Grain for Machines (Fourteenth Update)

"Joseph, get in touch with the Germans soon. We need to buy all kinds of machinery and equipment from them. The civil war had dealt a heavy blow to Russia's already fragile industry. Now that the civil war was about to end, we had to seize the time to develop our industry, restore it, and make it even stronger," Ulyanov said.

"Yes, Comrade Chairman. But do we still have the money to buy the Germans' machinery and equipment? The Germans only recognize hard gold and silver," Joseph said with some difficulty.

The Bolshevik Party had always been rather poor. Even now, it had not been able to solve the people's basic problems of food and clothing. Although they had seized a great deal of wealth when they overthrew the Romanov Dynasty, part of it had been embezzled by those who took part in the revolution. Another part had been paid to Germany as war reparations. What remained had been almost entirely consumed as military expenditure during the civil war.

It could be said that if the Bolshevik Party had not implemented a rationing system, it would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Under such circumstances, buying machinery and equipment from Germany would undoubtedly be difficult.

"Could we take out a loan from the Germans? Use the loan to purchase machinery and equipment," Kamenev suggested.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible. Before our revolution succeeded, the Germans wanted to use us against Tsarist Russia, which was why they supported us without sparing any effort. But now, things were different. If we grew even stronger, we would pose a threat to them as well. So, the Germans were unlikely to support us as they had before," Joseph said worriedly.

Ulyanov nodded. He knew Joseph's concerns were entirely correct. Before the Bolshevik Party overthrew