African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 1336 Railway Power

Compared with population data, East Africa's railway traffic data is released faster. After entering the Fourth Five-Year Plan, the enthusiasm for railway construction in East Africa has completely slowed down. In addition to the reconstruction of the original lines, only the northwest region's railway mileage has grown rapidly.

In the field of railway construction, over the past two decades, it can be said that East Africa has maximized the advantages of the planned economic system and achieved world-renowned achievements.

Wells, Minister of Railways of East Africa, reported the relevant situation: "As of 1918, the total railway mileage that had been completed and put into operation across the country reached more than 32,700 kilometers, ranking second in the world."

"The first two decades from the 1990s to the beginning of this century were the explosive period of my country's railway growth. Most of the country's railways were built at this stage."

"As a result, the construction of the world's third most developed regional railway network after North America and Europe was completed, supporting the strong rise of our country's economy."

North America is undoubtedly the region with the most railway construction in the world. The United States has built nearly 400,000 square kilometers of railways on its own, which exceeds all other continents in the world.

Europe was affected by the war and there was almost no increase in railways. However, by the time of World War I, European railways had reached nearly 350,000 kilometers. Therefore, even if there was no growth during the war, European railways still ranked second in the world, especially in Western Europe. The railway density is comparable to that of the eastern United States.

However, the United States is not the only one in North America. Countries such as Canada and Mexico have also achieved very good results in railway construction. Before World War I, Canada’s railways reached more than 50,000 kilometers. By now, it should be 60,000 kilometers. And Mexico’s There are also more than 20,000 kilometers of railways.

Counting other countries in North America, the entire railway mileage in North America is even around 500,000 kilometers, firmly ranking first in the world.

Wells said: “If we use the country as a statistical standard, our country is the second largest railway country in the world after the United States, and among our railways, nearly 4,000 kilometers of electrified railways have been transformed, which ranks first in the world. First."

Railway electrification transformation is now a key research and promotion project for the East African railway department. After all, Ernst had emphasized at the beginning of this century that the total mileage of East African railways should be maintained at about 300,000 kilometers.

This means that after the Fourth Five-Year Plan, the railway department’s idea of ​​accumulating political achievements by relying solely on railway increment in the past has been nipped in the bud.

Moreover, even the transformation of electrified railways is far slower than the construction of ordinary railways in the past. There are two main reasons for this situation. One is the improvement of railway construction standards and stricter inspections, and the other is the complete demise of the slavery system in East Africa.

In the era of planned economy, the speed of railway construction in East Africa can be said to be unprecedented in the world. At its peak, the annual railway construction length could even reach nearly 14,000 kilometers, and the annual average level was about 10,000 kilometers.

This is equivalent to building one-third of France's national railways every year. Before World War I, France's national railways were only more than 30,000 kilometers.

In the era of completely planned economy, the speed of railway construction in East Africa was even higher than that of the United States, the madman of railway construction.

There is no problem in saying that the United States is the world's railway construction madman, because since the 1930s, the United States has been the world's largest railway country since the length of its railways exceeded that of the United Kingdom. This means that the United States now occupies this throne. Stayed for nearly a century.

And according to the current trend of railway construction in the United States, there is a high probability that the United States will maintain this position for a long time, and may even maintain it forever. After all, from the time dimension of previous lives, the United States has maintained its first position in the world in terms of railway mileage until the 21st century. .

The country in this time and space that is most likely to threaten the United States' world's largest railway mileage is East Africa, but unfortunately, Ernst's plan has no intention of surpassing the United States.

The reason why the railway construction speed in East Africa has been almost twice that of the United States in the past two decades or so is still due to the extreme application of slave economy in East Africa. The difficulty of railway construction mainly lies in three levels, namely labor force, technology and land.

The latter two have little impact on East Africa. Technically, East Africa has accumulated railway construction experience since the 1970s, and the supporting talent training mechanism is also relatively complete. As for land, land acquisition under the state-owned land system in East Africa is very convenient. Coupled with the dividends from the colonial countries in East Africa, this made the land issue the easiest to solve.

As reflected in other countries, land is a persistent problem. For example, India in the previous life was deeply troubled by private ownership of land, which seriously hindered the development of the Indian economy.

After solving the technical and land problems, the railway construction in East Africa was only limited by materials and labor. By the 1990s, East Africa already had a certain industrial base. Coupled with the vast land and abundant resources, the materials for railway construction were limited. There is no shortage.

The last labor force was the fundamental reason for the amazing achievements of the East African Railways from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

During this period, the main focus of East African railway construction is to work hard to achieve miracles. Whether it is high mountains and dangerous peaks, rivers and ponds, or desert rainforests, the difficulty faced by the East African government and railway departments does not depend on geographical restrictions, but on How many "human lives" have been invested.

Cruelly speaking, what supports the construction of East Africa's developed railway network is not rails, sleepers and gravel, but the blood and bones of black people.

From the grasslands of East Africa, to deserts, to rainforests, countless ghosts of black slaves are buried under almost every section of railway.

In the 19th century, railways, mining, and river digging were all high-risk occupations. The average life expectancy was generally less than 40 years old. Even the most developed industrial countries in the world at that time could not change this situation. Strikes and resistance movements by railway workers in various countries continued.

As for the black slaves who served as the main force of railway labor in East Africa, their living conditions would only become more miserable. Although other Western capitalist countries also squeezed railway workers to the extreme and still received meager wages, the black slaves in East Africa paid completely in vain. This made the black slaves in East Africa miserable. The average life expectancy of slave railroad workers was generally less than twenty-five years.

Of course, the East African government will certainly not admit these historical processes. In fact, starting from the Third Five-Year Plan, the East African government has begun to eliminate a series of criminal evidence of the oppression and exploitation of black slaves in East Africa.

From the East African central government to lower-level governments, and all the way to the private sector, a large number of archives, materials, documents and evidence about the slave economy era have been burned together. Today, there is not a single paper record in the East African government that black slaves once existed in East Africa. .

Of course, the qualifier is black slaves, but the East African government has retained and forged a number of files on the number of black people in East Africa and their final destination.

After all, no matter how much East Africa tamperes with history, it is impossible to change East Africa's colonial history. The world has memory. Before the establishment of the country of East Africa, tens of millions of black people once lived on the land in East Africa.

In the official documents of East Africa, it is true that there were once a large number of black people living in East Africa, but these black people have left East Africa and gone to the United States, Ottoman, West Africa, Brazil and other countries and regions, and there are no words such as "exploitation, oppression, massacre, suppression".

In addition, East Africa did engage in slave trade, and drove many black regimes and populations to West Africa and other places, such as the Buganda, Burundi, Swaziland, etc., half-truth and half-false information can have the greatest impact Downplaying and beautifying East Africa’s colonial past.

Returning to the railway issue, railway construction in East Africa during the planned economy era was only possible through unlimited consumption of black people to achieve brilliant achievements.

And this also helped East Africa overcome various social problems in early industrialization. Looking around the world, no matter Britain, France, Germany, the United States or other industrial countries, they must go through the most brutal stage in early industrialization. This cruelty mainly targets That is the bottom class of workers and farmers.

The primitive accumulation of capital is the bloodiest. No matter whether it is today's imperialist country or the Soviet economic model country in the future, it cannot avoid this. If you want to develop, you must pay the price.

The British sheep-cannibalism incident (enclosure movement), the Great Famine in Ireland, the black slaves in the United States, the widespread famine and wars in Germany in the last century, and the frequent social movements in France are not even counting some of the social problems that imperialism diverted through colonial plunder. In the previous life, in order to develop industry, the Soviet Union starved Ukraine to death. Even the Far Eastern Empire experienced the most difficult economic period for several years.

It can be said that if you want to complete the primitive accumulation of capital, you must pay a price and concentrate the wealth and labor value of others. Only then can you promote a qualitative leap in productivity. If you cannot cross this step, there will be no way to discuss the next step of development.

Therefore, when East Africa becomes an industrial country, some people, and most of them, must sacrifice. These people can be black people, people from East Africa, or countries that are less developed than East Africa.

The most "harmless" black people have naturally become the high-quality sacrifice targets of the East African government. Their own people are the foundation of East Africa's rule. However, in backward countries and regions, East Africa's harvesting capabilities are limited. After all, there were no British, French, etc. in East Africa in the early days. Large and wealthy colonies like European countries.

However, by today, the primitive accumulation in East Africa has long been completed, which is why East Africa removed the mills and slaughtered donkeys to eliminate the last remaining black slaves in the country.

Nowadays, East Africa has more advanced and efficient large-scale construction machinery to assist the construction of East African railway projects. Especially in the process of railway electrification transformation, modern technological tools such as cars, cranes, and excavators are widely used.

Moreover, in the first ten years from the last century to the beginning of this century, transportation and infrastructure in East Africa were greatly improved, and the living conditions of workers were also greatly improved. In the past, railway construction in East Africa was basically a matter of sleeping in the open air and overcoming obstacles. Now it only needs to be along the transportation lines. , continue to expand and extend, and the difficulty and project volume have dropped significantly.

Railway Minister Wells said: "The imperial railway construction has passed the stage of blind expansion and pursuit of quantity, and has shifted to high-quality development. The degree of mechanization has been greatly improved, workers' education and safety awareness have been greatly improved, and their treatment and wages have also improved. A small increase.”

East African workers can indeed endure hardship, but the social security system and welfare benefits for East African citizens are relatively complete in the world, especially for state-owned enterprises in East Africa.

Although the era of fully planned economies in East Africa has passed, some of its legacy has not dissipated.

In the era of completely planned economy, because of the state-owned system of enterprises, the East African government could supervise the implementation of the Labor Law. This allowed East African citizens, especially the former working class, to develop relevant awareness. This awareness did not end with the end of the era of planned economy. And die.

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Although this is not conducive to the industrial competition between the East African government and other countries in the world. After all, oppression and deprivation can reduce production costs, it has played a huge role in the social stability of East Africa.

This is one of the main reasons why Ernst turned a blind eye to the Russian Labor Party. As long as the Russian Labor Party's national power construction is completed in the future, it will inevitably force other imperialists to improve the welfare and treatment of their own workers.

In this way, East Africa will not fall into a situation where it is riding a tiger. After all, from a factual point of view, the human rights issues of other imperialisms have actually formed "malicious competition" for East African industries.

This is similar to the past life when Europe and the United States played the human rights card in order to restrict the industrial development of other countries. However, under the current consensus of the international community, East Africa obviously cannot stand out and become a traitor among imperialist countries.

If East Africa asks other imperialist countries to improve the treatment of workers and raise their labor costs, I am afraid they will only be criticized and ridiculed, so the best way is to have the Soviet Union be the villain.

As long as the Soviet Union exports its ideology, other imperialisms will have no choice but to follow the policies currently being implemented in East Africa.

In fact, East Africa is currently in a very embarrassing situation. On the one hand, workers are treated better than other imperialist countries, and the cost of industrial development is relatively high. On the other hand, East Africa's social system does not allow East Africa to encourage and export East Africa's economy. development model, thereby dragging down other imperialist counterparts.

The reason why East Africa is able to maintain social stability and healthy economic development at the current stage is essentially due to the impact of World War I. After World War I, most other imperialist countries, except Japan, turned to a war economy to gain traction. Exports and the creation of a large number of markets are the fundamental reason why East Africa is in good economic shape today.

However, wars will eventually end, and East Africa cannot maintain this pattern of economic development forever.

The solution is clear, but difficult, and that is to continue to improve productivity and develop high-end industries, thereby reducing the impact of labor costs on the economy.

The electrification of railways currently promoted by the railway department is the embodiment of this strategy in the transportation field.

Wells continued: "The disadvantage of my country's railway transportation development compared with other countries is that labor costs are relatively high, so the Ministry of Railways actively promotes the research and development of railway engineering equipment, and at the same time reduces other costs by integrating and optimizing resources. This offsets the disadvantages in terms of labor costs.”

"Today, the empire's railway utilization efficiency is in the leading position among the world's major industrial countries, in order to protect the waste and overcapacity problems in the railway construction field."

The railway utilization efficiency in East Africa is higher than the average level of the world's major industrial countries. In addition to management, railway utilization efficiency is also closely related to the density of railway construction.

Take the Far Eastern Empire for example. The railway utilization efficiency of the Far Eastern Empire is relatively high among the countries in the world. However, this is not because the railway construction of the Far Eastern Empire is developed, but precisely because the railway construction of the Far Eastern Empire is relatively backward and cannot meet the needs of railway transportation.

A negative example is the United States. The United States has the longest railway mileage in the world. However, many redundant railway constructions have made the utilization rate of American railways low and the supply of railway transportation exceeds demand.

The reason for this result is, first of all, that American railroads are a "financial product." In order to boost stocks, various regions across the country blindly followed suit and invested in the construction of railroads. Moreover, because of the financial attributes of railroads, this also led to the construction of railroads by speculators. Many unfinished projects have caused the actual data of U.S. railway mileage to be "inflated."

Secondly, there are many railway companies in the United States with inconsistent standards and lack of effective management, which has resulted in a huge waste of railway transportation capacity. For example, different railway companies have different fares, triggering price wars and causing most railway companies in the United States to suffer losses. Or because railway construction standards are not uniform, the connecting ends of a railway may belong to different railway companies and must be replaced with locomotives or railway employees.

The railway problems in some European countries are even more serious than those in the United States. This is mainly because the railways in some European countries are too concentrated.

Although the overall railway mileage in Europe is more than 300,000 kilometers, almost as much as East Africa, there are many European countries. Some countries have extremely high railway densities, while others have extremely low railway densities, especially between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, and between Southern Europe and Northern Europe. The difference is significant.

In terms of railway density alone, the railway density in Germany is more than four times that of East Africa, while the railway density of the United States is nearly twice that of East Africa, and the railway density of East Africa is nearly six times that of Russia.

This also explains the disparity in railways between countries. In fact, the current East African railway is more than three times that of the former Soviet Union. The former Soviet Union was not active in railway construction and was only more than double the expansion of the Tsarist Russia. , and this is one of the reasons why the Soviet Union’s railway utilization efficiency ranks first in the world.

According to Ernst, the railway mileage of the Soviet Union in the past was obviously low. After all, the Soviet Union relied much more on railways than East Africa. Of course, it is not known how the Soviet railways will develop in this generation.

At present, the 310,000 kilometers of railways in East Africa have reached their peak, no more, no less. In addition, except for the trunk railways, which are relatively evenly distributed, East African railways are mainly concentrated in the central and southern regions, with considerable freight and passenger traffic.

The future construction direction of the East African railway is only to continue to tinker with this set of already the most developed and efficient railway network in the world. From this perspective, East Africa has become a railway power, not a single railway power.

(End of chapter)