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.