The new Fagin, the former butcher, was talking to Hubert, the secretary of the French embassy, in a safe house.

"Mr. Fagin, the emancipation of the British workers can only depend fundamentally on the awakening and efforts of the British workers themselves. For now, there's only so much we can do to help. In the present situation, I would like to suggest that you accept this adaptation and change the name of the 'Textile Workers' Union to the 'Textile Workers' United Club'. to avoid relevant legal issues. Also, considering that the club will have a lot of legal activities in the future, I recommend that you don't use the name Fagin lightly. Do you have any other names you can use? ”

"Then it might as well be called the Textile Workers' Party. As for the name, it's the name on my ID card, Gwen Pran. "As for the temporary resumption of work with those guys, we can talk about it after the police department releases our comrades, I know that the bread has to be eaten bite by bite." But if we change our name, will we really be able to avoid the British government? ”

"Of course it can't be, it's just a step up for them. What can make them jealous is never a loophole in the law. Especially in a country like the United Kingdom, where case law is practiced. The point is that your struggle puts pressure on them that they are willing to compromise. For example, in France, the status and income of workers are significantly higher than in England. We do not have child labour in France, because all children of school age are required to be compulsory. The income of our workers in France is also much higher than that in the UK, why? Is it because our French factory owners are extraordinarily kind? Of course not, because the workers of France showed their strength in the French Revolution. Therefore, it is only natural that those factory owners should respect the powerful workers. As long as you can maintain your own organization and strengthen your own power, then they will no longer dare to act unscrupulously. Huber replied.

"If that's the case, I don't think the 'Textile Workers' United Club' is still strong enough." Fagin, no, it should be Gwen Puran laughed, "We might as well just call it the 'All England Workers' United Club.'" ”

"Ah, the bread must be eaten bite by bite, Mr. Puran. For the time being, I suggest consolidating your fundamentals and setting an example for other industries before considering this next step. As for the recent past, I know that there are some wealthy people who have a lot of grievances about the issue of suffrage, and they want to change that in this regard. Personally, I suggest that you take this opportunity to do more than just fight for wages and things like that, and to get a message about universal suffrage. ”

In Britain in this era, there were already electoral systems, but these electoral systems had a very direct double threshold of property and origin. Therefore, in England in this era, the proportion of people who have the right to vote and to be elected is only about 2% of the total population, which is even less than the proportion of active citizens in the whole population in the early days of the French Revolution.

In the British House of Lords, members of the House of Lords naturally have to be nobles. And the lower house, that is, the members of the civilian house, also have various restrictions on elections. In the UK, the House of Commons election was based on districts, not population. As a result, a large number of rural constituencies have emerged, while densely populated cities have fewer places.

This kind of small constituency on a territorial basis was very beneficial to the conservatives, or to put it more explicitly, to the landlords and the landed aristocracy. The grip of these people in small pockets of the countryside is deep-rooted. As a result, there is a strange phenomenon in the British parliament, that is, the members of the House of Lords are often rotated, but some seats in the House of Commons have become hereditary.

This phenomenon also appeared in a certain East Asian country in later generations. At that time, because of the defeat of a certain country in East Asia, a certain country was forced to put a system of universal suffrage in the army, and as a result, the left-wing Socialist Party suddenly became stronger, and for a time it was able to compete with the Liberal Democratic Party, which was in alliance with the Chinese and big businessmen. So the country immediately adjusted the constituency settings, changing the original large constituencies into small constituencies, and then, basically every constituency elected hereditary parliamentarians, and as for the Socialist Party, which was once able to compete with the Liberal Democratic Party, there were immediately only two or three cats and dogs left.

Today's electoral system in Britain has actually made many wealthy business owners dissatisfied. Because there are not enough people in parliament who can directly represent their interests. Although they can also spend money to buy those landowners, wouldn't it be more fragrant if they could spend less money and go directly to the landowners?

So now, a bunch of factory owners are also clamoring to change the election plan. It is hoped that the number of members of the House of Commons will be distributed in proportion to the population. Now this proposal is making a lot of noise in the UK.

"Fight for universal suffrage? How much does this work for us? Gwen Puran asked.

"Universal suffrage is a job." Hubert replied, "Look at us in France, any adult man who has not committed a crime, who has no particular mental defect, no matter how much he has property, has universal suffrage. Under these circumstances, no lawmaker would dare to propose such an impudent bill as prohibiting workers from forming unions across factories. We even stipulate that there must be a union in the factory. ”

There is one point that Hubert did not make clear, and that is that the trade unions in French factories may not really represent the workers. More precisely, given the high mobility of workers in French factories, trade unions basically represent only those "skilled workers" who are less mobile, or in other words, the so-called "workers' aristocracy". But there is no need to make this so clear to the British.

Gwen Puran was completely unfamiliar with such things as elections, so he thought for a moment and replied, "I don't understand much about universal suffrage yet, and I need to study it again and think about it." Sorry, I can't get back to you right now. Oh yes, do you have any books you can recommend to me about these issues? ”

Huber was not surprised by this result. The new Fagin is not as knowledgeable as the old Fagin, but it is not for nothing that he can be arranged as the successor by the old Fagin, because he is very steady.

On the other hand, Huber also believes that the current Gewen Pran will support this direction after careful consideration. Because it is indeed in their favor to do so.