The Rise of the Third Reich

Of course, the landowners and rich peasants in right-bank Ukraine have fled, because the landowners and rich peasants here are very different from the Chinese landlords and rich peasants during the revolutionary war years. They have enough financial resources to cope with their lives after fleeing.

Take Trotsky’s rich peasant father as an example. He owned about 300 dessiatines of land in Kherson County, Ukraine. 1 dessia is equal to 1.09 hectares, which equals 16.35 acres. 300 dessiatines is 4905 acres of China... This is a rich peasant! Those rich peasants in China who only have a dozen acres of land and an old scalper are basically paupers compared to the Trotsky family.

The concept of a landlord is also different from that in China. You are a landlord if you have twenty acres of land and collect some rent. Landowners here refer to aristocratic property owners. Before the Russian serfdom reform, they not only owned the land, but also owned the serfs on the land, so they were also called serf owners or lords. For example, Hersmann's wife Chloe was a German reactionary female landowner.

Of course, there are no aristocratic landowners in bourgeois-landlord Ukraine today. People just habitually refer to the Ukrainian Free State bureaucrats who own large tracts of land and do not manage it themselves but rent it out to rich peasants as landlords.

Of course, those rich farmers who owned thousands of acres of land and the big landowners who were officials in the Ukrainian Free State were not fools. Most of them fled to Lviv before the Soviet Union invaded.

Most of those who are still staying along the Dnieper River and have not escaped are "poor and lower-middle peasants" who only own less than 10 acres of land - 10 acres is 163.5 acres! Horses are generally used for plowing (oxen are not used in Europe), so every household has a horse. Because it is black soil, it does not require careful fertilization to produce a good harvest, and agricultural costs are not high. Therefore, these poor and lower-middle peasants in Ukraine have no worries about food and clothing, but they are not rich by any means.

In addition, most of their land was not handed down from their ancestors, but was given to them by the Ukrainian Free State government for free. It turns out that after right-bank Ukraine broke away from Russia, the ruling Ukrainian Socialist Party (did you not expect it? Comrade Petliura is also a socialist) confiscated the land originally belonging to the Russian landlords and rich peasants, and then divided it equally among the landless Ukrainian peasants.

However, the small matter of the landlords and rich peasants escaping was not a problem for Bolsheviks like Khrushchev.

"Comrade Zharki, you said the enemy has escaped?" Khrushchev said in a very serious tone to the Ukrainian Bolsheviks accompanying him on the inspection, "But this is impossible! The enemy will not escape far away and then watch helplessly To support the victory of socialism in Ukraine! This is not in line with the objective laws of social development, nor in line with the Marxist principles of class struggle, and is unscientific."

A Ukrainian cadre named Ivan Zharki looked at Khrushchev in a daze - he just ran away, and the building was empty, with no trace at all. What does this have to do with science?

"According to the Marxist principle of class struggle, the enemy is not willing to lose. The closer our cause is to victory, the more intense the struggle will be." Khrushchev was talking about the "theory of intensification of class struggle" put forward by Comrade Stalin. , is of course an undoubted truth.

Although the old Bolshevik Zharki has been lurking in right-bank Ukraine for a long time, he is still very clear about the theories proposed by Stalin.

"Comrade Secretary," Zharji asked with some embarrassment, "Look at this village, the richest families have all fled, and the rest are middle peasants and poor peasants. How should we find the landlords and rich peasants among them? Woolen cloth?"

After hearing what the old Bolshevik said, Khrushchev nodded with satisfaction. He knows how to look for landlords and rich peasants among those who appear to be poor and lower-middle peasants... This person has a very high political consciousness!

"Comrade Zharky," Khrushchev said, "the first thing we have to do is not to find the hidden landlords and rich peasants, but to establish a party organization based on the poor and lower-middle peasants. With the party organization, we want to dig out the hidden landlords and rich peasants." It is very easy for the land-rich elements lurking among the poor and lower-middle peasants.”

In the Ukrainian Free State, which has the most fertile black soil in the world, has a population of only a few million, implemented land reform twenty years ago, and has a very light tax burden, of course there is also extreme poverty - lazy people, drunkards There are people like gamblers and gamblers everywhere.

Now some of these people are going to be lucky enough to be poor...

…

"This is not peace, but asking us to surrender without a fight!" Churchill, who accompanied Prime Minister Chamberlain to the Palace of Versailles in France to meet with French Prime Minister Daladier and Italian leader Mussolini, heard about the peace proposed by the Germans. If the conditions are met, express your opposition loudly.

The peace conditions proposed by Germany are actually to replace Field Marshal Hamerstein (he is one of the three giants in the Schleicher-Hersmann Group, has served as the General Staff for a long time, and was also appointed Marshal because of the Polish campaign. Now He served as commander-in-chief of the Western Front) and was in charge of the General Staff, a trap devised by Hessmann.

It was not used to frame Britain and France, but to deceive a group of small European countries and peace advocates within Germany. There have always been peace advocates in Germany, and even leader and Prime Minister Hitler also advocated peace talks with Britain.

Within the German army, there are also many peace advocates. General Ludwig Beck, who succeeded Hessmann as deputy chief of staff (he was a confidant of Field Marshal Hammerstein), advocated negotiating a peace with Britain and France to end the war and avoid falling into a protracted war. Marshal Hammerstein, who served as the commander-in-chief on the Western Front, also lacked confidence in attacking France. General Ludwig Beck's opinion was actually the opinion of Marshal Hamerstein.

Hersmann's "big brother" Marshal Schleicher still had some confidence in fighting Britain and France - because the bombing of Scapa Flow on September 3 gave the German Navy the opportunity to use a break-up fleet to cooperate with submarines to blockade Britain. Three islands, so Schleicher believed that this method could be used to force Britain to surrender. As long as Britain surrenders, France will naturally have no choice but to make concessions to Germany...

As for crushing France with armored forces and letting Emperor William sleep in the Palace of Versailles, that is what Marshal Hessmann talks about every day. Most German generals only thought that this "inexperienced" young marshal (Hessmann's qualifications were still slightly junior) was talking big words.

After Hersmann proposed the three major peace conditions of the "EU", "European Common Market" and "Euromark", the generals of the German Wehrmacht believed that Hersmann was relatively reliable, so they expressed their support for him. .

"France cannot accept it either!" French Prime Minister Daladier followed Churchill in saying, "France will never accept a European Union led by Germany!"

If this European Union is led by France, then Daladi will definitely support it with both hands! Mussolini thought to himself: It is a pity that neither Germany nor Italy can accept such an EU.

"But Belgium and Luxembourg are very likely to accept it!" British Prime Minister Chamberlain said with some worry. "A European common market is not bad for these small countries, and it can prevent their own countries from becoming battlefields."

Chamberlain could already imagine what Belgium and Luxembourg were thinking when they learned of Germany's "peace terms." It seems impossible for these two countries to allow British and French troops to enter their territories.

"But in the long run, this will turn them into the German states that were annexed by Prussia!" Churchill said. "A common market and a common currency will inevitably create a fully integrated economy. In this economy, the German Empire will Its dominant position is comparable to Prussia’s position in the German Customs Union in the past, so we must firmly oppose it!”

The current German Empire is huge enough, and controls more land and population than Britain and France combined! The total economic volume also exceeds that of Britain and France combined, and it still maintains rapid growth. This country is enough to become the core and master of the European Union!

"Even if France is not included," Daladier frowned, "this 'customs union' is dangerous enough!"

In Daladier's view, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, which is very pro-German, will definitely join this "customs union." Finland and Romania, which are increasingly dependent on Germany for security, will sooner or later join. Belgium and Luxembourg may be forced to join half-heartedly. The pro-German forces within the four countries of the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are strong, and it is only a matter of time before they join this "customs union".

In this way, the economies of Germany, Poland (including Western Ukraine and Lithuania), Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Luxembourg will gradually be integrated into one! This "customs union" has a population of more than 200 million and a land area of ​​nearly 3 million square kilometers (excluding Greenland).

Perhaps in another generation or two, this "Customs Union" will merge into a new Greater German Empire!

"Leader," Chamberlain looked at Mussolini, "if the Germans realize their ambitions, sooner or later Italy will become a member of the 'German Customs Union'!"

The British Prime Minister used the "German Customs Union" to express that the British Empire would resolutely oppose Germany's proposition.

"No," Mussolini shook his head firmly, "Italy will never join the 'German Customs Union'. This is not in Italy's interests."

"Leader," Prime Minister Daladier asked immediately, "then will Italy stand with us?"

Mussolini still shook his head, spread his hands helplessly, and said with a wry smile: "Although joining the 'German Customs Union' is not in Italy's interests, it is also not in Italy's interests to oppose it with force. Because the Italian army has not yet Be prepared for war with Germany..."

Do you want help?

Chamberlain and Daladier looked at each other. Bribing Italy to join the war would not be cheap, and it might not be worth the money.

In addition, can Britain and France really use a world war that will kill millions of people to prevent the birth of a "customs union"?

Is such a war justified? How can Britain and France convince Belgium and Luxembourg to reject Germany?