Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 115: Ghost
Subtitle of this chapter: Because I could only touch upon the subject, a lot of manuscripts were wasted.
March 22, 1921, Tuesday, light rain.
Our Master Yuan, holding a cigar in one hand and the other hand in the pocket of his blue velvet smoking jacket, stood in front of the window of his study and admired the rain outside.
Nowadays, the attire of Western gentlemen is still a bit complicated. If we talk about the most formal formal dress, there are morning dress and evening dress.
Both types of formal dresses are tuxedos with long backs. The biggest difference between the two is whether the upper and lower parts are the same color. Evening dresses are basically all black. The most striking feature of morning dresses is the combination of its black top and dark gray striped pants.
Morning dress was once the dress that the European upper class wore when attending the Gold Cup at the Ascot Racecourse in the UK, so it was also called "horse racing dress". Later, morning dress was regarded as a formal dress for daytime celebrations, Sunday church services and wedding activities.
Looking at old photos from the early 20th century, most of the politicians were wearing morning dresses, and if it was cold, they wore dress coats called Chester coats. Japan, which wanted to "help Asia join Europe", did keep the morning dress, and even a hundred years later, the formal attire of Japanese government officials was the morning dress.
Although the first evening dress is still the tuxedo, the tailless tuxedo has also become popular, especially for Americans who are not as conservative as their British cousins. They like this more convenient dress very much.
The Tuxedo Suit is actually an upgraded version of the smoking suit that Master Yuan is currently wearing. It later almost completely replaced the tuxedo and became the standard dress and formal dinner suit.
The smoking suit is still a kind of indoor attire for gentlemen, and the fabrics are generally silk and velvet to cope with different seasons.
So for a gentleman, food, clothing, housing and transportation are all knowledge. If Yuan Yanshu hadn't brought the Master Ball system, he would have had to ask someone for advice.
However, he did not dress himself up as a Western gentleman because he wholeheartedly identified with Western culture like some truly superior Chinese. On the contrary, as a time traveler, he did not think that Western culture had any superiority.
Our Master Yuan is a man with a strong "craftsman spirit". Since he has decided to be a public intellectual, he must do a full job to let his disciples know that being a "gentleman" is not possible just by shopping at outlets and overseas shopping...
Well, this is just an excuse he made for himself. He simply likes to show off.
"Sir, your guest is here."
Hearing Sister Lian's greeting, Yuan Yan quickly put out her cigar in the ashtray, turned around and saw Miss Ethel Moman, who was dressed like an office lady at the time, walked in.
"Welcome, Miss Moman." Our Master Yuan said in a rather cold tone, in a businesslike manner, completely different from the playboy he was last night.
His behavior also made Miss Moman stunned for a moment, and the smile on her face faded a little and said: "Thank you, Ni... um, Mr. Yuan."
"Sister Lian, please go out first."
"Yes..." The maid and military supervisor glanced at the new female secretary and said, "Son-in-law."
Yuan Yan suddenly sighed inwardly. She had the right to keep a mistress, so why did she always feel guilty?
This is a very bad habit and must be changed!
I should learn from President Warren Harding and have a secret meeting with my mistress inside the White House.
"Mr. Yuan, what should I do?" Miss Moman saw that Master Yuan had remained silent, so she had to ask herself.
So what can this chick do?
In fact, with the Master Ball system, Yuan Yanshu no longer needed a stenographer. When he first got this broken system, he didn't have the brains to figure it out, and he typed out the adapted version of Socialism himself.
It was a pity that this crappy system didn't even remind him, and he almost got tendonitis and tennis elbow. You know, this is a 500-page masterpiece.
Yuan Yan looked at her and pointed to the seat next to the desk and said, "Ms. Moman, your profession is a stenographer."
"Oh..." Miss Moman looked disappointed when she heard this, "Is that all?"
Our Master Yuan saw this and sighed, "Ms. Moman, I know you are a girl with musical dreams. Don't worry, I will give you a chance. But now..."
"Just be your stenographer."
"Well, I understand." Miss Moman nodded, sat down obediently at the desk, and picked up the pad and pencil on the table.
"Then let's get started." Yuan Yan suddenly relit his cigar, and after a pause, he said, "The title is, the New Economic Policy... that colon, the victory of the market economy in Soviet Russia... let's add 'temporary' before the victory..."
This was not an article he wrote on impulse, but a commissioned article from the American Economic Review (AER), an economics magazine founded in 1911 and the exclusive publication of the American Economic Association.
In fact, the American Economic Association was not officially established as a true non-profit organization (NGO) until 1923. However, since 1885, under the organization of John Bates Clark mentioned above, a group of American economists have had such a club for their spare time gatherings.
They also published their own journal, but AER was only an informal publication. In 1963, the American Economic Review was renamed the Quarterly Economic Abstracts, and then in 1969 it became the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL), which became the official publication of the society.
In March 1921, a major event that shook the economics world occurred: the Tenth Congress of the Bolshevik Party adopted a resolution on the transition from War Communism to the New Economic Policy.
Why did the red polar bear’s new economic policy cause such a huge response in the economics community?
It’s very simple. This issue can be escalated to the point where the red flag can be raised for how long!
As we all know, Uncle Ma and Uncle En believed that private ownership is the root of the evil of capitalism and must be eliminated. Once private ownership disappears, commodity production should also be eliminated in the future society, and value relations will inevitably disappear.
Without value relations, commodity exchange cannot be completed spontaneously. But it doesn’t matter, society can plan production and distribution very simply and directly. This is the origin of the theory of planned economy.
Under the guidance of this product economic view, the idea that "one country = one factory" can be immediately and fully realized after the proletariat takes power, and the production and distribution of the entire society can be carried out according to a well-considered plan in advance.
Uncle Ma Shuen and Uncle Li Yu were naturally creative, forward-looking, and prescient political scientists and economists, but they were, after all, figures of the 19th century and had never seen a true socialist society with their own eyes.
The vision they put forward about the future society is only a prediction, and often has a general inferential nature when examining the relationship between commodity and money.
Comrade Lenin certainly agreed with this inference at first, but the four years of ruling from the October Revolution to 1921 made him realize that the issue of commodity-money relations was not that simple, and that it seemed impossible to completely eliminate private ownership and value relations in one fell swoop, so the New Economic Policy came into being.
In fact, the New Economic Policy meant that the planned economy had some inherent deficiencies.
Even the Bolsheviks had considerable disagreements on this matter, but Comrade Lenin's prestige was too high, so they suppressed it temporarily. After his death, these two factions... well, the various factions within the CPSU will have another fight.
To put it simply, Comrade Steel and the Central Group headed by Bukharin defeated the Trotsky-Zinoviev alliance (also known as the New Opposition). Finally, Comrade Steel killed Bukharin, the "big traitor" who insisted on the New Economic Policy.
After this, Comrade Steel began the policy of "great transformation", which not only abolished the New Economic Policy, but also changed the political and ideological sphere. Soviet socialism irreversibly moved towards the Comrade Steel system.
Outside the Soviet Union, the left and right factions in the economics community had been arguing endlessly about the feasibility of a planned economy. The emergence of the New Economic Policy was like adding a bucket of cold water to a boiling oil pan, bringing the debate to a climax.
At this time, our Master Yuan published Socialism, which immediately attracted the attention of the economics community..
Of course, since there was no UPS or FedEx back then, nor any kind of "tongs", only a few American economists knew his name and this book. These economists were basically scholars from Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and George Washington University near New York. The books and letters sent to those people in Europe were still on the way.
"Mr. Yuan? Mr. Yuan!"
Miss Moman, who had written down the title, waited for a long time, but saw her boss standing blankly in front of the window for more than ten minutes without moving, and she couldn't help but call out.
"Ah?!" Yuan Yan suddenly came back to her senses from her deep thoughts, turned around and said unhappily: "Ms. Moman, please wait. I'm still thinking..."
He couldn't help but think about this matter.
Of course, he was not thinking about how to write this article. As a master of neoclassical liberalism, there was nothing to think about. He naturally wanted to gloat and mock the Bolsheviks and Comrade Lenin because they finally realized that the planned economy was a dead end and had to introduce the market mechanism.
But! But! But! Once this article was published, he had officially offended the communists all over the world. It also meant that he had officially embarked on the road of no return of the reactionary academic clique, and officially declared that he would definitely not be able to become an old generation of proletarian revolutionaries.
"Socialism" can be considered an academic work, but "The New Economic Policy: The "Temporary" Victory of the Market Economy in Soviet Russia" is a book that specifically criticizes people.
Even if he has the opportunity to change from right-wing to left-wing in the future, this article, which will definitely be published under his real name, will be a big black spot for him.
You know, he not only criticized the revolutionary mentor, "the number one thinker of the Soviet Communist Party (Bukharin)", but also the Iron Man. Because the Iron Comrade system can't even tolerate the New Economic Policy, let alone neoliberalism and market economy.
Oh, if I offend these people too much, will I be hit with an ice pick like the "giant revolutionary pickaxe that smashed the heads of anti-revolutionaries all over the world"?
This is something we must think about!
Thinking to this point, Yuan Yan was so upset that she wanted to cry but had no tears. She couldn't help but chanted in a soft voice: "Go..."
"Pika Pika."
"Master Ball, this poem is a quote, not plagiarism! Do you need Pika Pika?"
"Host, this poem is forbidden, please understand it."
Our Master Yuan sighed deeply, walked wearily to the desk, sat down, and said in a self-abandoned tone: "Miss Moman, listen carefully..."
"The New Economic Policy: The "Temporary" Victory of the Market Economy in Soviet Russia" is a signed article by Mr. Yuan Yanshu published in the American Economic Review in 1921. At that time, the Western world had only a superficial understanding of the new economic policy implemented by the Soviet Union. However, Mr. Yuan, with his strong reasoning ability, profound economics knowledge and his unique grand historical perspective, saw the ins and outs and main means of the Soviet Union's new economic policy. It was the first time that the Western economics community saw Mr. Yuan's talent in economics.
This article caused a huge uproar as soon as it was published. The title alone angered many left-wing economists. Moreover, he had already published his doctoral thesis "Socialism" which also criticized socialism, which made him the common enemy of Eastern economists.
The most critical point he pointed out in the article was that although the Soviet authorities realized that the planned economy had inherent defects and had to introduce the market economy as a supplement, the internal system of the Bolshevik Party and the future external international situation, plus the historical factors of Russia's long-term centralized system, these three factors determined that the New Economic Policy would fail, and the Soviet Union would inevitably move towards a more strict and severe planned economic system with heavy industry as the core. This was not due to the will of the Soviet Communist Party leaders.
Now we, the descendants, of course, know that he was right. After Stalin came to power, he ended the New Economic Policy and began to implement the first five-year plan. He concentrated all his efforts on the one-sided development of heavy industry, using high accumulation and deprivation of farmers to ensure the funds needed for industrialization.
However, many people at the time denounced it as absurd talk, believing that he was sensationalizing and deliberately smearing the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
But the article caught the attention of Lenin himself, who is said to have asked his comrades to read "the Chinese article" carefully and warned them that "if the Chinese prophecy comes true, then one day the peasants will let us go to hell.". "
Of course, we now know that Lenin was not right. Comrade Steel has another way of doing it, which is to turn the peasants into fucking ghosts before they let them go to fucking ghosts…”
——Excerpt from Hayek’s “Comments on Yuan Yanshu’s Series of Articles”
