African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 987 Economic Crisis and the First Five-Year Plan

For ordinary people in East Africa, there will not be too many obstacles to enter urban development as long as they can secure a stable job. Especially with the cooperation of compulsory education in East Africa, even the new generation of East Africans in remote areas have relatively broad horizons.

This is also the fundamental guarantee for population mobility in East Africa in recent years. Population mobility in East Africa is mainly achieved through administrative means, and educated people, under the guidance of the government, will not cause too much conflict and unrest.

This is not alarmist. In the 19th century, a large number of agricultural population moved to cities in many European and American countries, which inevitably caused serious social problems. Countries like Germany, where universal compulsory education was the better off.

But imagine that some illiterate, poor country farmers from Poland who have no urban living skills enter German cities. Their development is bound to suffer certain setbacks, especially in a period of frequent economic crises.

This example is not made up. In the early 20th century, a new round of capitalist economic crisis had arrived. The first unlucky one was Tsarist Russia. When the East African government was busy formulating the First Five-Year Plan, the economic crisis of Tsarist Russia had already broken out. This economic crisis was also the root cause of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in the previous life.

Both Japan and Russia are victims of this round of economic crisis, and both have prominent conflicts in their Far Eastern empires, so it is highly likely that Japan and Russia will still go to war in this century.

Of course, the economic crisis is an opportunity for East Africa. As early as the 1990s, the East African government had adjusted its economy, that is, the East African economy further transformed into a planned economic system. The First Five-Year Plan was Ernst's imitation of the former Soviet Union, using this crisis to further transform and upgrade East Africa's industry.

However, based on Ernst's experience in his previous life, this round of economic crisis will not cause too much impact on European and American countries. This is also one of the reasons why the formulation of the East African First Five-Year Plan is relatively conservative.

After all, only in a major crisis like that of 1929, which had a strong impact on the economies of European and American countries, would companies from various countries be willing to sell various core technologies and machines, thus allowing the Soviet Union to usher in an unprecedented historical development opportunity.

The economic crisis of 1900 obviously did not achieve this effect. The crisis lasted for a short time and its impact was spread to each country one by one. East Africa, which had completely switched to a planned economic system, would naturally not be affected. After all, under national planned production, even if East Africa faced overproduction, it would not be as serious as in Europe and the United States.

The key lies in the integration of industries. Private enterprises in Europe and the United States will rush into whichever industry is profitable, and then when the economic crisis comes, everyone dies together. Today's capitalist economic development is relatively rough, without a unified global organization and perfect treaty coordination.

Moreover, there are many major powers, including Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Tsarist Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Africa, Spain, the Far East Empire, etc. Competition and conflict are greater than cooperation, and the ability to deal with crises when each country fights on its own is naturally weaker.

As the world hegemon, Britain's control over the world is far less than that of the United States in its past. Especially in the 20th century, its title of world hegemon has become somewhat unworthy of its name.

Take Germany for example. Britain could easily control the ununified Germany back then, but now Germany has become one of the main challengers to British hegemony.

East Africa is also included in this list. After the South African War, East Africa became the dominant power in the vast areas of eastern and southern Africa, occupying nearly 43% of the area of ​​the entire African continent. Most of the territory of East Africa was a colony of the British in the past.

It can be said that the South African War did not do as much damage to Britain's prestige as the Boer War in the previous life, but the damage to Britain's actual interests was far greater than the Boer War. Britain lost face in the Boer War, but the South African War was just the opposite. Britain lost its substance. After all, Britain's colonization of Africa in the previous life lasted until the 20s. It is conceivable that Britain's African colonies, which occupied half of Africa in the previous life, prolonged the hegemony of the British Empire for a long time.

Of course, Ernst is responsible for killing but not burying. If Britain suddenly dies, Ernst will only applaud. Under the current world situation, even if Britain suddenly dies, East Africa will be able to take a certain initiative. Simply put, East Africa has already grown strong.

Ernst: "Now in Tsarist Russia, the serious economic crisis will definitely have an impact on Tsarist Russia, and given the size of Tsarist Russia's economy, this crisis is bound to spread to Europe and the rest of the world, so we in East Africa must be prepared, build a good economic moat, further adjust the industrial structure, and especially make up for the shortcomings in economic development."

"So during the First Five-Year Plan, our government faces severe challenges. We need to be more proactive and active in exploring international markets, especially in developing emerging markets in South America and the Far East, so as to promote domestic industrial exports. For traditional markets such as Europe and the United States, we need to further increase agricultural product exports."

"Of course, in the context of an economic crisis, the purchasing power of various countries has declined, which is bound to be detrimental to international trade. Therefore, building a large domestic market is the foundation for maintaining our East African economy, including increasing residents' income, stimulating people's consumption, promoting the flow of small household appliances to rural areas, and other industrial consumer goods into thousands of households. Qualified production units purchase large consumer goods such as cars, tractors, and trucks to increase production, which requires us to further improve and expand East Africa's power facilities, gas stations, roads, railways, etc."

"The economic crisis is also an opportunity for us. The economic crisis in Tsarist Russia is serious now, so we can follow the general trend of the economic crisis and introduce a batch of advantageous industrial production materials and talents from Tsarist Russia."

Although Tsarist Russia is a relatively backward country among the great powers, it is undeniable that it still has many superior talents for East Africa, especially in the fields of chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc., which are East Africa's current shortcomings.

During the First Industrial Revolution, Tsarist Russia learned advanced technologies such as shipbuilding, navigation, and steam engines from Britain. During the Second Industrial Revolution, Tsarist Alexander II implemented serfdom reforms, which greatly promoted the development of Tsarist Russia's industry. Take the 1900 economic crisis as an example. Its source was Tsarist Russia, which fully demonstrates that Tsarist Russia's industrialization has improved.

It is undeniable that today Tsarist Russia cannot even compete with East Africa in the field of emerging industries, but there are many aspects of Tsarist Russia’s traditional industries that are still worth learning from East Africa.

Although Russia has never been a leader in the industrial revolution, it has never been a laggard, especially in technological innovation, always ranking in the second tier.

For the East African governments, the demand for Tsarist Russian talents was greater than the demand for Tsarist Russian technology. There is no doubt that since the era of Peter the Great, Tsarist Russian society has adopted a style of learning from Europe, which has enabled Tsarist Russia to produce a group of world-class scientists in any subsequent era.

Especially in basic disciplines and theoretical research, Tsarist Russia has always been in the first echelon in the world. Therefore, if a group of talents could be introduced from Tsarist Russia through the economic crisis of 1900, it would play a very good complementary role for a country like East Africa with a very short history.

Normally, East Africa likes to poach talents, but the focus is usually on Germany and Austria-Hungary, two countries with similar cultures. The talents in the German region have indeed made great contributions to East Africa's industry and technology.

Tsarist Russia was no weaker than European countries in the field of science, so the East African government planned to take advantage of the economic crisis in Tsarist Russia to poach high-quality talents from Tsarist Russia to fill the gap in high-end talents in East Africa's education, scientific research and industrial fields. Although the effect might not be very good, East Africa would benefit if it could get one or two genuine top talents.

(End of this chapter)