African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1455: Chapter 21: Intervening in the Russian Conference_2

Germany and Austria-Hungary are the closest to Russia, so they are the most proactive in dealing with the Russian Labor Party, which has apparently become the two countries’ most pressing concern.

In contrast, the UK and French governments were surprisingly unopposed to the assertions of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

French President Clemenceau was the first to speak: ”We in France are willing to contribute our strength to eradicate the Russian Labor Party, which can be said to be the world’s greatest scourge, as its existence has already threatened the safety of European and even global order.”

”At the same time, the Russian Labor Party disregards rules and integrity, is capricious, and undermines fair market order while plundering the wealth of Russia and other countries through despicable means.”

”If the Russian Labor Party is allowed to grow, the entire future of Europe will fall into the clutches of these ambitious individuals.”

The most severe loss with the rise of the Russian Labor Party is faced by France, which was the largest creditor to Russia before World War I, but after the Russian Labor Party seized power, France’s loans went up in smoke, and many legitimate investments of France in Russia were also confiscated by the Russian government.

This happened to other countries as well, as during the era of Tsarist Russia, half of Russian capital was controlled by foreign investments, with some high-tech industries even entirely governed by foreign capital, such as in Russia’s electrical industry where foreign capital accounted for more than ninety percent.

And these investments and loans have now become completely futile, except for countries that did not invest in Russia and East Africa, which withdrew their capital before the Russian Labor Party took control of the country. Other countries have incurred severe losses.

Moreover, East Africa not only did not suffer losses in Russia but instead made a considerable fortune during the withdrawal.

Aside from East Africa, the country that benefitted from Russia is Japan, which, as the main behind-the-scenes supporter of the White Bandits in the Russian Far East region, obviously also obtained considerable benefits from Russia.

After listening to the opinions of France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary, British Prime Minister David finally spoke: ”We must certainly strike against the Russian Labor Party, but how specifically to strike requires careful planning.”

”Due to the world war and European flu, we have missed the best opportunity to intervene in Russia, and now the Russian Labor Party has completely seized control.”

”Currently, Russia is still a superpower with a population of over a hundred million, and the Tsarist government has left Russia with substantial deposits, enabling Russia to possess a comprehensive military-industrial system.”

”Therefore, in considering intervention in Russia, we must prudently assess our actions.”

Even after losing a large amount of territory, Russia remains one of the world’s few great powers, and due to the organizational capabilities of the Russian Labor Party, this Russia might be even more formidable than the previous Tsarist Russia, at least the Tsarist Russia didn’t have the eloquence and ability to convince Russian lower classes to actively support war.

At this point, Prime Minister David suddenly turned his attention to East Africa, frowning as he said: ”Lord Frier, this time your East Africa must voluntarily undertake more obligations.”

”It can be said that the Russian Labor Party’s growth is primarily East Africa’s responsibility, if only in 1918, your country had been able to intervene in Russian politics, the situation wouldn’t have escalated to the current level.”

”At that time, worldwide, only your country had the capability and time to complete an intervention against the Russian Labor Party, but not only did you fail to act, you instead watched from the sidelines, ultimately allowing the Russian Labor Party to succeed.”

Facing British criticism, Frier evidently refused to shoulder the blame, raising his eyebrows and saying, ”Prime Minister David, your accusations are entirely unreasonable; the Russian Labor Party’s growth is ultimately due to the mismanagement of domestic contradictions by the original Nicholas II government.”

”Frankly speaking, given the anti-war sentiment within Russia at that time, if Nicholas II had immediately stopped the war, the Russian Labor Party likely wouldn’t have had an opportunity to succeed.”

”Moreover, outside of Russia, we’ve already exerted the greatest effort to limit the development of the Russian Labor Party.”

”We supported the formation of a new Russian government by the Russian Crown Prince to counter the Labor Party regime, and exported and donated large quantities of weapons to resistance forces within Russia to aid their struggle against Labor Party organizations.”

”However, who could have foreseen that these resistance organizations were internally disunited, lacking combat capability and discipline, eventually defeated by the Russian Labor Party one by one.”

”Additionally, in wanting to intervene in Russia, we were practically powerless, after all, at that time your country blocked the Suez Canal, which is the most crucial route connecting East Africa and Russia, so we couldn’t possibly transport personnel and supplies to Russia on a large scale.”

”And entering Russia from the eastern side is even farther for East Africa. If we started from Siberia, it would be more advantageous for the US and Japan, but evidently, they didn’t accomplish this either.”

”Lastly, East Africa’s support for anti-Labor Party forces within Russia could only go through the Persian Gulf, followed by land.”

”And everyone knows that the Middle East and Central Asia regions are not only complicated, but transportation are terribly unfavorable, far less convenient than Siberian railways, under such circumstances we’ve already made the greatest effort to interfere in Russian politics.”

The main trade routes between East Africa and Russia are twofold; one is through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, then through straits controlled by the Ottoman Empire into the Black Sea.

The other route is through the Baltic Sea reaching Saint Petersburg.

Apart from these two routes, the others aren’t particularly significant, after all, the Black Sea Coast and Baltic Sea Coast are part of Russia’s economically developed regions.