War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

London, England.

Britain is the first country to complete the Industrial Revolution and is known as the "world's factory".

In order to reverse the inherent pirate image of Britain that Europeans have had for hundreds of years, the British instead vigorously promoted its "parliamentary democracy" and its so-called progressive and civilized "gentlemen".

However, the so-called democracy of the British is nothing more than a product of the peace between capitalists and aristocrats. Only wealthy people have the right to vote and be elected. The voices of workers, farmers, and homeless people cannot be heard in the parliament at all.

However, with the process of industrialization, the urban population has increased rapidly, and a new class has emerged, that is, the working class. The workers here are different from the handicraftsmen of the past. They often have no wealth and will go hungry if they do not work for a day. What’s more, poverty.

At the same time, they are more organized and disciplined than farmers, and they are relatively centralized and easy to form organizations.

In 1838, Britain's urban population had reached 48% of the total population. Industrialization and rapid urbanization caused conflicts between the poor and the rich to proliferate.

In 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, spinning mill workers averaged eight miles a day between machines; by 1838, workers averaged twenty-four miles a day.

You may have no idea about twenty miles, which is 38.62 kilometers. During the same period, the Austrian army's marching speed was 20 kilometers per day, and its forced march was only 30 to 40 kilometers.

By the way, people can die during forced marches. In other words, it is common for people to die from exhaustion during forced marches in this era.

In addition, some people will definitely say that marching 120 kilometers in one day is not a normal situation. 99.999% of pure infantry armies at all times and at home and abroad cannot do it.

At this time, the daily working hours are also unbearable for ordinary people. The 12-14 hour work system, and the even more extreme 16-hour work system, there is nothing you dare not think about, and there is nothing they dare not do.

As for the working environment, let alone places where death is inevitable such as coal mines and brick factories, textile workshops are also torture like purgatory. In summer, the high temperature in a closed room can reach 70°~80°C. It is common for workers to suffer from heat stroke.

The workers who fell will most likely never stand up again, because most of the workers caught in the machinery will die immediately, and the remaining ones will die within a few months. If they still survive, there is a high probability that they will. Sent to the workhouse.

The increase in work intensity and working hours did not lead to an increase in income. After the initial market dividend disappeared, factory owners began to squeeze their employees. In 1804, workers could receive 15 shillings per week, but by 1838, workers could only receive 15 shillings per week. Got 10 shillings.

The more ruthless factory owners usually replace wages with physical goods, and these physical goods are usually not the best-selling products, but some unsalable defective products.

There are even mine owners who directly give ores that have no smelting value to miners to replace wages. The cost of smelting these ores has almost caught up with their own value, but all of this is legal in the UK.

As for child labor, half of the workers in factories are often minors because they are paid half the price of adults.

Some factories recruit child workers and even directly provide them with three meals as bait. After the child workers accept the contract of two pence a day, they find that the so-called three meals are not as good as pig food, but a paste made of weeds, sawdust, and soil. .

The streets of London were crowded with people, and a team of ragged workers passed through London Bridge. The police and military police were dispatched, but there were still not enough manpower because there were too many workers.

Regarding the workers' march in London, Palmerston advocated a complete suppression, and the Viscount of Melbourne also felt that the problem must be solved before the matter expanded.

Even Iron Duke Wellington, who had been semi-retired for a long time, was found. Viscount Melbourne asked Duke Wellington to assemble his troops and suppress the workers' uprising when necessary.

In order to prevent a vicious incident like that in Lyon, France, Viscount Melbourne had already prepared for the worst. He asked Palmerston to tell the Iron Duke Wellington.

If workers initiate a riot, the cavalry must disperse the crowd as soon as possible.

Palmerston, on the other hand, asked the Duke of Wellington to send troops to block the streets and prevent the workers from continuing to advance to the Palace of Westminster, where the House of Commons is located, at all costs, because once the workers reached the House of Commons, they would have a great international impact.

Because Palmerston knew what those workers were up to, they demanded that the People's Charter be made into law.

The People's Charter was a petition to Parliament submitted by the London Working Men's Association in 1837. It proposed that men over the age of 21 should have universal suffrage, that electoral votes should be held secretly, that property qualification restrictions for parliamentary candidates should be abolished, and that Parliament should vote annually Hold a re-election and distribute the constituencies equally.

At this time, the "People's Charter" had been revised, but the target was still directed at those nobles and those who were unkind for their wealth.

Some factory owners even said that if the eight-hour work system was implemented, he would rather move the factory to France and even change his nationality.

The leader of the workers also had a treasonous petition, which read.

“The Honorable House, as it is now constituted, is neither elected nor decided by the people. It only serves the interests of a few and ignores the poverty, suffering and aspirations of the majority. "

"Queen Victoria earned £164, 17 shillings and 60 pence a day, her husband Prince Albert earned £104, 20 shillings, while millions of working people earned only two or three pence a day each."

"Viscount Palmerston colluded with the Sassoon family to prepare Britain to fight for the opium traffickers, etc."

The most frightening thing is that there are still 1.25 million signatures on this petition. At this time, the total population of the UK mainland, not counting the island of Ireland, is only 10 million.

For Britain's sake, this petition must not be made public, and Palmerston did not hesitate to do so at any cost.

Historically, although the Duke of Wellington's troops arrived at the Palace of Westminster before the parade, they did not implement the blockade order. The relationship was very complicated, and the soldiers were unwilling to shoot their own people, so the parade was allowed to The procession arrived at the Palace of Westminster.

The parade has passed London Bridge and is about to reach St Margaret's Street in the Palace of Westminster.

Preparing for the worst, Palmerston hired several tramps to mingle with the crowd and shoot when necessary to cause chaos.

Once someone fired a gun in the parade, the army had to fight back, so that his plan to conspire with the Sassoon family to start a war would not be exposed, and he would still be the British Foreign Secretary.

However, at this moment, the procession suddenly turned around and went not to the Palace of Westminster, but to Buckingham Palace, where Queen Victoria lived.

In fact, many labor leaders are very puzzled by this decision. But William Lovett, the actual controller of the Workers' Association at this time and the moralist leader, insisted on doing so.

William Lovett opened a letter and inside was a letter from the "mysterious man".

"This is the instruction of the mysterious man. Do you still doubt it? The mysterious man never misses it. Without him, we would have been caught in the gendarmerie."

Several of the labor leaders recognized the mysterious man's handwriting, but this time the mysterious man used Latin again, which many leaders could not understand. Fortunately, some of the labor leaders had been priests and understood some Latin, so they could read it to everyone. .

The leaders of the British Workers' Association still admire this mysterious man very much, but this mysterious man writes in different languages ​​​​every time, which is very difficult to read, and from time to time he will insert one or two sentences in German and French.

Ahem, cough, cough, it seems I can’t write more about this topic, so there will be no more updates today.