration this time. Ernst wanted to make a fortune with Joseph before comprehensively adjusting the Soviet economy.

Therefore, Ernst said: "Take advantage of these few years to sell more of our obsolete industrial equipment to the Soviet Union. We don't necessarily have to ask for real money. They can exchange some of our scarce minerals or cultural relics."

"During the Tsarist Russia era, a large number of cultural relics were looted from all over the world. We can introduce some cultural products that we value into China through trade with the Soviet Union."

During the last Russian Civil War, East Africa obtained a lot of cultural relics from Russia. Now Ernst wants more. After all, many Russian cultural relics were privately hidden because they were more valuable.

However, the situation changed after the Soviet Labor Party came to power. Under the economic policies of the Soviet Labor Party, the prices of many cultural collections that were valuable in Russia in the past shrank drastically, or even became "worthless". Moreover, the Soviet government did not pay much attention to these "feudal remnants" and was more inclined to use these things in exchange for foreign exchange and industrial equipment for national development.

In the next few years, with Joseph coming to power, the Soviet government will inevitably release more good things to the international market. After all, Joseph is a person who strongly promotes the development of Soviet industry, and his economic plan is quite grand and requires more funds. Therefore, in order to raise more funds, Joseph’s government must try every possible means.

(End of this chapter)