Chapter 16.7.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 16: Economic Transition Plan I: Transition Period

16.7. Preparation for the integration of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries

In a sustainable planned economy, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, which are involved in food production, are treated separately as production plan Division B, distinct from production plan Division A for the core industrial sectors. However, the planning and implementation of production plan Division B are carried out by the integrated enterprise itself, such as the Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock Business Organization or the Fisheries Business Organization, similar to production plan Division A.

During the transitional period, the preparatory process for establishing the integrated enterprise that will be the planning body for Production Plan B will be carried out. In particular, the agriculture, forestry, and livestock sectors are closely related to the land system, and therefore overlap with the process of abolishing the land ownership system, as seen previously.

That is, it is assumed that farmland, forests, and pastures, which are factors of production in agriculture, forestry, and livestock, will all be liberated from the concept of ownership and placed under public management as ownerless property. In this respect, it is necessary to note that this is a completely different process from the land confiscation and distribution often carried out as socialist "land reform" policies.

Furthermore, the nature of the preparatory process will differ depending on the management form adopted by agriculture, forestry, and livestock at the start of the transitional period. In cases where self-employed family businesses are the dominant form of operation, establishing a consolidated enterprise will require a cautious process involving notification to each family and trial runs.

If cooperative organizations are well-established within the framework of self-employed family businesses, forming a consolidated enterprise by merging these cooperative organizations is relatively easy. In this case, the central cooperative organization will form the core.

In either case, traditional farmers, foresters, and livestock farmers will be incorporated as local managers or work instructors for agricultural, forestry, and livestock workers within the future Agricultural, Forestry, and Livestock Business Organization, requiring training to accompany this change in status.

On the other hand, if a semi-feudal system of large-scale land ownership still exists at the start of the transition period, former landowners who lost land ownership but were not absentee landlords and were actively engaged in agricultural, forestry, and livestock operations themselves may be rehired as local managers within the Agricultural, Forestry, and Livestock Business Organization. The basic process described above is largely applicable to the fisheries sector, but since the water bodies equivalent to land in the fisheries sector are not inherently subject to individual ownership, preparations related to the abolition of ownership rights, as seen in the agriculture, forestry, and livestock sectors, are not necessary.

However, if semi-feudal fisheries management systems, such as the net owner system by fishing vessel owners, still exist at the start of the transitional period, the process of dismantling such old systems will precede the establishment of integrated corporations.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communis

Chapter 16.6.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 16: Economic Transition Plan I: Transition Period

16.6. Preparations for the abolition of the land ownership system

Alongside the preparation for abolishing the monetary system, another major hurdle during the transition is the preparation for abolishing the land ownership system. This means transitioning to a system where land is managed as ownerless property, belonging to no one.

It is important to note here that this process is entirely different from the nationalization of land, which has often been implemented in various countries as a socialist land policy. Nationalization of land merely transfers ownership from private individuals to the state, while still retaining the concept of land ownership.

However, the abolition of the land ownership system, as referred to here, means liberating land from the very concept of "ownership," making it a natural object without ownership, similar to wild plants and animals. In essence, it means conceptually returning the Earth itself to its original natural state.

Therefore, this will be a legal measure without compensation, not a legal measure like the individual seizure of land with compensation. However, it also differs from socialist policies where the state or other public entities forcibly seize private land without compensation; it simply extinguishes land ownership in a legal concept.

However, this does not mean leaving the land in a primitive, unmanaged state; therefore, a system for publicly managing land must be established in each Zone. Preparations for establishing such a system will begin during the transition period.

The first stage is the enactment of the Land Ownership Extinction Law. This law will serve as the legal basis for abolishing the land ownership system. However, to avoid confusion, the extinction of land ownership will not be retroactive or immediate, but rather a future effect with a specified date.

The second stage is the establishment of an organization that will serve as the predecessor to the future Land Management Agency. While the Land Management Agency will be a public institution responsible for all matters concerning the public and private use and disposal of land that has become ownerless, it is simplest to establish its predecessor organization by integrating the current land registration agencies.

The land registry office is an institution responsible for the registration of the current status of privately owned land, based on the land ownership system. While it currently only handles the formal aspects of registration, it is a public institution that comprehensively grasps information related to the complexities of land ownership. Therefore, it is considered reasonable to reorganize it into the Land Management Agency.

Furthermore, the future  Land Management Agency will have police functions to crack down on land encroachment and seizure. Therefore, its predecessor organization should also establish a law enforcement department to prepare a system for cracking down on real estate crimes.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 16.5.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 16: Economic Transition Plan I: Transition Period

16.5. Preparation for the abolition of the monetary economy

During the transition period, capitalism based on chain-reaction monetary exchange is not completely abolished; a considerable portion of it remains (residual capitalism). However, conducting trials to adapt to the new economic system, which is unknown to most people, is essential for achieving a smooth transition.

This preparation for the abolition of the monetary economy is both the most important point and the most difficult hurdle in the transition process. Failure to do so could lead to economic chaos, shortages of goods, and even famine, so it must be carried out with the utmost care and deliberation.

The ultimate goal of abolishing the monetary economy is nothing less than the complete abolition of the monetary system, but this is a task to be achieved in the initial period after the transitional period. In the transitional period before that, the monetary system remains, and without shock measures such as denomination, trial preparatory measures are taken.

As a preparatory measure during the transitional period, the preparatory organization for the Economic Planning Conference also conducts rehearsals for formulating economic plans that do not rely on monetary exchange throughout the transitional period, but this is, of course, a tabletop exercise in core production activities that are included in the scope of the planned economy. 

In contrast, a rehearsal for the free, non-monetary supply of consumer goods directly related to citizens' daily lives will be conducted through the local preparatory organizations for Consumer Business Cooperatives. This will not be a theoretical exercise, but rather an actual trial of the free supply of daily necessities, primarily food, and some miscellaneous useful goods, with quantity restrictions.

The specific items to be included in the trial will be a policy issue. While this partial free supply of goods resembles wartime/disaster rationing, it is not a temporary measure like rationing, but rather a preparatory measure for the upcoming abolition of the monetary economy. Therefore, the range of items will gradually expand as the transition period progresses.

Furthermore, while the supply of basic utility services such as electricity and gas is included in the responsibilities of the preparatory organization for the Economic Planning Conference as part of the energy industry sector, these services are essential even in the future planned economy. Therefore, it would be beneficial to begin trials of the free supply of basic utility services from the transition period stage, in conjunction with the free supply of consumer goods.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 16.4.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 16: Economic Transition Plan I: Transition Period

16.4. Establishment of preparatory organizations for Consumer Business Cooperatives

The second pillar of the sustainable economic plan is consumption planning at the broad local level, the Zonelet. Once the sustainable planned economic system is complete, this will become a local economic plan formulated by the consumer business cooperatives themselves—cooperative organizations responsible for the supply of daily consumer goods—organized in each Zonelet.

During the transitional period, a comprehensive entity, which will be the predecessor of these consumer business cooperatives, will be established. This entity will have a structure similar to merged corporations in key industrial sectors, but since the future consumer business cooperatives will also be economic planning bodies, the predecessor organizations will also serve as preparatory organizations looking ahead to these planning bodies.

In other words, since the future consumer business cooperatives will also be the core organizations of a planned, free-of-charge supply system that does not rely on a monetary economy, the preparatory organizations for consumer business cooperatives during the transitional period will have the important task of preparing and rehearsing for the construction of such a free-of-charge supply system.

These preparatory organizations for consumer business cooperatives are similar to consumers' co-operatives that often coexist with commercial retail distribution capital even under developed capitalist economic systems, and it may be possible to establish them by reorganizing existing consumer cooperative organizations. Where consumers' co-operative do not exist, or even where they do, it is necessary to integrate retail distribution capital such as supermarkets and convenience stores, which form the core of retail distribution under the modern capitalist system. This integration process can be considered in line with that of merged corporations in key industrial sectors.

However, integrating coexisting for-profit retail capital and consumers' co-operative, which are legally incompatible business organizations, presents legal challenges. Nevertheless, the merged business entity as a preparatory organization for consumer cooperatives will be integrated as a special transitional entity that sublates the for-profit/non-profit dichotomy.

Furthermore, since the preparatory organization will be the predecessor organization for consumer cooperatives to be established in future broader Zonelets, it needs to be separate for each Zonelet. However, while the division of the Zonelets is still undecided, it may be acceptable to postpone the division and provisionally launch it as a nationwide organization for the time being. 

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 16.3.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 16: Economic Transition Plan I: Transition Period

16.3. Establishment of a preparatory organization for the Economic Planning Conference

After creating merged corporations that integrate the key industries included in the scope of the planned economy, the next step is to establish a preparatory organization for the Economic Planning Conference (hereinafter simply referred to as the preparatory organization), which will serve as the predecessor of the Economic Planning Conference, the body that will formulate and implement the future planned economy.

In a sustainable planned economy, the economic planning body is not an administrative central command body, but rather a collegial body jointly operated by the production business organizations themselves that are the subject of the planned economy. Therefore, the preparatory organization, which will be its predecessor, will also have a similar structure and will be composed as a collegial organization of the merged corporations that will be the predecessors of the production business organizations.

For this reason, the preparatory organization at its inception will likely take on the appearance of a kind of business association, but since the purpose of this preparatory organization is precisely to prepare for future economic planning activities, its main task will be to strive to develop the material and human resources necessary for the formulation and implementation of the economic plan.

As for the material resources necessary for the formulation and implementation of the economic plan, a large-scale computer system to be used in the plan is a typical example. As will be discussed again in a later appendix, economic planning is based on a sophisticated foundation of computational science.

On the other hand, the human resources base will primarily consist of training and deploying "environmental economic researchers (ecolonomists)," essential professionals who conduct economic analysis and forecasting from an environmental perspective in the practical application of economic planning, and "environmental economic analysts," who collect and analyze environmental economic data.

The Economic Planning Conference, which will be completed in the future, will function as a kind of economic decision-making body alongside the Common's Convention, which deliberates and decides on political issues. It will form a bicameral system with the Common's Convention, and therefore the preparatory organization will not be merely an incorporated association, but will have the legal status of a special public body.

For this reason, the preparatory organization will be organized as a conference with the executives in charge of each merged corporation as delegates, and during the transition period of the economic transition, conducting tabletop exercises of economic planning toward the formulation of the future formal first three-year economic plan will be an important task.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 16.2.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 16: Economic Transition Plan I: Transition Period

16.2. The integration process of key industries

The first hurdle in the transition period of the economic transition plan is the integration of key industries. In a sustainable planned economy, key industries are those sectors that fall within the scope of the planned economy.

While the definition of a key industry depends on the industrial classification, as mentioned in that section, in a sustainable planned economy whose primary objective is to ensure environmental sustainability, key industries refer to industrial sectors with a significant environmental impact.

Specifically, this will include industries such as steel, electricity, oil, shipbuilding, and machinery, as well as transportation, communications, and automobiles—industries that, even under the capitalist economic system, form the backbone of the economy as large corporations. The pharmaceutical sector, which operates on a separate production plan, also falls into this category.

These industrial sectors will be integrated into production business organizations as socially owned enterprises in the final stage of the sustainable planned economy. The aim of the integration of key industries during the transition period is to establish merged corporations that will serve as the precursors to these future production business organizations.

It must be acknowledged here that the integration of key industries is a completely different process from "nationalization" through the forced seizure of private companies, a common practice in socialist economic policies.

A sustainable planned economy does not presuppose the state as a political entity (as I have written), so "nationalization" is simply impossible. Rather, it means integrating key industrial entities, which often exist in the form of joint-stock companies under a capitalist economic system, into a single company for each industry.

In this respect, under today's capitalist economic system, competing companies in each industry form some kind of industry association and act in a cooperative manner.

However, these industry associations do not cooperatively develop production activities themselves, but rather, in many cases, function as a kind of pressure group that lobbies the political world to protect the interests of the entire industry, and are often vested interest groups that become breeding grounds for corruption.

In contrast, the merged enterprises that will form the predecessors of future production business organizations are cooperative joint companies aimed at developing production activities collaboratively, and will form trusts that are prohibited under antitrust laws under capitalism. Therefore, in order to legalize these precursor-type merged corporations, it will be necessary to amend the existing Antimonopoly Act.

The legal status of a merged corporation at its inception is not that of a joint-stock company, but rather a special transitional company. Therefore, its internal structure will also include internal organs such as a management committee and a workers' representative committee, similar to those of a future production business organization.

It is also important to note that this corporate integration process is carried out mandatorily based on law, and is entirely different from corporate mergers that are carried out based on voluntary agreements (contracts) between individual companies.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.

Chapter 16.1.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 16: Economic Transition Plan I: Transition Period

16.1. Overview of the transition period

The transition period is the starting point of the economic transition plan, which aims to build a sustainable planned economic system that will ultimately lead to the abolition of the monetary economy worldwide. This period is the most important and delicate process, corresponding to the first step in moving away from the capitalist market economy.

In historical examples of overall economic system transitions, significant disruption often occurs in this initial step, corresponding to the transition period. This is because politically driven, hasty transitions are often forced through as a shock therapy-like, all-or-nothing approach.

To avoid such disruption, it is necessary to establish a planned and gradual transition preparation process using an uncompromising, gradual approach. Here, the term "gradual approach" is often synonymous with "compromising," resulting in incomplete transitions. However, gradualism and compromise are not synonymous. Here, gradualism means steady progress that avoids haste.

Specifically, the primary objective during this transitional period is to steadily prepare for the establishment of a planned economy system, which will form the cornerstone of a sustainable planned economy, and for the abolition of the monetary system.

In this process, it is rational to prioritize the establishment of a planned economy system before the abolition of the monetary system, which is the ultimate and most difficult hurdle. The starting point is the integration of key industries toward the establishment of production organizations that will be the mainstays of the planned economy.

While the details will be discussed later, in short, this involves consolidating the key industries, which currently mostly exist in the form of joint-stock companies, into a single comprehensive company, and establishing a preparatory organization that will serve as the precursor to an autonomous economic planning institution by future production organizations.

In contrast, the abolition of the monetary system is a process that must be handled with the utmost caution, but during the transitional period, it will begin with trials of the free supply of consumer goods without monetary exchange.

This system involves the free provision of goods, primarily everyday necessities such as food, and some miscellaneous useful items. At this stage, it resembles a rationing system coexisting with a market economy, but it covers a wider range of items than a rationing system, and the range of items covered is gradually expanded over the course of time.

👉The papers published on this blog are meant to expand upon my On Communism.