[i]"The time for a country to be sustainable in the form of relying on agrarian means has come to an end. It is time to modernize with the machinery that has become available to us in the past 20 years."[/i] - Boris III
With the end of the war, it is apparent that Bulgaria is a rather 'backward' country, relying heavily on the work of farmers in the fields to provide the bulk of the nation's wealth (from taxes and exports). Significant reforms have been passed through at Sofia, ordering for the construction of railroads across the countryside, the modernization of existing railroads to electrical power, the construction of steel workshops and labour factories, and higher standard of education to be implemented. This education program is one that aims to reach rural regions as well, to increase literacy rates and development across the whole nation, not simply the cities, although this shall be married to new universities and higher education to bring Bulgarians to the forefront of modern science.
[i]"It is for this reason, that I am ordering the young men and women of the countryside, to migrate into the cities, to help industrialize the country they have called home their entire lives. Your sacrifice of leaving your elderly parents behind will be repaid with wealth, and the tree of the nation watered by madame glory"[/i] - Boris III
With the moving of a large percentage of the population into the city hubs, work commences into building factories, to churn out commercial goods, materials for railway lines, trains, automobiles, more durable roads. At the same time, the schools are teaching the youth how to engineer and build mechanical objects utilizing iron, steel, zinc, and lead, which are principal goods that Bulgaria should be able to produce, steel of course requiring significant improves to its industrial sector. Therefore training skilled workers that will eventually replace the labour workers. Bulgaria's large coal deposits will serve to fuel the industrialization of the country, drills inside mines being implemented. The increase in productivity and in production is a vital necessity if the nation is to garner sufficient coal. This coal is not only needed for internal consumption, but also to provide capacity for export for providing for foreign exchange to continue industrialization. The same logic applies to iron, zinc, and copper; massive expansion of production of these goods can provide for desperately needed foreign exchange, as well as encouraging domestic industrialization.
Rationalization of the economy is an economic necessity, to remove inefficient small firms and absorb them into larger firms, which can achieve large economies of scale and hence cut costs. For fulfilling this objective, state-directed mergers of small firms to form larger ones, aiming to achieve consolidated markets dominated by a few firms - enough to prevent a monopoly, but simultaneously enough to achieve much larger sizes. New companies will be founded and backed by the state in various key industries where there is not significant development previously, eventually possibly to be spun off to private control when matured. An example of this is Държавна аеропланна работилница (DAR), or State Aircraft Works. Protecting many firms where necessary will be tariffs, although these will principally focus on infant and vulnerable industries.
Utilization of labor reserves for the benefit of the nation is an utmost necessity. Bulgaria is at war, not with her neighbors, but at war with her backwardness and poverty. In this battle, where the very fate of the nation hangs in balance, all resources must be mobilized for the struggle. Bulgaria's army is limited by the war, but it is shall be an army of labor which shall provide for the Bulgarian Labor Corps, or Трудова повинност в България. Utilizing the same system of conscription as the army, this will serve to direct labor to vital projects, such as expanding national infrastructure, industrial labor, and building projects. Unemployment in particular is to be targeted, with the unemployed if they exist to be used for infrastructure projects such as building railroads, roads, dams, factories, agricultural infrastructure, ports, harbors, tunnels, clearing new land for agricultural production, leveling land, hospitals, schools, electrification, and housing.
Labor's demands must be controlled, unfortunately. Unions are to be repressed, and a freeze on wages implemented for the forseeable future. This may be eventually reversed, but overwhelming focus must go towards mobilizing profits, which then are to be ploughed back into industrial expansion. Business leaders must understand that the focus is on investment, which is where profits should go. Regulations limiting the distribution of profits to shareholders will be implemented, to encourage profits to instead be directed towards internal investment. In the future, when we have a powerful and developed capital industry, we can shift to consumer goods; the road to the future will be paved with sweat and tears.
The Prime Minister was quoted as saying [i]"We must make Bulgaria Great Again, or we will face national extinction! Peasants to your plows, workers to your factories, teachers to your schools, for the fate of Bulgaria depends on you!"[/i]
While the focus of the nation is heavily upon industrial expansion, the influence of the Agrarians in policy was also felt. These Agrarians represent the traditional small peasants, opposed to the influence of the big landlords and fiercely jealous of their lands. Their interests in agricultural policy was important to the government, since in order to secure appropriate financial resources for industrialization, there was an absolute necessity for Bulgaria to continue and raise agricultural production to give it hard currency on the international market, as well as to keep agricultural prices low for urban workers. Increasing agricultural production however, is difficult to do in an economy which is largely un-mechanized. It is not practical to make up our agricultural problems simply by importing foreign agricultural machinery, and it will be some time yet before our own industrial sector is capable of producing the desired levels of production. Furthermore, it is agriculture that is the funding the rest of the economy, by taxation and exports that provide the surplus that is then funneled into expanding infrastructure and industry; investment in agriculture, must hence be limited.
Therefor, agricultural productivity must be raised in a way that is both not taxing of the resources of the Nation, and which is also capable of making continued increases in yields. A program of land reform shall constitute a principal objective, aiming to break up the big landlords and replace them with medium-sized peasant owned farms, and to consolidate smaller firms into medium sized ones, re-imbursing the former farmers employed on the smaller farms and sending them into the cities for industrial employment or into rural industry. Bulgaria has about 3,500,000 hectares of arable land, but a farming population of 2,000,000 farmers; given that 10-20 hectares is needed for a full time farmer to be employed in conditions of reasonable prosperity, there will need to be significant drives to the cities, or smaller farms with farmers engaged part time farming and part time in rural industry. Consolidating farms in such a way will yield new farms that are more productive, rationalized to match a size that well suits a single farmer and provides for an optimal balance between labor productivity and yields. Bringing new land under the plough and conserving existing land is part of the plan, with the Bulgarian Labor Corps to be tasked for clearing and leveling land for farmers, but also planting forests which will be used for both conserving the soil and also for providing for an expansion of forestry products. Agricultural colleges that exist will be expanded, and new ones will be built, with the goal of ensuring that the best and most effective farming methods can be used. B.
A highly innovative policy is the promotion of rural light industry. Bulgaria's cities aim to focus extensively on heavy industrial growth, but in the countryside there will be substantial pools of labor which are best tapped while being left where they are; Bulgaria's cities can only absorb so much in additional population. The goal in the countryside is to promote the creation of rural light industries, producing various consumer goods, that will help to stimulate national production. They will also soak up labor from agriculture, as population growth continues in the countryside. Rural cooperatives will be promoted to help these, these cooperatives helping to mobilize capital, channel advice, organize education, secure loans, promote social harmony, and help social development.
This schooling expansion must be marked as one of the most important elements. Here, the influence of the Agrarians saw itself felt, with a dramatic propose expansion of rural education. Schooling in rural areas aims to provide good, practical education, not only in providing literacy, but also in hygiene, practical skills, agricultural methods, science, mathematics, and nationalizing the population through history. Promoting skills suitable for industrial workers will be vital for a workforce that can continue Bulgaria's progress to come into existence. Schools need not be large or prestigious; they must be many, easily accessible, and teach practical skills that benefit the peasants, as cheaply as possible.
[i]"If the sinews of war is men, then the sinews of Bulgarian industrialization is foreign currency."[/i] - Boris III
Much of Bulgaria's industrial development will come from within, leveraging Bulgarian investments and savings to provide for productive growth. But, there are many products which Bulgaria is unable to produce internally in significant quantities, if at all, such as high technology products and many capital goods. Securing these is possible on the international market, but there is an obvious problem - these cost money. This money can only be gained by selling products overseas, and yet Bulgaria's capacity to sell is limited, with only its agricultural good sector making much in the way of foreign exports. This production shall hopefully be expanded, but as much as we expand production, we will have to deal with the outflow of currency for buying imports. Here, is where the government can quickly make strides to reduce the outflow of precious hard currency. Bulgaria must aim to ruthlessly cut her imports of foreign goods that are unnecessary, to free up foreign currency to import that which is vital for the defense of the nation. Goods which can be produced with reasonable efficiency domestically are to be favored over imported goods, luxury imports strangled, and capital controls over the export of capital imposed. Foreign currency reserves are to be confiscated and centralized, and stringent limits imposed on the amounts which can be brought overseas. Furthermore, production plans will attempt to cater to utilizing products which can be domestically sourced as much as possible, avoiding expensive foreign imports such as rubber and oil when feasible.
There is another foreign import which is vital; foreign knowledge. Bulgaria hopes to attract foreign scientists, technicians, specialists, teachers, and educators as much as possible, to encourage the accretion of knowledge and the acceleration of industrial development. Bulgaria is, sadly, lacking in many of the areas of modern knowledge that are a necessity for the improvement of the national economy. Simply translating foreign books into Bulgarian is insufficient; we need foreign advisers to develop a modern economy! A program to promote the benefits of working in Bulgaria for skilled foreign advisers will form a key part of the policy, a particular area being Germany, where the disruptions of their economy will doubtless mean that there will be many who will be willing to come and work in a former war-time friend and ally temporarily. But it is the Americans who the greatest hope is pinned on, in adopting American methods of mass production and investment and advice from the famed American company "Ford" with their system of assembly lines. Scientific management and fordism, rationalizing production for increased productivity, represent hopes upon which Bulgaria pins her future.
Bulgarian exports will be increased through both traditional market methods, and in subsidies where necessary. The distortion in the domestic economy will be accepted, for exports are of overwhelming importance. Domestic money can be played with freely, albeit with the after mentioned distortions; foreign exchange must be earned. Thankfully, with the ability of Bulgaria to devalue relatively freely, as it is not on the gold standard, Bulgaria can achieve a competitive foreign export system without much need for subsidies except in exceptional circumstance. Given that export subsidies can only come at the expense of the domestic market, it is best to avoid it if possible.
[i]"Bulgaria is poor in resources, poor in industry, poor in wealth. But, glory to god, she is not poor in ideas. We will drag our nation out of the backwardness which the Turks brought to us, and by the factories' hammers and the blast furnaces' bellows make our nation the envy of the world."[/i] - Boris III
In summation, what is the general picture of the system that Bulgaria intends to implement? Bulgaria envisions an unprecedented level of state involvement in her economy. There are of course, precedents for this, with war-time economies, the USSR, and peace-time government economic involvement which has characterized some Eastern European economies. Bulgaria's programs draw on many of these. It aims to set up a system of market forces operating within confines directed by the state, rather than a purely planned economy, to avoid some of the problems which already demonstrated themselves with the economic misdirection of the USSR. Bulgaria recognizes that there will inevitably be various imperfections and distortions produced by its heavy state involvement, but it is the only way available to achieve the rapid economic development necessary. Bulgaria will no longer be a nation of backward peasants, but a true industrial power that will be the jewel of the Balkans, the jewel of Europe, the jewel of the world.
Concrete point investment :
Infrastructure - 200,000 points
Industrial Expansion 280,000 points
Agricultural Modernization - 48,000 points
Education - 120,000 points
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