Chapter 966

As soon as the newspaper was published, the Dakor textile factory strike quickly became a hot topic in society.

The Lombard Kingdom government quickly intervened in the incident. The first to suffer were several news agencies in Milan. The person in charge was invited for coffee by the government's News Administration.

Newspapers had the responsibility to expose the truth. Of course, it didn't matter if they didn't report it. At most, it would affect the credibility of the newspaper.

If there was a transaction of interest, it would be a crime to deliberately cover up the truth of the news.

Now that newspaper reporters from all over the country had come, but the local newspaper in Milan did not respond, it was natural to be suspected.

There was no doubt that the final result was that nothing would be found. Since they dared to help cover up, they were naturally prepared.

There had always been business dealings between newspapers and companies. The transaction of interest was not necessarily direct cash. It was scattered in the advertising business, and it was very difficult to find out.

For example: Milan Daily. The newspaper had sent reporters far away early. Except for the daily operation staff, several editors-in-chief went to Vienna on vacation.

The senior management was not there, and all the reporters were dispatched. In a situation where there was a shortage of manpower, it seemed reasonable that the Dakor textile factory strike was not discovered.

Evading the investigation did not mean that the matter was over. For a newspaper, the most important thing was credibility. Without credibility, who would subscribe to your newspaper?

Many smart people have come to realize that this time, Ludwig II's needle is probably not aimed at the Daker textile factory. After all, such a large enterprise was very important to the economic development of the Lombard Kingdom. What if it collapsed and caused mass unemployment?

The king also needed to consider the consequences. On the contrary, it was more likely that he would target the domestic newspaper.

In this day and age, controlling the newspaper meant controlling the public opinion. Ludwig II wanted to consolidate the royal power, so it was normal for him to reach out to the newspaper.

This was led by Franz, who started the newspaper before ascending the throne. After ascending the throne, which mainstream newspaper in Austria was not influenced by the royal family?

It turned out that this kind of influence was very useful. In the newspaper, the image of the royal family suddenly grew.

There were naturally many people who followed the trend. It was still the peak of the monarchy, and the royal families of Europe controlled the power. It was easy to reach out to the public opinion.

The Lombard royal family was an outsider, and their actions were naturally a step slower. After so many years, it was normal for them to reach out to the public opinion now that the time was ripe.

Knowing was one thing, but there was no evidence. On the surface, the royal family and the newspaper had nothing to do with each other. The newspaper was warned by the government, which was the best evidence.

It was necessary to secretly accept the enlistment. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy to deal with this matter.

If they really wanted to cause trouble, it would make sense to use the advertising business as a form of exchange. The price couldn't lie. Many problems were obvious when they checked the advertising fees.

Ludwig II's actions were not kept secret, and Franz, who was far away in Vienna, received the news immediately.

This was the internal affairs of the Lombard Kingdom, so Franz would not interfere. It was a small thing for the king to put his hand in the newspaper office.

In a way, this was a good start. In terms of power, the Emperor and the King stood in the same trench. While Ludwig II consolidated his royal power, he also consolidated his imperial power.

This could be seen from the public opinion in Vienna. The newspapers almost never criticized the kings in the country. Even if they did, it would be directed at the government of the country.

Franz did not care what Ludwig II was going to do, but he was worried about the Dacre textile strike.

If it wasn't resolved quickly, it might trigger a chain reaction. In this regard, the European workers were very united. As long as someone took the lead, there would never be a lack of imitators.

"Your Majesty, this is an urgent telegram from the Kingdom of Lombardy."

The maid's voice rang in Franz's ears and interrupted his train of thought.

Franz took the document and skimmed through it. He had to admit that he was also a crow.

"Good things don't happen, but bad things do." Just now, he was worried that the Daker textile factory strike would cause a chain reaction, and now it happened.

After changing wheat to mulberry, the Kingdom of Lombardy had to rely on domestic supplies. Compared to the grain-producing areas, the price was much higher.

It meant that the cost of living was high, but it did not mean that wages were high. Because of the proximity to the Regions of Italy, there were often Italians coming to work, which led to the low wages in Milan.

Compared to most parts of Austria, the wage level in the Kingdom of Lombardy was low. Low income, high expenses, and conflicts arose.

The Daker textile factory strike was just a microcosm. The Kingdom of Lombardy had always been the region with the most strikes in Austria.

Strikes were contagious. Affected by the Daker textile factory strike, the workers of several surrounding factories also followed. The strike was spreading in the Kingdom of Lombardy.

Putting down the document, Franz said, "Inform the cabinet to come for a meeting and call the Minister of Labor."

The crisis broke out. The late 19th century was a period of rapid economic growth, but it was also the most serious period of labor and capital conflicts.

Strikes were frequent during this period. Some capitalists even fired directly at the workers with machine guns. There were also capitalists who were directly wiped out by the workers. In general, it was chaos.

It was during this period that countless workers risked their lives to achieve the eight-hour workday in the future.

Due to Franz's butterfly effect, the eight-hour work day came earlier in this time and space. Now, the workers were fighting for their treatment.

Despite the Labor Protection Act, the problem was that everyone's salary was still not high. This was not something the government could decide. It could only be fought for by the workers themselves.

Market supply and demand determined the market price of labor. Now was the time for everyone to fight for their salary. The final result was still unknown.

The Labor Protection Act protected the interests of both labor and capital. The workers could ask for treatment, and the capitalists could refuse. No one could force anyone.

When it came to conflicts of interest, this war would definitely be protracted. It wouldn't be long before it was no longer just Austria's problem. All the industrial countries in Europe couldn't escape.

…

After reading the contents of the telegram, the people who rushed over didn't have time to rest. The news of the Daker textile factory strike was known to everyone. But after only two days, it spread to the entire Kingdom of Lombardy.

Now, the number of people participating in the strike was no longer the initial 100,000 or so, but had reached an astonishing 300,000, and this number was still increasing.

Franz said, "You've all read the telegram. The situation is more serious than we expected. It's not only the Kingdom of Lombardy, but other parts of Austria also have the same problem.

If there were no accidents, a national strike, or even a Europe-wide strike, would occur.

This kind of thing can't be stopped. What we can do is come up with an emergency plan as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Labor issued a warning to companies with poor treatment: if they don't want to face a general strike, then take the initiative to raise their salaries!

Tell them that the government won't interfere before the situation gets out of control. If the situation gets out of control, whoever is responsible will be responsible. "

The enterprises that were treated poorly were basically traditional industries. New industries were in a period of rapid development, and the quality of the workers was higher, so the treatment was naturally not bad.

Now the capitalists wanted to avoid a strike, so the best option was to increase the treatment of the workers. Franz was not sure how many of the capitalists would listen to him.

But one thing was for sure. If you stopped production, and your competitors didn't, it wouldn't take long for your market share to disappear. Conversely, you could take the opportunity to snatch your competitors' market share.

This was a crisis, but it was also an opportunity. After the labor cost increased, if you didn't make progress, it wouldn't take long for you to be eliminated by the market.

The era of survival of the fittest was about to begin. In the later market competition, companies without core technology would not have such a comfortable life.

Prime Minister Felix suggested, "Your Majesty, why don't we raise the minimum wage to give the capitalists a wake-up call, lest some people don't take it seriously."

Franz hesitated. Raising the minimum wage was indeed very effective. However, human intervention in the market could easily lead to unpredictable consequences, and there was a certain risk in it.

"We can let out the news first, and let the local government set a minimum wage according to the actual local situation and report it."

After thinking about it again and again, Franz decided to test it first. The management of businesses these days was quite chaotic. It was really difficult for outsiders to determine how much profit the capitalists had, and how much they could bear the cost of labor.

Some industries were clearly profiteering, and people could easily make money, but there were still people who were losing money. The core problem was that management was chaotic.

There were not only one or two companies with chaotic management, but it was widespread in society.

These companies had very poor viability and almost no ability to resist risks. They could make money by relying on a good market environment, low labor costs, and cheap raw materials.

If there was a problem with any of these, they would immediately be in trouble. Now that the Austrian economy was in a transition period, under normal circumstances, these companies would be eliminated by the market.

They could be eliminated by the market, but they couldn't be eliminated by administrative intervention. These were two different concepts.

Franz didn't want to be the scapegoat for the capitalists. It was clearly their own poor management, but they pushed the responsibility to the government. It would become a negative example of government intervention in the market.

…

At the headquarters of the Daker textile factory, the old Lanner sighed alone. The strike began to spread, and the situation was no longer under his control.

Things had developed to this point, and the Daker textile factory had reached a moment of life and death. If it was not handled well, the company he worked hard for most of his life would be finished.

Give in to the workers and let the company resume production? Before the news spread, he could still do this. Now if he did this, he would have to consider the consequences.

There was no other way. This strike wave was caused by the Daker textile factory. If he took the lead to compromise with the workers, it would inevitably further stimulate the strike wave. By then, he would offend more than one or two people.

The capitalists whose interests were damaged would certainly remember them in their hearts. After offending so many people, including many partners, the future of the Daker textile factory was really bleak.

If they didn't compromise, the factory would lose at least tens of thousands of DND every day. This was not a big deal. The Daker Textile Factory could afford the loss.

The key was that the Daker textile factory didn't have a lot of stock. Once the stock was sold out, the market share would be snatched by the competitors if there were no goods to replenish in time.

For a company, short-term losses were not terrible. What was terrible was losing the market share.

Losing the market might only require a wrong decision. If they wanted to regain the market share, it would depend on whether the competitors would agree or not.

Little Lanner said in a deep voice, "Father, we can't sit still and wait for death. At this point, we have to make a compromise.

At worst, we can give up part of the shares later and rope in more people. The problem can always be solved.

Dragging it on like this will only increase the losses and have no effect on the overall situation.

The strike wave is getting stronger and spreading everywhere. It may even surpass the revolution of 1848. "

In the face of the cruel reality, Little Lanner had already advocated compromise. No matter what, Sir, we can talk about other things later.

Even if they offended people, as long as they were willing to give up some benefits, everything would not be a problem. In the capital game, as long as there were enough benefits, enemies could also become friends.

Old Lanner paced back and forth for a few steps, "The situation now is different from 1848. Looking at the workers' behavior, we can see that there will not be a revolution in Milan."

Obviously, Old Lanner had wavered. There would not be a revolution in Milan, but it did not mean that the Daker textile factory would be fine. On the contrary, it meant that they were in danger.

The Lombard government would not allow this situation to continue. In order to stabilize the situation, the Daker textile factory, the source of the storm, was likely to become a victim to quell the strike wave.

Even though they were large in scale and occupied an important position in Milan's economy, once the ruling class made up their mind, they would not even have the power to resist.

After a pause, Old Lanner added, "Let the management and the workers negotiate. It must be done separately.

Remember, you must never let the workers unite. You must create as much conflict as possible among the workers. Especially these workers' representatives, you must find an excuse to fire them afterward. "

…