Chapter 3: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- LABOR
3. Is it possible to establish a completely voluntary working system?
3.1. Anthropological questions
In the previous section, we discussed the premise of compulsory labor, but from the original communist ideal, it would be better if we could build a system of completely voluntary and unpaid work without compulsory labor.
Will such a purely voluntary labor system be established in a developed communist society in the future - a situation in which generations ignorant of capitalism make up the majority of the population? If a completely unpaid and purely voluntary labor system can be established on a global scale, it may mean that the human species has entered a new evolutionary stage.
According to the current common sense of labor, it is said that humans will not work without some kind of incentive or sanction - including the de facto sanction that they will not be able to make a living. On the other hand, psychoanalyst Erich Fromm clearly states that not only material stimuli are stimuli for work, but also stimuli such as self-esteem, social recognition, and the joy of work itself. He argues that humans would go insane without a job.
Which one is the truth? Perhaps the truth lies at the intersection of the two opposite arguments.
3.2. Obligation of 3D labor?
The popular occupations which surely bring pride, social recognition, and the joy of work itself that Fromm points out, can provide a sense of fulfillment even without material rewards, so even under the purely voluntary labor system, it will remain popular as ever, and there will be no worries about labor shortages.
What about so-called 3D (dirty, dangerous and demeaning) occupations, which are generally unpopular? Would these occupations cause serious labor shortages without material incentives, that is, rewards?
One hypothesis is that even if the social recognition is low and the work itself does not bring joy, the people who are engaged in it do so with pride and a sense of mission. If so, it can be predicted that such 3D jobs will still attract people even under the purely voluntary labor system, and that there will not be a serious labor shortage. However, this may be an overly optimistic prediction.
In the first place, modern capitalism has a structure in which jobs that people do not want to do are forced on specific people, usually low-educated people, unemployed people, and migrant workers. Examples include cleaning and construction work, dangerous work in factories, nursing care, and so on. If the labor shortage in these fields becomes decisive under the purely voluntary labor system, the structure of the forced 3D jobs that we have acquiesced under capitalism will be clearly exposed.
If you think about it, there are many 3D jobs that are essential to maintaining society. Forcing such highly public jobs onto a specific class can be called modern slavery, and cannot be morally justified.
Then, even under the purely voluntary labor system of a developed communist society, such highly public 3D jobs may be removed from the framework of normal labor and imposed on all members of society as an obligation. This may not be very happy news.
3.3. Freedom to originate occupations
There is also good news. That is, under the purely voluntary labor system, the possibility of each person originating new jobs on their own will expand.
Even now, there are many "self-proclaimed" occupations, but there are very few that can make a living just by doing so, and we can only apply ourselves to one of the existing occupations. The reality is that most of them are wage workers, especially "company workers" who are employees of joint-stock companies. This is the truth of the “freedom to choose a job” that capitalism boasts.
In contrast, in a communist society, being freed from the imperative to find a job that will earn a living will open up the possibility of job origination. This will become possible by drastically shortening working hours and expanding the scope for side jobs, even while labor is unavoidably compulsory in the nascent communist society.
In this way, the concept of occupation will change in a revolutionary way. Under capitalism, an occupation is a iterative and continuous job that brings wages for a living. But occupation in a communist society means all legal jobs that one considers to be "occupations" and are actually engaged in.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, people will eventually realize that capitalism was the most monolithic social system in history, which forced the majority of people into the very wage serfdom.
3.4. Super-robotized society
Let me add one more piece of good news. That is, a communist society will push the robotization of labor to the highest degree.
Such super-robotization may be perceived as a sad news that could lead to mass unemployment in a capitalist society. In fact, it would not be surprising if a anti-robotization movement like the Luddite movement, in which craftsmen and workers who were at risk of losing their jobs due to the introduction of machinery during the Industrial Revolution, took action to destroy machines, could emerge.
In a communist society with a purely voluntary labor system, super-robotization, which is nothing more than a convenient means for capitalists and managers who want to save labor costs to the utmost, also be greatly promoted as a technological trump card for securing necessary productivity while shortening working hours. In particular, if robot work can replace a considerable portion of simple labor, which is common in 3D jobs, the sad news of compulsory 3D labor will not have to be heard, and if complicated labor is advanced to robotization, humans will be further liberated from labor.
However, the development of next-generation robots with built-in artificial intelligence that can handle such complex labor requires a large amount of money. In a communist society that does not rely on a monetary economy, it is possible to promote technological development without being constrained by monetary costs.
