An Arms Race of Military-Industrial Complexes
War is politics. The Military-Industrial Complex is one of the products of all forms of Total Mobilization. How the Military-Industrial Complex conducts itself, especially whether the Totality of any nation has any influence on the production of weapons in peacetime, depends on whether it operates under Production for Profit, Production for Utility, and Production for Dasein.
The Liberal Capitalist version under “Production for Profit” advertises its purpose for existing with sensational displays of military technologies for Kapital. The freedom-security dialectic is on full display and so is the Economic Calculation Problem, dictating the decision-making processes of the armed forces. Like a big Californian gold rush, this Military-Industrial Complex is only panning for government contracts because it simply cannot afford to wage a long war.
It took years for the veterans to be honored. The officer corps, however, could not forget. They had been there. Their friends had died or been maimed there. Their Army, their beloved military, was now for many Americans an object of distrust, discredited and ridiculed. The officer corps also knew that in a democracy like America, one that was then still challenged by its Cold War enemies, a rift between the military and the people could be fatal for the republic. If the Congress did not appropriate enough defense funding to deter the Soviet Union, if smart young people did not join the ranks, the downward spiral of the military would continue. They had to do something.
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For men raised in the ‘can-do’ hero culture of the US military, where anything was possible, it was difficult for them to come to the conclusion that they had been asked to do something that was both impossible and unpopular. But many of them did come to that conclusion. And they resented both the ‘politicians’ (civilians) who had asked them to do it, for being so uninformed and so willing to expend the lives of American soldiers, and the ‘brass’ (generals and admirals) who had readily obeyed, for being overly compliant and so badly prepared.
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Returning from Vietnam, most American military personnel wondered how they could have been sacrificing so much in a cause that most of their fellow citizens did not appear to want them to pursue. Far from thanking them for their sacrifices, often the people of the United States seemed to resent the institution and individual military personnel for having been involved in Vietnam. For career military officers, who understood that it was the civilian leadership and the civilian Congress that had sent them into war, the cognitive dissonance was stark and deeply disturbing. They feared for the future of the US military. That fear was not selfish protection of their job and their lifestyle.
Is this the rhetoric of fear and terror from a Military-Industrial Complex under Production for Profit? Or was there any justification for war?
Then there is the Military-Industrial Complex defined by “Production for Utility.” It deems the production of armaments for its central government, terrorized by the prospect of war with other nations. Rabid paranoia defines its sole purpose for existing. Although the nation promulgates strength on the outside, it is actually weak on the inside and is irrefutably in no position to conduct a long war. Like Production for Profit, Production for Utility also conducts itself under the Economic Calculation Problem to determine its activities:
“Pivotal to understanding the world situation today is grasping the nature of the Soviet Union. Is it an ally of national independence, national liberation and revolution or is it a mortal enemy? Do we extol the Soviet Union as an example of Socialism or expose it as a Fascist and Imperialist superpower?
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In order to serve its Imperialist ambitions, the new Capitalists in the Soviet Union have militarized [their Command Economy]: 60% of industry is directly or indirectly related to the military. In 1960 the Soviet Revisionists spent 13.1% of its national income on military expenditures, but by 1974 this had increased to 19.6%. This proportion surpasses pre-war Nazi Germany (19%) as well as U.S. imperialism even at its periods of conducting wars of aggression in Korea (15%) and Vietnam (10%).
The Soviet military itself is immense. It has 4.2 million personnel in active service, almost twice the number of the U.S., and has another 25 million in reserves. It has close to 800 submarine guided nuclear missiles and over 1,600 land-based ICBM’s. Its naval forces are close to, if not surpassing those of the U.S. It has close to half a million men occupying countries in Eastern Europe.
These military forces are not to fulfill the defense needs of a Socialist country, but rather are the forces of a mighty Imperialist superpower aiming for domination of the world.
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The US is like the [Debt addict] on the street whom you know wants to beat you over the head to get your wallet; the Soviet Union is the backstabbing ‘friend’ who waits to get into your home to steal your food.”
Is this the rhetoric of rabid paranoia promulgated by the Military-Industrial Complex under Production for Utility? Or was there really a genuine threat of war?
As for “Production for Dasein,” the Military-Industrial Complex recognizes why wars have been waged and will continue to be fought, even among the nations of a Socialist world order. The Political Organization Problem influences its decision-making because there are real people with Vocations devoted to the production of weapons for the armed forces and self-defense equipment for all law-abiding citizens. War itself demands a distinct form of Arbeit and Geld where both the State and Totality must wield full Command Responsibility as part of their Right to Military Sovereignty, the power to control the size and composition of their armed forces.
“We live in a world wringing with the clangor of weapons. Mankind is arming on all sides, and it will go ill with a state that is unable or unwilling to rely on its own strength. Some nations are fortunate enough to be favored by nature. Their borders are strong, affording them complete or partial protection against hostile invasion, through chains of mountains or wide expanses of sea. By way of contrast the existence of other nations is inherently insecure. Their living space is small and in all likelihood ringed by borders that are predominantly open, and lie under constant threat from an accumulation of neighbors who combine an unstable temperament with armed superiority. Some powers may have considerable natural resources and colonial territories at their disposal, and derive therefrom a considerate degree of independence both in war and peace; others, who are no less viable and may, indeed, often be larger in terms of population, will possess a restricted base of raw materials and few if any colonial territories. Because of this they live in a state of continual economic stress and are in no position to sustain a long war.
Socialism is neither a dystopian utopia or nor even a utopian dystopia for that matter. As with politics, economics and finance, the conduct of war shall be redefined to suit a more Socialistic kind of combat with the Work-Standard. Regardless of whether there is the threat of war or a real war, the Socialist nation must never constitute the majority of the RTEP (Real Total Economic Potential) and RTFP (Real Total Financial Potential) variables of the TPP equation. If the Military-Industrial Complex can build the biggest arsenals in the world, the VCS Economy and the Reciprocal-Reserve Banking System should also be able to sustain themselves, the State and the Totality. Only when everyone is able to live within their own means of production can the Socialist nation claim to be able to sustain a long war.
There must be Sustainability in the Quality of guns and butter produced and the Frequency for those same guns and butter. In a Council Democracy, the Totality holds political and economic sway over how much of their Arbeit and Geld should be devoted toward national defense spending. They have every political-economic right to demand their State Delegates inside the State Council of their State to hold the Armaments and Energy Industries accountable. If we can afford weapons and ammunition under the Work-Standard, we should be able to afford a single loaf of bread and some butter at our local grocery. We should be able to afford refrigerators, computers, electronics, automobiles, and other everyday appliances. We should not be queuing long lines and finding empty store shelves all because the military is needlessly spilling blood in the Totality’s name.
On Armaments and Energy Production
In the VCS Economy, the Armaments and Energy Industries constitute the “Military-Industrial Complex.” It is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministries of Economics and Finance, which is often been the case of Production for Profit. It is also not under the Ministries of War, Intelligence, and Justice, the Socialist Student Economy (SSE), or even the People’s Party, and its paramilitaries, which has happened to be the case of Production for Utility. Those Industries fall under the Command Responsibility of Ministry of Energy & Armaments Production.
The Armaments Production half of the Ministry manufactures weapons for the General Staff at the Ministry of War and has licensed gunsmiths devoted to creating weapons for civilians and police. This side is in close communications with the State Commissariats of Wages and Prices on setting the scales of “Military Arbeit” produced by the armed forces within the Socialist nation and the “Military Geld” that the Ministry itself is generating for the Life-Energy Reserve.
It also has whole battalions of military scientists, engineers, technical and research staff working at well-respected government institutions dedicated to military research and development as their Vocations. The students from the SSE at the Ministry of Education are allowed to join the professionals with the express approval of their parents (if aged between 16 and 17 years) or with the signed authorization from a state commissar as part of their Vocation (aged between 17 and 34 years). All arrangements, including the students’ room and board, are administered by “Group D” of a Kontor’s Office VI (“Priority Requisition”).
The other half, the Energy Production side, is responsible for the Socialist nation’s power plants and electrical substations, hydroelectric dams, fuel refineries, and the military’s logistical system within the Socialist nation. It oversees the production of strategic resources like synthetic fuel, rubber, plastics and fabrics. It is also the authority that decides whether the Socialist nation should begin rationing those resources in wartime conditions.
Ministerial procurement of natural resources for the Energy Industry and the Armaments Industry by extension is conducted with a Kontor’s Office III (“Equipmentalities”). Office III sells the raw materials as Equipmentalities in bulk. Only in wartime is the Ministry of Armaments & Energy Production allowed to be given first priority before the Ministries of Economics and Finance.
On Military Technology
Total Mobilization has given every nation, including our own, the Technology bestowed to humanity by the Figure of the Arbeiter. Production for Dasein, unlike Production for Profit and Production for Utility, recognizes that the Arbeiter’s Technology is capable of inflicting untold levels of destruction. The effects can be seen ricocheting across time and space, affecting future generations. Modern warfare tends to leave physical and psychological scars on military personnel and the environment. Militaries around the world have grown to recognize the risks of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) since it historically appeared as “Shellshock” during the First World War. The environmental scars, however, are even worse because the whole world is affected.
There are untold numbers of UXOs (Unexploded Ordnance), explosives that failed to detonate and are simply left on the ground long after a conflict. A decades-old UXO could be waiting to go off beneath the city street in front of somebody’s apartment building, demolishing the surrounding walls and killing anyone caught in the blast radius. There may even be a more recent UXO, dropped from an enemy bomber and burrowed into land that later became a farm, a ranch, or even a children’s playground. Neither the farmers and ranchers nor their children will be aware of the dangers until it is too late.
There are buried landmines which have been forgotten and still active in the countryside of certain countries. Anyone who haplessly steps on them will step them off and get their legs blown off. In some places, it is going to be long ambulance ride before they make it to the nearest hospital. Only a few nations are capable of manufacturing landmines, yet nobody really knows how many are still left in the ground and their precise locations.
There are sunken warships and merchant vessels full of military munitions and equipment, left to decay and turn to artificial reefs for aquatic life. Some of these ships were carrying petroleum inside their cargo holds. The ship in question had been designed well-enough to allow the petroleum to begin seeming out of their barrels and into the oceans. Worse, there have also been a number of seamines from World War II that have been found drifting in the water, ready to blow up a civilian cruise ship or even a merchant vessel carrying lots of synthetic fuel.
And there are even chemical weapon stockpiles that have been carelessly disposed of by opposing forces in the immediate cessation of hostilities. Such chemical weapons can potentially seep out of their shells, releasing deadly agents capable of killing local wildlife and rendering the surrounding area uninhabitable for both animals and humans. Then there is the infamous “Agent Orange” deployed by US military planes during the Vietnam War, which has caused permanent damage and cancers to friendly and enemy forces alike. Today, there are international treaties forbidding the manufacturing, stockpiling and deployment of chemical weapons in combat.
These are just several examples of the number of problems which our Military-Industrial Complex must be able to come to terms with. If the Socialist nation is capable of spending a massive arsenal of such potentially dangerous weapons, it should also be able to develop ways of healing the scars of war. Not just provide adequate healthcare for those affected by PTSD, but also combat the environmental damage created by modern warfare.
The Socialist nation must be willing to sign and enforce international treaties related to the production of chemical and biological weapons, with the hope of eventually addressing the problem of nuclear weapons. Unlike chemical and biological weapons, the LIEO (Liberal International Economic Order) were never able to resolve the issue of nuclear proliferation, especially when it came to understanding why nations pursue any nuclear program. A Socialist world order will no doubt have to address that very issue.
Why should any nation spend obscene amounts of Geld on a nuclear program under the Work-Standard? What is the Intent behind the decision? Is it because of a need to find a better source of energy for producing electrical power? Is it because of a need to deter neighboring nations from attacking them? Is it because the nation in question is interested in closing the nuclear fuel cycle? Or is it following up on the Noosphere research of Soviet biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky and French philosopher Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, and figuring out whether nuclear energy is the missing alchemical link behind creating the “Philosopher’s Stone?”
The first motive is driven by concerns over cleaner sources of energy, the second by historical enmities, the third by the pursuit of Autarky, and the fourth suspicious and outright eccentric. The fourth motive in particular is probably unrelated to the other three, deserving a few periodic visits from international nuclear inspectors sent by the World State Organization (WSO).
As outlandish as this may sound, it is known among scientists for decades that one can theoretically turn one base metal into another base metal. The only real problem is whether anyone has been able to implement it on an industrial scale. Any Military-Industrial Complex is more than welcome to prove the existence of the Noosphere. However, the author of this SMP Compendium is confident that the Totality of any nation (be it Liberal Capitalist or Socialist) would rather devote its efforts be directed toward more practical endeavors.
Prelude to Financial Warfare
Returning from the sensational to the cold reality back on Earth, the Compendium has yet to provide a serious investigation into the Work-Standard’s relationship with the emerging concept of “Financial Warfare.” Financial Warfare has yet to be taken seriously, and there is a strong possibility that the Work-Standard might be the key to exposing the whatness for Military Science and Political Science.
There are claims by all kinds of people since the 20th century that various countries around the world had accidently discovered the dark arts of financial combat in World Wars I and II. Everyone senses and perceives the concept of Financial Warfare, but nobody on Earth has yet been able to comprehend it from the standpoint of Military Science.
There have been economists and bankers who believed that the antecedent to Financial Warfare was between World War I, the interwar period, and World War II. The SMP Compendium has also provided anecdotal evidence of this claim based on the subsequent sophistication of Fintech (Financial Technology) that coincided with the death of Bretton Woods in the 1970s. I have also argued that it may be related to degeneration of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries and their eventual collapse in 1989, 1990, and 1991. By revisiting the Cold War from a counterfactual perspective with the Work-Standard, we can finally begin to make sense of the Holocaust, the tales of Nazi and Japanese Gold, counterfeit gold-backed bearer bonds, Petrodollars, financial contagions, secret offshore accounts. More importantly, the SMP Compendium can even argue that the Y2K Bug, the Dot-Com Bubble, the 9/11 attacks and the Great Recession contributed to the economic and financial problems of the Western world since the 2010s.
In the next part of this Compendium entry, we will be exploring in great detail about why the Work-Standard is related Financial Warfare, how is it possible, and what would be its implications. When the Totality of a Socialist nation, with its Currency pegged to the Work-Standard, begins to live within its own means of production, it slowly realizes why their own Technology must be imbued with a shared set of cultural and traditional values.
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