Conquering the world from the Kaiser's driver

So whether for the workers or for himself, he had to avoid conflict with the army.

But if you think this way, then the entry of the army means the failure of the strike.

The other five people also nodded. Franz was right. The army was one aspect that must be taken into consideration.

"army…"

Lin Shangzhou put his elbows on his thighs, pinched his chin with his left hand, and lowered his head to think about how to solve this big problem of the army.

The only ones who could help him in this regard were Cecilia and Vorbeck, but Cecilia would only be useful to him after he became prime minister, and old General Vorbeck would definitely not like something like a general strike. If he told him about this idea, Vorbeck might even defect.

Volbeck helped himself because he would help the Kaiser. Does your leading the general strike look like helping the Kaiser?

No matter how you look at him, he looks like a syndicalist. Would a syndicalist like you help the German emperor?

(It’s so hard to solve…)

Lin Shangzhou was stumped by this problem, and several other people were also thinking about how to properly solve this problem. After Lin Wenhua lowered his head and thought for a while, an idea popped into his mind, and he thought his idea was not bad.

He looked up and said to everyone, "How about we put the strike aside for now? No one says we have to have a large-scale strike now, right?"

"Didn't Shang Zhou say that his friends in the newspaper would write articles in the newspaper and use those articles to arouse the workers' consciousness of resistance? I think it is more important to arouse the workers' consciousness of resistance first. We should also focus on this now. What do you think?"

(Ah...yes, we need to take it slow first, and not rush for success)

Lin Wenhua's words woke Lin Shangzhou up. His previous thoughts were a bit hasty. If he continued according to the original plan, who knows what accidents might happen.

He nodded affirmatively and said, "Well, I agree with Wenhua's idea. I am a little impatient. We need to take it slow now."

Franz nodded in agreement and said, "I agree, too. Wenhua is right. We should first focus on raising the workers' awareness of resistance and then consider the strike later."

Then the remaining four people nodded, and they reached a consensus on this matter.

Seeing that everyone agreed with Lin Wenhua's opinion, Lin Shangzhou said: "In this case, let's change the plan and not talk about the strike for now. Let's focus on raising the workers' awareness of resistance."

Lin Wenhua was very happy to see that everyone agreed with his ideas.

"Then the first step is to disperse more workers to other factories. I believe everyone and the workers have no objection to this, but what about Mr. Raven?"

Lin Shangzhou asked worriedly. Although the union controlled the recruitment and dismissal of factory workers, the union needed to report all these matters to the boss. He was worried that Raven would have objections if he saw so many people resigning at once.

Hoven said to him, "Don't worry about this Fritz, we will take care of it."

After getting Huo Wen's assurance, Lin Shangzhou nodded and stopped thinking about the problem. He continued, "Then the next step is to have the undercover workers buy a copy of the Workers' Newspaper every day and bring it back to the factory and try to pass the newspaper around among the workers."

"If a worker is inefficient, each factory will send a few more workers to improve efficiency. After we start the operation, we have to wait patiently. This is a time-consuming job. I feel it will take at least a month to see the effect."

After saying this, Lin Shangzhou thought of something. If the workers from the machinery factory were allowed to work in other factories, they would need to be given corresponding subsidies, otherwise it would not be fair to them.

So he added: "Also, do you provide subsidies for the expatriate workers?"

"Have."

Chris nodded, and then he said with difficulty: "But if we assign another group of workers, the union's funds will be tight, and it will be difficult to explain to the boss."

"Well…"

Lin Shangzhou thought about it for a moment and felt that as the proposer of the plan and the honorary chairman of the union, he should also make some contribution to the union.

"Well, as the honorary chairman of the union, I will take out one thousand marks from my personal assets to subsidize the expatriate workers."

Huo Wen and the other six were dumbfounded when they heard Lin Shangzhou casually say that he would provide 1,000 marks. That was 1,000 marks! Even if the factory's salary had increased a lot, 1,000 marks was still a huge sum of money for a worker. It would take at least several years to save up.

"Hiss~Shang Zhou, are you sure? That's one thousand marks. It won't affect your life, right?"

Lin Wenhua took a breath and asked with concern.

Lin Shangzhou chuckled and shook his head.

"No, no, I'm also writing novels. My total assets are now more than 10,000 marks. This 1,000 marks is nothing to me."

"what the hell…"

The six people present looked at Lin Shangzhou in shock. You have to know that Lin Shangzhou is not an investor or a boss. They know that Lin Shangzhou is just an employee of a government department. It is totally beyond their imagination that a person can have assets of tens of thousands of marks.

Huo Wen nodded and said, "Okay then..."

Since Lin Shangzhou said there would be no impact, they would not refuse anymore.

“What should we do after the workers’ resistance consciousness increases? Should we consider the strike at that time, or should we think of other methods? After all, when the resistance consciousness increases, the workers will be dissatisfied with their current situation, and when they are dissatisfied, they will resist. How should we help them when they resist the factory? Should we help them or not?”

Bazel asked. He used to be a worker and a syndicalist, but he was very disappointed with the German syndicalists after seeing that they blindly followed the instructions of Paris, so he quit the syndicalists. The reason why he joined the machine factory union was very simple - they would help the workers.

"Well..."

Lin Shangzhou fell into deep thought, then looked up at everyone and said, "We will definitely help, but we need your opinions on how to help."

Huo Wen was the first to say: "A city-wide strike is definitely not an option. That would lead to the intervention of the army. We cannot have a conflict with the army, otherwise the only ones who will get hurt are the workers."

After thinking for a while, Duden said, "How about this? Just like when you, Mr. Hipper, led us, let the workers in each factory go on strike at different times. The target of the strike is the boss of the factory. In this way, the only ones who will come to stop the workers will be the police, and it will not attract too much attention in a short period of time."

Lin Shangzhou was thinking about the feasibility of Duden's plan. He had had such an idea before, and now Duden brought it up again.

"And I think this will also help your work. Mr. Hipper, don't you work in the Department of Labor and Social Affairs? When workers go on strike, you can mediate and then have your friends in the newspaper report it. I believe it will be of great help to your career."

Duden said to him.

"Well... that's certainly possible."

Lin Shangzhou nodded. This way, he would be asked to mediate every time, and then have the Workers' Daily report it, so that he could continue to accumulate social fame.

"Then let's do it."

Afterwards, they discussed the plan some more and made some provisions. If the factory director was weak and directly agreed to the workers' conditions, then the factory would cancel the strike, otherwise, a strike would be carried out.

During a strike, workers must maintain order, abide by social laws and regulations, and be organized and disciplined. If workers in a certain factory are preparing to strike, the machinery factory union will also send people to guide them in participating in the strike.

As for the scabs, the result of their discussion was to first find out who the scabs were, keep a close eye on them, and control them when the time was right.

After discussing the matter, Lin Shangzhou left the factory and went to the newspaper office, where he discussed the matter again with Goebbels and asked him to revise the article he was going to write, focusing on raising the workers' awareness of resistance.

Then he went home, took out 1,000 marks from his savings, returned to the factory and gave the money to Hoving.

The next thing to do is to wait and see what the results are.

.

Chapter 87 Successfully resolved

On August 2, Lin Shangzhou was sitting on the sofa in his home, enjoying a leisurely day off. Over the past month, the workers' problem in Strasbourg had been solved relatively perfectly, at least in his opinion.

On June 12, after the first batch of machinery factory workers were notified, the plan officially began. The second batch of workers who resigned from the machinery factory also successfully entered the remaining factories and carried out their tasks in an orderly manner.

Every noon, these workers would go to the newsstand outside to buy a copy of "Workers' Newspaper" and take it back to the factory to read the newspaper with relish during lunch break. Some of them did it just to complete the task, while others were seriously reading the article written by Goebbels. As for the co-workers around them, they either pulled their co-workers to read together, or waited for their co-workers to come over and read. Generally speaking, a week later, on June 19th, some workers in various factories began to spontaneously buy "Workers' Newspaper".

Of course, Lin Shangzhou knew that the reason why workers bought the Workers' Newspaper was not only because of the sales promotion by undercover workers, but also because of Goebbels' excellent articles.

Two weeks later, he received a report on the first month and a half after the plan began. The plan was going very smoothly, and most workers in the factory began to spontaneously buy the Workers' Newspaper.

He picked up the report from the table and took a look at it. The worker's handwriting was a little poor, but the content was very substantial. He could see that the worker took the matter very seriously.

Picking up the teacup and taking a sip of water, Lin Shangzhou recalled what happened afterwards.

In the third week of the program, a steel plant worker in his thirties had a conflict with the factory manager over wages, but the conflict between the two was quickly stopped.

Of course, the matter was brought to his attention afterwards, and he was very happy to see such a thing happen. The report also said that many workers in that steel plant sympathized with the worker's actions, which showed that the workers' consciousness of resistance was growing stronger.

One month later, on July 7, Lin Shangzhou received the second month and a half report. The content of the report was encouraging. Workers in every factory were strongly dissatisfied with the status quo. According to the report, all it took for a conflict between workers and factories was a fuse.

Faced with this situation, he asked the machinery factory union to start the second part of the plan, guiding and organizing the workers in various factories to resist.

A week later, on July 7, a workers' strike broke out at a steel plant on the outskirts of Strasbourg and was confined to the factory. Fortunately, the owner of the factory was a rather weak man. He quickly succumbed to the workers' demands and the strike was confined to the factory.

Lin Shangzhou learned about this matter on the same day. He was very happy. It was a good omen.

Over the next ten days, workers from three factories went on strike. The boss of one factory quickly resigned, but the bosses of the remaining two factories were more stubborn and refused to negotiate with the workers even after they demonstrated in front of their doors for a long time.

In the end, he acted as a government mediator to help the workers resolve the attitude problem of the factory owners, and such actions were naturally praised by the Workers' Newspaper. Goebbels emphasized Lin Shangzhou's role in the two strikes and weakened the government's functional agencies. For a time, his German name once again became the headlines in Strasbourg.

Thinking of this, Lin Shangzhou didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Being on the headlines was a good thing, but it was also a bad thing. This time his home was dug out, and he would run into reporters every day when he went to work. Some reporters even took pictures of him taking Letitia to and from get off work, and then published them in newspapers with the title - Friends of Workers and Friends Who Looked Like His Girlfriend.

This left him speechless, and he finally came out to deny the rumor, saying that he and Letitia were just friends.

A week after the end of the third strike, the owners of the remaining factories chose to invite him, an employee of the Labor and Social Affairs Department and an expert in handling conflicts between workers and factories, to their own factories to help them handle conflicts between factories and workers.

Lin Shangzhou still doesn't know why they did this. Was it because the deterrent effect of continuous strikes was too strong, or did they realize that instead of waiting for the workers to strike, it would be better to choose a gentle approach early on to reduce their losses? In short, it is impossible that this group of capitalists had a change of heart.

However, he was very happy to see them do this, and he enthusiastically went to those factories to help them resolve conflicts. As a person standing on the side of the workers, Lin Shangzhou did his best to help the workers gain benefits during the mediation process, and finally the treatment of workers in each factory was much higher than before.

Of course, three strikes occurred in a row within ten days. A newspaper in Strasbourg linked the strike to syndicalists, and another newspaper linked the strike to Lin Shangzhou and published a conspiracy theory article. The general content of the article was: the workers' strike was inseparable from Mr. Hipper, and he was most likely the mastermind behind the scenes, using this to increase his popularity in order to seek a high position in his career.

Lin Shangzhou was very surprised when he saw this article, because this person actually guessed it right, but he didn't take any action. After all, it's just a conspiracy theory. If you ignore it, it may not be a problem. But if you are in a hurry to dispel the rumor, it means that there may be something wrong with you.

It is still the steel wire incident made by the group members

Lin Shangzhou leaned against the sofa, holding the teacup in both hands and took a sip of tea. The workers' treatment problem in Strasbourg has been solved relatively perfectly. What he has to consider next is how to go further. After all, if he wants to get Wells' support, he needs to show corresponding political achievements. He can either work towards the government functional departments or the city council.

But both of these are difficult...

Just as he was thinking about this question, he heard a knock on the door. Lin Shangzhou put down his teacup and got up to open the door. After opening the door, he saw Louis standing behind him.

Louis smiled and said to him: "Fritts, long time no see, I have good news to tell you."

.

Chapter 88 Promotion

"What good news?"

Lin Shangzhou took a step back and welcomed Louis into the room. When Louis was about to step over the threshold and enter the living room, Lin Shangzhou stopped him again.

"?"

Louis looked at the arm in front of him in confusion. Lin Shangzhou took a pair of slippers for guests from the shoe rack beside him, put them on the ground, pointed and said, "Change your shoes first."

"Oh, you're quite particular."

With a chuckle Louis took off his shoes and put his feet into slippers.

Louis walked into the living room and sat directly on the sofa. Lin Shangzhou went to the kitchen to get some cookies to entertain the guests, then returned to the living room with a plate of cookies. After putting the plate on the table, he poured a cup of hot water for Louis and himself, and then sat down next to Louis.

"Tell me, what's the good news?"

Louis picked up a cookie from the table and ate a piece before saying slowly, "A SPD member of the city council has been transferred to the Berlin office by Otto. I plan to let you take his place."

"That means you will enter the city council and become a councillor in the future."

Lin Shangzhou, who was drinking water, choked on the water after hearing this. He put the cup on the table while coughing, and Louis also helped by patting his back.

"Are you so surprised?"

After coughing for a while, Lin Shangzhou recovered. He turned his head and looked at Louis and said, "You said you were going to let me work in the city council?"

Louis nodded and said, "Hmm~ Don't be too surprised. If you want to become the party leader and lead the Social Democratic Party to participate in the general election in the future, you must participate in the parliament. You need to accumulate experience now. The city council is the best choice. Don't let yourself go to the Imperial Parliament and not know what to do."

"I have made all the necessary arrangements. The former Minister of Labor and Social Affairs has been transferred to another department. You are now the Minister of the department. The City Council has no objection to you. They are quite happy to have you join the Council. They think this will make the workers trust the government more."

After saying that, Louis put his arm around Lin Shangzhou's shoulders, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Senator Hipper, do you have any opinion on this?"

Lin Shangzhou wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "You have arranged everything. What can I say?"

"How is the situation in Berlin? Has Otto convinced the others?"

Hearing this question, Louis loosened his arms around Lin Shangzhou's shoulders and made an "OK" gesture in front of him.

"Otto and I have convinced most of the former Social Democratic Party members, but the Progressive People's Party has not yet informed them of this matter because of Erich."

"Is this really a good idea? Although Erich Koch is a right-winger, the Social Democratic Party and the Progressive People's Party are now one party: the Socialist People's Party. And from what you said at the time, the Progressive People's Party is stronger than the Socialist People's Party. Their opinions are also important, right?"

Lin Shangzhou asked with some concern.

Louis smiled and shook his head and said, "No, no."

This made Lin Shangzhou confused? Was he wrong?

"The Progressive People's Party has more seats than the Socialist People's Party in the Reichstag. This is because some of the Socialist Party's votes were diverted away. Outside of parliament, the Socialist Party is stronger than the Progressive People's Party. Erich Koch's opinions are important, but the party is not a one-man dictatorship. The opinions of a minority in front of the majority are not enough to change the established outcome."

After Louis' explanation, Lin Shangzhou nodded as if he understood.

After that, Louis patted Lin Shangzhou's shoulder with his left hand and said earnestly: "But our persuasion does not mean that they will completely agree with you. There will be an internal party meeting in Berlin at that time. At the internal party meeting, you need to rely on yourself to convince others, let them see your determination, and let them realize that you are indeed a person who can lead the SPD to be elected as the ruling party. Only in this way can you win the support of the party."

"Although this is a little difficult for me now, I believe I can succeed when the time comes."