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4. Distance learning will be the principle.

4.1. A concentration camp called a school

So far, we have discussed the outline of communist education. Speaking of education, it is a modern international common sense that it is done through the institution called school. As a result, various types of school systems have been prepared in each country, and in countries that claim to be developed countries, it is customary for most young people to be enrolled in some kind of school.

However, something strange is happening at that school. School refusal and bullying problems are central symbols of this. In the first place, a school is a kind of "child detention center" where students are forced to follow a predetermined curriculum and schedule, attend a certain facility called a school, are restricted for a certain period of time, and are prohibited from going out without permission.

The peculiar environment of the camp is known to cause strong stress to humans. The same is true for the camps called schools. Hierarchical relationships between teachers, who are on-site managers of schools, and students, hierarchical relationships between students based on age and grade, and caste relationships among students in the same class form the formation of class relationships within institutions are characteristics of the detention camp system, which is a stress factor for all parties, including faculty and staff.

The most serious of these is the problem of bullying. From the perpetrator's point of view, bullying can be interpreted as a kind of stress relief behavior. And bullying, which discriminates peers with specific characteristics within the school group and rejects them with malicious intent, is nothing but discrimination in the realm of children. It is collectivized schools, even more so than the home, that are the training grounds for this kind of discrimination.

On the other hand, regarding the point of intellectual training, which is emphasized as the utility of the school system, the methodology of school education, which teaches children with various intellectual interests and learning speeds collectively, is by no means effective. Rather, it will result in a continuous stream of "dropouts" who cannot keep up with the curriculum, year after year, for generations to come.

However, in fact, the school system is compatible with communist education, and it may be a leap of logic to lead the abolition of the school system directly from communism, but in modern communism, it can be said that the school system is no longer necessary.

4.2. Towards deschooling

Modern communism implements deschooling of education. In other words, communist education is, in principle, provided by distance communication. This bold educational revolution is by no means a pipe dream, and the technological foundation for it is guaranteed by the development of information and communication technology, which is already progressing under capitalism.

In fact, even in capitalist society, distance education has already started in many fields, but correspondence education is only meant to be complementary and supplementary to on-campus school education. The biggest reason for this is the material limitations of capitalist society, which makes it economically extremely difficult to build an inclusive educational communications network that covers all students without omission.

In contrast, in a communist society that does not rely on a monetary economy, the removal of such material limitations is the same as in other fields, and the path to de-schooling is practically opened. In principle, the course of integrated basic education (compulsory education), which will be described later, is also provided with correspondence materials, except for some subjects such as physical education, which are difficult to carry out by correspondence due to their nature. All communication equipment necessary for this purpose will be lent to the public free of charge.

In such a system, the teacher is no longer an instruction manager, but is refined to a learning advisor role. Teachers respond to questions and interviews according to the students' needs, but such face-to-face instruction can also be carried out through communication means such as videophones, so there is no need for either of them to visit.

Even in such a system, it is possible to imagine a "school" conceptually, and in public education, it would be efficient to provide educational services by treating a group of students in each region as a unit. However, this belongs to technical policy.

This kind of distance education is a rule, and there are some exceptions. One of these is the subject that is difficult to provide through the correspondence system mentioned above.

Education for children with disabilities, for which individualized education is indispensable, is also combined with home tutor-type education methods such as home-visit education by specialist teachers.

In addition, subjects offered by multipurpose college or technical school as lifelong education institutions (described later) that require practical instruction, as well as classes at highly specialized schools such as medical school, law school and education school, are based on a classroom system since practical education is essential by nature (however, subjects that can be offered by correspondence may be made into correspondence courses on an individual basis).

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3. Universities will be abolished and converted.

3.1. Universities – strongholds of the intellectual class system

Universities, which stand at the top of the higher education system in each country, are the strongholds of the intellectual class system that rise above the foundation of the knowledge capital system. Under capitalism, the university has become a stronghold of the intellectual class system because today a college degree is required for virtually all of the high-paying jobs that capitalist society offers.

Today, the executives of capital companies are selected from among the senior workers who are candidates for management executive positions, rather than the hereditary succession of the founding family. Most of the certification qualifications for these senior workers are also college graduates or higher graduate school completions.

In addition, in countries where there is a hierarchy between universities, obtaining a diploma from a higher-ranking university guarantees the path to becoming a top-class capital company executive. As a result, both parents and children are frantically competing to become a "first-class university."

At present, the most developed system of memory-reactive education toward the goal of a university is in Asian countries, where the university system was imported from Western Europe, rather than in Western Europe, where the university system originated.

There, the test system for testing memory and reactivity dominates, with the university entrance exam at the top. Passing the university entrance examination is the first big goal in the first half of life. If that is not achieved, unless you are very lucky, you must be prepared to end up as a general worker for the rest of your life. And children of the general working class, whose families cannot have enough investment in education, have no choice but to make such a decision at an early stage in their lives.

However, there are probably countries in the world where the intellectual class system based on educational background is not so clearly adhered to. Still, as long as universities are strongholds of the intellectual class system, this is not an essential difference. Universities are therefore prime targets for the communist educational revolution. Communism abolishes the university system.

3.2. Becoming an academic research center

If you hear about the abolishment of the university system, you may be wary of the return of the Khmer Rouge, which plots to kill intellectuals. Absolutely not. The abolishment of universities does not mean sending university professors to internment camps, but simply transforming universities into "academic research centers" (hereafter referred to simply as "research centers") as collections of research institutes.

Although the current university has the character of a research institution, its basic character is that of an educational institution. Because of this dual nature, some people lament the excessive burden on university teachers and the lack of research time. Converting universities into research centers will change this situation and provide an environment in which researchers can concentrate on their original research activities. In this case, far from being sent to a concentration camp, would it not be sent to paradise?

At the same time, it will also change the current situation in which universities are being subordinated to capital in the name of "industry-academia collaboration," and will enable more equal and mutual "academic-industry association." For example, there are hopes for collaboration between research centers and production sites in new academic fields such as environmental engineering, which supports the development of cutting-edge environmental technology, communist management studies, which examines management methods for new communist production organizations, and labor and human sciences, which reflect on the nature of work after the abolition of the wage labor system.

In addition, the basic science research field and the humanities field such as philosophy and literature, which tend to be weeded out due to capitalist industry-academia collaboration and the government's selection of research subsidies, may be revived by turning them into research centers at universities. Will. On the other hand, turning a university into a research center will encourage the holding of academic lectures and symposiums for the general public, expanding the scope for contributing to the general dissemination of science.

Universities, including private universities, will be turned into research centers all at once, and the former national and public universities will maintain their public character as socially owned corporation-type research centers.

Along with this, each research center will be responsible for training researchers, which was previously handled by universities and graduate schools. In other words, each research center recruits and employs trainees according to its own methods and conditions, and trains researchers through its own training process. This trainee selection is different from conventional admissions such as university entrance exams, and is a kind of "employment" for research applicants, and is a selection system purely specialized for researcher training.

Furthermore, by making universities (undergraduate) or graduate programs that have been responsible for training advanced professionals such as medicine, law, and education independent from research centers as “advanced professional academies” such as medical academies, law academies, and education academies, respectively, more practical professional training can be expected.

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2. Emphasis is placed on fostering of imagination and originality.

2.1. Removal of prejudiced image

The role of the formal education system is to nurture the citizens who will lead the future society. This is almost the same in capitalist societies.

However, if someone were to say the same thing from a communist standpoint, the prejudiced image of "brainwashing education" that tends to accompany communism might be superimposed on it. In other words, there is a suspicion that the students will be thoroughly instilled with communist ideas through school education, and will be trained to become "fanatic communists." 

Perhaps this is a criticism based on a caricature image of the ideological education actually practiced in collectivist countries such as the former Soviet Union. However, the same kind of brainwashing ideological education was actively carried out from the opposite standpoint in the "anti-communist" Nazi Germany and other anti-communist countries.

Communist education is essentially unrelated to uniform ideological education. A communist society is a society of social cooperation and mutual aid, but from the perspective of knowledge, it is a society in which the people gather their knowledge to create a society for the future. In other words, it is not a society that is guided by intellectuals and experts who are filled with existing knowledge. In such a society, uniform cramming education will not work under any pretext.

2.2. Capitalist intellectual class system

On the other hand, the reality of the developed capitalist society is that, on the premise of a high degree of knowledge division, various specialists are assigned to various fields, and such intellectuals and experts lead society on top of the general public. From this social structuire emerges a kind of intellectual hierarchy. In other words, those who survive the knowledge competition become the leading elite class of society, and those who lose become the class to be led.

In this respect, current capitalist society differs from modern bourgeois society, which still retained the legacy of the feudal status system, and seems to be a society dominated by ability rather than nature.

In such a society, the qualities required of the leadership elite are memory and responsiveness based on it. In other words, those who have memorized the established body of knowledge, and who have demonstrated accurate and prompt responses to questions with pre-determined correct answers in various tests based on that knowledge, are selected and certified as intellectual elites.

In short, capitalist education is nothing more than a series of administrative procedures separated by certification exams to select such memory-reactive intellectual elites - although there are some differences between countries. In this respect, can we not say that capitalist education is truly uniform?

However, it is desired in a capitalist society. This is because the capitalist economy is a profit-seeking system through the chain of commodity production and money exchange, and all social activities are incorporated somewhere in this system. Knowledge of this system and the ability to apply it are therefore necessary and sufficient to become an intellectual elite.

2.3. From knowledge capitalism to knowledge communism

In contrast, education in a communist society is not so simple. Since a communist society is centered on social cooperation with neither money nor a state, the activities of the whole society can stagnate without the collective wisdom of everyone. In a communist society, the existing body of knowledge is of little use, if not useless. Rather, it is supported by imagination rooted in each person's life experience and originality based on it.

The intellectual class system does not work in a communist society. Even the empirical knowledge of the manual worker will be useful in this society. A communist society cannot function if it is left to intellectuals and experts.

Of course, this does not mean fanaticism, such as that of Cambodian Khmer Rouge, who viewed intellectuals as hostile and purged them on a large scale. Intellectuals and specialists are, of course, indispensable in a communist society, and their training will continue, but their role will likely change from that of social leaders to that of advisors.

The contrast between capitalist education = memory - responsiveness and communist education = imagination - originality is not absolute. Even within the framework of capitalism, there are trends in educational reforms that reflect on the overemphasis on memory and reactivity and emphasize imagination and originality.

However, as long as capitalism remains capitalism, it cannot be expected that education on the memory-reactivity line will essentially be abolished. Under such capitalist education, knowledge itself turns into a kind of cultural capital. From there, an intellectual class system is established by being directly linked to each family's ability to invest in education and inheriting it from generation to generation. Naturally, this structure works favorably for the children of the property class, whose families have a high level of investment in education.

Thus, from an educational perspective, it is revealed that modern capitalist society, which appears to be a "meritocracy," is essentially a class society in which a person's life is largely determined by their birth.

In contrast, under the communist education of imagination and originality, knowledge is also communized, accumulated and released as "everyone's", so the intellectual class structure under the knowledge capital system will collapse.

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In a communist society, society raises children born into society. There, compulsory education that emphasizes imagination and originality and adult education that can be redone at any time throughout the life will be enhanced.

1. Children are raised by society.

1.1. Breaking away from parent-centrism

The German Constitution contains the following impressive article (Article 6, Paragraph 2).

The care and education of children are the natural rights of parents, and above all, the obligations of parents. Its implementation shall be supervised by the state community.

This provision is impressive because it clearly speaks to the state of education in a capitalist state, and at the same time points out the way out of it.

The first part of the provision privatizes child rearing by declaring that "child care and education", that is, child rearing in general, is the "natural" right and duty of parents. In extreme terms, this is equivalent to acknowledging that children are the personal property of their parents—just like "children that belong to me." Here, the notion of capitalist private ownership that extends to children is oozing out.

However, the latter part of the regulation is to check the child rearing, which is the private matter of the parents, in the form of "supervision of the state community."  The reason for such restraint is speculated as follows. No matter how much children are the property of their parents, if parents are allowed to do as they please, there is a danger that the function of reproducing the next-generation labor force that capitalism expects of married families will not work. So the "state community" must ensure that the parents raise their children to be industrious labourers--wage serfs.

The above is a somewhat poisonous super-interpretation, and I am sorry for the German people, but my true intention is not to ridicule the German constitution, but rather to refer to the latter part of the above provision as communist education. I would like to take it as a breakthrough.

In conclusion, a communist education assign the rights and responsibilities of the upbringing of all children born into society to the community, neither to the parents nor to the state—having said many times, there is no state in a communist society. In other words, society raises children.

Then what is the role of parents? As the "manufacturers" of individual children, they are responsible for cooperating in the upbringing of their children by the community, and to that extent have custody in the sense of the right to care for the children they created until they reach adulthood.

You may think that this structure is upside down, but it is impossible to impose full responsibility for raising children on parents who inherently vary in their ability to raise children. Child abuse and neglect, like over-interference and over-protection, are nothing but tragic manifestations of such unreasonableness.

There is no special training to become a parent, let alone a license exam. And the important thing is that no child is born choosing good parents.

If that is the case, it may be easy to understand that children born into society should basically be raised by society. However, in this case, society does not raise children as future labor force, but as future "citizens" who are equipped with the skills to be the bearers of society. 

1.2. Compulsory childcare system

The communist principle that children are raised by society first appears in the life course of the compulsory childcare system. Today, compulsory education is widespread even in capitalist countries, and insofar as it is, it can be said that "children are raised by society" is half-realized even under capitalism.

However, as in the analogy of "strike while the iron is hot", preschool childcare has an importance equal to that of education in terms of social development of human beings. Therefore, it is highly necessary to make not only education but also childcare an obligation for all children.

This compulsory childcare system applies to all infants from 6 months of age until they reach the school age (standard 6 years old) for the integrated basic education (compulsory education) described later. The contents of the childcare are different from mere day care and so-called "gifted education." "Gifted education" is nothing but the exploitation of the child's potential by the parents to satisfy the self-esteem of the parents, ignoring the child's inherent aptitude and preferences, and is an expression of treating children as the parents' personal property.

The obligatory childcare is, as mentioned above, early childhood preschooling with the aim of cultivating social human beings. Therefore, in terms of its contents, the focus is first on having children learn how to relate to others, which is the essence of sociality, that is, relationships to others, including negative relationships such as discord and confrontation.

However, because childcare also has welfare elements, it is the commune that is responsible for compulsory childcare. Communes must, of course, provide childcare facilities to accommodate all relevant infants within their jurisdiction. On that point, just like the “welfare without financial resources” that we saw in the previous chapter, in a communist society freed from financial resources, it is fully possible for communes to provide the necessary number of childcare facilities.

1.3. Children's Group activities

The principle that children are raised by society generally takes the form of education through public educational institutions. However, there is a limit to the training of people with social skills through such formal education alone. Therefore, as a more informal form of education, a community-based Children's Group will be introduced.

This is aimed at children from 7 to 15 years old, who are the most important in developing social skills. Mixed-age/gender-mixed boy groups are organized in the community, and under the guidance of instructors who have undergone prescribed training, weekends and This is an outdoor activity that takes place twice a month on national holidays (with or without overnight stays). The purpose is to provide social education, which is not covered by compulsory education, for children of the age when full-fledged social development should be promoted.

The declining birthrate, which is also a correlated phenomenon of the nuclear family--the basic line of which will not change in the coming communist society-has generally fewer siblings or an increase in the number of children who are only children. In light of the fact that opportunities to acquire social skills through sibling relationships are greatly reduced, Children's Groups can be thought of as forming a "pseudo-sibling relationship" based on the community.

For that purpose, all children of the relevant age are obliged to participate, unless it is difficult for them to participate for medical reasons. The content of the activities is not schoolwork or sports, but a form of free play in the natural environment through nature observation, etc., which is informal but also serves as environmental education.

The implementation body is the same as childcare, the commune. In the commune, a Children's Group is organized in each district, and instructors are trained and assigned. As mentioned in Chapter 4 and touched upon again in this chapter, basic education courses are managed at the level of regional areas as intermediate municipalities, so communes can focus on such informal education in addition to compulsory childcare.

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6. Efficient and equitable medical care is provided.

6.1. Community-centered medical system

Along with the pension anxiety, the medical crisis that worsens access to medical care symbolizes the fluctuations of the capitalist welfare state. Medical shortages are a common cause of concern for countries with a high public burden of medical expenses. On the other hand, in underdeveloped countries with poor public finances, it is impossible to spread public medical care in the first place, and the absence of medical care is the norm.

Putting aside various technical factors, medical difficulties and lack of medical care are fundamentally medical finances, or in other words, money problems. The only way to recover from the medical difficulties is to keep low-income and poor people away from medical care by raising the patient burden rate of public medical care (in other words, shifting to self-pay medical care) and increasing medical insurance premiums. As such, it becomes equivalent to no medical care.

In contrast, a communist society freed from the destabilizing factor of financial resources would provide a more efficient and fair medical system. Various systems are conceivable for communist medical care. For example:

First of all, the front line of regional medical care, which is the pillar of medical care, will be handled not by the commune, but by the regional area, which is a wider intermediate municipality, so as not to place an excessive burden on the commune. At this level, in addition to operating public hospitals that serve as regional medical bases, public clinics will also be opened in depopulated areas.

On the other hand, conventional private hospitals and clinics will also conduct medical care under public supervision as registered medical institutions at the regional level. However, the qualifications of practitioners and the oversight of the quality of care in private hospitals will be more stringent.

In the field of emergency care, it is also possible to set up emergency departments with well-staffed staff at all base hospitals in the region, without worrying about financial resources, and are capable of accurate triage. 

On the other hand, more advanced treatment for specific diseases and treatment and research for intractable diseases that cannot be handled by ordinary hospitals are the role of specialized hospitals in provincial areas, quasi-zones, or zones.

6.2. Planned allocation of doctors

On the other hand, communism should greatly solve the problem of the uneven distribution of doctors, which is both the cause and the result of the lack of medical care. This is because in communist medicine, the planned placement of doctors is a very natural measure.

In other words, excluding specific specialists with particularly advanced knowledge and skills, general physicians are first registered for each provincial area, and then, in order to avoid excess or deficiency,  they will be placed in each hospital in a well-balanced manner according to the medical needs of each regional area.

In principle, in addition to doctors from private hospitals, private practitioners who are approved after undergoing extremely strict qualifications will also be part-time or part-time regional medical public servants, and will be included in regional physician placement plans as necessary. In a communist society, private hospitals and practitioners are no longer profitable businesses, but become volunteers. Therefore, the difference from public hospitals and clinics will become relative, and their public character will become clearer and more sophisticated.

6.3. Role of Public Health Centers and Pharmacies

In a communist society where the monetized economy has been abolished, patients would not be required to pay medical expenses at any medical institution (including private hospitals and clinics).  As a result, there will be no need for a subsidy system such as public medical insurance. If this were to happen, conservative Americans who disapprove of public health insurance would surely be delighted.

This free supply principle is the same as for all other goods and services. However, if such a "medical paradise" is realized, there may be concerns that hospitals may be overwhelmed with patients.

In that regard, in communist medical care, public health centers provide comprehensive preventive services from the perspective of disease prevention, such as initial diagnosis through health consultations and advice on lifestyle habits. It will serve as a bulwark to prevent hospitals from flooding with mildly ill patients.

In addition, pharmacies will also function as drug therapy stations, not drug supermarkets like those under capitalism, but facilities for certain diagnoses and prescriptions for mild cases. This will be achieved by reestablishing pharmacists as pharmacy experts independent of physicians.

6.4. Scientific and fair pharmaceutical production

Here I would like to touch on the issue of drug development, which is inseparably linked to the medical system. It is a well-known global phenomenon that drug development is held in the hands of huge pharmaceutical capital under a capitalist economy. What is happening as a result?

One is the control of medical care by pharmaceutical capital. In other words, they are forcing treatment with new drugs on the medical community through human experiments called clinical trials.

Originally, drug clinical trials should be conducted neutrally, scientifically, and humanely, but in reality, medical scientists who receive research funding from pharmaceutical capital cooperate in a substantial way. As such, the conclusions are often even manipulated in favor of pharmaceutical capital. Even worse, it goes as far as putting the cart before the horse, creating a new disease name for new drug development.

As a result, even well-meaning general doctors who are unaware of the circumstances will prescribe drugs of dubious efficacy or even harmful drugs. Even if serious drug hazards arise from that, the pharmaceutical capital will not take legal responsibility easily. 　

In contrast, under communism, as mentioned in Chapter 2, pharmaceuticals are handled collectively by the Pharmaceutical Organization, one of the production business organizations, which are socially owned enterprises, and are managed separately from the general economic plan. Clinical trials are conducted in a scientifically rigorous and humane manner by a testing institution that is completely independent of the business organization. In addition, a drug monitoring agency will be established to check side effects of all drugs and have strong regulatory authority, such as discontinuing manufacturing.

Eventually, the pharmaceutical industry would be integrated at the global level, and world-class pharmaceuticals and drug distribution – free of charge, of course – would be controlled under the oversight of specialized agencies such as today's World Health Organization (WHO). By doing so, we will see a solution to the problem that low-cost distribution of AIDS treatment drugs in less developed countries such as African countries suffering from the AIDS epidemic is hindered by the patent barrier of pharmaceutical capital.

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5. Environmental welfare housing will be realized.

5.1. Release from rent or loan

In capitalist society, housing is not recognized as a welfare issue, and has been treated exclusively as an issue of ownership, or even status.

As a result, the housing problem is the most blatant class disparity between the haves = homeowners/landlords, and the have-nots = tenants/homeless. In this housing class structure, not only do the have-nots struggle to pay rent, but the haves often struggle to pay their mortgages. Both the haves and the have-nots are groaning as they are placed in the passive position of debtors over the fundamental part of human existence, which is "living."

In particular, the status of tenants is subordinate. The tenants' survival is controlled by the landlord, and their social position is weak, so they cannot acquire a dominant position in the local community. Therefore, the increase in rental housing has led to the weakening and dissolution of such local communities themselves.

On that point, as already mentioned in Chapter 2, in a communist society where the monetary economy is abolished, there is no room for the system of rental housing that pays rent with money. This will free millions of people around the world from the precarious status of renters. This, too, could be called a great social revolution.

At the same time, the abolition of the monetary economy will also put an end to bad systems such as mortgages. Isn't this another piece of good news?

5.2. Enhancement of public housing supply

So what is communist housing policy? First, the commune, which is the base of administration related to daily life, will become the main body for the supply of public housing.

Under capitalism, public housing is mainly low-rent rental housing for low-income earners, but communist public housing is more for the general public, with no particular restrictions on occupancy conditions and unlimited occupancy periods. Inheritance is also permitted in principle. In addition to such ordinary housing, the supply of housing with care for the elderly and housing with support for the disabled, as seen in the previous section, will also be promoted. 

In the case of large-scale extended communes, it may be worth considering entrusting the day-to-day management and operation of these public housing to a section, which is the smallest autonomous unit, for decentralized operation.

As we saw in Chapter 2, individual home ownership is permitted even in a communist society. However, in a communist society, owner-occupied houses will no longer be supplied as off-the-shelf products by housing developers, but will change to a custom-made system in which each individual asks a professional architect to design. (Of course, you can also build your own house). House construction will also be handled by carpenter craftsmen's unions, and we will surely see the revival of the traditional world of craftsmen.

5.3. Intersection of environment and welfare

By the way, the housing issue is also a field where the environment and welfare intersect. In that sense, the ideal housing is a combination of design that considers environmental sustainability (including the surrounding environment of the housing) and universal design that makes it easy for the elderly and people with disabilities to live. It can be called "environmental welfare housing".

In capitalist housing, where efficiency and high functionality tend to be prioritized, this kind of thing would remain a slogan and would not be easily realized. Communism highly promotes the construction of such environmental welfare housing.

For example, for public housing, standard universal  design is applied without exception, regardless of the condition of the residents. This is also a physical condition for the deinstitutionalization of dismantling nursing homes and facilities for the disabled. At the same time, the supply of energy-saving housing, especially the energy-saving renovation of existing public housing will be implemented as a major project, and the green parks surrounding the housing will also be promoted.

In addition, the rise of high-rise housing, which is often regarded as a symbol of capitalist modernization, tends to harm the cultural environment of the historical landscape. Therefore, the communist housing policy would aim for medium- and low-rise buildings as much as possible in the case of new construction.

In order to make this possible, the newly required housing lands will be covered by residential land development that reuses former commercial lands that have been transferred to the management of the Land Management Agency and idle lands that were owned by former capitalist companies.

In this way, communism can easily realize environmental welfare housing projects that require huge financial resources under capitalism, but it can be said that this is also a feat unique to "welfare without financial resources".

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4. Universal design advances in both name and reality.

4.1. Deinstitutionalization

In recent years, even in capitalist society, barrier-free society has become popular as a philosophy, but the financial resources are still a bottleneck in achieving complete barrier-free society, and progress has been slow. Communism, which is not financially constrained and is not tied to financial resources, would solve this problem without much difficulty.

In the first place, communist urban planning internalizes universal access, obliges all public places and buildings to be universal design, and promotes the construction of universal design housing. However, no matter how much physical universal design progress is made, it is meaningless if people with disabilities are housed in facilities and chained with invisible chains that prevent them from going out into the city.

In that respect, in capitalist society, where there is a strong idea that people with disabilities who are considered inefficient as a labor force should be "protected" in facilities, in addition to various facilities for the disabled, psychiatric hospitals, which are closer to concentration camps than hospitals have been developed. However, communist societies are highly capable of abolishing such facilities.

In order to promote advanced deinstitutionalization (demolition of facilities), it is necessary to develop home community care as a prerequisite for it, as is the case with the elderly. In this respect, care for the disabled has much in common with care for the elderly. Therefore, who can be cared for at the public care stations mentioned in the previous section can be cared for there, and those who cannot (e.g., the mentally challenged) can be cared for at specialized services for the disabled.

4.2. Disabled-led production entities

In the case of persons with disabilities, it is necessary not only to care for them, but also to guarantee their social participation, especially to secure a place to work. Currently, people with disabilities need to engage in wage labor if they want to make a living independently, but the barriers are thick. It is difficult for people with disabilities to be exploited as wage serfs in the same way as ordinary workers, for whom various considerations are essential according to their characteristics.

In contrast, communist labor, as we saw in detail in Chapter 3, is unpaid labor. Since it is labor as social cooperation, it becomes much easier for people with disabilities to find a place to work at their own capacity and pace.

In addition, business entities such as vocational training facilities for people with disabilities who cannot survive the profit-seeking competition will be able to go beyond mere "vocational training" and become independent production entities led by people with disabilities.

In this respect as well, a communist society that is centered not on exchange value but on use value can essentially be a "disabled-friendly" economic system. Production cooperatives, which are small and medium-sized mainstream production organizations in a communist society, are more suitable than joint-stock companies for developing production projects by persons with disabilities themselves because they are not profitable.

4.3. Anti-discrimination and barrier-free minds

Physical barrier-freeness is also important as a foundation for universal design policies, but what is more fundamentally important is the elimination of mental barriers that are latent in general society and exclude people with disabilities. Without it, deinstitutionalization would end up as an illusion.

This barrier-free mind may seem to be a universal issue for human society that is no longer directly related to communism. However, this is not necessarily the case.

The pillar of communist social morality is "anti-discrimination". As we have already seen, communist society is based on social cooperation and mutual aid, so it goes against the fundamental morality of society to exclude and isolate people of different backgrounds.

Therefore, as will be described in the next chapter, from the early stage of basic education (compulsory education), active promotion of interaction and integrated education between children with disabilities and non-disabled children will be promoted, and the awareness of welcoming persons with disabilities as equal members of society will be promoted at an early stage. 

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Chapter 5: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- WELFARE 

3. People enjoy comfortable and complete care system.

3.1. Public long-term care

The advanced capitalist society almost overlaps with the longevity society. However, a long-lived society is also a society in which the number of elderly people requiring nursing care increases and the burden of nursing care is placed on society. On the other hand, it is not possible for a small nuclear family with limited manpower to take on all nursing responsibilities.

Therefore, by commercializing nursing care, capitalism moves in the direction of entrusting nursing care services to highly profitable nursing care providers. As a result, the benefits of long-term care services become a beneficiary-pays burden, and long-term care labor becomes highly exploitative and dense.

Contrary to such a direction, communism will establish nursing care as a public service while building a nursing care system that responds flexibly to needs. Specifically, the home care system will be highly enhanced, but "at home" is not limited to the literal home. Numerous public housing with public care will be prepared for the elderly, where caregivers and nurses will be stationed, and it will be possible to move in at any time for free.

By expanding the concept of "at home" in this way, a home care system based on advanced mutual assistance will be constructed, eliminating the need for typical facility care such as traditional nursing homes. As a result, categorization such as at-home or facility becomes relative.

3.2. Integration of nursing care and medical care

The front line of communist nursing care is handled at the commune level, which is the base of life-related administration, unlike regional medical care. Specifically, a public care station will be set up in each district of the commune. In addition to home helpers, home-visit nurses and doctors who specialize in geriatric medicine are stationed here, making it possible to fuse nursing care and medical care.

Individuals who wish to receive nursing care can select their desired care programs based on the doctor's accurate diagnosis and advice. This nursing care station operates 24 hours a day, and even at night it is possible to request the dispatch of helpers and nurses as needed. In addition, it will be a one-stop type with an outpatient daycare function that meets the needs of the individual and his/her family.

On the other hand, atients with multiple illnesses requiring full-time nursing care or patients with advanced dementia who are difficult to care for can be admitted to a hospital-type public long-term sanatorium free of charge.

Furthermore, although the provision of unique services by private nursing care volunteer organizations that cannot be covered by public services is not excluded, they will also be registered with the commune and subject to public supervision.

3.3. Retirement model for couples

As the number of elderly people living alone increases as a result of nuclear families, it is likely that some people will say that a completely universal nursing care system  is an unrealistic dream. Therefore, in recent years, in response to the rising rate of non-marriage, a self-contained retirement model for elder singles is sometimes recommended.

At first glance, this seems to be an argument in line with social reality. However, in the reality of a capitalist society where nursing care services have been commoditized, it is nothing less than a model for the old age of the petite bourgeoisie and above who have a principle of living alone and sufficient pension income, assets, and reliable personal connections that can be used for single life in old age. 

In contrast, the so-called "lonely death" problem symbolizes the difficulty of post-retirement life for the proletarian class, who have nothing. Singles in the proletariat class are reserve forces for lonely death.

On that point, as we saw in Chapter 3, since the notarized partnership system in a communist society is also an easy to use for partnerships between unmarried elderly people, the number of elderly households choosing the partnership may increase.

Of course, a public nursing care system based on communist mutual assistance would also be beneficial for singles. In that respect, the Social Services Councils set up in each section will incorporate the elderly living alone into the service network as a priority target in the social service plan within the section under their jurisdiction.

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Chapter 5: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY -- WELFARE

2. Pensions and public assistance will no longer be necessary.

2.1. Irrationality of the pension system

The deterioration in the public old-age pension system (hereafter simply referred to as the pension system), which can be said to be the pillar of welfare state policy, will affect the post-retirement age of almost all citizens, with the exception of a few wealthy people who have sufficient retirement savings. This is one of the most serious deteriorations in the welfare state.

However, it is inevitable that the pension system, which was originally a product of an era when the aging rate was not as high as it is today and the average life expectancy was within a reasonable limit, will deteriorate in an era of declining birthrate, aging population, and longevity. So any promises by the government that pensions will continue into the future sound hollow. It is almost taboo to doubt the rationality of the pension system, but it is true that this system cannot be said to be unconditionally rational.

In the first place, it is too formal a system to forcibly retire at a certain age and drive them into pension life. There are people who are in their 60s and are still in good health and are motivated to work, and there is no problem even if there are "old  newcomers" who are over 60 and want to try new jobs.

However, under capitalism, old workers are considered to lack usefulness as a labor force. There are two ways to force older workers to retire: applying a uniform retirement age system and dismissing them individually. In any case, there is no change in the desire of capital companies to eliminate the declining productivity of the elderly labor force, which is not worth exploiting.

2.2. Communist retirement life

In contrast, life after retirement in a communist society is simple and free. Compulsory retirement based solely on age, including the mandatory retirement system, is legally prohibited as unfair employment discrimination based on age, so workers can continue to work until their desired age. (As shown in Chapter 3, it is possible that in the early days of communism, work obligations may be imposed on the core working generation.).

If you feel like retiring because of old age, all you have to do is leave quietly. As is already understood, in a communist society, the money economy has been abolished and all necessary goods and services can be obtained free of charge, so there is no anxiety about life associated with retirement. If long-term care becomes necessary, as we will see in the next section, comprehensive care can be received free of charge, and if it becomes severe, long-term medical care can also be received free of charge.

Conversely, you are free to retire early. In that respect, the capitalist social security system tends to concentrate on old people who have outlived their usefulness as wage serfs. Early retirement is therefore a pipe dream for anyone but the ultra-rich, and young or middle-aged retirees will have to rely on unemployment insurance and welfare services. 　

In a communist society, the situation is completely different. Since people can live without money, there is no need for a poverty relief system such as public assistance, nor a temporary social security system such as unemployment insurance. In extreme terms, both the old and the young can be unemployed with peace of mind.

A properly constructed and run communist society is free from poverty. A communist society, in which labor and consumption are completely separated, is a fundamentally welfare society, and there is no need to take lofty measures such as improving welfare.

2.3. Social Services Council

As mentioned above, although a communist society does not need a special anti-poverty system of social security that provides monetary benefits, as symbolized by pensions and public assistance, there is a system of non-monetary social services such as nursing care in a communist society. Rather, in a communist society where the money economy is abolished, such non-monetary social services will occupy the center. 　

Communist social services are not based on the application principle of waiting for applications from recipients. The application benefit principle is one of the measures to control the receipt of benefits in response to the capitalist limit of financial resources. The communist social service adopts the principle of planned benefits, even if the recipient does not apply for it, unless the recipient declines based on a rational reason. 　

In order to make this possible, the Social Services Council (hereinafter simply referred to as the "council") will be established as a public institution in charge of regional social service plans for each section of the commune. The council does not directly provide social services itself, but comprehensively organizes all social services within its own section. 　

Specifically, the task of the council is to keep track of the situation of potential recipients of social services in the section and draw up social work plans that are updated annually for coordinating so that those who need it can receive the services when they need them. Therefore, the chairperson of the council must be a duly qualified social worker, and the council members are delegated part-time to welfare and medical professionals and welfare service representatives within the section. 　　

Multiple social workers are assigned to the council, and in addition to receiving consultations from those who need it, they also discover those who need it based on information from volunteer cooperators and develop activities that lead to the arrangement of necessary services. By the way, regarding child welfare, the Minor Welfare Center is established separately from the council, but the council sometimes cooperates with the center to protect families with children.

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Chapter 5: SKETCH OF COMMUNIST SOCIETY --  WELFARE

A communist society is essentially a welfare society in which everyone can live without worrying about food, clothing, housing, medical care, or nursing care. How is this possible?

1. Welfare system without any financial resources is not a utopian policy.

1.1. Contradictions of the Welfare State

Let us first confirm that so-called welfare is by no means a monopoly of communism, but rather an implication of preventing impoverishment of the working class within the framework of capitalism, as in the often idealized Nordic countries. As discussed in Chapter 1, it was also a form of capitalism with heavy makeup.

However, such capitalist welfare has one decisive limit. It derives from the fact that the bearer of welfare is the state - the welfare state. The state depends on tax revenue for its welfare financial resources. In other words, most of the welfare financial resources depend on the income of wage workers, that is, wage serfs. It was because wage serfs are almost tax serfs.

Even so, during the period of rapid growth and accumulation, when the rate of wage growth is high, national tax revenues will increase, there will be a surplus to implement stable welfare policies and raise the living standards of wage-earners. After all, it's just a de facto tax refund service. The golden age of the idealized "high welfare state" in Northern Europe was the period of rapid growth and accumulation until the middle of the 1970s, or the 1980s at the longest.

Eventually, with the oil crisis, the golden "good old days" ended in the advanced capitalist countries, and as we entered an era of slowing growth and global competition, wage income for workers stagnated and the nation began to fall short of tax revenues. Then, the welfare state begins to shake due to the intervention of the “small government” dogma derived from neo-liberalism = capital supremacism.

In this way, a capitalist welfare state has the contradiction that it thrives when the masses benefit from economic growth and capital accumulation and do not need welfare so much, and comes to a standstill when the masses desperately need welfare in times of low growth and economic crisis.

The necessity of rebuilding the welfare state is sometimes called out, but the wall of financial resources is thick. A tax increase is inevitable, but in such a case, the capitalist nation knows how to shift the burden onto labor rather than capital, so rather than raising the corporate tax, it would start raising the consumption tax for the common people. It is mandatory. If the government were to run into a fiscal deficit that could not be covered by such tax hikes, it would not only face the crisis of rebuilding the welfare state, but also the survival of the state itself.

1.2. Two types of  "welfare society" 

The United States has refused to accept the concept of a welfare state because of its ideology that emphasizes individual freedom. For this reason, when the Roosevelt administration introduced the social security system in the 1930s, facing the Great Depression, it came to be called the New Deal policy, with the implication of revising the social contract of the people.

However, the welfare state is a taboo in the United States, and even after the implementation of the New Deal policy, the capitalist self-help principle has not changed. On the other hand, many of the welfare services are provided by private volunteer groups and profit-making welfare organizations based on the spirit of mutual assistance, making up for the lack of welfare services provided by the state.

In that respect, it can be said that the United States, which rejects the very concept of a welfare state and is based on the principle of self-help, is practicing a kind of communist welfare centered on mutual assistance by the private sector.

However, it is only an external approximation, and its essence is, of course, different from communism. Private welfare in the United States is basically nothing more than the practice of social capitalism, which entrusts welfare services to wealthy people's donations and profit-making enterprises.

On the other hand, it is logically natural that the welfare of a communist society where the state is abolished is not centered on the state, nor is it entirely tossed to voluntary or commercial welfare of the private sector. It will center on a welfare society in the true sense of the word.

Specifically, the commune, which plays a central role in administration related to daily life, and the regional area as an intermediate municipality, which serves as a base for regional medical care, will work together to provide services as the forefront of welfare. In that respect, communist welfare has a strong character of public welfare, but it does not mean that all private welfare will be publicly requisitioned.

In a communist society, all private welfare organizations and private hospitals are refined into unpaid volunteer organizations. This is the inevitable result of the abolition of the wage labor system in a communist society. These private volunteer organizations are registered with communes or regional areas, and under their supervision, they will provide their own unique services free of charge.

1.3. Completely free welfare

It may invite skepticism about whether advanced welfare services can be realized by relying on volunteers. However, isn't welfare originally based on the spirit of volunteerism?

However, there may be some truth to the concern that if even highly skilled professionals such as medical doctors become unpaid volunteers, the number of aspiring doctors will drop sharply, leading to a decisive shortage of MDs.

Indeed, it is possible that today's MDs are attracted by their high income and attract many applicants, but is this the true nature of the profession? It is difficult to understand under capitalism, where even many non-commercial functions have become quasi-merchant based on profit-oriented, but MDs are originally supposed to be public and humanitarian functions specializing in the treatment and prevention of diseases. 

This is related to education, which is the subject of the next chapter. In a communist society, a medical education system will be introduced in which those who have a high awareness of such public functions can become MDs.

In any case, communist welfare, whether public or private, is strongly characterized as a system of mutual assistance supported by the free provision that comes from the abolition of the monetary system. But its greatest strength lies in the fact that it is to be released from the unstable element of financial resources, which means all welfare entities will be able to fully provide truly necessary services without worrying about money in a communist society.