Chapter 155 Special Treatment for Russian Immigrants
"Okay, since you have been so generous in teaching me, I will not treat you unfairly. I happen to know a restaurant in St. Petersburg that serves good food. Let's go there today. As for the remaining two meals, we will get together next time we come to St. Petersburg." Maxim readily agreed to the agreement.
After finishing their work, the two men left the dock to have dinner, while the Tsarist Russian immigrants on the ship waited for an unknown fate in anxiety.
As black smoke billowed out of the steam chimney, the ship left the dock of St. Petersburg. The immigration instructor had already entered in advance. It can be said that this was special treatment for immigrants from Tsarist Russia.
"From today on, you are no longer Slavs. Forget your religion and nationality. I think you also know that you are being sold as goods by your lords.
So from today on you must forget everything about Russia, otherwise you will not have a good life in the colony. Only by becoming one of us can you get fairness. "Achtman lectured loudly.
Akhtman was actually also a Tsarist Russian, but he was a so-called "Volga German", that is, a German whose ancestors moved to Tsarist Russia during the reign of Catherine.
By hiring these Germans living in Tsarist Russia, the Hechingen Group could save the trouble of finding translators.
These Germans living in Tsarist Russia were attracted by Russia's policies and retained their own beliefs and culture, so many of them could communicate in both languages in Tsarist Russia.
They were all favored by Catherine the Great. In Catherine's view, German peasants were more hardworking and better organized than Russians. Therefore, Catherine called on Germans to immigrate to Tsarist Russia with their families to engage in agricultural development by offering favorable conditions.
Coincidentally, Ernst thought the same, so he used the same trick in East Africa. The difference was that Catherine only introduced German immigrants to Tsarist Russia.
While Ernst was bringing in German and other immigrants, he also had to clear out the local indigenous people.
After all, the serfs in Tsarist Russia were called gray cattle, which were more than one level stronger than the natives of East Africa. For serfs, gray cattle was an insulting word, but for the rulers, gray cattle was a beautiful word, representing a large amount of cheap and high-quality labor.
Originally, Alexander II liberated the serfs in order to change the status quo of Tsarist Russian society, but he probably didn't expect that an old fool like Ernst would target the labor force he had liberated.
Logically speaking, Ernst should have targeted the Volga Germans in Russia first. After all, there were hundreds of thousands of pure Germans.
However, East Africa was not attractive to these Germans in Tsarist Russia. Influenced by Catherine's policies, these Germans lived quite well in Tsarist Russia, especially before, when they enjoyed many privileges, which were gradually deprived of them over the years.
It's funny to say that the Germans are principled and refuse bribes, so many senior positions in the judicial field in Russia at that time were held by people of German descent.
"Don't be unconvinced! You are nothing but the private property of the lord. Without Emperor Alexander II, you would still be serfs. There is no place for you in Russian society. You are nothing but talking tools." Akhtman continued to indoctrinate these serfs.
First of all, he praised Alexander II, a monarch! Of course he could not make mistakes, he was always kind, loving and holy. After all, a man like Ernst would never undermine himself.
The following is to find reasons for these Tsarist Russian serfs to stop considering their former selves as human beings. Do you think you are Russians? No, you are not even a human being, so don't think about the Russian way. You will subtly distinguish your identity from that of Russia.
After all, Russia's culture is pretty good, especially in the areas of religion and customs, which retain distinct characteristics and are completely different from Europe.
Of course, the East African colonies must completely erase the national characteristics of these immigrants who bring their own culture, otherwise there will be disasters in the future, especially since Tsarist Russia currently has a good status in the world. Just like those poor people in the slums of the British Empire, although I am poor, I have a strong motherland.
In this sense, East Africa should thank the Qing government. The Chinese immigrants retained very few of their own ethnic characteristics, of course not counting various superstitions. Apart from that, the only knowledge the Chinese farmers mastered was the philosophy of life that "the people should not fight against the officials, and the first bird to stick its head out will be shot down."
This thing has no way to fight against European religion and culture. Wisdom in dealing with the world is not culture at all. This thing exists all over the world, even some smarter animals have it.
Moreover, the poor of this era have never been the disseminators of culture. Only the nobles and wealthy people pay more attention to this aspect.
The uniqueness of Tsarist Russian immigrants compared to the Chinese is that every aspect of their lives is influenced by the Orthodox Church, so Ernst treated Tsarist Russian immigrants differently.
Akhtman walked forward with a pointer in his hand, pointed at the shrunken St. Petersburg and said to the immigrants: "See that? That is Russia, but from today on, it has nothing to do with you anymore, and you will never come back again.
So give up your fantasies. You and your descendants should never have any connection with Russia. Abandon everything about Russia, including the language, clothing and even the Orthodox Church. ”
Achtman still hoped that someone would stand up against him so that he could set an example, but it was obvious that no one dared to refute him.
Maybe what Achtman said does make some sense. Having fallen to the point of being sold out by their lord, they must not have done well in Tsarist Russia.
Immigrants of this era, except for those free people who voluntarily went to the United States to escape religion and violence, had no right to have so much wild thoughts.
When these immigrants boarded Giovanni and his companions' carriage, they began to speculate about what would happen to them.
Now, Akhtman’s education is completely insignificant to these Tsarist Russian immigrants. Some of them are ready to continue their serf life of being beaten and scolded, but when a lecture on morality is given to them, the Tsarist Russian immigrants themselves are at a loss.
However, the Tsarist Russian immigrants roughly understood what Akhtman meant. Wasn't it just about separating from Russia? A promise is a promise, and it is beyond expectation.
Of course, some immigrants do have objections to religion, but the situation is stronger than people. Just change it, and God will forgive you.
Anyway, after leaving the church, the right to interpret religion is back in their own hands. At this time, there are no priests or pastors to restrain themselves with precepts.
In fact, most people have their own understanding of religion, especially these serfs who have not received education and have never been exposed to books.
Once they leave the church, all they know about religious knowledge is the existence of God and a few well-known gods, and everything else is basically zero.
(End of this chapter)
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