African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1451 Soviet Abacus
Emperor Franz and Crown Prince Rudolf did not have much objection to this. After all, to the Austrians, the mixed-race Germans, Hungarians, Serbs, Italians... they were all the same and not as good as the Austrians.

Therefore, before, Austria could even accept dividing the world with Hungary. Now, it has no psychological burden to accept mixed-race Germans. Moreover, from the perspective of language and culture, the latter are much more reliable than Hungary.

For example, before World War I, Hungary's various dragging behaviors and opposing just for the sake of opposing made the Kingdom of Dalmatia like a loyal dog of the empire in comparison.

Of course, for the Habsburg family, Hungary’s loyalty was trustworthy, but the Habsburgs were the Habsburgs and Austria was Austria, and the two could not be directly equated.

Rudolf leaned back on the sofa and said to Clavier, "In that case, let's follow your advice on how to deal with Hungary! However, we must also pay attention to Hungary's national sentiment during the implementation process."

Austria's next policy will obviously damage the interests of Hungary's original ruling class. Although this class has been severely damaged by the Hungarian Labor Party, the strength of Hungary as a whole nation cannot be underestimated.

Prime Minister Clavel was also aware of this, and he explained to Rudolf: "Your Highness, rest assured that we will try our best to adopt a gentler approach to make Hungary's opponents suffer."

As a hardliner, Clavier naturally would not miss this great opportunity to integrate the empire, so some conflicts were unavoidable.

Rudolph acquiesced to Clavier's operation, and his main role was to keep an eye on Clavier to prevent him from acting too hastily and causing counterproductive results.

At the end of January 1927, at the invitation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German army officially moved eastward to help the Hungarian government quell the rebellion.

Hungary is located in the southeast of Germany, so the German army can use the railway in Bohemia of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to enter the Hungarian region.

Faced with the addition of German troops, the Hungarian Labor Party regime fell into a more passive situation.

As for the Soviet Union, the support it can provide to the Hungarian Labor Party regime is very limited. The current Soviet government is unable to send troops to Hungary, or even more material support. This is because Hungary itself is a landlocked country and it is firmly locked in the heart of Central Europe by the former Allied member states.

Unless the Soviet Union first gets rid of Poland, Western Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and other countries, and re-borders with Hungary, just like Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I.

But this also meant the possibility of provoking a new round of world war, and the Soviet Union was clearly not prepared for war.

In particular, the Soviet Union's now fragile defense industry has been proven to have no advantage at all in its last confrontation with Germany and other countries.

The issue of whether and how to support Hungary, the second existing labor party country in the world after the Soviet Union, also caused controversy within the Soviet Union.

Moscow, Kremlin.

"Comrade Joseph, the situation in Hungary is very critical now. Last year, the Hungarian Labor Party did not seize the opportunity to expand its gains, which led to their predicament this year. Just the day before yesterday, two German divisions moved south, which will further aggravate the plight of the Hungarian Labor Party regime." Yagoda, the current head of the Soviet State Political Security Bureau, reported the situation in Hungary to Joseph.

The so-called State Political Security Bureau is called "Cheka" in East Africa. East Africa continues to call this Soviet intelligence agency by the original name.

Joseph listened to Yagoda's report with a frown. Joseph and other Soviet leaders were still very concerned about the Hungarian Labor Party regime.

After all, the Hungarian Labor Party regime was the second labor party regime after the Soviet Union, and many members of the Hungarian Labor Party even participated in the Russian Civil War.

"Yagoda, does your department have any way to transport more supplies to Hungary through special channels to help our Hungarian comrades?" Joseph said lightly.

Yagoda said with difficulty: "If we want to provide large-scale military assistance to Hungary, it will be difficult for us to do so under our current circumstances."

"Hungary and us are cut off by the puppet government of Western Ukraine, so the only way to support Hungary from the land is to eliminate the puppet government of Western Ukraine. But the current situation is that the puppet government of Western Ukraine is backed by Germany and other allied countries."

"As for other directions, they were also firmly blocked by the Allies. Our material support to Hungary can basically only be achieved through small-scale smuggling."

"However, the supplies smuggled into Hungary alone are just a drop in the bucket for the Hungarian government."

The Soviet Union's support for the Hungarian Labor Party regime was very limited. After all, as one of the two giants of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungary itself had a good foundation. From an industrial perspective, although it was not as good as Austria, it was better than the Soviet Union.

Therefore, after seizing power in Hungary, the Hungarian Labor Party also took over most of Hungary's original industries. However, like the Soviet Union today, Hungary's heavy industry was relatively weak.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's heavy industry, especially its military industry, was highly concentrated in the east, namely Austria, Bohemia and other regions.

What made the Hungarian Labor Party government even more uncomfortable was that the Allied blockade of Hungary led to the cutting off of their trade and raw material supply, which once again dealt a blow to Hungary's original industry.

This is also an important reason why the Hungarian Labor Party has been unable to make any progress in the military. If the Labor Party rebellion in the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not occur in Hungary but in Bohemia, the situation might have been completely different.

After all, the military industry in Bohemia, or the Czech region, is very developed. Whoever controls this region can be said to control the main artery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's military industry and have an advantage in weapons and equipment over other regions.

The situation in Hungary is just the opposite. Hungarian agriculture is the most prominent within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but this also makes it difficult for the Hungarian Labor Party to compete with Austria after taking over power. This is the advantage of industry over agricultural society.

The reason why the Soviet Union is so eager to develop its own industry today is that it has seen this point.

After listening to Yagoda's words, Joseph was very dissatisfied with the situation. He asked: "Don't we have other ways to support Hungary?"

Yagoda shook his head nervously: "Comrade Joseph, there is really no other way. Hungary's railways, roads and waterways are all blocked, and Hungary's neighboring countries and regions are also controlled by reactionary forces. It is already very difficult for us to smuggle supplies into Hungary."

"And, to put it bluntly, relying solely on external material support is better than nothing for the current Hungarian government. It cannot solve the difficulties they are facing. The only way to solve it is to wage a war against the imperialist countries." Joseph completely ignored Yagoda's last sentence. Given the current national conditions of the Soviet Union, what can it use to fight imperialism? Can it rely on the flesh and blood of the soldiers to fight against the enemy's steel torrent?

If the Soviet Union's current industry could reach the level of East Africa, it would have collapsed long ago.

Joseph said, "In that case, how long do you think the Hungarian government can hold out?"

Yagoda sighed and said, "It's hard to survive this year. We have no strong support from outside and are weak inside. To put it bluntly, the terrain in Hungary means we can only take the beatings and it's hard to even fight back."

"Hungary is still blockaded by imperialist countries and there is no possibility of a reversal."

In fact, he had not said all that was said, which was that the end of the Hungarian Labor Party regime would most likely be similar to that of the Paris Commune.

The situation faced by the Hungarian Labor Party this time is indeed very similar to that of the Paris Commune. Both are facing a joint stranglehold by domestic forces and Germany (Prussia), and Budapest is likely to become the Paris of 1871.

The only thing that made the Hungarian Labor Party regime luckier than the Paris Commune was that they mobilized the areas around Budapest at the beginning of the incident, rather than just limiting themselves to Budapest alone. However, this could hardly change the fate of the Hungarian Labor Party.

In fact, Joseph also held this view. He said: "The mistake of the Hungarian Labor Party was to underestimate the Austro-Hungarian government. This Austro-Hungarian movement was limited to Hungary, while other regions were still firmly controlled by the Habsburg family."

"Especially in the industrial areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This alone is not conducive to the development and growth of the Hungarian Labor Party. If they could have mobilized the Labor Party comrades in other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to act together last year, perhaps the situation would not have deteriorated to this extent."

"Now that Hungary's situation is beyond redemption, the direction of our support for Hungary should also change."

"If the Hungarian Labor Party regime is wiped out by the imperialist countries, it will undoubtedly strengthen their power, so we should not allow Hungary's resources to be taken back by the reactionary government of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

"Start communicating with our comrades in Hungary now, and help them transfer personnel and important materials, and preserve the fire."

What Joseph said was rather obscure, but he was actually targeting the Hungarian treasury. This was just like the Spanish Civil War in the previous life, when the Soviet Union eventually moved Spain's gold reserves back to the country.

The Hungarian Labor Party certainly had a lot of good things in its hands. After all, at the beginning of their uprising, they took over the entire Budapest, which was one of the two capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the wealth it accumulated was immeasurable.

One of the biggest problems facing the Soviet Union in developing its industry now is the lack of funds. If the Soviet Union could use the wealth accumulated by Hungary to develop its industry, it would certainly greatly alleviate the financial pressure.

Although this practice is somewhat immoral, from Joseph's point of view, it is not a big problem. After all, instead of giving benefits to imperialist countries, it is better to help the Soviet Union complete its industrial construction.

In Joseph's view, the labor parties around the world are one family, at least that is the general goal, so only when the Soviet Union becomes strong can it better drive the development of labor parties in other countries.

Just like this time, the Hungarian Labor Party regime was isolated and helpless, and a big reason for this was that the Soviet Union itself was backward and unable to provide much support to the Hungarian Labor Party.

Yagoda understood what he meant, and he assured Joseph: "Comrade Joseph, rest assured that we will never leave a single gold coin to the imperialist reactionary forces. At the same time, we will do our best to ensure the safety of our Hungarian comrades and send them to the Soviet Union safely!"

It is indeed difficult for the Cheka to smuggle arms and other materials into Hungary, but it is still possible to transport gold and other materials back to the country. After all, the latter is not large in volume, and the smuggling routes established by the Cheka have undergone long-term testing and are very safe. Otherwise, it would be impossible to continue smuggling materials into Hungary without being discovered.

So in early 1927, when Hungary was engulfed in artillery fire and smoke, the Soviet Cheka once again turned its attention to this focal area.

The Hungarian Labor Party began to cooperate with the Soviet Union in a planned manner to transfer funds from the national treasury. Of course, in the eyes of the more pure Hungarian Labor Party, these were "national restoration funds" and an important guarantee for the future comeback of the Hungarian Labor Party, and the Soviet side also used this rhetoric.

In this way, the wealth accumulated by Budapest over a century flowed into the Soviet Union through secret smuggling channels, and even Hungary's limited industrial and technological data were packaged and sent away.

Although Hungary's industry is not developed, it has strengths in some areas, such as Budapest's steel and military industry, railways, chemicals, electricity, etc.

For example, the Manfred Weiss Steel and Metal Works on Csepel Island in Budapest was one of the largest arms manufacturers in Hungary and even in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its products included rifles, artillery shells, and even important equipment such as aircraft engines. This could obviously promote and supplement the development of the Soviet Union's own military industry.

The Hungarian Railway Company, which is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the entire railway network in Hungary, can provide certain assistance to the construction of Soviet railways.

In addition, there is the Ganzi Factory, which was established in the middle of the last century and can produce generators, motors and railway equipment. During World War I, it provided railway machinery and military equipment accessories to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Tongsam Electric produces some electrical parts...

Hungary's industry is highly concentrated in the city of Budapest, which makes it convenient for the Hungarian Labor Party and the Soviet Union to collect the technology and achievements of these more well-known Hungarian companies.

The wealth and technology that the Soviet Union obtained from Hungary greatly supplemented the shortcomings of the Soviet Union's industrial development, and this also led to the Soviet Union taking advantage of the situation before the Hungarian Labor Party regime collapsed.

However, overall, most of the resources the Soviet Union obtained from Hungary came from Budapest. The wealth of a city like Budapest can only be regarded as an appetizer for a country of the size of the Soviet Union, and can only serve as icing on the cake for the development of Soviet industry.

After all, it can be seen from the previous production of Hungarian enterprises that Hungary's industry is heavily dependent on the industrial system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Hungary's industry is only responsible for a small part of it, mainly producing some relatively low-end industrial parts.

This also means that even if the Soviet Union obtained some key technologies from Hungary, it could not be applied directly, but had to be improved to adapt to the Soviet Union’s own industrial system. However, the Soviet Union’s own industrial system was incomplete due to the previous civil war.

Therefore, the Soviet Union still has a long way to go in industrialization, especially the problem of systematic training of local technical personnel. If this problem is not solved, even if the Soviet Union obtains technology from overseas through various means, it will not be able to use it completely and efficiently.

Other late-developing countries have already set an example in this regard, namely Germany, East Africa, the United States, etc., which used to rely on copying and imitating to barely survive, but now they have their own talent pool and innovation capabilities.

(End of this chapter)