Chapter 625: The Rise and Fall of the Mighty
Chapter 612: Heating Up
As soon as the newspapers published it, the Dakor textile factory strike quickly became a hot topic in society.
The government of the Lombardy Kingdom quickly intervened in the incident, and the first to suffer were several news papers in Milan City, the heads of which were invited by the government’s press administration to have coffee.
Newspapers have the responsibility to expose the truth, of course, do not report it does not matter, at most affect the credibility of the newspaper, does not constitute a crime.
If there is a transaction of interest, deliberately covering up the truth of the news, then it is a crime.
Now that newspaper reporters from all over the country have come, favoring the local newspaper in Milan for not reacting, it is natural to be suspected.
There is no doubt that the end result is that nothing will be found out. Since they dared to help cover it up, they were naturally prepared.
There have always been business dealings between newspapers and corporations, and transactions of interest are not necessarily in direct cash, scattered throughout the advertising business, so it is very difficult to find out what is going on.
For example: the Milanese daily newspaper, the newspaper sent its reporters far away early, in addition to the daily operations staff, several editors-in-chief have gone on vacation to Vienna.
With all the top brass out of town, and all the reporters out on assignment, and understaffed, it seems plausible that they didn’t find out about the strike at the Dacor textile factory.
Just because an investigation was avoided doesn’t mean it’s over. For a news paper, the most important thing is credibility, without credibility who still subscribe to your newspaper?
Many smart people have woken up to the fact that this time Ludwig II needle is probably not targeting the Dacor textile factory. After all, such a large enterprise is very important to the economic development of the Kingdom of Lombardy, in case of collapse caused by large-scale unemployment how to do?
The king is also need to consider the consequences, instead of the domestic news agency, the possibility is greater.
These days when you have control of the press, you have control of public opinion. Ludwig II wanted to consolidate the power of the king and it was only natural that he would put his hand on the press.
It was Franz who took the lead, founding a newspaper before his accession to the throne. Not to mention the fact that after the succession, there is no mainstream newspaper in Austria that is not influenced by the royal family.
This influence proved to be very useful. In the newspapers, the image of the royal family was instantly raised.
Naturally, there were many followers. It was still at the peak of the monarchy, and the royal families of all European countries were in control of power, so it was easy to reach out to public opinion.
The Lombard royal family is an outsider, the action is naturally a step slower. After so many years of operation, now the time is ripe, it is only normal to reach out to public opinion.
Knowing is knowing, but there is no evidence. On the surface the royal family and the newspaper have no relationship, the newspaper was warned by the government, is the best proof.
Secretly accepting the edict is inevitable, otherwise this time, it is not possible to pass so easily.
If you really want to find trouble, it actually makes sense to treat the advertising business as an exchange of benefits. Prices don’t fool people, check the advertising fees many problems are obvious.
Ludwig II’s movements were not kept secret, and Franz, who was far away in Vienna, was the first to receive information.
This is the internal affairs of the Lombardy Kingdom, Franz naturally will not interfere. The king put his hand on the newspaper, this is just a small thing.
In a way, it was also a good thing to start with. In terms of power, the emperor and the king stood in the same trench, and while Ludwig II consolidated the king’s power, he also consolidated the royal power.
This was evident in the direction of public opinion in Vienna. The newspapers hardly ever attacked the few kings in the country, and even when they cursed, it was by catching the governments of the states.
Franz was not concerned about what Ludwig II was going to do; instead, it was the strike at the Dacol textile mills that worried him.
If it wasn’t resolved quickly, it was likely to set off a chain reaction. This was an area where European workers were still very much in sync, and there was never a shortage of imitators once someone had started the ball rolling.
“Your Majesty, this is an urgent telegram from the Kingdom of Lombardy.”
The maid’s voice rang in Franz’s ears, interrupting his thoughts.
Smoothly receiving the document and taking a first glance at it, Franz had to admit that he also had the crow attribute.
“Too good to be true, too bad to be true”, just now he was worried that the Dakor textile factory strike would trigger a chain reaction, and now it happened.
After the “change from wheat to mulberry”, the Lombardy Kingdom relied on domestic supplies for food. Compared to the grain-producing regions, prices were naturally much higher.
This means that the high cost of living does not mean that wages are also high. Due to the proximity of the Italian region, there were Italians coming to work from time to time, which led to the labor wages in the Milan area not going up.
Compared to the vast majority of regions in Austria, the wage level in the Kingdom of Lombardy is at a low level. With low income and high expenses, conflicts arose.
The strike at the Dacol textile factory is just a microcosm of the fact that the Kingdom of Lombardy has always had the highest number of strikes in Austria, bar none.
Strikes are contagious, and influenced by the strike at the Dacol textile factory, workers at several neighboring factories followed suit. Strike activity that is spreading in the Kingdom of Lombardy.
Putting down the paper, Franz: “Notify the cabinet to come over for a meeting, and call the Minister of Labor as well.”
The crisis still broke out, the late 19th century was a period of high economic speed, and likewise the most serious labor conflicts.
Strikes during this period were frequent, and certain capitalists even directly machine-gunned the workers, and likewise there were capitalists who were directly exterminated by the workers, all in all it was chaos.
The eight-hour workday of later generations was fought for with the lives of countless workers during this period.
Due to Franz’s butterfly effect, the eight-hour workday in this time and space came a little earlier, and now the workers are fighting for their treatment.
Despite the Labor Protection Act, the problem is that everyone’s salary package is still not high. This is not something that the government can decide, it can only be fought for by the workers themselves.
Supply and demand in the market determines the market price of labor. Now is the time for everyone to fight for their salaries and wages. What the final outcome will be is still an unknown.
The Labor Protection Act protects the interests of both employers and employees. Workers can propose treatment and capitalists can refuse; no one can force anyone.
When it comes to the battle of interests, this war is sure to be protracted. Before long, it will no longer be Austria’s problem, all the industrialized countries in Europe, no one can escape.
……
After seeing the content of the telegram, the people who came in a hurry could not care about rest. The news of the strike at the Dacor textile factory was known to everyone, but it was only after two days that it spread to the entire Kingdom of Lombardy.
Now the number of people involved in the strike was no longer the initial 100,000 or so, but had reached a staggering 300,000, a number that continued to increase.
Franz: “You have all read the telegrams, the situation is more serious than we had estimated beforehand. The same problem exists not only in the Kingdom of Lombardy, but also in other parts of Austria.
If nothing else, a national strike, and possibly a Europe-wide strike, is about to occur.
This kind of thing can’t be stopped. What we can do is to come up with a contingency plan as soon as possible, so that we won’t be in a mess when the time comes.
The Ministry of Labor has issued a warning to poorly treated businesses: if they don’t want to face a general strike, then take the initiative and raise their salaries!
Tell them that the government will not intervene until the situation gets out of hand. In case the situation gets out of hand, whoever is responsible will be held accountable.”
The companies with poorer pay are basically traditional industries. Emerging industries are in a period of rapid development and require somewhat higher quality workers, so the treatment is naturally not bad.
The best option for capitalists to avoid strikes from happening now is to increase the treatment of workers. How many capitalists would listen, Franz was not sure.
But one thing was certain, if you stopped production and your competitors didn’t, it wouldn’t be long before you lost your market share. Conversely, you can take advantage of the opportunity to steal your competitor’s market.
This is a crisis, but also an opportunity. After the rise in labor costs, if you continue to be uninspired, it is estimated that it will not take long to be eliminated by the market.
The era of survival of the fittest is about to begin, in the back of the market competition, there is no core technology companies, the day is not so comfortable.
Prime Minister Felix proposed, “Your Majesty, why don’t we raise the minimum wage to give capitalists a wake-up call, lest some people don’t take it seriously.”
Franz hesitated, raising the minimum wage was indeed effective. It was just that there was a risk that artificial interference in the market could easily lead to unforeseen consequences.
“You can first let the wind out and let the local government set a minimum wage standard to report according to the actual local situation.”
After further consideration, Franz decided to test the waters first. These days business management, that’s quite confusing, it’s really hard for outsiders to determine how much profit capitalists make and how much they can afford to pay for labor costs.
Some obviously profitable industries, casually able to make money, however, the same people are losing money, the core problem is the management chaos.
The core problem is chaotic management. There are not one or two enterprises with chaotic management, but it is common in the whole society.
The ability of these enterprises to survive is very poor, almost no anti-risk ability to make money all rely on the market environment, low labor costs, cheap raw materials.
If any one of them goes wrong, it will immediately appear to be in trouble. Now that the Austrian economy is in transition, under normal circumstances these enterprises will be eliminated by the market.
It is possible to be eliminated by the market, but not by administrative intervention, these are two concepts.
Franz does not want to take the blame for the capitalists, obviously their own poor management, but put the blame on the head of the government, and become the experts in the mouth of the government intervention in the market of the opposite.
……
At the headquarters of the Dacor textile factory, the aging old Lanno was sighing alone. The strike was beginning to spread and the situation was no longer under his control.
Things have developed to this point, Dacor Textile Factory has reached the moment of life and death, once handled poorly, the enterprise that he fought hard for most of his life will be finished.
Concede to the workers and let the enterprise resume production? Before the news spread, he could still do so. Now if he did, he would have to consider the consequences.
It couldn’t be helped that the strike wave was triggered by Dakor Textile Mills, and if he took the lead in compromising with the workers, it would definitely further stimulate the strike wave, and then there wouldn’t be one or two people who would be offended.
The capitalists whose interests had been damaged would surely mark them in their hearts. Offended so many people, including many partners, the future of Dacor textile mills, that really is the future of the “bright”.
No compromise, now this factory shutdown, every day at least to lose tens of thousands of divine guilders. This is just, the big family Dakor textile factory can afford to lose.
The key is not much stockpiling, once the inventory is sold out, if there is no goods in time to replenish, the market share will be robbed by competitors.
For an enterprise, a short loss is not terrible, the terrible thing is to lose market share.
Losing the market may only require a wrong resolution; if you want to regain the market, it depends on whether your competitors agree or not.
Little Lanno said in a deep voice: “Father, we can’t just sit back and wait for death anymore. At this point, we have to make a compromise.
The big deal is to give up a portion of our shares afterward and pull in more people, the problem can always be solved.
Dragging it out like this now will serve no purpose to the bigger picture other than increasing losses.
The wave of strikes is getting stronger now and is spreading around, perhaps even surpassing that great revolution of 1848.”
In the face of harsh reality, Leno Jr. had advocated compromise. Regardless of all that, survive first and then talk about the rest.
Offended, as long as one is willing to concede benefits, everything is not a problem. In the capital game, as long as one has enough benefits, enemies can become friends.
Old Lanno wandered a few steps, “It’s not the same as in 1848, just look at the behavior of the workers, it’s impossible for a revolution to break out in Milan.”
Obviously, Old Lanno had faltered. The fact that Milan would not have a revolution did not mean that the Dacor textile mills were better off. Quite the contrary, it means they’re in danger.
The Lombard government would not let the situation continue, and in order to stabilize the situation, the Dacol textile mills, which were the source of the storm, would probably fall victim to quell the wave of strikes.
Don’t look at the fact that they are very large and occupy an important position in Milan’s economy, once the ruling class makes up its mind, in reality they don’t even have the power to resist.
After a pause of a few moments’ effort, the old Lanno added: “Let the management and the workers negotiate, it must be done separately.
Remember, the workers must never be allowed to group together, and must create as much conflict as possible between them. Especially these workers’ representatives must be fired afterwards on a pretext.”
……
(End of chapter)