The race to finish The Third Place is on, and the time has come to begin working on new Entries whilst revising the ones which will be kept in the final draft of the First Edition. I know that not everyone wants to read about posts on this Blog where I talk about the educational formation of young people, so allow me to focus on topics that are tie-ins to what I had written in The Work-Standard. Therefore, Section One of The Third Place will focus on continuing where The Work-Standard left off. I have about four different topics that I would like to write a separate Entry about.

1. Cooperatives: Up until recently, I have been wanting to write about the importance of the Cooperative for some time now. Despite recognizing their importance, it never ceases to amaze me that I never bothered to write anything about Cooperatives. In order to understand an SSE’s “Student Cooperative,” it is necessary that I write an Entry where I discuss about Cooperatives in general.
2. Small Businesses: In The Work-Standard, I wrote about why the Work-Standard is capable of allowing anyone under Pure Socialism to start a small business and to preserve already existing ones. What has yet to be addressed is where do they fit into the broader framework of the VCS Planned/Command Economy. Do they operate independently or alongside a larger group of small business owners?
3. The Tournament and MTEP: The free market in general have been replaced by the Tournament, where Enterprises within the same Industry compete to pursue the highest Quality of Arbeit for the least Quality of Geld. This is great, but where do the aforementioned Cooperatives and Small Businesses fall in? What are the ways in which MTEP (Mission-Type Economic Planning) affect the practices of Cooperatives and Small Businesses within the Tournament?
4. Codetermination, Worker’s Self-Management, and Employee Ownership: The goal of Mission-Type Economic Planning is to present a balanced third way between the economic planning proponents who prefer “centralized planning” and those who favor “decentralized planning.” As part of their involvement in MTEP, the Civil Servants of a State Enterprise may opt for “Codetermination,” “Worker’s Self-Management,” or “Employee Ownership.” What are the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each, and which ones are most appropriate within specific types of Enterprises?

Of the four proposed Entries, I am inclined to work on the Cooperative Entry first. Let’s see if I can get that done before the end of today. If I find anything that corroborates my conclusions, I will repost them.

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: ARPLAN, Codetermination, Cooperatives, Economics, Finance, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Socialist Finance, Total Educational Effort, Total Mobilization, Work-Standard, Worker's Self-Management