On Communism:Page43

in Esperanto

Chapter 7: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- CULTURE

3. The mass media empire will be dismantled.

3.1. Diversification of media

As a device of speech in capitalist society, the dominance of the mass media today cannot be ignored. This remains essentially the same in the Internet age – albeit with some changes in the forms and influences of media domination.

The mass media themselves are commercial capital that sells information as commodities. At the same time, they are also the bearers of the cultural system of commodity value, as they are commissioned to advertise general commodities, and they are also the commercial sponsors of literature and the arts. As such, it also holds a part of market censorship. Indeed, the mass media is the empire of culture.

In a communist society, this imperial rule of the mass media will come to an end. This is not because the mass media will be under authoritative control, but because they will be diversified in terms of both their operation and content.

From the perspective of eliminating excessive concentration, the mass media in communist society would be dismantled and operated non-commercially through new organizational forms such as media cooperative. As a result, newspapers, which are currently being overwhelmed by television and the Internet, will be able to publish freely without being constrained by the number of sales.

Also, in the world of television, as a result of the abolition of the commercial line that puts the highest rating on viewership under the pressure of sponsor capital, there is an increased possibility that hard-line programs that delve into social issues can be freely produced without being bound by ratings. On the contrary, it is predicted that the diversification of programs will progress.

By the way, the decline of radio, which was once an important medium as the origin of broadcasting media, is remarkable, but as a result of liberating all media from commercialism in communist society, the classic medium of radio might be unexpectedly rediscovered and revived. 

3.2. Making anyone a reporter

By dismantling the imperial rule of the mass media, the whole way of communication in society will be transformed. In other words, uniform mass communication will lose its weight, and a more diverse and direct world of communication will open up. This is different from the information backward world that relies on old-fashioned lore and word of mouth, and it is the advent of a world where anyone can become a journalist as a response to the situation where anyone can become a writer or artist.

In the world of the Internet, ordinary citizens are already carrying out a kind of journalistic activity, including the distribution of photos and videos, sometimes faster than the mass media. In a communist society, such activities of "citizen reporters" will become even more active, and such activities will be grouped together to form new media.

In that regard, thorough training in writing logical sentences in the basic education curriculum is expected to improve the writing skills of the general public and serve as a guarantee of the quality of citizen journalistic activities.

In this way, "freedom of the press" ceases to be a privilege of the mass media, and is handed over to the people as something that belongs to everyone. It can be said that this is also a manifestation of “communist freedom,” which is the exact opposite of media control.

On Communism:Page42

in Esperanto

Chapter 7: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- CULTURE

2. Anyone could be a writer/artist.

2.1. Censorship by the market

The cultural system of product value can also have the effect of suppressing freedom. The sacrificial influence is greatest in the world of creative activity. It is one-sided to judge the value of creation based solely on whether it sells or not, but the cultural system of product value does not allow rebellion against it.

In this way, literary and artistic production is also entwined with the logic of commercial value, and while imitations are rampant here, even if there is literary and artistic value, if the work does not sell, it cannot be released to the world, and it will not be recognized as a so-called professional writer/artist.

On the other hand, from the side of the cultural industrial capital that governs the cultural system of commercial value, it is possible that the evaluation criteria for whether or not it will sell, in other words, whether or not it will receive the support of the public, is more objective than the evaluation criteria for purely literary and artistic value.

However, that is an argument that puts the cart before the horse. If the cultural industrial capital itself creates public support by means of marketing techniques and sets it up so that it can be sold, it would be like the person who set the fire himself pointing at the fire and commenting that the brightly burning fire is objective.

It is true that pure literary and artistic value is subjective, so for example, it is possible that there are only a few people in the world who appreciate a certain creator's work P. However, if there are even a few people who appreciate it, it can be said that work P has "value". However, from the point of view of a product, the work P, which is likely to have only a few buyers in the world, will not be recognized for its commercial value, so this work will not be released to the world.

This is the function that should be called "market censorship" in which the value of literary and artistic works is judged by the market. In this case, it is the publisher, the art dealer, or the music office that controls the censorship, depending on the field. In short, it is cultural industrial capital as a whole.

Here, some may argue that state censorship is far more frightening than market censorship. Indeed, state censorship is coercive, often arbitrary, and harmful.

In this regard, since communism does not have a state as a subject, state censorship is logically impossible. Moreover, since the production of literature and art as commodities will be abolished, the censorship of the market will also disappear. What does this do? Everyone could a writer and an artist.

2.2. Premonition of the Internet Commons

Boasting that anyone could become a writer or artist may be laughed at, but this phenomenon is already becoming a reality.

The spread of the Internet has given "unsold" writers and artists a way to send their works out into the world without commercializing them. Even if there are only a few people who appreciate the work, the opportunity to present it is not lost. The work is treated as a gratuitous common property. This is the reason why the Internet space is also called commons.

In this Internet commons world, the commons (= ordinary people) are beginning to develop their own expressive activities. Of course, since we are still living in a capitalist era, the majority of such free works in the commons are not recognized as having commercial value, and therefore the chances of creation being recognized as a "vocation" are rare. Yet the world of the Internet seems to partly foreshadow a communist future of creative activity.

2.3. Blooming freedom of expression

Of course, even in a communist society, it is inevitable that the creator's reputation and name recognition will differ depending on whether or not the work receives wide support from the public. This means that, at a fundamental level, freedom of expression will be established both in name and reality.

In today's "liberal" capitalist society, the national censorship system has been abolished, and freedom of expression is generally legally guaranteed. Freedom of expression would truly blossom in a communist society, although this may go against present common sense.

On Communism:Page41

in Esperanto

Chapter 7: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- CULTURE

Simplicity is the hallmark of communist culture. It is not a fierce "competition"  but a relaxed "co-running" culture. Freedom of expression flourishes there. Why?

1. People are freed from commodity worship.

1.1. Capitalism where people are also commodities

What are the cultural values inherent in communism? Such questions may bring to mind the "Cultural Revolution," which once plunged Chinese society into terror and chaos, but historically the "Cultural Revolution" is merely synonymous with the fierce power struggles within the Chinese Communist Party. "Culture" here is literal culture apart from political struggle.

First of all, by way of comparison, if you think about what capitalist cultural values are, the greatest of them is undoubtedly product value. In a capitalist society based on the production of commodities, commodity value is not only economic value but also cultural value itself. Commodities are the main characters in society, and almost all things cannot appear in the world unless they take the form of exchange value as commodities.

Humans themselves are also considered commodities. This is not classic human trafficking. Overall evaluation criteria for human beings are more focused than before on superficial "skills" and more superficial "appearance" (human exchange value) rather than "personality" (human use value, so to speak). This is also one proof of the phenomenon of human = commodification.

This kind of commercial value as cultural value is a universal cultural value because it is deeply held by the public. The masses themselves feel as if the commodity has some special power. That is commodity worship.

The characteristic of this capitalist animism is that it exalts the superficial price tag of exchange value. The mass distribution of counterfeit brand products is a symbol of this. We resent being caught with a counterfeit, but we are dazzled by the counterfeit price tag until it turns out to be a counterfeit.

In this way, the cult of commodities lends a helping hand to the prevalence of imitations, including human "counterfeiters". Proudhon, a former opponent of Marx, exclaimed, "Possession is theft!", but he should have exclaimed, "Commerce is fraud!" However, merchants are not swindlers—literal swindlers are rampant, but they are not the main players in capitalism—and the public's admiration and demand for commodities increases the probability of being a victim of fraud.

1.2. To the world of authenticity and content game

On the other hand, in a communist society, the abolition of commodity production puts an end to the cult of commodities. Things are stripped of their product forms and come to be evaluated as "things themselves", so to speak. As I argued earlier, communism is a world centered on use values.

Communism is a world where everything, be it people or things, is genuine and content is a game, so in a sense it can be said to be a harsh world where the essence is tested.

However, even those of us who are accustomed to living in a world of merchandising appearances, are we not actually yearning for a world of realness and substance somewhere in our hearts? I don't think there are many people who want to continue living in a society where they are seized by counterfeit products, dominated by counterfeit people, and judged by their value as human commodities.

If there is a "Great Cultural Revolution" in the true sense of the word in a communist society, it will be a complete overthrow of the cultural system of commodity values. Such a "Great Cultural Revolution" would save us from the trap of commodity worship instead of leading us to fear and confusion.

On communism:Page40

Chapter 6: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- EDUCATION

6. True lifelong education is guaranteed.

6.1. Reset education system

The slogan "lifelong learning" is often heard, but what is said about it is that ordinary citizens go to cultural centers and learn about their hobbies. On the other hand, "lifelong education" refers to a system of reset education that makes it possible to restart one's life at any time.

In a capitalist society built around the mobilization of human labor for production activities, there are many life stage restrictions such as having to complete certain things by a certain age. It is very difficult for those who have finished their studies but failed in life for some reason and have dropped out of social life to make a fresh start. In addition, the life plans of people with disabilities, whether congenital or acquired, are greatly restricted.

In general, capital companies do not like a non-standard labor force that cannot apply the standard model wage system, so it tends to be difficult to redo life plans. On the other hand, in a communist society where the wage labor system is abolished, it will be possible to support job seekers in re-starting their lives at any time and to distribute suitable jobs to job seekers, regardless of age or experience.

6.2. Multi-purpose colleges and technical schools

In order to make it possible to start a new life at any time, everyone must be equally guaranteed the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills through appropriate continuing education and to learn again.

"Multi-purpose colleges" are established in various places to make this possible. This is an educational institution that has been prepared so that those who have already completed the course of the integrated compulsory education (basic education course) and have found a job can acquire knowledge and skills at a higher level or in a completely different field.

However, fundamentally different from the existing university system, there is no entrance examination or selection based on it, and a first-come, first-served admission system is adopted. Of course it's completely free. Moreover, it will offer more practical courses than existing universities, and will enable students to acquire the knowledge and skills that will enable them to rethink their life plans.

For those who have taken a long-term leave of absence from compulsory education and for people with disabilities who are slow to grow, there are programs that provide supplementary compulsory education content. It is truly a multi-purpose adult education institution that offers state-of-the-art academic courses in collaboration with the academic research center.

These adult colleges are operated by provincial areas or psuedo-zones and at least one college is established in each regional area. It is devised so that it can lead to employment and re-employment of graduates in cooperation with employment agencies.

At the same time, the establishment of "technical schools" that provide single-course instruction in various specialized skills will also be promoted. This is a school that, along with multi-purpose colleges, primarily offers re-education programs for adults, but unlike multi-purpose colleges, it is all private.

In a communist society where universities are being abolished, these multi-purpose colleges, specialized technical schools, and advanced professional schools described in the next section will constitute a more practical lifelong education system.

6.3. Advanced Professional School　

As touched on last time, various advanced specialists are also selected and trained from among those with at least five years of work experience. This is another form of lifelong education. Therefore, for example, it will not be unusual for a person who has been working for a long time to become a doctor after reaching the age of 40.

On the other hand, qualifications and licenses for advanced professionals should not be a privilege that is valid for life once obtained, and should be renewed at least every 10 years or so through appropriate continuing education. This is also one way of lifelong education that corresponds to the social responsibility of highly skilled professionals.

The training of such highly skilled professionals is carried out by the above-mentioned medical schools, law schools, educational schools, and other highly specialized schools. This selection process allows us to obtain professionals with a broader perspective and a spirit of public service, and would be a key to overcoming the problem of "spiritless professionals," which Weber pointed out as a scourge of modern society in general.

6.4. Towards a life-reset society

Finally, to summarize in a bold simplification, the broad definition of "modern" society, which includes capitalism and even socialism that still has capitalist elements, is a uniform life style that makes it difficult to start over. In contrast to the life-stage society, the communist society is a free life-reset society that makes it possible to start over at any time.

"Post-modern" has to mean not only the freedom of the mind, so to speak, the ideological freedom of the mind, which modernity has acquired, but also the realization of human possibilities—freedom in the true sense of the word—to the maximum extent possible. The reason modern communism pays so much attention to lifelong education is to ensure a realistic "post-modern" society in this sense.

On Communism:Page39

in Esperanto

Chapter 6: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- EDUCATION

5. Consistent compulsory education begins.

5.1. From sieving to scooping

The abolition of universities never means the decline of education in general. On the contrary, the abolition of universities will lead to the development of an entirely new system of compulsory education.

In contrast to the current capitalist education system, which is a system of sieving with the goal of advancing to a "first-class university," the communist education system after the abolition of universities maximizes the potential of individuals. It is a system of scooping.

Specifically, the division between elementary school and junior high school in compulsory education will be abolished and unified (integrated system), and then the entire curriculum will be reorganized into a basic education curriculum that can be connected without an entrance examination. In other words, it is a consistent education from the age of 6 to 18 (standard case) following the compulsory childcare system.

As we saw last time, basic education is provided as a correspondence system in principle, and there is no system such as grades or classes. Although there is a fixed age to start, there is no deadline for completing the course, and the course is completed when each of the 13 steps is completed in order.

Furthermore, unlike the existing education system, the basic curriculum in communist education is based on integrated education that does not separate education for the able-bodied and disabled. This is because a communist society is based on equal participation in society, where people's social positions are not divided by the presence or absence of a disability.

The implementation body of this consistent compulsory education will be centralized not by municipalities, but by regional areas as intermediate municipalities. On the other hand, the operation of compulsory education by private schools is not permitted.

5.2. Overview of the seven basic subjects

In the new integrated compulsory education curriculum, the traditional learning of language, mathematics, science, and social studies will be abolished, and a more practical and hopefully enjoyable curriculum will be introduced. Let me give you a rough overview.

5.2.1. linguistic expression

This is a subject to acquire expressiveness in the official languages of each zone and Esperanto as a world language.

As will be discussed again in the final chapter, the World Commonwealth designates Esperanto as the provisional world official language, so Esperanto will be taught from the beginning in compulsory education in each zone.

Moreover, the purpose of the "linguistic expression" subject is to combine it with the official language of each zone, rather than separate it as a "foreign language." So, for example, the same sentence could be written in both the official language and Esperanto.

The content-specific feature of these "linguistic expression" subjects is the emphasis placed on writing rather than reading. Reading is the basis of the expressive act, and although it is part of the expressive act through the act of reading and interpreting, it is essentially a passive expressive act. In order to bring out children's imaginative power and originality, it is necessary to actively train them to logically write their own views on certain matters.

At the same time, this course includes education to acquire accurate and critical reading comprehension of information via the media and the Internet - information literacy.

5.2.2. numerical thinking

Although it is a subject that corresponds to conventional mathematics, what is decisively different is that the concept of numbers itself is taught. Conventional mathematics education focused on computational problems and focused on training computational skills. This makes mathematics trivial to mere memorization of formulas and theorems, and is a factor in increasing dislike of mathematics.

However, mathematics is an act of logical expression using numbers, which are universal characters or figures. In that sense, mathematics is a kind of linguistic expression, and at the same time it is a powerful means of scientific thinking. It is truly a mathematical "thinking", and it is also a subject that connects the "linguistic expression" subject and the next "science basics" subject.

A "numerical thinking" course with such a character does not simply focus on being able to calculate 1 + 1 = 2, but strives to make students think about what kind of mathematical concept this formula expresses. The same is true for more complicated formulas and theorems.

5.2.3. science basics

Science basics is a subject for learning the basics of various sciences. "Science" here means not only the narrowest sense of natural science, but also a broad sense of "science" that extends over some social sciences. In that respect, it is broader than science as a traditional school subject.

In that respect, it can be said that the subject aims to cultivate a general knowledge of science that abolishes the formal distinction between the so-called humanities and sciences. Through this, we aim to cultivate scientific citizens who are not bound by superstitions and pseudo-scientific myths.

It consists of three fields: Specifically, "natural and life sciences" to learn the basics of biology, physics and chemistry, "social sciences" to learn the basics of geography and economics, and "earth and environmental science" to learn the basics of geophysics and environmental science. Since it is a field with a very wide range of contents, each field will be further subdivided.

5.2.4. history and society

History and Society is a subject to learn about history and existing society. In the field of history, education that separates national history (for example, American history) and world history like traditional history education will be transformed. National history, which is separated from world history, is at the forefront of nationalist education, a category that does not exist in a communist society where the state is abolished.

However, even under communism, the history of individual zones corresponding to present-day countries still remains, and education is carried out by positioning them in an integrated manner within world history.

At the same time, instead of comprehensively teaching from the prehistoric age to the present, it is enough to specialize in modern history (specifically, the history after the industrial revolution) and leave the history before that to self-study.

In the field of society, emphasis is placed on providing a comprehensive and objective understanding of the communist political and legal system as a historical goal. Its main purpose is to provide students with the basic understanding necessary to fulfill their important civic duties as delegates to the Commons' Convention.

5.2.5. life skills (some commuting subjects)

In a communist society, the ability to make judgments based on each person's life experiences is emphasized, so life skill education, which teaches basic skills in daily life, is as important as general subjects.

In general, the technological innovation brought about by capitalism overemphasizes convenience, depriving children of the experience of making and repairing something with their own hands, and as a result, humans are seemingly losing their original creativity. On the other hand, it is impossible even for the communist revolution to push back the wave of mechanization and automation that promotes convenience.

In particular, in the future society, it is important not only to understand the structure and operation methods of information devices, including robots, but also to learn how to use information networks that have become a part of our lives safely and justly.

In addition to these mechanization measures, the major pillar of this life skills course is to have all students acquire basic housework and childcare skills regardless of gender. This is because there is an increasing need today to learn these skills through compulsory education, which used to be taught at home.

5.2.6. health and physical education (commuting subjects)

Conventional physical education is centered on competitive sports education that teaches various sports in a comprehensive manner, but this not only imposes sports that ignore the aptitude and interest of individual students, but also does not improve the skills of individual sports. It is a wasteful educational method.

In contrast, communist physical education focuses on gymnastics and training to prevent illness and injury, and is converted into health and physical education that is possible regardless of individual athletic ability. On the other hand, competitive sports education is entrusted to private sports clubs.

5.2.7. social ethics (some commuting subjects)

The focus of communist moral education is anti-discrimination education. As mentioned in the previous chapter, this stems from the fact that communist society is a society of social cooperation and mutual aid, and social customs in which people of different backgrounds cooperate with each other are indispensable.

Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly teach the very simple moral code that "people should not be inferior because of their innately or acquired characteristics and attributes" throughout the entire compulsory education system.

This is also considered effective in preventing bullying. This is because serious bullying that leads to the suicide of the target student is none other than discrimination in the realm of children (many of which are related to appearance).

In the first half of compulsory education, this anti-discrimination education centers on experiential learning through interaction with students with disabilities and students from overseas. In the second half, it would be effective to adopt a subject-learning method in which a wider range of discriminated parties (ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, appearance/body type minorities, etc.) are invited as guests and questions are answered by listening to their stories.

The seven basic subjects outlined above (linguistic expression, numerical thinking, basic science, historical society, life skills, health and physical education, social ethics) are compulsory subjects in the integrated compulsory education. They will be allocated iteratively and developmentally throughout the process.

In addition, since art-related subjects such as music and art (arts and crafts) are entirely dependent on individual tastes and aptitudes, they are excluded from the compulsory education curriculum and left to private instruction classes.

5.3. Vocational introductory education

In the consistent compulsory education, along with the above subject learning, emphasis is placed on vocational introduction education.

Introductory education for vocational education is experiential learning that exposes students to the workplace from the middle stage of compulsory education. If this makes it easier to have a career image from the teens and prepare for the future life plan, it will be possible to prevent the prolongation of the moratorium period such as the so-called NEET, and purely spontaneous as discussed in Chapter 3. We may be able to pave the way for the possibility of a labor system.

Specifically, in the middle of the integrated compulsory education, where introductory vocational education begins, students will directly observe various workplaces using the "social studies tour" method. In the final stage, in addition to vocational guidance for each representative occupational field, such as industry, information, general affairs, agriculture, fisheries, welfare, medical care, research, etc., an internship is introduced to engage in short-term work experience at the desired workplace.

In this way, at the stage of completing the compulsory education system, in principle, a system will be created for everyone to get a job for the time being. To this end, we will train and assign specialist teachers with knowledge of psychology and sociology, and establish a system that introduces students to jobs that match their aptitudes and aspirations in cooperation with employment agencies.

For advanced specialists such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, the main factors are job history, sense of mission, and personality insight, without relying on selection tests, for those with at least five years of work experience. After selecting them as such, they will be trained at the advanced professional schools mentioned last time. In a communist society without an intellectual class system, the pure elite culture of high-level professionals will be abolished.