I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 198

Kindling

“What do you think is the key to resolving this incident, Minister?”

Guizot was reminded of the conversation he had with Killian before leaving London.

After signing the contract to be on the same boat, Killian unexpectedly offered sincere advice to help Guizot overcome this commotion.

“Isn’t it best to appropriately divide the capitalists and workers so they can’t unite and express their dissatisfaction?”

“That’s right. Food distribution will be quite effective in that regard. But that alone is not enough.”

“Yes? What else is needed?”

“If you only want to avoid anger, that’s enough, but in the future, Minister, you will become the Prime Minister and lead the political situation as you wish. To do that, more active measures are needed.”

Was he saying that simply bringing in food to reduce the dissatisfaction of workers and farmers was not enough?

In fact, Guizot was a historian and legal scholar, so he was not very familiar with shady political schemes.

Perhaps that’s why he didn’t understand Killian’s words at first, but now he understands.

Guizot, alternating between looking at the wealthy capitalists sitting in the front and the workers filling every corner and watching him, took a breath and opened his mouth heavily.

“Currently, our France is experiencing pain in many ways. Rapid industrialization is causing various conflicts in all sectors of society, and in politics, controversies over voting rights are endless. But I want to believe that all of this is not just pain, but growing pains for us to develop further. Because everyone is expressing opinions and clashing for a better future.”

The capitalists sitting in the front row immediately changed their expressions when the topic of voting rights came up.

Originally, Guizot had only thought of isolating the capitalists by gaining the support of the workers with food as bait.

This was because he divided the current political groups into three categories: the privileged landlord class, the capitalists, and the workers who opposed them.

However, Killian advised him not to recognize the workers and capitalists as a single group.

-The capitalists who are calling for the guarantee of voting rights are not all moving with the same mind. Some want it right now, some don’t care if it’s a year later, and some think that only those in the upper ranks of the capitalists should receive voting rights. You have to dig into that point and divide them once more. That way, when the Minister becomes Prime Minister in the future, the opposing forces will not be able to form a proper force.

So, the meaning is to take the side of the workers to isolate the capitalists, and then divide the capitalists in half to thoroughly isolate only the extremists.

That way, no matter how much the extremists argue, there will be no one left to respond to them.

It was truly appropriate advice, so Guizot changed his policy to partially accept the election law amendment.

“This chaos is not simply due to the drought in Europe. In Italy and neighboring Germany, many people are expressing dissatisfaction and want the state to listen to their demands. And some countries, like England, have already accepted some of the demands of society. So, France also wants to listen more to the voices of the citizens as an opportunity.”

“Oh!”

“Are they really going to revise the election law?”

“Is this happening as soon as the Prime Minister changes? Was the previous government just strange, not the royal family issue?”

As soon as the famine occurred, they quickly imported grains to stabilize food prices and said they would revise the election law that they had ignored so much.

If they show such a big picture, people will naturally have expectations that this regime is different.

And this is exactly when you can walk the tightrope by citing realistic difficulties.

“But as you all know, all of Europe is currently suffering from crop failure. Even now, forces are taking advantage of this opportunity to overthrow the government, and the burden on politicians and the military is too great. I would like to ask for your understanding in advance that the pace will have to be adjusted because we do not know what side effects there will be if too many reforms are carried out at the same time!”

“No… then…!”

“Of course! I’m not trying to get through the situation with empty promises, as you are worried about. Fortunately, there is a precedent in England of gradually easing the voting rights standards according to the degree of wealth, so we plan to grant voting rights little by little with reference to that side. Some of you here will be able to vote from the very next election. And in the next election, more people will be able to vote.”

It means that they will not include all other capital in the wealth standard, as the capitalists are currently demanding, but will reflect it little by little.

Naturally, the reactions of the capitalists who heard this began to vary.

“Isn’t it meaningless if you don’t do it right now?”

“It’s not meaningless. Doesn’t it mean that it will be reflected to some extent from the next election?”

“Then what’s the point? At most, they’ll give voting rights to dozens of people.”

“Still, the number of voters will increase more and more in the next and the next, so I think that’s enough?”

Surprisingly, there were not many hardliners who said that it was meaningless unless all capitalists were given the right to vote right now.

This is because people tend to avoid being too extreme if they can achieve what they want.

Guizot, who was deliberately slowing down the tempo and observing people’s reactions, bowed with a polite posture that was unimaginable for the proud Prime Minister of France, driving in a wedge.

“I would like to make a full-scale revision if I could, but now people are dying of starvation everywhere, and grain prices are soaring, so administrative power has to be focused on suppressing this situation. I, François Guizot, will always take your safety as the top priority and approach reforms, so please trust and watch over me, even if it feels a little slow!”

“We trust you, Prime Minister!”

“Show us that you are different, Prime Minister!”

“Woo-hoo! It’s meaningless if it’s not now! Fraudster Prime Minister Guizot fulfills his promise…”

“No, you! The country is having a hard time with crop failure, so it’s a priority to get out of this difficulty first. How can you insist recklessly even though the government has made some concessions?”

“Think about the workers who are starving to death right now. If we give the impression that we are just crazy about our rights, whether bread prices rise or not, it won’t be of much benefit to us.”

The capitalists who were about to boo Guizot’s speech bit their lips, clicking their tongues at the stinging gaze of the workers densely packed in the square.

Since the government officially stated that it was focusing all its administrative power on resolving the crop failure, other parts had no choice but to be pushed back, so they could not deny this head-on.

Some clueless people who shouted that they didn’t need that kind of thing and demanded voting rights were almost dragged away by angry workers.

It is best to just shut your mouth quietly here.

Guizot looked down at the capitalists who had become as meek as lambs and tasted the joy of victory that he had felt in a long time.

‘No, seriously. It really works like this?’

It’s no wonder the British are doing so well. This is very effective.

Just as the effect is maximized when scratching an itchy spot in a timely manner, the popularity of the new Prime Minister of France, François Guizot, who is responding to France’s difficulties with quick measures, spread throughout France in an instant.

* * *

“Your Highness, here are my recent research materials that you requested.”

Marx, who had previously been banned from speaking in front of Buckingham Palace after the Edward incident, politely handed over a thick bundle of paper.

“The Communist Manifesto. The name is the same?”

“Yes? When did I ever show this to Your Highness?”

“No, I’m just talking to myself. Let’s take a look at the contents.”

“It’s still just a draft, so there are rough parts. And there are parts that I deliberately left blank to supplement the data while observing the current situation.”

Marx predicted that the current social system was full of contradictions and would soon show its limits.

And in fact, as the trigger of famine was in place in various parts of Europe, suppressed dissatisfaction was being expressed here and there as if to show off.

Seeing this, Marx felt delighted that his predictions were correct and was focusing on completing the epoch-making Communist Manifesto.

“What do you mean by supplementing the data by looking at this European turmoil?”

“To put it simply, I want to verify whether it is possible for the workers of all Europe to unite and shake the system of an absurd society.”

“So, the phrase ‘Workers of all countries, unite!’ was born.”

“I never thought that the Prince would have heard that. If I had known, I would have paid more attention. I definitely didn’t do it on purpose.”

Of course, you shouldn’t have done it on purpose.

I almost made the people around me see my lovely eldest son as the young leader of the Communist cult.

Such a thing must not happen before the soil enters my eyes, or even after the soil enters my eyes. Ahem.

“Let’s decide to be careful about that part in the future. First of all, I want to talk more about the declaration you wrote.”

After roughly skimming through it, there were parts that were similar to the Communist Manifesto that I knew, but there were also quite a few parts that were subtly different.

First of all, even I, who haven’t studied deeply, know that famous saying.

The sentence [Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution! The proletarians have nothing to lose in the revolution but their chains, and they have the whole world to gain.] was nowhere to be seen.

I wondered if he had deliberately deleted it because it was material I would read, but seeing that he was going to watch the situation and write it later, it seems that the radical idea of overturning the country with a revolution has not yet taken hold.

Considering that this Communist Manifesto was originally published a little faster than the February Revolution that overturned France, my meeting with Marx must have made his head complicated.

Certainly, Marx’s expression, who wants my feedback now, didn’t look very pleasant.

“Perhaps you don’t like this very much even though you wrote it?”

“Ah, that’s not it. Rather than not liking it, I’ve been thinking a lot about whether I can apply the ideal to reality as it is.”

“Is it because of what I told you before?”

Marx’s theory is innovative, but in the end, considering the realistic aspects, it is more likely to be distorted than applied as it is.

The gas that I have been injecting so hard is finally starting to shine.

As for Marx, who is not yet academically complete, he must have had many concerns.

If I give a little more stimulation here, I can definitely change the direction now.

“Marx, what do you think about the whirlwind that is blowing in Europe now?”

“As I said before, I think it is a harbinger that the social structure stained with the greed of capitalists is slowly reaching its limit.”

“Then there will be countries that collapse through revolution?”

“Not all of them, but I think one or two countries might be overturned.”

“Well. My thoughts are a little different.”

“…Yes?”

Even in the original history, the 1848 revolution is evaluated as a failure as a result.

The only thing that made a clear achievement was the February Revolution in France, but even that newly established government took a thoroughly conservative stance and suppressed socialists.

However, Marx interpreted this as the first class war between the bourgeoisie [the middle class] and the working class, and came to believe that capitalism would show the catastrophe it would face someday.

But what I’m trying to produce is not a struggle that provides the origin of such a socialist revolution.

“This disturbance will rather end up thoroughly proving that no revolution can take place unless capitalism is mature. Let’s watch how cleverly the system you mentioned, capitalism, adapts and changes to society.”

If you see the spark of revolution that broke out in France die out in a month, and the revolts that broke out in various parts of Europe being suppressed in an instant, you will feel it desperately.

The fact that the workers of all countries can never unite.

And what is the means to end the history of class struggle and break the chains of the workers.

I will not say a single word about anything specific.

I’m just going to turn this whole city into a giant ideological gas injection room.