African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1537 Settlement of the Soviet First Five-Year Plan

The Soviet Union, the Nationalist Party, and the Habsburgs were undoubtedly not good options in the eyes of the various ethnic groups within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If possible, the various ethnic groups and regions within the Austro-Hungarian Empire would prefer autonomy. However, history from the previous life showed that without the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the countries and peoples that were originally within the Austro-Hungarian Empire's territory were actually worse off compared to their neighboring countries.

Therefore, maintaining the operation of the empire is of great importance to the various ethnic groups and regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Without a unified country, this land will immediately become an arena for competition among other great powers and a natural battlefield.

The Soviet Union, Germany, Britain, France, and even East Africa would support their respective proxies, and then unleash a massive conflict in the region.

……

1932 was undoubtedly a year of pride for the Soviet Union, as it was the year that the Soviet Union's first Five-Year Plan was completed and settled.

The stark contrast between the Great Depression in the capitalist world and the booming development of the Soviet Union over the past few years greatly boosted the confidence of the Soviet people.

Rhine City.

Ernst looked curiously at the various reports on the Soviet Union's economic development in recent years that he had gathered in his hands; most of them were German translations of official Soviet newspapers.

Unlike the East African industrial plan of the past, which was kept secret, the Soviet government made no attempt to conceal its economic achievements in recent years and publicized them extensively.

In an article in Izvestia titled "Five-Year Plan Completed in Four Years," its leader Joseph declared: "The Soviet Union's first Five-Year Plan was completed a year ahead of schedule."

In his previous life, Joseph said it took nine months. There is no doubt that the Soviet Union implemented the First Five-Year Plan better in this timeline than in his previous life, otherwise Joseph would not have been so confident in saying that.

However, in Ernst's view, both of these claims are likely exaggerated or intentionally obscure some of the problems within the Soviet Union, focusing only on its achievements in construction.

Of course, the Soviet government's actions were not necessarily egregious, as the regime needed to bolster public confidence.

As the world's only labor party regime, the Soviet Union's history spanned only twenty years. Their development had no precedent to follow, and even many Soviet labor party members did not know whether this path could be continued.

Therefore, they are extremely eager for "victory" to prove the viability of this path.

Even disregarding this aspect, the Soviet Union's approach was perfectly acceptable. After all, other countries also do this in the field of propaganda, such as East Africa. When reporting on domestic affairs, they certainly wouldn't be truthful and factual. East Africa also needs to reach a consensus and unite its people.

“Father, the data in these Soviet newspapers may have some issues, but it’s not far off from our estimates. It seems that the Soviet Union has indeed undergone tremendous changes compared to Tsarist Russia, especially in the field of industrialization,” Friedrich said with great interest.

The world was very interested in the development of the Soviet Union, so it was impossible for East Africa not to investigate the Soviet Union. Crown Prince Frederick knew more about the development of the Soviet Union than some Soviets did.

Ernst said, "The Soviet system had its merits. At least at this stage, the Soviet Union should be the most efficient country in the world. They were able to fully mobilize all resources and invest them in industrial construction."

"Given the great momentum of everyone working together towards a single goal, it would be strange if Soviet industry hadn't achieved such great success."

"Moreover, the Soviet Union was a young country, which made it easy to achieve results. The difficulty was that the Soviet Union could maintain this state in the future."

"Just like us, East Africa's industrial development also progressed rapidly during the implementation of the first Five-Year Plan. However, when the empire developed to a certain extent, the role of planning was greatly reduced. Each subsequent step forward became more difficult. The Soviet Union will also encounter this situation in the future."

Friedrich shared this sentiment. In the early stages of industrialization, East Africa could easily achieve economic success simply by accumulating industrial output. However, once East Africa entered the 1920s, it had to make various economic adjustments to adapt to the new stage of development.

After all, the market is limited. Before industrialization is completed, the domestic market demand in East Africa can meet the needs of rapid domestic industrialization. Once East Africa has initially completed industrialization, the domestic market is already saturated. If it wants to develop further, it must "go global".

To put it more bluntly, it's about "seizing the world market." For East African companies and goods to enter other countries' markets, it's not just an economic issue, but more importantly, a political one.

Just like in the previous life, the Far Eastern Empire's military industrial products were cheaper and of better quality, but many countries still chose American weapons and equipment. This is a political issue, not a market issue.

Therefore, in order to open up markets in other countries, sometimes it is necessary to resort to political or even military means.

East Africa has done the same thing. In recent years, East Africa has been continuously strengthening cooperation with other countries in the world, or has resorted to violent means to forcibly occupy overseas markets. Bolivia is an example of this.

That's the logic of the world market: the strong prey on the weak. Even countries like the Far Eastern Empire in the past, which chose a "peaceful and mutually beneficial" trade route, still had many countries claiming that the Far Eastern Empire "exploited" and "plundered" them. Not to mention the 20th-century East Africa, the United States, Britain, and France, which were imperialist countries that didn't even bother to pretend.

Friedrich was not interested in whether the Soviet Union's economic development would be hampered in the future, after all, that was a matter for the future and no one could say for sure. The current speed of the Soviet Union's development was enough to make people feel frightened and shocked.

He took out a copy of the Soviet newspaper Pravda and said, "In the past five years, the Soviet Union's pig iron production has doubled, from three million tons to more than six million tons, and steel production has also increased from four million tons to six million tons, with total steel production exceeding 12 million tons."

"In other words, the Soviet Union has now become the world's fourth largest steel producer. Even before the global economic crisis, the Soviet Union's steel production would have ranked fourth in the world."

Before the Great Depression, only three countries in the world produced more than ten million tons of steel: East Africa, the United States, and Germany. After the Great Depression, even though steel production in East Africa, the United States, and Germany plummeted due to their industrial scale, it was still unattainable for other countries.

Now the Soviet Union has gotten close to Germany, and in the past, the Soviet Union's steel production could only be compared with that of France.

This means that in terms of steel production, the Soviet Union had entered the world's top tier, that is, a scale of tens of millions of tons.

"Magnitogorsk Steel Complex, a newly established steel plant, is already one of the world's largest steel producers, with the output of this one plant exceeding the total steel production of most countries in the world."

"Other Soviet steel companies also saw significant increases in production. Moreover, the shift of Soviet industry to the east and south was very evident in the development of the Soviet steel industry. Under Soviet rule, industries in Siberia, the Far East, and Central Asia made great strides, which in turn greatly enhanced Soviet national defense security." "Even if war breaks out in the future, the Soviet rear can be spared from the first wave of attacks and can continuously support the front lines."

Take the Magnitogorsk Steel Plant as an example. This largest newly built steel plant in the Soviet Union was located in the Ural industrial region of the Soviet Union, 1,916 kilometers away from Moscow in a straight line.

That's nearly two thousand kilometers. Just imagine, with such a steel plant deep in the heart of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union would never have lost to Germany in the previous life. Even if Germany had captured Moscow, it wouldn't have been able to destroy Soviet industry. Just to attack the Ural industrial region, the Germans would have had to advance another two thousand kilometers, a distance that would have been enough to make Germany despair.

Moreover, the Ural industrial region is not the first line of defense. Between Moscow and the Ural industrial region lies the Volga industrial region, and further back is the Western Siberian industrial region...

In fact, in the previous life, Germany did not even break through Moscow. However, in this timeline, due to the change in the outcome of World War I, the buffer zone between the Soviet Union and Germany was reduced. The Soviet Union paid more attention to the national defense security of its own industries, and therefore paid more attention to the development and expansion of the industrial areas in the rear.

Given the Soviet Union's industrial deployment, even with Germany's industrial scale and population advantage in East Africa, it would have been impossible for Germany to completely eliminate the Soviet Union.

Friedrich said, "To completely paralyze Soviet industry, it would be necessary to have the capability to simultaneously launch devastating attacks on multiple industrial bases in the Soviet rear that are thousands of kilometers apart, from the Donbas-Dnipro industrial region in Ukraine all the way to the Soviet Far East industrial region, a span of more than 6,000 kilometers. This is something that no other country in the world can do."

Of course, the situation was not as exaggerated as Friedrich described, because the Soviet Union's industry was still relatively weak, and many so-called industrial zones were far from being large enough.

However, one point must be noted: the Soviet Union has only just completed its first Five-Year Plan. Given enough time, and given the pace of industrial development under the First Five-Year Plan, those industrial zones could be largely completed within ten years.

Moreover, because the Soviet Union was rich in resources, these regions were basically self-sufficient in resources, which greatly enhanced the Soviet Union's ability to withstand the risks of war.

Ernst strongly agreed with this: "The vast territory, abundant resources, and harsh climate of the Soviet Union gave them excellent strategic depth, which almost determined that it was impossible for other countries to eliminate the Soviet regime through war. Unless the Soviets surrendered themselves, they could continue to resist."

"However, this has little to do with us. Under normal circumstances, East Africa and the Soviet Union could not become enemies unless the Soviet Union chose a world revolution."

This is almost impossible, because after Joseph came to power, the Soviet Union had essentially abandoned this path. Joseph was more like a tsar than a world leader, and Soviet interests were paramount.

After Joseph's death in his previous life, the other leaders of the Soviet Union led the Soviet Union down the path of imperialism, turning it into a dragon, not to mention world revolution.

Influenced by Ernst from a young age, Friedrich did not have much fear of the Soviet Union. Therefore, he said: "The Soviet Union may become a world power in the future, but it is certainly impossible for it to lead the world. After all, that goes against human nature. In recent years, the Soviet Union's methods of exporting to other countries have been too crude and simple. The fact that they can even cooperate with the Nanjing government instead of supporting the Far Eastern Imperial Labour Party shows this point."

The Soviet Union under Joseph's leadership cooperated with a party that represented the interests of landowners and big capitalists, while also interfering with and restricting its own people. This attitude alone is enough to prove that the Soviet Union was not destined for greatness.

Not to mention that Joseph later dissolved the Labour International, which shows that the Soviet Union could not possibly plant the red flag all over the world. Of course, given the Soviet Union's national strength, it was never possible to do so.

Even so, East Africa must treat the Soviet Union as a future world power, just as it had in the past with Tsarist Russia.

Friedrich said, "In the past five years, Soviet energy production has also doubled, with coal production reaching more than 60 million tons, oil production exceeding 25 million tons, and electricity production increasing by 1.5 times to 15 billion kilowatt-hours."

"This year, the Soviet Union produced more than 50,000 tractors, more than 30,000 cars, and built more than 17,000 kilometers of new railways, including some electrified railways. It also built more than 5,000 kilometers of new paved roads and nearly 1,000 kilometers of shipping and irrigation canals."

"In addition, the Moscow Metro began construction two years ago, and tram systems in cities like Moscow and Leningrad are also expanding rapidly,"

"In the aviation industry, the Soviet Union produced more than two thousand aircraft per year."

"The production of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has also increased significantly, and the chemical industry has made many breakthroughs."

"Only in light industries such as textiles did the Soviet Union lag behind, but it still surpassed most countries in the world. However, the Soviet Union had low cotton production to begin with, which is understandable."

"Once its water conservancy projects in Central Asia are completed, they may greatly alleviate the cotton shortage problem."

In general, the Soviet Union's First Five-Year Plan in this timeline is far more outstanding than the Soviet Union's achievements in the previous timeline. For example, the Soviet Union built about 15,000 kilometers of railways during the First Five-Year Plan in the previous timeline, while in this timeline it is 17,000 kilometers.

The Soviet Union's steel production was about one million tons more than in the previous era, and its coal, oil, and electricity production also increased to some extent.

The production of automobiles and tractors has also increased significantly compared to the previous life. In 1932, the Soviet Union's annual automobile production did not exceed 30,000 vehicles, and its tractor production was less than 50,000 units.

Not to mention what was mentioned earlier, the Soviet Union's first five-year plan in this timeline was completed two or three months earlier than in the previous life, which shows that the Soviet Union's first five-year plan achieved greater success than in the previous life.

The fundamental reason for the difference in the completion rate of the First Five-Year Plan between the Soviet Union and its predecessor is not hard to find: the scale of cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union exceeded that of its predecessor.

In the previous life, the United States invested heavily in Germany after World War I. However, in this timeline, Germany was not defeated, which reduced the United States' options. Later, due to the economic crisis, the United States further increased its trade with the Soviet Union.

During the Soviet Union's First Five-Year Plan, Soviet imports from the United States exceeded $170 million, compared to around $150 million in the previous life. It may seem like only an increase of $200 million, but the results were completely different.

Because the purchasing power of the US dollar is higher in this timeline, meaning that even if the Soviet Union imports the same amount of American machinery and equipment, it can still buy more machinery and equipment than in the previous life.

As for why this is the case, it is because East Africa, a country that did not have a major industrial base in its past, has become a source of competition in the current global industrial market.

(End of this chapter)