Conquering the world from the Kaiser's driver

Lin Shangzhou's first feeling after entering the conference room was silence. He only heard the sound of people whispering.

There was a row of seats on the podium, among which sat Otto Wels, whom Lin Shangzhou was familiar with. Next to him were two former Social Democratic Party senior officials, Hermann Muller and Otto Braun, whom Lin Shangzhou had visited before. They sat on the left side of the podium.

On the right side of the podium sat Erich Koch and two former senior members of the Progressive People's Party whom Lin Shangzhou had visited before. Two of them did not give Lin Shangzhou a good look when he visited them. Erich Koch was sandwiched between the two, and on his left was Anton Eklenz.

Anton received Lin Shangzhou warmly when Lin Shangzhou went to visit him. Like Erich Koch, he was a leader in the Progressive People's Party. His attitude was much better than Erich and the other person. However, he was also dissatisfied with Lin Shangzhou, that is, he was too young and had too little experience.

Lin Shangzhou had also heard a little about Anton Eklenz, of course, in the national policy of KX. He remembered that if you chose the Progressive People's Party as the chancellor in the Social Democratic Party, the description of that national policy was that the emperor did not appoint the radical Progressive People's Party leader Anton as chancellor but appointed the relatively moderate and centrist Erich Koch.

In other words, Anton Eklenz is a left-leaning figure in the Progressive People's Party, and his seat on the left also confirms his inclination.

The former Social Democrats sat on the left, while the former Progressive People's Party sat on the right, and their inclinations were clear at a glance.

One side leans to the left and the other side leans to the right, and the factions within the left-wing political parties are divided into left and left-center-right.

Louis took Lin Shangzhou to find a seat in the third row and then walked towards the podium. He sat in the leftmost seat with Otto Braun.

After he took his seat, there were a total of seven people sitting on the podium, four former senior officials of the Social Democratic Party and three former senior officials of the Progressive People's Party.

Two of them absolutely support Lin Shangzhou, Louis and Otto. The remaining two on the left, Hermann and Braun, are more supportive of Lin Shangzhou. After all, he has little experience and is too young.

Among the remaining three, Anton is more supportive of Lin Shangzhou. As for Erich and another former senior member of the Progressive People's Party, these two are Lin Shangzhou's staunch opponents.

That is to say, five out of seven people are inclined to support Lin Shangzhou. Looking only at this number, the chances of Lin Shangzhou becoming the party leader are very high. But we cannot just look at the numbers, there are many variables.

After Lin Shangzhou sat down, he looked around at the people on the podium. He also nodded to Otto and others. Erich and the person next to him did nothing.

The party members sitting in the first two rows turned their heads to look at Lin Shangzhou who was sitting behind them. There was confusion, curiosity, and dissatisfaction in their eyes when they looked at him. They also became agitated because of Lin Shangzhou.

A few minutes later, when everyone was present, Otto coughed lightly to signal everyone to be quiet. The commotion among the party members disappeared with his cough, and the meeting room became quiet.

After the meeting room quieted down, Otto read out the purpose of the meeting and announced the start of the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was simple: to discuss whether Fritz Hippel was qualified to become the leader of the Socialist People's Party.

After the meeting officially started, Louis, as Lin Shangzhou's biggest recommender, was the first to stand up and speak, explaining to the party members Lin Shangzhou's political achievements and actions in Strasbourg.

Most of the party members below did not know about Lin Shangzhou's affairs in Strasbourg. They were surprised when they heard that Lin Shangzhou led a small-scale strike, became a mayoral candidate as a new councilor, and won 25% of the votes without canvassing.

What makes them admire Lin Shangzhou even more is his hands-on style of doing things. To be fair, they cannot really serve the people instead of canvassing for votes during the election.

After Louis explained the reasons for his recommendation, Hermann and Braun agreed with it, and there was nothing special to explain.

Otto told everyone in the conference room another crucial point - the friendly relationship between Lin Shangzhou, His Majesty and Cecilia.

He explained to the party members that if Lin Shangzhou became the party leader, the SPD would have a great chance of getting Cecilia's support, and Lin Shangzhou's friendly relationship with the German emperor would be enough to provide many conveniences in the future. The former meant the support of the military, and the latter was directly the support of the emperor.

The support from both of them is very tempting.

After Otto finished speaking, he looked at Lin Shangzhou and said, "Next, let Party member Hipper speak and let him explain why he is determined to become the party leader."

Lin Shangzhou nodded. Just as he was about to stand up to speak, he saw Erich Koch stand up first and said seriously, "I'm sorry to interrupt the speech of Party member Hipper. Before he speaks, I would like to ask him a question first."

Louis was very dissatisfied with Erich's behavior, but due to the current situation, he did not say anything to stop him. Opposition was necessary, and Lin Shangzhou had to go through some hardships.

Lin Shangzhou nodded. He expected Erich to oppose him, but he did not expect him to be interrupted so rudely.

"A member of the Hipper Party."

Erich looked into Lin Shangzhou's eyes and said seriously, "Have you read the Berlin Declaration?"

“The Berlin Declaration?”

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Chapter 142 Party Meeting (Part )

The Berlin Declaration?

He recalled the related memories in his mind. Before finding the relevant memories, Lin Shangzhou first thought of two words similar to the "Berlin Declaration", "Declaration of the Rights of Man" and "Communist Manifesto". The former is a programmatic document during the French Revolution, and the latter is a programmatic document of the Communists.

So, could this "Berlin Declaration" be the current Social Democratic Party's programmatic document?

Judging from the situation on the scene, Lin Shangzhou also confirmed the answer to this question: the "Berlin Declaration" is the current programmatic document of the Social Democratic Party.

Thinking of this, Lin Shangzhou also remembered a memory from the past. Louis mentioned the "Berlin Declaration" to him, but at that time Louis just mentioned it and said not to care about it, so Lin Shangzhou simply ignored it.

Louis on the podium's face suddenly changed when he heard Erich's question. He had never expected that Erich would ask this question.

He also felt regretful for his lack of consideration. He also remembered that he had mentioned the "Berlin Declaration" to Lin Shangzhou that day. He regretted in his heart why he had said at that time that the "Berlin Declaration" should not be taken seriously.

(This is bad…)

Louis kept thinking of emergency solutions in his mind, but he couldn't provide any help to Lin Shangzhou while sitting on the podium because the party members below were all looking at him.

Faced with this question, Lin Shangzhou remained silent. He had never read the "Berlin Declaration". When he visited other senior SPD officials, although they all mentioned the "Berlin Declaration", their attitudes did not seem to take it seriously. This led to Lin Shangzhou not understanding the "Berlin Declaration".

The result is that he is now in a dilemma. No matter whether he answers that he has read it or not, the result will be disadvantageous to him.

If he lied and answered that he had read it, Erich would definitely ask more questions about the Berlin Declaration. No matter how Lin Shangzhou answered these follow-up questions, his lie would be exposed and he would be ridiculed by others, and there would be no need to discuss whether he could become the party leader.

If you honestly say that you have not read it, then it will be a problem for you to become the party leader. How can you become the party leader if you have not even read the party's programmatic documents?

Lin Shangzhou also felt very ashamed in his heart that he had never thought about this problem. It was Louis Otto and others' problem that they did not attach importance to this document. It was not enough to use it to defend himself. Lin Shangzhou knew that this was entirely his own problem. He had taken this matter too lightly.

As a person who wants to become the party leader, he needs to be prepared and understand these things in advance, but he didn't. This is his problem. Whether he becomes the party leader or the prime minister, these things are not as simple as treating people to a meal. He thought these things were too simple.

In order to maintain his foothold in the party in the future, Lin Shangzhou chose to answer honestly after hesitating for a few seconds. The truth and lies are completely different.

He shook his head at Erich and said honestly: "I have not read the Berlin Declaration."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the conference room changed completely. Some party members looked at Lin Shangzhou with questioning eyes. Otto, Hermann and Braun on the podium looked at each other. Under the current circumstances, they could not say anything to help Lin Shangzhou.

Because the Berlin Declaration had many shortcomings and dissatisfied aspects during its drafting and even after its completion, in their view, Erich's question was purely making trouble. However, no matter how serious the differences between the two parties on its content were, it was also a programmatic document of the Social Democratic Party.

Normally, everyone had a tacit agreement not to mention the differences in the document, but now Erich brought up whether he had read the document. This question seemed insignificant, but Lin Shangzhou's answer was: I hadn't read it.

Hearing Lin Shangzhou's surprising but satisfying answer, Erich's lips curled up into a faint smile, but the smile only lasted for a moment before disappearing.

He made an angry face and shouted at Lin Shangzhou: "Member of the Hipper Party, you haven't even read the Berlin Declaration, how can you become the party leader? You want to become the party leader without even reading the party's programmatic documents, don't you feel ashamed?!"

"You joined the party on the recommendation of a member of the Bonapartist Party. I don't know what you think. Have you forgotten to read the Berlin Manifesto or do you simply not attach importance to the Berlin Manifesto, the programmatic document of our party?"

Erich's question was very sharp and the implication of the second half of the sentence was also very obvious: Don't you take our party seriously?

Louis was so angry at his words that he wanted to curse. You, Erich Koch, had the biggest objection to the Berlin Declaration in 27 and you cared the least about this document. Now, you, the person who least regards the Berlin Declaration, are actually asking others whether they do not value the Berlin Declaration.

But faced with the current situation, Louis could only swallow his dissatisfaction, because there was someone in the meeting hall who seemed to attach less importance to the "Berlin Declaration" than he did - Lin Shangzhou.

Although Louis was very dissatisfied with Erich's words, Erich himself was familiar with the Berlin Declaration, otherwise he would not have put forward so many revisions (these suggestions were too revised, most of them were rejected, and only a small part was retained as a compromise). Whether he valued it or not, Erich had read the Berlin Declaration.

But Lin Shangzhou has not read the Berlin Declaration.

"It was my negligence not to have read the Berlin Declaration, and I apologize to everyone for that."

Lin Shangzhou sincerely apologized to the party members present, and Louis immediately said after his apology: "Member Hipper absolutely attaches great importance to the party, otherwise he would not have worked so hard to serve the people in Strasbourg."

His words made those party members who questioned Lin Shangzhou think of Lin Shangzhou's political achievements in Strasbourg, and their attitude softened a little.

Seeing that everyone's attitude had eased, Louis continued, "It doesn't matter whether you have read the Manifesto or not. I believe that everyone present has read the Berlin Manifesto. Everyone knows that the most striking point in the Manifesto is: serve the people. Party member Hipper has not read the Berlin Manifesto, but he has actually done this."

Under Louis's persuasion, the party members' attitude towards Lin Shangzhou improved a lot. He was right. It didn't matter whether one had read it or not. What mattered was whether one could do it. If one had read it but couldn't do it, it was the same as not having read it.

Erich was very dissatisfied with this. He changed his mind and prepared to find another reason to confront Lin Shangzhou.

Due to Louis' words and the current softening of the party members' attitude towards Lin Shangzhou, Erich could no longer blame Lin Shangzhou. He snorted coldly and said, "Even so, I still don't agree to let such a young man with no political experience become the party leader."

"He is too young and has too little experience."

Erich looked at Lin Shangzhou and said.

“Even if he does things in Strasbourg that no one else can do in a few years, that’s not enough for me to support him.”

Erich sneered as he spoke. He sneered and said, "What's more, yesterday morning the chancellor proposed a policy to restrict foreign immigrants from participating in politics. Hipper's party members are Chinese immigrants. If that policy is passed, it will be useless even if he becomes the party leader because he is illegal."

As soon as he finished speaking, Louis retorted: "Congressman Koch, don't forget that Hipper has a close relationship with His Majesty. He is His Majesty's friend. His Majesty may not agree with this meaningless policy."

"Humph, they may not agree. What if they agree?"

"The results won't be known until next month, so we can't jump to conclusions before then."

Erich turned to look at Louis, then looked at the party members sitting in the audience and said, "In that case, why don't we wait until after the Imperial Diet next month to hold this meeting? Before His Majesty decides whether he agrees with that policy, we can't easily elect this Chinese as the party leader. If His Majesty agrees with that policy, then our efforts will be in vain."

"What do you think?"

After thinking about it, most party members nodded in agreement.

The majority agreed, and Louis, Otto and others could no longer insist on continuing the meeting, so Otto announced the adjournment of the meeting.

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Chapter 143 Reading Plan

After Otto announced the adjournment of the meeting, the participants left the conference room one after another. Otto and others also left after saying a few words to Louis. In the end, only Louis and Lin Shangzhou, who was sitting in his seat in deep thought, were left in the conference room.

Lin Shangzhou was thinking about what had just happened. This meeting exposed his shortcomings and made him see the biggest drawback of the Social Democratic Party: the lack of a unified programmatic document.

The next meeting will not be until next month, which is January next year. He was thinking about what he should do in this month. The most important thing was the policy. He could try his luck at the Worshipful Palace and see if he could find a chance to be alone with Alexandrine, and then ask her to help reject this policy.

But putting aside whether Alexandrine would agree to his request, just being alone with her was a big problem. Cecilia was basically with her sister all the time, and Lin Shangzhou had no chance to mention this to Alexandrine.

Moreover, he could not go to the Sans Souci Palace to see Alexandrine too often. Cecilia should know that the Chancellor proposed this policy. If he went to see the German Emperor too frequently, Cecilia might become suspicious in this regard.

(It all depends on luck...)

Lin Shangzhou thought to himself that he could only leave it to fate in this matter.

Then the second most important thing was the Berlin Declaration mentioned at the meeting just now. Lin Shangzhou didn't know why the top leaders of the Social Democratic Party did not take this document seriously, but he knew that he had to read it.

And he also wants to take a look at other documents besides this one.

Louis walked down from the podium, he walked over to Lin Shangzhou and sat down. Hearing the movement beside him, Lin Shangzhou turned his head to look at Louis. He just had something to say to Louis.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you in detail about the Berlin Declaration. I was not thoughtful enough."

After Louis sat down, he apologized to Lin Shangzhou. Lin Shangzhou chuckled and said, "You don't have to apologize. I made mistakes in this regard myself. I took this matter too lightly."

"Then what are you going to do next?"

Louis asked.

"Louis, can you give me a copy of the Berlin Declaration? I want to take a look at it before the meeting next month. I don't want to understand it completely, but at least I want to know what the SPD's programmatic document is about."

Lin Shangzhou told Louis his thoughts, and to his surprise, Louis shook his head at him.

"The Berlin Declaration contains many revisionist ideas. It was created purely as a compromise between the Social Democratic Party and the Progressive People's Party. Later, we also thought about revising its contents, but Erich always made some very bad suggestions, which led to the delay in revising the document. We gradually stopped paying attention to it."

"revisionism?"

Lin Shangzhou was stunned for a moment, and then he was shocked when he realized what was going on. What the hell, there is revisionism in the programmatic document? Is this a joke?

Louis shrugged and said helplessly: "We don't want revisionism to exist either, but the Social Democratic Party's strength in parliament was greatly reduced at that time. The seats of the Progressive People's Party are very important to us. This is a compromise that we have to make."

“From this perspective, there is really no need to delve into the Berlin Declaration…”

Lin Shangzhou nodded slightly. Instead of reading the Berlin Declaration, he might as well read Ma Yuan. Unfortunately, he couldn't read Ma Yuan now. Lin Shangzhou regretted not paying attention to Ma Yuan's class...

(No, there is no Ma Yuan, but there is Ma Yuan!)

A light bulb went off in his head. Yes, there is no "Introduction to the Basic Principles of Marxism", but there is Marx's original work!

This is Germany, Marx is German, and Lin Shangzhou can speak German, so he can just find Marx's books and read them.

But reading is one thing, blindly looking for Marx's works will only lead to a deadlock. He must read Marx's works in a planned way. Having a plan is one thing, but what is the ultimate purpose of his plan?

Lin Shangzhou turned to think about this problem, and he thought of the Berlin Declaration mentioned by Louis, which contains revisionist ideas in this currently unappreciated programmatic document of the Social Democratic Party.

A political party cannot be without a programmatic document; it needs a complete program to lead the party.

Thinking of this, Lin Shangzhou came up with a plan: try to read Marx's works with the purpose of revising the revisionist parts.

Is it just totally appropriate to do so?

His ultimate goal was to revise the revisionist parts. He vaguely remembered that in the history of OTL, Marx had criticized a program of the German Social Democratic Party, but he forgot what the program was called. One year after that, the German Social Democratic Party drafted a new program. The new program seemed to be quite good, at least better than the one that was criticized.

"Louis, do you know what the Social Democratic platform that Mr. Marx criticized is called?"

He asked Louis that there was a senior Social Democratic Party member around him and he couldn't just leave him there unused.

"You mean the Gotha Programme?"

Louis replied.