The State of Total Mobilization has made it possible for nations to sustain large-scale war efforts in ways that would have been unthinkable prior to the Industrial Revolution. Here, Production for Profit exists in unison with Production for Utility to help Parliaments develop arsenals of weaponry and raise armies and navies for the purposes of maintaining the hegemony of Neoliberalism. Meanwhile, in Production for Dasein, the Socialist Nation relies on the Work-Standard to defend itself militarily.

Command Structure of the Council State

Whether the Socialist Nation is at war or in peace, it always helps to understand how the Council State is organized as part of the Political Organization Problem established earlier in this Section. The Socialist Nation is governed by the Council State, which operates under a functioning Council Democracy. The People’s Party and its United Front are in control of the State Council, the Head of State is the State President, and State Chancellor is the Head of Government. The Council State maintains a Judiciary, a “Supreme Court,” to set the parameters of constitutionality and to preside over the national legal system.  The State President has a Cabinet of Ministers who are designated as the “Council of Ministers.” There are fifteen Ministries in the Socialist Nation.

The “Ministry of Foreign Affairs” conducts diplomacy with foreign nations on behalf of the Socialist nation. They are responsible for the establishment of Embassies and Consulates, establishing the National Intranet’s connection to the International Internet and any other National Intranets, and the economic and financial activities of any Enterprises operating abroad. For the Student Government, all Student Enterprises cannot operate in other countries without the authorization, approval and support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The Council State’s own contributions of Military Arbeit and Military Geld as well as those from the VCS Economy originate from three specific Ministries. The “Ministry of War,” “Ministry of Intelligence,” and “Ministry of Energy and Armaments Production” pertain to the armed forces, intelligence services, spy satellite, superweapons, and the procurement of armaments, ordnance, vehicles, warships, warplanes and so forth. The General Staff of the War Ministry has Departments” and “Offices in charge of the various branches of the Armed Forces of the Socialist Nation. The Intelligence Ministry is responsible for gathering and collecting of intelligence from the War Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Any and all information will be shared with the State President, State Chancellor and, if necessary, the State Council.

The Ministry of Energy and Armaments Production is responsible for much of the Military Arbeit and Military Geld that comes from the Administrative Sector of the VCS Economy. It is here where the Military-Industrial Complex becomes relevant insofar as most of the Enterprises found under its oversight are related to the Armaments Industry. Any other Enterprises not related to the Armaments Industry are involved in the production of energy sources for the Totality. 

The “Ministry of Economics,” “Ministry of Finance,” and “Ministry of Transportation” all pertain to the everyday affairs of the VCS Economy, the Reciprocal-Reserve Banking System, all State Banks, National-Socialized Banks, State Commissariats and Kontore. The Ministry of Economics is where the Central Planners are located, who also have subordinate Economic Planners and Accountants embedded in every Enterprise in the VCS Economy and National Intranet. Their counterparts in the Ministry of Finance, the Superintendents, preside over State Commissars responsible for the everyday operations of the State Commissariats. The State Commissars oversee entire groups of Inspectors assigned to the various Enterprises within the jurisdiction of a Regional Government.

The mass transportation systems and national infrastructure that the Totality depends on fall under the dominion of the Ministry of Transportation. The Transportation Ministry oversees the construction and maintenance of highways, railways, seaports, and airports. They are also responsible for the operation of the transportation systems, with branches across the various Regional and Municipal Governments of the Socialist Nation.   

The “Ministry of Justice” and the “Ministry of Health” pertain to the emergency services. The Justice Ministry maintains a national police force, attached to the Central Government, that works with fire departments and policy agencies among the Regional and Municipal Governments. It is also in charge of the Socialist Nation’s penitentiary system, cooperating with the Judiciary in charge of its legal system. The Ministry of Health maintains the national healthcare system, which is tasked with the construction and maintenance of all healthcare facilities. It assists the Regional and Municipal Governments with the operation of those same healthcare facilities and the Medical Professions that will be operating in them. State Enterprises responsible for the production of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment are governed by the Ministry of Health.

The “Ministry of Interior” is in charge of the lands and buildings not owned and operated by the Totality or the Council State. Any land and buildings that are not owned by anyone belongs to the Council State. The Totality entrusts the Council State to look after those lands and buildings until the time comes for when they will be sold or granted to potential buyers and recipients. Outside of the distribution and allotments of land and buildings, the Interior Ministry has the necessary task of taking care of the land and looking after it.

The rest of the Council of Ministers are the “Ministry of Education,” the “Ministry of Science and Technology,” the “Ministry of Religious Affairs,” the “Ministry of Autonomous Regional Affairs,” and the “Ministry of Culture.” The national educational system, the SSE and its Student Government are all part of the everyday activities of the Education Ministry, from nurseries and kindergartens to the most prestigious universities. The Student Tournament and the Student Enterprises that operate in it fall under the purview of the Education Ministry.

The Ministry of Science and Technology fulfills two functions. The most important and mundane function is to act as the spearhead of the Council State’s research and development programs, in addition to facilitating any and all issuances of production licenses and technical patents. Its other function is related to the Digital Enterprises involved in the National Intranet as part of the VCS Economy’s Information Sector.  

The Religious Affairs Ministry is the Council State’s direct line to the ecclesiastical authorities. Religious Vocations are capable of contributing Arbeit and Geld to the Life-Energy Reserve. The Ministry is responsible for overseeing their contributions and collaborates with the Ministry of Education to ensure that the standards of the Socialist Nation’s religious educational institutions are on part with the rest of the national educational system. The Autonomous Regional Affairs Ministry fulfills a similar role, except it is more concerned with the contributions of Arbeit and Geld by Foreigners and their people’s communities. Since the Totality is not assumed to be an ethnically homogenous whole, it is necessary for this Ministry to preside over the economic activities of Foreign Enterprises any Foreigners who have Vocations in the Socialist Nation among the VCS Economy’s Enterprises and Professions.

Finally, the Ministry of Culture is responsible for the Socialist Nation’s State Media, Social Media, and Student Media. It works alongside the Ministries of Science and Technology and Education to preside over the countless different publications and outlets that comprise mass media. Its Departments and Offices are tasked with overseeing their contributions of Arbeit and Geld, the issuance of Stipends from the State Council, and the promotion of the Tourist Industry.

The post-1945 world has lived under the shadows of digital technologies and nuclear weapons. We live in a world where the smallest technological mistake can bring about the end of the world, and there have been moments in the Cold War where such a thing could have happened. To prepare for the unthinkable, the possibility of total war, the Council State shall maintain a hidden parallel government of handpicked successors from its own Social Ranks with the Intent of maintaining its Continuity of Government (COG) plan. Anyone with a high enough Rank within the Ministries of the Council State is eligible, which can include mid-level officials from the People’s Party and the United Fronts as well as the various State Functionaries from the Student Government under the Ministry of Education.

The State’s COG plan goes live once war has been declared. All handpicked successors have direct orders under the Constitution to be whisked away from their government offices in the opening hours and sheltered in undisclosed deep underground command bunkers throughout the Socialist nation. If the whole line of succession is either killed, incapacitated or captured by the enemy, or if their whereabouts cannot be located beyond the mist-shrouded fog of war, they have a Constitutional Obligation to take over the roles of the central government and lead the war effort.

Preparing for Peace

All Enterprises under the Ministry of Energy & Armaments Production are State-Administrated Enterprises (SAEs) that are owned and operated by the Council State.  These SAEs maintain a direct line with the General Staff in charge of the Ministry of War. The Armaments Industry may be producing NATO STANAG (STANardization AGreement) or old Warsaw Pact materiel under production licenses. Alternatively, they could manufacture domestic weaponry. In any case, the overall firepower of contemporary armaments since the Cold War are impractical for a large-scale conflict. The General Staff at the Ministry of War should be aware that, no matter how much Geld is allocated to the Armed Forces, the materiel needs to be practical and cheap enough to replace losses. The General Staff must expect the Socialist Nation to understand the political-economic realities of war and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices in wartime.

Consider the US military, and how the Rust Belt region resembles more like a museum to past achievements than being an actual workspace for instance. The Department of Defense may be spending far more than most militaries but most of its materiel is too expensive and difficult to replace in any large-scale conflict. Let that conflict drag on for longer than the opening weeks and most of their arsenals and munitions will be depleted before the year is over. All the complex, advanced weapons, vehicles, warships and aircraft fielded by most nations will be destroyed, abandoned, captured or lost at sea. Whatever remains on the battlefield will need lots of replacement parts, fuel, and munitions to continue fighting.

Naturally, the conventional wisdom for any national economy in the State of Total Mobilization is to produce everything on ‘larger Scales, shorter Durations’ with ‘narrower Scopes and higher Densities’ as possible. In essence, to produce lots of materiel with as few design differences and to ensure faster manufacturing and replacements with as much resources as physically possible. But can any nation genuinely expect to maintain that current rate of production to persist and not expect industries to be attacked by enemy forces or not have enough resources? How will the nation finance its war effort? Will rationing be introduced and how will the Attrition Rate be measured? How will the Work-Standard operate under wartime conditions?

These questions are to be addressed to the State by the economic planners of the Socialist nation. The Heads of State and Government, State Council and Central Bank must recognize that the need for Authentic Dasein is essential for the war effort. Depending on the overall rates of production in the lead up to any possible conflict in the unforeseeable future, the greater the preparedness of the Totality in its Readiness-to-Hand Arbeit and Geld for the war effort, the less rationing and fewer shortages there will be. Some sacrifices are going to be made and that will depend on the overall complexity in the arsenal of the armed forces.

The best-possible Quality of Arbeit is going to be coming from war production that requires a decent Duration in its manufacturing process and Density in the concentration of manpower and resources. The greatest Scale and broadest Scope can be achieved until the onset of high Attrition. The logistics involved in the movement of materiel requires delicate planning and there will always be potential for bottlenecks and inefficiencies, which can be mitigated if the economic planners can detect them sooner rather than later. That was the premise behind MTEP: maintain a hierarchical chain of command by integrating them into every step of the production process.

The designing of weapon systems is crucial in minimizing potential Attrition and logistical problems once the finished product leaves the assembly line. There are limits to this, however, because the overall quality of its design affects the Quality of Arbeit when it is being manufactured. Similar sources of high Quality of Arbeit will come from industries providing the best-possible quality and can do so in a reliable, competent manner. Those who have proven themselves worthy with the most sincere, genuine effort will be the ones contributing the most Arbeit and those who fail to follow their example will be denounced as such by the State Commissariats.  

The financing of the war effort under the Work-Standard is affected by the sustaining of the war effort by the Totality. As long as the Totality is producing everything that its Armed Forces could possibility need, there will be more than enough Geld for the State to fund the war effort. That changes the moment military-industrial facilities are attacked by the enemy. Should the enemy have ground forces approaching those facilities, it is possible to expect Attrition to rise in a desperate bid to defend the facilities with weapons and vehicles rolling off the assembly lines for any friendly units fighting within the vicinity. Schuld may begin to accumulate the moment the war effort yields an imbalanced budget, which can be dealt with after the cessation of hostilities.

As in peacetime, the need to avoid Attrition still applies in wartime. The national economy cannot always be expected to sustain the war effort around the clock. At some point, the workforce is going to become weary as the conflict continues and striking a balance between what is expected of them and their chances to rest is a necessity in curtailing Attrition. Having Zeit in the work-week for breaks at different periods of each day is important. Only in instances of imminent contact with the enemy may this decision be suspended.   

Categories: Compendium

Tags: Economics, Finance, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Socialist Finance, Third Place, Work-Standard