Chapter 29: Vienna Undercurrents (Request for Votes)
Chapter 29: Vienna Undercurrent (Request for Tickets)
As winter turned to spring, the melting snow made the roads muddy. A troop was advancing with difficulty, yes this was exactly the Vienna City Defense Army on a field exercise.
The veteran soldiers can not eat this bitter, so Albrecht very kindly approved them to stay, unknowingly the command of this unit has changed.
“Stop the advance and make camp!”
Albrecht’s order rang out, as the Vienna City Defense Army, it was impossible for them to run much farther, the field stretches were only so many hundred and eighty kilometers.
“Franz, it can’t be farther. Otherwise, if something happens in Vienna, we won’t be able to respond in time!”
Franz nodded, letting the revolution break out in Vienna was not the same as letting it succeed!
The main force of the city defense army had already been brought out, and the troops that remained behind ostensibly had more than 5,000 men, but in reality, their combat power was pitifully low.
If someone wanted to revolt, it was impossible to let go of this opportunity, after all, such opportunities did not come along very often.
“Well, by this time the news should have been sent back, how is the situation of the troops?”
Albrecht shook his head and said, “Not great! We pulled them out for training at this point in time, I guess one of them is cursing in their hearts.”
It was inevitable, anyone else who encountered this kind of thing would have the same result. Franz thought of a solution that wasn’t a solution, “Then let them have a day off and go out hunting to improve their meals.”
It was a bad idea, and if the unit had not been nine thousand men, but nine hundred, it probably might have actually been possible to improve the food by hunting.
Right now, even if there was more prey in the mountains, it wouldn’t be enough for so many people to share. But it was still good to let everyone relax a little, and Albrecht didn’t object.
Time rushed by, the Vienna government was scheduled to March 1, 1848 to implement the Labor Protection Act was shelved indefinitely, worse still, the government did not give a clear explanation.
The inaction of the Viennese government was a great disappointment to the working class, which allowed the bourgeoisie to see an opportunity.
The cost of rumor-mongering was the lowest, and under the manipulation of the revolutionaries, the working class believed that the capitalists had bought the government and their interests had been betrayed.
The situation in Vienna was very unfavorable to the government, and by March 4, 1848, the news of the success of the February Revolution in France had spread in Vienna.
Manipulated by the capitalists, on March 5 the citizens, workers and students of Vienna took to the streets in demonstrations.
Under the banner of anti-hunger, anti-economic crisis, anti-dictatorship and anti-corruption, the representatives of the march presented a petition to Ferdinand I, demanding the dismissal of Metternich’s cabinet, the implementation of constitutional government and the abolition of serfdom ……
It is very interesting that the Labor Protection Act was not proposed, apparently the delegates responsible for drafting the petition at this time had betrayed the working class.
None of these demands were acceptable to Prime Minister Metternich, and naturally the petition could not have passed.
As for the wishes of His Majesty the Emperor, they were of course represented by the Council of Regents, many of whom did want Prime Minister Metternich to get lost, but the other conditions were not acceptable to them.
For the sake of their own interests, everyone still stood together for the time being.
At this time, most of the people, except for the radicals, were not yet thinking of revolution.
Including the bourgeoisie, they just wanted to cut the meat from the nobles and get through this crisis, and were not yet ready for revolution.
……
The carriage passed through narrow streets lined with short earthen houses, and a pungent odor came to the surface.
The carriage stopped in front of a small house, a well-dressed young man walked down from the carriage, a foot stepped down and felt soft, looked down to see that it was animal offal.
“hure!”
Very depressed cursed, the youth knocked on the courtyard door, the carriage had already left first.
There is no way, Vienna’s secret police is not a free meal, and they are doing the business of losing their heads.
The slums were the safest place at this time of the year, with their chaotic surroundings and criss-crossed alleys, it was the place where the police force was the weakest.
The door to the courtyard opened and out stepped a shirtless man, looking around to make sure no one had followed him before letting him in.
“Jack, you’re finally here, everyone’s been waiting for you!”
The young man named Jack frowned, the disgust in his eyes flickering away as he smiled and said, “Sorry Cole, the enemy’s nose is too good, I had to be careful in order to get rid of them!”
Cole was closing the door and didn’t notice Jack’s expression as he continued, “It doesn’t matter, you do have to be a little more careful at this time of year, let’s get started when you get here!”
“Gentlemen, the time is ripe for a revolution, there is no way the reactionary government will agree to our demands.
The Metternich government has deceived us again, and there is no longer any need to continue to endure at this time.
The revolution in Paris has been won, and this time it is our turn, and right now is the best opportunity.
The city defense army is training in the field, if they want to return, it will take two days at the earliest ……”
A man in gray said with difficulty, “Mr. Jack, I’m afraid the time is not ripe to start an uprising. Although the city defense army is training in the field, there are still five thousand people left behind, we can’t ……”
Jack frowned, he didn’t like being contradicted, especially by people he couldn’t see eye to eye with.
He wouldn’t have come to see the workers’ representatives at this time if it wasn’t for the capitalists behind the scenes, who needed them to start an uprising and put pressure on the government at this time.
According to his idea, the revolution would be fine if they, the decent people, commanded it, and these pariahs would just obediently follow the command.
However, now is the time when they are needed to sell their lives, they don’t have much prestige among the working class, they can only rely on the command of these leaders of the workers’ movement.
Jack somewhat impatiently explained: “Mr. Powell do not worry, we have secretly purchased a batch of weapons, as long as there are things in hand, you are still afraid of those old soldiers?
Besides, the army is not our enemy, except for the aristocratic officers, most of them are the same as you, the laboring masses, we are completely …… able to do so.”
Obviously they are all revolutionaries in name, but in reality they are not all the way at all, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie are inherently opposed to each other.
It’s just that in this era, the proletarian revolutionary organization had not yet been established, and existed mainly in dependence on the bourgeois revolutionary party.
In the end they were persuaded, or perhaps it was the reality that a large number of unemployed people were waiting for rice to go down the drain?
(End of chapter)