Chapter 14: Trip to the Soviet Union (2)

Contini's visit was, to a certain extent, Stalin's hope to prove the correctness of his theory with the help of outsiders, so he treated him very highly. Not only did he clean the Sochi municipal scene many days in advance, but he also After tidying up several of the best holiday villas, when Contini arrived at the Sochi pier by ship, not only did the People's Commissar (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Chicherin come to greet him in person, but he also held a grand welcome ceremony. Several people dressed in The Young Pioneers in bright costumes saluted and laid flowers to Contini and Ada. Chicherin also accompanied him on the red carpet, reviewed the guard of honor, and fired a salute.

In terms of level, Contini was treated as the Italian Foreign Minister. Although Contini was close to this level in Italy, he did not have a government status after all. This point must be said that the Soviet reception staff were very attentive.

Since Comrade Steel was so polite, Contini naturally wanted to reciprocate the favor. He kept telling lies. Faced with the reporter's interview, he smiled and said: "From the enthusiastic smiling faces of these young pioneers, from the clean and spotless city of Sochi." In terms of style, I have initially come to the conclusion that under the leadership of the Russian Bolsheviks with Comrade Stalin as the core, the Soviets have indeed undergone earth-shaking changes..."

All reporters and officials present, including Chicherin, were stunned for a moment after listening to the interpreter's introduction, because now the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) still emphasizes collective leadership, and there is no such thing as "Comrade Stalin as the core". Soon there will be " The Pravda reporter reacted, raised his hand and asked: "Your Excellency, President, you just called General Secretary Stalin a comrade. Do you also agree with our revolutionary theory? Do you also agree with Marxism-Leninism?"

Chicherin breathed a sigh of relief after listening to the question. Finally, the reporter still had some political awareness. Instead of asking about the "core", he asked such a somewhat "tricky" question. As we all know, Contini is a young revolutionary theorist and a reactionary. Bolshevik theorists, now that the word "comrade" is spoken, the matter becomes serious. Of course, he will not embarrass Contini. As long as he is willing, this news will not appear in the newspapers tomorrow.

Contini smiled slightly: "The so-called comrade is what I call Mr. Stalin from the bottom of my heart. If you only define comrades as people who agree with the Bolshevik ideas, then I am afraid that Mr. Stalin and I are not comrades; but if you follow my definition I advocate that comrades should be defined as politicians who serve the country and the people, and are full of hope to develop their country, get rid of the oppression of international powers, and let the overwhelming majority of the people live a good life. I believe that Mr. Stalin and I have a common language. Our party Italy is working hard to carry out the great cause of revitalizing the economy and realizing national rejuvenation. Mr. Stalin worked hard to carry out the noble cause of restoring the economy and realizing socialism in one country in the Soviet Union. Such passion and mission to fight for the country and the people are not worthy of the word "comrade" "?"

Chicherin took the lead in applauding: This sentence is very good. It not only clearly explains the differences between Italy and the Soviet Union, but also shows that they have a common language and common interests. This laid a good foundation for the next negotiation.

Contini’s words arrived at Stalin’s desk that afternoon. In addition to Chicherin, the one who personally reported to him was Yagoda, the second deputy director of the Soviet State Political Security Service. There was a feared person in the General Security Service. Named Cheka, Dzerzhinsky was the leader of the Cheka and a close comrade-in-arms and staunch supporter of Stalin. He did not hesitate to side with Stalin when dealing with old and new opposition. Therefore, all the important Cheka officials from him on down are members of the Stalin system, so they attach great importance to Contini's arrival. The seemingly ordinary people on the dock, except for the young pioneers who presented flowers and a few reporters, are all Cheka members. Ka plainclothes pretended that even these carefully selected Young Pioneers were actually Miaohong's second-generation father, who was usually a loyal cadre of the party and government.

"Interesting... interesting..." Stalin laughed after hearing this and asked Chicherin, "What do you think?"

"The surprises may not end there..." Chicherin said with a smile, "I accompanied them to dinner at noon, and during the dinner they casually mentioned that Italy was repairing and refitting the Goben for Turkey, so I took the opportunity to ask about it. Regarding the topic of asking Italy to improve the Gangut-class battleship, what do you think he said? He said, Mr. Minister, why should we improve the Gangut-class battleship? The design of this class of warships is outdated and cannot be improved. To keep up with the advanced pace of the world, it is time to build new warships. The Soviet Union is not a signatory to the "Washington Arms Treaty" and is not bound by this article..."

Chicherin intentionally asked this question to see if he could get some benefits from Italy, and Contini intentionally or unintentionally wanted to promote the construction of Soviet battleships. Mao Xiong put more power into the sea, and his energy on land Just one point less, so he enthusiastically promoted the Caracciolo-class battleship, saying that it could be exported to the Soviet Union.

"Italy wants to build a capital ship for us?"

"No, it's better than undertaking the construction... He said that Italy can export drawings and technology for construction in the Soviet own shipyard, and even send people to help and guide us."

Stalin suddenly became enthusiastic: Undertaking construction and assisting in construction are two completely different concepts. The former can allow the Soviet Union to obtain a powerful warship, but it will only have limited improvement in the technical level of the military industry; the latter can obtain a warship that is slightly more powerful. It’s a little bit close (there is definitely a difference in level between self-built and foreign-built), but it can make the technical level advance by leaps and bounds. With this foundation, building more battleships in the future will not be a problem. This had a fatal attraction for Stalin, who was fully looking forward to building a large navy.

"What does he want?"

"Money!" Chicherin laughed. "He said that the warship design, together with the 381mm naval gun technology and drawings, can be exported to us, and the initial asking price is US$3.6 million."

"The price is not cheap... How much does it cost to build a new Caracciolo class?"

"It's about 10-12 million US dollars, but I think this deal still has a lot of merits..." Chicherin analyzed, "First of all, Italy will provide technology and experts and let the Soviets undertake the construction, and the shipbuilding cost we will invest is Not so much. The overall cost may be 1-2 million US dollars more than simply buying a warship. The extra 1-2 million US dollars is equivalent to getting patents and technology; secondly, he knows that we can’t come up with the money, so he gives We found a compromise method, which can be offset by agricultural products and primary industrial products, converted at a fixed price agreed by both parties, and repaid in 3-4 years, which is exactly equivalent to a shipbuilding cycle. In this way, we do not have to worry about Italy playing tricks on the drawings and technology. If they mess up, they won't be able to get the follow-up money; finally, I think this barter trade is a good way to effectively solve the Soviet Union's current difficulty of insufficient foreign exchange. We use primary industrial and agricultural products to exchange other industrial equipment from Italy , vehicles and other urgently needed supplies are conducive to breaking the imperialist blockade.”

"Yes, it is very thoughtful and creative. You can talk to Comrade Bukharin about this idea. If it is feasible, we will operate according to this method."

"clear."

Stalin suddenly asked Yagoda: "Is he still only 22 years old?"

"Yes, he is 22 years old and has not graduated from college yet!" Yagoda took out Contini's complete file from the briefcase he carried with him and handed it over respectfully. He knew that Comrade Stalin must want to see this.

The energy of the Cheka is still not small. Contini has collected and sorted out all the big and small things. Except for the illegitimate child, which cannot be inquired about, many other aspects have been published in great detail. Stalin has made a rough sweep of general social relations. After a few glances, he let it go and focused on the United Group. After a few glances, he asked in disbelief: "The scale of his United Group is at least more than 200 million U.S. dollars? This is all what he did in 3 years." Was it a matter of time?"

"Yes, he is a genius, and he has amazing luck..." Yagoda said with emotion, "I just got the news today that the United Group announced the discovery of a large oil field in the Algerian exploration block, with medium-term reserves of 1 billion barrels, with prospective reserves of 2 to 5 billion barrels. Although the quality of crude oil is not as good as that of the Libyan oil fields, the scale will be more than four times greater! According to the agreement, in the next 30 years, for every 100 barrels of oil produced, the United Group can take away 62 barrels, and the entire capital market It’s all crazy!”

Stalin thought to himself, could he not be crazy? The current price of oil is a little more than US$1 a barrel. If the United Group takes away 620 million barrels in the next 10-15 years, it will be at least US$700 million, equivalent to 50 of the best battleships or equivalent to the British, French, American, Japanese, The total number of battleships from the five Italian countries (referring to shipbuilding costs alone)!

Chicherin smiled and said: "The interests are so huge, the French will not let him get what he wants, and will definitely use various tricks to prevent him from mining smoothly..."

Yagoda shook his head: "It's difficult. It's a desert there. Is there any reason not to allow the United Group to exploit it? And the spokesperson of the United Group also revealed two points. The Algerian United Petroleum Company will be established soon, and next year it will consider going with the United Bank. The French may have a way to deal with a joint consortium that goes public in the United States. Once the company successfully goes public and becomes a multinational giant, the French government will also consider it when facing several or even a dozen top consortiums. Isn't that what happens in capitalist countries? "

Stalin nodded slightly, then sighed: "This will cause some trouble for the Soviets. After a large number of new oil fields are developed, international oil prices may drop, which will affect our sources of foreign exchange. Alas, let Comrade Bukharin deal with these headaches." Bar."

Chicherin also reacted: Now the Soviet Union relies on exporting industrial and agricultural products in exchange for a little foreign exchange. If the price of oil falls, it will definitely affect the source of foreign exchange. This is a big challenge to the cause of socialist construction, but there is nothing we can do about it. Well, who made the United Group so lucky?