Chapter11.2.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 11: Planned Economy and Corporate Forms

11.2. Self-Managed enterprise

Sectors other than environmentally-burdened industries subject to sustainable planned economies shall be left to the free market. However, even though it is called a free economy, it does not presuppose a monetary economy; thus, it is “free” in the sense that it is not a monetary exchange economy and is not subject to the discipline of economic planning.

Production activities in the free economy, which are not subject to the planned economy, are carried out by private enterprises. In this respect, it should be noted that this differs from the Soviet-style socialist system, which did not tolerate the existence of private enterprises in their pure form.

A private enterprise means that it can be freely established, its activities are not bound by economic plans, and are free as long as it complies with relevant laws and regulations. However, when we say private enterprises, they are of course not joint-stock corporations, but private enterprises unique to communist societies.

First, "unique to communist societies" means that they are non-profit enterprises, rather than for-profit enterprises that aim to distribute profits like joint-stock corporations. Second, they are self-managed enterprises where labor and management are integrated, unlike joint-stock corporations where management and labor are separated and managers direct workers to engage in production activities. Instead, the workers themselves, who engage in production activities, autonomously manage the enterprises.

This type of enterprise form is more like a cooperative than a company, and the legal name for such communist private enterprises is a "production cooperative." While the name overlaps with the production cooperative envisioned by Marx, they differ in that while Marx's production cooperative was positioned as the operating entities of a planned economy, production cooperative here is free private enterprise that operates outside of the planned economy.

Thus, the core of production activity under the communist mode of production is two-pronged: a production business organization that serves as public enterprise and the subject of the planned economy (establishment must be approved), and a production cooperative that serves as private enterprise in the free economy (establishment must be registered). In terms of size, the former is large enterprise, and the latter is small and medium-sized enterprise. 

However, there can be a intermediate private corporate form with internal structures similar to socially owned enterprise, because of its large scale which makes it difficult to literally implement self-management. Conversely, there can be a cooperative labor group specialized for micro-enterprise that are smaller than a production cooperative. The legal names and internal structures of these modified corporate forms will be discussed in detail later.

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

Chapter 11.1.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

PART 3: PRODUCTION, LABOR, AND CONSUMPTION UNDER A SUSTAINABLE PLANNED ECONOMY

Chapter 11: Planned Economy and Corporate Forms

11.1. Socially owned enterprise

In modern times, major production activities are carried out systematically and continuously through enterprises that aggregate labor and material resources. This remains true in planned economies, but the corporate form is determined by the mode of production.

Under the capitalist mode of production, the typical corporate form is the joint-stock company, which can easily raise investment funds from the private sector. On the other hand, under the socialist mode of production based on the Soviet-style administratively planned economy, the typical corporate form is the state-owned enterprise, which is directly invested in and operated by the state.

In contrast, under the communist mode of production, which is based on a joint economic plan formulated autonomously by production enterprises, the typical corporate form is a public enterprise, neither a joint-stock company nor a state-owned enterprise.

In this regard, Marx defined a communist society as "a society consisting of cooperatives of free and equal producers acting consciously according to a rational joint plan."

According to this definition, production activities in the communist society envisioned by Marx would be carried out through a corporate form called production cooperatives. In fact, Marx's planned economy was envisioned as being based on the joint planning of such cooperative enterprises.

However, this definition and conception seem a little too idealistic. Large-scale, intensive production activities are required in today's core industrial sectors, and in order to implement a planned economy that incorporates environmental sustainability, it is considered essential to utilize corporate entities larger than cooperatives in sectors with high environmental burden to which a planned economy is applied.

If we were to design a production enterprise that corresponds to the production activities of core industrial sectors while utilizing Marx's concept, a form such as joint production cooperative could be envisioned, but such a joint enterprise would raise concerns about integrated governance and would remain merely a model.

As a more realistic corporate form, a communist public enterprise can be defined as a socially owned enterprise, in that it is owned neither by investor shareholders like in a joint-stock company nor by the state like in a state-owned enterprise, but rather belong to society as a social commons. Here, we will refer to their legal name as "production business organization."

The fields in which these production business organizations produce are limited to sectors with high environmental burden to which the planned economy applies. In other words, the operating bodies of the planned economy are production business organization, which are socially owned enterprise. 

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

Chapter 10.6.

👉The table of contents so far is here.

Chapter 10: Details of Economic Planning

10.6. Special Structure and Details of the pharmaceutical plans

Although drugs are included in the broad definition of food, due to their specific uses, they are not included in the broader local consumption plans and are produced and distributed based on the separate pharmaceutical plans. Because drugs often have universal global demand, pharmaceutical plans start from the World Commonwealth plan.

A distinction is made between basic drugs for which there is universal demand, specialty drugs for a small number of patients with intractable diseases, and endemic drugs for endemic diseases specific to specific regions.

Basic and specialty drugs are manufactured by the World Pharmaceutical Organization under the World Commonwealth under the World Commonwealth Plan and supplied equitably throughout the world, provided that their efficacy and safety are confirmed by the World Commonwealth Drug Regulatory Agency.

On the other hand, endemic drugs, based on the supply plan of the Grand-Zone where they are in demand (e.g., the Pan-African-South Atlantic Zone), are listed in the World Commonwealth plan and manufactured and supplied.

Furthermore, whenever an epidemic such as a pandemic or endemic occurs, vaccines for infectious diseases are manufactured and supplied in accordance with the World Commonwealth's emergency vaccine plan appropriate to the type of epidemic.

In contrast to drugs certified by the World commonwealth, drugs independently certified by the drug regulatory bodies of each Zone are manufactured and supplied by the pharmaceutical industry organization of each Zone in accordance with that Zone's pharmaceutical plan.

To that extent, the pharmaceutical plan is divided into the World Commonwealth plan and the Zonal plans. However, there is always the possibility that the efficacy and safety of a drug manufactured and supplied under a Zonal plan will also be certified by the World Commonwealth and that it will be newly listed as an item on the World Commonwealth Pharmaceutical plan.  *Conversely, there may be cases where the efficacy and safety of a drug manufactured and supplied under a Zonal plan is denied or banned by the World Commonwealth, or, although rare, there may be cases where the efficacy and safety of a drug manufactured and supplied under the World Commonwealth plan is denied or banned in a specific Zone.

This Zonal pharmaceutical plan does not cover all drugs, but is limited to drugs prescribed by doctors, and even within that, it is particularly narrowed to core drugs (equivalent to the basic drugs in the above category). The remaining drugs will be freely produced and supplied by pharmaceutical companies based on official approval review.

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