I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 344

< Communism (2) >

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the initial situations in the North and South were drastically different.

Understandably, most politicians predicted the downfall of the North as the war concluded.

Not that the North itself would collapse, but rather that the Northern regime would suffer a severe blow.

In effect, they had practically lost the war, so how could the government possibly maintain itself?

Most countries were confident that Lincoln would be ousted in the next election and a new president would emerge.

Of course, that didn’t mean they were betting on a Democratic victory.

Rather, the prevailing opinion was that Lincoln, if he had any sense, wouldn’t even attempt a second term.

After all, it wouldn’t make sense for a president responsible for a lost war to put his face forward in an election again.

Especially since the United States hadn’t seen a president successfully re-elected in decades.

The last president to succeed in a second term was Andrew Jackson, over 30 years prior.

The consensus was that in the current United States, it would be difficult to aim for re-election with ordinary achievements, so it was natural to predict that Lincoln would give up early.

However, Lincoln defied everyone’s expectations and ran as a candidate once again.

Not out of a lust for power, nor a desire to enjoy wealth and glory.

On the contrary, Lincoln’s heart longed to simply give up politics altogether and enjoy a comfortable life in his hometown.

Yet, the only reason he challenged for re-election was for the sake of the country.

After the war, the political landscape in the North was clearly abnormal.

The Republican radicals and the Democrats were too blatant in their intentions to seize power by exploiting the situation, rather than trying to resolve it.

If this continued, the country could truly fall.

Therefore, Lincoln decided to dedicate his remaining four years to the reconstruction of the United States.

“Fellow citizens! The United States is now in a precarious situation. To overcome this crisis, we need someone already tested, not someone new!”

“Shut up with your nonsense! Aren’t you the one who brought this country to crisis?”

“How can a man who lost the war beg for votes again? Just retire forever!”

“Boo! Trash! Step down!”

It was common to be met with criticism and insults when campaigning.

He had expected it, so he wasn’t particularly affected.

The problem was that if public opinion remained this way, winning the election would be impossible.

In such cases, there was only one thing to do.

Hang someone else on the cross in his place.

And as the wartime president, Lincoln had an enormous amount of information to carry out such machinations.

Of course, it was absurd for Lincoln, who should become president, to do this himself.

His political partner, Andrew Johnson, who had decided to cast his lot with Lincoln, dropped a bombshell that would shake up the election.

“Fellow citizens! You are mistaken. There is another real reason why we lost the war! It’s because there are traitors within us!”

“…What nonsense are you spouting now!”

“The reason I didn’t reveal this fact sooner was because it could have caused serious internal division during the war. But now we must know the truth. Even if it’s a red truth that only brings scars, we must overcome it!”

All lies start with a grain of truth.

“In the early stages of the war, our military power was overwhelmingly superior to the South. But why couldn’t we overwhelm them? There are many reasons, but there was one clear reason revealed at the end of the war. That’s because there was a traitor who was leaking information to the South!”

“Moreover, that traitor shamelessly pretended to care for the country while secretly passing on information! His name is Breckinridge! He crossed over to the South before the end of the war and is living comfortably there! A brazen-faced man who even ran for president as the representative of the Democratic Party!”

That was the truth, and now it was time to add some seasoning.

“Breckinridge was a Democrat! And I was also from the Democratic Party, but I felt disillusioned by that incident and joined forces with President Lincoln! Why is that?”

“Are you saying the Democratic Party sold information?”

“Of course, not the entire Democratic Party is made up of traitors. There may be innocent people too. But the fact that most of those who sided with the South and defected during the last civil war were Democrats cannot be denied! Even those who sold information are Democrats! What will happen if the Democratic Party wins the election? The Southern traitors will blend into our society without any qualms and seize even more vested interests!”

Lincoln showed a negative reaction to this level of slander, but Andrew Johnson’s will was firm.

To be re-elected after losing the war, the defeat couldn’t be their fault.

And this was surprisingly well-received in the North.

“We didn’t lose the war. Everyone! We fought our best. We fought fiercely not only against the traitorous South, but also against France, Prussia, and even Spain, which the South brought in! What country in the world could continue fighting under these conditions! But we did it!

But even the strongest lion cannot continue to live with parasites inside. We ultimately lost not because of Europe, but because of the traitors within us! No matter how hard we struggled and risked our lives, we had no choice but to lose because there were those who were selling internal information! Am I wrong?!”

“Uhhh…”

“Everyone! This threat is not over yet! The war is not over. We must prevent those traitors from undermining this country! I promise! If President Lincoln is re-elected, I, as Vice President, will expose and eradicate the traitors hiding in our society! Do you think the Democratic Party can carry out this great task? Most of the traitors are within the Democratic Party!”

Before they knew it, people had stopped criticizing and were focusing on Andrew Johnson’s supportive speech.

Of course, the Democratic Party vehemently protested, calling it baseless nonsense.

“To brand an innocent person as a traitor! Andrew Johnson, apologize immediately!”

“Lincoln, take responsibility for this situation and step down from the candidacy immediately!”

“Breckinridge is a traitor who has nothing to do with our party!”

But once suspicion has taken root, how could it subside with a mere denial that they had no connection?

The reason this argument worked so well was not because they truly believed the Democratic Party was made up of traitors.

It was because it provided a truly excellent excuse for the reason they had effectively lost the war.

That it wasn’t a problem with the Union itself, but because of the traitors within.

Moreover, the anxiety that these people were still operating in the shadows was amplified, making it more effective than any propaganda.

In fact, Andrew Johnson, who first devised this plan, never dreamed that it would be so well-received.

It was a lucky break, but so what?

The election had to be won first.

As a result of successfully shifting the frame from punishing the incompetent leadership that lost the war to rooting out traitors, the vote moved in a direction no one had expected.

“Elected, with 200 out of 233 electoral votes, President Abraham Lincoln has been re-elected!”

“Woo-hoo!”

“It’s time for the purge! Traitors!”

After the vote counting was completed, the president of the United States, who had succeeded in being re-elected for the first time in over 30 years, appeared.

“Mr. President! My son, of all people, participated in the war! I would never sell information!”

“Mr. President! My nephew also participated in the war. What kind of fool in the world would put their family in danger!”

Boiling hatred and oppression towards the traitors who tried to sell the country.

A whirlwind of madness that no one had expected was spreading throughout the North.

* * *

While the North was in an uproar over rooting out traitors, the South wasn’t completely quiet either.

The South, which had gained the independence it had so desired in the war, was initially immersed in a festive atmosphere.

Southern President Jefferson was praised as a hero of national salvation for protecting the South’s tradition of slavery.

“Jefferson! Jefferson! Jefferson!”

“Now we are free!”

“This country is for white people! How dare black bastards try to eat at the same table!”

The citizens of the South celebrated, declaring that their time had come, and spent every day in a festive atmosphere.

But how could the world flow so kindly?

The South had suffered enormous losses to gain European help in this war, and all the debts incurred in the past few years had come back like a boomerang.

Cotton, the main export product, had to be sold at a greatly discounted price for two years due to a contract with the British Empire, and France and Prussia had to be accommodated, and financial soundness was completely shattered due to the money spent so far.

How could the lives of ordinary citizens be stabilized in this situation?

Eventually, the atmosphere in which Jefferson was treated as a hero ended in just a few months.

“You bastards, is this why we became independent!”

“Life was much better in the old days than starving to death after independence!”

“Slavery is only meaningful if we are alive. What slavery are you talking about when we are all going to starve to death!”

Of course, there is little chance that the situation will remain this bad forever.

Scholars analyze that if they can endure for about a year, the economy will stabilize to some extent, if not as much as before.

However, if citizens who are currently suffering serious difficulties are told to wait patiently for one to two years, will they obediently follow, saying, ‘Yes, I understand!’?

Time is needed. There was a need for a scapegoat to take the blame until the economy recovered to some extent.

And Jefferson and the Southern administration had no intention of taking on that role.

But they weren’t worried.

Because there were millions of things in this country that were perfect to use as scapegoats.

“The reason we are having such a hard time is because those blacks are not doing their jobs properly!”

“While diligent white people are tightening their belts and working hard for post-war economic reconstruction, those slaves are secretly hoping that we will collapse!”

“We caught blacks trying to pass our information to the North!”

They used to say that blacks were not human, so it was difficult for them to even understand human language, but now they suddenly blame them for the economic difficulties.

They say that blacks do not have proper intelligence, so they cannot think in a high-dimensional way, but suddenly they change their words and say that there are those who are plotting to sell the country.

Even if you think about it a little, it was nonsense, but as planned, the citizens’ anger turned to the black slaves who were already being oppressed.

It wasn’t really their fault, but they were looking for a punching bag to vent their frustration at the fact that their lives were in the gutter.

“Let’s put collars on the blacks so they can’t run away!”

“White people are also working hard, so how dare the slaves try to work comfortably! The legislature must delete and amend all provisions in the slave management law that favor slaves!”

Endless expression of hatred and anger.

It was easier when they were at war.

America was regressing without taking a single step forward due to the increasingly severe violence and oppression.

* * *

The Northern presidential election was over, and the International, a coalition of socialists, was established.

The latter was somewhat within the expected range, but they never thought that Lincoln would be successfully re-elected.

Moreover, Southern spies are secretly trying to sell the country.

Black slaves are rebelling and trying to hand the country over to the North.

It was a strange deja vu to see these slogans rampant in America.

Wherever people live, regardless of the era, they tend to take on similar aspects.

I enjoyed the fragrant aroma of coffee and carefully reviewed the follow-up reports in the newspaper I had seen at the last meeting.

The South was blaming the cause of social unrest on the strict blacks and beating them up, while the North was singing spy songs and engaging in McCarthyism-like [practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence] ideological verification.

As a result, the future of the North and South does not look very bright.

Should I test them out once? I think I can get quite meaningful data.

But it is impossible to target the North.

If the North becomes a real communist den, it will be difficult to handle the aftermath.

There is the advantage that the United States, a future rival, will definitely collapse, but there is also the possibility that a hostile country comparable to the Soviet Union will emerge, so a cautious approach is needed.

However, wouldn’t it be different for the South?

Their potential for development is obvious, and if slavery collapses, they are a quasi-nation that may not be able to survive alone for long.

Even if they are really overturned by a communist revolution, it is more likely that it will not have a significant impact.

Rather, the Northern and other European countries, seeing the South being destroyed, will take heed and seek their own changes, so wouldn’t it be more beneficial?

And if you think about it, it’s not necessarily a bad thing for the South.

It was a country that was going to fail anyway, but they can also have a mental victory, saying, ‘Ugh! We were just about to prosper, but it was because of the communist revolution!’?

Jefferson may have to bow three times a day in the direction of Engels [Friedrich Engels, a German philosopher, social scientist, journalist and businessman].

Okay. It seems better to sacrifice a country in Europe than to bring in a place across the continent.

What if we pour all the bubbling communist revolution into the South and blow it out of the atmosphere with that quasi-nation?

The European countries that have a sense of crisis will adopt a two-pronged strategy of cracking down on communists while easing the workers’ breath, saying, ‘Let’s give them a way to live before we become like that.’

So, the question is how to send Engels to America.

“Your Highness, Prime Minister Guizot of France has sent a letter.”

“Oh, really? I wanted to discuss something anyway, so that’s fortunate. Bring it to me, I’ll send a reply right away.”

France must be wondering what’s going on with the sudden gathering of socialists in their front yard.

From communists to anarchists.

How uneasy would they be with the Avengers and Suicide Squad all gathered together?

They’ve been expressing their disappointment in me lately, so I need to provide them with an appropriate solution as an ally.

Absolutely not, I didn’t even think about taking advantage of this to extract something more.