African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1442: Learning from the Park
The members of the Soviet delegation deeply agreed with Shapovalov's views. For the Soviet Union, construction in the transportation sector was indeed urgent.

"Comrade Shapovalov has a lot of truth to say, but according to Comrade Joseph's instructions, our country should now put the defense industry at the top of its development priorities," said Troica of the Ministry of Industry.

"The Soviet Union is surrounded by wolves. The imperialist countries have never relaxed their pursuit of the Soviet Union. Once we show signs of decline, there is no doubt that they will pounce on us and bite our great motherland to pieces."

"Transportation construction obviously cannot be completed overnight and requires huge investment, especially in places like the Soviet Union where the geological conditions and natural environment are more complex. The cost will be even higher than in East Africa."

"Therefore, before resolving the external crisis, the development of other industrial sectors should give way to the defense industry."

Troica's statement is more in line with the current Soviet high-level assessment of the situation. In 1926, the Soviet Union's total industrial output value was less than half of Germany's. Compared with the two industrial powers, the United States and East Africa, the gap was even greater.

Although Tsarist Russia left a lot of wealth to the Soviet Union, these industries basically could not meet the needs of the Soviet Union's own economic development. For example, in traditional industrial fields such as coal, textiles, steel, machinery, etc., the technology was backward, the output was small, and the quality of industrial products was relatively low.

In the emerging industrial fields in the early 20th century, the Soviet Union could be said to have almost no experience, such as electricity, chemicals, automobiles, and aircraft manufacturing.

As reflected in the agricultural sector, Soviet agriculture was heavily dependent on human and animal power, and more than 90 percent of the country's arable land was still operated according to traditional agricultural production models.

This is the development of the Soviet Union's own industry. Obviously, the Soviet Union's industrial capacity and productivity level at that time were completely unable to give this new country a sense of security.

"In 1925, our steel production was less than million tons, even lower than the peak of the Russian steel industry," Troitsa said.

"Among the major world powers, our steel production ranks behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and even the small country of Belgium is catching up with it."

During World War I and the Civil War, the Soviet Union (Russia)'s industry was hit hard. At its lowest point, the national industry was less than 20% of its pre-World War I level.

The Soviet Union has been licking its wounds over the years, but its overall industry has not yet fully recovered. Take the steel industry for example, many steel mills were destroyed by domestic reactionary forces during the civil war.

Even after the domestic situation in the Soviet Union stabilized, it would be impossible for the Soviet government to quickly restore these steel mills, because the technology of many enterprises in the imperial era came from abroad, and the Soviet Union had been facing the blockade of the capitalist world since its inception, so it was naturally impossible to easily obtain the required technology.

Not to mention that when the Soviet Union was first established, the treasury was very empty, a large amount of capital fled, the rich and nobles of Tsarist Russia took the money and went into exile overseas, and the Soviet Union was plundered by the White Bandits and East African forces.

Under the blockade, it became even more difficult for the Soviet Union to obtain technology and materials. Even if some areas were opened up, the Soviet Union could not afford them.

As for the Soviet Union's own talents, they were also hit hard. During the imperial era, Russian education had hardly penetrated the grassroots, so as a civilian regime, the Soviet Union could hardly get the support of those talents trained by the imperial Russia.

Especially some high-end talents, many of them flee to Europe, America, East Africa and other regions. After all, high-end talents are more likely to receive preferential treatment from other countries and have more choices.

There is no doubt that the loss of talent is the most detrimental to the development of the new Soviet regime. Of course, there are still many knowledgeable people who choose to serve Soviet science and industry for the sake of national interests. However, this cannot change the dilemma facing the Soviet Union now.

The situation described by Troica cast a shadow on the hearts of the members of the inspection team, and it also dampened their enthusiasm for exploring East Africa's development experience and experiencing the exotic customs.

Belogoriye sighed and said, "Comrade Troitsa, the suffering will eventually pass. After all, the Soviet Union was facing internal and external troubles and had no intention of developing the economy and industry."

"But now the domestic situation has stabilized. I believe that with the joint efforts of all of us, our motherland will surely become one of the most developed countries in the world in the future."

Shapovalov also interjected: "Industrialization is indeed still a long way off for the Soviet Union. It will take several years to see the final results. However, we should not be so discouraged. After all, the Soviet Union's foundation is much better than that of most countries in the world."

"Though their industries are not to be underestimated, Western European countries such as Belgium and Luxembourg are still small countries."

"But our Soviet Union is a country with a land area of ​​more than 20 million square kilometers, a population of over 100 million, and relatively rich resources."

"As long as we can make full use of the advantages of land, population and resources and formulate reasonable industrial plans, the Soviet Union's industry will surely achieve rapid development."

"One day, the Soviet Union could become an industrial power like East Africa and the United States."

Western Europe in the early 20th century was just like East Asia in the 21st century. The industries of various countries were very exaggerated. In this era, the industrial strength of any Western European country should not be underestimated. For example, Belgium's annual steel output was more than million tons, and even the tiny country of Luxembourg could reach million tons. Other countries such as the Netherlands, Britain, France, and Germany were not to be mentioned.

Overall, Europe, especially Western Europe, was still the most developed region in the world in the early 20th century. However, Western European countries were not a whole after all, which made their disadvantages in global competition increasingly obvious.

Of course, this does not mean that the development speed in Western Europe has slowed down, but that other regions are developing faster.

Shapovalov said ambitiously: "When the focus of our country's development shifts to industry, the Soviet Union will surely become one of the fastest-growing countries in the world."

"After all, our system is superior to that of the decadent imperialist countries. I believe the future of the Soviet Union is extremely bright."

Shapovalov's words did have a certain motivating effect, so the Soviet delegation set out again. After all, they came to East Africa not for tourism, but to learn about East Africa's development experience and provide data and reference for the Soviet Union's subsequent industrial development plans.

As early as 1925, at the th Congress of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union clearly defined its own industrial development policy, which was to transform the Soviet Union from a country that imported machines and equipment into a country that produced machines and equipment, so that the Soviet Union would never become an economic vassal of the capitalist world under the capitalist encirclement.

The key to avoiding becoming an economic vassal of the capitalist world lies in building an industrial development model that belongs to the Soviet Union itself.

The characteristic of this development model is planning. After all, the capitalist economy emphasizes the free market, so the Soviet Union must do the opposite at the economic level.

In addition to establishing the Soviet Union's own economic development model, Soviet leader Joseph also had a special requirement, which was to achieve the industrialization of the Soviet Union in the shortest possible time. After all, the Soviet Union's external environment was really worrying.

Under such circumstances, planned industrial development can undoubtedly improve the Soviet Union's industrial capacity the fastest, especially by mobilizing the whole country to develop a self-contained and independent national defense industry, thereby ensuring the security of the new Soviet regime. In fact, East Africa also went through this stage, when it was just a colony in the eastern corner of Africa.

Out of concern for the impending wave of imperialist division of Africa, East Africa at that time tried every means to develop its own army and military industry.

Of course, the difference from the Soviet Union is that East Africa at that time also had to take into account immigration and colonial development, but the external environment of East Africa at that time was much better than that of the Soviet Union today. After all, it was not until the 1980s that European and American countries began to really pay attention to colonial expansion in Africa.

In other words, East Africa had a period of stable development for more than ten years in the early stage, while the Soviet Union faced blockade and sanctions from imperialist countries since its inception.

In general, East Africa and the Soviet Union each had their own difficulties in their early development, but the overall situation was not optimistic and was full of worries about the external situation, so both countries focused on the defense industry at the beginning of their development.

……

People's Park in the north of Dar es Salaam.

"Old man, are you taking a walk in the park?" Belogoriye talked to an old East African man with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, what's up, young man?"

Belogoriye said: "My name is Tapras, I am a Greek and a social observer."

Although he didn't know what the profession of this so-called social observer was, the old East African man still felt that he was quite impressive.

He said, "Oh, so you are a social observer. That sounds impressive. You said you are from Greece, so you came to East Africa to observe us, right?"

Belogoriye said, "You are really amazing. You guessed the purpose of my visit to East Africa right away. Yes, I am a scholar who came here to observe and study the social development of East Africa. I am also a professor at the University of Athens. What is your name, old man?"

The East African old man said, "So you are a university professor. You look quite young, so you must be very educated. I cannot compare with you. I am just a retired worker from a state-owned machinery factory. You can call me Hetas, or He Anzhong."

Hertus has two names, one is his German name and the other is his Far Eastern name. In recent years, East Africa has relaxed the restrictions on names.

Belogiriye sensitively grasped the word "state-owned machinery factory" and he immediately determined that this seemingly ordinary old man could help him obtain some intelligence about East Africa's past planned economy era.

However, the old man was very talkative. He said to Belogoriye with great interest: "I have heard of Greece in textbooks when I was young. No wonder your German is so awkward. You are not from East Africa."

"However, being able to speak relatively fluent German is already quite impressive for a foreigner from a non-German-speaking country."

Belogoriye said: "Thank you for the compliment, sir. However, I learned German in Germany, which is indeed a little different from East Africa."

Hertus clapped his hands and said, "That's right. Although East Africa and Germany are both German countries, there are still some differences in the languages ​​of the two countries. After all, it was Prussia that unified Germany, so the German language in Germany tends to be in the north, and the samples of our East African German language were collected from the Swabia region in southern Germany."

"Overall, it is more similar to the German spoken in Bavaria and Austria. Of course, this does not affect communication. I have also met many people from other German-speaking countries or foreigners who can speak German. There is no doubt that your German level is much better than that of many people from non-German-speaking countries."

Dar es Salaam is the earliest open city in East Africa. It is also the largest city in East Africa and one of the internationally famous metropolises. Therefore, it is very common to see foreigners in Dar es Salaam.

Therefore, Hertas was not at all surprised by the foreigner Belogoriye.

Of course, Belogoriye didn't have the time to chat with this East African old man. He changed the subject and said, "Mr. Hertas, you said that you were a worker in a state-owned factory when you were young. I am very interested in the economic development of East Africa in the past. Can you tell me about your work experience when you were young?"

As soon as the topic of Belogoriye was brought up, Hertas readily accepted it. After all, many people like to reminisce about the past, especially the various "great achievements" when they were young.

Hertas said with a tone of nostalgia and pride: "Then you have finally asked the right person. When I was young, although I was just a small machinery factory worker, I have also experienced the rapid development of the country in the past few decades."

"When I was young, I was just a Far Easterner. Later, I immigrated to East Africa with my parents... In East Africa, my family got a new name, which is a German name, and we obtained nationality and officially became East Africans..."

"In East Africa, I was lucky enough to receive an education until I graduated from high school. After graduation, I was assigned to work in a repair shop in the town..."

"Because of my good skills and in-depth study, my factory director recommended me to work at the Eighth Machinery Factory in Dar es Salaam. Then, I settled down in Dar es Salaam. In other words, I was not a native of Dar es Salaam at the beginning..."

Although Hertas began to talk about his work in the state-owned machinery factory and some interesting things in the factory.

This part is also what Belogoriye is most interested in. He asked questions from time to time, such as how Kheta's factory operated, how the number of workers and managers were arranged, how the factory's system was built, and his views on the state-owned machinery factory, etc.

Hertas said: "To be honest, I really miss the days of hard work in the state-owned machinery factory. Unlike now, many private enterprises have so many problems, such as holidays, salaries, etc. The lives of young people today are much harder than ours."

Of course, what Hertas said could easily lead Belogoriye to misunderstand. He cursed fiercely in his heart, saying that East Africa's current economic system was indeed a step backward compared to the past.

After all, according to Hertas's description, he missed East Africa in the planned economy era very much, but in fact, what Hertas missed were the many good memories of his youth. If we really talk about social development, although East Africa has regressed in some areas, the overall material supply in East Africa has improved.

No matter what, the quality of life of East Africans today cannot be more difficult than it was a decade ago. What East Africans are suffering from now is more spiritual emptiness.

(End of this chapter)