Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia, Rhine Newspaper Office, it is now about seven o'clock in the afternoon, and there are bustling workers on the streets reflected by the setting sun. They coming out of the factory represent the proletariat of the Kingdom of Prussia, but even they are thinking about Prussia. You will also stand tall when you are strong and wealthy.

Just a few months ago, the Rheinische Zeitung had some internal problems and many senior editors were fired. At this time, they welcomed a not-so-new new editor-in-chief, Karl Marx.

Karl once worked as the editor-in-chief of the Rheinische Zeitung. Only very senior employees still have some impressions of this editor-in-chief, but that was more than ten years ago. Now the Rheinische Zeitung has changed its blood several times. People who know Karl now Not much, but when it comes to the drafter of the "Communist Manifesto", it's like thunder.

This time Karl was forced to return to the Rhine region. He originally did not want to come back, but the proletarian movement in France suffered some blows and their demonstrations were suppressed. Although Napoleon III was relatively good at fighting, as emperor, His authority can still suppress the current proletarian revolution.

Karl's family was also deported by the French authorities. During this period, they traveled to many countries and finally returned to Prussia. After all, he did not want to go to London. It was not easy to have the British police knocking on the door every day.

Facing this returnee from afar, many people opposed Karl's return, which would seriously affect the development of Prussia. It would be troublesome if these workers started to strike and demonstrate again.

But August still thought that Karl was needed, so he gave him a visa so that he could return to Prussia as a Prussian citizen. However, he could not go to Berlin for the time being and could only live in the Rhineland. In order to be able to He lived a better life. August built a villa for him in Cologne. Although it was not big, the Karl family could still live happily there.

Now Carl can support his family in Prussia with his writing fees from the Rheinische Zeitung. His salary is five or six times higher than ten years ago. As the editor-in-chief of the Rheinische Zeitung, he can earn about one hundred euros a month. , this income is still very considerable, at least higher than the wages of more than [-]% of Prussian workers.

When he left, the Rhineland was still a relatively poor area with no money or industrial facilities. But when he came back this time, Carl found that the streets had become cleaner and the workers no longer had to work fifteen hours of intense overtime every day.

And there are new changes almost every day. Prussia became an industrial country in just a few years, and due to the introduction of many protective laws to protect workers' rights, capitalists could only update their own technology, which invisibly promoted The process of industrialization.

These political achievements gave the whole of Prussia a belief in August that transcends authority. It seems that all Prussians feel that as long as it is August's decision, it is correct, and as long as it is August's policy, it must be correct. policy.

And Karl's best friend also came to Cologne, he was Friedrich Engels.

Engels was the son of a businessman. His father hoped that he could return home and inherit the family business. However, Engels himself was not interested in being a businessman. He liked politics and cared very much about the lives of the people at the bottom.

He and Karl were attracted to each other when they first worked together. Engels found Karl to be resolute, brave, and daring to fight. Karl also believed that Engels and he were the same kind of people. They shared the same ideals and were truly like-minded people.

The two joined the Alliance of Justice Party in Belgium, and also participated in demonstrations for the rights of the working class in Paris. He once talked to Auguste. He could not say that he knew Auguste very well, he could only say that Austria Gust is really doing things for the people.

She has accomplished a lot. As a feudal noble and an old force, she has made enough progress. Although she failed to directly let the people be the masters of the country, she gave the Prussian people jobs and gave the poor people a chance to live and receive education. s right.

The two were sitting on the sofa in the newspaper office. Karl was holding a copy of "The Destruction of the Empire" in his hand. This book was very popular in Prussia, although the popularity has almost subsided now, and August has not published any new works.

The two talked about a country in the book, the Soviet Union, which was only mentioned briefly. Its full name is the Soviet Union. It was a socialist alliance composed of more than [-] member countries. This country was exactly the country envisioned by Marx and Engels. .

But such a socialist country actually signed a treaty with Adolf, represented by imperialism, and carved up another country's territory at their conference table.

Karl: "Friedrich, do you think it is right for the Soviet Union to sign a non-aggression pact with Adolf's German Empire?"

Engels said, "It's not correct, but it's not wrong either. I think what she said is reasonable. We might as well imagine that if the world's first socialist country is really established, what will its fate be and how it will be recognized internationally?" Being isolated, without allies, and having to rely on oneself for everything is no different than walking out of a foggy forest alone. You can imagine how difficult it is. If it were us, we might not have Joseph's decisiveness and perseverance."

Karl: "Friedrich, you are thinking the same thing as me. She once asked me, if the world's first socialist country is established, how will it survive? Should one country build socialism or For extreme revolution, I chose the former, but to be honest, I actually yearn for the second option.”

Engels: "Extreme revolution? Yes, this is also an option, and I also hope it can be realized, but this option has been difficult to maintain from the beginning, because no country in the world can challenge the world alone, not even the United Kingdom. It couldn’t be done, and neither could the once-powerful First French Empire.”

Karl sighed. As the painter of the socialist blueprint, he wanted to point out a direction for the communists as much as possible, but in the end he found that his guidance was limited after all. There are many paths to revolution, but the only way to do it is to There is only one thing to stick to, and only by not forgetting your original intention can you achieve success.

The sky was getting dark, and Karl and Engels chatted until late at night before leaving. The two of them seemed to have endless topics to talk about.

……

At the same time, Economic Minister Lister, who was in the office building of the Parliament Building, looked at the Dow Jones Index of the British stock price and fell into deep thought. He found that the exchange rate of the British pound was constantly rising. In the past few days, the price of the British pound had been [-] times higher than before. It has reached several percentage points, and it is still trending upward.

All these reasons point to one point: Britain has no gold.