togophonebook #350 - Surplus Labor and the Devil
#350 - Surplus Labor and the Devil
Outside the Castle of Joan of Arc, on the third floor of the Lubyanka Monastery.
Under the sign of the Baptism Class of the Society of the Holy Father, Honn's loud voice echoed in the small classroom.
“The simplest principle is that labor should receive its due reward, just as artisans create tools and farmers grow grain. This is a simple axiom that most laborers can agree with.”
“Why do we say the bishop is a devil? Because he receives far more reward than his labor deserves…”
Standing behind the podium, Honn spoke eloquently to the newly initiated monks of the Society of the Holy Father.
Below the podium, the two rooms originally used for educating new monks had been combined, and the windows had been renovated with mortar to allow external light to enter.
The novice monks of the Society of the Holy Father, wearing half-capes, leaned over the desks, quickly writing notes on paper.
Among these monks of the Society of the Holy Father were young Home Guard soldiers from various villages, war monks from the army, low-ranking monks from the monastery, and even a few centurions.
In three months, the Society of the Holy Father expanded at a rate of nearly a hundred people per month.
And the Society of the Holy Father's rapid training class was held at the headquarters of the Boy Soldiers, the Lubyanka Monastery.
The main subjects were grammar, law, mathematics, natural theology, and, most importantly, 'The Holy Path Salvation Doctrine'.
Adhering to the principle of personally handling political work, Honn would give lectures whenever he was free, whether it was for the Salvation Army's internal classes or the Society of the Holy Father's training courses.
As the foundation of political education, Honn ultimately decided to promote the idea of labor, which was easier for ordinary people in the empire to understand.
It wasn't that Honn didn't want to adopt more advanced ideas, but the level of productivity did not allow for more advanced thinking.
The theory Honn was currently lecturing on openly borrowed from the physiocratic school that was popular in the Kingdom of France in its early years, but his should be called the labor-centric school.
The physiocratic school mainly introduced the concept of 'net product,' that is, the part of agricultural production that exceeds the necessary production, which is the source of wealth.
Therefore, they concluded that all agricultural activities are the foundation of the economy.
Honn's labor-centric theory, on the other hand, expanded this concept, replacing the relatively narrow agricultural production with all labor, thereby introducing the concept of surplus labor.
In the theological system of the Society of the Holy Father, the 'devil' is the existence that unreasonably occupies the surplus labor from workers through coercion or deception.
The so-called 'Holy War of Exorcism' or 'Great Judgment' is the act of workers violently expelling devils and reclaiming the fruits of their labor from the devils.
As for what other theories later generations would deduce based on the concepts of 'surplus labor' and 'Holy War of Exorcism,' that had nothing to do with Honn.
Anyway, he believed in the wisdom of later generations.
Currently, the content of 'The Holy Path Salvation Doctrine' has finally added a new content after advocating freedom and equality, that is, advocating labor.
“But if all the fruits of labor belong to oneself, for example, if one harvests 100 pounds of wheat and it all belongs to oneself, then there is no way to support soldiers. When foreign enemies invade, how can we protect ourselves?” A monk with a Paul-style Mediterranean hairstyle raised his pen and asked.
Honn remembered this monk. His name was Matthias, and he used to be a low-ranking monk at the old Lubyanka Monastery.
At first, the Salvation Army generally regarded low-ranking monks as accomplices of the monastery, but later they were surprised to find that low-ranking monks were also the oppressed.
These low-ranking monks were sent to the monastery by their parents, but unless they were of noble birth, they had to bear extremely heavy labor and complicated clerical work.
Many low-ranking monks lived in poverty, and there were even cases of large numbers of monks fleeing or even running into the mountains to become bandits.
The truly wealthy were the bishops, abbots, and canons.
Your church is really ruthless! When scraping the land, you even scrape your own people!
After thinking for a few seconds, Honn came up with an angle to answer.
“Do you think it is possible for me to build a perfect kingdom of heaven within ten years, a kingdom of heaven without taxes, a kingdom of heaven where all the fruits of labor belong to oneself?” Honn asked rhetorically.
Matthias hesitated and replied, “It seems, not very possible.”
“Yes, that's why we have to pay taxes.” Honn turned around and tapped the words 'Holy War of Exorcism' on the blackboard with a chalk pen. “The taxes we ask them to pay are because there are still devils in the world, and the Holy War of Exorcism cannot stop.”
Matthias was still puzzled: “But this contradicts what you said about the fruits of surplus labor.”
“It doesn't contradict.” Honn slowly walked up to him. “The taxes we ask to be paid are not for our own enjoyment, but for serving the common people, protecting the common people, providing the common people with a better life, and building a kingdom of heaven.
In other words, it is taken from the people and used for the people. I know there will be losses during this period, but if we don't pay taxes and adopt other methods, the efficiency will only be lower.
The common people do not yet have the ability to make good use of their own labor. In order to drive away the devils, we can only temporarily adopt this method.
We are facing tremendous external pressure. All the devils, those bishops and knights, are trying to eliminate us. If we don't pay taxes, the war monks will not have money to buy weapons and train. Not only will we not be able to go to the kingdom of heaven, but we will also return to the hellish life of the past.
The taxes paid by the common people are not only for the maintenance of their current lives, but also for repaying the debts of the past when they did not resist, and even more for investing in the future.”
…………
After class, Honn left the Lubyanka Monastery under the guard of several military policemen.
He had just stepped down from the steps of the monastery gate when he saw René and Boussac waiting at the door, holding a thick stack of papers in their hands.
“Has the Black Hat Army's enlistment survey been completed?” Honn asked with a smile as he walked forward.
Boussac, who had rolled up his shirt sleeves above his elbows and was dressed in a cool outfit, was sweating profusely on this hot day: “Currently, the statistics are all done, and we are just waiting to report to you.”
Honn picked up the stack of thick booklets, casually flipped through two pages, and then looked at René beside him.
René was wearing an eggplant-colored jacket that reached his wrists on this hot day, and he didn't sweat a drop, forming a stark contrast with Boussac beside him.
“Then what are you here to report, René?” Honn put his arm around René's shoulder and asked as he walked forward.
A trace of helplessness appeared on René's usually rigid face: “Papa, the Cheka caught four wizards from Black Serpent Bay in Sour Gourd Town.”
“Oh, that's rare. What's going on?” Honn asked in surprise as he walked to the stable and led out the docile mare, Grape.
“When they got off the carriage, they used acid to break the axle and wheel hubs of the carriage. The coachman discovered it and reported that they were Norse spies. It just so happened that there were two military policemen nearby.
Unexpectedly, they ran away as soon as they saw the military police. In the end, the garrisoned Guards and Cheka used holy guns and dragon bone flutes to catch them.
We found two letters on them, but the specific content will have to wait until we are in a secure environment.”
“Okay.” Honn straddled Grape's back. “Let's go, we're going back to Holy Advent Hall.”