Chapter 1517: Cheka Deployed
After reprimanding his subordinates, Joseph's emotions calmed down a little. He sat back at his desk, picked up the pipe, put it in his mouth and took a deep breath.
"We cannot let the imperialist countries laugh at the Soviet Union, especially the puppet government in western Ukraine. Once they discover the problems in eastern Ukraine, it is possible that Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire will see our weakness."
“Before the Soviet Union’s defense industry was built, we had no ability to compete with these imperialist countries in the field of weapons and equipment.”
"Even though Germany and Austria-Hungary are having a hard time due to the economic crisis, we have to admit that there is a huge gap in industry between the Soviet Union and them."
The pressure faced by the Soviet Union in this time and space is much greater than in the previous life, because Germany in this time and space is unprecedentedly powerful. At the same time, the strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has not disintegrated, should not be underestimated.
The most important thing is that these two imperialist powers ranked high in the world are both next to the Soviet Union, so the Soviet Union’s defense pressure is unprecedented.
It will take time to make up for the shortcomings in industry and military. Before that, the Soviet Union must pay more attention to internal stability and unity. Even if fiscal revenue decreases this time, Joseph cannot allow major problems to arise in eastern Ukraine.
Doing so would actually have a certain impact on Soviet industrialization, because the reduction in fiscal revenue would inevitably delay the completion of the First Five-Year Plan.
Joseph frowned, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said to Rosengoltz, the head of the Trade Committee, "This grain transaction must be kept strictly confidential. It is best to minimize the vigilance of countries such as Britain, the United States, and East Africa. At the same time, pay attention to trade with relatively neutral grain exporting countries such as Argentina and Brazil."
"The purpose of this trade is covered up in the name of feed and industrial raw materials. At the same time, food exports should be stepped up and more food should be imported from regions with lower food prices, even if the quality and taste are slightly worse."
"For example, rice from East Africa. Although domestic people may not be used to it, we can import it in large quantities as long as the price is right."
In East Africa, the price of rice is cheaper than flour. On the one hand, rice cultivation accounts for a high proportion of the staple food in East Africa. On the other hand, the per-acre yield of rice is higher than that of wheat.
At the same time, East Africa is a world leader in rice cultivation. It is the only major rice-growing country in the world that has achieved mechanized cultivation. At the same time, it is unrivaled in terms of rice field area, planting technology, water conservancy facilities, pesticide and fertilizer usage, breeding and cultivation, etc.
However, the international sales of East African rice have never been outstanding. This is mainly because the purchasing power of rice consumers in the international food market is relatively low.
Apart from East Africa, Japan has the best economy among the world's major rice consumers. However, as we all know, the living standards of the Japanese people are at the bottom among the major powers.
As for those non-industrial rice-growing countries, let alone importing rice, what they most want is to expand exports, even if their own people go hungry. The most typical example is India.
In short, the price of rice in the international market is slightly lower than that of wheat, so the Soviet Union has a price advantage by importing rice from East Africa.
The price of rice in the international market is slightly lower than that of wheat, but the picture is different in countries that are not major rice producing countries. For example, in countries where wheat is the staple food, rice is more expensive because it is scarce.
This is the case in the Soviet Union. Among the crop purchase prices set by the Soviet government, the price of rice is higher than that of wheat. After all, only a very small number of areas in the Soviet Union can grow rice, and in the northern part of the Far East Empire, the price of rice is about one to two silver dollars higher than that of wheat per stone.
However, this situation did not affect the low price of East African rice in the international market. The Soviet government wanted to use the price difference in grain transactions between the two countries to solve the problem of food shortage.
It is obviously impossible to make up this gap by relying solely on the price difference in grain transactions, because East Africa also imports a certain amount of Soviet wheat.
Joseph said: "For other products, we can give East Africa some concessions, such as coal, bauxite, copper, etc."
East Africa is one of the buyers of Soviet coal. The coal in eastern Ukraine is close to the Black Sea, so it is convenient to export it to some areas in northern East Africa through the Suez Canal.
As for bauxite, the Soviet Union also has large reserves. However, the Soviet Union currently does not have an aluminum smelting industry. Therefore, before the New Economic Policy, East Africa had relevant trade with the Soviet Union.
Needless to say, East Africa itself is a major consumer of copper. In the international community, East Africa's non-ferrous metal metallurgy has always been relatively well-known.
However, it is obvious that the minerals mentioned by Joseph, except bauxite, have limited appeal to East Africa, and are not very important to the current Soviet Union.
Just like minerals such as oil and gold, trade with East Africa is not the focus. The main buyers of the Soviet Union's oil are European countries, especially Germany and Italy. As for gold, the Soviet Union focuses on trading with intermediary countries such as Switzerland to avoid the international community's boycott of Soviet gold.
In addition to these minerals, the Soviet Union's exports of manganese ore, iron ore, potash, etc. occupied an important position in the international market in 1930.
The Soviet Union was the world's second largest exporter of manganese ore, second only to East Africa. Germany and the United States were both important buyers of Soviet manganese ore, so East Africa and the Soviet Union formed a competition in manganese ore exports.
The Soviet Union's iron ore was mainly exported to Europe, especially Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, and Italy, while East Africa mainly imported iron ore from India, Australia, Southeast Asia, and South America.
As an important raw material for producing fertilizers, potassium salt is very popular in the international market and is even in short supply, but the Soviet Union also gave priority to exporting to Germany.
The reason is very simple. Germany has limited arable land, extremely high population density and great food pressure. Therefore, Germany is willing to invest in the agricultural field and is even willing to import potash from the Soviet Union, a hostile country, and the price offered is higher than that of other countries.
Joseph knew all about the export situation to the Soviet Union, so he said to Rosengoltz: "The Foreign Trade Committee should fully consider the national conditions of various countries and the advantages of the Soviet Union. We should relax restrictions on agricultural and mineral exports this year and try to obtain as much foreign exchange as possible."
“It would be best if we could make up for the food deficit while ensuring funding for the country’s industrial development.”
Simply put, Joseph's meaning was to sell minerals at a low price in exchange for more funds. After all, the Soviet Union could not use these minerals now, so it would be better to use them for emergencies.
Ultimately, the reason is that the Soviet Union's level of industrialization was too low. Otherwise, its exports should have been mainly industrial products rather than agricultural and mining products.
As for the issue of poor quality of Soviet industrial products in the past, it depends on who you compare it with. Compared with those industrial powers abroad, the Soviet industry is indeed biased.
But in fact, even though the Soviet Union's industry was biased, its much-criticized light industry was stronger than the previous Tsarist Russia and the later Russia. After all, in the 21st century, after Russia turned into a market economy again, its light industry had been very backward. Not only was its light industry not good, but the heavy industry advantages inherited from the Soviet Union were also gradually lost.
As far as Ernst knew in his previous life, many of Russia's domestic light industrial products are still stuck in the Soviet era, such as pots and pans, as well as chocolate, pickles, sausages, and so on.
The only competitive industry in Russia on the market may be the food industry, but this is not because its food industry is strong, but rather that it tends to sell products with "regional characteristics" and "sentiment" as selling points.
However, the Soviet Union does not need to consider these things now. The direction of giving priority to the development of heavy industry is undoubtedly correct at this time.
Previously, Germany and East Africa both chose to prioritize the development of heavy industry as the path of industrialization, and then gradually made up for the shortcomings of light industry and became hexagonal warriors in the industrial field.
As for giving priority to the development of light industry, if the Soviet Union did so, it would be completely self-destructive, because the Soviet Union's external situation was too severe, especially facing a super industrial power like Germany in the early 20th century.
Therefore, the Soviet Union could only give priority to the development of heavy industry and defense industry to ensure the survival of the regime. Only by surviving can it talk about the future.
…
After giving the Ukrainian and Foreign Trade Commission officials a beating, Joseph fired them out of the office.
He put down his pipe, picked up the phone beside him, and said into the receiver, "Ask Menzhinsky from the Security Bureau to come to my office."
The Security Bureau is called "Cheka" in East Africa, and Menzhinsky is the current head of the Cheka and also Joseph's confidant.
Over the past year, Menzhinsky has diligently helped Joseph do many important things, including the suppression of rich peasants related to collective farms, the construction of the Gulag, the suppression and purge of domestic anti-government elements, and foreign affairs.
The Gulag played an important role in the Soviet economy, and Menzhinsky was an important promoter of the Soviet Gulag system today.
During the implementation of collective farms, many "landlords" and "rich peasants" were thrown into various labor camps under the Gulag. By 1931, nearly one million rich peasants in the Soviet Union became labor camp prisoners for resisting collective farms.
This is one of the important sources of Gulag labor camp prisoners today. Of course, many saboteurs, spies, and anti-government elements are also their cellmates.
Gulag can actually be understood as the "General Administration of Labor Camps". It is different from the general prison system because the prisoners in Gulag are required to contribute to national construction.
For example, the White Sea-Baltic Canal that the Soviet Union is currently building, the mines and towns in Siberia and Central Asia, the Soviet railway construction, etc., all show the figures of prisoners managed by the Gulag.
From this perspective, the Soviet Union and the United States are indeed natural "enemies", and both countries are unique masters of the "prisoner economy".
The Soviet Union obtained a large amount of labor through the Gulag to build the country, while private prisons, which are particularly prevalent in the United States, are also contributing to American prison wardens and the economy, which corresponds exactly to the two elements of "planning" and "market."
Soon, Menzhinsky came to Joseph's office. He looked extremely weak and thin, which was true. Menzhinsky had health problems such as heart disease and neurasthenia.
However, this ugly, frail and sickly man was a terrifying presence in the Soviet Union, and was also a headache for intelligence agencies of other countries.
"Comrade Joseph, what's the matter with you calling me here?" Menzhinsky asked.
At this time, Joseph was reviewing the documents on the desk. After hearing what Menzhinsky said, he put his pen into the ink box on the desk.
"Comrade Menzhinsky, I called you here this time because I do have something to discuss with you."
"I guess you also know that there are some problems with food in the Soviet Union. Therefore, we need to import a batch of food from abroad to deal with this short-term crisis."
Menzhinsky frowned and said, "Comrade Joseph, do you mean that our Security Bureau should cooperate with this operation and help purchase grain?"
Joseph waved his hand and said, "The Trade Commission will be responsible for the grain purchase. You can also send someone to keep an eye on it, but that's not why I called you here."
In fact, the overseas agencies of the Trade Committee were themselves supervised by the Cheka, and some officials might even be Cheka's men.
For example, the head of the Soviet Trade Representative Office in Rhineland-Palatinate, Kantorovich, was an official of the Cheka, responsible for monitoring the behavior of overseas personnel and preventing them from defecting.
Joseph went on to say: “The Trade Commission’s mission does require attention and cover, and I called you here this time to find an opportunity to draw the attention of the international community to a hot spot.”
"At the same time, it is also for the needs of our foreign affairs. This time, the place we are going to attack is not somewhere else, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially Austria and Bohemia, the industrially developed regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
"As you know, European and American countries have suffered heavy losses in this economic crisis, especially the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Habsburg family's rule in Austria was unpopular to begin with. In addition, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is facing economic difficulties, a large number of workers are unemployed, and there are also internal ethnic problems."
"Therefore, I think now is the best time for us to take action against Austria-Hungary. As long as the operation is done properly, Austria-Hungary can become our ally. Even if we fail, we can still make this imperialist country fall apart."
"So, we have sufficient reasons to take action against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, support the Austrian Labor Party, and launch an armed revolution in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. What do you think?"
Menzhinsky naturally would not object, because he had long noticed the weakness of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In Lenin's words, "Austro-Hungarian Empire has replaced Russia and become the weakest link in the new imperialist chain."
It can be said that the economic crisis of the Austro-Hungarian Empire made the people of the Austro-Hungarian Empire extremely dissatisfied with the Habsburg rule.
Therefore, Menzhinsky said in a sonorous and powerful voice: "Comrade Joseph, I support your judgment. If we miss this period, it will be much more difficult to mobilize workers to seize power in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The only pity is that I am afraid that my body will not be able to command this action."
Joseph was naturally aware of Menzhinski's physical condition. He asked, "Who do you think should be sent to Austria-Hungary to carry out this mission?"
"Comrade Yagoda and I are not suitable for carrying out missions abroad. I am more optimistic about Ukraine's Redonsky or Transcaucasus' Beria. Both of them have good execution and command capabilities. However, they have been working in China before, and their ability to deal with foreign affairs is questionable."
"So, Artuzov is more suitable to be in charge of Western Europe. He has a better understanding of the situations in European countries and has rich experience."
Joseph nodded and said, "Then let's go with Artuzov!"
(End of this chapter)
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