German Red Prince

Page 62

"Hello, comrade."

“Hello.” Joseph shook his hand.

"After the last war, many of our comrades in Poland were arrested or killed. We underestimated the German reaction and the uprising was too hasty. But now we have finally regrouped and Comrade Felix has come. The Polish revolutionaries have been brought together again, and the situation is much better than before."

“Felix? Felix is ​​still alive?” Joseph was somewhat surprised. He hadn’t expected him to be alive. He hadn’t seen Felix since the failure of the Russian Revolution. It was good that he was still alive. Joseph believed in his abilities. As long as Felix was around, nothing would happen in Poland.

"This is the intelligence transit point. The Polish side will send people here in the future. Also, here is some information we have collected. Please pass it on to the organization."

"No problem, take care, comrade."

"The revolution will prevail." The liaison officer saluted Joseph and then left.

Thorne is all ready, the delegates are in place, and Thälmann has arrived as well, so the Berlin conference can begin.

Chapter Ninety-Two: Searching for the Truth

Cao Yu listened to Goebbels' lecture as usual. Although Pan Xiaoyu was not used to the lectures, he often came to sit and listen to the lectures. He even took notes.

Goebbels was lecturing when someone came up to him and whispered something. Goebbels was initially surprised, but then his face lit up with joy. He nodded to the person who had spoken to him, and then apologized to the students who were listening to the lecture, explaining that he had some things to attend to and had to end the class early.

Upon hearing that today's class was ending early, Cao Yu stood up to leave. Just as he was about to walk out the door, Pan Xiaoyu suddenly called out to him.

"How about we talk?"

"Talk?" Cao Yu's voice sounded somewhat disdainful; he didn't want to have much to do with this kind of person.

"I'm not worthy to speak to you, young master. You should go find someone else," Cao Yu said, and prepared to leave.

"Wait! Hold on a minute, I have something to tell you." Pan Xiaoyu stopped Cao Yu. He had listened to Goebbels' lectures these past few days and had some understanding of him.

Although Goebbels was very critical of this type of person, Pan Xiaoyu did not feel that he was as "evil" as described.

He wanted to have a good talk with Cao Yu to see what kind of people he was in their eyes. In Pan Xiaoyu's memory, his family had never done anything bad. Although he liked to have fun and enjoy lively gatherings, he had never done anything particularly immoral.

"I have nothing to say to you. Your whole family deserves to die! Your father should be executed. You'd better not go back, or when the revolutionary army reaches Beiping, none of you will escape!"

"You're not allowed to talk about my father like that! What did we do to you? We didn't do anything to you! Why are you targeting us like this!"

"What's wrong?" Cao Yu sneered upon hearing this. "How many guns and cannons does your family manufacture for the Qing Dynasty every year? How many of our comrades have fallen under your father's weapons!"

“We didn’t kill those people! My father supplied weapons to more than just the Qing Dynasty. Didn’t you buy any? I know the Guangdong government had quite a few orders too!”

"Fine, even so, how do you explain the April 13 Incident! How many revolutionary martyrs did your Commander Pan and your father kill! And you say that? Are you saying those people were shot to death, not that you killed them?!"

"The April 13 Incident?"

Pan Xiaoyu vaguely remembered him, but he was grounded at home for causing trouble during that period and didn't get out for a long time. He heard that the April 13th student strike and demonstration was later persuaded to return home, and nothing serious happened.

"Do you know how many people you've killed? More than fifty! And more than a hundred people have been arrested, and there's still no news about them! How can you say that about these people? Are you innocent too?!" Cao Yu didn't want to waste any more words with Pan Xiaoyu, so he turned and left after saying that.

Pan Xiaoyu stood there, stunned. What was he saying? More than fifty people killed? Weren't they all rushed home? How could they kill people? How could his father and older brother do such a thing? In Pan Xiaoyu's memory, his older brother was always smiling at him, and although his father was fierce, he was very polite to his subordinates. How could they do such a thing?

He felt something inside him crumbling. If things were really as Cao Yu said, was he too naive and innocent? Was he really that hateful?

When he was in Beiping, he went out and heard a storyteller say that the revolutionaries in the south were a bunch of red-haired devils in human skin. They were best at bewitching others. These people were extremely cruel on the battlefield, killing without blinking an eye. And at midnight, they would drag the corpses back and eat them.

At that time, he was very afraid of the people in the south. In Beiping, if a child in a family did not sleep at night, the adults would scare them by saying that if they did not sleep, they would be arrested by the revolutionaries. After he came to Germany and met Cao Yu, he found that the people in the south did not seem so scary. They were not some red-haired devils in human skin, but these people seemed to really hate them.

Why do we, who are all Chinese, hate each other? Who is right and who is wrong? Pan Xiaoyu is determined to find out the truth.

He wanted to find out for himself what the beliefs of those people in the south were like, rather than waiting for others to tell him; he wanted to make his own judgment.

Pan Xiaoyu has made up his mind. He will leave Germany and go to other places to see for himself. He will go to England and France to learn and see for himself, and judge for himself whether these ideas are really that terrible.

"It's been a long time, Dr. Goebbels."

"It's been a long time, Your Highness Thorne." Goebbels excitedly grasped Thorne's hand; they had been separated for quite some time.

"How's the situation in Berlin? How are things on your end?"

"Things have been alright in Berlin recently, but the last legal crisis had a significant impact. The security situation in Berlin has not yet recovered. Sheriff York has been noticeably busier since that incident and hasn't been here for quite some time. Controls are also stricter than before, and some activities have had to be moved underground."

"My situation is quite good right now. Many people come every day, and some of them are already regulars. These people are potential activists who can be developed. I already have more than sixty people on my list. I have investigated these people and they are trustworthy. They are all steadfast fighters who can be cultivated."

"Very good, thank you Dr. Goebbels." Thorne nodded as he listened to the report. His development in Berlin had indeed not fallen behind. Now he was slowly accumulating strength, and he would surely be able to unleash amazing energy in the future.

"Adolf, how's the situation on your end? What's the status of the shops in the Berlin area?"

"The development is going very well. In addition to the three branches we opened before, we have added two more, and our revenue is gradually increasing," Adolf reported.

"Good job, Adolf."

KFC's revenue now makes up the bulk of Thorne's money, and he probably only feels at ease when Adolf is managing it.

“There’s one more thing, Your Highness Thorne.” Goebbels suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Recently, a small political party has appeared in Berlin. It must have just been established. Their ideology leans towards socialism, but there are still some differences. These people came to our place to talk about some things and asked us if we wanted to join. However, Adolf was afraid that something might happen, so he stopped them from coming again.”

"A newly formed small party? Interesting. What's it called?" Thorne felt a bit curious. There was even a party promoting these ideas. He wondered if they could unite with each other someday.

“I think it was called the German National Socialist Workers’ Party. I still have some of the leaflets they distributed back then.” Goebbels said, handing the leaflets to Thorne.

"The German National Socialist Workers' Party?" Hearing this familiar name, Thorne felt dizzy. He decided it was best not to contact them anymore; he couldn't guarantee how this party would ultimately develop.

Adolf drove these people away, which surprised Thorne. It was quite dramatic. Luckily, Thorne acted early, otherwise who knows if the mustachioed man would have been taken away by them? Thorne would have had another formidable enemy.

"Let's talk about that later. Now that everyone's here, let's start the meeting."

"Meeting?"

Adolf and Goebbels were somewhat puzzled; it turned out there was another reason for their trip.

“Of course.” Thorne greeted Thälmann as he entered. “Let me introduce you. This is Mr. Ernst Thälmann, Chairman of the Communist Party of Germany. We are here to reorganize the party organizations in the Berlin area and plan for future actions.”

Hearing what Thorne said, Adolf and Goebbels were still somewhat incredulous, even though they were somewhat prepared. They never expected that this prince would actually defect to the Communists!

Chapter Ninety-Three: The New World and the Land of the Aryans

"Our revolution must be put on the agenda, the German nation must be completely liberated, and we must rescue them from the exploitation of the Junkers and capitalists!"

Thorne excitedly told Goebbels and Adolf that the great revolution would surely triumph.

"These two are representatives from Hamburg. This meeting concerns the German Communist Party's next steps and development plans, and the development of the red forces in Germany. There are many things to discuss, so let's get started as soon as possible."

After introducing the two representatives to the others, Thorne prepared to start the meeting.

There are many diverse left-wing political parties in Germany today, each with its own propositions and ideologies, and there is no unified planning or guidance. So, the left wing in Germany is actually quite powerful, but they are all busy fighting amongst themselves.

Among these parties, the more influential ones are the Social Democratic Party Left Wing led by Karl Liebknecht, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany led by Kautsky, and the Communist Party of Germany currently led by Thälmann.

Other political parties, while not as influential, still have a certain mass base at the grassroots level. For example, Rudolf Locke's Free German Workers' Association, guided by anarchism, has attracted a large number of loyal followers. However, anarchism is too idealistic and lacks practicality, so its future prospects are limited.

Besides these, some of the remaining left-wing parties are rather fanatical. The German National Workers' Party, led by Greg Strasser, emphasizes that the nation is greater than class in the communist revolution, and his theory of "building socialism in one country" seems too abnormal to Thorne.

This theory differs from another timeline where Stalin proposed that a socialist revolution could begin in one country, then proceed in other countries, and be completed worldwide.

Although Stalin proposed building socialism in one country, he did not believe that the socialist revolution could end simply because it was built in one country.

Greg Strasser, on the other hand, argued that national character outweighs class character, and that a socialist state can only be built by the most superior nation, namely Germany. He believed that the socialist states already established would not last long, and only a German National Workers' Republic built by the German people could endure.

Regardless of the nature of his proposed theories, his statement that the socialist states that have already been established cannot exist for long has already offended the British Commonwealth and the French Commune.

You risked your life to aid the world revolution, and this is what you tell me? The Third International has permanently banned this party from joining because its views completely contradict Marxist theory.

The proletariat should have a class but not a nation. This is Marx's correct understanding of the class nature of the proletariat. There is no such thing as one race being superior to another. Industrial labor and capitalist oppression are the same in any country.

Whether in Britain or France, Germany or the United States, the proletariat worldwide suffers from exploitation and oppression by capital due to the loss of their means of production. The proletariat in each country is increasingly losing its national identity and becoming a global class entity.

The proletariat shares common class interests regardless of nationality, and the proletarians of the world should and must unite to overthrow the unequal system of bourgeois oppression.

This is an important theoretical basis for guiding the world proletarian revolution, yet it was negated by Greg Strasser's statement that national character is greater than class character in the communist revolution?

Even within left-wing parties in Germany, many criticize Greg Strasser's German National Workers' Party as an imperialist and racist reactionary force disguised as socialism.

His theory of "building socialism in one country" is indeed too outrageous. In his description, it is entirely possible to build a socialist country at the present stage, and there should be only one socialist country to realize the ideal of communism. This country must have a moderate territory and a moderate population, because only in this way can the world's resources be rationally allocated.

Through war and other violent means, conquer other countries, acquire their resources and population, and ultimately the world will only need one country, namely the German National Workers' Republic, and one nation, namely the German nation.

Humanitarian extermination and systematic sterilization of conquered nations, eliminating them within thirty to one hundred years, and physically and physiologically annihilating other peoples.

These theories were proposed by him after summarizing them. Greg Strasser believed that this was the future of mankind, and he described the world in detail in his novel "The New World".

The book describes the Aryan kingdom as the only country in the world that can exist. People in this country are called civilized people, while other races and peoples are contemptuously called "soap".

The world was divided into different functional zones by this country, which was responsible for providing them with energy and minerals. The earth’s abundant resources enabled this country to enter a communist society in the 1960s.

The book describes how, under the leadership of a great leader named Ray, the world entered a new century after the great battles of the 1940s.

In the 20th century, this country, which had defeated other nations, established a communist society. After the complete disappearance of other nations in the world in the 60th century, they were even able to fly out of Earth and the solar system and spread their advanced "Aryan theory" to other planets.

Thorne had also read the book, and after finishing it, he always wondered if this Greg Strasser had traveled from TNO. Why was he so obsessed?

Look at his theories: if he were to come to power and win a world war, it would be a global catastrophe. Pol Pot would appear amiable, the Aryan Brotherhood would have to steer clear, and the Burgundian regime would seem harmless in his presence.

The key point is that even though his theories are so bizarre, they have still attracted a lot of people and have considerable influence among certain groups.

What Thorne and his team need to do now is to continue to regulate the Communist Party of Germany, so that it doesn't become some kind of hybrid mess. They need to provide scientific and systematic guidance and strengthen the party organization.

The Berlin Party organization needed to be restored and liaison stations rebuilt, so the KFC in Thorne became an underground meeting point for the Berlin Communist Party, responsible for transmitting intelligence on comrades in the Berlin area and cultivating outstanding activists.

Those activists that Goebbels previously cultivated can now be trained, and they can be admitted to the party when the time is right.

The next steps were also proposed at this meeting: to do everything possible to develop activists and outstanding party members throughout Germany, to go deep into the working class and peasantry, to unite the forces of the lower and middle classes, and to make defeating German imperialism the fundamental goal.

Next, in Darmstadt, Thorne will gradually build a regular armed force, and begin training armed workers throughout the country to awaken the workers' fighting spirit and thoroughly awaken the vast proletariat.

"Everything for the future, comrades." Thorne looked at the others, and everyone's eyes shone.

"Workers, unite! I believe we will see the dawn of victory in the near future!"

Chapter Ninety-Four: Declaration of Joining the Party

"What we need to do at this stage is to strengthen our forces," Goebbels said after a moment of silence.

"Although we are trying our best to promote these ideas, our strength is still very weak. In Berlin, we can only influence a few people on a small scale and in a small area, and we cannot really have an impact on the population."

"We need more people to stand up and support this cause, and to get more people to join us. We need to unite all forces that can be united, and steer the development of Berlin in our favor."

Hearing what Goebbels said, Thorne frowned. Goebbels was right. No matter how hard they tried to promote it, the current efforts were still too weak. Berlin was so big that he could only influence a small part of the population and could not spread his influence far and wide.

“That is indeed a problem.” Thorne looked at Thallman. “Our influence is still too weak. If we want more comrades to join us, we must find other ways. How did you promote yourselves before?”

“We?” Talman paused for a moment. “We mainly rely on loyal comrades within the party, sending them to factories or mines to spread our ideas, first influencing a group of workers, and then having those workers spread our ideas in turn. In this way, we can gradually develop and win over more like-minded people.”

"Let loyal comrades within the Party influence the workers?"

There's nothing wrong with this method; most left-wing political parties do it this way now, personally going to the grassroots to promote their ideas and win public support.

However, while this method is effective, it is still a bit slow. If we go to find them, there are so many factories and so many workers in Berlin. How long will it take to find them?

Why not let them come to us? That would free up more time and save us from many unnecessary steps.

“We can have these workers come to us.”

"Let these workers come to us?" Hearing this, Talman was a little puzzled. They could be arrested by the police at any time for doing this kind of propaganda. Wouldn't having the workers come to them increase their risk of exposure? And why would those workers come to them on their own initiative?

“Yes, let those workers come to us.” Thorne nodded. “Do you remember our workers’ club in Darmstadt?”

"A workers' club?" Thälmann certainly knew this. After Thorne implemented the eight-hour workday and weekend system in Darmstadt, the workers' club was packed every day. The workers studied and had fun there, and they would also share revolutionary ideas with their former comrades. The atmosphere was very good.

"So you want to build a workers' club in Berlin too? But the workers here in Berlin don't have the time, will they even come?"

“You’re half right,” Thorne chuckled. “I’m not moving the entire Workers’ Club here, but rather a part of it to Berlin.”

"As far as I know, Wilhelm II was very troubled by the security situation in Berlin after that legislative crisis. Many people took the opportunity to cause trouble. Didn't Chancellor Tirpitz propose a rest plan a few days ago?"

"In order to quell these discontents and further stimulate the already decadent situation in Berlin, Chancellor Tirpitz proposed a plan to add 21 hours of rest per week, giving the workers almost an extra day of rest, which we can make good use of."

“Isn’t our workers’ club’s football program very popular? In Darmstadt, there are always a lot of people watching every game. We can bring this activity to Berlin and let these workers play football, thereby attracting them to come and find us. Wouldn’t it be much easier to promote ourselves under this name?”

"Using football to attract workers? That's a good idea for advertising, but amateur football doesn't attract many people, does it?"

"If we form a professional football team, it will take a long time to train. The workers don't have that much time. Besides, would the factory owners let them play football instead of working?"

"Why not?" Thorne smiled. "All those people care about is how much money they can make. If they feel that letting their workers play football earns them more money than letting them work, would they still stop them from playing football?"

“We can hold regular football matches, allowing the factories that have registered with us to send their teams to compete, and award prizes to the winning teams. Once those factory owners realize that this sport is profitable, will they still stop their workers from participating? I bet they'll all be eager to start right away.”

"Moreover, with this event, we estimate there won't be those people loitering around on the streets every day anymore, and it will even boost Berlin's economy. Wilhelm II should thank us."

"That is indeed a good idea. It allows them to spontaneously organize teams and then promote themselves through various competitions, subtly influencing the citizens."