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.

Chapter 15.5.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 15: Economic Transition Planning

15.5. Notification and trial implementation

A fundamental shift in an economic system significantly impacts the entire cycle of production, distribution, and consumption, making it prone to economic disruption. This is especially true with shock therapy-style transitions, but disruption can also occur with gradual methods.

While there are no technical measures to completely prevent such transitional disruption, minimizing it as much as possible requires implementing notification and trial implementation procedures at each stage of the transition.

Notification and trial implementation involve explaining the overall process and specific measures in the transition, ensuring full information disclosure, and then proceeding with the transition process while experimentally implementing each measure.

Among these, notification, which involves information disclosure, is a crucial key to minimizing disruption during the transition. This is because economic actors, including individuals, can anticipate and prepare for what is to come through notification. In this sense, being notified can be considered a right for all economic actors. 

There are two main types of notifications: those for specific industries and those for individual households. However, simply publishing a single notice in a public bulletin or on an official website is insufficient; both require written documentation and individual distribution. This is why they are called "notifications."

Notifications for industries aim to encourage businesses to proactively prepare for the transition through a circular document detailing the mechanisms and transition process of a sustainable planned economy.

Notifications for individual households aim to alleviate anxieties by distributing booklets that clearly explain the mechanisms of production, labor, and overall life under a sustainable planned economy to all households.

Based on these notifications, individual measures in the transition process will be implemented systematically. These transition measures may remain theoretical exercises or be actually implemented; the latter may be implemented partially or fully.

In that sense, the measures during the transition period are experimental, but within the three stages of the transition process—transition period → initial phase → completion phase—the transitional period is the most experimental, followed by the initial phase and completion phase, which are envisioned as moving towards full implementation.

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

Chapter 15.4.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 15: Economic Transition Planning

15.4. Liberation from the "concept of money"

In the transition to a sustainable planned economy that abolishes the monetary economy, while technical policies to ensure a smooth transition are important, it is also essential to promote a kind of conscious revolution that consciously liberates people from the concept of money that they almost unconsciously take for granted.

In the modern world, the monetary exchange system, in which all goods and services are acquired in exchange for money, is firmly established. People unconsciously take money for granted to the same extent as breathing air, making it extremely difficult to envision an economic system that operates without monetary exchange, but rather through free exchange or bartering.

In this regard, how humans acquire the concept of monetary exchange after birth is not fully understood, and remains a mystery, much like the process of acquiring one's native language after birth. Since there is no evidence of systematic monetary education being implemented at home or school, the majority of people's developmental process involves an unconscious acquisition process at the same level as acquiring one's native language, and by a certain age, they naturally become able to make simple purchases. 

Freeing people from the monetary concepts they have naturally acquired is not easy. While the acquisition of monetary concepts may occur unconsciously, liberation from them requires conscious and rigorous training. Examining the process and methods of liberation remains a largely unexplored challenge in behavioral economics.

Here too, if we were to adopt a shock therapy approach and immediately abolish the monetary economy, some people might react by hoarding goods in an attempt to monopolize them, which could lead to severe shortages. While desire for material desire is regulated unequally by the amount of money one holds under a monetary economy, it must be regulated by a different, fairer method under a non-monetary economy.

Whether material desires are acquired later in life or innate needs inherent to human beings as biological beings, controlling such desires is a crucial issue directly related to the success or failure of a sustainable planned economy, and, alongside liberation from the concept of money, is an inseparable challenge in behavioral economics.

While acknowledging these challenges, it is also necessary to incorporate liberation from the concept of money into the economic transition plan. In general, the smoothest transition would be to proceed through stages starting with information provision and education, followed by limited trials of a non-monetary economy, and finally to the full implementation of a non-monetary economy (For details, see Chapter 16 and below).

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

Chapter 15.3.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 15: Economic Transition Planning

15.3. Transitional approach or Special Economic Zone approach?

During economic transitions, special economic zones are often established, granting specific regions special legal status and implementing different economic systems from other regions. This is often seen in the process of transitioning from a controlled economic system to a free-market economic system. China has utilized this most extensively.

This approach mitigates the economic chaos that often ensues when transitioning economic systems abruptly, and also has the significance of adapting the socio-economic system to the new economic system by first conducting trials in limited areas within the special economic zone.

Theoretically, such special economic zone systems can also be applied when transitioning from a free-market economy to a sustainable planned economy. For example, one could designate certain areas in urban and rural areas as "planned economic special zones" and conduct pilot trials of a sustainable planned economy in these limited areas.

However, regardless of the direction of the special economic zone system, granting special economic privileges to residents and registered corporations in designated areas violates the principle of equality before the law.

In particular, since a sustainable planned economy aims to abolish the monetary system, the unfairness of abolishing the monetary system only within special zones, and the resulting economic disruption, are not considered appropriate.

When transitioning to a sustainable planned economy, a uniform system transition across the entire region should be envisioned, rather than a special zone system. This approach can be called a "transitional approach" in contrast to a "special zone approach." A transitional approach is a method of systematically transitioning the economic system through stages, as we saw previously.

Incidentally, another method contrasted with the "transitional approach" is the "shock approach." This involves an immediate transition to the new economic system without stages, a kind of shock therapy. While there are examples of this being applied to Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when transitioning to a capitalist market economy, it resulted in significant economic disruption at the expense of citizens' lives.

In this respect, the disruption that would be expected from immediately abolishing the monetary economy would be far greater than that of a rapid shift to a market economy, making such an approach out of the question. Ultimately, a transitional system accompanied by a meticulous economic transition plan is considered to be the most effective way to ensure a smooth transition to a sustainable planned economy.

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

Chapter 15.2.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 15: Economic Transition Planning

15.2.  Duration of economic transition plans

Generally, a comprehensive transition of an economic system requires a certain amount of time. Therefore, unlike economic plans that are based on a few years, economic transition plans must be gradual and based on a fairly long-term perspective.

Furthermore, it will undoubtedly take an "era" to transition from a capitalist market economy, the ultimate goal of a monetary economy, to a sustainable planned economy, the ultimate goal of which is the complete abolition of the monetary economy, a historic transformation for humankind.

While it is difficult to quantify how long this period will actually take, generally speaking, the longer an economic transition plan will take in proportion to the level of progress made in the capitalist market economy.

Therefore, the more delayed a country's capitalist economic development is and the more likely it is to be classified as a "developing" country by current standards, the shorter the economic transition period. Conversely, the more "developed" a country (i.e., a developed capitalist country), the longer it will take to transition to a sustainable planned economy, becoming a "(reverse) developing" country. Although the length of each stage may vary, the economic transition planning process can be broadly divided into three stages: transitional, initial, and completion, with the stage at which a sustainable planned economy is fully established as the final goal. A "maturity stage" beyond completion is also conceivable, but given the nature of the transition process, it is out of the question here.

The initial transitional period is the very center of the economic transition planning process, as rushing through this phase could lead to economic collapse, so caution is required. It is particularly taboo to hastily abolish the monetary system, which modern "civilized people" have almost unconsciously ingrained in their bodies.

As we will discuss later, one issue at this stage is whether to introduce a regional pilot system such as a special economic zone system. In any event, this transitional period is the most critical stage, holding the key to the success of the economic transition.

The subsequent initial period is the period after the transitional period when the first three-year economic plan is implemented and the sustainable planned economy gets underway. During this period, the transition to a sustainable planned economy is probably still limited worldwide, with some countries still maintaining capitalist market economies, so the transition has not yet been complete.

On the other hand, although this period is the initial stage, insofar as a sustainable planned economy has already been launched, it could also be said that the period of the economic transition plan has passed. However, due to the circumstances mentioned above, the economic transition plan has not yet ended, and it could also be said to be an extension of the plan.

Once this initial stage has passed and a sustainable planned economy has been established worldwide, the completion period will begin. At this stage, the monetary economy will finally be almost entirely abolished worldwide, and the economic transition plan will come to an end.

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

Chapter 15.1.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

PART 4: THE TRANSITION PROCESS TO A SUSTAINABLE PLANNED ECONOMY

Chapter 15: Economic Transition Planning

15.1. Overview

So far, we have looked at the details of sustainable planned economies that do not rely on monetary economies. However, in reality, the greatest challenge lies not in the operation of such planned economies themselves, but in the process of abolishing monetary economies and transitioning to sustainable planned economic systems.

Because monetary economic systems have traditionally been taken for granted, regardless of whether they are capitalist or socialist, humanity has never experienced the abolition of a monetary economy. Therefore, how to smoothly abolish a monetary economy is a truly uncharted territory.

That said, within the framework of a monetary economy, the process of transforming one economic system into another—whether the transition to a socialist planned economy following a socialist revolution, or conversely, the shift to a market economy after a de-socialist revolution—is one that many countries experienced in the 20th century.

Although both of these system transitions were solely within the framework of a monetary economy, they are remembered for bringing about considerable socioeconomic turmoil and economic hardship for the masses. Moreover, it is not surprising that there are concerns about the level of chaos that would result from abolishing the monetary economy, which has been taken for granted.

Counting back to the founding of the monetary system in ancient times, this would involve transforming an economic system that has likely continued for thousands of years, and it would certainly be a major transformation in the history of mankind.

For this reason, even if one supports the abolition of the monetary economy in principle, one may be forced to oppose it given the difficulties of the transition process. In fact, even in Russia after the socialist revolution, the most radical theorists envisioned the abolition of the monetary economy, but this did not become part of the economic policy of the revolutionary government, and the monetary economy was retained even after the planned economic system was completed.

Therefore, as an actual economic policy rather than merely an idea, in order to transition to a sustainable planned economy while minimizing the chaos that would accompany the abolition of the monetary economy, it is necessary to plan the transition process itself. This is called an "economic transition plan." It is, in other words, a roadmap for economic transition. This economic transition plan is not an economic plan per se, but a kind of normative program that aims to minimize the socio-economic disruptions that are common during the transition process by explicitly outlining the yearly process of economic transition. 

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

Chapter 14.4.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 14: Planned Economy and Consumer Life

14.4. Planned distribution and unplanned distribution

Marx stated that “distribution itself is merely a certain moment of exchange, or exchange considered in its totality,” thereby placing relatively low importance on distribution. Not necessarily because of this, but planned economies in countries professing Marxism tended to suffer from distribution deficiencies, particularly difficulties in obtaining daily necessities due to flaws and corruption within the distribution system. 

However, distribution inherently possesses a unique significance that cannot be reduced to exchange in general; its system structure must be specifically designed. For a planned economy to succeed, the issue of distribution is an unavoidable challenge.

Consumer business cooperatives, which are the main actors in consumption planning in a sustainable planned economy, not only formulate consumption plans but also directly operate supply centers. Depending on their size, supply centers can be divided into convenience store-like lightweight supply centers and supermarket-like comprehensive supply centers.

Lightweight supply centers are planned and located at high density to avoid overcrowding like commercial convenience stores, fulfilling the same end-user supply function as convenience stores. In contrast, comprehensive supply stations would be similarly planned and located at a lower density. These supply stations would also offer home delivery services for consumers who have difficulty visiting supply stations, such as the elderly and disabled.

Meanwhile, consumer business cooperatives would need to deploy their own transportation departments to ensure the reliable delivery of products received from production companies to each supply station. A planned economy does not completely reject the division of labor, but it does relativize it to a certain extent, so services like transportation are internalized.

In addition to these supply stations for everyday goods, consumer business cooperatives would also manage stockpiles for emergencies such as disasters, and in the event of a disaster, they would work with disaster relief organizations to ensure the smooth supply of emergency supplies.

Planned distribution based on the above consumption plan is actually only a part of distribution; entertainment and luxury goods other than everyday necessities are produced and distributed freely. In this way, distribution in a sustainable planned economy will consist of a mixed system of planned distribution of basic necessities and unplanned distribution of all other items.

However, even though we are talking about unplanned distribution, the monetary economy has been abolished, so there will be no distribution based on monetary exchange, but a distribution system based on free or barter exchange will develop. Therefore, in these fields, private supply stores or exchanges based on individual shops will be widely accepted, including online.

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