Industrializing is no joke, you can't pay workers very well if the country isn't producing anything to pay them with. This is especially true when you need to be recirculating most of that surplus back into improving the means of production they're currently working and elsewhere.
Each labor-hour just doesn't produce that much in a non-industrialized economy. It's a brutal, if not barbaric, period of development. It was awful in America, it was awful in the Soviet Union, and it's awful in China.
Industrializing is no joke, you can't pay workers very well if the country isn't producing anything to pay them with. This is especially true when you need to be recirculating most of that surplus back into improving the means of production they're currently working and elsewhere.
Each labor-hour just doesn't produce that much in a non-industrialized economy. It's a brutal, if not barbaric, period of development. It was awful in America, it was awful in the Soviet Union, and it's awful in China.