Evil Law

The fact that France and Austria jointly suppressed the Hungary noble rebellion did not mean that France and Austria had become allies, at least not on the surface. In France propaganda, Austria remained a conservative, backward, reactionary regime that oppressed its people. In Austria propaganda, France remained a symbol of impiety, mob mentality, and betrayal of tradition. In short, neither side gave the other a favorable impression in their propaganda.

On the other hand, neither France nor Austria focused their criticism entirely on the other side. The France, in particular, continued to direct their criticism at Britain, especially recently, as the Britain, taking advantage of France and Austria's preoccupation with dealing with Hungary and Poland disturbances, passed a series of resolutions to begin a comprehensive crackdown on domestic workers.

The Britain first passed the Trade Union Organization Act, legally declaring any inter-company trade union illegal and ordering all United Trade Union to dissolve within a specified time. Only companies with more than 1,000 workers were allowed to establish trade unions.

This law also requires that all union activities, including strikes and even various meetings, must be approved by the government, and the use of funds for union activities must also be subject to government supervision.

On the other hand, the Britain passed an amendment to the Navigation Ordinance. Although it was an amendment to the Navigation Ordinance, it was far from what Mr. Raine hoped for—to make concessions in exchange for the France relaxing their discrimination against Britain goods in transport. In fact, this amendment was completely unrelated to that.

This amendment was intended to restrict Britain immigration to North America.

According to this law, Britain citizens can only leave the Britain by Britain ships – whether to the New World or Europe.

In recent years, due to the development of industry in Europe, especially in France, coupled with the higher wages in France compared to Britain, many Britain workers found a new way: to save money to go to France, work France, and then earn money in France to immigrate to the New World.

This has led to a significant population outflow in Britain over the years. Many workers have left Britain in this way, which is not good for Britain industry. Fortunately, France, in order to protect the interests of its domestic workers and those in the Confederation of the Rhine, quickly took measures, strictly controlling work visas for Britain. Generally speaking, only workers with certain skills can obtain work visas in France, while those Britain without special skills can only work illegally in France.

While average wages in France are indeed significantly higher than in Britain, this has little to do with the presence of undocumented Britain workers. Undocumented workers are not protected by law, and without the revolution and the constraints imposed by the revolutionary government, France business owners were in no way more ethical than their Britain counterparts. Once they discovered that these Britain were weak, pitiful, and helpless, they immediately began to oppress them, driving their wages down to levels comparable to those in Britain.

Britain workers continued to travel to Europe, but their destination was no longer France; instead, they used Europe as a transit point to reach North America —because the France were willing to provide subsidies for every person who swore allegiance to France and bought a ticket to settle in Louisiana. According to some Britain, the France were trying to use this method to send more German-speaking people to the New World to ensure France's dominance on the Europe continent. In fact, two out of every three immigrants arriving in Louisiana today speak German.

France weren't too concerned about Britain workers coming to "take advantage" of their welfare benefits. In fact, Britain welcomed it, as it weakened Britain industrial capacity. Moreover, those who left Britain for North America in this way were hardly loyal to Britain. Besides, sending some non-German speakers to Louisiana was actually a good thing.

Although theoretically, one must speak French to receive the subsidy, in reality, the France requirements for these Britain were very low. Basically, just knowing "Bonjour" (hello) and "Merci" (thank you) was enough. Even a complete idiot could learn those two words in a short time.

Because of this subsidy, tickets from Europe to Louisiana are about a third cheaper than tickets from the Britain.

Population loss will naturally lead to a certain degree of decrease in the unemployment rate. In later times, a lower unemployment rate would make the government happy for days, and if the head of government happened to be Trump, he would be praising himself for days on end. But in this strange era, this number is causing the Britain government a lot of trouble.

Yes, the Britain government is somewhat worried because, according to market principles, if a factor of production becomes scarce, its price will inevitably rise. The same applies to labor; if labor becomes scarce, wages will certainly rise, which in turn increases costs and reduces the profits of "decent" workers. Isn't the reason Britain can maintain wages significantly lower than those on the Europe continent precisely because of Britain surplus labor force?

Therefore, the real reason behind this amendment was to pass this bill and raise the price of ship tickets from Britain to the Europe continent, so that Britain workers who wanted to take the cheap France ships would not benefit. In fact, not only would the price of ship tickets to the Europe continent be raised, but the price of ship tickets to the New World would also be raised. By doing so, the number of people going to the New World would be reduced, thereby ensuring a sufficient unemployment rate in the country.

Of course, the fact that the government used its power to artificially alter the supply and demand relationship fully demonstrates that France had every reason to include Britain in the list of "non-free trade countries".

It is said that the French Council of State is preparing to propose a new bill, known as "Special 302 Act," which would authorize the France government to use the prices of goods from other "free trade countries" as a reference when conducting anti-dumping investigations on products from "non-free trade countries," instead of using the price of the country of origin.

After swiftly passing these bills, the Britain immediately took action. First, the London Police Department issued a notice to the Textile Workers' Union, demanding they complete rectification—that is, dissolve—within forty-eight hours, because the Trade Union Organization Act prohibits the existence of any inter-company trade union.

Besides announcing their dissolution, the remaining trade unions that meet the requirements of the Trade Union Organization Act also need to make rectifications in accordance with the law. For example, they must accept various inspections of their organization and finances by government-appointed personnel, and so on...

"In short, this is about utterly destroying us," Fagin said, holding the notice from the London Police Department.

"Boss, what do we do?" the Butcher asked.

"We have two paths to take. One is to confront the police, and even the country," Fagin said. "During this time, we organized workers' pickets and equipped them with some weapons, but this can only be used to defend against possible attacks on the unions by the lackeys of individual factory owners. However, it is far from enough to rely on workers' pickets to confront the Britain government—the ultimate lackey of all factory owners and the wealthy. If we take the path of confrontation, we will certainly fail, at least for the time being."

As for the second option,"Fagin smiled, "That is, naturally, surrender. We have already demonstrated our capabilities in our previous struggles against those gentlemen. If we surrender, considering our demonstrated abilities, they should already be willing to offer us a piece of meat to entice us to surrender. What do you think?"

"Boss, stop talking nonsense!" Buck said.

"That's right, boss, stop talking nonsense!" the others chimed in.

"If we take the second path, we might gain some benefits. However, the other workers, our brothers, will be sold out. I estimate that Mr. Raine's new contract will come out soon, and it will be even more outrageous than the last one. Since the workers dare not resist, why not go further?" the Butcher said. "Boss, you know us. None of us are cowards who would betray our brothers. You tell me what to do. Even if we can't win, we have to take a bite out of him before we die."

"We can't fight them head-on, but we can't really break up either," Fagin said. "Our United Trade Union must go underground and continue to lead the workers' struggle. Furthermore, we cannot retreat silently; even if we are forced to retreat, we must leave something behind. Butcher, you are responsible for arranging for our personnel to go underground, and I, in the name of the United Trade Union, will launch one last strike..."

"Boss..."

Everyone knows how dangerous it would be to launch such an operation at this time.

"If we don't fight, if we don't sacrifice, we will have no future," Fagin said. "And as long as we demonstrate the ability to harm them—yes, as long as we demonstrate that ability—they will have to consider whether their actions are worthwhile. Only then will they seriously consider our interests before doing anything. Well, my brothers, we were actually waiting for this day when we started organizing the United Trade Union, just as Paul and St. Peter were waiting for the cross on their way to Rome. Now let's act!"