African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1423 Return to Odessa

The East African government could tolerate the Soviet market, but the situation was different among the private sector. In early 1925, East African companies' trade with the Soviet Union once again reached a new high.

There are many East African merchant ships sailing from Mombasa and Dar es Salaam to the Black Sea.

Previously, trade between East Africa and the Soviet Union on the Black Sea was concentrated in Sochi and Crimea, but after 1925, Odessa once again became an important port city for trade between the two countries.

Before Russia changed its color, trade between East Africa and Tsarist Russia was already quite developed. At that time, Odessa was the most important Russian destination for East African ships, except for the Tsarist capital of St. Petersburg.

However, it was not until 1924 that the Russian Labor Party recovered most of Ukraine, including Odessa.

1925 2 Month 11 Day.

Port of Odessa.

The Malazov, a merchant ship fully loaded with cargo from East Africa, successfully docked there. The East African crew members who had just arrived here looked at this "strange" country with curiosity. They stood on the deck and looked around.

Thanks to the deliberate propaganda of various governments, the Soviet Union is full of "mystery" in the international community.

"I didn't expect to come here again. This place has become Russian land again. No, it should be said that it is the Soviet Union. A few years ago, Odessa was still the land of the Tsar. Later, it was taken over by the Ukrainian government. Now this land has a new owner again, but Odessa is still the same as before, without much change." Captain Malazov of the Malazov couldn't help but sigh.

Before, Malazov often ran business on the Black Sea routes, so he was not unfamiliar with the changes in Odessa in recent years. In just a few years, Odessa has changed three governments, from Tsarist Russia to Ukraine and then to the current Soviet Union.

In the past, this would be equivalent to experiencing three "changes of dynasties", which is why Malazov sighed like this.

"Captain, it is said that the so-called Soviet Union does not have a very positive image in the international community. Will this have any impact on us?" a young crew member asked Malazov.

Malazov said disdainfully: "Don't read too much useless international news. I have been dealing with Slavs for many years. You will know how they are when you actually come into contact with them. In fact, they are not much different from us. The current economic situation of the Soviet Union is much worse than that of East Africa."

"When I was young, the Soviet Union, or the former Tsarist Russia, was still a very powerful country compared to East Africa, and its economy was much better than ours. At that time, Odessa was more developed than most cities in East Africa."

East Africa's economic boom has only occurred in the past two decades. Before the 20th century, although East Africa had become a regional power, the gap between it and those traditional industrial powers was still huge.

Now, East Africa's economy and industry have reached the forefront of the world, but it was basically after World War I that East Africa became a world-recognized economic and industrial power.

"Odessa had a good economy during the Tsarist era, and its economy and culture were also European, so it is not much different from European cities."

"After all, Odessa's geographical location determines that it is more open and inclusive in culture and economy. Of course, it is hard for me to guess whether some new situations will arise under the rule of the Soviet government."

"However, from my personal experience, Odessa was more orderly and prosperous during the Tsarist era than during the Ukrainian government's rule."

"However, the reputation of the Tsarist Russia in the international community was not necessarily much better than that of the Soviet Union today. Europe has always been unfriendly to Eastern Slavs, especially Russians."

"Let alone the Soviet Union, even in East Africa and the United States, these non-European countries, Europeans actually have a lot of complaints about us from the bottom of their hearts, even though East Africa's economic development has been advancing by leaps and bounds in recent years."

Europe, especially Western Europe, is currently the most arrogant region in the world. On the one hand, it continues to indulge in the glory of Europe's past, and on the other hand, it continues to hold on to the arrogance of the "European civilization theory" and grossly belittles other parts of the world.

In the eyes of Europeans, places outside of Europe were inherently "barbaric", including people living in other lands.

However, compared with the Soviet Union, an evil empire that Europe wanted to eliminate as soon as possible, Europe's verbal attacks on other countries were slightly less severe.

Malazov went on to say, “As long as the Soviets can pay, they are good people. Who cares what their government does? As long as it does not affect us, there is no problem.”

"However, our trade with the Soviet Union has indeed decreased a lot in recent years compared to the Tsarist era. After all, they were always at war. During World War I, the trade in the Port of Odessa was quite prosperous."

World War I was also the peak of Russia's trade with East Africa, which is a unique phenomenon that cannot be replicated. However, with the rise of the Russian Labor Party, the impact of the war, and the international blockade, trade between East Africa and Russia plummeted after World War I, and has only begun to recover in recent years.

The crew member asked: "Captain, what kind of country is the Soviet Union? Do you know?"

Malazov replied: "Perhaps other countries in the world do not know much about the Soviet Union, but in fact, we in East Africa are not worth paying too much attention to the Soviet Union."

"I once heard colleagues in the taverns in Mombasa who were sailing in Sochi or Crimea say that the economic policies of the new Russian government are not that unusual. On the contrary, the current economic situation in Russia is very similar to that in the last century and the beginning of this century."

"There are only some differences in some details. Compared with the carefree Russians, the economic policies of the imperial government in the past were more flexible and humane."

"For example, in the last century, some of the government's economic indicators were not rigid, in order to prevent lower-level bureaucrats from making mistakes when implementing them, thus leaving a certain amount of redundancy. The new Russian government's one-size-fits-all approach is even more serious. Compared with the imperial government, it is not flexible."

East Africa has many similarities with the Soviet Union in its economic system. Although the two are essentially the same thing, their goals are obviously different from their starting points.

However, in terms of the specific effects presented, there are many common points that are bound to occur, such as the bureaucratic style and human relationships that cannot be stopped. Unless the citizens of the empire are the new generation born in the past ten years, they have all experienced the era of comprehensive planned economy, so it has left a deep impression on East Africans, both good and bad, but overall there are more good impressions, especially during the first two planned periods at the beginning of this century, when the empire's economy was developing rapidly.

However, for some young crew members, even if they were born before 1910, they may not have a deep impression because of their young age at the time.

So, a young crew member asked Malazov: "The Soviet Union's economic growth rate should be good, right?"

In response, Malazov said: "No, the Soviet Union has been at war for many years, and its economic development is actually very slow, and has not even recovered to the level of the Tsarist era." "Also, although the empire developed rapidly during the planned economy era, there were also many problems. You are relatively young, so you don't have any idea about this."

"In fact, before the implementation of the five-year plan, that is, in the 19th century, East Africa had been implementing a planned economic model for a long time. Of course, it is also possible to say that it is a state militarized management."

"In my personal opinion, the planned economy and the market economy each have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, the planned economy is prone to breed some extremely annoying bureaucrats, whose power is difficult to restrain, thus causing many problems."

In the early days of East Africa, because the state controlled everything and became the patriarch of all citizens, this easily led to some bureaucrats having excessive power, which aroused resentment among the people.

Especially some petty bureaucrats, who don’t even need to be officials, but employees of some important departments, if they have a little selfishness or some thoughts, it may be a disaster for some ordinary people.

For example, in the past, some factory directors and farm managers in East Africa had enormous power, which easily led to nepotism or favoritism towards their own cronies in the area of ​​material distribution.

On a smaller scale, employees of some supply and marketing cooperatives can do a lot of things with the supply of materials, reserving good things or scarce goods for their acquaintances. Similar examples include doctors in hospitals, canteen staff, and so on.

In addition, some people, in order to achieve political achievements and promotions, or to complete government tasks, will implement some flashy policies and activities, thus causing trouble to the lives of grassroots people.

Therefore, people of a certain age in East Africa may not necessarily miss the era of planned economy.

Malazov therefore asserted: "Therefore, I am not optimistic about the future of the Soviet Union. They are just following our old path in East Africa, unless all the Soviet people are saints, and their bureaucrats and people have no selfish motives."

"But this is obviously impossible. I have heard from some captains in St. Petersburg that Soviet bureaucrats may be poorer than in the Tsarist era, but their work style has not changed much. They will still find ways to seek personal gain."

“Human nature is difficult to change. Under such circumstances, no economic system can be perfect.”

"So, don't be fooled by the Soviet Union's appearance. Their government has indeed made great progress compared to the Tsarist era, but who knows how long they can maintain their original intentions."

"After all, I have been dealing with these Slavs for many years. Their nature will not change completely just because of the change of national regime."

The crew members agreed with what Malazov said. After all, they had experienced the planned economy period when they were young and had a certain understanding of the twists and turns of the "society based on human relationships" at that time.

To this end, the East African governments have introduced a number of laws and regulations to try to guide and restrict the development of bad social trends, but these measures cannot fundamentally solve the problem and can only serve to stop the problem from getting worse.

The East African government is relatively satisfied with this. After all, the government's goal is more to maintain national stability. To put it cruelly, as long as the majority of people are not affected at the same time and the interests of a few people are sacrificed, the rule of the East African government will basically not be shaken.

This is just like the great famine caused by the Soviet Union in Ukraine in the previous life. Although this disaster seemed serious, it was not a big deal for Joseph's rule. After all, the Ukrainian peasants who suffered from the famine were only a "very small" part compared to the Soviet population.

There have been many similar cases in East Africa over the past few decades, such as plague, drought, floods and other reasons that have led to a large-scale decline in population in a certain region. However, these problems are not enough to have a significant impact on East Africa as a whole.

For example, during the European flu period, even though the death toll in East Africa exceeded hundreds of thousands, it did not cause much damage compared to East Africa's population of over 100 million.

To take a more extreme example, take India. The British rule in India is too numerous to mention, but it lasted for more than a century. Large-scale famines occurred in India almost every year, but this did not affect Britain's rule in India at all.

In short, even if the capabilities of East African governments are not up to standard, as long as they are not too excessive, they can still maintain the normal operation of the country.

……

In the port of Odessa, Malazov and others discovered that the Soviet trade today is different from the past. Now the Soviet foreign trade is basically dominated by Soviet officials, who call it the Foreign Trade Committee.

At the same time, the Soviet government conducted strict inspections on this East African merchant ship and its attached personnel to prevent contraband from entering the country or to guard against infiltration by reactionary forces.

At the same time, Malazov noticed that Soviet officials were generally young, which was somewhat similar to East Africa in the past.

"Comrade Kurtzfu, the inspection of the East African ship Malazov has been completed and everything is normal. The cargo on board is mainly wheat, cotton and other agricultural products. The types of goods and the quality of the goods are consistent with the customs declaration data."

After listening to his subordinates' report, Kurtz put on a programmed fake smile on his stern face, grinning and even saying to Captain Malazov in an ugly way: "Mr. Malazov, welcome to the great Soviet Union with your ship."

"We in the Soviet Union welcome friendly people from all countries to trade with the Soviet Union. Of course, we also hope that you can understand that because the war has just ended, the Ukrainian region is not completely stable yet, so our government has to take some necessary measures to prevent some people with bad intentions from undermining the stability of the Odessa region."

"However, I am very happy, Mr. Malazov, that you have passed our review and can be confirmed as guests who have come from afar with friendly purposes."

"Next, if you need to stay in Odessa for a while, we will arrange full-time staff to provide you with services, including tour guides, accommodation, meals and other activities to provide you with convenience."

"The Soviet Union is a hospitable country. We welcome friendly people like you."

Director Kurtzfu said this, not only because the Malazov is indeed a legal and compliant merchant ship, but also because he wanted to guide these East Africans to consume in Odessa as much as possible.

Today, the Soviet government has issued instructions to lower-level governments, especially port cities like Odessa, to obtain as much foreign exchange as possible to help the country raise development funds.

Therefore, Director Kurzifu was so active in inviting Malazov and his group to "visit" only after he confirmed that there were no major problems with their identities.

Today, many commercial places in Odessa have been incorporated or invested in by the Soviet government, which means that part of the consumption of Malazov and his crew in the local area will go directly into the Soviet government's accounts.

(End of this chapter)