Chapter 15: Down with the Emperor
Wanting to fan the flames, Franz went to visit another major figure of the Conservative Party, Count Koloft, to express his concern about the situation.
Everyone was well informed about the recent goings-on, and the role Franz played in this political conflict was no secret at all among the top players of the government.
Franz was naturally on conservatives' side because of his origin, or at least they were in the same boat when facing the reform of the capitalist class. In addition, everyone at the highest levels of government was quite principled, so no one would leak information to the outside.
And even if someone leaked the information, nothing would change, since the contradiction between the nobility and the capitalist class could no longer be resolved. Everyone simply had to do what they had to do.
Should they allow the nobility to give up suppressing the capitalist class? Or let the capitalist class abandon their attempt at grabbing power?
At the moment, no one would compromise, nor would they even dare to attempt such a thing. If one were to step back, it wouldn't be a wide sea they saw, but rather a vast abyss.
If not for the advantage of being young, Franz would have to go up onto the political stage.
Really, it was less his age and more that the Regency Council did not want to give up their power so early; as a result, they had to take the pressure and the blame.
Putting Franz on the frontline against the capitalist class would advance his agenda in political affairs and result in the termination of the Regency Council of the Empire.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Metternich would have a tough time of it because he, a representative of the interests of the nobility, claimed to be a reformist.
When the two parties in Austria were locked in a bitter fight over benefits, Franz knocked around between them, and then, to add to the difficulty, the conservatives interfered in the reform.
Frequently in the past, people had attacked the conservatives, claiming that they used serfdom as a weapon, deprived serfs of their personal freedom, cynically exploited them, and then obstructed Austria's progress.
This was the time for the nobles to fight back. People found there was something even worse, comparing the lives of workers and serfs.
The nobles, even as morally depraved as they were, would not make serfs work 15 or 16 hours a day except during the busy farming season because they simply did not have all that much work to do.
Indoor lighting was not cheap at that time. The capitalists would make money by making workers work overtime at night, while the noble would lose money if they did the same to the serfs.
Generally speaking, the lives of workers and serfs were the same — bitter!
But relatively speaking, the life of workers of this age was worse. The factory was like a prison. Once you got inside, it was hard to get out, and any carelessness could lead to a punishment.
As for payments, it was totally dependent on the moral integrity of the capitalists: one could get paid a little under a conscientious boss, while one could owe his boss a load of money after years of hard work without getting paid if under a vicious boss.
Demanding payments had been a problem forever.
Happiness was out of the question as a way to compare things; so was misery.
Because of the manipulation of the nobility, the working class suddenly realized that they were the most miserable class of all. Then, they certainly had to support the government on the Labor Protection Act.
The so-called constitutional reform, national election, and the abolition of serfdom were all put off indefinitely, to prioritize matters concerning their own interests.
The same was true of the capitalist class: they were tough and would not take one step back when it came to self-interest. Patriotism was long forgotten by everyone.
Prime Minister Metternich, caught in the middle, had a headache. He was strong in diplomacy but seemed powerless to resolve internal conflicts.
Just as with the previous issue of serfdom abolition, he was still negotiating with representatives of the capitalist class in an attempt to come up with a compromise acceptable to everyone.
"Prime Minister, I would like to know: when will the Labor Protection Act be passed?" asked Count Koloft indifferently.
How could he not push him around, as a political enemy of Prime Minister Metternich? Even without Franz's suggestion, he would still have taken action, but now his target was more precise.
"Count Koloft, any law will have to wait a while before it can be enacted, because we have to carry out the actual investigation and then conduct a comprehensive analysis. Please be patient," Metternich said disdainfully.
He did not bother to be polite to a political opponent. Besides, they would remain enemies no matter what he did.
"Prime Minister, it is not me who cannot wait; it is the workers outside. As you know, every day in Austria, hundreds of workers die due to being exploited ruthlessly by the capitalists!
Don't they claim to be patriots? What are they doing to the workers while they are accusing us of immorally depriving serfs their freedom?
Are the workers not Austrian citizens? You know, most of these workers are serfs that we have released. Instead of making their lives better, the capitalists have them in an abyss!
What's worse, this abyss is going to swallow everything and, in the end, destroy the whole of Austria!" Count Koloft roared, as he jabbed a finger up at Prime Minister Metternich's face.
What a checkmate! The aim of liberating serfs was to make them live a better life, but all the evidence showed the opposite had occurred: they were suffering more.
This was a heavy blow to Metternich's advocated abolition of serfdom, and the problem would stop all his work until it was solved.
But to solve this problem would mean that he had to break with the capitalist class, who were in support of the abolition of serfdom, or even beat them down.
Because most of the reformists in the country were capitalists, doing that would shake his position as prime minister, unless he was totally in favor of the nobility.
Well, Prime Minister Metternich himself was the representative of the great nobles and had always stood with them, save for the abolitionist movement. He did not hold anything against compromising with the nobility again. The question was, how would he do that?
He could not force them to take his side; it was a matter of leadership. What Metternich wanted was to be the leader of the nobility, not their proxy.
"Well, Count Koloft. A reply will be given by the government as soon as possible. You can go back and wait for the news!" Metternich said, frowning.
"I hope so; otherwise our Prime Minister will end up being a disappointment," Count Koloft said pointedly.
After Prime Minister Metternich dismissed Count Koloft, his face instantly darkened. It would be strange to be in a good mood after being pressured by someone like that.
After a moment of contemplation, Metternich hit the table with his hand. "Count Koloft is really getting old and senile if he thinks he can squeeze me out with such a little trick," he said to himself.
He said that as if he were very young, when in fact Metternich, born in 1773, was already 74 years old himself.