I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 419

< Communist Civil War (2) >

If you were to name the most famous thinker in the world, who would come to mind?

Just a few years ago, such a question would have sparked heated debate, but now, the answer is clear.

Friedrich Engels.

A unique thinker who elevated communism, often dismissed as mere fantasy, into the realm of academia. He founded the International [a socialist organization aiming for international worker solidarity] based on this, and ignited a communist revolution in the South.

In capitalist countries, he was nothing short of the arch-villain of the Reds, a name that made people grind their teeth. Yet, no one could deny his influence.

To the capitalists of Europe, Engels might be similar to Muhammad for the leaders of medieval Europe.

However, as much as the powerful and capitalists feared him, Engels was a living idol to those immersed in communism.

This is obvious with just a little thought.

What was Marx’s status when Marxism spread in the original history?

To communist intellectuals, Marx was almost like Moses, who brought down the Bible.

Of course, Marx himself had his issues, and he maintained his position as a scholar, so he couldn’t exert such tremendous influence.

The dogmatism of Marxism intensified rapidly after his death.

It is not uncommon in history for someone to be elevated to an absolute position after death.

In reality, it was Lenin, not Marx, who armed himself with communist ideology, actually started a revolution, and achieved success.

And Lenin’s influence was as great as, if not greater than, Marx’s.

He actually succeeded in a revolution that no one had ever achieved before and created a socialist state, so how shocking must that have been?

Afterward, countless communists who sprang up everywhere took Lenin as their role model, and praised Lenin as a great revolutionary, no matter what their true feelings were.

But I can say with certainty that Engels is now far more famous than those two.

In the original history, Marx founded the theory and Lenin started the revolution, but in this era, Engels did it all himself.

If there had been someone in the original history who single-handedly achieved the accomplishments of Marx and Lenin?

I guarantee he would have been revered as the god of communism, untouchable to anyone, until the end of the Cold War.

That’s why I decided it was time to take action.

If that man is left unchecked, it’s obvious that he will exert an increasingly strong influence over time.

However, as Marx said, Engels, as the General Secretary of the South, had already built a powerful stronghold that ordinary people could not even approach.

This means that it was long ago that he surpassed the level that could be shaken by a few lines of articles or a few leaflets.

No matter how much you leak articles that could be fatal to him, he can just ignore them, saying, ‘I can’t hear you, I can’t see you.’

Even if people whisper that he’s scared and should explain himself if he’s confident, the highest authority figure can just ignore whatever is said from the outside.

Moreover, the South is now the only communist country in the world.

In other words, no matter how much we attack from this side, they are likely to say, ‘Everyone! This is all a plot by capitalists to slander our great General Secretary Comrade!’

And of course, if they stick together like that, it becomes impossible to inflict effective damage no matter what anyone says from the outside.

“Your Majesty, doesn’t that mean that no matter how much we spread these articles, it won’t have any real meaning after all?”

“Not really. Didn’t I say? If an attack comes from the outside, they will now stick together.”

“Isn’t that the same thing after all?”

As expected, perhaps because he is a scholar, Marx has a poor understanding of such political maneuvers.

“As you said, Engels is not someone I can easily drag down, even if I am the de facto ruler of the most powerful country. That would be war. So, what should we do?”

“…Are you thinking of shaking things up from the inside?”

“Yes. And these articles will be the bait for that. Well, keep watching. It won’t take too long.”

Marx still looked puzzled, but he didn’t bother to ask anything more.

And as promised, the very next day, just as the conspiracy theory that had been around before was slowly evolving, a new piece of firewood was spread throughout Europe.

[Revolutionary or Thief? The Truth About Engels!]

[Engelsism, Revealed to be Plagiarism!]

[How Was a Thief Repackaged as a Revolutionary!]

The civil war that would eat away at communism opened its first salvo in that way.

* * *

[The True Identity of Engelsism. What Theory Did He Steal!]

“I want you to make it clear that the moment even a single line of this kind of crazy article enters the country, not only the executives and employees of the newspaper company but also their families will be sent to forced labor camps!”

“Yes! General Secretary Comrade!”

“And make sure that all newspapers are checked by the authorities before they are released! Do you understand? Never forget that you will also be held responsible the moment such malicious rumors circulate within the country!”

“We will keep that in mind!”

Engels, who was looking at the newspaper with the special article from the Times that was all the rage in London, tore it to pieces and burned it.

“Damn it!”

He stamped on the charred black remains several times and cursed, but the boiling anger did not subside.

Who the hell leaked this?

Bakunin?

However, looking at the contents of the article, there were things that absolutely no one but Marx could know, as if mocking him.

Others may not know, but Engels was certain.

“Why is that guy, who has fallen as a lackey of the capitalists, doing this now…”

The most important thing when a person does something is the motive.

You need to know the reason to understand the other person’s scheme and think of an appropriate response.

The problem is that Engels has no idea why Marx is doing this.

Unless he is someone who committed a crime because he has a mental problem, there must be a reason for any scheme.

Resentment? If there was such a thing, he would have done it as soon as Engels left England, so this is not it.

Financial gain? He may have been promised a share of the profits from selling this scoop, but as far as he knew, Marx was receiving enormous funding from Killian.

There’s no way a man who buys his wife expensive diamond necklaces would leak this for such a reason. This is also out of the question.

Then what is it?

Could it be that he’s jealous because he’s now in a position that no one in history has ever reached with the theory he created?

This seems somewhat possible.

At first, he wondered if Marx could be such a petty person, but… the Marx he knew was indeed a great petty person in private.

A genius who only valued himself and never considered the position of others.

Wasn’t Marx the kind of person who wouldn’t care how much discomfort other people experienced as long as he could complete his research?

However, even if Engels is kicked out, Marx cannot sit in this position.

After all, he is just a fallen lackey of the capitalists who lost his purity a long time ago.

‘Wait, a lackey of the capitalists?’

He was so focused on Marx that he had completely forgotten.

What was the reason why he fought so fiercely with him and broke up?

‘Could it be… is this Killian’s doing?’

In the first place, the Marx that Engels knew was close to a pure scholar, even if there was a slight problem with his personality.

He is not the kind of person who would harm someone by doing something like this that no one can understand.

Then who else in the world can handle such a Marx, or hear the facts that only he and I know?

“I see. Is the plan to use this opportunity to shake us up?”

Engels personally had no ill feelings towards Killian, who had helped him in the past.

In fact, even after the communist state was established, Killian did not show a reaction that directly opposed him.

So he thought that the other side had similar feelings, but it seems he was mistaken.

“It doesn’t matter how much they talk, nothing will change.”

If the people who planned this are the British Empire, it becomes easier to respond.

He can just drive it as a national-level operation to shake him up and strengthen internal solidarity.

He was worried about having to be mindful of the British Empire because of Bakunin’s meddling, but he is rather grateful that the other side is giving him an excuse.

He could see the image of his kingdom, which would become even stronger after going through this storm.

However, he did not realize that he had mobilized all his capabilities to quell this sudden, ominous news.

That Bakunin, who was trembling, not knowing when he would be reduced to a mayfly [something short-lived and insignificant], had contacted an informant from the James Group who had come to fulfill the previously concluded resource import contract.

* * *

Only death for traitors.

Bakunin was not so naive as to believe that this immutable truth would not apply to him.

Still, fortunately, Engels’s attention, which had been trying to thoroughly 털려고 [Korean slang for ‘shake down’ or ‘squeeze’], him, had temporarily turned to Europe.

Thanks to this, he was able to postpone his death for a very short time.

Of course, he did not have the naive idea that he was alive because of this.

The reason why Engels did not immediately start the purge operation was simply because he judged that it would not be good to purge the second-in-command now that the situation could develop into a conflict with Europe.

When the situation calms down again, he will definitely resume the operation and collect as much information as possible.

However, even though he knew all that, there was nothing Bakunin could do.

Even if he wanted to secretly leave the country, it was difficult to even get out of Richmond, so what kind of overseas escape are we talking about?

While he was waiting for ruin to come, trembling with anxiety.

An unexpected helping hand came to him.

“…Chairman James told you to give this to me?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t know what’s inside either?”

“He instructed that no one except Councilor Bakunin should open the contents.”

What the hell is the identity of these James Group guys?

Even if Friedrich passed on information about Alexander II and himself to the James Group, there is no way that Killian would not have heard about it.

But the company was not dissolved, and Chairman James is still fine?

There are only two possible scenarios for this to happen.

Either James was cooperating with Killian from the beginning, or he betrayed him like Friedrich.

Seeing that the Anti-Monopoly Act is about to be passed, it is likely that the latter is more likely, but in any case, the James Group was strangely not mentioned in this incident, and thanks to this, they are acting as if nothing had happened.

So, even if they import a large amount of raw materials from the South according to the contract they made before, no one is suspicious.

“Is Chairman James… doing well?”

“Yes. He is doing well as usual.”

In fact, if you look at it coldly, it is James’s fault that things have deteriorated to this point.

He made a big noise saying to trust him, but what is the result?

The prestige of the Russian imperial family has fallen to the ground, he is trembling, not knowing when he will die, and James himself has no choice but to watch the Anti-Monopoly Act, which he wanted to prevent so much, being passed.

It was absurd that he was sending such a letter to him with a brazen face, but he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of nonsense he had written.

“I have nothing to say even if I have ten mouths, but what kind of nonsense… um?”

Bakunin’s eyes began to tremble rapidly, thinking that he would have written a useless excuse.

“You… what did you hear about what I would do after reading this letter?”

“I heard that you would cooperate, although I don’t know what it is.”

James, you son of a bitch… he was assuming that he would just accept it without any conditions?

Even though his pride was hurt, it was definitely an offer that he had no choice but to accept.

Whether it was a helping hand or the whisper of the devil, he didn’t know yet, but the unchanging truth was that if he let go of this hand, he would die right now.

Then there’s no choice.

“Okay. Tell him I gratefully accept.”

Even though there was not a single mention in James’s letter, Bakunin could easily guess who was behind this huge picture.

At the same time, he slowly began to realize who he had been digging behind.

Yes, it was an impossible task.

Now that he realized it late, he had no choice but to choose the method with the highest chance of survival.

It is not the strong who survive, but the survivors who are strong.

Bakunin now just wanted to be a strong person.