Chapter 252: Political Contribution System Reform

Gao Da had just been delighted by the increase in population brought to the Congo Territory by the gold rush, but in the blink of an eye, the Spanish mainland faced a problem that made Gao Da knit his brows.

The origin of this problem had to be blamed on the French capital pouring into Spain; not all capital was willing to operate within the scope stipulated by Spain.

The greed of capital is well-known, and Marx's *Das Kapital* also mentions the greed and crimes of capital: when faced with 10% profit, capitalists will stir; when faced with 20% profit, they will become active; when faced with 50% profit, they will take risks; when faced with 100% profit, they will trample on the law; and when faced with 300% profit, they will dare to commit any crime.

The French capital in Spain had not yet reached the point of committing any crimes, but they had indeed begun to become active, wanting to obtain more privileges and preferential treatment in Spain.

In order to expand their own influence, some French capital began to invest in Spanish political parties, attempting to use political parties to change the status quo of capital being unwelcome within Spain.

Although the actions of French capital could not change the political situation in Spain for the time being, this was indeed something Gao Da did not want to see.

Political activities require a large amount of funds, which is also the reason why most political parties could not develop in Spain. The Spanish government did not have overly strict requirements for the establishment of political parties; one only needed to hold at least one parliamentary seat in the major regional assemblies to apply to the Senate to form a party.

Because of the lack of funds, even if most political parties could be established, they were destined not to develop.

Only political parties that truly gained the support of the public could obtain political contributions donated by the public, thereby possessing the capital to engage in political activities.

Because the domestic capital in Spain was not strong before, the political parties that received more political contributions were basically those supported by the public; to put it bluntly, it was political cash accumulated through numbers.

But under the intervention of French capital, some political parties that were not supported by the public also had the opportunity to obtain more political cash, thereby engaging in more political activities.

Among the many parties in Spain, the one French capital first contacted was the Liberal Party, which was also the party Gao Da was most wary of among the existing parties in Spain.

The Liberal Party had a prior record of supporting a republic, and France was a republican country, which inevitably led to suspicion and vigilance.

Gao Da did not want French capital to interfere too much in the affairs of the Spanish government, so the best way was to change the current system and relevant regulations for how various Spanish political parties obtained political contributions.

Currently, Spain had no restrictions on the political contribution system; as long as someone donated political contributions to a certain party, the party could obtain the entire sum of funds and use it for political activities.

If this system were to continue, French capital could easily cultivate a massive political party, posing a threat to the current ruling party, the Conservative Party.

The current slogan of the Liberal Party was the pursuit of democracy and freedom; if there were intervention from French capital, would it turn into the pursuit of a democratic republic?

Gao Da did not believe in the integrity of capital; if Spain becoming a republic could allow French capital to earn more, French capital would certainly do so.

Therefore, Gao Da had to reduce the opportunities for French capital to gain more political influence at the source, avoiding them gaining more political power by controlling a certain party.

The simplest way was to change the political contribution system, letting the money donated by French capital enter the pockets of all parties, rather than just one party sponsored by French capital.

Once the plan was in place, the subsequent matters were easy to handle.

Gao Da and Prime Minister Canovas discussed for several days and finally produced a brand-new political contribution system proposal.

Originally, political contributions donated by the public to parties went directly into the pockets of the parties, but according to the new system, political contributions donated by the public to parties needed to be handed over to the Senate's party management agency first, and then distributed to each party by the party management agency.

This political contribution would be divided into two parts, 40% of which would be directly issued to the donated party as political activity funds; this part had no requirements or prerequisites, and any legal party could obtain it.

The remaining 60% would be distributed to all parties holding seats according to the proportion of seats each party occupied in the Lower House, achieving the goal of all parties splitting the political contributions.

The benefits of such a system were obvious: it could ensure that all parties could have a sip of soup and would not be forced to dissolve because they lacked public donations.

The disadvantages were also obvious: a certain party could not obtain all the political contributions, and the final proportion obtained would depend on the proportion of seats the party occupied in the Lower House.

Taking Spain's largest party, the Conservative Party, as an example: if someone donated 100 pesetas to the Conservative Party as a political contribution, the Conservative Party could directly get 40 pesetas, and by virtue of the Lower House seats it obtained, get 49% of the remaining 60 pesetas, which was 29. pesetas.

According to the old system, the Conservative Party could obtain the entire 100 pesetas in funds. But under the new system, the Conservative Party could only obtain 69. pesetas in funds, and the remaining 30. pesetas would be split by other parties according to their proportions.

This also meant that for every donation the Conservative Party received, 30. % of it would be split by other parties. Although it seemed like a loss, one also had to consider the situation of other parties receiving political contributions.

The Conservative Party could also obtain a 29. % share of the funds donated by the public to other parties. If other parties received fewer political contributions than the Conservative Party, the Conservative Party would lose a portion of funds.

But if other parties received more political contributions than the Conservative Party, then the Conservative Party would obtain more funds.

Under such circumstances, if French capital still wanted to fund the Liberal Party, they would have to invest more funds.

Of the funds French capital donated to the Liberal Party, the Liberal Party could only obtain 45. % of it, and the remaining 54. % would be split by other parties; the Liberal Party would not gain any advantage in terms of funds.

After careful discussion and confirming that there were no major problems with this system, Gao Da decided to implement the new system immediately to avoid French capital investing excessively in the Liberal Party before then.

Following Gao Da's order, the Spanish Parliament was also very efficient and quickly passed this new proposal regarding the political contribution system.

After the new political contribution system was passed, French capital was dumbfounded.

They had originally intended to gain more political power and influence by supporting the Liberal Party, but at this moment, they had to abandon such thoughts.

According to Spain's new political contribution system, they would have to pay at least double the cost compared to before, and the results achieved might not necessarily be effective.

After all, these funds were split by all major parties; the Liberal Party, which was the one actually being invested in, could only obtain 45. %, while the Conservative Party, which had done nothing, could instead get 29. %.

The new system was desperate for French capital, but for some small parties with low support, it was indeed the hope and dawn for them to maintain themselves.

Although Spain's per capita income had increased a lot compared to ten years ago, because there were still a large number of farmers in the country, most people could only manage to barely have enough to eat and wear.

Under such circumstances, the political contributions obtained by various parties could not be too much, even for the Conservative Party and the Progressive Party.

As for those small parties that only held one or two seats, that went without saying; the political contributions they received each year were few and far between, and if they wanted to engage in political activities, they could only rely on donations from party members.

Under the new system, these parties could also obtain some political contributions. Although not much, it was certainly much better than the situation of having no income before.

It was precisely because of this that these small parties were relatively welcoming of the new political contribution system. They basically had no losses and could instead obtain more fund income.

As for the three major existing parties in Spain, their losses were quite large. Especially the Conservative Party; as Spain's largest party, they were also the party that received the most political contributions.

Because the Conservative Party had many aristocratic members, the amount of political contributions for the Conservative Party was relatively large, and under the new system, the losses would also be relatively high.

The Conservative Party was a party completely loyal to Gao Da, and they would not express a clear attitude of opposition to orders that harmed their own interests.

But precisely because it was a party completely loyal to him, there had to be some compensation for the Conservative Party. Gao Da's compensation was simple: in the name of the fast-food company under the royal family, he would donate 500, 00 pesetas in political contributions to the Conservative Party every year.

Of these 500, 00 pesetas in political contributions, the Conservative Party could obtain 347, 00. This sum of funds was enough to make up for the losses caused to the Conservative Party by the new system, and it could also use the new system to let more parties obtain activity funds.

The reason for donating in the name of the fast-food company instead of Gao Da's personal name was mainly because Gao Da, as the King of Spain, could not support a certain party too obviously.

For Gao Da, whether it was the Conservative Party, the Progressive Party, or the wary Liberal Party, they were actually all the same.

On the premise that they did not explicitly oppose the monarchy, these parties were all political forces that Gao Da could use. If he only supported one of the parties, it would mean that Gao Da was distancing himself from the remaining parties.

Such an approach was not wise, and Gao Da was even less likely to let a certain party in Spain dominate.

A truly reasonable political situation should be one where several parties compete and cooperate with each other, all serving Gao Da.

Only by doing this could Gao Da remain above the major parties and easily use the competitive relationship between several parties to ensure that these parties were loyal to him.

Under such circumstances, once a party began to oppose the monarchy, Gao Da would not even need to take action; the other parties would unite to oppose this party for their own interests.

If Gao Da explicitly supported a certain party, the remaining parties might unite to oppose the party Gao Da supported, or even oppose Gao Da.

After the new system was promulgated and implemented, the problems existing within Spain were solved.

Without the support of French capital, it was impossible for the Liberal Party to pose a threat to the Progressive Party and the Conservative Party.

Gao Da was also able to focus with peace of mind on the population growth of the Congo Territory and the changes brought to the Congo Territory by the gold rush.

During this period, the war between Britain and Afghanistan officially ended, and the two countries signed the Treaty of Gandamak; Britain officially obtained diplomatic control over Afghanistan and stationed troops in the Afghan region.

It was just that the British did not stay happy for long; this treaty instead incited the anti-British sentiment of the Afghans and evolved into a protracted insurgent war.

Britain being deeply mired in the Afghan quagmire was actually good news for Spain, because Spain had enough time to develop the Congo Territory and did not have to worry about British intervention.

Later generations have the meme of oil breeding the US military; in fact, this era also had the meme of gold breeding the British military.

The British Empire possessed the most vast colonies in the world, and these colonies were not obtained peacefully, but through one colonial war and war of aggression after another.

The gold rush in the Congo Territory had already formed; if the British had not been tied down by Afghanistan, I am afraid the British would have found ways to create some trouble for Spain or dispatched colonial teams to establish their own colonial strongholds in the Congo River basin.

Now it was fine; the British were tied down, and Spain also had enough time to complete its own plan.

In fact, the British had quite a few troubles. As early as January, Britain had broken out in a war with the indigenous nation of Zulu in South Africa.

The 13, 00 British colonial troops led by Lord Chelmsford crossed the Tugela River and launched a large-scale offensive against the Zulu Kingdom.

The arrogant British underestimated this indigenous nation and eventually paid a heavy price. The Zulus took advantage of the night to surround the British army and launched a night raid.

In the surprised eyes of the British soldiers, the Zulus braved the fierce artillery bombardment of the British and rushed into the British army's camp, and had a tragic hand-to-hand fight with the British army.

The Zulu soldiers suffered more than 3, 00 casualties, but they also caused more than 1, 00 casualties to the British army.

The main reason was that the Zulu soldiers rushed into the British camp, making the battle between the two armies a melee. As long as the Zulu soldiers did not rush into the camp, the British army could easily crush the Zulu army by relying on firepower.

Britain lost more than 1, 00 rifles, 500, 00 rounds of ammunition, and several cannons in this war, and returned more than half of the occupied land.

But the Zulu did not end the war through this victory; Britain rejected any negotiation demands put forward by the Zulu and continuously increased troops to the South African region.

As the most powerful country in the world, when the British were determined to invade a country, few countries could defeat the British offensive.

Although the Zulus caused heavy casualties to the British army in the war and even killed Louis, the son of Napoleon III, this did not change the outcome of the war.

In July 1879, the British army easily defeated the Zulu army by relying on its firepower advantage. Because they had gained experience in long-term combat with the Zulus, the British army prepared a large supply of bullets and shells, firmly suppressing the Zulus outside their positions.

Because the Zulus could not get close to the British positions, they naturally could not engage in the hand-to-hand combat they were familiar with against the British army.

In the situation of long-distance combat between the two sides, the Zulus could only be forced to accept the fierce firepower of the British, and the outcome was being killed instantly as soon as they showed their heads.

With the Zulus suppressed, the British cavalry set out in full force and easily routed the Zulu army.

This victory also established Britain's advantage in Zulu; the Zulu Kingdom was divided by Britain into 13 small chieftaincies and all were incorporated into its own rule.

Of course, the full occupation of Zulu did not mean the end for the British, but rather represented a new conflict.

Britain's South African colony was established by the Dutch; Dutch immigrants established Cape Town, which subsequently developed into the Cape Colony.

But with the British invasion, the Cape Colony was eventually taken by Britain as its own. The descendants of local immigrants were called Boers, and under the oppression of British colonialists, they were forced to flee north.

The destination of the Boers' flight was the Zulu Kingdom; this place not only had an outlet to the sea but was also a relatively fertile land with a considerable number of indigenous people who could be used as slaves.

The British also set their sights on this land and eventually obtained control of it.

But this actually deepened the conflict between the Boers and the British; there was no longer any buffer zone between the land controlled by the Boers and the land controlled by the British.

Compared to indigenous nations with backward technology, the Boers, who evolved from European immigrants, were clearly more advanced, and their combat effectiveness was also more powerful.

The conflict between Britain and the Boers was also bound to make the competition in the South African region more intense.

The Boer War in history also proved that the British army could only bully colonial indigenous people; when facing more advanced armies, it did not have as great an advantage as imagined.

Gao Da certainly understood that the Boer War was a major opportunity for Spain, and there was even hope to use this opportunity to annex Portugal and recover Gibraltar.

But the problem was that there were two Boer Wars, and the second one was the war in the true sense. The First Boer War was less of a war and more of a small-scale conflict between Britain and the Boers.

The Second Boer War broke out from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, and there was still about 20 years to go from now.

This also meant that Spain was still at least 20 years away from the goal of annexing Portugal and recovering Gibraltar.

Of course, the fact that there was still time was also good news.

Spain could complete its layout during these 20 years; in the Second Boer War in history, the British won a pyrrhic victory; although they achieved victory, they also paid a very heavy price.

If they could lay out in advance, even if they could not change the outcome of the war, they would certainly be able to make the price the British paid even heavier.

The greater the losses of the British, the greater the opportunity for Spain to seize the chance to annex Portugal and recover Gibraltar. If the British were to become deeply mired in the Boer War, Spain might even have the opportunity to annex Portugal and Morocco, taking advantage of the situation to establish a great empire spanning the two continents of Europe and Africa.

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(End of this chapter)