Mediterranean hegemon

On January 14, 1923, the day after the Franco-Belgian coalition entered the Ruhr area, the German authorities announced "non-violent non-cooperation" and the mark exchange rate plummeted, Contini opened fire.

The first fire was to close most of the positions that bet on the fall of the mark exchange rate as much as possible, and urgently transfer them to foreign countries. This time point was less than 12 hours away from the time when the German government announced emergency economic control and stopped all foreign exchange circulation. When the ban was issued, Antonio, who was in charge of handling it, used some means to remit most of the US dollars out of Germany. Because everyone was racing against time at the last moment, they didn't care about covering up too much.

So far, Contini has received a total of 15.08 million US dollars in the entire Ruhr crisis, of which 10 million went to the United States, 5.08 million flowed back to Italy, part of which became joint industries, and part of which became working capital. There are about 600,000 US dollars in Germany that cannot be taken away. However, the Weimar government did not dare to offend the property owners, and only restricted circulation, payment and withdrawal, and did not order confiscation or forced exchange. In other words, the balance can continue to exist in the bank account in digital form. Unless you are willing to actively exchange it into marks, it cannot be used at all, and it can only be a string of numbers-if you are unlucky and catch up with the bank's bankruptcy, this number will eventually disappear.

But for Contini, it doesn't matter whether this money can be converted into US dollars or not. He has already made a lot of money. What's more, this batch of US dollars can be exchanged for marks to pay for the travel expenses of engineers and technicians who left BMW to Italy, and it will not be wasted at all. Originally, Contini only recruited more than 20 people, but because the Ruhr crisis had been brewing and erupted, many engineers and technicians felt threatened. Under the persuasion of friends or colleagues, these smart people also resigned from BMW and joined the ranks of going south to Italy to seek gold.

Antonio, who was in charge of these affairs, sent a telegram saying that the number of people who agreed to go south to work in Italy had exceeded 50, and even engineers from MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Maybach and other companies were asking about relevant matters, asking him if he would consider it. Contini was overjoyed and said that as long as the skills were strong, he would accept everyone, even in addition to engineers and technicians, he would also accept a group of skilled workers with the best skills - he was now planning to clean up the International brand aircraft, and would accept all practitioners in the machinery, power, vehicle and aircraft industries.

He told Antonio that single German engineers were especially welcome, as long as they really had a skill and were willing to come to Italy for long-term development, he could help them solve their personal problems in Italy - many Italian girls were passionate and more open and lively than German girls, wouldn't it be easy to deal with engineers? As for houses, money, and cars, as long as the United Group is still a big banner, there is absolutely no need to worry. At worst, he can just pay for it first - there is plenty of ready-made land, how much does it cost to build a family building?

Antonio was surprised that he would have such an idea. This is incompatible with the traditional Italian capital operation system. How can capitalists worry about these personal matters? But Contini has his own considerations. On the surface, this will increase costs, but it will increase employee loyalty and satisfaction, which is beneficial to the long-term development of the company - the United Group does not want to be a nouveau riche who makes a quick buck and leaves, and is ready to work hard to promote multiple formats together.

The second fire was started by Youth. All other newspapers reported the Ruhr crisis in length, but Youth only briefly reported the Ruhr crisis on its front page. However, the editorial was shocking. It published a long review written by Contini, "Two or Three Things About Mr. Matteotti, a Hypocrite and a Representative of Double-Dealers - Thoughts on the Ruhr Crisis". Not only was the title explosive, but the content was also very explosive:

"...Now there is a group of social activists, including some parliamentarians, who claim to be public intellectuals and representatives of public opinion. They are happy to find faults all day long and portray themselves as flawless saints. In fact, they are disgusting people who seek fame and reputation and are two-faced. Mr. Matteotti is the typical and epitome of this group of people...

In the early days of the war, the Socialists strongly advocated neutrality and opposed joining the war on the side of Britain and France. They even expelled Mr. Mussolini because of this divergent view. When Britain and France were willing to pay the price for Italy's participation in the war and allowed Italy to join the war, they would not be able to participate in the war. After Italy recovered its homeland, they couldn't wait to jump out and say that war was the only choice to solve Italy's problems, improve Italy's image, and safeguard Italy's interests. They advocated joining the war quickly and declaring war on the German-Austrian group on the side of the Allies. After the war, this group of masters jumped out again to accuse Italy of being militaristic, wasting money and labor, and Italy gained nothing... They advocated neutrality, they advocated joining the war, and they opposed joining the war afterwards. What on earth are they trying to do?

In terms of opposing the original government, you quarreled every day, saying that the government was incompetent and must be reformed, otherwise Italy would have no hope. But when the fascists really stood up to launch a people's revolution and refresh politics, you couldn't wait to jump out and say that this behavior was illegal and essentially mob politics. This statement can't help but make people surprised. Are you allowed to oppose the previous government but not us? Are you allowed to start a revolution but not us? What kind of logic is this?

When it comes to criticizing the current government, you are even more talkative and gossipy. Today you say the government is corrupt and incompetent, tomorrow you say government officials are corrupt and inefficient, and the day after tomorrow you say nepotism and nepotism. The analysis simply cannot withstand scrutiny. After Prime Minister Mussolini formed the cabinet, except for the change of cabinet ministers, more than 99% of the administrative officials in the other central agencies and local agencies were retained. If the government is really as bad as they say, That's what happened in the past two months. Could it be that these behaviors didn't exist before, and just because of a change of prime minister, the originally honest and honest government officials suddenly turned into villains?

I do not deny that the government has problems of one kind or another, but in the final analysis it is a human problem. These problems are not new now, they have existed for a long time. It is not that the Socialist Party has never been in power, and it is not that no one has ever been prime minister. The people have given You have the opportunity, but your failure to do well has even exacerbated this shortcoming. Now, you are using problems that have not been solved for more than ten or twenty years to ask the new prime minister to solve them in just over two months. Apart from forcing people to make things difficult, practicing double standards and engaging in political speculation, I really can’t see what else to do. Other intentions!

Among them, Mr. Matteotti is the most prominent. He writes articles criticizing the government from time to time, and makes public speeches to accuse the government and relevant ministers from time to time. But as for himself, in order not to unjustly accuse Mr. Matteotti, our Youth League specially conducted After more than a month of field investigation, we came to a surprising conclusion:

In the so-called administrative inefficiency, Mr. Matteotti is well-deserved to be the leader: they counted the attendance records and commuting times in the last 45 days, and Mr. Matteotti was completely on time only in 4 days, and he was either late or left early the rest of the time;

Mr. Matteotti is also a particularly prominent example of the so-called serious waste: they analyzed the expenses he reimbursed through congressional channels and found that his expenses were more than three times the average, many of which were activities, entertainment and administration within the Socialist Party. Expenses were reimbursed by members of Congress under a clever name, which harmed the public and enriched private interests;

In terms of so-called corruption, Mr. Matteotti is not far behind: when members of the Youth League conducted a social survey, they found that Mr. Matteotti had been in and out of the red light district three times in the past two months. Although we understand a man’s physiological value orientation , but can he take care of what's in his crotch before sanctimoniously accusing others?

…”

As soon as this editorial was published, it caused a sensation in the entire Roman media and public opinion circles. The next day, newspapers including "Popular", "Corriere della Sera" and other newspapers reprinted the full text and followed up. Then the Socialist Party immediately counterattacked in the media controlled by the party. Ming Da magnified the debate and the rhetoric quickly escalated...