Chapter 26 The Inevitability of History

If it were not for his studies at Leningrad University and the experience accumulated over the years in the economy, Seryosha would not have understood the relevance of this discussion between Yakovlev and Gorbachev. Since the end of the Second World War www.biquge.info Keynesianism has gradually become a winning weapon for the economic development of various capitalist countries in Western Europe. In Britain, the influence of Keynesianism is particularly prominent. After World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who led LinkedIn to victory over the Nazis, was ousted, and Labour leader Attlee became the first post-war prime minister. Although Churchill led the Conservative Party to make a comeback after that, it still could not stop the long-term ruling trend of the Labour Party, and Keynesianism came to the stage of history under this special historical background.

The post-war Soviet Union and Europe faced almost the same problem, with ruins everywhere and the great wealth of the pre-war period being wiped out in the war. In this case, relying on Adam Smith's liberal economy can no longer solve the real problem. Guided by Keynesianism, the government began to intervene in the economy, nationalizing large industrial enterprises and banks, and raising workers' wages and benefits. Together, we survived and rebuilt Europe from the ashes. Although the policy pursued by the Soviet Union at that time was called Stalinism, the two doctrines were the same in terms of nationalization. In fact, not only in Europe, but also in Asia, Japan, South Korea and China are carrying out nationalization with their own characteristics. Nationalization began in Japan before the end of the war, in Korea under Park Chung-hee, and in China it was called public-private partnerships. The Eastern and Western camps on both sides of the Iron Curtain chose a similar path of reform in a similar historical period, which has to be said to be a historical inevitability.

However, after entering the eighties, the economies of the world's major industrial countries fell into stagnation and recession, with the exception of Japan. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Keynesianism has come to an end and that new solutions must be found to the problems facing economic life. So in this situation, governments have begun to explore their own paths. This seems to be a historical necessity, just a few years ago, China proposed reform and opening up. The Thatcher government also embarked on the path of privatization reform, the French government of Francois Mitterrand adjusted its policy to a similar path as Britain a few years ago, and the Soviet Union has been emphasizing reform since the later years of Brezhnev. However, from the current stage, the British Iron Lady seems to point out a clear way for everyone, although the British economy is still at the bottom of the major industrial countries, but to consider that this country spent a lot of money and Argentina last year, in fact, the British reform has begun to show positive results.

In the room, Gorbachev and Yakovlev were discussing enthusiastically, while Seryosha listened quietly without saying a word. Seryosha admits that most of Yakovlev's views are correct, but reform is not something that can be done with words, Thatcher could have eliminated all the milk of schoolchildren in order to save the government's budget, and Gorbachev did not dare to cancel similar benefits for workers.

"Seryosha, what do you think?" Gorbachev, seeing that Seryosha did not say a word, was a little curious, so he asked him.

"Secretary Gorbachev, I am still too complicated to say that you are talking about many of these problems, and I am not very clear about these economic theories, but if I talk about the work of our Ministry of Foreign Trade, I would like to say that our current export commodities are too simple, and most of them are resources and raw materials, which are easily affected by commodity prices in the international market!" Seryosha reported to Gorbachev.

"Not bad! Seryosha has also grown up now! Yakovlev praised Gorbachev in person, after all, Seryosha was introduced by Yakovlev, and the better he did, the more it shows Yakovlev's vision at the beginning.

For the other party's praise, Seryosha naturally had to shirk it, but he realized a problem. In today's conversation between the three of them, he heard a lot of remarks that were not suitable for public expression. Does this mean that Seryosha has entered the deeper circle of Gorbachev's staff?

"Comrade Seryosha, some time ago you worked in the Ministry of Agriculture, I would like to know what you think about our agriculture! You know, I've always been in charge of this. If there is a good idea, we can put it into practice! Gorbachev was clearly not satisfied with Seryosha's answer, and he wanted a deeper and more effective answer.

"Secretary, in fact, I also planned to do something in the position of director of the Food Bureau, but you know that we are facing a very real problem, that is, the problem of labor. In my opinion, this is the biggest difficulty restricting the development of our agriculture! If we can start with ...... If some young and strong people are sent back to China to engage in agricultural production, I think our grain production will certainly be greatly improved! Seryosha said cautiously, he originally wanted to talk about Afghanistan, but in fact, not only Afghanistan, there are a large number of Soviet troops in Eastern European countries, as well as millions of soldiers on the Sino-Soviet border, you must know that the population of the Soviet Union is almost the most sparsely populated country in the world compared to the country, but a large number of young people with the ability to work have been sent to the front, how can domestic production and construction be good. It took only half a year to build a large steel plant from scratch during the Stalin era, but now it takes a year to build several apartment buildings in Moscow, which is enough to show how seriously the labor shortage in the country has seriously damaged the normal pace of construction.

"Seryosha, I'm afraid this can't be reversed in a while!" Gorbachev shook his head and said with a sigh.

"General Secretary, where can we import frozen meat and grains from the countries of the Americas, but the common people will not be satisfied with just eating these things! We are also short of fresh food such as vegetables, fruits, etc. You must know that these can only be imported from our neighbors, and even if we have enough labor, we will not be able to produce enough fruits and vegetables to ensure the supply of the common people due to climate and other reasons! If possible, can we communicate with our neighbours and resolve our difficulties in this regard? Seryosha asked vaguely, he was actually hinting at Gorbachev whether he could trade some fresh products with China, such as some fruits and vegetables, which could not be sent fresh from South America to the Soviet Union unless they were shipped by air.

"You mean China? So be it, Seryosha! There's an American guest coming to the Kremlin next week, and I think he might have a solution to our problem! Gorbachev said mysteriously.